Episode 4: Ephesians 2:1-10: What does it really mean to be saved by grace?
What does it look like to keep rejoicing in the mind blowing reality that we've been brought from death to life? This is what we're talking about today as we get stuck into Ephesians 2:1-10 together.
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What in this passage challenges your thinking and why?
How do these verses both cause us to rejoice, and squash any temptation to boast?
As you think about this coming week, what does it mean for you to walk in light of the good works prepared for you, rather than striving to do things for God?
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This episode is sponsored by Crossway.
Crossway publish gospel-centered, Bible-based content that honours our Savior and serves his church. They seek to help people understand the massive implications of the gospel and the truth of God’s Word, for all of life, for all eternity, and for the glory of God.
Check out their website for all their up-to-date resources.
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The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Sarah: You're listening to the Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea podcast, the Bible Study podcast for everyday life. We're here for a 20 minute burst of Bible chat over a cup of tea and an English style biscuit as we make our way through a Bible book over the course of the season and drive it to our hearts. And this season we're getting into Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Whether you've been listening for a while or have just found us, we are so pleased you're here.
Felicity: If I'm honest, I have never spent much time with Spurgeon's writing and I know that some of you will be lamenting my loss. But here I am finally delving into Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. This was edited by Alistair Begg. And to be honest, I really wish I'd got here sooner. I'm really enjoying the riches of these short devotions that help set my heart on Jesus through Spurgeon's profound insight and wisdom that really does stand the test of time. I'm really looking forward to this becoming a regular part of my Bible reading routine and I would recommend it to others. Grab a copy at crossway.org.
Sarah: Welcome to Two Sisters in a Cup of Tea. My name is Sarah, I'm in the UK. I'm with my sister Felicity as ever, she's in the USA. And today we're getting into chapter two of Ephesians verses one through 10. We're looking forward to getting there. We've had a really good start in chapter one, haven't we? Before we get there Felicity, let's talk about what it looks like to just embrace the cup of tea as a form of welcoming others and loving others.Give us your theology of tea cups and welcome!
Felicity: I mean, I really feel very strongly that when someone walks into your house, in fact, before you even get to them walking into your house, inviting someone over for a cup of tea is just extended kind of, you know, metaphorical hug in some ways. Like, come into my house and I will serve you a cup of tea. And the beauty of it is that a cup of tea is a very easy thing to serve and as they walk into the house, I stick the kettle on and as the kettle's boiling, we're just already into the kind of the small chat, kind of finding our social groove and then we have our cup of tea and we have a chit chat about what's your preference, what kind of tea do you want, how can I help you, the, milk, sugar, all those things. And then we sit down with our cup of tea and we're kind of into a conversation. And I love that in that, the length of time that it takes to drink a cup of tea is, is just a good length of time. And at the end of that cup of tea, you have the option of, you know, thanks very much for the cup of tea, I've got to go now. Or I can say, do you want another cuppa, can I fill you up from the teapot? And then you're into just a slight, maybe even a slightly deeper level of conversation. And I think there's just an ease to that. It's not kind of polished hospitality. It's just an open housed, open lived, it's just a cup.
Sarah: Just a cup, isn't it? It's just a cup of water. As Jesus says, whenever you give a cup of water in my name, you're serving him, aren't you? As you serve others, it's just water at end of the day, isn't it? But also, let's broaden it. It can be any drink, really, can't it? As you say, I think that act of just the initial welcome of, come and share a beverage. Come and share something with me that just eases an oils conversation. It's just really good, isn't it?
Felicity: Yeah, highly recommend. Excellent well let us encourage you in your tea hospitality Sarah shall we get into this passage we're in chapter two this is one through ten you're going to read it for us
Sarah: Great, let me read.
“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. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 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. 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. 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”.
Felicity: Yay! This is just so profoundly brilliant, it? And is this not, I mean this is one of the most familiar passages I would have said in Ephesians, but let's consider it, yeah, in the flow of the whole letter. What a great moment at this point.
Sarah: Yes and I think it is, you're right, one of the most familiar passages and yet I've been really struck about how much I'm still getting out of this. We were talking about this with our Bible study group the other day and I loved seeing a couple of people go, wow I've never noticed the world, the flesh, the devil being at play here in the way that they are and just kind of seeing that and I just really hadn't picked up on the level of, well I've kind of, basically the kind of, there's a he's kind of emphasising that you must not boast about your salvation. There's a no-boasting sandwich here, I think, of what, like, it's just really important that you've been given all of chapter one, you've been given all these blessings, just in case you're in danger of boasting about what you have. Let me just remind you of where you've come from and let me remind you how it's come about. And just that emphasis, I just hadn't seen before and it's been really helpful for me to kind of just walk along that line a bit more.
