Ephesians 2:1-10, Who Does the Work?

Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 to 10 here the word of the Lord and You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world

Following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the

Desires of the body and mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind

But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us Even when we were dead in our trespasses

Made us alive together with Christ by grace You have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages

He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing

It's the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast For we are his workmanship

Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them

May the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word People love work

We love it because it gives us money and meaning It gives us cash so we can get the food we want a place to live

The phones were obsessed with it gives us an identity many people, you know, don't say

I do such -and -such I teach I Bake I edit but I often say

I am such as if I'm a teacher. I'm a baker I'm an editor, even if they don't love their job.

They love the money that it gives them They love the things that their job enables them to do

We even call it what we call it making a living people hate work

We hate it because it gets dreary The same old grind call it, you know, put your nose to the grindstone.

There's so many other things we'd rather be doing relaxing Watching a game at the beach Playing ball.

They hate the alarm clock the hamster in the wheel feeling like they're running and running and beginning nowhere They're dirty jobs.

The child is think, you know, if there are things I love to do and I hate work Well, then why work I want to stay home and play video games or go play ball all day

Why I go to a job or even worse Go to a boring school to learn how to do a job later on Sometimes kids need to be given chores so that they'll learn that they you got to work.

You're gonna have to work Whether they hate it or not, you know, that yard is not going to mow itself Those dishes are not going to wash themselves people love and hate work

Work doesn't just provide money. It provides meaning personal identity and employment often go together More often than not the first question you get asked when you meet someone is what do you do?

What you do many people assume is who you are who you are. So if you're doing nothing

Many people begin to feel that they are nothing they get depressed work gives them a sense of adding something to the world

No, I'm the person who Delivers this mail or builds this building teaches these kids cooks this food edits this magazine

Repairs these cars takes care of these Patients makes this place or this program work cleans this house

There there are products from me in this world Manifestations of my presence to show that I was here this task

I accomplished or thing I produce is something that I can hold in my hand as proof that I am somebody but without a job

With nothing in your hand People often suffer feelings of anxiety panic

Depression are just a bored Jerryness, I produce nothing.

I'm paid nothing. I Am nothing they think people love and hate work and It's the same with religion

We want to work at least some what have something to show for ourselves something in our hands

We can bring to God something to boast about we assume that God loves or at least demands like a tough boss our work, but what does he really demand and By the way, what's

God's work? Well, we see that here in his first 10 verses of Ephesians chapter 2 in three parts first bad work second

God's work and finally our work Well people want to work but when it comes to God To pleasing and obeying him

They can't That that's a work that they're not capable of doing because he says Paul says in verse 1

There you look at the verse hear that look at the verse verse 1 We were dead in our trespasses and sins that is we live a life of crossing

God's boundaries He said do not covet but we covet we live for money or we live for things or relationships or thrills

And so we sin and that kind of life Paul says we're dead That's our condition before God dead

This is the doctrine of total depravity Now I've seen people who deny total depravity when we come to this verse say well, we're exaggerating what it says

What it says about human nature. We're exaggerating it, but I don't see how you can exaggerate dead

I Think dead is about the worst condition. You can be in I assume I don't know much about medicine

But I'm pretty sure of that if a doctor came to you and said I don't want to I don't want to alarm you but but I don't want to exaggerate the severity of his condition, but He's dead

What that doesn't make any sense does it? Medically dead I assume is as bad as you can get once you're diagnosed as dead

They are going to diagnose you with anything worse. It's not gonna get worse from there There isn't a category lower than dead

The dead body lacks any power in itself to help itself.

It can't recuperate Medicine and bedrest won't help doctors. Don't send dead people back home.

I'll let him rest a while Maybe he'll get over it physical therapy doesn't help on the dead time will not heal the wounds of death

Being dead is the worst condition the one of absolute hopelessness At least hopeless that the dead can help themselves and That's what the

Apostle Paul is saying about people who are in their trespasses and sins rather than being in Christ the lost are

Dead, they're hopeless. They have no power in themselves to help themselves

It's like a corpse. It won't respond. It won't recover to treatment Well, no matter what you treat it with it.

The corpse is not going to recover in itself spiritually It's as bad as you can get there's no diagnosis more severe than that, which has been given to us

DOA dead on arrival But what does it mean to be spiritually dead?

After all unbelievers can do good things at least from our point of view. They can be nice some believers can be nice They can be they can give they can be faithful.

They can be good citizens. They can be good neighbors There's plenty of unbelievers, I'm not having is my neighbors

I used to pass by a Buddhist free clinic in Singapore They certainly were believers in the

Lord Jesus. They were Buddhist, but they gave their time and the money to help people's medical problems So, how can it how can they be like here dead and there's trespasses and sins?

