Ephesians Part 2: New Family

• Sin works .

Sin is not just our action, it’s our condition.

Ephesians 2:1-3 (NIV) As 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 of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

1 John 3:8 (NLT) But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil.

Your geography determines your identity.

Colossians 1:13 (LB) For he has rescued us out of the darkness and gloom of Satan’s kingdom and brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son.

• God works .

Ephesians 2:4-9 (NIV) 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. 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. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (MSG) Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving.

• God works .

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) For we are God’s handiwork…

Philippians 2:13 (NIV) For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

3 Tools of the Spirit

• The Word of God (1 Thes 2:13)
• Prayer (Eph 3:20-21)
• Suffering (1 Pet 4:11-14)
• God works .

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) …created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Ephesians 2:10 (LB) It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Process of Peace

1. .

Isaiah 59:2 (NIV) But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

Ephesians 2:11-12 (NIV) Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

2. .

Ephesians 2:13-16 (NIV) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

3. .

Ephesians 2:16,19 (NIV) His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two…Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people…

One .

Ephesians 2:19 (NIV) …and also members of his household…

One .

Ephesians 2:20-22 (NIV) …built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

One .