9. If you don't have a Bible, there should be
some on the back tables on each side. You're
welcome to take one of those home with you. Ephesians
chapter 2, starting in verse 1. And you were
dead in your trespasses and sins in which you
previously walked according to the ways of this
world, according to the ruler of the power of
the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
We too all previously lived among them in our
fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations
of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature
children under wrath, as the others were also.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his
great love that he had for us, made us alive
with Christ, even though we were dead in trespasses.
You are saved by grace. He also raised us up
with him. and seated us with him in the heavens
in Jesus Christ, so that in the coming ages he
might display the immeasurable riches of his
grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For you are saved by grace through faith. This
is not from yourselves. It is God's gift, not
from works, so that no one can boast. For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works. which God prepared ahead of time
for us to do. So let's do this, now that my sleeve
microphone just broke. It's going in my pocket.
Let's pray together, and I want to ask that as
we unpack that section of Scripture that... You
just ask the Lord to speak to you. So it's not
just me praying up here. I ask that you do the
same thing. He does primarily speak through his
word. And so we want to do that this morning.
So Lord, we come before you and will you, by
your spirit, help illuminate this section of
scripture to us? Lord, if there's areas in our
life where we've not seen you properly, where
we've not understood the gospel clearer, Will
you make that real to us today? If there's areas
in our life we need to lay down and surrender
to you, will you reveal that to each of us? And
Lord, we will come as grateful, surrendered children
of God before you. We give this all to you this
morning. Amen. All right. Well, as we talked
about last week, When we were doing our Vision
Sunday, we're starting a real short series that
we try to do every year in some form. It's called
Radiant Basics. And we try to do this every year
because when we think of the basics of what it
means to be the church, it starts with really
this statement which we say around here all the
time. Who God is and what he's done defines who
we are and how we live. that it's the start point
for our church is understanding who is this God
that we claim to worship and what is it that
he has done, because everything from that should
flow into how we live. If you've been around
church, I'm sure you've seen it. I'm sure you're
not guilty of this, but I'm sure you've seen
how so many times people try to put on a mask,
they try to act a certain way, and it's really
not... who they are. Or they come to church and
they think, I have to earn God's favor. I have
to do something to get something. And when we
say, so as we unpack this, I want you to keep
in mind that statement and just think, everything
of who God is and his nature and what he's done,
that needs to change me. That's what's behind
this. So here's how this series is going to work.
So we are going to, all the Radiant churches
right now are doing this same series, and they're
doing it in the same order. In fact, most of
us are teaching the exact same texts. So the
way we're going to do it is we're going to be
all over the place. I'm here this week. Next
week I'm in Fairbanks. And Radiant, the Anchorage
pastor is going to be here. And I'll be teaching
in Fairbanks. And then the week after that I'll
be in Juneau. And the Fairbanks pastor is going
to be teaching here. So we're just doing this.
And so we're all getting, so you're going to
get a chance to kind of meet some of the other
Radiant churches. If you don't know this, there
are five Radiant churches. And we just call ourselves
a family of churches. We're fully autonomous
churches. We don't, we're not campuses or anything.
We've all been, we're all church plants that
started. And so we're just gonna, you're gonna
get a chance to know other people as well I get
to go up and Radiant Fairbanks and Radiant Juneau
will get to, I'll be able to be in their presence
and teach the same thing. And so, so let's, so
as a church, so we believe that who we are, our
identity, comes from who god is and what jesus
did for us what he did is what we call the gospel
it's good news that's what it means and so as
a church and i know this thing you've been around
this church like here we go again he always talks
about the gospel really not much else okay if
you're new like he always talks about the gospel
years ago in fairbanks in the first church we
planted The guy came up and he was very upset
with me. And he said, I don't like the fact that
you talk about the gospel so much. And I said,
I'm not going to stop. Case point, he left. Point
is, when you look at the scripture, the center
point is Jesus. And the good news of Jesus is
what everything, we are called to live our lives
around. And so we always start with the gospel
and we'll always end with the good news of Jesus,
okay? So as a church, we do this. We fix our
eyes on Jesus. We say this, Psalm 34, verse 5.
