Happy Palm Sunday to all of you! We celebrate the day Christ entered Jerusalem with shouts of Hosanna ringing in the air. As much as I admire Martin Luther King Jr., there are not even two people who gather every Sunday to celebrate him. But over one hundred million will gather together to celebrate Jesus each and every Sunday.
Keep your Bibles open to Ephesians 2 (page 1159-1160 in your pew Bibles).
Jesus wants to change your life and your perspective. Maybe you think that the most successful people are God’s only favorite people. As one person put it, the best are blessed. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let me show you why.
1. You’re United to Christ
Hope comes from Jesus Christ: “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—” (Ephesians 2:5).
Your spiritual life began when you met Jesus Christ. And notice what Christ does when He enters your life – the Bible says Christ “made us alive together with” Him. That’s resurrection language. That’s Easter terminology.
1.1 Resurrection Conference
Imagine this with me. What if every person from the Bible who was raised back to life got together in one place? The Bible is full of “almost funerals.” What if the daughter of Jairus and the leader of the synagogue from Jesus’ day got together the widow’s son from Zarephath from Elijah’s day? Remember, both were dead and brought back to life. And what if you saw the widow’s son from the small town of Nain talking with Tabita, who was prayed back to life? Remember, this widow’s son’s funeral was another one of those “almost funerals” when Jesus spoke his dead body back to life. And what if you were darting by your children’s classroom at school only to have someone tell you that Lazarus, the man who was dead for three days, was in the next room down the hall? And he talking to Eutychus, the young man who fell asleep during Paul’s long sermon? Do you have any idea how many dead people come back to life in the pages of the Bible? I’m only sharing with you a sample, just a taste of the “almost funerals” in the Bible. Imagine if all these people were together in one place. Would you want to circle back and listen to them retell their stories? Would you shush your little ones in order to hear them compare their stories? Oh, the stories they would tell about the voice calling them from their very grave.
1.2 Spiritual Resurrection Stories
Gathered in this very room is another kind of resurrection conference. You are surrounded by those who have been raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. In this very place are many who were at one time dead in their trespasses and sins but are now raised to spiritual life. Sitting down just a few feet from you in the pew is a man, a woman, or even a teenager whose spiritual rotting corpse was made alive by Jesus Christ. He was a dead man walking. She was a dead woman walking. But Christ entered into her life and his life. The Bible says you were dead and now are alive. Christ entered into his life, and life now lives where only death resided!
Nothing I am telling you is fiction. The Bible speaks in terms of Easter in the passage you just heard. Notice that God does three items for believers: “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6).
God made YOU alive, God raised YOU up, and God seated YOU with Him. Essentially, Paul is taking the events of Easter weekend and making it personal to you. He’s personalizing Jesus’ life for you.
1.3 What is Christian?
If I were to ask you, “What do you think a Christian is?” and you were to say, “I think a Christian is somebody who just tries their best to live like Jesus said…” That is a popular sentiment, but it’s nothing close to what the Bible says a believer truly is. Becoming a Christian is a radical thing, a revolutionary thing. Becoming a Christian isn’t adding something to life.
Now, there are some people in the room who don’t know Christ who need to hear this. But there are also some people who follow Christ who need to be reminded of this.
The difference between being a Christian and not believing is the difference between being dead and alive. God makes you alive with Christ… He raises you up with Christ… and He seats you in the heavenlies. A Christian is a whole lot more than someone who goes to church and does some good.
1.4 The Prefix “Syn”
Again, the Bible says God made YOU alive, God raised YOU up, and God seated YOU with Him. Those three verbs in verses 5 & 6 all have the little Greek prefix syn. Let me show you: All three of those verbs are compound words with a Greek prefix on the front end. In English, we know what syn- means. It means “together with.” We have the word synonymous and synthesis that uses this Greek prefix. The believer was made alive WITH Christ, raised WITH Christ, and seated WITH Christ. You are united with Christ. The believer is following in the very steps of Jesus on Easter weekend. Jesus was alive on Easter Sunday, and at conversion, the believer is made alive just like Jesus. Jesus rose on Easter Sunday, and when you put your faith in Christ, you are raised just like Jesus. Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father and was seated, and the believer is seated in heavenly places just like Jesus. Again, you are following in your Master’s footsteps.
