Dead or Alive

In case I don’t get around to it, there is something I should tell you.  

It’s something very important, something I must admit I would rather not mention, but something I really should tell all my friends and relatives who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

You are dead. This is the result of your transgressions and sins. Your lifestyle follows the ways of the world but not of Jesus. You are caught up by the ruler of the spiritual world completely apart from Jesus who is the King of kings. You are overpowered by Satan.  He is the leader of everyone who is disobedient to God Almighty who is the one true creator God.

Having said that, it’s even more important to add straight away that I know the feeling.  I’ve been there myself.  I’d love tell you how things have changed for me.  For a start, the tense has changed.  Now the message to me is like this:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

While my heart keeps beating it is difficult to think of myself as being dead. It is never comfortable to admit I am wrong and especially difficult to think of myself as  transgressor, a sinner. How do you cope with being described this way?  

Facing the truth, honestly appraising yourself often leads to some uncomfortable thinking.

It’s difficult to answer questions like where did the universe come from? Why is it here? Why am I here? They are the sorts of questions we inevitably ask at some time and it takes a great deal of either presumptuousness or faith to some up with satisfactory answers unless we believe that God has the answers.

The widely accepted theory is that the universe started with the Big Bang, the explosion of a Singularity which was the origin of all space, time and matter. Cosmologists do not explain the source of the Singularity. They don’t want to.

The theory sounds very much like the account in the first chapters of the book called Genesis in the Bible.  There, it simply says that all that exists came about because God said so.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. …And God said, ‘Let there be light…And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:1,3,10)

Naturally an almighty, good and perfect God could only make a good and perfect universe for good and perfect people to live in. 

All that is quite evident: For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

Just look at the universe you live in and it’s inexcusable to offend its creator by denying his right to rule it and everyone who lives in it. That denial, that rebellion is ridiculous, it makes no sense.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:21-22)

The words used to describe this include transgressions and sin. And the wages, the consequences of sin is death. (Romans 3:20) That’s been the warning from the very beginning of time and it has been true ever since.

There are two options available: go on as you are (God will let you) or reverse your thinking, apologise to God, accept the fact that Jesus Christ was killed to take the blame for your sin and submit to him as your ruler, your Lord.

If you go on as you are then the reality is you are  following the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient (Ephesians 2:1)

We are talking about Satan here.  Jesus said You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

Jesus also said, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it for ever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:33-36)

If you go on as you are then you are separated from God, from Jesus Christ, and because he is the way, the truth and the lifeI (John 14:6) you have lost the way, you do not know the truth and as far as God is concerned you are dead.

You are spiritually dead and at some time you will also be physically dead. At that time God will have to decide what to do with you next and for eternity.

It’s problem for us all.  All of us lived this way at one time.  It’s the easiest way to go, simply giving in, gratifying the cravings of the flesh and following its desires and thoughts. 

How foolish can we be? We can be foolish enough to think that God doesn’t care that we insult him so seriously. The fact is 

Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. (Ephesians 2:3)

Is that what you want?  It’s not what God wants.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5)

In one paragraph of the Bible we go from one extreme to another! There is no greater extreme than going from death to life!

God loves me, God loves you, God shows such extreme mercy that rather than leave us with the option of eternal spiritual death he rescues us so we have eternal life.  

Jesus was crucified, physically dead and buried.  God regards him as being to blame for the transgressions and sins of any of us who accept his death on our behalf. 

Then God raised him back to life and in so doing raised us alive with Christ, alive to Christ, alive to God.  He did this despite our being so offensive towards him - that offensiveness no longer regarded as ours!  This is called mercy. It is undeserved, unearned and by the grace of God.

We have been saved!

Because Jesus was raised from death to life a wonderful miracle happened to us.

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5) 

We too have been changed from death - dead to God and all spiritual reality - and raised to life, awareness of truth, of the way things really are.

The natural human expectation is that if there is the possibility of life after death then we will be rewarded according to the balance of the good we have done in this life against - well, mostly we think we are OK anyway. And that is the teaching of most religions, too.

But the Christian gospel is just that — good news!

We also make the mistake of thinking that eternal life starts when we die but in this letter to the Ephesians and to us is that it begins at the time we accept the salvation Jesus offers. At that moment and into eternity we are changed from death to life, made alive with Christ.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6,7)

We are already raised up with the risen, living Christ Jesus our saviour and Lord and have our assured place seated with him in the heavenly realms. We have already been given every blessing that heaven could contain — remember chapter 1?

 Not, of course, because we have earned it or deserve it or because God owes it to us but because we know Jesus died for us, to give us these extreme blessings, to save us from the consequences of our own sin, from death, from eternal separation from all that is good. 

He has shown incomparably rich grace which includes kindness, mercy, gentleness, patience, generosity, sacrifice, power and love. He has been showing this for generations, he has been showing it for ages and he will show it for ages to come, indeed, he will show it for the rest of our eternal lives. How long will that last?

No wonder Christians throw themselves into the arms of their loving father God, expressing their love and worship for their saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

When you were dead in your trespasses and sins how did you get over this? You didn’t! One thing that is clear is that a corpse can do nothing to change their situation. 

But Gods grace is so incomparably great and we are so dependent on it.

In order to be rescued from death we must place our faith in Jesus Christ, his death, his resurrection, his present rule at the right hand of the father. You are saved because you have this faith. As a corpse you cannot rouse yourself even to faith but even then God extends his grace and favour to you and enables you to place your faith in Jesus.

You have nothing to boast about, no credit to claim, nothing you can add or contribute. Your salvation, your faith is not your own — it is a gift given you as an example of the grace of God. 

Surely you are grateful, thankful that despite being unable to save yourself you have been given these wonderful gifts and surely you are prepared to express yourself in thankful service, in the good works God has prepared for you to do.

Once you were dead and there was nothing you could do to save yourself, nothing you could do to earn salvation but now there is work for you to do as you live out your eternal life with Jesus.