Season 1 · Episode 3
PLAN: God's Purpose is Beauty
Redemption Hill Boise Podcast · Info
January 23, 202234m 48s
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Show Notes
"That is the work that God is doing throughout all time in history, is to fill all things with his presence, his spirit and then have all things come under his rule and reign. That brings the flourishing, the hope for a renewed creation that we're all living and dying for." In the third episode of the series PLAN: God's Purpose for a Fractured World, Robert talks about the beauty of transformed lives and relationships in God's kingdom, temptations, covenants, masterpieces, and mosaics of broken clay.
Find more from Redemption Hill at redemptionboise.org, or follow us on Instagram @redemptionboise, and Facebook at Redemption Hill Boise.
Alright, we are in our series on Ephesians, looking at God's plan, his purpose in our broken world and the last couple of weeks I think have been really rich diving into this, this special kind of book, I think it's Ephesians a special book because it was written to a group of churches in the first century and it was used for a couple of centuries as like an early cattle carcasses which is um that's what they used to teach people what it was like to fall in the way of jesus. That's the way that's written, is to give some big themes of what it means to be a follower of what it means to belong to God's family. And then the second the second half is what does it look like to live as a part of God's family and live in the way of jesus. So it's just such a practical book but it also has some really big themes that we've been jumping into and the last couple of weeks um I love that the purpose of God is um not just to save some but to save all and the purpose of God is that this big inclusive family that is not just for the jews but for the whole world for all the gentile nations as well, which was a radical thought, especially for jewish believers in the first century and for gentiles who were not a part of the jewish people to hear that they belonged, that they had a place in God's family. So when you hear the word chose and plan and God pre destiny, it's this incredibly um powerful image of God inviting us in even when we don't look like his family and for us when I look back on the first century, particularly Ephesians, um I love it because they were a house church of micro church movement just like ours. They had uh it was, it was written to a church in a city and Ephesus with lots of house churches that were throughout Asia minor in different cities and across Ephesus there's probably 10 to 12 small gatherings that happened in households, they were sent to these house churches, they were you know hand copied down and they didn't have like large meeting spaces where hundreds and thousands could gather, especially to worship jesus because the large gathering places were in places that were meant to be set aside to worship the pagan gods of the romans. And so they would have these multigenerational houses and households mostly by wealthy individuals that would gather in as many people as they could to learn the way of jesus weekend and week out. And that's what we're trying to do as a community. Um we believe that we are an extended family on mission. That's how we see this little community and Redemption Hill as we have our families, whether it's our, our nuclear family, our extended family or our micro church as a tight knit unit that does family together weekend, week out, sharing our lives. And then um as as a group, we meet together, there's about six or seven micro churches right now throughout Redemption Hill, that meat throughout the city and together we gather to celebrate all that God has done and be aligned in his mission and learn more together about how to walk in the way of jesus. We do that on sunday mornings and then we're part of a group called the syndicate, which is a movement of house church and micro churches across our valley. There's almost 27 micro churches that are part of that, that are all worshiping this week, gathering in households, celebrating the Lord's supper and uh teaching each other. What does it look like to live in the way of jesus. Uh and then we're also part of what is the worldwide body of jesus followers, everybody who has put their faith in jesus throughout the world. It's these extended families of of of the people of God on mission and when I look back at Ephesus particularly, I see that we're mimicking what they had created in the first century that lead to the same explosion of spiritual life throughout the roman world. The last couple weeks we talked about some important things um and it culminated at the end of chapter one and this is what I said in verse 23 of chapter one and the church is his body, it is made full and complete by christ who fills all things with himself and that is the work that God is doing throughout all time in history, is to is to fill all things with his presence, his spirit and then have all things come under his rule and reign. That brings the flourishing the, the hope for a renewed creation that we're all living and dying for. I just, I love that. So God has a plan is to choose for himself, a people to adopt forever into his family and is making a new family out of people who were far away from him and people who are near from him. He's bringing them all into this new family um and that, that's that's what we're doing as as a family at redemption him. So, alright, let's start in verse one of chapter two, that's where we're gonna be at today and I think that I can get this to show up um on picture and picture, hopefully that's gonna come on the screen as I'm going. But here's if you're if you have your bible open up to Ephesians chapter two verse one, once you were dead because of your disobedience and your sins, you gotta love that opening. You used to be dead because you disobeyed God and you had so many sins. I used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world and he is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way. Following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature by our own very nature. We were subject to God's anger, God's wrath, just like everybody else. I like how the message puts it because I think that it's um it's powerful. This is what it says. It says it wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live, You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief and and then exhaled exhaled disobedience. We all did it all of us doing what we felt like doing when we felt like doing it all of us in the same boat. Doesn't doesn't that just feel like you can feel it when I talk about like being mired in the old stagnant life of sin. I love how Eugene Peterson just makes it so visceral. That's like our bodies are mired, they're