It’s certainly a
pleasure to welcome you back again to Daily Bread. As you may remember in
the first chapter of this letter from Paul, he was showing us how to count
our spiritual blessings. In this second chapter, Paul explains even more
about these heavenly blessings that God has gifted us with so let’s take a
look.
He has given
you life, who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in time past, you
walked according to the path of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air (the devil), which is the spirit that now works in the
children of disobedience. With them we also lived in the desires of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature the children of wrath, just as others.
This reminds me of
something. There’s a time in everyone’s life, when you think you know
everything. And then, lo and behold (¬ Did you
ever realize these are Bible words which mean look and see? Just thought I’d
sneak a little Daily Bread Crumb in on ya!), a time comes when you look back
and realize how terribly wrong you were about that. And then it happens
again. And again. And again, again, again, etc. Even when you concede to the
fact that you can’t possibly know everything, you start to thinking that you
know all the necessary and important stuff anyway. And then you find out you
were wrong about that too. Over and over again. So, when you meet someone
who hasn’t found TRUTH yet (children of disobedience), give them a break,
because they just haven’t caught up with you yet, and they still know
everything. We all had our time in the dark, living worldly. Who are we to
judge those who aren’t fortunate enough to have had GOD GIVE them the TRUTH
yet? Aren’t we glad that God allowed us the time to choose when we were
ready to come out of the darkness into the light?
But God, who is
rich in mercy, for His great Love with which He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, made us alive together with Christ, (by whose Grace you are
saved;) and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the
exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus.
For by
Grace you are saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves (not from any of your own doing),
it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast (be proud).
Because we are His workmanship (creation), created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.
There’s a key word
here to remember because I know it can be confusing about the Faith vs.
works thing. That word is GRACE. Paul just said by Grace you’re saved
through Faith, not of works. And then in the very next sentence he said that
we are created in Christ for good works. Well, that sounds pretty
contradicting, but when you think about it, when you’re reborn, and you
become one with Christ, naturally, good works are within you. They are
effortless. They are second nature so to speak. You don’t have to plan them
or try to do good things, they are part of you. You don’t have to work to do
the good works that you were created to do.
Do remember, that
you in time past, being Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision
(non-Jewish) by those who are called the Circumcision (Jewish) in the flesh
made by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world.
But now in Christ
Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ.
For He is our Peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle
wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that
is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in Himself
out of two, one new man, so making peace, and that He might reconcile both
to God in one body by the Cross, having slain the enmity by it, and came and
preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were near.
For through Him we
both have access by one
Spirit to
the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household (family) of God, and
are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom all the building fitly framed
together grows to an Holy Temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Access. That’s
quite an interesting and fitting word for what Paul is saying. It is the
freedom, availability, and opportunity to be of God, whenever we want. It’s
the freedom, availability, and opportunity to call on Him, to talk to Him,
to praise Him, to thank Him, to use the power that He bestows on you through
the Holy Spirit, to depend on Him, to be in His presence, to rely on Him, to
know Him. It’s all yours. Do these sound like more spiritual blessings to
you?
Join us again next
time, when we look into more of this wonderful letter from Paul as he takes
us into an even clearer understanding of the access that we enjoy to our
Father. Paul calls this the mystery of Christ in the next chapter. You don’t
want to miss it right here at Daily Bread.
