Sin Doesn’t Make You Bad . . .

Ephesians 2:1-5

¹And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

"Sin doesn’t make you bad – sin makes you dead!" (C.S. Lewis)

This is a startling concept. We are raised to think of sin in terms of being “naughty”. We’ve done something wrong; something bad for which we need to be punished. Once that punishment has been paid, we’re “good” until we sin again and the cycle repeats itself. Here in Ephesians 2, Paul reshapes our thinking about that concept.

Our sin takes us way beyond bad. Our sin takes us right into death. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins . . .” [In the midst of this conversation, please do not confuse physically dead people with what is being discussed here. This passage is about spiritually dead people.]  There are millions of people walking around who have no idea that, in reality, they are spiritually dead. They are missing the abundant life that God has planned for every person who believes in Him and is governed by the Holy Spirit. Their future holds permanent separation from God and complete destruction.

But our God had a plan to bring us back from that death and give us new life through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Because of His work we are not now “good”, we are now alive. Because Jesus did pay the price that our sin demanded through His death, we are now free from the bondage of the grave and life is ours forever. The next time you focus on confession of your sins, remember these words and celebrate the tremendous gift you have been given, for it is truly amazing.

Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good. He came to made dead people alive!

It’s probably been over 25 years ago that I heard a sermon (preached by my husband no less) that bore the catch phrase “already but not yet.” Those of you who know me well will realize that the fact that I remember a sermon from 25 years ago is completely remarkable, for that isn’t my strong suit. But I still remember grappling with the concept that we already have the Kingdom of God in our hands, but not quite yet. It’s another one of those dichotomies that we Christians live with daily. That sermon was about Joseph from the book of Genesis, as he waited for God’s deliverance for himself and his family. Paul discusses that same idea again for us in Ephesians 2.

As we walk through our regular daily lives it is so easy to forget that we have already been raised up as members of God’s Kingdom. It is already something that we hold in our hands. And yet we are plagued by the troubles of this world. Just last week we were horrified by the events that unfolded in Boston and in Texas. How do we recognize that God’s Kingdom lives among us already when we can witness those kinds of terrible events? In those moments, God’s love feels far away. But in Ephesians, Paul reminds us that we have already been raised up by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; we are already members of that Kingdom.

Nestled into this passage lies one of the most profound verses in all of Scripture (and that is saying a great deal, for all of Scripture is profound!) “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” Here lies the crux of all of our hope. We are saved by GRACE. We didn’t earn it and we can do nothing to affect that salvation ourselves. This is 100% the work of God. No amount of good works or self-promotion is going to make any difference before God’s throne in terms of our entrance into God’s Kingdom. This happens only because He loves us and moves us to believe in His Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. The good works we perform, (which HE planned in advance for us to do) are merely an expression of that faith and of our love for Him. They earn us no special favors or entrance into His Kingdom.

So the Kingdom already lies in our hands and yet we still struggle on this side of death. But the joy, the peace, the love, and the hope are already ours to enjoy and share. It is ours already – but not yet.