You are united with Christ – that’s what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is someone who is united with Christ. We were dead in sin, BUT GOD made us alive with Christ! We were held captive to the prince of the power of the air and enslaved to the course of this world… … BUT GOD raised us with Christ and made us sit with him in the heavenly places!
Yes, you were dead!
Yes, you were captive!
Yes, you were doomed!
I know for many of you, you thought being a Christian just meant, “Hey, I thought it meant to ask God for forgiveness and try your best to live a good life.” Yeah, that’s part of what it means to be a Christian, but don’t you see? This is on a whole different level from what you thought. To be a Christian is to be united with Christ. It’s to experience spiritually what He is experiencing physically that Easter weekend.
1. You’re United to Christ
2. You’re Made Alive
“even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—” (Ephesians 2:5).
2.1 Feel the Miracle
Do you feel the miracle of being made alive? Many professing Christians don’t feel it.
We feel depressed by the day’s news.
We feel hopeful that a stimulus check is coming.
We feel bored by the humdrum of life.
But we don’t feel the miracle.
2.2 Spiritually Dead
The Bible says you were/are spiritually dead. What does this mean? It means you have no spiritual energy to pursue God. You are spiritual DOA – you are dead on arrival in your spiritual life.
What does it mean to have no spiritual life? It means you have no appetite to pursue God. Bible reading for even one minute feels like an eternity when you can watch your favorite tv shows all night long. Prayer before a family meal feels like real work but pursuing Facebook for an hour is effortless. God’s dead to you.
2.3 Spiritually Dead Means
What does it mean to be spiritually dead to God?
To be spiritually dead means at least two things in the Bible.
2.3.1 We Have a Hard Heart
Here’s the second way to be spiritually dead is to have a hard heart: “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18).
The Bible says that underneath your ignorance or my ignorance is a hard heart. This is not an “I didn’t know” kind of ignorance but an “I don’t want to know” kind of ignorance. And there’s a big difference between those two. All this is because outside of Christ, we are spiritually dead. Just like when you see someone spiritually dead, you are spiritually dead. If you could be hooked up to a spiritual EKG, you flatline it.
2.3.2 Penicillin to a Dead Man
If you stick a needle in the arm of a dead man and pump his arm full of penicillin, you will not do anything. If you take Excedrin and Tylenol and you force it down a dead lady’s throat, you haven’t done them any good. Just like when you see someone spiritually dead, you are spiritually dead. We don’t respond to God and the Bible. We don’t have a desire to pray to God because the Bible says we are dead to God.
2.3.4 No Romance
In some ways, it’s like a relationship when the man and the woman break up or divorce. They realize there are no feelings for one another. There’s no flame—God’s dead to you in much the same way.
2.4 I’m Not Dead to God
It’s important for you to hear that the Bible doesn’t say we are dead to God but that God is dead to us. There’s a big difference, and it’s important for you to see it. God doesn’t say, “You’re dead to me,” like a mafia guy because you disrespected Him. Listen carefully to the distinction: God is dead to you, but you’re not dead to God. No, the Bible tells us instead that “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4). To accurately describe God’s love for you, the Bible uses the word “love” as both a noun and a verb. It repeats the same word, “love,” to show you His feelings toward you. And that isn’t enough because it adds the word “great” to this – He possessed great love to love us.
2.5 Sleep with the Fishes
Don’t you feel how remarkable this is? Here you are disrespected God like this, and He doesn’t put a hit out for you! God does all this, and He feels all this for you even though you say to God, “You’re dead to me” a thousand times a day! If God were like a mafia type of guy, He would have sent you a dead fish wrapped in newspaper for the way you’ve treated Him. You know the “sleep with the fishes” metaphor, right? When you receive the fish wrapped in newspaper, you know you’re dangerously close to being a target for the mafia. If God were a mafia-type of God and you disrespected Him the way you’ve done, He would have made you “sleep with the fishes” so long ago. Instead, God sent His Son to die for those who are dead to Him. You were made alive spiritually just as Christ was made alive on Easter Sunday!
1. You’re United to Christ
2. You’re Made Alive
3. You’re Seated Above
“and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).
