Jump Start # 1462

Ephesians 2:3 “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

  The second chapter of Ephesians is the great chapter that tells us that we are saved by God’s grace through our faith. We cannot do it on our own. We cannot earn Heaven like we earn a paycheck. At the end of the pay period, your company has to pay you, whether they want to or not. You have a contracted deal with them. You work and they pay. There is no grace in that. If they don’t pay, they get in trouble. Salvation is not like that. God doesn’t owe us forgiveness. It’s His choice. It’s His love. We are saved by His grace. Does that mean we do nothing? No. If that were the case then everyone would be saved and no one would be lost. We are saved by His grace. That’s God’s part. But it is through our faith, that’s our part. Our faith isn’t earning things nor the same as getting a paycheck each week.

Paul paints two pictures in this chapter. First, how bad we are, especially the Gentiles. The chapter begins by saying, “you were dead in your trespasses…” Later he described the state of the Gentiles as “having no hope and without God in the world.” That’s a terrible place to be.

The other picture Paul paints here is of the saving Christ. Those far away Gentiles were brought near by the blood of Christ, he would write. God saved them.

In the midst of all this it is interesting to notice the pronouns. Paul talked about “you,” when referring to the Gentiles. You were dead in your trespasses. You were without hope. But then we come to our verse. The “You” now becomes “we.” We too lived in lusts. We too indulged the desires of the flesh and mind. We too were children of wrath. We too. The “we” included the Jews. The “we” included Paul.

Sometimes it is easy for us to forget about the “we.” It’s easy to talk about “them,” and exclude the “we.” This can lead to the thinking that “we” are better then “them.” They have the problem. They need Jesus. They are a mess. They need help. But the reality is, it is a “we” situation. We, too, need Jesus. We, too, are a mess. We, too, need help.

All of us have a story. All of us have a past. All of us have a journey that we are on. The specifics of our stories may differ but the overall picture is the same. We rebelled against God. We were lost. We learned about Jesus. We became obedient to that Gospel call. We have a similar starting point. We are working on a similar ending point.

There are some who forget where they came from and where they started. Their attitudes can make you believe that they have always been a follower of Christ. They can be smug toward those who struggle spiritually. They can lean toward self-righteousness. One can get the impression that they are so together now that they don’t even need Jesus. This spirit makes fellowship hard. It strains things in the church. Some of us have come from good homes and we have had godly people around us for a long time. The Bible and worship have been a part of our lives since we were born. With all of that, we still rebelled and sinned. But others were not so blessed. They came out of broken homes. Abuse, neglect and ungodliness were common. Spiritual activities were not a part of their upbringing. They don’t know the Bible stories well. They stumble around trying to find the books of the Bible. They are fuzzy on some Biblical principles. Their life was hard lived. Sins were many. They knew the dark side of things. Yet, by God’s grace and patience, they found the Lord. They, too, became obedient to Christ by faith. They came a long, long way. They don’t know preachers. They don’t know many brethren in other places. They don’t know the history of congregations. They don’t know of the struggles, battles and troubles that happened generations ago. The self righteous group can feel like they have an upper hand upon these folks. Forgetting the “we” part of this passage, can make one think that they are better than others. They are not. They are not loved less by the Lord. They are not a second thought. They are not  accepted with reluctance. They are equal. The “we” brings us all together.

Every congregation faces two streams of believers. Some are first generation believers. No one in their family before them professed Christ. They grew up knowing the wrong things. They bring a fresh insight to a congregation. They help us to see what it’s like to be a visitor or someone new to a congregation. We can learn much from their perspective.

Others, including myself, have grown up in a family that always went to worship. Some are many generations deep with the Lord. Parents, grandparents, great grandparents—all loved the Lord and followed His way. Some have deep memories of going to worship as a child. I do. It’s easy for folks like me to take things for granted. We’ve always known this. We have always seen the difference between truth and religious error. It’s hard for to understand why everyone can’t see the difference. It seems so obvious to us. But again, we never grew up where others have. We never had to work our way through the maze of religious confusion. We were taught what was true at a young age. Our faith is strong and deep. But it is easy for us to forget the “we” in our passage. It is easy for us to just assume. It’s easy for us to have little patience with those who are struggling to grasp the same truths we have known for decades.

Two different streams of believes. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Both bring great insights to a congregation. But both need to realize that both are needed and both are the same in the eyes of the Lord.

“We too,” is what Paul said. We too were a mess. We too did wrong things. We too needed Jesus. We too had to start at the beginning.

Don’t ever forget the “we too.”

Roger