• The BaptistWay lesson for Sept. 14 focuses on Ephesians 2:1-10.
There’s a difference in a trained eye. They can see things most of us miss. Take for example the case of Big LT this summer. After numerous calamities, both financial and medical, LT faced a bleak future. One day when he saw a TV program featuring an incredibly valuable Navajo blanket, he realized he had one similar to it, passed down through his family. Calling an auction house to have it evaluated, the appraiser carefully examined the fibers and dyes, which revealed it was indeed a rare and valuable blanket.
The appraiser said the auction house would be happy to help him auction it, and because of its excellent condition, they expected it to sell for a minimum of $100,000. LT was amazed. He possessed an item of amazing worth, but lacking a trained eye, he couldn’t take inventory of the blanket’s qualities and realize its potential value.
Inventory of the human condition
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians includes a careful inventory of the human condition. Using fully plural nouns and verbs, he makes it clear no one is exempt from the realities of our plight. However, God’s trained eye (so to speak) can see through our depravity to our potential and value as his workmanship, and he even has planned good works for us to accomplish.
Paul says we were:
• Dead (vv. 1-2)—Left to our natural state, our situation is utterly hopeless. We aren’t just sick. Not wounded. Not struggling. We are dead in our sins, absolutely beyond the capacity to remedy the situation or even able to call for help from someone else. We are hopeless.
• Fleshly and filled with wrath (v. 3)—The worst part about being dead is we did it to ourselves—our own willful choices destroyed us. We volitionally chose to take the path that killed us, like Darwin Award winners. Darwin Awards usually are given posthumously, granted to individuals whose reckless choices led to their own demise. It’s easy to read the stories with ridicule and ask, “How could they be so foolish?” However, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll confess we’ve done the same thing. Maybe not physically, but spiritually. While living disobedient lives with other disobedient people, we indulged in human desires. Yet fulfillment didn’t come, and we became angry and deserving of anger in this dissatisfied state, repeating destructive behaviors and volitionally wrecking havoc upon our lives.
But…
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
Our Redeemer arrived (vv. 4-5)—Is there any greater theological statement in Scripture than “But because of his great love for us …”? God’s deliberate, passionate and transcendent mercy and love caused him to act on our behalf by becoming incarnate to redeem us. It wasn’t because of something we did to attract his attention or because he couldn’t get along without us. Seeing our desperate situation, he sought us out, even though dead in our choices. Why? Because out of the richness of his mercy, he came to find us and make us alive in Christ. Paul’s emphasis is clear—this is a work of grace.
Our God raised us up (v. 6)—Not only did we see love, mercy and grace demonstrated as we were made alive, but God also raised us up with him. From the depravity of lostness, brokenness and hopelessness, by faith, we are lifted to heights we never could attain on our own—the heavenly realms. Paul doesn’t explain how and when this takes place or what it looks, but the reality is clear. When Christ’s life infuses ours, the Holy Spirit’s power changes us now and for eternity. We can live above the worldly fray around us, because our home, assurance, peace and rest are not found here.
Our souls received grace (vv. 7-9)—And why did he raise us up? In order to show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Grace is a word used far too often with far too little consideration of its full implications. It isn’t the same thing as mercy, which desires the consequences of behavior to be circumvented, wiped away or erased. Rather, grace is favor, given and bestowed, not earned or demanded. It’s a gift we receive by the conduit of faith in spite of ourselves. We’re the recipients of God’s activity on our behalf. It’s not just that we couldn’t earn what God did; we didn’t even know such goodness existed!
Our purpose was made clear (v. 10) – This unbelievable act of grace wasn’t an impetuous or emotionally rash act. It was a deliberate and passionate choice, planned far in advance (see again 1:11). As we serve Christ, fulfilling the good deeds God planned for us, which he wisely knew would match our interests, skills, talents and giftings, we show off his marvelous craftsmanship of each one of us! We find the purpose and fulfillment for which we’ve longed, the church is edified (Ephesians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 12:7), and he gets the glory!
So, what happened to LT and his blanket? That trained eye wasn’t connected to an omniscient mind like our God possesses. It didn’t sell for $100,000; it sold for $1.5 million.
What unrecognized potential do you have? What unrecognized kingdom values do members of your small group and/or church have? Take time to lift yourself and them before the Master Appraiser in prayer, asking him to reveal his inventory of your strengths and theirs.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.