Felicity: Yeah, I love that. That's good. That's good. Well, let's get into these opening verses. We have a real contrast, don't we? So we have this picture in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world. And it's very active, like when you followed, like there's a culpability there. You were following the ways of the world, the ruler of the kingdom, spirit, and essentially the devil, as you say. All of us lived among them sometimes, gratifying these desires. And again, the repetition of following. And then this brilliant, but, but because of his great love for us, I love this, because of the great love with which he loved us, because of his, like no other reason really than his love for us, God made us alive with Christ. So we were dead as we followed the ways of the world, and now we are alive because of God. And I think you're right to draw out the boasting, and from the very start, while we do the following bit, we do that first bit, it's God who definitely, definitely does this bit.
Sarah: Yeah, but I think it's just so necessary to just sit with the reality of what we were, isn't it? We were dead. There's no other way around that. There's no other... It's such a sobering explanation, isn't it, of what condition we were in. And actually a really sobering reality for all that we know who are not in Christ yet. And just just sitting with that I think shines the light all more brightly on the mercy and the love doesn't it because you can't do anything when you're dead. There's no way that I can contribute. There's just nothing that I can bring to the table here and I think it's just really important to be reminded of that and I think he's really wisely pastoring this church and just saying remember how far away you were like there's there's literally no hope without the mercy of God. And yeah, it's just important to sit there, isn't it?
Felicity: Yeah, and he helps us sit there even more in verse five, even when we were dead in transgressions, like he's described it and then he's stating it again and we just, yeah, that is, that is the reality. And therefore it is by grace you have been saved. And I think, as you say, I think that's a really helpful just to see that that is what has happened. This is where we get the word salvation from, that we need saving. We cannot do anything at all. That is the situation, deserving of God's wrath, dead in our sins, saved by grace, by God, because of his love and his mercy. And wonderfully, not just saved, that's it, you're now saved, you just sit here and be saved, but I love verse six, God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms. I mean that to go from dead.
Sarah: Well, to go from dead and grave and depths of the earth to seated on high in the heavenly realms.
Felicity: Even just that little phrase, with him, with him. And we've already just already loving Jesus throughout this letter, aren't we? But we are with him. And just to sit in awe of that for a moment is
Sarah: And that can only happen by our sin being taken, can't it? It can only happen through the forgiveness of sins, that blessing that we saw in chapter one. And this is one of those, another one of those really real truths that we cannot grasp because right now we're still obviously here. Like I'm not sitting with him, but like I am sitting with him, like theologically, like where, you know, that is wholly real that I am with him in the heavenly realms even though right now I'm still on earth. Mind-blowing boggling.
Felicity: I know I've tried to draw it in a diagram before and you basically have two lines but then you can't and I have I have like a giant man like somehow straddling both lines like heavily realms earthly yeah I'm not sure it's helpful but you know that's what has my brain works
Sarah: But at the heart of this is I just love this, the verse four of God's character who is rich in mercy. Like we're so quick to doubt that aren't we? We're so quick to kind of just forget that he is rich in mercy. That is who he is. This is an overflow of his heart because of his great love for us. This is the lavish, the abundance, all the of generous language that we're seeing in chapter one. We see that here, fleshed out in this description of what it is to take someone from death to life and to raise us up with him. And the language continues here in verse seven, doesn't it? In order that he might show the incomparable riches of his glorious grace you know it's just that kind of to praise you know to praise him to his glory this is for isn't it yeah yeah
Felicity: Yeah, to display who he is. Which again, as you were saying in the boasting thing, there's very little, it's not displaying who we are. Like actually, what's happened to us, death to life, is a display of his grace, kindness, mercy, love. And verse eight, for it is by grace you've been saved through faith. And this is from, it's a gift of God, this kind merciful loving, powerful God who can and does do this. And I think off the back of the prayer, this is the prayer, this is the power that's being spoken. It's the same power that brought Jesus from death to life. It's the same power that takes us from death to life in this way.
Sarah: And just in case you're in any doubt, he then repeats himself again, doesn't he? Verses eight through 10, he's just like, it's by grace you've been saved through faith, not from yourselves, it's a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. He's just like really triple underlining, isn't he? Hang on, you just, remember, can you just remind yourself once again, this has nothing to do with you. You are only receiving the gift, that is all. That is all. And I just think that's, that's so... we just really need to keep hearing that don't we? Particularly with our productivity kind of mindset, particularly with our to-do list, particularly with all the things we want to accomplish and all the things that we'd like to do well, just reminding ourselves that everything is a gift, including, he says in verse 9 and 10, the works that have been prepared for us. Actually all that we seek to do, well actually that's another gift of God's grace towards us. It's all prepared by him. Like, we don't, you know, yeah, we receive.