Those who look to the Lord are radiant. Their
faces shall never be ashamed. So we start there
in our lives. Our lives are to be fixated on
Jesus and every facet of it. And Jesus and the
good news of the gospel is center. Center. Not
moralism. It's Jesus and the good news. And if
that's the case, all people are welcome because
the gospel is for all people, right? So in our
church, we say, everybody's welcome. I don't
care what kind of junk you're coming in here
with. I don't care how religious you think you
are. You're all welcome here. But one thing is
true is that in order to belong or being a part
of belonging to Jesus is saying, Jesus, you're
center. You're at the center of everything. And
so we start there. The gospel center. The gospel
is powerful. The gospel changes everything. And
so the Bible is very, very, very, very clear
on this. In fact, Paul says in Romans 1 .16,
which is, by the way, the theme for all of the
book of Romans, which you should know by now,
says through this, Paul says this, for I am not
ashamed of the gospel because it is the power
of God for salvation to everyone who believes,
first to the Jew and also to the Greek. It's
the power of God for the gospel. Why do we go
back to the gospel every week? Because it is
the power of God. That's where it's found. If
you want power to see your life changed, if you
are broken, you say, I come to the gospel. A
newsflash, we're all broken here, starting with
me. So that's why we go back to it. 1 Corinthians
15 says this, verse 3. For I pass on to you,
by the way, this is the most used section of
Scripture in every Easter service around the
world. He says this. For I pass on to you as
most important. what I also received, that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures,
that he was buried, and that he was raised on
the third day according to the scriptures. That's
the gospel message right there. Now what the
implications of that is massive. And so the gospel
is the most important because it changes everything
about us. It changes everything if you really
believe it. Now you can go to church, you can
hear the gospel, and not change anything because
you have not surrendered your life to it. But
we start with saying the gospel cries out for
you and I to surrender our lives to Jesus because
of what Jesus has done. So it gives us a new
identity. And so for our radiant basics, we start
with gospel. And then the next three weeks are
what I call identity handholds for who you are.
Who God is and what he's done, that's what we're
going to talk about today. But then after that,
it says, now who you are is this. By the way,
if we say who you are, and I go through like
first one is family. We say, okay, the gospel,
the good news of Jesus points to the fact that
you now, if you put your faith in Jesus, are
family. Then if we say we're family, are we actually
living that out as a group of people? That's
the hard part. That's the part that says. Who
we are and how we live. Okay? So first week is
gospel. Second week is family. That's James Marchetti
in Anchorage is going to preach that here. And
then the third week is servant. And Ben will
preach that here. And then I'll be back when
we move to the new building. On that February
8th will be the theme of mission. That God has
called us to live on mission. So three identities.
We'll go into there. Now. There are so many passages
that we could talk about when it comes to the
gospel. I just had two of them coming up to that.
But we're going to look at Ephesians 2, 1 through
10. And this is really a remarkable verse, chunk
of verses. And we're going to just touch on a
few of the things today. But on one hand, it's
a really simple summary of the gospel and the
effects of it. On the other hand, it is, you
could mine the depth of these verses hours upon
hours upon hours. There's so much richness in
here. And so as we go through this, I want you
to think of these in four points, okay? These
10 verses, we're going to break them into four
chunks. First one is this, and these are just
parts of the verses. Verse one, number one is,
and you. Number two, but God. Number three, saved
by grace. And then number four, for good works.
Okay? That almost sounds like a verse all by
itself. These are just, and you, but God, saved
by grace for God's work. Okay. The Bible refers
to the concept of being saved. It's the idea
of deliverance. When you're delivered from something.
The whole passage here is really a discussion
of God's deliverance and salvation or you being
saved. That's what this whole chunk of 10 verses
are really camping out on. And so the question
is, what have you been saved from? You've got
to start with that one. What have you been saved
from? If you were saved, delivered, if there
was something here you were delivered from, and
then obviously we're going to get saved to what?
So verse 1 is the and you. And this verse is
about you, who you are or were without Jesus.
So let's look at verse 1 starting, and we're
going to go through verse 3. It says this, and
you were dead in your trespasses and sins in
which you previously walked according to the
ways of this world. According to the ruler of
the power of the air. That's Satan. You can write
that in there. That's him. That's his control.
