Dead or Alive

Eph. 2:1-10

Here is today’s passage:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 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—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Eph 2:1–10

Black or white.  Yes or no.  True or false.  Saved or objects of wrath.  Grace or works.  Dead or alive.  Imagine going to your doctor and you ask him one simple question, “Do I have cancer?”  His response: “Well, sort of.”  What if you go to your banker and ask, “Do I have any money in my account?”  Her response: “Well, sort of.”  Before you take off in a jet you ask the pilot a simple question, “Do you have any experience flying an aircraft?”  “Well, sort of,” is their response.  There are some things in this world that are black or white, true or false.  The same is true for spiritual life.  We’re either dead or alive.  We have to understand our spiritual state based on what God’s word says about us, not how we feel.  

You can have the COVID virus and not have any symptoms.  You feel healthy.  The objectivity of science can show us whether or not we have the virus.  We also need the objectivity of God’s word to tell us what is really going on with our relationship with God.  The reality however is that we are experiencing the symptoms of a sinful heart.  Some people don’t know what symptoms to look for.  Others are in denial.  

Imagine that you have a high fever.  You’ve been coughing seemingly non-stop, your head hurts and you’ve lost your sense of taste.  You go to the doctor and she gives you a COVID test.  Your results come back as positive.  There’s a virus inside of you that has been multiplying.  It’s weakening your body.  The symptoms are a result of a disease.  Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matt. 6:19)  The disease is sin, which is our rejection and hate towards God.  As bad as the list Jesus gave, they’re still just the symptoms.  We are accountable to God for our sinful heart as well as the sinful thoughts, words, and actions that come as the result of a sinful heart.

When you read the story of Adam and Eve you see what happens as a result of rebellion towards God.  One thing that happens is blame.  Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.  Hiding is another symptom.  They hid from each other and they hid from God.

There are different kinds of death you can find in the Bible.  There is physical death.  In Hebrews 9:27 it says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…”  There is eternal death as well.  Paul talked about the “everlasting destruction” people will face: 

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. – 2 Thess. 1:8-10a  

The apostle John talked about this too: 

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. – Rev. 20:14  

Eternal torment is known as death.  In Ephesians 2, Paul was talking to people who were alive physically but had been dead in the past.  These people were without spiritual life.  They didn’t have eternal life.  They were disconnected from God.  They were walking dead people.

When we see this world, all types of people know that there should be something better.  This is true even for people who don’t believe in absolute truth.  Some people don’t believe there is true or false, right or wrong, dead or alive.  I try to help them see that they really don’t believe that.  We all believe that certain things “should” be this way or that way.  For example, instead of being violent, we should be loving.  Instead of lying, we should tell the truth.  Miriam doesn’t know much about car mechanics.  When something is wrong she doesn’t say, “I believe that the valve spring on cylinder number 8 was tightened to 150 degrees instead of 365 degrees.”  Instead, she shows me how the van lurches when she presses the gas.  Sometimes she will make entertaining sounds, trying to mimic what she is hearing from under the hood.  She doesn’t have to know the inner workings of the engine.  She just knows that something isn’t right.  The car is not doing what it’s supposed to.  There are even atheists who believe that there should be more love instead of hate.  As they would say where I come from, “Something just ain’t right here.”  

Where does this sense of “should” come from?  Take for instance what happened in Israel recently.  Why can anyone say that Hamas “should” have loved the Israelites rather than raped them?  Why can anyone say that showing kindness is better than killing an entire family in their home, including babies?  My point is there is right and wrong.  It’s possible that you are dead in your transgressions and sins.  And it is possible that you are dead even though you may not feel like you are.

For many years I didn’t think that I was that bad of a person.  At least I wasn’t as bad as this person over here.  I didn’t think I was dead.  Matter of fact, I didn’t even know there was a state of spiritual death.  I’ll share one thing I did when I was a kid.  

I was probably about 10 years old.  I hung out with one of the neighborhood kids a lot.  He was not a good influence.  We ended up doing stupid things.  One night we decided we were going to throw rocks onto the neighbor’s house.  The kid that lived in that house was picked on by a number of kids our age.  They were poor.  We wanted to practice our ninja skill of stealthiness.  We threw rocks and they would come outside to see who was doing it.  They couldn’t find where we were.  I remember hiding behind our green metal shed.  

I had a good throwing arm.  I lobbed a rock way in the air to maximize the noise I could make when it landed on the roof.  But instead of hearing a thud, I heard the sound of glass breaking.  I had broken the sliding glass door.  It made a huge explosion sound.  The mom came out of the house yelling.  We stood there frozen, not knowing what to do.  We talked for a couple minutes about our plan to escape.  We turned around and there she was…the mom.  I’ll never forget the feeling of fear and shame wash over the inside of me.  She was a short lady but she seemed a couple of feet taller that day for some reason.  We didn’t hear her coming at all.  It turned out that she had some mom ninja skills.  Apparently, our skills weren’t complete.  What did I do?  

