{"id":1461,"date":"2021-03-14T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=1461"},"modified":"2021-03-25T09:46:21","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T16:46:21","slug":"fourth-sunday-in-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/14\/fourth-sunday-in-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourth Sunday in Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Fourth-Sunday-in-Lent-03-14-21.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ephesians 2:4-10<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Created by Grace for Grace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2014it is by grace you have been saved.&nbsp; And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.&nbsp; For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith\u2014and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God\u2014not by works, so that no one can boast.&nbsp; For we are God\u2019s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.&nbsp; (NIV1984)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the course of the last thirty-five years I have truly enjoyed seeing the wide variety of wonderful gifts that the good Lord gives to His children.&nbsp; I have had members who were given the gift of music.&nbsp; Listening to them sing was like listening to an angel.&nbsp; Hearing them praise their Savior by means of an organ or a piano or a keyboard, lifted my eyes and my heart to heaven. &nbsp;I have had members who were given the gift of administration.&nbsp; Whether it was managing the finances of the congregation or maintaining the church\u2019s records, their dedication and their faithfulness are commendable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While I certainly appreciate the wide variety of wonderful gifts that the good Lord gives to His people, one of the gifts that I admire the most is the gift to create.&nbsp; I had a member who could create magnificent original &nbsp;musical compositions for the piano.&nbsp; I had a member who had the ability to take a blank canvass and create beautiful works of art.&nbsp; And, I have had members who could take ordinary pieces of wood and create something that is both beautiful and powerful\u2014 such as this cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This cross was given to Brenda and me on our 25<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;wedding anniversary.&nbsp; It was created by a member of the congregation I was serving at the time\u2014 a man by the name of Gary Gaines.&nbsp; It may be a little difficult to see from where you are sitting, but it is very obvious that it took a great deal of skill to create this cross.&nbsp; The dimensions, the finish, the dove in the middle\u2014 it looks gorgeous!&nbsp; And if you turn it over there are two noteworthy details.&nbsp; The first detail is a penny.&nbsp; Gary took a penny from 1982 (the year Brenda and I were married) and inset into the cross.&nbsp; The second detail is where is says, \u201cHandcrafted by Gary Gaines.\u201d&nbsp; Every time I see this cross, I not only thank the good Lord for the gifts He has given to Gary, but I also thank the good Lord for the humbleness and the dedication, the faith and the faithfulness He has given to this child of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would like to use this cross as an illustration of how I want us to study our sermon text for today.&nbsp; While this is a very familiar portion of Scripture\u2014 portions of which we may all know by heart\u2014 let\u2019s study this text under the theme:&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong><em>Created by Grace for Grace!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to help you understand how I arrived at that theme we need to begin by looking at the closing verse of our text.&nbsp; In the NIV this verse reads,&nbsp;<em>\u201cFor we are God\u2019s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; A more literal translation of this verse reads,&nbsp;<em>\u201cFor we are His&nbsp;<\/em>(God\u2019s)&nbsp;<em>work\/ God\u2019s creation, created\/produced\/brought into being in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand in order that we might walk\/move about\/live in them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Christians we are God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201cwork,\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreation.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; We could even say that as Christians we are \u201chandcrafted\u201d by God Himself!&nbsp; Why is this a key point to recognize and remember?&nbsp; Because of what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write in the opening verses of Ephesians chapter two.&nbsp; In verses 1-3 Paul says to you and to me,&nbsp;<em>\u201cAs for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.&nbsp; All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.&nbsp; Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These are powerful words!&nbsp; They are powerful words that accurately describe how the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth sees&nbsp;<strong>everyone!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong>From God\u2019s perspective everyone is by nature spiritually&nbsp;<em>\u201cdead\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;in their&nbsp;<em>\u201ctransgressions and sin.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; We are not born spiritually \u201cneutral.\u201d&nbsp; We are born spiritually&nbsp;<em>\u201cdead.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; We are not born spiritually \u201cweak\u201d or spiritually \u201cill.