See Ephesians 2:1-10
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience… But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). Ephesians 2:1-2 & 4-5 NASB.
A Life Changed
If you had been up those wee hours of the morning, you might have seen her kicking and screaming as the officers arrested her for DUI and resisting arrest. Her day job was stripping at the local joint.
What you didn’t know was that her life was about to change. Her world had just come crashing down on her, and she was at her wit’s end. In the slurred speech of a drunk, she cried out to God.
He came to her
He surrounded her with His presence, and she sobered up immediately. In her heart of hearts, she knew that God had found her there in the jail cell.
When she was released, she could still feel his comforting presence. Someone invited her two weeks later to a women’s retreat and the sister disciples led her down the path of living the “with God life”. Today, she is alive and well — a walking witness for Christ Jesus and His love.
God’s love is great — beyond what is ordinary or usual; it is highly unusual, exceptional, and remarkable!
“It is the most counterintuitive aspect of Christianity that we are declared right with God not once we begin to get our act together, but once we collapse into an honest acknowledgment that we never will.” Dane Ortlund.
Desperate for love
We long for someone who will listen without judgment, embrace without conditions, and give us permission to be who we are: sinful, lost, or confused. We need Someone who will not interrupt us when we admit our wrong or belittle us for our loss of innocence.
Furthermore, we don’t need advice, and we don’t think we need “fixing”. We require a love that listens with empathy and offers us a faithful embrace while assuring us that everything will be alright.
We must have a life with God!
Not only that, but we know instinctively that we require Him, we’re flawed creatures needing the Creator of our soul. He didn’t make us flawed; we did it to ourselves. Deep within the recesses of our soul, we know that we will never be complete in Him, without Him.
We want to be faithful, but “life gets in the way”.
God’s love is perfect and it may be unpleasant and disagreeable, but such a love brings joy and makes us His perfect vessels of honor.
Brace yourself for this kind of love.
Nominal vs. authentic
The difference between a nominal Christian, in name only, and the authentic Christian is there is a “before” and there’s an “after”. We are not attracted to a God who doles out sentimental epithets or a Devine “grandpa” who pats us on the back. He’s not a cosmic servant set to fulfill our every wish. God is not your buddy or even your traveling companion.
The church is filled with nominal Christians.
“The church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshiping men. This she had done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge, and her very unawareness makes her situation all the more tragic.” A.W. Tozer
The nominal Christian is always at risk of shipwrecking his faith. It’s not because they’re wicked, self-centered, or anything like that. Sadly, they’re misinformed by too much information and their minds are untransformed because of biblical illiteracy. They’re blinded by the things of this world. Their souls have not encountered a God big enough to command their admiration, awe, and respect. They’re living on the edge without God.
They are estranged from God and do not know it
Life Without Christ
The most tragic consequence of sin is separation from God. Darkness has no fellowship with light. The walking dead does not walk with the living.
Truly, we may not have committed murder or even robbed the local grocery store. But in our heart of hearts, sin reigned and the spirit of disobedience was not a foreign concept. Sin finds its home in the sinful nature and, like a wasting disease, without relief, it’s a cancer to the soul.
Life is not worth living without Christ.
Death is our inheritance.
Sin leaves a permanent stain on our soul. Ask any young woman who lost her virginity in a moment of passion if she forgets. Guilt eats at her soul. Ask the married man who hides in the shadows, watching pornography, or soliciting a prostitute on a business trip if he sleeps at peace in the marriage bed.
Anyone who allows indulgence or forbidden things to take control, they become slaves to it and servants of the prince of the air. What we do shapes our character, and our character determines our destiny.
Sin kills the will — the death grip is real.
Without Christ:
- We lived like everyone else, submitting to worldly standards and values. The essence of our existence was self, nothing, and no one was more valuable than self.
- We lived in the shadow of deception — deceiving and being deceived. The prince of the air dictated what we did and whispered in our ears, “You’re free.” Satan wanted us to believe there are no demons influencing us. Satan cultivates evil, frustrates the purposes of God, and destroys the human soul.
- We lived as enemies of God. It was a life of pure, unadulterated disobedience. The Holy Spirit penetrated our soul to tell us we’re lost, and we paid no attention — consciously or subconsciously rebelled. The good advice of good people meant nothing.
A life without Christ is scarred, hurting, and dead. It is a life deserving of God’s wrath — unforgiven, unredeemed and deserving of condemnation.
Life With Christ
God, in His rich mercy, lifted us out of life without Him and made us alive with Him.
Even history couldn’t remain the same after Christ was born. The world bears witness that there was a time before Christ and after. He, who was raised from the dead, raised us up to be where He is. By grace, we are saved and not of ourselves.
The “with God” life is a gift.
Faith is a matter of life and death.
In the “with God” life, we are being shaped, transformed, and designed to be vessels of honor — His masterpiece. Before estranged, but now reconciled. Now, forgiven, redeemed, and eternally loved.
The door is ever open to the presence of God. He wants it that way and makes us acceptable to enter in. This is the beauty of the cross and the power of the resurrection.
We live to “go with God.”
When you fall in love, you’re compelled to be in your beloved’s life every day. You can’t imagine life without them. I can’t imagine life without God. His love is eternal, faithful, and true.
God is love. Sin is a crime — not against the law, but against Love. Sin breaks God’s heart. God’s act of free will breaks the chains of death and heals the broken-hearted.
It was this love that reached down into a jail cell and brought a soul from life without Christ to one with Him.
Call to Action
Grace makes us free to return His love and His love keeps us safe — in right standing with Him. Once you were dead in sin, but now made alive together in Christ Jesus. You are His workmanship, His masterpiece — a vessel of honor.
This is the love relationship that brings joy to the heart of God.
Go, sister disciples, and live in it.
But thanks, be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 NASB
Leave a Reply