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

Ephesians 2:1-10 and the Question of 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 and it's 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 a 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 Jerriness, 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 release some when I 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 here 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 what 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 it can be they can give it can be faithful.

It 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 wants the world to be a better place. Now is such a person dead in his trespasses and sins. Yes, yes, 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 all right.

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 under 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 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.

They dead so unresponsive to God 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 in a confederacy before that I'd 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 is 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 take 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. How spiritual I am. I don't drink that other people will diet, you know in the world they do that they'll diet.

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 I was 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 it worked 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 or 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 and 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 how 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 that 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 do 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? Others in the future. He might show.

He's going to show off. It's going to demonstrate like a trophy of 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 they 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's 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.

No, 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 it 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 ought to answer that 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. It's 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 that must gotta 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. Why 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 cooperate 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. I mean he imagined 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 or 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 and 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. You 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.

He would give you the faith left the water and the blood From Jesus's wounded side which flowed be of sin your sin the double cure curing you of both wrath and Making you pure.