Grace for Life

I think we can all agree this morning that out of the many lessons we are learning during this pandemic. One of these lessons is the importance of human life. And therefore, the desire is not to only be alive but to stay but to stay ALIVE; preserving the life we have been given. Needless to say that people, apart from those with suicidal tendencies, for whatever reason that may be, people love being ALIVE. And so we should be because God, the author of Life has given it to us. So it’s not surprising when someone discovers a new sight in nature, a hobby, falls in love and gets pregnant. They say, “I feel so alive”, because within the blessings of life one often feels ALIVE. I was walking pass someone in my complex the other day looking into the far distance from her balcony. And I asked her what she is staring at. And she answered that, she’s watching the sunrise and added “I am blessed to be alive”. And this is the dilemma, knowing this lady’s lifestyle one must ask the question, what it really means to be ALIVE.

Theologians call this God’s common grace. Making the point that, all of life and being alive is God’s common grace to mankind. And in our passage today we will find exactly the same thing. That God’s grace is also the reason for one’s spiritual life in Christ. Meaning, to be born-again, and to be forgiven by God and being part of His church is not his common grace, but His special grace.

Ephesians 2:5-8

M ade us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 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. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Last week we saw that all believers are part of the church and the church is in a special position in Christ – in his exalted position. Not because of their doing but because of God’s grace in Christ. We notice this because in the church of Ephesus the Jewish Christians acted as if they were automatically God’s people. And the Gentile Christians had to work for it. But Paul says, salvation is all by grace. No one could save themselves because they were dead inside and outside. God in his grace had to save them.

Now Paul moves from deadness to being ALIVE. First he says,

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 flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Then Paul says,

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.

Apart from Paul’s literary move from one point to another. Notice the spiritual movement of the Christian. The believer moves from death to life. And Paul fascinatingly sees and depicts the concept of life in two ways. Firstly, life is what you have as a sinner.

Verses 1-2, As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live.

Verse 3, All of us also lived among them at one time. They had a life before Christ, but it was dead life.

Secondly, Paul views life as what you have in Christ Jesus. That is, after life as a sinner. Paul says in verses 4-5.

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.

This means that real life which is the life worth having and the life worth living is not the life before you knew Christ, or the life without Christ, or a life inspite of Christ. Real life is the one where a man or a woman is alive because of Christ – in Christ.

Further, Paul describes life in Christ as resurrected and exalted life. In verse 6 Paul says, And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Those who are alive in Christ and because of Christ are alive in a “Raised with him” way. And a “Seated with him” way. Paul already mentioned in chapter 1:19-20, that Christ resurrection and exaltation is power to the believers’ Meaning, believers are alive in power. It says, And his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength, he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. To be alive in Christ is to live a life of resurrected power – a new existence in the flesh – a new existence in the flesh, even though within an old world. Basically, to be alive in Christ is to be full of the triune God and Christ in particular; full from the inside-out and the outside-in. Which then puts the old life into perspective.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “ If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation”. Paul says of himself in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. This means that, to be alive in Christ is far more than mere appreciation of nature and possessions. But it is the death of the old person and the feature of Christ in the new person. An appreciation of the fullness of God the Father, Son and Spirit in you.

Notice that Paul places the new life in Christ beyond redemptive history beyond this age. He says, 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. In the coming ages God’s grace will still be at work by sustaining the Christian’s new life in Christ. Being alive in Christ does not pertain to only this life. We are eschatological beings with one foot in the new heavens and earth. The Christian’s new life, in one sense, is already the life they will have in the coming age. They may not yet be what they will be, but they are already what they ought to be. Which is: They are ALIVE in Christ.

This is to say, that the Christian never lives their lives as someone who is running out of time. Being alive in Christ, for them means, their lives does not have expiry dates. They have no category for ‘YOLO’, because they know they will not only live once. This is the mindset and worldview of the unbeliever: because people who are not alive in Christ can not see a life beyond this one, at least see a better one. They wrestle, fight and stress to suck everything out of this life. They live in an age-restriction. Whereas, the Christian knows that not only will they be alive in Christ IN the coming age. But they are already in him FOR the coming age.

Notice what Paul calls this new, born-again and saved life in Christ. In verse 4 he says, But because of his great love for us . And in verse 4 again, God, who is rich in mercy. Then in verse 7b, Expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. God’s love, mercy and kindness is what God gives the believer. Which Paul already mentioned in chapter 1 as not an after-thought but as part of God’s eternal plan. It says in verse 3, Who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Then in verse 5, In love he predestined us . Meaning, to be alive in Christ is to have the eternal blessings of God, such as, his love, mercy and kindness at work in us.

So life in Christ or being alive in Christ, in relation to verses 2-3, where life is described as worldly devilish and disobedient. One is now defined and moved by the qualities of God. The ways of the world become unattractive and God attractive. The ruler of the kingdom of the air becomes a liar and God is true. And the spirit at work in the disobedient are rejected and denied; whereas God is praised and worship. New life is to be alive to God in his Son and everything that comes with it. So it’s not only that one is alive in Christ. Now it is also that one is alive to the right things – God’s things.

In other words, what you love and like. In the sense that, you take deep pleasure in it can determine whether you dead to sin or alive to Christ. For example, in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina defends the adultery of her brother when speaking to her brother’s wife. Only to commit the same sin herself later. She defended what she herself liked and love because she was dead to her sin. Whereas, the Christian ought to detect and reject the devil’s traps or their own internal desires easily because they are alive to Christ and to the things of God.

Henry Scougal, wrote a book called ‘The Life of God in the soul of Man’. This is the same book that moved George Whitefield to salvation. He says that, this new life must be defined as an “Inward self-moving principle”. Which he says, makes prayer, charity, generosity and a desire to do such things natural. In other words, to be alive in Christ, for Scougal, means to be naturally inclined to God. He talks about the ‘Motions of Divine life’. This is because for him, God’s very life in Christ is active inside the believer. And this explains the beautiful Reformed Orthodox doctrine – the Mystical Union of Christ. Explaining that the believer shares in the life of Christ in a personal and exclusive way. Christ as their head and mediator in the flesh – the Second and better Adam gave them his righteousness, and took their sin upon himself. They are connected t him and have received his benefits and are made in his image. He is the head and they the body – in such a way that, the blood circulation flowing in them, responsible for spiritual life, is his very own breath at work in them.

Christians struggle with this biblical truth. So many can’t tell the difference between someone who is dead in their sin and someone who is alive Christ. 

Home Group Questions.😇

1. In what ways would you describe the difference between being alive in Christ in comparison to being dead in sin (2:1-3,4-5)?
   1. If someone who knows you very well spiritually should describe you, what would they say shows that you are Alive in Christ?
2. When you think of the Christian's position of grace, such as 'raised with him' and seated is with him', what pictures come up for you as a Christian (v6)?
3. How do you think your position in Christ is supposed to be handled from a humility point of view?
4. As someone who is still living in this age, and haven't seen Christ yet, how would you describe the new age (new heavens and earth) (v7)?
5. How will God's new age that is to come be different than this current one?
   1. Are you looking forward to the new age/God's kingdom/the new creation?
6. Would you describe yourself as someone who is alive in Christ and in His things like, His love, mercy and kindness?
7. How would you now approach life knowing that the grace God is granting you here on earth will be the same grace that will keep you in your resurrected life?