FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
From Dead Men to New Men
Most men understand earning.
Work hard. Get results. Put in the hours. Show your value.
We have been trained that way from the time we were young. In school, in sports, at work, and in life, effort usually produces reward. So naturally many of us carry that same thinking into our relationship with God. Try harder. Pray more. Read more. Fail less. Be better. Maybe then God will be pleased with me.
But as Pastor Pete shared with us this week, Ephesians 2 cuts right through that thinking. Paul does not say we were struggling swimmers reaching for help. He says we were dead. Dead in our sins. And unless you know something I don’t…
Dead men don’t improve themselves.
Dead men don’t clean themselves up.
Dead men don’t take one more step toward God.
And then two of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture appear: But God.
Not because we deserved it.
Not because we finally got serious.
Not because we became good enough.
“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)
God moved first.
God loved first.
God rescued first.
That should change everything about our relationship with Jesus, shouldn’t it?
Men, too many of us live as though Christianity is a daily attempt to prove something to God. We quietly believe that if we perform well enough, obey consistently enough, fight hard enough, or even go to church enough, maybe God will smile a little wider at us.
But grace says something very different.
Grace says you are working from acceptance, not working or acceptance.
Grace says you fight because you are already God’s son, not to become His son.
Then Paul says something remarkable: “For 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)
Notice the order.
We are not saved by good works…We are saved for good works.
The work is not the root…The work is the fruit.
Apple trees don’t strain to produce apples so they can become apple trees. Apples simply reveal what the tree already is. The same is true with us. Grace does not simply forgive a man; it changes him.
The man who once chased only himself begins to want Jesus.
The man who once ran from God begins to pursue Him.
The man who once loved darkness begins to love the light.
Not perfectly. Not instantly. But deeply.
So maybe the question today is not, “Am I doing enough?”, maybe it’s: “Am I living from what Christ has already done?”
Because Christianity does not begin with a man climbing toward God…
It begins with God reaching down to dead men and making them alive.
Joe Bouch