Because being spiritually dead is being dead to God like a physically dead person is dead to physical things

He's unresponsive physically unable to do physical things like play basketball walk breathe

So a spiritually dead person is unresponsive spiritually unable to do spiritual things like believe

He or she can't hear the voice of God. The eyes of his heart are Are blind you can't respond with faith and love can't obey

God's commands now He or she may end up doing What God commands he might not murder anyone

He might be faithful to his wife might not steal might not lie He might be a helpful neighbor, but he's not doing those things out of faith in the

Lord out of love for the Lord but maybe he's doing it for Whatever whatever reason because he maybe he's just reasoned

Figured out being a good family person being a good citizen being a good neighbor It's just best for me.

He thinks it keeps me from being divorced. And so losing a lot of my things Having to pay a lawyer

I'm all the drama of a furious wife taking my golf clubs and smashing in my car window like what happened with Tiger Woods Keeps me free from STDs and going to jail for murder or for theft or being sued for slander.

He's me out of trouble maybe he even looks at the big picture and Thinks you know that living right makes the world a better place and he wants he wants that particularly for his children

He leaves behind he wants the world to be a better place. Now is such a person dead in his trespasses and sins Yes, he is if he's not doing those things out of faith in God Whatever is not a faith is sin

Paul says in Romans chapter 14 verse 23. So one can be very moral and still living in sin and so dead

The dead person is unresponsive on an unable. He doesn't hear the Word of God Oh, he may hear the

Bible read might hear a sermon preached He might hear the gospel shared, but he can't hear God himself speaking through those things

He can't see the eyes of his heart are not enlightened as Paul prayed in chapter 1 so he can't respond to it

It doesn't matter how loudly you say it How brilliantly you package it?

It's like shouting at a corpse. It does no good. He's dead now being dead

He's unable he's unable to do the work that God calls him to he can't believe he can't repent he can't worship

He can't really do anything that God wants him or her to do nagging won't help Motivating won't help.

The problem is not a lack of will as though if only you could inspire

These people to to finally do what is right To pray a prayer to get baptized to go to church to give money to read the

Bible to keep all the rules Then they would be alright. No Sure, the unsaved can physically be made to do all those things.

You can bring them to church You can raise them in those environment, but unless they are done with faith Those things do no good for them and faith is only possible where there is life and They're dead so God commands work

Do the Ten Commandments love your neighbor as yourself love the Lord with all your strength and mind and heart

Believe in Jesus seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness There is work to be done.

He commands all that work for you to do. You're commanded to believe the gospel That's the work.

Do you do it? But if you're into your trespasses and sins if you're in your natural condition You can't you're dead

It's like looking for new workers. You won't need a new worker for your job and you go to the graveyard You saying to the coal graves there everyone who wants a job come with me

Even if they could hear you because they can't because they're dead. They're unable to respond They're dead and that's what we do when we try to tell unbelievers just to obey

God You're telling them to do something. They can't do I'm sure they can do the actual

Things they can attend the church. They can actually read the Bible. They can pray the prayer They can be very religious, but they're not really doing it out of faith and love to God So they're not really doing what they're commanded to do.

They can't do that Because they're dead And that they're dead to God even if they're moral their hope as the walking dead is outside of themselves

But the problem gets worse What is outside of themselves in this world?

And it's working in them Isn't helping them People who are dead

Paul goes on in verse 2 they are following Paul says the prince of the power of the air

This is one of those rulers and authorities and powers and Dominion that he mentioned in chapter 1 verse 21 Over which

Christ now rules, but those who are dead Not only that they dead in themselves They're they are still under that rule the prince of the power of the air that say

Satan or that satanic spirit is Working is working hard making them walk in bad works

Speaking of work to be done the satanic spirit is the spirit that is now at work in The sons of disobedience in verse 2 so you understand how bad things have gotten now

Are they dead so unresponsive to God that they need outside help? But what they're getting from outside is a spirit that makes them do bad things

So it is churning in them Agitating them throwing more fuel in the fire of their fleshly disobedience the poet

William Butler Yeats wrote The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of a passionate intensity

Sometimes it seems that those committed to some kind of immoral cause Have a furnace of a passion in them propelling them to never stop

Whether it be whatever cause for racism the Ku Klux Klan to the Confederacy before that a satanic

Passionate intensity just totally unreasonable. It just fueled Nazism communism

Islamic jihad Gang members who can't rest until they do some bad work like a drive -by shooting

It's like something is in them Just won't let them stop until they till they do their evil deed a spirit is at work

