Created For Good Works

Ephesians 2:8-10

• The church throughout history has attempted to add in some sort of human effort to the process of salvation. 
  • The Catholic Church in the 1500’s were offering indulgences, (a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs)  Literally claiming that you could pay your way to heaven.  (Communion, Confession, Baptism) 

Works vs Faith – How do we lay ahold of this salvation of God spoken of in the last 2 chapters?  And now having laid hold of it, how should we then live?

It is not just the Catholic Church, Every religion and spirituality apart from Christianity, teaches salvation by works, meaning you can save yourself by doing certain things and not doing other things, you can be your own savior.

• Buddhism – ceasing desires saves you. 
• Confucianism – education, self-reflection, self-improvement, and living a moral life saves you.
• Hinduism – detaching from your separated ego and making an effort to live in unity with the divine saves you.
• Islam – living a holy life of good deeds saves you. 
• Orthodox Judaism – working hard to obey the law saves you. 
• Daoism – aligning yourself with the Dao to have peace and harmony saves you.
• In many people’s minds, simply being a good person saves you. 
• At funerals, many people seem to think that simply dying saves you. “We know they went to a better place,” as if just dying was enough to be saved. 
• Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witness – “works are the way we qualify for the gift of salvation”

By Grace

• Grace summarizes well the last 7 verses.  Think of the great reversal that took place between verses 1-3 and 4-7!  We went from death, to life everlasting… We went from sons of disobedience, to adopted heirs of God… We went from children of wrath to trophies of His grace!
  • The story of the pitcher… (Man walking down the street, little girl carrying a large pitcher filled with milk, spilled, broke, crying… Fearful of a whipping, The man tries to console, tries to mend but fails, scoops the girl up, pottery store, new pitcher, filled with milk, takes her home and asks, “Will your momma whip you now?”  “Oh no sir, this pitcher is much better than the one we had before!”  That is grace. 
    • For the Christian, your new life is far better than the one you had before.  
      1. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to please God by putting the shattered pieces of your righteousness back together.  That pitcher will never be able to hold the blessings of God in it again.  
      2. But God has saved you, by replacing your broken life with a new one.  He doesn’t repair your wrecked life, he replaces it with a new one.  You are a new creation, perfectly crafted through Christ’s Grace

Through Faith

• • And how do we obtain this Grace?  FAITH!  Faith is the instrument by which we lay hold of Christ. But faith is not a work! It is a gift.  
    • Notice what Paul says in Vs 8
      • Many have debated the Greek grammar on Ephesians 2:8.  The issue arises from a question on what exactly the gift is referring to….  
        • Salvation, Grace, or Faith. The way the phrase is constructed, Paul is telling us that the entire work of salvation is a gift of god.  Salvation is a gift, Grace is a gift, and faith is a gift.  
      • We should never think of Salvation as a transaction in which God provides grace and we provide faith.  No, it is all grace. 
        1. 1st Corinthians 4:7b – What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

• What is Faith?

• • • • 1. Knowledge – you cannot have faith in something that you do not know exists.  You cannot have faith in a Christ of which you have never heard.  
           • How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.
        2. Trust – This means casting yourself upon Christ, resting in His promises, committing our lives to Him with full confidence. 

• A Tame Lion at the Zoo

• • We are saved by grace, through faith.
• SO what is the role of works?  
  • What I don’t want to do is just say, “You’re saved!” You walk away and go, “I’m saved, that’s great!  Now that that is worked out, I’ll just be getting on with the rest of my life.” No, that is not where Paul leaves it.  The way you live your life matters.

Not of Works

• What is the role of works in salvation? Most of us already knew the answer… 
  • But there are even more subtle ways we fall into this trap.  (the day to day grind, in how we try to find fulfillment)
• Mankind has always tried to save themselves.  This is and always has been the human condition.  Ever since the fall of Adam, when they chose the promises of the fruit over the promises of God, mankind has always strived to obtain for themselves whatever, or whoever they think will save them.  Whatever, or whoever they think will deliver them from their sorrow.  This is why we chase after everything under the sun. 
  • We are trying to fill this chasm of eternity with meaningless things!  We work and toil and strive, failing to realize that you can’t be saved by you.  
    • Trying to do so will either lead you to pride, or despair.
    • One of the biggest frustrations I have as your pastor is to watch so many of you trying to earn what Paul just explicitly said cannot be earned. 
      • We keep trying to jump back on that treadmill.  We put on our makeup and our masks and we come to church and pretend that we are all doing just fine!  We aren’t struggling with sin, we didn’t just get in a shouting match on the way here. You don’t have to clean yourself up to come to Christ, 
• NO boasting allowed
  • There is only one who should be exalted in this salvation and that is God.  If there is anything within you that is causing you to boast, I need you to hear this.  You are who you are, because of God.  We were not better than anyone else.  We were not smarter, or braver, or prettier, or more holy in God’s sight.  If there is any shred of pride welling up from within, any sliver of arrogance, you do not understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.  
    • John Bradford, upon seeing criminals who were being lead to their execution in 1553, once said, “There but for the grace of God, Go I”
  • A Lot of people say this, “I accepted Jesus”. Every time I hear it, I think, that isn’t quite right… Jesus isn’t some stray dog that you accepted into your family.  No, “Christ accepted you”. 
  • Even In our testimonies, we will often say, “I gave my life to Christ”, and that is true.   But I think it misses the focus of salvation.  You see, often unintentionally we point to our own action taken, I did this, I made the decision, I answered the call.  And what we see here in the last 2 chapters regarding salvation in the book of Ephesians is that sart to finish, it is all Him.   Yes, you gave your life to Christ, but far more importantly, Christ gave you His life.  And when we really understand this, Boasting is excluded.
    • It is impossible to draw near to the cross of Christ and be proud.  
      • If you see the nails in the hands and the feet, the crown of thorns, the humiliation and ridicule, all the torture he endured, and then you realize that it was your sins, which caused His suffering. You would not/COULD NOT be proud.  
• Saved for good works
  • We need to get our works in the right order.  
    • Vs 10 – We are His workmanship. Our works don’t save us, Jesus’ works saves us.  He then works in us, and he works through us, empowering us to live a holy and upright life.  
      • You can’t do it without Him, only with Him do you have the power to live a righteous life!
      • Hebrews 10:14 – For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” 
        • It is in the tension of this verse that we must live. The Christian is perfect—in Christ. The Christian is imperfect—in the life he lives in this present age.
  • Often, someone will appeal to Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 64:6, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” They then look at the believer and say, “Do you see how wicked we are?”
  • Is the Christian still fundamentally incapable of living righteously?
    • No. The answer is no. The Christian is, on the contrary, the only person who is now capable of living righteously.
  • We have been purchased by the blood of Christ.  We have been made righteous, Holy, and Pure.  And now when we sin, that sin is all the more grievous to God.  
    • When a Christian sins, He is not like a beggar who dives into the dumpster to feast, He is like a prince, or royalty, who dives into that same gutter.
• Let me summarize 
  • James 1:22-25 – But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing

Conclusion

Don’t bring works into your salvation

• The reformers used to say, “It is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone”

• God sees every good work
  • The mom at 3am, patiently caring for their crying child, The man who is honest on his billable hours, The kid who actually goes and cleans their room.  Not a single good deed, good action, good thought is lost on the God who sees all.
• God doesn’t need your Good works but your neighbor does. 
  • God doesn’t need your help, God can take care of Himself. Your good deeds are not for Him, but they are a testimony of Him in your life.  
    • Matthew 5:16 – In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven