Focusing on Grace
Ephesians 2:1-10, 19-22 (Key verses 2:8-9)
Ephesians is one of my favorite Bible books. I love the lushness and poetry of the language as the writer extols God’s goodness. “…the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints… the immeasurable greatness of his power for us … the working [or energy] of his great power” (1:18-19). “… according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us” (1:7-8). “…the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus” (2:7). “…the wisdom of God in its rich variety” (3:10).
In my old Bible that I’ve used since college, I’ve noted in the margin that the original Greek word for “rich variety” (poluroikilos) means “many-colored.” I like to think how God splashes and splatters us with bright colors of wisdom and blessing. Words like “lavish,” “richness,” “overwhelming,” and “overflowing” reinforce the wonderful promise of 3:20: “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.” God’s grace is riches, excess.
Our key verses today are 2:8-10. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast [that is, something we’ve accomplished]. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”
How I wish I had understood these promises when I was growing up. I attended Sunday school, and my parents were definitely not fundamentalists. Yet I had the notion that God gave salvation very grudgingly, based on how good we are. No abundant, rich, overflowing grace lavished on us with bright colors, but a joyless, beige grace.
No! Ephesians turns that insecurity around! God’s salvation is completely a gift. Religious faith isn’t an accomplishment, to be paraded around as if we were better than others. Rather, WE are God’s accomplishments! God is proud of us! God showers us with love and blessing, and never stops doing do!
This wonderful love of God helps us to focus more sharply on how to live. Ideally, the love of God is empowering, like a friend or relative who has confidence in you and cheers you on. The things in our lives—things we’re good at, things that interest us, things that stretch us—become ways that God “splashes” grace on others.
Prayer: Dear Lord, as Pastor Linda reminds us, we look to Jesus and see the kinds of people he helped and whom he criticized. Help us to dedicate and rededicate ourselves to happy service based on Jesus’ example and guidance. Amen.
(A piece written for our church to complement today's sermon.)
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