Stirring them up to do bad things now such people outside of Christ are Sons he calls them of disobedience sons of disobedience in verse 2

See that in verse 2 sons of disobedience children of disobedience disobedience has begotten them

It's their parent They're the children of disobedience. So like their parents they disobey

It's in their family Our first parents Adam and Eve disobeyed. They had only one law to break

Don't eat of that tree and they broke it and all of the rest of us from that time have been the sons and daughters of that disobedience inheriting the guilt and the nature of disobeying

Okay, there's the guilt of it. There were we disobey God's laws that needs to be cured

By treads crest his law and there is the corruption the evil nature that incurs

God's wrath That needs to be treated those two things we need a double cure in those sons that sons and daughters of disobedience a

Satanic spirit is hard at work. It's ripping them up even to even more Disobedience the spirit working in them causes them to work.

It's their job Their identity. They're not just people who disobey they are disobeyers

They work hard at it day and night never stopping 24 -7 never taking a vacation never taking a day off never a rest break

They're disobeying with every breath that they breathe in Unbelief they disobey when they sleep in unbelief when they wake and take a shower in unbelief

They eat breakfast in unbelief. They go to work all without faith in the Lord all the time.

They are laboring for Disobedience they're employed by it and they're getting its wages death

So were we all in verse 3 see verse 3 among whom

That is among these sons and daughters of disobedience. We all once lived notice you were

Dead in verse 1 and here verse 3 you once Walked his past tense now things are different now at least hopefully for you in other words

We all live like them We may have been moral May have been raised in a great family that taught us manners and how to work hard may been dependable

They've been nice to others. We just weren't obedient to God We weren't born a Christian.

We were born dead like the rest of the world and The world lives in the passions of its of the flesh

Now notice in verse 3 the flesh a lot of people think they flesh they think just the body just physical things

Maybe they sexual sin and that's all they think of but here verse 3 the flesh consists of either the body or the mind

You can live according to the flesh either by following your body and its desires or your mind your ego your self -centered thoughts

That and sometimes that will make you willing if you're following your mind What you want in your ego you're willing to sacrifice the comforts of their body

For how you appear religious hypocrites will fast To appear spiritual.

Look how spiritual I am I fasted for so many days and may give up foods and drinks that they like to get a good reputation

Now spiritual I am I don't drink that other people will die it, you know in the world.

They do that They'll die it they'll become anorexics vomiting their food because the desires of their mind Overcome the desires of their body.

They want to be ultra thin They want to be the supermodel or maybe they afflict themselves with exercise because they crave the athletic body or train and train sacrificing the comforts of their body

Because of their ego and we see here the three enemies of the Christian in this passage first is the world

Because the course of the world are literally the age of the reigning spirit

That just drives many people of this world Second the devil the prince of the power of the air and third the flesh

That is the the desires of the body and mind that rule the sons of disobedience making them what he says here children of wrath

Children of wrath That is they are by nature He says in verse 3 notice that they're by nature not something that they that they were good boys and girls

But they they made a few bad decisions. No by nature They are people who are born to get wrath

They're born to get God's anger his furious punishment at sin.

That's that's their nature Punishment is theirs properly They disobey

Constantly because that's who they are There that's their work. And so they have earned God's judgment his furious punishment and those aren't those aren't the people out there

He's talking about He's talking about us That's the way we were

Hopefully for y 'all of you in the past But he says like the rest of mankind others like all people like they all are now

They are working But they're doing bad works but God See that in verse 4

But God here's the great contrast Here's the turning point Everything has been pretty bad news so far.

It's gone as bad as it can possibly be but God The contrast everything was dark in death

But God there was there's no hope for life. You're dead but God There was only sin and Satan But God our work had earned only

God's anger but God the great breakthrough

We're dead. We're sons of disobedience. The spirit of Satan is at work in us We're children of wrath then suddenly a work is done who did it?

but God Another way of looking at this passage just step back

Again, it's one sentence one long sentence these whole ten verses in Greek One way of looking at is take it apart grammatically

First simplify it to its core Subject verb object the subject of the sentence the one who is doing the work doing the action

Well here is God the subject is God. He has to be the one doing the action At first because he's the one who's not dead.

The verbs are in verse 5 raised up and seated us Right God raised up and seated us

Will ways up and seated who the object is is you? in verse 1 are us

Here the you in verse 1 is the us in verse 5 you are Or us

God raised you or us up. That's the core of The sentence you were diagramming it.

