Title: OUR STANDING WITH GOD

Focus: Our good standing before God hinges on God’s initiative and divine character.

Function: To encourage the people to see themselves and live their lives in light of God’s work in Christ and to know themselves as always being “under construction.”

Text: Ephesians 2:1-10

Having a sound reputation or good standing is important for most, if not all of us. For example, if you wish to get a mortgage from the bank, one of the things the bank will do is check your credit rating. The higher your standing in the credit rating, the greater your chance of being approved for the loan.

It’s not only credit card companies and banks that rate our standing with facts and figures. There are many others who rate us—consciously or unconsciously. So it is, for example, that our neighbors may see us as loyal citizens; our elders may think of us as faithful members of the church, and our employers may value us as hard-working, diligent team players of the company or business.

Intuitively we realize that a good standing or sound reputation is important in life. It is also clear that a good standing at home, at church, at work and in the community also calls for good conduct, sound decisions, and a virtuous character. And that means that we must work at our standings or reputations.

Of course, in such a case, we can also take credit for our reputations or good standings. Even the children can understand that. When I was a teenager, (13 yrs old) for example, our soccer team won the championship that year. All of us on the team played our hearts out. We trained diligently; we worked together as a team; we played smartly and scored many goals. Our coach told us that we deserved the championship. And we all believed it.

Most of the time, then, we can take some credit for our good standings in life. But when it comes to our standing before God, we cannot. For a good standing before God hinges upon God’s initiative and divine character. That truth becomes very clear in Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. Today, the Scriptures encourage us to see ourselves and live our lives in light of God’s work in Christ. And we do well to know ourselves and see ourselves as always “being under construction.”

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As we enter the text of Ephesians 2:1-10, let’s begin by making two observations: (1) This passage consists of two parts: Verses 1-3 touch upon our standing before God APART from Christ. And verses 4-10 address our standing before God WITH Christ. In verses 1-3 we see a picture of what people are by virtue of their human nature; and in verses 4-10 we learn what people can be and become by virtue of God’s divine initiative and holy character.

Thus, in verses 1-3 we learn of our standing before God by virtue of our solidarity with Adam, who fell into sin. And in verses 4-10 we learn of our standing before God by virtue of our solidarity with Christ, the Son of God, the second Adam, who has conquered sin and death.

Here’s the other observation: (2) The Apostle Paul includes all people (Jews and Gentiles, young and old) when he paints a picture of our fallen, depraved human nature. In verse 1, for example, Paul says, “As for you, you were dead in transgressions and sins….” He is talking specifically to the Gentile Christians who make up the church in Ephesus. In verse two, Paul says, “All of us also lived among them at one time….” Here the Apostle Paul includes himself with the Gentile Christians in Ephesus.

And in verse 3b Paul says, “Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” Here Paul connects the Jewish and Gentile Christians with the rest of humanity, thus making clear that our human condition apart from Christ is dismal indeed. All human beings, then, APART from God’s initiative and divine character, APART from God’s work in Christ, have a hopeless standing before God.

Hopeless? Yes, our standing before God APART from Christ is dismal, or as Paul depicts it: a) We were spiritually dead; b) We were spiritually enslaved in the powers of sin, Satan, and the world. And c) We were condemned.

Apart from God’s work in Christ, every human being is spiritually dead. It is our transgressions and our sins that snuff out any lifeline to God, that blocks fellowship with God, and that keeps us from living in harmony with God. In our own strength, we are totally unable to change our standing before God. As corpses cannot move, so human beings who are spiritually dead cannot revitalize themselves their lifeline to God and their fellowship with God.

Why not? In verses 1-3 Paul reminds us that being spiritually dead in sins and trespasses shows in the way people live: we follow the ways of the world; those ways are connected to the influence and powers of Satan, “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”

In other words, we are caught in the web of Satan’s lies, in the schemes of worldly ways that receive its impulses and designs—NOT from God but from the playbook of the “Father of all lies,” the murderer of the human race. Sin, Satan, and the world—are the forces that lure, de-form and enslave us and make us rebels in the eyes of God.

Why is this the case for all human beings APART from God’s initiative and work in Christ? It is by virtue of our solidarity with Adam and Eve. With Adam, as the head of the human race, and Eve, the mother of the human race—we fell into sin as well. We were in their loins, so to speak. And the corruption of sin and the poison of death continue to course through the veins of our human nature. Therefore, says, Paul, we were by nature objects of wrath. Apart from Christ we stand condemned before God. Guilty! Subject to God’s punishment.

