©2003 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship

04/27/03

God’s Salvation Disclosure Statement

Ephesians 2:8-10

4/27/03 God’s Salvation Disclosure Statement

For the past month now

we have been studying the first 10 verses

of the 2^nd chapter of Ephesians.

This morning we are going to finish our study of these ten verses

with a closer look at the last 3 verses of this passage.

This is one of those passages that, quite honestly, I am hesitant to leave,

as I would be hesitant to leave a very good friend.

It is a passage filled to overflowing with the most amazing views

directly into both the mind and the heart of our God.

When our daughter, Joni, was a little girl,

during her grade school years,

when she would come down with some childhood sickness,

she would take up residence on the couch in the loft during her recovery.

She’d have a cozy blanket,

and a whole bunch of Odyssey tapes from Focus On the Family,

and maybe some books if she was well enough to read.

But the chief survival tool for those sick days

was the stack of rental videos that daddy would bring home for her,

mostly old Disney classics.

And every time I headed out to get those videos,

just before I went out the door,

Joni would always say the same thing to me.

“Get some old ones, daddy.”

And she and I knew just exactly what she meant.

She had a few movies that were her best favorites.

At the top of the list was “Candleshoe”.

She’d watched them all countless times,

but they were old friends to her.

Daddy, on the other hand,

was always looking for new ones she’d never seen before.

And whenever I went out to get the sick-day videos

she wanted a firm promise from me

that at least half of those I brought home would be old friends.

This passage in Ephesians 2:1-10 is my “Candleshoe”.

I’ve used it,

and read it,

and studied it so many times

that I know it all by memory.

But each time I come back to it

I find myself thinking, “Say it again, Lord...just say it one more time.”

EPH 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

EPH 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

EPH 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,

EPH 2:7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

And of course such passages are dangerous for Bible teachers

because we can easily get stuck on them for weeks,

or months.

But the truth is

when it comes right down to it

the human spirit’s relationship with God

is a great deal like my daughter’s relationship with those videos.

It’s great to be learning new stuff about our King,

new ideas,

new insights,

but what our spirits long for the most

is to hear Him say to us again and again

the same message He said when we first came to Him -

“My child, I love you. I love you so much that I paid the debt for your sins with My own death. And now nothing and no one can ever or will ever separate you from My love for all eternity.”

But having said that,

I assure you that we will move on in our study of this book,

but not until we’ve looked a little more closely

at the final three verses of this passage.

Paul uses these final three verses of the passage

to present us with a summery statement

of everything he has said so far.

And he does something else for us here, too.

He gives us perhaps the most important single statement found anywhere in Scripture

about the Christian’s relationship to good works.

The passage we’re looking at

is Ephesians 2:8-10, and it reads,

EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

EPH 2:9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

EPH 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The two sentences in these three verses

are Paul’s way of saying to us,

“Look, my friend - if you got lost in all the words I just said to you,

let me state what I’m saying clearly and simply.”

Have you ever signed a mortgage contract on a house?

If so you may remember what is was like

when you went into the bank for that final closing.

The man or woman on the other side of the desk

sat before you with this pile of papers he or she could hardly see over.

Then the bank agent started handing them to you,

telling you to, “Sign here...sign here...sign here...sign here...sign here.”

By the time you finished

you weren’t entirely sure whether you just bought a house,

or enlisted in the army,

or signed all of your earthly possessions over to the bank,

or sold your children into slavery,

or all of the above.

But then, somewhere toward the end of all of those papers,

the agent handed you one entitled “Real Estate Disclosure Statement”,

or something very like that.

On that sheet were four easy to read boxes.

One of them said, “Annual Percentage Rate”

one said “Finance Charge”

one said “Amount Financed”

and the last said “Total of all Payments”.

There was no small print,

no confusing language,

no footnotes or hidden language of any kind.

On the one Sandee and I signed

it told us that the “Amount Financed” was $93,315.51.

But then it told us that the “Finance Charge” was $104,511.94,

and our Total Payments were going to be $197,827.45.

If we paid the loan back according to their schedule

we would end up paying more than $100,000.00 just in interest charges.

As I understand it

the banks are required by law to include that page

so that there can be no confusion about what we’re getting ourselves into

when we get ourselves into a loan.

Do you know what Ephesians 2:8-10 is?

It is God’s Salvation Disclosure Statement”.

And when we look at it carefully,

just like that Real Estate Disclosure Statement,

this Salvation Disclosure Statement will shock us.

But it is not the shock of horror at how bad the whole thing is,

it is the shock of amazement

at how incredibly wonderful the whole thing is.