Felicity: Yeah, which I think just, I mean, it's just wise pastoral direction, isn't it? Because it speaks directly into our worksiness, the human condition that we think we earn things, everything that we work and therefore the reward is for our work or our character or how we perceive of ourselves. And the kind of the total dismantling of that in the description at the start, this is who we are, we’re dead and then the reality of, as you say, that everything has been given. I remember understanding verse 10, really for the first time a while ago, that this, that he has prepared the good works in which we're to walk in. Therefore, I can pray that God would show me the good works that he has for me. I don't have to conjure up good things to do for him. I can have my eyes open that I might see, in line with the prayer, that I might see what God has for me. The impact of that, I think, is then a real freedom to walk in what is put in front of you and to see the value in that. So I'm going to Bible study in a bit and I'm going to walk into a room of people and who do I choose to speak to? Who do I? Actually, God has prepared the good works in which I'm to walk in. So whoever it is that I happen to be grabbing a snack with at the same time, this is the good work, to chat to that person and point them to Jesus. Or as I give my kids their next meal, this is the good work that God has brought. I really have appreciated that breadth of understanding, I think, of what this is.
Sarah: Yes, really, really helpful. And I think in the context of what we're beginning to see in Ephesians, that actually this is a corporate message written to the church. There's no room for looking down on others here. There's no room for kind of one-upmanship in any way is there because this is the leveller and we're going to begin to see that more and more as we go through and particularly in the second half of the chapter. This is the leveller that everyone needs to hear in order to see everyone as being worthy of their love and of their affection and of their call to build each other up in the church and to pursue those good works in the context of the local church family, which the rest of the letter is going to unpack for us, isn't it? And I think again that's just really helpful for us to kind of just sit there and go, yes, Lord, I'm sorry for where I have looked down on others. I'm sorry for where I have been tempted to boast in my knowledge or in whatever it is, rather than having this perspective, which Paul thinks you really need in order to understand the rest of the letter on what it looks like to live out the gospel as church family and I just think that's yeah it therefore well done Paul. Thanks Paul for putting it here like because it's so often taken out of context isn't it this is it this is like a chunk that you know we have heard preached on we have heard talks on it whatever it is as a kind of just versus one to ten and it's it's succinct it's beautiful why not like it's got so much here but let's keep seeing it in this letter, let's keep seeing in the context that it's been written and I think we're going to see it fleshed out more and more as we go through.
Felicity: Yeah, I think that's right. we're gonna see, yeah, I think as we're reading the letter, then as you're at home and you're reading, hope reading in between these episodes, seeing where we see this, the kind of, goes micro macro quite a lot, I think, and kind of seeing the connection between those things and seeing how it fits into the letter. That can be something to be mulling on this week as you get into the remaining chapters of the lesson. Just, that is a wise thing to do is to continue to read the letter in its entirety as we're walking through it. So why don't you pray for us as we close out this episode.
Sarah: I'd love to. Heavenly Father, we praise you that you are rich in mercy. We praise you that we sit here in view of your mercy. We sit here, recipients of your love, made alive with Christ. Lord, we praise you for the sweet news of the gospel. And Father, would we never tire of hearing, of reading, of absorbing this gospel truth. Lord we really pray that these truths would impact how we view our church family, how we view others, what it looks like to walk in the good works that you've already prepared for us. We pray please Lord help us to walk into this week confident of all you're doing in your word and through your word as you keep rooting us in this truth. Lord may we continue to know you better as we read these words together and we pray that it would be to the praise of your glory. Amen.
Well, it's as ever just a joy to keep on chatting this through, isn't it? Why not take one of our discussion questions and think on it further for yourself this week or to chat about it with someone else too. For those listening on Spotify, just scroll down and you'll find them there alongside links to other recommendations. We're also going to be hosting a listener Q &A at the end of this season. So if you've got questions that are cropping up as we make our way through Ephesians, do email us at podcastingsisters@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you as we put some answers to those questions together in the coming weeks. Yeah, we hope that will be helpful for you. And we look forward to seeing you next time for the second half of chapter two. Next Friday, we will see you then.
Felicity: See you then. This episode is sponsored by Crossway.
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