Free Gift of Love
This talk takes a unique form. To encourage students to engage with Scripture themselves, they were broken into small groups and each group was given a unique set of questions.
I encourage you to do the same thing I asked of them. After praying, read through Ephesians 2:1-10, and answer these questions for yourself (write them out if you want). Then continue reading my brief synopsis of the passage and story.
Ephesians 2:1-10
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
How does Paul describe our lives before we met Jesus?
What is the reason we can have eternal life?
What is grace?
What happens when we forget God’s grace? Do we begin to think we are better than others or that we have to earn salvation? How does this impact our lives?
How could verse 10 change our boring everyday life tasks?
How would you use these verses to explain the gospel to a friend in one minute?
In verses 1-4, Paul talks about what is true about people before they knew God, the problem we all face, how messed up our lives are before we meet Jesus.
He says that we only acted out of our own desires. If we wanted to do something, we did it. We didn’t consider right or wrong, good or bad. We only thought about what we wanted. He says we were dead in our sins.
Like Jesus’ friend Lazarus in John 11. We are dead and we can’t save ourselves.
“On (Jesus’)his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.” (John 11:17)
Jesus doesn’t just put up his hands and say ‘oh well, that’s too bad.’ Instead, he says to Lazarus’s sister:
“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
Do you believe this? He asks. This is Jesus offering His undeserved favor- He offers grace. God knows that we are spiritually dead and that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves live again. So what can make us alive spiritually? What is the solution to our sin problem? What is the reason we can have eternal life? Jesus is!
“Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said.
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11:38-39, 31-44)
Lazarus is essentially given two options here. Stay in the cave and ignore Jesus- or come out of the cave to accept God’s grace and live in freedom! If you choose to come out of the cave, if you choose to come to Jesus, if you accept this free gift of His love and His grace it will give you life to the fullest! *
Why do we do good things? What does Paul say is the result of God’s love for us? How does this impact our lives? It makes us want to love God and love others. God has given you the the free gift of His love, now in that freedom you get to live a life of love for Him and for others. We were once dead in our sins, BUT GOD was rich in His mercy and love for you. Do you believe this?
*This explanation was given to me very helpfully by a college professor of mine when I wrestled with free will/predestination
