The Riches of God - Week 2

[00:00:03] Man, what a blessing it's been to dedicate all these babies in the last couple months. Amen. [00:00:10] That's been awesome. [00:00:13] Well, Church, we are going to continue this series that we are in. We are talking about the riches of God, the generosity of God, and we have been looking at these different verses in the New Testament that talk about what God says he's rich in. Now, God is rich in a lot of things, but he wants to draw our attention to some certain aspects of his heart, of his character, of the way he relates to us, and that's what we've been looking at. So we're going to continue that today. But just before we do, let's pray, Father. Help us, Lord, to see the riches of who you are. Help us to see the riches of your grace, of. Of your kindness, of your mercy. Help us to see how you want to show that to us in our lives, Lord. And help us to have a heart that responds to it by wanting to walk in the good works that you have prepared for us, to walk in the life that you've prepared for us to live that glorifies you. Help us in all that. In the great name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. [00:01:21] Well, I don't know if you've ever had someone try to make an example out of you, and I'm not trying to bring up bad memories here or painful memories, but I don't know if you've ever tried to maybe do that in one of your not so great moments. But you're like, I want to make an example here. And it's often an unpleasant thing, and usually it doesn't work out the way people hope either. And I remember years ago, I worked at a movie theater when I was in high school, Strongzool Cinema. It was very small theater. It wasn't like a Regal. It wasn't a franchise or anything. So it was a small operation. And my manager at the time, he was a good dude, but he was wound up very tight, you know what I'm saying? He was prone to getting stressed very easily. And on Friday nights, the place would be filled, and there would often be a lot of rowdy people there. You know, junior high, high school, you know, people just kind of having fun. And they would be in the theaters and they would often be talking a lot, and this would just drive my manager crazy. And so I was working and working the concession. If you ever need a bag of popcorn, I'm your guy. I can still. I just load that with butter and salt. I know how to make it Good. So I was just doing my thing, and it was a large crowd. It was a Friday night, the theaters were packed, and he was losing his mind. And a movie star, and he's like, chet, I need you to do something. I'm like, all right, boss, what do you want me to do? I want you to make an example out of someone. It was like, whoa, this is intense. What's going on here? And he's like, I want you to go into that theater in that movie that just started. There's a lot of rowdy people in there. And when you go in, the first person that you hear talking, pull them out and kick them out so everybody will know we're not messing around. And I was like, that seems a bit extreme to me, but you're the boss. And so I went in, and sure enough, people were talking, they were a little bit rowdy, And I just. In my heart, I just couldn't do that. So I just walked up to him and I said, hey, guys, can you be quiet? Do you mind being quiet? And they were like, sure, no problem. And then they were. And then I, like, sat in there for a couple minutes, and I walked out, and my manager came up to me. He's like, what happened? I was like, well, some people were talking. I asked them to be quiet. They were. And now here I am talking to you. [00:04:03] And he goes, that's not what I told you to do. You were supposed to kick him out. And I was like, look, man, that's just too much. That's too over the top. If you want to go do that, go do that. But I think it's all fine. And then he stormed off in anger. [00:04:21] So I didn't lose my job, though, so that was good. But it was just a little too much for me. [00:04:29] And I want you to know today that we're gonna see this text of scripture. And God wants to make an example out of you, but not in that way. [00:04:42] Are you relieved? I know many of you are like, well, that's what I thought for sure. God wants to. That's what everybody told me growing up. God wants to make his humiliating example out of me. But what I want you to see today is God does want to make an example of our lives, but it's probably in an entirely different way than you think. And what's so powerful about this is that when we understand and see what God wants to do, it changes how we relate to him and how we live our lives. And today we're going to look at Ephesians Chapter two. And I'm going to read these first ten verses to you. Now, there's a lot in these verses, so try and take it in and then we will explain it. We'll walk through it all. But here's what it says. [00:05:31] It says, and you now he's talking to this church in the ancient city of Ephesus, but he's just as much talking to us today. So when you hear, you think about this as Paul talking to each and us, each of us personally. 