Welcome to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia that seeks
to glorify God through biblically sound, thought-provoking and challenging talks and interviews.
In this episode from a chapel service held on Tuesday the 18th of March, 2025, Mal York, Dean of Students and Lecturer
in Ministry at Moore Theological College, speaks on Ephesians 2 and the way God has made us spiritually alive in Christ.
He reminds us of what we once were, what happened once we became Christians, and what
happens now that we are in Christ, and he encourages us never to take that for granted.
We hope you find the episode helpful.
I was given a book by my father-in-law for my birthday a few years ago.
Uh, it's a story of an Australian comedian named an doe.
He speaks about how he left Vietnam in a boat, uh, as a boat person.
He made his way across to Australia avoiding death on many occasions, and then how he grew up in Australia and became an Australian citizen.
And he speaks about how he realized the wonderful opportunities given to those who are Australian citizens.
And he said in the book that he would never take this for granted.
For me, my story is so different as an Australian citizen all my life.
Uh, and because of that, I think sometimes I take living here for granted.
Uh, the harbor bridge, the opera house, the beautiful beaches that we have.
I mean, isn't this how everyone lives everywhere?
And I wonder for us as Christians, if we sometimes feel the same way.
Prior to this passage in Ephesians, Paul reminded the Ephesians how Christians have become a new people in Christ.
We are members of the heavenly realms.
We have every spiritual blessing in Christ, and often when people are new Christians, they're so on fire for God.
They, they struggle not to speak about the love that they have for the Lord Jesus Christ.
But then for others who have been Christians well for a long time.
We don't get as excited.
We don't speak as much, and I wonder if many of us simply take God's word and the truths of what it means to be a Christian for granted.
And this passage today reminds us of what Jesus has done for us.
It will help us and remind us to see who Jesus is, and it's my hope that as we're reminded of who we are in him today, that we will leave here.
Overflowing with love for him and the hope that we have of knowing the Lord Jesus and that we never take this for granted.
Let me pray.
Heavenly Father, as we come to your word, open to our hearts by your spirit, what it has to say.
And through this, help us to not take what we have with you for granted, but to
wanna speak about it, to want to live it out, and to want to help this whole world.
Come to know who you are.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, it would be helpful if you have the passage open at Ephesians two there, as I'll refer to it throughout the talk.
First, Paul reminds us of what Jesus has done to make us Christian.
See there in verses one to three, how he tells us how we used to live.
It says there in verse one, look what it says.
We were dead in our sins and by this he means we were spiritually dead.
We were living with no acknowledgement of his existence or kingship.
In verse two, Paul says that we, this was seen in the way that we used to live following the waves of this world, gratifying our sinful nature.
Following the ruler of the kingdom of the air.
You see, when you don't follow God, you follow the devil.
He's the one.
Paul calls the ruler of the kingdom of the air.
We're not free to do what we want as some people think.
When someone doesn't follow God, they follow the Devil's ways.
In 1995, there was a movie called The Use Your Suspects, and there's a great line by the main character played by Kevin Spacey.
He said the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
And this is how people live in the world today.
They don't believe the devil exists nor has any control of their life, but he does.
As a result, people spend their time living how they want to live, gratifying the
cravings of their sinful nature and following their desires as they follow the devil.
But those who live this way, God says, are dead to him, are spiritually dead, are objects of his wrath.
Have you ever been driving down the side of the road and seen roadkill on at the side of the road?
If you're not from Australia, that's what we call animals that have been killed
on the road by a vehicle of some sort and are just sitting there on the side.
We call them roadkill.
I. Uh, in 1998, I did a year of ministry in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
In winter, it was so cold, it got down to below minus 40 degrees Celsius, and I was once
driving further north than where we were living in Saskatchewan in the middle of winter.
And I came across this coyote, you can see it there standing on the side of the road, and it looked
like it was just walking along and it had become so cold in the minus 40 degrees that it just died.
But actually what happened it, it had been killed by a car and it froze overnight on the ground.
And the Canadian sense of humor is to put it up on the side of the road as you drive past.
Gotta love the Canadian sense of humor.
But I think road killers are helpful description of describing our spiritual state before God, because roadkill can't do anything to help itself.
Have you ever went, got out of the side of the car when you've passed by a dead wombat on the side of the road and said, come on, old chap.
It's not as bad as you think.
Get up.
You can do it.
It doesn't work, does it?
Or started little CPR with his legs.
You know, it just doesn't work.
This is what dead means, living life according to the ways of the world.
We're lost and without hope, we're spiritual roadkill.
Brothers and sisters, it is so important that we remember this is what it is like for those who do not trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They are spiritual roadkill, unable to help themselves, and this is what you and I were like.
But Paul goes on in verse four.
Can you see it there with a, but there are three big buts in this passage.
The first one is there in verse four, but in contrast to what we were like, God, who is rich in mercy, God who has mercy
oozing out of every part of his character, has made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions.
I mean, how amazing is that?
Friends God, who is rich in mercy, even when we were spiritual, roadkill, has been able to make us alive.
God is, is the God of making dead things alive.
In Genesis one, he was able to breathe life into man and woman, which were made out of dusk.
In Ezekiel 37, he was ma able to make a valley of dried bones put on flesh and come alive.
In John 11, by the word of Jesus, he called Lazarus outta the tomb to life.
Our God is a God who can make dead things alive.
Can make spiritual roadkill alive.
But more than this, in verses six to seven, God also raises us up with Christ and seats us in the heavenly realms.
Notice the language that's being used there in verse six.
We are raised with Christ.
We are in Christ.
Paul is building on the language that he introduced back in chapter one of Ephesians.
You see, when you put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we become spiritually united with him.
This is how we become spiritually alive, and as Jesus was raised from the dead and raised to
the heavenly realms, this then becomes a spiritual reality for us because we're united with him.
That's why Paul continues to use the language of in Christ we are spiritually found in him.
Brothers and sisters is this not the most amazing thing?
We have been moved from lying on the side of the road spiritually as roadkill following the ruler of
the kingdom of the air, to now being seated in the heavenly realms of the one who rules the universe.
All of this will show to all who here.
Just how great God is the incomparable riches of his grace.
And so with this in mind, Paul concludes a section by reminding us what that grace is.
See there in verses eight to 10 for it is by grace you of being saved through faith.
And this is not from yourself.
It is the gift of God, not by work, so that no one can base.
For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
You see, God's grace is his mercy shown to those who do not deserve it.
When it comes to our salvation, there is nothing that we can do in order to earn it.
This is where we differ from so many other forms of people who say they follow the Lord Jesus.
These churches that have that work-based theology where they attribute salvation to the work that you do yourself.
Or some have a churchman theology where they attribute salvation to the type of church you go to, or some
have that experiential theology where they attribute salvation to the types of experiences that you have.
But this passage is clear.
It is by faith.
We have been saved not by works, so that no one can boast.
No one can say that we're better than the person we're sitting next to, or better than anyone else in the world.
You see, if we could play a role in our salvation, then there would be cause for boasting we could claim to be better than others.
We could dare I say it, claim some of the glory for ourself.
And we all like to think of ourselves better than we are, don't we?
But this is not what the passage says.
Now look there again at Ephesians two verse nine, and this is not from yourself.
It is a gift of God.
God does all the saving here so that we cannot boast so that we can know it is not by our works that
we're saved, but solely through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and our faith in him.
And then notice how he concludes this section, verse 10.
By saying that as a result of God's grace, it will lead us to doing good works.
Good works don't come in order to earn salvation, but for someone who has been saved, they must be part of our Christian life.
As we study here at Moore, we should have the mindset and ask ourselves every day, what good works has God prepared for me in advance to do today?
And so friends, we've been saved by an amazing God.
We've been taken out of the kingdom of air and placed into God's eternal kingdom by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We've been saved by grace, and we should never ever take this for granted.
Next, Paul reminds us of what happens when we became Christians.
He says that before trusting in the Lord Jesus, we were excluded from God's people.
Through faith in Jesus, we are now included in God's people.
See there in verses 11 to 12, Paul starts speaking specifically to those who are not Jewish at this
stage, and unless I'm mistaken, that's most of us here today, he says that formally, those who were
not part of the Jewish people, that is those who were Gentiles, were excluded from the promises of God.
They were not part of the Jewish people, so therefore the promises of God did not apply to them.
You see, before Jesus came to be part of God's people, a person needed to become a Jew.
They needed to follow the Jewish religion, follow the Jewish laws and customs and rituals.
There was this real divide between Jewish people and the rest of the nations.
You are either part of the covenant people or you were not.
There's a great Netflix series called Unorthodox, and it looks at a Jewish community in New
York trying to live according to the Jewish customs and laws spelt out in the Old Testament.
Heather and I watched it, and as we did, we had a great understanding of the divide between us and how they live their lives.
It really was like they're living on another planet.
And this is Paul's point, God's people and those outside God's people were miles from one another when it came to salvation.
But we read this in verse 13.
It's the second big but of the passage.
But Jesus has bought you from being far away to now being close.
Friends, Paul is saying that we were without hope, we were living far away from God.
We were living as far away as whoop whoop is compared to Newtown.
Now, if you're not originally from Australia, whoop, whoop is Australian, slaying for really, really far away, as far away as you can possibly be.
And Paul is saying you've been living in Woowoo.
But through the blood of Jesus that he shed for us on the cross, we have now been bought near.
We can now come into his presence.
See there in verses 14 to 18, there is peace between God and us and also through this there is peace with one another.
No longer do we need to become Jewish, but rather Jesus is creating a new humanity.
Jesus is dropping the wall of hostility between cultures and nationalities and the like,
and he's creating himself one new people, this new people who are reconciled with God.
So rather than there being one nation reconciled with God, there is now a group of
people from every tribe and every nation who have been saved by the blood of Jesus.
Who all have access to the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, is that just not the most incredible thing?
If we jump back to Isaiah six in the Bible, we would see when the prophet found himself, uh, in the heavenly throne room of God and there were
charitable sl everywhere, peels of thunder, and Isaiah was completely aware of his sin, he fell to the floor and could go no further without any help.
He had no access to God because of his sin.
Thankfully, God was able to atone for his sin, but now through Jesus, you and I have access where others have not.
Through Jesus, God has brought you and I who are far away, near to him, and given us access all areas to a heavenly Father.
Friends, we should never, ever take this for granted.
And finally, Paul concludes this section by reminding us what happens when we become Christians.
Paul shows us that before trusting in Jesus, we were aliens and foreigners, but through faith in Jesus, we've been made members of God's household.
See there in verses 19 to 22,
brothers and sisters, we can belong to God.
The third big button, the passage is found here in verse 19.
No longer are we considered aliens, but fellow citizens and members of God's household.
You can spot a tourist a mile away in Sydney, can't you?
They walk around.
They're taken back by things.
Oh wow.
Look at that.
Things that we just take for granted.
They don't strike us in the same way.
I mean, when was the last time you went down to the Opera House and sort of got out the camera and did the pose for Instagram?
We don't do it because we see it all the time, but it's such a different perspective.
When you are a foreigner.
When you're an alien, we're no longer like these people.
You and I, when it comes to knowing God rather, we're members of his household awaiting an inheritance.
That one Peter one says, will never spoil fat or perish.
Just think about that for a second.
How many things spoil fate and perish in this world, but our inheritance will never just think about that
transformation from being roadkill, going nowhere fast to be living and raised with Christ in the heavenly realms,
from being in whoop whoop, now being called clear, but coming closer near to God where we get to call God Father.
Where we get to call him Dad,
we get to call the king of the universe.
Dad.
Often when my kids are being cheeky, they'll go around and call me Mao.
I say to them, there are only four people in the world that can call me Dad, and you are one of them, so use it.
But I'm not just gonna give that invitation to anyone.
I'm not gonna say to all you here at college, when you see me come and call me dad.
I mean, that would be weird, wouldn't it?
However, out of the great love that he has for us, God gives you the invitation to call him Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.
We become considered part of his family.
I mean, how wonderful is that?
More than this.
Together we're being built, built into a dwelling place in which God's spirit lives.
The foundation of this dwelling place is the Bible, the words of the prophets and the apostles, but with the words of the Lord
Jesus as the chief cornerstone, the foundation of foundations, and through building on this foundation, we become a people of God.
Brothers and sisters, we must remember this.
We live in an individualistic society, but we are not individuals.
Once we are saved by the Lord Jesus, once we have put our hope in the Lord Jesus,
we become part of a new people in which God's spirit dwells amongst us and in us.
This is the church.
This is the gathered people.
This is why we meet and pray together and build each other up.
Through God's word, we are the body of Christ whom he purchased with his blood.
Friends.
We need to remember who we are in him, the access that we have to the Father through the
Lord Jesus, the dwelling place of Christ, and we must never, ever take this for granted.
Well, lemme conclude.
We've seen in three clear ways that we were one separated from God by living a life without him, by being excluded through
birth and by being aliens and foreigners, spiritual roadkill, but, and we're seen three very big butts, haven't we?
By God, who is rich in mercy, has made us alive in Christ Jesus.
God who is rich in mercy has brought us near.
God who is rich in mercy has made us members of God's household how through the death and resurrection of His one and only son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not our work, but it is the work of the Lord Jesus.
And so we're called to put our trust in him, A trust that's given to us by God so
that no one can boast a trust that we must ask God for, but a trust that he is.
Keen and willing to give us freely and a trust that will lead us to respond to
what he's done for us with good works and living our lives for him and friends.
Let me urge you to never, ever take this for granted.
Let me pray.
Heavenly Father, we give you great thanks for the wonderful work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the immense grace and mercy that you have shown to us through him, help us to never, ever take this for granted.
Amen.
Thank you for listening to Moore in The Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College.
Our vision as a College is to see God glorified by men and women living for
and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost.
We invite you to attend any of our upcoming events, including this one that's happening at Moore College.
The need for Christians to take the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the world is greater than ever before.
For over 165 years, Moore Theological College has been training men and women for a lifetime of
vocational word ministry so that they can proclaim this gospel and nurture others to grow in the faith.
If you've been considering theological education, come and discover what life
and study at Moore College could look like you at one of our May 2025 events.
On the evening of Tuesday 13th of May, we will be hosting an information and Q&A session that will also be livestreamed.
Then from Wednesday 14th of May to Friday 16th of May, you have the opportunity to join
us in person to tour the campus, participate in chapel, and even sit in on a class.
Find out more and register your interest on our website: that's moore.edu.au/open.
You can find out more and register by going to the Moore College website moore.edu.au.
That's moore.edu.au.
If you have not already done so, we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast
through your favourite podcast platform so that you'll never miss an episode.
For past episodes further resources, and to make a tax deductible donation to support
the work of the College and its mission, please visit our website at moore.edu.au.
If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend and leave a review on your platform of choice.
We always benefit from feedback from our listeners, so if you'd like to get in touch, you can email us at comms@moore.edu.au.
The Moore in the Word podcast was edited and produced by me, Karen Beilharz and the Communications Team at Moore Theological College.
The music for our podcast was provided by MarkJuly from Pixabay.
Until next time.