David Bahn – Reflections

Ephesians 2

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The reality of our redemption – that we have been saved by grace – is too often and too easily trivialized. We poke fun at the over-zealous evangelist who asks, “Are you saved?” Frankly my response to that question is two-fold: “Saved from what?” and “Yes, 2000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross.” But in fact that is the whole point. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We were captivated by a strange and foreign seducer. We had no heart for God and no desire to attain his mercy. We were dead.

Most of those who were raised in a Christian household don’t have clear recollection of that reality. We are oblivious to our natural state. For either we were baptized as infants and brought up in a state of liveliness, or we were taught from our earliest years about Jesus’ love and God’s goodness. But dead men don’t know they’re dead. And we who have been saved may not realize the depth of our need or the true measure of God’s love and grace.

Today would be a good day to say, “Really?!?” And to answer that explosive question with a quiet but certain, “Really.” We really were dead. But God really is gracious. That being the case we dare not follow the whims and wiles of Satan. We must deny the passions of our flesh. We have no place sitting in the seat of mockers. We are sons and daughters of the Father. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. We live that out in obedience to the Father, and as representatives of the King – walking in the good works that God has already prepared for us. Really.