March 22, 2009
The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Ephesians 2:1-10
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 of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 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 us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that 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.

 

   I don’t agree with a lot of things that mega-church pastor Rick Warren teaches. But I do agree with him on one point. When he says, “This life is preparation for the next [one]”1 he has touched on something very important. The purpose of life is not “going for all the gusto you can get,” but preparation for eternity. According to Jesus heaven and hell are real places. And we will spend eternity in one of the two. It is imperative, therefore, that we be found in the faith when God calls us into eternity.

   There are many who think that everybody will end up in heaven. Others think that hell will be populated only by the really bad people, say, murderers, rapists, and child-abusers. But, according to Jesus, there will be far more in hell than in heaven, for he says, “Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in through it. But narrow is the gate and hard is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”2

   These are sobering words. And the truth is that those who reject Jesus as the way to heaven will be judged by him as worthy of hell.3 Yes, if person will not be saved by Christ's mercy, he will be judged by God's Law!

   So we can see that our foremost goal must be to get to heaven.

   But the first thing we must come to grips with is something terribly unflattering. It is so offensive that many reject it outright and thereby put themselves squarely on the broad road leading to destruction. The unflattering truth is that we were all born dead, i.e., spiritually dead. Indeed, from the moment of conception, our souls were separated from God. King David acknowledged this truth when he said, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”4

   So, before faith came to the Ephesians, St. Paul says to them, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins” and “were, by nature, children of wrath.”5 Dead people, by definition, can do nothing to make themselves alive. Imagine going to a funeral home and crying out to the corpses, “Be raised up! Come alive!” Utter foolishness, right? In the same way, it is just as impossible for spiritually dead sinners to come alive by anything they can do or by anything their friends or relatives can do.

   If sinners are to become spiritually alive, God himself must do the enlivening. He must make us alive from beginning to end or else we will remain dead. And the good news is that God has actually done just that. In our text we read this stunning 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.”6

   Yes, God makes dead sinners alive by the Holy Spirit’s work in baptism and the teaching of the Gospel. Moreover, St. Paul says of salvation, “It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”7 Paul, here, teaches that God gives the sinner heaven as an absolutely free gift!

   But this seems too good to be true. We've all heard the slogans: “You get what you pay for!” And “there's no such thing as a free lunch!” When someone offers us something for nothing we immediately think that there are strings attached. Maybe that's why so many spurn God’s great gift. Maybe that’s why the vast majority think they must do something to win God’s favor. So they strive to be good, thinking that God will be moved to accept them. But they don’t understand that they can never be good enough. God requires absolute perfection, i.e., sinlessness. But sinners that we are, we can never be perfect. So, what does God do? He gives us what we don’t deserve: he gives us heaven as free gift.

   Heaven may be free, but it is not cheap. It required that God send his Son into this world as our substitute. As our substitute, Jesus lived a sinless life in our places. And again, as our substitute, he died for the sins we committed. St. Paul reminds us that we were “bought with a price.”8 That price was Christ’s blood, for the apostle Peter says, “You know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”9

   Our text tells us more about this free gift of God. St. Paul begins by saying, “For by grace are you saved.”10 Grace is the unmerited favor of God. It is getting what we do not deserve. We do not deserve forgiveness and eternal life. But God gives them to us gratis, i.e., without charge as a free gift.

   So, then, in answer to the question, “What is the cause of a sinner’s salvation?” the Bible’s answer is grace alone. Salvation by grace alone means that God, motivated purely by his love for spiritually dead sinners, has not only taken the initiative in our salvation, but has also, in the person and work of Christ, totally and perfectly secured it. And now God offers this most-precious-of-all things, forgiveness and salvation, to all humanity. And Paul takes great pains to tell us that God, without any merit or worthiness on our part, gives it to us all as an absolutely free gift. It is the gift of God.

   But how do we make this salvation our very own possession? Our text says that we receive it “through faith.” Saving faith is not merely believing in the existence of a Supreme Being. Even the demons believe that and shudder.11 No the faith that saves is itself a gift of God worked by the Holy Spirit. It is faith that specifically trusts in the work and merits of Christ.

   This faith comes to us by the means of grace. That is, it comes to us by hearing or reading the Gospel; it comes to us by water and the Word in Holy Baptism; it is strengthened through the Holy Supper. This faith comes to us, not from within us but from outside us. It comes to us from God himself, who not only offers us salvation, but also works the faith that trusts in Christ for that very salvation. It is God’s great work.