The spirit now working in the disobedient. That's
the spirit of the enemy working in those who
are not followers of Jesus. What are you talking
about? We too all previously lived among them
in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations
of your flesh and thoughts. And we're by nature
under wrath as the others were also. All right.
Before we can understand and embrace a new identity
in Christ, we must accept our identity apart
from Christ. Okay? We need to accept the truth
about our needy condition. We need to go to the...
What the Sermon on the Mount calls the poor in
spirit. That's when you look at yourself like
in the mirror and you go, oh, without Jesus,
I'm a mess. I'm gross. I'm poor in spirit. Sermon
on the Mount is amazing as it builds like a sunrise
of information for you as you go through it.
But the very first thing is this, that you and
I have to get is how bad you are without Christ.
You are poor in spirit. And then the second one
is that it grieves you so much that you weep
over your situation. Do you see your own sin
as this bad? This is where he starts. So the
question is, from what are we saved and delivered
from? Number one, or first is this. It's death
and separation from God forever. Death is the
first and foremost penalty of sin. Because of
sin, death entered the world and spread to all.
And every one of us are carrying around this
death wish. Right now, the success rate is 100%.
We're all stuck. I feel it every morning as I
wake up now. I'm getting older. I'm starting
to, ah. I was talking to somebody this morning.
They said, I think when you hit 55, you're just
constantly in pain of some form. Pretty close.
Because your body's dying. And it's a result
of sin in our broken world. And so there's this
moment of time that we live in this brokenness.
But death is a final separation from the removal
of life. Duh. Right? That's what death is. It
separates us from, though, the source of life.
What's the source of life? Why is this such a
big deal? Since all of life originates in God,
death is separation from God, both spiritually
and physically. And it's by God's grace that
you have a shot right now in this brokenness.
Because someday every one of us is going to die
as a result of the sin that has entered the world.
The question is, will you be separated forever
from God? Or not. See, death is final. And it's
forever. And that's a long time. Every one of
us who has not put our faith in Jesus is separated
from the life of God because of sin. And so as
I think about this, that thought, that truth.
When I think about our city, when I think about
my neighborhood, when I think about walking through
the halls of Colony High School, which I get
a chance to coach, and I see all these kids,
and I think, oh, so many don't know Jesus. And
so when death comes, it's separation for eternity.
And so in the inside of you, if you're a follower
of Jesus, that'll create a sense of urgency in
you. Everyone will die. With our backs toward
God and your face toward your own selfishness
and sin, you daily walk deeper into the darkness
and devastation of death. Unless you turn to
Jesus. The course or the way of this world is
instead of God is... is to choose or pursue power,
to pursue money, to pursue self -satisfaction.
It's the pursuit of comfort. It's the pursuit
of significance, the pursuit of beauty, the pursuit
of control. We choose all of these instead of
Jesus. That's what the world does. That's what
he's talking about. The Christian, though, is
the one who repents by turning your back on sin.
Acknowledging this is my junk. And turning toward
God and facing him and what he has done. So when
you put your faith in Jesus, you are saved from
the power of death. And you are saved from the
pattern of this worldly living that we have.
So what God does, he says, looks at you and he
says, if you have put your faith in Jesus, the
Bible says you are a new creation. The old is
gone, the new has come. And so there's inside
of you a desire to please your God, not yourself.
Now it doesn't mean we have to struggle with
that. Like I wake up every day and struggle with
my own selfishness. But inside of you there's
this desire to say, God, I want you first. When
you put your faith in Jesus, it changes you.
And so just look at verse 2 one more time. In
which you previously walked in the ways of this
world, according to the ruler and the power of
the air, the spirit, now working in the disobedient.
But when, he says, when this world ruled you,
and who drives this world? But Satan himself.
And he wants you to not acknowledge Jesus. But
when you put your faith in Christ, you are following
and obeying, you are no longer following or obeying
the ruler or power of this world. So faith is
a significant identity shift. It's an identity
shift that you believe you're all of that and
you've got it figured out to saying, God, I surrender
all of you because you're the only hope that
I have. The word heir would have made sense to
the original readers. See, the heir in Ephesians,
is is not something you and i read i get that
that's what it means and ancient thinking was
that there was a region below the moon and above
the earth and they believed that in this space
is where all the spiritual powers dwelled evil
controlling powers and so paul is saying here
is that there is a dark spiritual power at work
in those who are not in christ So before Christ,
verse 3 says, we too all previously lived among
them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the
inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we
were by nature children of wrath. Those are not
fun verses, are they? You're children of wrath.