I ran.  I ran like I’ve never ran before.  I ran like demons were chasing me all the way to the house.  I think I jumped over all four steps that led to our back door.  In the 3.2 seconds it took me to run 200 ft, I had come up with a plan.  I busted through the doorway while out of breath and I saw something I couldn’t believe.  Someone came to visit my mom and dad.  This “someone” had never come to our house before.  Before that day I felt like God didn’t want to be involved in my life.  But that day changed my mind.  You see God had sent someone at the most peculiar time.  God had sent the prophet Nathan to King David.  He sent the prophet Samuel to King Saul.  And there on our couch, I saw who God sent to me…our pastor.  

There are 365 days of the year.  At this point, I had probably lived about 3650 days.  There are 1,440 minutes in a day.  Out of all those days and all the minutes in that day, he “just so happened” to show up at our house during the moments in which I broke the sliding glass door.  There in front of my parents and our pastor, I nervously explained what had happened.  I had been so frightened by the momma ninja that I was speaking lightning fast.  There, in front of all three of them, I made a confession.  I did what I thought was the right thing.  I confessed that it was my friend’s idea to throw the rocks.  And it was he who threw the rock into the sliding glass door.  

I had no regard for our neighbor’s well-being or their property.  I caused suffering for someone else.  I chose to lie over the truth.  I had dishonored my parents.  Just like Adam and Eve, I hid.  I hid my sin.  I hid the truth from all three of them.  I don’t remember how things unfolded after that.  I do know that because me and my friend were telling opposite stories it must have been difficult for the truth to be found out.  I don’t remember receiving a severe punishment.  I think I was able to get away relatively unscathed.  It’s unfortunate I did.  I have done many other things in life that have shown the disease of sin that I’ve had in my heart.  

Paul said that “we were by nature objects of wrath…”  Before we are “in Christ” we’re not God’s children.  We’re objects of wrath.  We’re all created by God.  We’re created in his image.  He loves us.  But we are objects of wrath.  

None of us are ever in a neutral spiritual state.  We are always following someone.  If we’re not following Jesus, then we are following Satan.  He’s the one often thought of as the “ruler of the kingdom of the air…”  Another translation says “the prince of the power of the air…”  Most people would say, “Oh, I’m not following Satan.”  I thought the same thing.  How can we know if we are following Satan?  We need to look at how God defines it.  Have you ever gratified the cravings of your sinful nature and followed its desires and thoughts?  Have you ever been disobedient to God?  If so, then you qualify as a follower of Satan.  You don’t have to be involved in the occult.  You don’t have to be involved in pentagrams and strange animal, or even human, sacrifice.  People have been saying that the attacks from Hamas on the Israelites were demonic.  I think demons were involved in what happened.  But let’s not forget that gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and being disobedient to God is Satanic.  I’m not saying that we’re possessed by Satan.  Satan does nothing but produce pollution and we’re taking all that air into our lungs.  It’s not just murder that has demonic influences.  James says, 

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.  This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. – James 3:14-15  

This passage that we’re looking at in Ephesians takes a dramatic turn in verse 4…”But God…”  That’s how the NASB translates it.  Paul, in contrast to our sin, begins talking about the nature of God and what he’s done for us.  God has “great love for us” and “is rich in mercy.”  He makes us alive and he saves us.  He raises us up and seats us with him in the heavenly places.  He has shown us the “incomparable riches in his grace, expressed in his kindness…”  He makes us his workmanship to do good works.

Who God is and what he has done is set in contrast to who we are and what we have done.  You know, I think I’ve done a pretty good job cleaning my teeth.  They seem white and not too yellow.  But it’s interesting what happens when I shave.  I spread a really white substance on my face.  All of a sudden my teeth don’t look so white.  They actually look a disgusting yellow.  The bright white reveals the true imperfection of my teeth.  And my teeth reveal the incredible pure whiteness of the shaving cream.  When we realize how sinful we were before Christ it reveals how merciful God has been to us in Christ.  When we see how gracious God is we realize how much of his kindness we don’t deserve.  When our sins are forgiven, God’s love, mercy, grace and kindness are magnified.  

God always tells the truth.  If we believe what God says about our sinfulness, then why not believe him about what he says about himself as well as what he has done for us.  In Christ we’ve been prepared to good works.  God saves us by grace.  Our salvation is a gift.  And at the same time he has expectations for us.  He has good works for us to do.  His grace empowers us to do those works.  He also expects us not to live for ourselves anymore.  Listen to what Paul said, “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15).  When lost people hear that we’re saved by grace they think we’re saying, “We want God to save us from hell to come.  After we’re saved we can do whatever we want.”  But we’re saying exactly the opposite thing.  It’s God’s grace that empowers us to do good works, not our guilt.  If I told Miriam that I love her and that I would never leave her, then what would that motivate her to do?  It would motivate her to be faithful to me, not to leave me.  It wouldn’t do the opposite.

What greater way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to celebrate what God has saved us from, what he has prepared us for, and all the things he has given to us.  I’d like to close with the lyrics of a song I like.  It’s by Lauren Daigle and it’s called “He’s Still Rolling Stones”.  

Out of the shadows
Bound for the gallows
A dead man walking
Till love came calling
Rise up (rise up)
Rise up (rise up)

Six feet under
I thought it was over
An answer to prayer
The voice of a Savior
Rise up (rise up)
Rise up (rise up)

All at once I came alive
This beating heart, these open eyes
The grave let go
The darkness should have known

You're still rolling stones…