Our Salvation Disclosure Statement begins with this:

For by grace you have been saved through faith...

And the first thing I want to point out

is that Paul talks about our salvation in the past tense,

as something that has already taken place.

...you have been saved...

He is writing this letter exclusively to Christians, of course.

We know that with absolute certainty

because of the first line of the letter: EPH 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus ...

And just so I don’t make complicated

what is designed by God to be clear and simple,

what he’s talking about is all of us who have come to understand

that we are separated from our Creator because of our sins against Him,

and on our own we have no hope whatsoever of ever being able to reach Him.

And then, in our need, we have turned to God as our only hope,

listened to Him when He told us that the reason Jesus Christ died on that cross

was to offer Himself and His death as full payment for our sins,

and then we chose to believe Him,

to believe He was telling us the truth,

and accepted His offer to pay our debt for our sin with His own death.

That’s it.

That’s all there is to it.

2CO 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

JOH 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

JOH 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Remember that Disclosure Statement?

Do you know what’s in our boxes now?

“Amount Financed” - all your sins, all your failures, all your known and unknown immorality against God from the instant of your conception to the instant of your death.

“Finance Charge” - the death of God Himself in your place for your sins

“Amount You Must Repay” - Zero. Nothing. None. All debt has already been paid in full on your behalf by God Himself.

And the first thing I want us to see in this passage

is the way in which Paul talks about this moral salvation

that we have received from our Creator.

He says, “you have been saved”.

It isn’t that you may be saved if you keep going the way you’re going.

It isn’t that you will be saved if all goes well.

It isn’t a chance,

it isn’t a possible hope for the future,

it is a completed fact.

The debt, YOUR debt has already been paid in full forever.

I emphasize this so strongly

because, quite honestly, it is this simple truth

that forms the foundation upon which everything else in our walk with God is based.

And if we don’t get this one right,

nothing else in our Christian life is going to work as God intended.

And there are countless Christians

who continue to live out their walk with God

believing they have received some sort of probationary entrance into the family.

They continue to see God daily sifting through their lives,

looking for failures,

looking for sins,

looking for ammunition with which to threaten the believer with rejection and expulsion if they don’t meet some preestablished standard.

You remember that first birthday present given to us by God the moment with enter His family, don’t you?

ROM 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...

And there it is again - past tense, “having been justified” ,

and the end result, - present tense, “we now have”.

And you remember that second gift, too, I hope...

“ROM 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand...”.

The GRACE in which we stand...

The battle between us and our God is over forever.

He has called us to Himself,

claimed us for Himself,

cleansed us by His blood,

and recreated our spirits in absolute righteousness.

It is a finished fact of our existence.

So why is this so important?

Well, it’s a little bit like this.

Each of us come to God like an orphaned child who has just been adopted.

Our past, prior to that adoption has been the worst imaginable.

We have spent our ten or eleven years of life

enduring the worst of the foster care system,

unloved,

abused,

beaten,

valued only for whatever others could get out of us.

When we finally step inside our new home,

we stand there literally clothed in rags,

smelling of disease and neglect,

clutching a grocery bag in which we have a few other articles of clothing,

all as dirty and worn as the ones we have on.

We desperately need someone to take us,

and bathe us,

and clothe us,

and heal us,

and accept the calling of preparing us for life.

But as soon as our adopted daddy and mommy reach out to us to help,

we instinctively pull back in fear.

Inside we tell ourselves, “If they find out how bad I smell,

if they see these sores on my body,

if they discover how little clothing I have,

I just know they, too, will send me away like everyone else.”

That’s us before our God when we come to Him.

And in response to those fears

the first words He speaks to us

are the words “...you have been saved...”.

The adoption is already complete.

The papers are all signed

and nothing ever can or ever will undo it.

And then, just so we have no confusion about what has really happened,

He adds some other words to make certain it’s absolutely clear.

EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

EPH 2:9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

It never has been about how much we bring with us in that grocery bag we’re clutching.

The truth is,

when He’s finally able to win our trust

to the point where we’ll let Him take that bag from us

we’re going to discover that He’s not going to wash and mend those old things of ours,

He’s going to throw the whole bag into the trash

and give us a brand new wardrobe,

made up of clothes that fit us perfectly.

We don’t get in because of what we possess,

and we don’t remain with Him because of what we possess.

It is the gift of God, all of it,

poured out on us by His grace

because He loves us.

But that isn’t where Paul stops.

There is one more fascinating sentence that follows.

For Paul goes on to say,

EPH 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

And it is really this statement

that I’ve been aiming at ever since we started this morning.

