We are Alive in Christ

Ephesians 2:1-10   

(The Apostle Paul’s stunning and eloquent sermon) By grace alone!

“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

A friend of mine is a gracious giver, and not a gracious receiver.  My birthday gift was met with “oh, you know I don’t like birthday gifts.” Quickly, I remembered a time when I had hurt the heart of a giver. What is the cause of our inability, to graciously accept gifts?

Pride-driven independence, and unwillingness to be vulnerable with others can easily spill over into rejection of God’s greatest gift.  We have inherited “God’s riches in Jesus. Grace freely given at great cost at Calvary, has brought us back to life. “In my hand no price I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.”

It is our spiritual right, to be seated with Jesus in heavenly places. ^“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 

To sit still in heavenly places in a world of turmoil seems impossible at times. A quiet spirit is of inestimable value as the power of our helplessness comes through spiritual forces on which we are dependent.  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and me in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5 

"His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again."

Annie Flint-Johnson 1866-1932