Dig Into Ephesians with Todd WagnerSample

Made Alive Together with Christ When searching for a new job, we typically seek ways to convince a company that we are good enough, smart enough, and accomplished enough to make a place for ourselves there. We communicate our worth by showing off our highlight reel—our resumé of achievements and honors. Have you ever thought that God needs to see your resumé before he’ll allow you into his family? How good do you have to be? How many righteous deeds are enough? What if you make some terrible choices? Will you have to keep updating your resumé of righteousness up to the very last minute? In Ephesians 2, the apostle Paul reveals exactly what God expects from his children. Better yet, he explains why he requires the perfect resumé—from Jesus. Not your achievements. Not your abilities. Not your appearance. Only Jesus’s atonement. Paul starts out explaining that we all were once dead in our sins. This means that we were completely separated from God, unable to do anything on our own behalf to earn his favor. Our sinful behavior reflected the unholy reality of our hearts. Then, in verse 4, Paul writes some of the most hopeful words in Scripture, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ . . .” We went from dead to alive because a merciful God loves us. He stepped in, brought us to life, reconciled us to himself, and adopted us as his own. This kind of rescue is called grace. We did nothing to deserve it, can do nothing to earn it, and have only to receive it. Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.” This truth is paradigm-shifting, even life-transforming. To go from striving for acceptance to resting in God’s amazing grace? Our lives are never the same. As Todd said, redemption changes us, and we become new people, yielded to his Spirit. Verse 10 describes how Jesus wrought a change in our identity: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do” (v. 10). The word for workmanship is poeima, from which we get our word poem. Sometimes it is translated “masterpiece.” God’s grace transforms us: it’s as if we move from finger-painted mess to museum-quality treasure. And all of those good works we once thought we had to do? Now, we want to do them. We get to serve God and love others with our words, actions, and sacrifices. Have you been getting God’s love backwards? Think about your journey toward him. If you’ve been trying to do more and be better so he’ll accept you, stop. Breathe. Read Ephesians 2 again. Then rest in the truth that God doesn’t need your resumé of righteousness. You just need Jesus.