By nature means that by nature we were separated
from God. By nature you are walking dead. Zombie
type, in a sense, spiritually. By nature, you
are drawn in by worldly pursuits. By nature,
you are subject to Satan's powers. By nature,
you are worthy to receive God's wrath and eternal
judgment. That's what you deserved. But God,
number two. Look at, but God, in his grace, saves
you. This is your second point. Look at Ephesians
chapter two, verse four. It says this. But God,
underline that, circle that, that's the critical
piece. But God, who is rich in mercy. See, mercy
is not getting what you deserve. God is rich
in that. But God is rich in this not getting
what you deserve. Because of his great love that
he has for us made us alive with Christ. Even
though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved
by grace. Grace is getting something you don't
deserve. So not only are you not getting what
you deserve, you're getting something you don't
deserve. He raised us up with him and seated
us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus so
that in the coming age we might display the immeasurable
riches of his grace through his kindness. To
us in Christ Jesus. I'm going to ask a question
I think is incredibly important here in a minute.
See, salvation originates in love and grace and
mercy and kindness of God. Question is this.
Do you see this? Do you see God this way? Do
you see God as somebody way up in somewhere kind
of raining down? or a heavy hand or this distant
being out there? Or do you see God coming to
us with love and with grace and with mercy and
with kindness? That's what it says right here.
That's how God comes to us. And the question
is, do you see God that way? It is all of him
and his goodness toward us. That's what it means
when it says, but God. But God came after you.
But God, in spite of all jacked up you are, all
of that, he came after you in his love and his
mercy and his grace and his kindness. All of
him. See, salvation comes through Jesus. The
name Jesus means God saves his people from their
sins. That's what the word means. He comes after
you. And so, you know, if you live in religion,
you just kind of slide in, slide out of church.
You kind of think, if I just do my duty, I'll
make God happy enough. I'll be all right. I'll
slide. No. Being a Christian means you get how
wonderful God is. You go, yes, he loves me. He
gives me his grace and his mercy and his kindness.
And he comes after me. And I love that. And I
want him. It drives. There's something inside
of you. Like, when I first met my wife, I was
like, I couldn't get enough of her. And I still
can't, by the way. But she is amazing. Why? Because
I love who she is. And so I go toward her. Is
that how we go toward God? See, this gospel,
it's God coming toward us. Who God is and what
he's done, gospel, defines who you are and then
how you live. The question is, do you get who
he is and what he's done for you? Because it's
massive. Once we put our faith in Jesus. The
natural question is then, now what? What did
God say for us, have for us? Why did God save
us? He didn't have to. The answer is in verse
7. So he might display the immeasurable riches
of his grace. Radiant reflections of Jesus. Why
did he save you? God desires to show exceedingly
riches of his grace through you and me. Like
he says, look, I just like zap this love and
kindness and grace and mercies. Now I want you
to flip that around and be a conduit for that.
That's what he's calling us to. He desires to
show the exceeding riches of his grace. By giving
your life to Jesus, by raising you up with Christ.
giving you a new identity, and seating you with
Christ in his place of victory, God has demonstrated
his overwhelming love, abounding in his gracious
nature. He loves you, but has a plan for you
at the same time. Do you see this kind of God
looking down at you? Do you see God this way?
As one who's poured out himself for you? Look
at Ephesians 2, verse 8 now. For you are saved
by grace through faith. And this is not for yourself.
Which means you had nothing to do with saving
you. It is a gift. It is God's gift. Not from
works. So that no one can boast. That's religion,
guys. If we look at anything we do and we say,
look what I just did. That's religion. It's not
up to you. It's all because of what he has done.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead
of time for us to do. God had a plan for you,
still does. We are his workmanship. We are his
work of art, his masterpiece. Is this the way
you see yourself? Do you see yourself as something
that God has picked up and said, I am creating
a masterpiece out of you? That's what he wants
to do. We are radiant works of art. When I say
that, it's not just a play on radiant words.