This standing before God apart from Christ is shown in our baptism—especially when that baptism takes place in a tank or river or pool. For baptism signifies a going down into the water. The baptismal font or pool is like a tomb—there we enter death and die to sin, Satan, and the power of death. There we go down and leave behind us the life of sin and death.

The pool or font of baptism is like a tomb, but thank God, it is also a womb, signifying rebirth, regeneration, new life. By God’s initiative and divine character, God makes us alive with Christ. Such is the Christian’s standing before God with Christ. You see, in the following 7 verses, the Apostle Paul packs astonishing good news. He speaks of a) regeneration, b) resurrection, c) exaltation, and d) re-formation.

After Paul has painted the picture of our human condition apart from God’s work in Christ, we may be on the verge of despair: is there any hope for people to come into good standing before God? But just as despair begins to knock on the doors of our hearts, we hear this thunderclap of good news: “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….”

What we need to see here is that this good news comes to as we find ourselves in solidarity with the work of God in Christ Jesus. It is by identifying, by embracing, by believing and enacting upon the work of God in Christ Jesus, that we find ourselves in a new standing before God. The old standing signifies death; the new signifies life—for evermore.

A corpse cannot come to life by itself. Dead is dead. A corpse cannot undo the power of death. Therefore, it is by the initiative of God in Christ that we embrace good news. For, says Paul, God “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

How do we arrive at this new standing before God? It is by being grafted into Christ, by being incorporated into Jesus; it is by being found in him. It is by participating in faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus; in his exaltation or ascension into heaven. God’s work in Christ Jesus leads to our new standing before God.

As Jesus is risen from the dead, so we share in his resurrection life already today; as Jesus ascended to heaven to assume his kingship, so we already assume our tasks as prophets, priests, and kings today. As Jesus is restoring all things and will bring all things under his sovereign control at he end of time, so shall we participate in the consummation or re-creation of all God’s handiwork.

Made alive with Christ, resurrected with Christ, seated with Christ in the heavens, and being re-shaped or recreated in his image already today—and fully when he comes again--these are the factors that lead us into a new relation or standing before God.

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Now let me emphasize three important truths: #1. Our standing before God with Christ is terrific good news. Sometimes, Christians focus on the bad news without incorporating the good news. As a result, they become depressed, sour, and somber people. They often doubt their own relationship with God and their salvation in Christ Jesus. They live with somber faces and they die with anxiety and fear.

A joy in the Lord, a peace that passes understanding, a conviction that God in Christ declares us “not guilty”—these are emotions and spiritual riches that undergird our hearts and minds and that give us a balance and a quiet, secret power to go through life. The good news of the gospel is a powerful motivation to live life with zest and joy. Do not close your eyes to this good news! Rather, open the windows of your hearts to let the Spirit of God blow new life into you every day.

#2. Our standing before God with Christ hinges on God’s initiative and divine characters. Thus we receive the good news with humility and gratitude. Remember, for example, that the Apostle Paul spoke first about God’s work of election in Christ Jesus. That work is a mystery that took place in God’s throne room before the creation of the world. The point is this: there is no room for pride or boasting on our part. There can only be wonder, humility and gratitude on our part. It’s God’s initiative that leads to our rebirth. God made us alive.

If you ask me “why?” I find a few clues in the text. Those clues point to God’s divine character. Notice, for example, that Paul speaks of God’s grace: “It is by grace you have been saved….” Note that Paul speaks of love: “But because of God’s great love for us….” Note that Paul refers to God’s mercy: “…God, who is rich in mercy….” Paul also refers to God’s kindness: “God shows his incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

Kindness, mercy, love and grace—these are divine characteristics. How on earth can we ever fathom or probe these attributes of God? We don’t. We contemplate them; we embrace them; we thank God for them, and with gratitude and humility we embrace our good standing before God with Christ Jesus.

#3. Our good standing before God with Christ calls for a willingness to be formed, shaped by God’s Spirit to do his bidding. Paul reminds us that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ—that is, being re-formed, re-shaped more and more in the image of Christ. In other words, we are always under construction. We are God’s project.

What for? To do good works, to serve the Lord and one another, to do the bidding of Christ, the King. And here is the humbling factor: all the good works we do are works that God has prepared for us in advance. We can’t even take credit for the good works we do. All of life and all of Christian service, then, is grace. All the good we do should always be seen as a response of gratitude to God’s work in Christ Jesus and in us.

That’s why I say it once more: our good standing before God hinges on God’s initiative and divine character.

To God be praise and glory. Now and forever more!

Amen.