WHO YOU WERE/ARE

V1 -   “You were dead in your transgressions and sins…” – just as Jesus was dead and brought back to life, you were dead and needed to be brought back to life – this is your pre-Christ existence – while you were CHOSEN to be ADOPTED, there was a gap between you and God called SIN – and Paul says you were DEAD in your SIN – think about that: you were BORN DEAD – I’ve said this before, but let me remind you: You weren’t born good – in fact, you were born in rebellion - CHILD

 

V2 - You used to live as a slave to the culture, and under control of the enemy – for some, this is past tense, others, this is your current reality – If you find yourself arguing with the fact that you are inherently sinful and rebellious, then you are likely living in a pre-Jesus existence, and are currently living in slavery to the world’s agenda for your life, the enemy’s agenda for your life

 

V3 – In fact, it’s something we ALL HAVE IN COMMON – we ALL USED TO LIVE THIS WAY – Romans 3:23 - until you get this, nothing else will make sense – You are NOT THE EXCEPTION - while you were CHOSEN, you were born into rebellion and followed the natural cravings, desires and thoughts of your flesh – feels pretty yuck, right? Isn’t it the thing you hate the most about you, that you are so prone to darkness? And because of this fact, you deserved God’s WRATH – God punishes SIN – Romans 6:23

 

SAVED ON PURPOSE

V4 – “But GOD…”-  this is a pregnant clause – Paul says, “You were DEAD in SIN, BUT GOD, who is great in love and rich in mercy…” In your sin, God loved you SO much and extended a hand of mercy instead of wrath – how does that make you feel? You were destined for wrath, BUT GOD mercifully changed your course because of his GREAT LOVE – One of most compelling things about you is your BUT GOD moment - and most importantly, YOU DIDN’T DO IT – You can’t change yourself! And God did this PURPOSEFULLY, INTENTIONALLY

 

V5 – You were MADE ALIVE in CHRIST – just as Christ was resurrected, in him, YOU TOO are RESURRECTED – if you are in Christ, you know what I’m talking about – you were dead and Jesus brought you back to life - “For it is by GRACE you have been saved…” – Paul will say this twice in the next few verses – he’ll underscore it in v8-9, when he’ll remind you that you didn’t earn it

 

V6 -  again, he is contrasting Jesus from chapter one to you in chapter 2 – in 1:20, he resurrected Christ and seated him in the heavenly realms, and now in Christ, you have been resurrected and seated in the heavenly realms – this is a picture of ADOPTION – you identify as a child of God because of Jesus – if it happened to Jesus, it happens to YOU!

 

V7 – in 1:19 he speaks of his incomparable POWER, now he speaks of his incomparable GRACE – in raising Christ he demonstrated POWER, in raising you, he demonstrated GRACE and KINDNESS instead of WRATH

 

V8-9 – simply put, it is by the GRACE of God that saves you, not your works – you can’t say, “look at what I did to earn God’s favor” – the only thing you did was earn his wrath – In his GRACE, MERCY and KINDNESS, he wrapped himself in flesh and became the God-man, JESUS, and became the satisfaction for the WRATH of GOD, the payment for SIN, the bridge for the GAP between you and GOD –only thing you did was say YES – But here’s what I love – in your rebellion, in your inadequacy, in your striving, in your lostness, God looked at you and said, “You can’t find way to me, but I’ve got great plans for you, so let me pave a way for you into the life I’ve prepared for you – Jesus is the WAY to the Father (John 14:6)

Why would God do that?  Because he has an end goal in mind

 

FOR A PURPOSE

We talk a lot about living into your E210 calling – this is the verse that spells it out – You were saved ON PURPOSE FOR A PURPOSE - let me walk through it with you

 

V10 – “For we are God’s handiwork…” – other translation says “workmanship” – interesting that we are not saved by our works, but we are God’s FINEST WORK - the Greek word here is “poiema”, where we get our word poem – you are God’s poem, his work of art – Psalm 139:14 – you are fearfully and wonderfully made – Acts 17:26 – your boundaries and history were marked for you – 1 Peter 4:10-11 – you have given gifts to use for the glory of God - if you are God’s POEM, how does it read to the world around you?

“Created… to do good works…prepared in advance”- Let’s not miss this: You are God’s HANDIWORK, meaning he is the CREATOR and you are the CREATED – It’s the opening line of the Bible, Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning, God created…” – before the foundation of the world, God had you in mind, WHO you would BE and WHAT you would DO – You were created ON PURPOSE FOR A PURPOSE – you were created with a God-assignment on your life – You weren’t saved BY GOOD WORKS, but FOR GOOD WORKS – And God was PURPOSEFUL in who he created you to be - This is where the church has gotten is wrong – spent most of my life hearing that salvation was to keep me out of hell and get me into heaven – but look at what Paul is saying – You were chosen before the foundation of the world to be a part of changing the world –

 

“…In Christ Jesus…” – What a powerful clause – Jesus is the activator of your E210 calling – You were created for good works, a God-assignment, but only Jesus can activate it in your life - God provided a way through Jesus to vault you into the life you were meant to live – Galatians 2:20 -

 

3 ways to uncover your E210 calling:

1. Intimacy with Jesus. Secret Place. Be with Jesus. Become like Jesus. Do what Jesus did.
2. Pursue your natural desires and giftings. Your E210 calling is hard-wired in you. Most natural thing in the world. No room for comparison. (Load/Burden)
3. Run with people who are living in their E210 calling. (Hungry) Seeing others living into theirs will inspire you to live into yours (Brian Jenkins)