Right Living in a World Gone Wrong:  Studies in Ephesians

Grace and Works

Ephesians 2:8-10

Are you going to heaven?

How many of you in this room think you will go to heaven if you die right this instant?

I guess it’s not surprising that in a church service most people think they are going to heaven – in fact, most Americans think they are.  A recent poll was done asking people if they thought some famous people, some living, some dead, were heaven bound.  Here are the results:

Mother Teresa 79%

Oprah Winfrey - 66%
Colin Powell - 61%

Princess Diana - 60%
Hillary Rodham Clinton - 55%
Pat Robertson - 47%

OJ Simpson – 19%

Scott Peterson – 5%
 

Obviously, people rank Mother Theresa very high on the poll, because they believe that her good works give her a very good chance of making it, while others are ranked lower based on their perceived or actual bad deeds.

But here is the most interesting part of the poll. Of those surveyed, 87% believed they were likely to go to heaven. The people who were polled gave themselves better chances than Mother Teresa!  Isn’t that interesting?  In fact, people gave themselves a better chance of going to heaven than anyone else on the list!  What do you suppose they base that chance on? 

The most important question to ask is not “Do you think you are going to heaven?” it’s this – “WHY do you think you’re going to heaven?”  It seems apparent from the polling information that the vast majority of Americans believe that their chance of going to heaven is directly connected to their good or bad behavior.  They believe that God has a great, big cosmic scale, and He weighs the relative good and bad things that we do, and if the balance tips to the good, then He admits the person to heaven.  If it tips to the bad – then they go to Hell.

And they think they’re good enough! 

They believe their good works outweigh their bad deeds, so they will make it!

I don’t know if it is surprising to you or not, but this belief is widely held in churches – even those churches that call themselves “Evangelical.”  By that title, those churches should be promoting salvation through Jesus Christ alone, but that is not always the case.  In fact, a very recent poll showed that the people who sit in those churches are likely to believe that people get to heaven by doing “good works.”

In early August of this year, Newsweek asked 1,004 Americans what they believe and how they practice their faith.   One of the questions asked on the poll was this one, and here are the results:[i]

Note the object of the question – “Can a good person from another faith go to heaven?”

Nearly 8 in 10 responded, “Well, if their’ good people, then surely God will let them in to heaven, right?” 

These results should send a shudder through the church of Jesus Christ!  And they are not some far away phenomenon – these numbers are reflected right in our own back yard.  Within this community, in a church with the word “Evangelical” in their name, is a pastor who believes, “there are many roads that lead to God.” 

Take a long look at those numbers.  They represent the most dangerous threat to the future of the church, and the future of the world, that we face.  It will not be “Christian apartheid” that will destroy the church in America – the church in China, India, Cuba and other anti-Christian parts of the world is growing stronger every day.  No, the greatest threat to the church today is the subtle virus of universalism that has made it’s way into our very DNA.  Within the EVANGELICAL Church 9 out of 10 people could not give the right answer to that question!  And that leads me to believe that there are people sitting within my sight and the sound of my voice who would not give the right answer, either. 

We’re going to get it right this morning!  By the time we leave this place, it is my prayer that you will not only be able to answer the question of your own salvation correctly, but also give the right answer to the question asked by Newsweek.

It’s not a difficult question to answer, actually.  The Bible makes it absolutely clear.  In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul gives one example of the absolute bottom line:

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.[ii]

This paragraph was written to people who were, indeed, heaven bound.  Paul introduces them in the opening words of this letter as “the saints who are in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.”  At this point in the letter, he is reminding them of the amazing work that has been done in them, and in doing so, he reminds them, and us, of the only source of salvation that is available to us.

He says, in verses 8&9, “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” 

There are some words here that need to be defined if we are going to understand what Paul’s talking about. 

What does that word “saved” mean?  We hear it panned in parodies of TV Evangelists – “Are you SAAVVEEDDDDD???”  What does it mean?  The Bible teaches that all of us as human beings are in peril – we are doomed to reap the results of our lifestyles.  Paul has just outlined some of that in the previous paragraph – he says that we were “dead in our trespasses and sins,” that we “walked according to the course of this world, and according to Satan.”  He says that we were once “sons of disobedience, conducing ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesn and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath…”  That’s me – that’s you.  Come on, it doesn’t take much of a memory to remember the failures in our lives – the things we did out of selfishness, the way we treated others, the way we did things that we knew were wrong – but we did them anyway because we wanted to.  The fact is we are all sinners, and we are all going to pay the price for those sins.  The Bible says, in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”  That’s the fate of all of us who sin – we will die – not just a physical death, but an eternal death – separated from God, doomed to live an eternal existence in a place of torment called Hell.  You know, if 87% of Americans believe they are going to heaven, then by default you have to assume they believe there will be a hell – in fact, most Americans think their neighbor is going to hell!