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 in the sons, obedience, in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the minds, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Verse 4. Now, if you have a Bible, you just underline or circle this. It says, but God. So these first verses are really, really dark. But then there's a turning point right here. It says, 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 him up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And then here's verse seven. Here's the point, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. [00:07:05] Paul says, everything God wants to do in your life is to make this point, is to show for all of time that he is rich in grace and kindness and he wants to use your life as an example of that, to show the riches of his kindness and grace so powerful. For by grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of works. So 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. Now, there's a lot in these verses, but ultimately I want you to see this point that God wants to make in each of our lives. And it begins by Paul saying, hey, I want you to see a picture, to see a story of what our lives are without God. And if you could think about these first couple verses, I want you to think about a Christmas movie. Anybody in the Christmas movie mode yet? Yeah, I don't Think it's too early. Amen. National Lampoon Christmas. Amen. The greatest one of all time. I want you to. I want you to, though, to think about this one. It's a Wonderful Life. Anybody like that one? That's a good one. Classic. And if you remember the setting of that story, George Bailey is down on life. He thinks he's worthless. He's ready to end it all. And then the angel comes and he helps them to see, what would life look like without you in it? What would this town and all these people. And basically, at the end of the movie, he realizes, like, his life is meaningful. It adds value. People love him, he loves others and all these good things. But the whole movie is this idea of what would it look like if you weren't here? And when you read these first verses in Ephesians, Paul is saying, what does our life look like without God? [00:09:16] What scene does that? What story does that create? And that's where he talks about all of this. He says, well, without God, we're dead in our trespasses and sins. Now, trespasses is taking the wrong step. It's crossing over a boundary. It's stepping where you shouldn't sin, is the idea of missing a mark. Here's a target. And you don't hit it, you miss it. And so what Paul is saying throughout our lives, is it fair to say we all make missteps? We all step in directions and places that we shouldn't. And not only that, we also miss the mark. [00:10:04] We miss our own mark. Amen. I mean, every week, I'm like, I'm gonna exercise and eat healthy. And then the week. And then I'm like, oh, it's Sunday again. [00:10:14] I miss my own mark. We miss the mark of the people around us. You know, they want us to do something and we don't do it. And guess what? And certainly we miss God's mark. If I can't live up to my own and to others, I'm fooling myself if I think I'm batting a thousand before the Almighty God. That's what Paul's saying. And he's saying because of that, we're spiritually dead. Now in our life, we like to play games. We like to think, well, I'm a lot better than this person. And, man, this person's way worse than I am. What a loser. And we like to play these mental games and create these spiritual hierarchies. But what Paul says is, all of those are garbage. Cause at the end of the day, we all are desperately in need of God's grace and mercy and completely lost without it. Here's how I like to think about it. If we went to the shores of Lake Erie today and we were like, hey, let's go swim to Canada. [00:11:25] Why would we do that? Just go with me on this. Don't ask those type of questions. But if we were to do that today, then, you know, some of us, we might make it a few hundred yards before we drown and get hypothermia and die. [00:11:41] There might be some studs in here that make it like a mile. You know, some ex swimmer, Scott, you might make it several miles. [00:11:51] But is it fair to say none of us are making it to Canada? [00:11:57] We're all going to fall short before we get there. And this is what Paul is saying. Like, no matter how good you think you are or bad you are, at the end of the day, everyone drowns. Is that morbid enough for you? [00:12:09] Everyone drowns. At the end of the day, we cannot do it. We cannot make our way to God. We can't be good enough. Paul says we're dead in our trespasses and sins. And he goes on even more about this. He says we're following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's not working. The sons of disobedience among whom we once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires. And this is just kind of an image. He says, without the influence of God, we will be influenced in all the wrong ways. [00:12:42] Now, all these references are to Satan are to evil leadership. And Paul's saying, without God, the story of your life is you are gonna end up following evil, not good. You are going to end up following the course of this world. You're going to go along, but in all the wrong ways. Have you ever noticed if you just kind of do what everyone else does, for a lot of people, that doesn't really lead to happiness and meaning and great relationships and things. Paul said that there's a trajectory of life that is contrary to the trajectory of God. And it's easy to get in the stream of it, in the flow of it. And with God's help, you inevitably will. And then he goes on, he says, in all this, it means that