It is a statement that, when we see it correctly,

will do as much to introduce us to the nature of our God’s love for us

as any other statement in this whole remarkable passage.

And let me point out the obvious contrast that exists

between verses 9 and 10.

Both verses mention works,

but when we put them together

the message Paul is communicating to us

is that our salvation is not by good works,

but it is for good works.

Now the first part of that contrast we understand pretty well.

Obviously, there is nothing we could ever do

that would in any way qualify us for acceptance by God.

No person will ever stand in the presence of God and say,

“I deserve to be here.”

No one will ever boast before God.

If God chose to give us what we deserved,

all that would await any of us

is and endless eternity of separation from our Creator.

What we have received

is, quite simply, the GIFT of God to us.

But it’s the second part of that works contrast

that I want us to look at as we wrap this up this morning.

Because, you see Paul tells us that even though our entrance into the life of Christ was not by good works,

yet it was for good works.

And I don’t want you to do

what I think many of you are doing with that statement right now.

We have so brutalized this good works thing in the church world

that it is extremely difficult for us to hear correctly

what God is really saying.

I think there are more than a few of you here this morning who,

when you heard those words “for good works”

immediately dragged up a mental list of what the religious community around you has told you is “good works”.

If we had the time

I would love to take a few minutes

to have you tell me what you think belongs on that list.

I think we’d find things like:

giving money to needy causes,

and getting involved in meeting social needs within the community,

and helping needy families in some way,

visiting those who are sick or maybe even those in prison,

and getting involved in some sort of evangelistic outreach.

And if that’s the type of thing that comes to mind to you,

if you think of some external list of “good deeds” that you are suppose to tack onto your life,

you simply have it all wrong.

Paul’s wording in this 10^th verse

is absolutely amazing,

and let me see if I can ease us into what’s really being said by starting with that last phrase...so that we would walk in them.

When Paul selected a phrase that would correctly describe our relationship to the “good works” God has prepared for us,

he chose an activity that is so natural,

so much a part of us

that we don’t even think about doing it.

He chose walking.

When I finish talking here in a few minutes

and you get up from your chair

you will not say to yourself, “OK, now I’m going to walk. Now, let me see, how do I do that again? Oh yes, I put one foot out, rest on it, then lift the other and move it forward...”

When you walk

you do it without even thinking about doing it.

And when you understand correctly

the true nature of the good works God has prepared for you,

you will find yourself walking in them

just as naturally as you walk physically.

You see, when Paul goes about describing this good works thing to us,

the first thing he tells us is that “we are His workmanship”.

We are each unique creative works of God Himself.

There never has been and never will be in the future

another person like you.

You are God’s special creative workmanship.

And as such

God has designed you with the ability

to make your own absolutely unique contributions for good to this world.

That’s what Paul means

when he tells us that God “prepared beforehand” the good works that He has for each of us to walk in.

He is telling us

that part of that unique workmanship of God in you

was His designing you with your own individual ability

to express the reality of God

and to contribute your own unique good to this world as no one else can do.

And what he’s telling us in this verse

is that, when we come to Christ,

for the first time in our lives

we are finally freed to begin discovering the purposes for which God brought us into this world.

I know I’m out of time,

but let me just conclude by saying

that the two great enemies to our discovery process

of those “good works” that God has prepared for each of us

are the voices of the religious community around us trying to cram us all into the same good deeds mold,

and those insecurities within ourselves that drive us to look at what other people are doing

and then try to imitate their good deeds,

rather than discovering what God has for us.

And then just one final word -

when you’re walking in those deeds that God has prepared for you to do

you’ll know it in two ways -

first, it will fit you, it will flow out of you as naturally as walking,

and second, it will feed your spirit.

Rather than draining you,

it will actually give you some of your deepest fulfillment and satisfaction in life.

In fact, if you find yourself confused

about being able to recognize the good works

that God has prepared beforehand for you,

I would suggest that you look at it from the other way around.

Ask yourself what things in your life

really feed your spirit.

Is it loving and caring for those God has placed closest to you -

your wife,

your husband,

your children?

Is it seeing some need in another person’s life

and then using the resources God has given you to meet that need?

Maybe it’s spending time with your son or daughter,

or finding a child whose dad or mom is gone

and reaching out to them.

Maybe it’s strumming a guitar,

or playing a key board,

putting words on paper in a way that expresses your love for your Lord.

You see, the key to God’s whole design

is to trust His life in you and through you.

Don’t imitate,

just listen and trust what His Spirit gives you a heart to do.

What is it that feeds your spirit?

So, there it is: God’s Salvation Disclosure Statement -

EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

EPH 2:9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

EPH 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.