   Saving faith trusts in Christ’s work and Christ’s work alone. Let me illustrate what I mean by trust. The great Blondin loved to thrill crowds by walking on a tightrope across Niagara Falls. On one occasion, he announced that he would carry somebody across the Falls on his back. He began by asking the crowd, “How many of you know that I have crossed the Falls many times before?” They all did. Then he asked, “How many of you believe I can cross the Falls and come back with someone strapped to my back?” There was a wild cheer. Yes, to a man, they all believed he could do it. Blondin then looked into the crowd and said, “I need a volunteer. Who among you will make the trip on my back?” Immediately, there was a deafening silence. No one was willing to trust him with his life.12 Neither would I. The point is simply this: It is one thing to agree that Blondin can make the journey across with someone on his back. It is quite another to trust him enough to be that someone. But what if Jesus were the tightrope walker? Would you trust him to get you across? I would!

   More needs to be said. Theologians have said that, in the normal course of things, saving faith consists of three things, knowledge, assent, and trust.13 You may know, for example, that Jesus claimed to be the Savior, the one and only way to heaven. Yet, mere knowledge of these claims will not save you. To this knowledge, you may agree or give assent to the truth of these claims. Thus, you say, “Yes, Jesus, I agree that you are the Savior and that you are the only one who can safely carry a person across the great gulf separating heaven and earth.” Yet, merely agreeing that he can carry a person safely across does not get you across. To get across, you must trust him with your life and say, “Yes, Jesus, I am trusting you, and only you, to get me to heaven, for only you have died for my sins and risen again for my justification.”

   And my friends, trusting Jesus to get you to heaven is far, far safer than trusting Blondin to get you across the Falls. Why? Two reasons:

• First, because Jesus is God and he has never, and will never slip.
• Second, because Christ has already earned your safe passage for you by reason of his sin atoning death on your behalf. His resurrection is the evidence of this truth.

 

   So, saving faith trusts solely in Jesus, the God-man, to carry you on his bleeding back to heaven. (But we must be clear that trust in Christ is God’s Work; specifically, it is the work of the Holy Spirit working through the means of grace).

   Our text makes a final point, namely, that the faith that saves will also produce its proper fruit, i.e., namely, good works. These are thoughts, words, and deeds that are pleasing to God. It is impossible to have saving faith without that faith expressing itself in good works. You don’t have to tell an orange tree to produce oranges. Likewise, you don’t have to tell a Christian to produce good works.

   Martin Luther put it this way: “Faith is a living, busy, active, powerful thing; it is impossible for it not to do good continually. It never asks whether good works are to be done, but has done them before there is time to ask the question, and is always doing them.”14 As our text says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”15 This, too, is all of God’s doing.

   So where’s the catch? There isn’t any! We were all born spiritually dead; but God has made us spiritually alive. It is God’s great gift to you! Amen.

 

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

 

Endnotes

 

1         See Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), p. 36.

2        See Matthew 7:13-14. Author’s translation. Most popular English translations struggle with the interrogative pronoun tí and the perfect passive participle of thlibō in v. 14. The NKJV and ESV read the participle as “difficult” and “hard” respectively. These translations are, in this author’s opinion, better than “narrow” as translated by the NASB, NIV, and KJV. In any case, Christ means that the road to life is travelled by fewer souls than the road to destruction.

3        Jesus says, “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him” (Luke 12:5, NASB)! On the last day, Jesus will say to all who are his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41, ESV)

4        See Psalm 51:5, NIV.

5        See Ephesians 2:1-3.

6        See Ephesians 2:4-5. Other passages that teach that conversion is entirely the work of God include Romans 5:18, 1 Corinthians 15:22, Colossians 2:13 and James 1:18. Passages where divine monergism is indirectly taught include John 5:21, John 6:28-29, John 6:63, and 1Corinthians 2:14. This listing is by no means exhaustive.

7        See Ephesians 2:8b-9a.

8        See 1 Corinthians 6:20.

9        See 1 Peter 1:18-19.

10        See Ephesians 2:8a.

11        See James 2:19.

12        Adapted from Michael P. Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989), pp. 137-138. Also see http://www.tourniagara.com/history/daredevils/jean-francois-gravelet/.

13        The terms knowledge, assent, and trust come from the Latin notitia, assensus, and fiducia. The terms seem to go back as far as Augustine. Luther, Melanchthon, and Gerhard used these terms when they proved helpful. One must be careful to note that only fiducia i.e., trust saves. Nevertheless, saving faith (fiducia) must rest on facts as opposed to untruths. When a baptized infant trusts in Christ (fiducia), the notitia and assensus must become informed by the child’s parents or guardians. If not, fiducia will not have sufficient grounding and the baptized may fall from his fiducia and, therefore, from the faith altogether.

14        See FC, SD: IV, 10.

15        See Ephesians 2:10.

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