we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Now, this wrath idea probably has two ideas to it. [00:13:43] One is that without God, our hearts are filled with wrath. [00:13:51] Have you ever noticed people can be really, really nasty? [00:13:55] Have you noticed that yet in life there is ugliness and darkness in the human experience. [00:14:06] And we don't like to think about it. We don't like to look at. But it is there. And can we be honest? It's also in us, too. [00:14:15] And there are times where there is darkness and nastiness and evil. And it's without. And Paul says, without God. That's what we're filled with. But we're also deserving of it, too. [00:14:31] See, sometimes we think about our lives and things aren't going well, and things are difficult, and we get really, really frustrated. And we kind of have this inner dialogue. And in our minds we're like, you know, I'm kind of mad at God. Cause I deserve better than this. I pet the dog yesterday. You know, I put the dishes away from the dishwasher. My wife didn't even have to ask me to do it. I was proactive. I mean, this is big stuff here. [00:14:59] And so we kind of get this narrative in our minds that God owes me a lot more than I'm getting. [00:15:07] But here's Paul. Paul's like, allowing us to slam into a brick wall. And he's like, let me tell you, here's what you deserve. God's wrath. [00:15:20] And everybody's like, well, look, I can believe that for my neighbor, but not for me. I can believe that for that weird cousin that I have, but not for me. And Paul's like, no, no, no. [00:15:30] That's the. That's what we deserve. See, if you want to play, like, the deserve game with God, I'm telling you, don't do it. Because at the end of the day, if there is any good thing in your life, you are a recipient, whether you know it or not, of God's mercy and grace to you. [00:15:48] You really are. And this is what Paul wants us to see. He says, hey, look, all of us. This is our starting point. [00:15:57] This is where we're at. He says, but what does God do for us despite all this? Verse 4. He says, But God being rich in mercy, cause of the great love which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, he makes us alive with Christ by grace. You've been saved. Now, what Paul is showing us in these verses, I don't want you to miss this is that he's saying the reason God works in our life is not because it's prompted by anything in us. [00:16:34] He's saying it's not that God is looking at us and he's saying, oh, man, that Czech guy's got a lot of potential. [00:16:40] No, he's not saying that. He's not looking at us and saying, oh, wow, they're really getting their act together. I guess I'm ready to help them now because they're ready to be helped. Paul say. He's not saying. What Paul is saying is that all of this is motivated from God, his mercy, his grace, his kindness. All of this originates in God, and God blesses us with it. See, this is what's so powerful about the message of Christianity. It is not a message that says, clean up your act, get it together, and if you can do it good enough, God will then love you and help you. It's the exact opposite. It says, your act is beyond repair except by the mercy and grace of God, and God will freely give it to you. [00:17:35] And when he does, that's when you really begin to change. See, the change begins with God's mercy and kindness and grace first coming into our lives. And Paul says, it's all done through Christ. Now, if you were to look at these words closely, he says that we're made alive in Christ. We're raised with Christ, and we're seated with Christ. And all these words, they're verbs in the ancient Greek language that it's written in, but they all have this prefix of with that. All these are really emphasizing that these blessings, they come because of our connection to Jesus Christ, that we are forever united with him. And because of that, we're made alive, we're raised, we're seated. Because of that. God completely changes the story, the direction, and the experience of our lives. It's all because of Christ, and it's all about being with him. Now, my son Teddy is just over a year, and he is in this phase where he is really, really clingy. Like this boy. [00:18:53] If his mom is around, that's all he wants is his mom and wants to be held all the time. And if Mom's not around, I'm like second place most days. So then he wants dad, and, well, and it's great. And part of me is like, oh, this is sweet. I like this. But then after a little bit while, my bicep starts to burn out. Parents, you know what I'm saying? [00:19:17] I haven't really been working out or doing curls, so it burns out pretty quick. Or we'll be trying to make dinner or clean up the house. And Teddy is just. If we're not picking him up, he's latched onto our legs, and we're like, dude, just play with your toys for a second. [00:19:39] Here's a screen. [00:19:44] I know how you get there. Now I mean, I'm there. I'm like, just take this iPad and get lost in YouTube, kids. No, I'm just kidding. Kind of. [00:20:01] But he's so clingy. I mean, he's so cute though. But there's some days, there's gonna be a day, I'm sure, where I really miss this, this season. I'm not there yet, but I'm sure, I'm sure it will, it will come and you know, and one day, God forbid, you know, when he's 15, he is a little bit more self sufficient and stuff like that. That's kind of the goal, right? The goal is that he