GOD'S TOOLSHED

EPHESIANS 2:1-10

Paul begins this passage by taking the Ephesians back to what they were before Christ; before their salvation.

They were dead; dead to God, dead to His commands, dead to His work in the world.  This is a death, not physical but spiritual, in which I lived prior to salvation.   

I can think back and remember June 13, 1968; I was going about my 14 year old business, going to school, studying, playing with my friends on weekends, fighting and arguing with my brothers and sister, my parents.  Nothing extraordinary, just a typical teenage girl.

Then, June 14, 1968 changed my world forever.  That’s the day I met Jesus and said “yes” to Him.  Granted, I didn’t understand the full implications of what I was “yessing” to, but guess what?  God did!

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         So, what did Paul want the Ephesians (and me) to know about God in this                passage?  He’s continuing his theme of encouraging, and now he’s going to remind me why God did what He did on the cross.  He’s the Workman, and He’s going to introduce me to what’s in His toolbox.

·        I was dead. (2:1)

·        I followed the ways of the world.  (2:2)

·        I followed the ways of the ruler of the world.  (2:2)

·        I was disobedient.  (2:2)

·        I gratified only me.  (2:3)

·        I listened only to my unsaved nature.  ((2:3)

·        I was an enemy of God and an object of His wrath.  (2:3)

·        BUT . . . !  (Don’t you love those Scriptural “buts”?  (2:4)

·        God had “great love” for me!  (2:4)

·        God is rich in mercy towards me.  (2:4)

·        He brought me from “dead in my transgressions and sins) to “alive with Christ”.  (2:5)

·        By grace alone…..my tools don’t work! (2:5)

·     God has already seated me with Jesus in heaven-I already have my place reserved at His table and from God’s eternal, transcendent perspective, I’M ALREADY THERE WITH HIM!  (2:6)

·        He’s planning the party already-He has done all this because He wants to show me His incomparable riches of grace in inexpressible kindness in the coming ages of eternity.  (2:7)

·        All of this is accomplished through absolutely NO effort on my part; it is the gift of God to me.  All I need to do is own the gift and take the ribbon and wrapping paper off and put it to use in my life.  (2:8-9)

·        FOR “I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works …  (2:10)

·        “… which God prepared in advance for me to do”  (2:10)

     God has done all this for me because He loves me; there’s no other explanation.  He didn’t want anything from me when He saved me; He just wanted me to know Him, to be with Him in this life and the next.  And He knows what joy will be mine when I allow Him to use these tools in my life to shape me the way He wants me.

Father, please help me to stand quietly before You as You open Your toolbox and use just the right tools to shape me into Your servant.  You are the Master Workman, creating in me those talents and skills to serve You in the way You desire.

     

     The most exquisite pain I feel is seeing my past in my children’s present … a past filled with rebellion and wandering and sin.  The most pain-filled guilt I feel is that I DID NOT TEACH THEM all that a mom should have taught them about holy God.

BUT GOD … has worked in my life.  He is building a path for me to walk upon.  Will He do less for my children and grandchildren?

 

Father, “because of Your great love for” me, you saved me.  You keep me.  You will bring me to Your Home.  And “because of Your great love for” my children and grandchildren, I hold them up to You now, asking You to so work in their lives that, after I have left this earth, they will walk with You, serving You and loving You all their lives.