But it's really to say, what is the purpose of
this masterpiece he made in you? To make much,
to radiate it outward. So everybody goes, whoa.
You are meant to live your life on display of
God. You get to display Jesus. Many years ago,
my wife and I visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome,
and I was thinking again about that experience,
and Michelangelo in 1512 painted the ceiling
in an amazing work of art. Anybody been there
before? A few of you. And when we were there,
which I found out, they were renovating parts
of it. In fact, they still are. I checked it
this week. They're still renovating this piece
of art. Little meticulous things. But one of
the things that struck me was the contrast between
the unrestored and the restored parts. You see
it, and you go, kind of cool, I guess, but blah
and bland. It had been around since the 1500s.
In this section over here, they'd restored it
back to what it was supposed to be, and it was
beautiful. You know, that's what God wants to
do in you and me. The reason God restores us
is to reflect his glory to the world that is
dark. It needs to see what he's done. It needs
to see him, and they get to see him through you.
The world is full of sin and death. And we are
God's people and a part of God's mission to see
sinners saved and all things made new. That's
our purpose. Our good works are a reflection
of his good works. It's not like God saved you
just now, get to work. No, we get to be a reflection
of what he has done in us. And he's still doing
in us. You don't get saved and everything's good
and fixed. You are in a process. And every time
your eyes are on Jesus, he changes you. And as
he changes you, you share that. With the world
around you. And people are going to go. You're
different. Who is this? And you don't get the
glory. But God gets the glory. So who God is
and what he's done. Defines who we are. And how
we live. So for us at Radiant Church. It all
starts with Jesus. And the good news. We call
the gospel. It's from God. It's from. the work
of Jesus, that we become family. And we'll talk
about that next week. It's from who God is and
what he's done that we live, we serve like Jesus
served. We'll talk about that in two weeks. And
it's the fact that we are sent out as missionaries
into the world. The Spirit sent Christ. The Spirit
empowers us. As we go into the world, we declare
who Jesus is. And that's the last. part of the
basics that we'll talk about why do we bob and
i were having a discussion this week about communion
and uh his point was valid in many ways he said
we don't really we need to have a higher view
of what we do around communion so i just want
to take a minute i want you to think deeply this
morning about what communion represents You know
what it represents? It represents what Christ
did for us in his death, his burial, and his
resurrection. It represents his body selflessly
being broken, his blood being shed for us. And
if that weren't the case, we would be nothing.
And so we come together around that every week.
The primary reason we do it every week is actually
there's a... Partnerships is whenever you gather
together, do it. But here's another reality.
We need it. We need to come back to the importance
of the gospel in your life. So as you go, and
you take communion this morning, if you are in
Christ. Now, guys, if you're not a Christian,
if you're just kind of, I'm not sure if I'm here,
don't do this. Don't do it. Because what you're
symbolizing, you're saying, look, what Jesus
did in his death. was his mercy was poured out,
his grace was poured out, his kindness was poured
out for me, God. You did this because of your
love for me. So if you're not yet a follower
of Jesus, don't do it. Because it's kind of making
a mockery of what he did. But boy, if you are
a follower of Jesus, you are in Christ. This
is a very significant thing that we do. We say,
God, I acknowledge and I am thankful for what
you did in the work of Jesus. Here's the other
thing. If you know you're actively living in
sin and you have not repented of that sin, then
you're also making a mockery because you said
your grace isn't sufficient for me. So do yourself
a favor. Sit right where you're at and confess
that sin to the Lord. Maybe you need to confess
it to somebody else, but get up out of your chair,
go to him and say, I am sorry. Or here, say,
I've wronged you and I've sinned against you.
If that's where you're at, then after that, say,
I'll go to the communion table now because of
what Christ has done for me. Let's pray together.
Lord, your good news is so good. Help us to see
you in all of your kindness, in all of your love,
in your mercy, in your grace. Help us to cast
our eyes on that picture of who you are. Lord,
help us as we understand deeper and deeper the
significance, of the gospel that it's not just
abc it's the a disease of every part of our life
that we will begin to build our life see our
life with you at the center of it and how it
affects every aspect of our life that this good
news matters so jesus thank you this morning
for the good news of the gospel