\u201d&nbsp; On a spiritual level, that is, from God\u2019s perspective we are born a \u201clifeless corpse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact that by nature everyone is born&nbsp;<em>\u201cdead\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;in their&nbsp;<em>\u201ctransgressions and sin\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;plays out in their lives in a variety of very tragic ways.&nbsp; Paul gives us a brief description of this when he says,&nbsp;<em>\u201cAll of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; By nature a person is selfish, self-centered, and self-absorbed.&nbsp; By nature a person is concerned about themself more than anyone else\u2014 \u201cMe first, me only, me always.\u201d&nbsp; From infancy to old age we are by nature convinced in our heart that we are the most important being in the universe and that everyone and everything else is here to serve our needs and our wants.&nbsp; What is the result of this?&nbsp; By nature we are&nbsp;<em>\u201dobjects of&nbsp;<\/em>(God\u2019s)&nbsp;<em>wrath\u201d<\/em>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why is it so important for us to recognize and to own this truth, my friends?&nbsp; It is important so that we don\u2019t think that there is something&nbsp;<strong>we<\/strong>&nbsp;can do to positively impact our relationship with God.&nbsp; It is important so that we don\u2019t think that there is anything<strong>&nbsp;we<\/strong>&nbsp;can do to positively impact our eternity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then how?&nbsp; How can this tragic natural condition ever be changed?&nbsp; That brings us back to Paul\u2019s inspired words,&nbsp;<em>\u201cFor we are&nbsp;<\/em>(God\u2019s)&nbsp;<em>work, God\u2019s creation, created\/produced\/brought into being in Christ Jesus\u201d<\/em>!&nbsp; In short, we are&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreated\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><strong>by<\/strong>&nbsp;grace\u2014 God\u2019s grace as it is poured out on us in Christ Jesus our Lord!&nbsp; And did you notice how Paul emphasizes this truth&nbsp;<strong>twice&nbsp;<\/strong>here in our text?&nbsp; In verses four and five he says,&nbsp;<em>\u201cBut 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\u2014 it is by grace you have been saved.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; And then in verses eight and nine Paul says,&nbsp;<em>\u201cFor it is by grace you have been saved, through faith\u2014 and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God\u2014 not by works, so that no one can boast.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God\u2019s response to our natural sinful condition is found in words such as His&nbsp;<em>\u201cgreat love,\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<em>\u201crich in mercy,\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<em>\u201cmade us alive in Christ\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;and,&nbsp;<em>\u201cit is by grace you have been saved.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; Like the most beautiful diamond you can imagine, no matter what angle you view it from, the fact that we&nbsp;<strong>are&nbsp;<\/strong>God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201cwork,\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreation\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;is a testimony to the amazing grace of our God!&nbsp; The fact that God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201cwork,<\/em>&nbsp;God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreation\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;is inseparable from the words,&nbsp;<em>\u201cwith Christ\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>\u201cin Christ Jesus\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;only amplifies that who we&nbsp;<strong>are&nbsp;<\/strong>is indeed a&nbsp;<em>\u201cgift of God.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em>As we stand in awe of the fact that through faith in what God has done&nbsp;<strong>for&nbsp;<\/strong>us (Pointing to the cross) we&nbsp;<strong>are&nbsp;<\/strong><em>\u201ccreated\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><strong>by&nbsp;<\/strong>grace, we understand completely when Paul emphasizes that this is&nbsp;<em>\u201cnot by works, so that no one can boast.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there is more!&nbsp; Not only are we&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreated\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><strong>by&nbsp;<\/strong>grace, but we are also&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreated\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<strong>for&nbsp;<\/strong>grace!&nbsp; Look at what Paul tells us in verses six and seven of our text,&nbsp;<em>\u201cAnd God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These words remind us that the Lord our God lives in the eternal present.&nbsp; For Him there is no past and there is no future.&nbsp; He sees all of eternity all at the very same time.&nbsp; This means that the instant we were brought to faith in Jesus &nbsp;as our Savior\u2014 whether that was when we were baptized as an infant or through the power of God\u2019s Word when we were older\u2014 God\u2019s grace and God\u2019s power and God\u2019s faithfulness makes the grace that we are looking&nbsp;<strong>forward<\/strong>&nbsp;to in the future a \u201cdone deal\u201d!&nbsp; From God\u2019s perspective we&nbsp;<strong>have been&nbsp;<\/strong><em>\u201craised up with Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; From God\u2019s perspective we&nbsp;<strong>have been&nbsp;<\/strong><em>\u201cseated with him<\/em>&nbsp;(Christ)&nbsp;<em>in the heavenly realms.