God Joined with Us, in a Love Stronger than Death
—Ephesians 2:1–10
- Andrew Fountain – Apr 30, 2023
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I want you to fall in love with the way this story is told,
which if you trust Jesus,
is your story
1. The Epic Poem that Opens Ephesians
- One long sentence, v.3 all the way to v.14!!
- Exquisitely constructed jewel of a sentence
- Poetic in its structure
- Would have been read aloud as a public event
2. Paul’s Prayer —For Us!
- Paul takes the three core parts of the epic poem and turns them into a prayer
- 1. Past, 2. Present and 3. Future
God Joined with Us, in a Love Stronger than Death
- v.1–3 Dead and Hopelessly Trapped
- v.4–7 A Total Rescue by a Love Beyond Measure
- v.8–10 Reflecting and Responding
God Joined with Us, in a Love Stronger than Death
- v.1–3 Dead and Hopelessly Trapped
- v.4–7 A Total Rescue by a Love Beyond Measure
- v.8–10 Reflecting and Responding
Love Rescues Us
- Enmeshed in the system of this world
B. Influenced by evil demonic powers
- C. A nature that is broken by sin
- C. Raised with Christ, a new creation
B. Lifted with Christ above all powers
- Now in a different plane of existence:
with Christ in the heavenly places
Eph 2:5–6
- C. Made us alive together with Christ
- Expanded as the New Creation in v.10
- Marked with grace phrase so he can expand it later in v.8–9
- B. Raised us together with Christ
- A. Seated us together with Christ in the heavenly places
The Torrey Canyon Oil Supertanker Disaster
- 18 March 1967 Worst Tanker disaster/oil spill in the world at that time
God Joined with Us, in a Love Stronger than Death
- v.1–3 Dead and Hopelessly Trapped
- v.4–7 A Total Rescue by a Love Beyond Measure
- v.8–10 Reflecting and Responding
I want you to fall in love with the way this story is told,
which if you trust Jesus,
is your story
God’s love for you that surpasses everything
- I am lovingly lifted out of the negative power of the society around me and joined to Jesus
- Rest for a moment in how that feels
- Still joined to him, I am lifted above the power of anything that could hurt me!
- God has lovingly re-created with a new nature, connected to Jesus, that pleases him
- Feel his pleasure over you
Your new work
- Feel the comfort and security, wrapped around you with staggering power and safety
- Feel the warmth of his love for you and your love him in return
- Feel the energy in you to live out this new work he has given you to do
- —motivated to bring joy to the one who loves you.