COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION

1. COMPLETE COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION 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. Ephesians 2:4-5

2. It must be important that the Ephesian church understand that before Christ they were “dead in their transgressions and sins” because Paul mentions it a number of times and goes into detail as to what this “deadness” entails. Before Christ, we are like an uninhabited house, a spiritually vacant vessel. FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE

3. The life to which God had called his people as he led them out of captivity in Egypt and into the Promised Land had over generations given way to a spiritual deadness in Israel. Despite their glaring acts of disobedience, in Ezekiel 36:26-27, God promises to “give [them] a new heart and put a new spirit in [them]”. He maintains that he will “put his Spirit in [them] and move [them] to follow his decrees and be careful to keep his laws”. “DEADNESS” IN ISRAEL: EZEKIEL’S DILEMMA

4. EZEKIEL 37: AN AMAZING VISION • Ezekiel is taken to the middle of a barren valley, where he looks upon a great many bones. • The question “Can these bones live?”is asked. • Through the work of the Lord, God’s Spirit is breathed into the dry bones and they are raised to life • God closes his address with this statement: “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land.” (37:14) • A dead person does not need resuscitation; a dead person needs resurrection. • The cross of Jesus Christ is about resurrection to new life, not just some moral re-orienting of the old.

5. THE HOPELESSNESS OF AN EMPTY HOUSE • Until someone purchases a house and moves in, it remains hopelessly uninhabited. • In both texts from today, we see two themes clearly presented – hopelessness without the intervention of God and a barrier to interaction with God. • For the people of Israel, their disobedience had left them with no other recourse then to appeal to God’s mercy, they needed God’s direct intervention and God promises to show them unmerited favour – grace. • For the Gentile nations, their only hope rested in an appeal to God’s mercy and his response is a promise of grace through Jesus Christ.

6. Our world currently exists as a self-help world. We live DO-IT-YOURSELF existences. Scripture presents a BUT-GOD faith. Our faith is not based on our own effort or striving, but upon acceptance of God’s grace shown through Jesus Christ – “for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). There is no amount of spiritual spring cleaning that can make us right before God. Without recognition of our need for resurrection and an acceptance of God’s grace, our lives can quickly resemble a remodeled yet vacant house. We need a tenant in our house to bring life to our deadness. Have you experienced this new life or do you still feel in some way “dead”? THE NATURE OF OUR RESCUE

7. We are transformed from death unto life for a purpose. “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) We are not “saved” in order to rest on our laurels as the “elect” or the “predestined ones” and await the return of Christ. Passage after passage of New Testament writing encourages us to live lives full of the good works that bring glory to God. There is tremendous purpose to this resurrected life. For those who have accepted Christ, we are now a people carrying the breath of God in us. A PURPOSEFUL NEW LIFE

8. A PURPOSEFUL NEW LIFE • Just as God breathed life into the first man, Adam, and just as God breathed life into the dry bones of Ezekiel 37, God breathes resurrection life into each of us through His Holy Spirit. • Just as a person can see the fine handiwork of a master craftsman as he or she looks upon a restored house, the world will recognize God’s craftsmanship in our lives as we are faithful in living a lifestyle of public good works. • These works do not save us, however our new life is made manifest by our actions and our way of life.

9. We must realize our mutual and common transformation in Christ Jesus. It is when people look at us communally – and not necessarily individually – that they will see the image of Christ in us, the new life we have received. God’s ultimate design called not only for one king and one nation for Israel, but for one king and one nation for all people under Christ Jesus. The same peace promised to the divided kingdom of Israel is now extended to all people – Gentiles included – in Christ Jesus. ONE IN CHRIST

10. Just as the Israelites were promised that God would dwell with them eternally in his sanctuary, Paul makes it abundantly clear that in Christ we are “being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives. (Ephesians 2:22)”. In some amazing way, we, as followers of Jesus, become a dwelling place in which God lives. God does not live in our buildings; He lives in us as we find our life in Him. We all recognize that there are barriers to unity in the church today; what we require is another BUT-GOD moment. THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD

11. If you’ve recognized that feeling of deadness, know that God desires to breathe new life into you. If you recognized that God has a purpose for you and you’ve felt stagnant in your faith, know that He desires to reinvigorate you. If you’ve felt alone and isolated in your faith, know that He desires to call you into the type of unified community that He has promised His followers. I don’t know the condition of your house, but I do know that “unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). A CONCLUSION

12. May you recognize that God holds the deed to your life, that through Christ, your mortgage has been eternally paid, and that through His Spirit, you can be made new, restored, retrofitted and refurbished, fit together in community to be the dwelling place of God. May we, the church of Mount Albert, be a building built by God.