Hell is a place of eternal punishment, of unceasing torment and despair.  Imagine the worst day of your life – The day you felt the most alone, the most trapped, the most helpless, the most depressed…now imagine that day with no hope of recovery…ever… for all eternity.  And compound that emotional and spiritual chaos with the physical pain of unending flame – This is the fate of all who are separated from God.  

“BUT GOD…”  As we said last week, perhaps the most important words in this letter are the words found at the beginning of verse 4 – “But God…”  God was not willing to watch his greatest creative work doomed to such an eternity – so He stepped into human history, and sent Jesus Christ, His one and only Son, to pay the price for our sins – HE went through the pain, the separation, the despair, the torment and the punishment for your sins – so that you, and I could be called children of God – so that we would not only have to suffer the eternal punishment of hell, but would instead share in the incredible riches of being adopted sons and daughters of God! 

That’s what it means to be “saved!”  It means just what it says – you are saved from the worst possible circumstances and brought into the absolute best possible reality! 

This amazing salvation, we are told comes to us “by grace.”  It is by grace we have been saved.  Grace simply means this – you don’t deserve it.  Nothing you can do makes you worthy of God’s deliverance.  No amount of good works makes you a “saint.”  In fact, a person could do all sorts of good works and still end up in hell.  Jesus makes this unmistakable truth clear in Matthew chapter 7, verses 21-23, when He said,

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you, depart from me you who practice lawlessness!”

The issue is not settled by how well we can say the name of Jesus.  Or by the deeds we do.  The issue of our salvation is settled by our knowing Him, and Him knowing us.  If – and I did say “if” – Mother Theresa went to heaven when she died, it was NOT because of her work in Calcutta among the lepors and the poor, or due to her global stands for care of the less fortunate, or even her theology.  Her salvation is given on the same basis as the salvation of Jeffrey Dahmer, or Scott Peterson, or Bob Marsh – or you – it is by the grace of God – none of us deserves His salvation, none of us earns eternal life – it is a gift from God because of His amazing love and grace that looks beyond our sin, and values our souls!

And it makes perfect sense!  Paul says that our salvation is “not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Imagine a scenario where you could earn your salvation – as soon as you had, and told someone, or even realized it in your own mind, you’d be proud of yourself, which is a sin, and you’d be lost!  No – salvation is not based on, earned by or maintained by our good works.  Your very best is not enough to impress the God who created the earth and all that is in it!  DUH!  It’s going to take a lot more than my feeble efforts to impress Him.  The Bible says that all the good things that we do are like filthy rags to Him – and that’s our “good stuff!” – imagine what our bad stuff is to Him!

But Paul does mention good works in this paragraph doesn’t he?  How do they fit into this picture?  Well, the good works we do must flow from our heart as a result of our salvation – not to earn our salvation.  It’s not about our works – it’s about His work in us!  Paul writes in verse 10 – “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  When we get saved, the Bible says that we become a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17).  We are His workmanship – His work is done in us – and our life, our work, our daily routine now reflects that work – not our own.  The good things we do now flow as a natural consequence of the work of Christ in us…our values reflect His, our compassion flows from His heart, and it is because the Holy Spirit lives in us “both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”  (Phil 2:13) 

Warren Wiersbe writes,

As we read God’s word, understand it, meditate on it, and feed on it, the Word goes to work in our lives to cleanse us and feed us.  As we pray, God’s Spirit works in us to release power.  And as we suffer the Spirit of God ministers to us. That suffering drives us back to the word and to prayer, and the cycle begins all over again. [iii]

Do you think you’re going to heaven?  Do you KNOW you are going to heaven?

You can know – not because your good outweighs your bad.  Not because you can tell me the facts about Jesus – You can know that you are going to heaven because you have believed in Jesus – you have humbly bowed before Him and asked Him to forgive you, to cleanse you and to “re-create” you.  If you haven’t done that, do it now.  Just pray to Him right now, and say, “Jesus, do it for me!  I’m not worthy of your love or your kingdom, but I want to be a child of God!  Forgive me, cleanse me and fill me with your Spirit!  I ask that you would by grace save me, through faith in You alone.  Amen”

If you did that, either just this morning, or years ago, then your good works should flow out of a renewed heart, and a re-created life.  One of those works is worship – and we are going to close our service in an act of worship – we are going to come and do what the Lord Jesus told His disciples to do on the night before He died for them, and for us.  He asked that we would, until He comes again, gather together, and share bread and wine to remember his broken body and shed blood – remembering the sacrifice He made for us.  He said, “this bread is My body, broken for you…this cup is My blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins…do this in remembrance of Me.”

As we come to this table this morning – we are going to come in a spirit of celebration and worship – as the praise team leads us in “That’s Why We Praise Him” I invite you to join us in singing, in prayer in meditation, then come, as the Lord leads you, to this table, take the bread, and a cup, and eat and drink in remembrance and celebration of the work Christ has done in you.  Let’s do this in spirit of worship and praise!