OPEN: A young, married Bible College graduate and his bride were unpacking in their first parsonage. The young bride showed the young preacher a box and told him that he had to promise never to look in it. It was her personal box. He made the promise, but after 25 years he happened to see it on the shelf in the closet. He opened it and found 3 eggs and $1500 in cash.
That night, his curiosity got the better of him and he admitted to his wife that he had looked in the box. He asked her to explain the eggs and the money.
She replied: “Every time you preached a bad sermon, I put an egg in the box.”
The preacher felt pretty good about only 3 bad sermons in 25 years. “But, what about all that cash,” he asked.
She replied: “Whenever I got a dozen eggs I sold them.”
QUESTION: Do you think that would have troubled her husband?
What would have troubled him so much?
ANSWER: He’d have been troubled because - while his wife had a great gift to give him - he would have preferred a gift that would have he would have earned by his good work.
Ephesians 2 tells us that God also has great gifts that He wants to give to us… but the chapter starts out with these peculiar words… (Reread Ephesians 2:1-9)
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved."
NOTICE what this tells us:
1st (vs. 1) We were dead in our sins
2nd (vs. 2) We were under the power of the ruler of the Kingdom of the air (Satan)
3rd (vs. 3) We once lived satisfying our sinful cravings… and we were objects of wrath
I. Now, why would Paul start out his description of the gifts God had given us by telling us how evil we have been in the past?
ANSWER: Because he wanted to drive home how undeserving we are of the gifts he’s going to describe in the rest of the chapter. In fact, Paul reinforces this message in verses 8 and 9:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."
Why would it be important for us to know that?
Why would Paul go to such lengths to prove to us that we don’t deserve God’s gift?
Because, there are people in the church never seem to comprehend that they DON’T deserve God’s gifts. In fact, sometimes they even believe they somehow deserve what they have in the church.
ILLUS: I have observed 2nd and 3rd generation church members who treat the church and their relationship with God as though it were something that was their birthright… They "owned" these things because of their parents’ or grandparents’ faith.
For example: I once knew of an Elder who became an Elder simply because his father had been one. It was his "birthright." And the man was definitely not Elder material. He was disrespectful of aged mother, and even his kids had no respect for him.
It is of great importance that we realize that we have no "right" to the salvation God has given us through Jesus Christ. Without that realization we can never fully appreciate and respond to the gracious gift of Christ’s power in our lives.
That’s why Paul goes to such lengths to tell us, that before God got hold of us, we…
1st (vs. 1) … were dead in our sins
2nd (vs. 2) … were under the power of the ruler of the Kingdom of the air (Satan)
3rd (vs. 3) … once lived satisfying our sinful cravings…And we were objects of wrath
II. Now contrast that with what Paul describes as our status AFTER salvation
(Reread Ephesians 2:4-10) "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
AFTER salvation we’re told…
(vs. 5) … we’ve been saved by God’s grace… and because of that
(vs. 5) … we’ve been made alive in Christ
(vs. 6) and we’ve been seated with Christ in the heavenly places
III. There’s a couple of things that I want to note here.
1st God changed our status.
BEFORE we met Christ, we were "dead in our transgressions." (vs. 1).
But NOW that we’ve been reborn into Jesus … we’ve been “MADE ALIVE with Christ” (vs. 5)
2ndly God changed our position
BEFORE we met Christ, we were objects of God’s wrath and subject to the "prince of the power of the air" (vss. 2 and 3).
NOW, God has "raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus" (vs. 6)
ILLUS: But, now, wait a minute… I’m seated with Christ in the heavenly realms? That doesn’t make sense. That seems to defy reality. Am I mistaken, or are we are all presently seated here in a church building on Burlington Ave.? Of course we are!
But this verse is telling us that - while that may be a physical reality - there is a "spiritual reality." And that spiritual reality is that we are in literally seated - right now - in the heavenly realms with Christ.
Now, that has a unique application when you go over a few chapters to Ephesians 6:12.
“…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12
QUESTION: In Ephesians 6:12, who’s in the heavenly realms? (get answer from audience)
That’s right, we are! Ephesians 2:6 tells us WE are seated in the heavenly realms in Christ… NOT the rulers, authorities, powers of darkness, or forces of evil. We are the ones in the heavenly realms.
ILLUS: When an army goes to war and they have to defend a position, where would they prefer to be? Would they want to be at the bottom of hill fighting their way up hill. Or, would they prefer being at the top of hill shooting down?
Every soldier in any army in the world will tell you - they prefer the higher ground.
What God is telling us is - in spiritual warfare… you and I have the higher ground
Ø We have the advantage
Ø And as long as we remain seated with Christ – Satan CAN’T beat us.
This is ALL because of the grace of God. It’s all because of God’s great love.
We received something we didn’t deserve… couldn’t buy… couldn’t earn… but we it was given freely to us when we accepted His gifts by faith, repentance, confession, and baptism.
IV. Now (let’s revue)… by God’s grace
…we have been saved
…we’ve been given new life in Jesus
…and we have been placed in a position of strength and security
Why did God do all that?
Did He do it so that we can be a feather in His cap?
