A DRASTIC CHANGE
We are naturally resistant to change. But when we plainly hear the gospel, and look intently upon the face of Jesus in the gospel our mind and our will and our conduct and our purpose will be drastically changed.
I. A DRASTIC CHANGE IN CONDITION
A. Spiritually Dead (v. 1)
1) Dead in trespasses and sins - This refers to the spiritual condition of unsaved men (Vines Dictionary). It is a condition that exists in the mind of God.
2) When we understand what it means to be lost, then we can understand what it means to be saved, when we understand what it means to be saved, then we are ready to understand how to be saved. (Roger Chambers New Testament Local Church Part 2, paraphrase)
3) It all happens in the mind of God outside of us. We are lost in the mind of God; we are saved in the mind of God; righteousness is imputed to us through the cross of Christ when our sins are nailed to it in the mind of God by grace through faith at our immersion into Christ when we have died to ourselves and are buried with Christ.
B. Made Alive in Christ
1) Rich in Mercy. “even when we were dead in our transgressions…”
2) Great Love. God’s love caused Him to save us – love is in His nature.
3) Made Alive. We were born anew; given abundant life.
4) Raised Us Up With Him. Raised to walk in new life; lifted us up above this world.
5) Seated Us In Heavenly Places. Made us citizens of heaven along with Jesus.
6) To Show Surpassing Riches of His Grace. There is more grace in the world to come!
7) Kindness Toward Us. He wants to shower us with blessings because we are in Christ.
8) Saved By Grace Through Faith. If it wasn’t by grace it couldn’t be by faith.
9) A Gift of God. It is not by what we did but by what He did.
10) No One May Boast. Boasting is only in the cross of Christ (Galatians 6:14).
II. A DRASTIC CHANGE IN CONDUCT
A. Rejecting the Old Life (v. 2-3)
1) This former way of walking is stopped and a new way of walking adopted. We are not enslaved to a pattern of moral and spiritual depreciation. Instead we draw near and become just like Jesus.
2) When God is at work it is obvious! Look at the difference of the first converts in Acts 2:43-47. They could do great things for God through His grace and because they were made alive.
B. Embracing the New Life (Romans 6:22)
1) We are now slaves to righteousness and in so being we will derive the fruit of such living – sanctification which leads to the outcome of eternal life.
C. This Change is the Result of God’s Working (Colossians 1:21-22)
1) Remember that God started His work in us in our conversion waters of baptism (Colossians 2:12) and through the Holy Spirit regenerated and is renewing (Titus 3:5) you transforming you from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:16-18) by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1-2) to be conformed into the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29).
2) God reconciled the world to Himself through Jesus and the preaching of the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). He is at work in us through the Holy Spirit to eventually present us to God holy and blameless and beyond reproach.
3) “If we do not see their manners as a consequence of their reconciliation to God, we will be inclined to view them as moral supermen – a sort of lofty example that is wholly divorced from our situation.” (Given Blakely)
III. A DRASTIC CHANGE IN PURPOSE
A. Created for Good Works (v. 10)
1) We are a work of God!
2) We have been created in Christ Jesus for good works!
3) We are new creatures, a new creation, having new life and a new purpose.
B. Co-Workers with God (1 Corinthians 3:5-15)
1) Men are “servants through whom we believed” nothing more. They labored simply as they were given opportunity to do so. As our text says, they are simply good works “which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” God gives the opportunity and needs laborers to go out into the harvest (Matthew 9:36-38).
2) Our work in the lord is like that of a gardener and a builder. We plant and water and God causes the growth; we build and build and God has laid the foundation. So we are nothing without God working first and using us to labor “together with God”. We are God’s fellow workers individually and those whom we minister to are God’s field and building.
3) Our labor is according to grace given us by God. We do not labor on our own accord; God gives us grace to do so. “And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1). Grace works, therefore we are told to be “good stewards of the manifold grace of God” ( 1 Peter 4:10).
4) The work that a man does will become evident as it is tested by fire. Wood, straw and hay will be quickly burned up. If our work remains, we will receive a reward; if not, we will suffer loss. This is not salvation by works as it is written, “he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” But as the apostles we told to bear fruit that remains (John 15:16), so we are to build on the foundation of Jesus with materials that will remain.