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; From God\u2019s perspective He always is and always will&nbsp;<em>\u201cshow the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp; Think about what this means, my friends.&nbsp; As much as God&nbsp;<em>\u201cshows\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;us the&nbsp;<em>\u201cincomparable riches of his grace\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;now, as much as God&nbsp;<em>\u201cexpresses his kindness to us in Christ Jesus\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;now\u2014 when we get home to heaven we will be astonished by God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201cgrace,\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;we will be astounded by God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201ckindness\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;\u2014 for all of eternity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The glorious fact that we have been&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreated\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<strong>by&nbsp;<\/strong>grace and&nbsp;<strong>for&nbsp;<\/strong>grace is what motivates us to respond to God\u2019s grace in a way that is pleasing to Him.&nbsp; How do we do this?&nbsp; Look once again at verse ten of our text,&nbsp;<em>\u201cFor we are His&nbsp;<\/em>(God\u2019s)&nbsp;<em>work, God\u2019s creation, created\/produced\/brought into being in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand&nbsp;<strong>in order that we might walk\/move about\/live<\/strong>&nbsp;in them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The God who&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreated\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;us&nbsp;<strong>by&nbsp;<\/strong>grace and&nbsp;<strong>for&nbsp;<\/strong>grace graciously provides us with opportunities to openly express both our thankfulness to Him as well as our love for Him by doing the&nbsp;<em>\u201cgood works\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;which He has&nbsp;<em>\u201cprepared beforehand\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;for us to do!&nbsp; What are these&nbsp;<em>\u201cgood works\u201d<\/em>?&nbsp; Think of it this way:&nbsp; As you are walking along the journey of your life as a&nbsp;<em>\u201cnew creation\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;of God, you might come across someone who does not know what Jesus has done&nbsp;<strong>for&nbsp;<\/strong>them,&nbsp; (Pointing to the cross) &nbsp;As God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201cnew creation\u201d&nbsp;<\/em>you can say to yourself, \u201cI love you so much, Lord, for the grace that you have showered on me, that I am going to share you and your grace with this person!\u201d&nbsp; As you are walking along the journey of your life as a&nbsp;<em>\u201cnew creation\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;of God, you might come across someone who is struggling to provide for themselves and their family.&nbsp; As God\u2019s&nbsp;<em>\u201cnew creation\u201d&nbsp;<\/em>you can say to yourself, \u201cI am so thankful, Lord, for all the material blessings that you have given to me that I am going to take some of those blessings and share them with this person!\u201d&nbsp; The&nbsp;<em>\u201cgood works\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;that God has&nbsp;<em>\u201cprepared beforehand\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;for you might include calling someone on the phone just to see how they are doing, sending someone a card to let them know that you are thinking of them or \u2014 when it is deemed safe once again\u2014 giving someone a hug to let them know you care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every time I see this cross, I automatically thank the good Lord for the skill and the humility, the faith and the faithfulness that our dear Lord has given to Gary.&nbsp; Every time I see&nbsp;<strong>this&nbsp;<\/strong>cross, I automatically thank the dear Lord for the greatness of His love for us, for the depth of His mercy and for the incomparable riches of His grace!&nbsp; In Christ Jesus God has&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreated\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;us&nbsp;<strong>by<\/strong>&nbsp;grace!&nbsp; We&nbsp;<strong>are&nbsp;<\/strong>His dearly beloved children!&nbsp; With Christ Jesus God has&nbsp;<em>\u201ccreated\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;us&nbsp;<strong>for&nbsp;<\/strong>grace\u2014 not only for this life, but especially for the life to come!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May God grant that we will always rejoice in knowing that we&nbsp;<strong>are&nbsp;<\/strong><em>\u201ccreated\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<strong>by&nbsp;<\/strong>grace&nbsp;<strong>for&nbsp;<\/strong>grace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To God be the glory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ephesians 2:4-10 Created by Grace for Grace! 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\u2014it is by grace you have been saved.&nbsp; And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-worship-service-podcast"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1461"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1465,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions\/1465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}