Law and Gospel

  Ephesians 2:1 - 10

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 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. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in 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 as a result of works, that no one 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.

Sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity                                    8/31/25

Law and Gospel

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ;

I was baptized when I was two months and 5 days old. I have never been aware of a time when I was not a Christian. The "feeling," My consciousness of being a Christian has varied from time to time. Some days I feel absolutely wonderful - marvelous - walking on air in the grace of God. At other times, I'm not aware, consciously, of anything unique. Now and again, I have a very painful awareness of my sin, but I continue to understand that the gospel covers me and I am a forgiven and beloved child of God despite my sins because of Jesus Christ.  

So, You can imagine that reading the first sentence of our text almost seems like it doesn't apply.  "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air." Except for those first two months and five days, I don't have any familiarity with the idea of being dead in trespasses and sins or walking according to the course of this world. I know that Original Sin placed me in that category, theologically aware, but I'm not certain that it makes the passage any easier for me to apply to myself. I am going to guess that that's true for most of you.  

But this is the Word of God. It describes us accurately. It doesn't talk about how we feel, What it is, is true. Even as Christians, we walk in sin. I don't like that fact, I don't like having to admit it, I do not like having to confess it in public, let alone a sermon. But there it is. We are all sinners.  

And sin makes us children of wrath, as our text says. The Apostle Paul writes we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and later in the epistle he says, we were dead in our transgressions. It is an ugly truth. This is the law part of our text today. But it flows over into the gospel.  

The Gospel, the Good News, is stated in several different ways in our text. Paul talks about God being rich in mercy, he speaks of God's great love for us and then tells us that He raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. I've never been able to actually nail down what "the heavenly places" means. It could mean what we call "heaven." It could mean being seated in the grace and love of God. I am pretty sure that it means something about where God shows us "the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus."  

Whatever "the heavenly places" are, I'm pretty sure it's good. The reason I'm not sure exactly what the phrase means is that it is in the plural "heavenly places." We tend to think of heaven as one place, and perhaps it is. We just don't know. The other confusion for me is that the Apostle is talking about being placed us in those heavenly places. He was clearly writing while He was still standing on earth. We read those words while we are firmly fastened to earth. Those realities suggest that what the Apostle is talking about is like eternal life, which is the gift of God for us in our baptism.  

Paul was writing about this by inspiration, so I'm not sure he even knew precisely what every phrase meant. The only thing we can be certain of is that it is divinely wonderful. In Christ, we have been transferred from this world of sin and death to life everlasting enjoy and peace in the presence of the Lord. But, just like everything about our salvation, It's not immediately obvious to us -- it's not always open to our senses, it is in fact the promise of God. We live in a reality that is completely and fully ours, and yet we are unable to sense it with our fingers and our noses and such.  

God intended it to be like that. That's why he tells us in this passage that God is going to show us their surpassing goodness of his love and mercy. Then Paul writes that we are saved by grace. Within two sentences, he repeats himself. First, he says you are saved by grace, and then he goes into that wonderful passage in verses 8 and 9 about how we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God, not on the basis of work so that no one should boast.  

The full, experienced reality of the wonders of our salvation is that they are future, in the next world, in the next life. We have them. We possess them by the gift of grace, but we do not experience fully the reality of them. That awaits us in the future. It is all the gift of grace, and it is all received by faith.  

Take note: the promises of our salvation are listed in the text in the past tense; it is already done. God has rescued us, God has transferred us to this new heavenly kingdom, and God has given us all of the things that the gospel promises. But the joy, the significant blessings, the experience of the great love and mercy of God, which is discussed in our text, is in the future tense. It is coming, but we are not there yet. The surpassing riches of His grace in kindness are yet to be revealed to us. That is part of the future glory that God has set aside for us, laid out for us, but has not given us the immediate sense of it, that it might be by faith.  

And then the apostle brings us back down to the reality we have and that we know. He talks about the purpose that God has for us in this world. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works, which God has before ordained, laid out in our path, that we should walk in them."  We are brought at the end of this passage from the glories of heaven which lie ahead of us, not within our sight, to the Hard Rock reality of this world, in which we have things to do. God doesn't leave us sitting and wondering what they are, although many people tend to waste their time trying to dream up exactly what they might be, but He has ordained in advance what those works are so that all we have to do is walk in faith in Him, doing what comes to hand to do, and we will accomplish His will. That's why He left us here. Period. To do his stuff.  

This part seems to be law. It seems to be demanding something. But the truth is it's still part of the gospel. God has planned something for us to do, but it is His plan, and the works are His works, and all we have to do is walk by faith, which means live according to what we believe. Live as the Christian truth would guide you to live; the truth of forgiveness, the truth of salvation, the truth of this amazing love of God. Then you will be doing what God wants you to do. But even that is His gift to us, not a command for us to go out and work something up, or do it ourselves, but simply live in His goodness, grace, and love, and we will be accomplishing all that He has set before us to do. Even the works He would have us do are the gift of God – the gift of His grace.  

The only thing we can be certain of is that the will of God for us is not to do evil. The works which He has laid in our are in accord with His will, both the will of God to save us, and the will of God expressed in commandments. 

Which are not two wills, but one.  And what is the will of God for us?  Our Salvation

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Amen.