grows up and he, he doesn't need us and he doesn't rely on us and of course we always love him, but he's able to walk and do life and make decisions and all that kind of thing. But you know, the goal in the Christian life is not that. [00:20:39] The goal in the Christian life is to always cling to Jesus Christ. [00:20:44] The goal in the Christian life is to actually recognize more and more, not our need for independence, but our need for dependence, that everything good, everything that I need in my soul can only come by being united to Jesus Christ. That's what Paul's showing us. This all comes from Christ. It's all by him. It's all to him. It's all through him. And Paul says, hey, and just to make it clear, by grace you have been saved. [00:21:22] It's an act of God's grace. And he says, it's not a result of works. You can't take any credit for it. It's all the work of God. There's an old preacher story about this young boy and he was going to the church and he was going to talk with the church leaders and be baptized and kind of doing this interview. And he went before the leaders and he said, he said, they said, well, tell us about, you know, your life and your relationship with God. And the young boy said, well, I did my part and God did his part. I did my part and God did his part. And the church leaders were kind of like, well, you know, they're worried maybe he's taking a little bit too much credit for God's work in his life. They're like, well, explain what you mean. He said, well, I did my part. I did the sinning and Jesus did the saving. He did his part. [00:22:18] There's a kid that gets it. Amen. [00:22:22] I don't know if that story is true, but it's good, you know what I'm saying? And that's what Paul's saying. This is the gift of God. What we have to bring to the table is our lostness, is our need, is our brokenness. But what God brings is everything else. And then verse seven, and he says, God does this so in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ. By grace, you've been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of work. So no one may boast. And then he says, for we are his workmanship, we are His God is an artist, and he wants to display his grace and kindness in a unique way through your life. [00:23:15] All the artists that I know, they don't like to do the same drawing or painting or sculpture the same way. They want to do it a little bit different every time. They want to express that artistic impulse, right? They want each thing that they create to be unique. [00:23:37] And what Paul is saying is God is an artist, but he doesn't use a paintbrush. He doesn't use a hammer and a chisel. What he uses is grace and kindness. [00:23:50] And he sculpts and paints your life in a certain way. In each of our lives, he wants to do a little bit differently to show his genius in the richness of the grace within him. What a beautiful idea that is, isn't it? And, you know, if you think about the great artists in history, I've only been to the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is pretty awesome, but I'd love to see some of the other great works of art around the world. Like, I think it would be so cool to see the Mona Lisa, for example. And I just have to suspect that when people go and see the Mona Lisa, they're not really thinking about the woman in the painting. They're probably not like, their first thoughts aren't probably like, man, that woman, she could really sit still. [00:24:39] Like, what a holy. What a great, you know, subject of art. I'm guessing that's probably not the overriding thoughts. The overriding thoughts is da Vinci. What a genius, right? They're not fixated with what is on the canvas, but the one who created it, who painted what he saw. And this is what Paul is saying, is that at the end of our lives, throughout our lives, the goal is not that people would see us and be captivated by us, but they would see us and they would see the genius, artistic, gracious God behind our lives, that they would see his wisdom and his skill and his goodness, and they would Marvel at it. Paul says, that's the point. [00:25:31] That's the kind of example God wants to make out of your life. And then he says this. He says, for you have been created for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [00:25:48] And I think this is just an interesting way to end this section because he says God's. He's got a purpose for your life. And again, if you just follow where these verses begin to where they end here, going from dead in trespasses and sins to now, you're going to be this thing that God has thought about that God has created, that God has made intentionally to glorify his name. That's quite a transition. [00:26:15] This is by far the biggest restoration project you could ever imagine. [00:26:22] And Paul's saying that's what God wants to do in you. And he has things in this life that he wants you to do, to walk in them. Paul says he's created these good works that you should walk in them. But here's what I find interesting about it, is that we should walk in them, but sometimes we walk away from them. [00:26:50] Paul says, if I really understand what God is doing, then the most natural and right response is to devote my life to him and say, lord, I am willing to be part of this work that you are doing. [00:27:10] Lord, I trust you. I want to honor you. I want to glorify you. And I want you just to think today. I