Before, the believer was united with Christ as He rose from the grave. Now the believers are united with Christ in the ascension. The Bible says the average believer in Christ is already seated with Christ in Heavenly Places. The Ascension of Jesus is the reason you cannot see Jesus with your physical eyes today. Jesus takes the elevator up toward heaven, if you will. For at the Ascension of Jesus, Jesus transfers from earth to heaven (Ephesians 1:20-21). Shortly after Jesus ascended, Jesus was seated (Hebrews 1:13).
Did you notice the past tense of the verb “seated” in verse 6? You are seated right now in this church service (and some of you are seated at home) as far as your physical body is concerned. But that’s not where your position is. Your position right now is in the spiritual realm of heavenly places. Even though you don’t see it, you are right now seated right next to Jesus Christ. What good is it to be seated in Christ above?
3.1 The Man in the Booth
When the quarterback goes to the sideline, you will regularly see him put over his head headphones. Guess what he’s doing? He’s talking up there a coach in the booth, the offensive coordinator. Why? Because the offensive coordinator is always situated way up high in order to get a better view of the field. It’s to their advantage to be seated above in order to call the right plays and read the correct defensive alignments. That’s why the quarterback regularly consults with the man in the booth. The more he is in touch with what is going on up there, the better he can deal with the team trying to stop him down here.
3.2 Satan
Satan is trying to stop you down here, and if you don’t know how to pick up the headphones and get a reading from up there, you’re going to be tackled in the backfield of life every time. My believing friend, you are seated with Christ above. And since He is seated above Him, we are seated above Him too. Satan is whipping you up in life. He’s getting you to be an addict. He’s getting you to say we can’t save this marriage. He’s getting to think you’re worth nothing. He’s getting you to live a lifetime of anger. Satan wants to keep you from knowing where you are seated.
3.3 You’re Accepted Already
So you are seated with Christ above, and it has all kinds of advantages for you who are in Christ. That means that no matter what you do, no matter how often you fail, Christ loves you and accepts you as perfect.
3.4 Grace
“even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5, 7).
When God sought you out to save you, He didn’t pick you because you “look saveable.” God didn’t pick you like you pick someone to date. Don’t pat yourself on the back if God has saved you. God came after you with His great love. God doesn’t love us because we’re valuable; we’re valuable because God loves us. You are not saved because you earned your way to be saved.
To be saved, all you do is respond to His invitation.
3.4.1 Mormon Grace
Maybe the best way to see grace is to see how other religions teach about grace. Do you know a Mormon? Do you have a friend in the Ladder Day Saints religion? Here’s what the Book of Mormon says, “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).
Nothing could be further from the truth. Can you imagine the pressure you’d feel if your eternal destiny was based on your daily success and your personal choices? You are not saved because you earned your way to be saved. All you do is respond to His invitation.
3.4.2 Rich in Grace
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us” (Ephesians 2:4). The word “rich” in verse 4 is the go-to word whenever the Bible wants to describe a person of wealth. The Bible says God is rich in terms of mercy. He has bank vaults filled with mercy.
3.4.2.1 If You Could Choose One Person
If you could choose just one person in all the universe to show you mercy, who would you choose? Some might think of their credit card companies or their landlord. Some of you might wish to have mercy from your spouse or your ex. Still, some of you might want mercy from your children after what you’ve done to them. But of all the people I might want to extend mercy to me, would not God be first on the list? Would it not be God?
3.4.2.1 Mercy for How Long?
How long would your children be able to show you mercy? How long would your landlord show mercy? A decade or maybe several, but they could not show you mercy for as long as a century. Even if she gave the house and you lived in all your life, you would only live there for several decades. God has the ability to show you mercy for century after century: “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7).
You once were dead in sin, BUT GOD made you alive! You once were captive to Satan, BUT GOD made you free! You once were children of wrath, BUT GOD has promised to spend eternity unwrapping the riches of his grace in kindness toward you!
One man was asked, “How did you find Jesus?” He said, “Well, I ran from Him as fast as I could. He caught up with me, passed me, and stared me in the face with His love.”
Non- Believers - Invitation
Don’t think about coming to Christ! Instead, come to Christ today. Don’t leave here saying, “I will pray about coming to Christ.” Instead, embrace Christ right now.