Is God driven by how many "souls" He can accumulate?
Does He just gather us up and put us in a showcase so He can pull us out once and while and show us off?
Did He do it so that we can sit back in our pews and coast thru the rest of life?
Oh no… we’re far more important to God than that!!!
Notice what it says in Ephesians 2:10 (read it with me)
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
You see… we are God’s workmanship
At one time, we had no value AT ALL to God. But because God loved us and cared about us He took our lives (when we were dead in our transgressions and our sins)… He took that which was useless and had no value to Him and He remade us. He REcreated us to be something useful, so that our lives would have value and purpose
ILLUS: A young man was on the verge of deciding to become a Christian, and the preacher pointed out that once he gave his life to Christ, it would means he wouldn’t have to fear death anymore.
The young replied “You know, I don’t fear death. I don’t think I have ever been afraid to die. What I’m afraid of is that I will waste my life.”
Psychologist, Viktor Frankl once noted that “Clinics are crowded with people suffering from a new kind of neurosis, a sense of total and ultimate meaninglessness of life”
What God is telling us in Ephesians 2 is that (when we allow God to work in our lives)…
… we won’t ever have to be afraid of wasting our lives
… we won’t ever have to be worried about our lives being empty and meaningless
You see… this is the exciting part about being a Christian. Because, once we become Christians
Ø God takes our lives (which really have no value in and of themselves)
Ø And He gives us a reason to exist
In fact, even before you and I became Christians, God had good works prepared in advance for us to do.
ILLUS: Do you remember, back in the book of Genesis, that when God created Adam and Eve, He gave them dominion over the ENTIRE earth. And right after God gave them that authority God created one more thing. What was it? (I gave the audience time to respond). That’s right - the Garden of Eden. God created the Garden just for them.
Why did He do that? Because, while Adam and Eve now had authority over the entire world… that was too big a responsibility for just two people. So God created a small world just for them to look after, created specifically for them to work in and enjoy.
Ephesians 2:10 is telling us that God has created a garden for each one of us. A garden filled with works that we can do. That are tailored to our specific personalities and abilities. Just as God created Adam and Eve to have dominion over their garden, so also God has re-created us to do good works.
V. Now, some will ask: “what is it that God wants me to do?”
Oh… if God told you ahead of time – that would take all the fun out of it.
ILLUS: Have you ever watched children at Christmas? They’ll sit in there with 6 or 7 presents in front of them, and they’ll open the first present. They’ll play with that gift for about 5 minutes and then what do they do? They scramble to open the next present… and the next… and the next. It wouldn’t matter if the first present was the most exciting toy or beautiful garment they had ever seen in their lives… they just have to open that next present. Why? Because the fun in Christmas is not opening of the gifts. It’s the anticipation of the unknown. It’s that hidden joy, wrapped in beautiful paper, waiting to be unveiled.
You see, part of the joy of a being a Christian is opening the gifts. If God told you ahead of time what He wanted you to do… it would spoil the fun. It’s almost like a treasure hunt. We look for the clues of what God wants us to do as we go along in our lives
BUT If this like a treasure hunt (you might ask)… where do we start looking? (pause…) I’m glad you asked…
We start looking for these “gifts” God has for us – by making ourselves available to God NOW
You see, when we make ourselves available to God, then He makes our purpose for our lives obvious to us.
As Jesus said "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much…” Luke 16:10
INTRODUCE TALENT SHEETS
CLOSE: God is waiting for you and I to show Him that we can be responsible with what we have in our lives right now. If we show our selves to be available to Him right now… if we show that we are willing to work with the opportunities He’s placed before us right now… then, He will be willing to give us even greater and more satisfying responsibilities.
On a stormy night many years ago an elderly gentleman & his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in Philadelphia. "All the big hotels are filled up," the man said, "could you possibly give us a room here?"
The clerk, a man by the name of George Boldt, he explained that there were 3 conventions in town, and all the hotels were filled to capacity. "And all our rooms are filled too… still, I simply can’t send a nice couple like you out in the rain at 1:00 in the morning. Would you possibly be willing to sleep in my room?
At first the couple was reluctant, but because the hotel clerk insisted, they finally agreed.
Next morning as the elderly gentleman paid his bill, he remarked to the clerk, "You are the kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Who knows, someday I may build one for you."
The clerk looked a bit surprised at such an unusual suggestion; but the old gentleman’s wife smiled knowingly, The three had a good laugh over the elderly man’s extravagant remark. The clerk helped them with their bags to the cab.
Two years that passed, and the clerk nearly forgot the incident. And then he received a letter from the man. It recalled that memorable night and enclosed a round trip ticket to New York City, asking the young man to pay them a visit.
In New York City, after renewing the acquaintance, the elderly gentleman led his guest to the corner of Fifth Avenue & Thirty-fourth Street and pointed to a grand new building there, a palace of reddish stone, with turrets and watch towers, like a castle from fairyland thrusting into the sky.
"That" said the old man, "is the hotel I have just built for you to manage."
"You must be joking," the young man said.
"I most assuredly am not," said the man with a smile. “You see, my name William Waldorf Astor and this will be the Waldorf Astoria, and it’s yours to run."