want you to think, what does God want to do through your life? [00:27:22] Because Paul's saying he wants to do something, and it's something unique, it's something special, it's something that matters, and it's something that. That will glorify him above all. [00:27:37] And what does God have for you today? And will you trust him and honor him enough to walk in it? You don't have to run in it. You just walk. Just take one step after another and glorify him. I heard this week a great podcast with a woman named Nancy Cohn. She's a Harvard historian, and she did a lot of research on Ernest Shackleton, and Ernest Shackleton, in the early 1900s, he was trying to do an expedition to go across Antarctica. I mean, this is like 1915. [00:28:19] You know, this is a difficult thing to do. Technology's not great. They didn't have North Face jackets to wear. You know, I mean, this is dangerous. This is difficult. [00:28:32] This is as risky as it gets. But he was commissioned by Britain to do it, and he went and did it. And as they were in their boat, the boat was called Endurance they were making their way to Antarctica. It got caught in this whole section in the sea of ice, icebergs. And the ship got trapped in the ice, and for months it was stuck, and they were trying to make the best of it, but eventually the ice broke the ship and it sunk, and they were living on icebergs. And from that time forward, obviously, the whole mission was gone. And the main mission was stay alive and make it back home. And Ernest Shackleton did an amazing job of leading his men, there was about 27 of them, leading them from this incredibly dangerous place, incredibly difficult thing, back to safety. They all survived this. It's an amazing story. If you've never read it, read it. It's so good. It's so inspiring. But, you know, historians look at Shackleton and they're like, how did that guy not just give up? I mean, imagine you just see your ship. Oh, there it goes. I'm on a floating piece of ice right now. Like, I'd just be like, well, guys, we're done. [00:29:56] Swing low, sweet chariot, you know, let's go be with Jesus. [00:30:02] But he didn't give up. He made all these key decisions, you know, figured out. So people are like, what made this guy tick? How did he do? It's great studying resilience and leadership and this kind of thing. And Nancy Cohn, she said, well, there's so many elements to it, but one of the clearest things I can say about Ernest Shackleton is that all the difficulties that he faced, he sort of internally asks a question, how does this make me bigger, not smaller? [00:30:34] How can this challenge. How can this difficulty, how can this disappointment, how can this scary circumstance, how can it make me bigger, not smaller? He said, in some ways that that way of approaching his challenges allowed him to become stronger and better and ultimately save his men. And I was just thinking about the simplicity of that, and I thought, man, that's such a powerful. [00:31:08] You know, how when we face difficulty and challenge and pain in life, it's easy to allow it to make you smaller, isn't it? It's easy to just say, oh, well, what's it matter anyway? Or, it's already going this way. I might as well just sort of drift away from the Lord, from good people. It's easy to do that. It's natural. [00:31:30] But he went a different way. I thought, that's a great question, but I want to take that question for us today one step further, and I want us to think about our life. [00:31:41] How can the grace and kindness of God become bigger in our lives? Today, what response, what step, what direction can you and I take that if we go this direction, it's going to make the grace and kindness of God bigger in our lives? [00:32:04] Some of us, maybe, maybe we've been just holding on to unforgiveness towards somebody, to some hate, to some anger. And you know, one way you can step into the grace of God, it can become bigger, is by asking God to help you to forgive. Cause when you do that, you are opening your heart and your life to God's forgiveness and God's grace for you. And you're letting it flow through you. Maybe some of us, we can step into the work that God has. God's calling us to do something, but we're afraid to do it. And we can step into his grace and kindness by trusting that he has created us for these good works that we should walk in. I want you just to ask yourself today, what would it look like to take a step that makes God's grace and kindness look bigger in my life? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you. [00:33:01] And I thank you, Lord, that you are so incredibly kind to us. [00:33:08] Lord, I thank you for the powerful truth of these verses. That, Lord, you are rich in mercy. That by grace you do all of this. That it's through Jesus Christ that, Father, we just can receive it as a gift. [00:33:24] And that gift can shape the rest of our lives. I pray, Lord, that that would happen. [00:33:30] I pray each of us could have a sense, Lord, of the good works that you have for us. Help us to take that next step in them, no matter how small it might be. Help us just to take a step. Help us to take a step that opens our hearts and our lives to a deeper experience of your grace and kindness or a deeper way in which it can work through us and bless other people. [00:34:02] Father, guide us today. Meet us today. Help us today. Ask all this in the great name of Jesus. Amen.