That's the one on the straight line in the middle. Everything goes off from there God raised you up He begins a verse 1 with the object the one the action is done to what about you

Well, you were dead. You followed the prince of the power of the air. You are sons of disobedience You lived according to your flesh and so you deserve by nature

God's punishing anger But you're no longer sons of disobedience You're no longer children of wrath

We've gone from the death to life now why? Because because we had done something is that what did it we did the religious works we worked our way out of it

No, we couldn't this Paul reminds us again in verse 5. Notice why he repeats it again case you forgot

Because there's people dead in sins. We tend to flatter ourselves to think well, I'm not that bad But in verse 5 he repeats it we were dead in trespasses

We were unable we couldn't believe or repent or obey. We couldn't do anything for God.

Really we were incapable of that We were dead But God Who does the work?

God made us alive. God raised us up. God made us God worked now.

Why why did he do it in verse 4 being rich in? Mercy, God is rich in mercy.

He worked because of the great love With which he loved us if our work says something about our identity

God's work says something about his identity That God is love He loved people who could do nothing for him because they were dead

Notice in verse 5 he raised us up even when we were dead Unresponsive unable to do any good work then at that crucial moment with no hope in ourselves the subject

Did the work that is God? Made us alive together with Christ.

That is when God raised Jesus from the dead. He saw us in Him what

Jesus did for us at the cross and the resurrection that gained for us life so that now you were past tense dead

But God made us alive together with Christ That is that is what

God worked He made dead people alive And there could be no mistaking that it is it's all his work.

That's how How clearly out repetitively like he's a lawyer trying to close every loophole.

He it's all his work so Paul even interjects by grace you have been saved and In verse 6 he raised us up with him in chapter 1.

We looked at last week We saw that Christ is seated high above every all the spirits the powers of the air

That impress other people they carry them away to do those bad works. We talked about he's raised us up over them so we should never be caught up in the spirit of this world those rulers that are at work in the sons of disobedience and Worldly people making them full of that passionate intensity for their sins.

Jesus is over all that and So we don't have to be frightened By other spirits here.

Paul says that we are raised up with him. So that's our place Raised up with him in God's eyes and we are seated there

We're seated We're sitting with him from God's point of view. We're seated Because we're not working

We're at rest. We're not working for our salvation. That's entirely God's work Salvation is

God's job. That's his employment So much so that he identifies himself with it the name

Jesus by the way means the Lord is salvation He doesn't want us he doesn't want us trying to do his job

You ever get irritated when someone tries to do your job. They don't do it, right? He doesn't want us trying to do his job because we can't do it, right?

We can't anyway after all To begin with we're dead We're sons of disobedience with a satanic spirit working in us living for the flesh conformed to the power of the world

People who are by nature incur God's wrath now some argue Well, I can't be that total because we have free will after all

But a person like that dead the satanic spirit moving them along a person like that is always going to use his or her free will

To walk in trespasses and sin. They'll always choose sin But God resurrected us raised us up seated us over those spirits of the world because For those chosen for the foundation of the world.

He will move heaven and earth to save them and so their salvation is done so You could be seated stay seated.

Relax. It's done. The work is over God has done that work in verse 7 in you look at the verse verse 7

So that the reason the goal This is it. Why is he doing it in the coming ages?

I was in the future He might show He's going to show off. It's going to demonstrate like a trophy

You have a trophy you show it put it in a cabinet people can see he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness

Toward us in Christ Jesus that is he plans on making us trophies

Examples that prove his grace for ages yet to come he will show us off He'll be saying you know these people

That they were dead in sin the satanic spirit was working in them They were children of disobedience living for the flesh by nature deserving eternal damnation

But now look at them. They're alive They're seated with me.

They're at rest All the grace that's so far beyond what we can describe immeasurable rich grace in kindness

Now we who were salvaged from the junk of the world We will be trophies that God can use for ages to come to show off How deep the father's love for us how vast?

beyond all measure for That's because we'll make trophies of grace because by grace

You have been saved through faith. Now. Here's some imagine

Because we always like to try to find our work something we can do imagine that well faith. Aha. That's what I do, right?

Finally, that's our little that's our little Piece of work that we add to the mix that faith is kind of the switch that we we flip to turn on God's grace

They think it all depends God does maybe 99 % of it But it still it depends on that little decision we make if we choose to believe we choose to have faith

They think but now we should understand wait now, that's that's not possible

And without God's grace, we've already seen we're dead We're living in sin

We're sons of disobedience as satanic spirit is working in us and by nature where people who provoke God's anger

How is such a person going to muster up the faith that it takes to turn on God's grace.

He can't he won't He just will never make that choice left to himself because he's dead

Dead means he won't respond to the invitation He means he doesn't have the capacity though he doesn't have a life to do any such thing a dead body has no power in itself to heal itself a

Spiritually dead person has no power to heal himself to believe to repent to love

God So how how do we get faith in if we can't gin it up in our own hearts?

We already answered that anyway but God God does the work. He made us alive.

He raises up by grace, which came to us through faith and all of that including the faith

Was the gift of God This is the gift of God. God gave us the grace and the life and he even gave us the faith

We just take our seat our work adds nothing to it. This is not your own doing

He says at the end of verse 8 It is the gift of God God worked it and then he gave it to us

Like a father gives food and clothing and lodging to his children then in verse 9

Because we're so inclined This naturally kind of people were are inclined to think we work we work for it

We add at least something to it our rule keeping we think the best must got to keep a few rules our decency our prayer our baptism

Our free will something has to come from us Paul really bears down on the point our salvation He says it's not a result of works

We don't earn it if it depended on anything we add to it then we could boast we would boast wouldn't we?

Something about us is what essentially came down to to make it possible. We would boast I made the right decisions

I prayed the right prayer. I went to the right church. I had the good sense to believe the right doctrine.

I I I But that's not how we got out of death remember but God But God hates our work

When we think we can bring it to him and we can boast We can claim our rights to salvation when something he hates it when something in our hands

We bring it rather than to only the cross we claim But God has determined to save that boasting all for himself so that for eternity he can say

I had grace I Showed kindness beyond measure.

I gave my only son to make those wretches my treasure

Why? Why is he so intent that we do no work that only he does it he does it all

I Don't leave us a little something to do a little choice to make a little religious chore, you know that we have to do

To get that salvation we can incorporate a little bit something we could add our two cents worth

So that we could cooperate with God's with God's work You know like the way we often get our parents get their kids to do some chores around the house

Even though they could do it themselves, but they want to give the children something to do Why does it God do the same with us for our salvation?

Why does it God leave us a little something to do to earn it because at verse 10? Salvation is his job

For because this explains why verse 10 why he doesn't want us to have anything to boast about.

Here's the reason We are his workmanship Get that we are his

Workmanship, we're not his workers like many imagine we're not as employees We're his children or his workmanship.

We're not the producer We're the product. He's the potter. We're the clay he's the creator we're the creation and Salvation begins in our experience with him making us a new

Creation if anyone is in Christ He is a new creation We are created in Christ Jesus and what

Jesus did for us through a perfect life Death for our sins risen from the dead.

We are created new That's our salvation from death to life

Life in Christ and it's all God's work not a result of our works But it does result in our works

We go from the beginning of this amazing sentence one long sentence from dead people like zombies

Walking in trespasses and sins at bad works to living people walking in good works again

Salvation is not a result of our works But it does result in our works so there's the bad works of the world the flesh and the devil and There is

God But God doing his work of making us alive So we can sit finally at that last verse we are working and walking

We don't have to be depressed like unemployed people. We have an identity And say people we have a job to do now.

The job isn't to add to our salvation We already seen with that. We can't that's done. God has done it all he settled it all he's doing the job

He's done the job and is doing the job of that work in us working on us But it is as good as done and as far as salvation is concerned we are seated but as far as good works go

Like loving all the Saints he spoke of in chapter 1 We are walking We are created for the purpose of God's creation good works and that's now our job those good works

Don't do themselves We now have Saints to love we have vans to drive

We have kids to be taught the gospel sometimes be told to be quiet sit still supervision to keep things in order

Proclaiming his immeasurable riches of his grace to the guys who come here We have kids who need a place to play we have a sound system sometimes needs tweaking

We have money that needs to be given so that we can do those things We have people to be visited neighbors to help family to take care of we have good works that God has made us to do

Which God has prepared he has put van driving opportunities praying opportunities

Teaching leading play our music opportunities before us He has brought kids here so that we can teach them and give up giving us messes to clean

Friends and family who need help or a kind word God himself has prepared

These good works. Let's not just pass them by he prepared them So that we might walk in them

God loves and hates our Work, he hates it when we try to use it to take glory away from him

Coming to him as if we can come to him with something in our hands to boast about He loves it

When it's the product the fruit of his grace When it is what he prepared for us and we then walk in it

So don't be depressed You're not unemployed He's given you a job to do.

He's already done the heavy lifting. He's lifted us out of death to life He's raised us up.

He's made us trophies of grace. He seated us Salvation is entirely his work.

None of it is arguing nothing in our hands we bring Now If you've been raised up and they're seated in Christ all you have to do is get up and walk

If you're not yet raised up if you're still in your sins Pray that God would do that work now that he would raise you up.