they're held back and held down and overwhelmed by the weight of sin. And what we see is that we talk a lot about this in our, in our discipleship, but we're talking about the three temptations that show up of jesus in the desert right after his baptism of approval, ambition and appetites. And when we give into our temptations, these these these things that our body desires and we let them rule us, then we obeyed and participated in the powers of darkness in this world. So approval When we seek approval, um, it leads to destruction in our lives. When when we're dying to get people to like us, we'll do things that ruin relationships, will destroy the world around us by choosing what we want rather than what's good will hurt others so that we can avoid rejection at work at home at the pub. Maybe it's maybe it's you're just joining in a lie about a coworker and then you see their careers evaporate because you want to be light, uh, maybe it's letting your kid do what they want so that you don't have to be the bad guy and speak truth and you ruined their lives by not giving them the discipline that they need. Maybe it's seeking approval of others and then it makes you a prisoner to sin. So approval can be this powerful force or admired in our sin is Brokenness. Um ambition is another one that is kind of this big heading of the types of temptations that we have ambition leads to incredible evil in our world. We blur lines will steal and kill and destroy to gain wealth. And wealth is really about power. Anytime you see wealth, what we're talking about is wealth equals the power to do what I want and to get other people to do what I want, which is to give their time and energy to serve me. Our enemy, our enemy. That one that um is is entangling us the spirit of this world. He uses our ambition to justify breaking all of the 10 commandments. Look at sports. Look at religious leaders, look at the wealthy. Look at our our politicians. Power and ambition for power is an absolute corrupting force because seeking it and fulfilling our ambition requires us to do evil things. Period, anytime you let your ambition run wild, it will lead you into evil. We cheat at sports, we act unfairly in business. We treat our employees badly. Politicians lie and cheat and steal to gain power. Religious leaders are willing to hide evil to protect their positions and their institutions. When we when we let our ambition run wild, it leads us an unimaginable into an unimaginable amount of human suffering. Look at Mark Driscoll and Bill Hybels and Ted Haggard and Perry Noble and James Mcdonald and others who thought that the size of their churches would make their church board protect the institution from their bad behavior. They were hurting lonely and they acted out. But they all had the audacity to try to cover up their pain that they caused to protect the institutions that they built. Ambition will cause evil in this world. And that's why it's one of those things that Myers us into the ways of sin. No one is immune from this kind of risk appetites are they lead us to ruin in the same way, this is this is what we see in addiction. We we feel and we feed the pleasure centers of our brains with food and drink and drugs and social media and anything else. So that as we, as we, as we feel the devil kind of telling us how to live by, by being hedonists by seeking pleasure. And it leaves a trail of devastation in our wake. So you got approval ambition, appetite. All these are extreme sides of good parts of human nature that God built into us, we we seek approval so that we can connect with others. That's not a bad thing, but as soon as it becomes an ultimate thing that ruins us, we have ambitions so that we won't Starve, so that will create things out of the raw materials of this world. That's a good thing, we'll learn and we'll grow because of it. But when it's out of control, it rules us and when we have appetites because of our body and our minds, it's because they have needs and they're meant to be fulfilled. And pleasure is a part of how God drives us towards the things that were meant to have. But when they run amok, they ruin our lives, all three of these abused will approval, ambition, appetite valmeyer us and sin will make us slaves to the powers of darkness in this world and most of history, this was the default reality for most of creation, lost in sin. Some of you are like thinking I'm still lost in sin right now. I'm overwhelmed with my own approval ambitions and appetites and I'm stuck and left to our own devices. We're never gonna find the piece that we're looking for. We couldn't find freedom from our slavery on our own. But verse four is to me the best Verse um, in in all the Bible, this is what it says. Let me see if you can see that. Okay, hopefully you can. It says this verse four two best words in the English Bible, but God, in spite of all of the wreck that we've made of our lives, even though we're admiring our sins, but God is so rich in mercy and he loved us so much that even when we were dead in our sins, he gave us life when he raised christ from the dead. It's not only by God's grace that you have been saved, it says for he raised us from the dead along with christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with christ. I love that word, but God in in greek it's and I have a friend who has it tattooed on her foot because it constantly reminds her that on her own she's a wreck. But God in his great love and mercy provided salvation for us were subject to God's anger because of our evil. But God in his love sought us out. It doesn't say but but science shows us and it doesn't say, but we proved him wrong. It doesn't say anything about anybody else but God showing up and transforming our lives. This one verse seven says so God can point us point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness towards us. As shown in all that he has done for us who are united with christ, jesus. I think this passage sounds so familiar, but in the ancient world, this was still revolutionary. God who is the creator of the universe looks on us with love and compassion because we are deceived and lost and struggling mired in our sin in the rest of the ancient world, The people of the world were treated as pawns in the gods schemes, but the God of the universe, the true creator, that's not the way he is. Mhm. But God loved us so much that he was willing to do anything to be with us. My my kids are young, they've got very strong emotions at times and early on I I would feel this anger, this welling up in me as I watched them do what they knew to be wrong and be so frustrated with them. But what I found is I watched how God has dealt with us. I've changed the way that I approach them. My initial response is to reject them to push them away and to make them spend time by themselves, they feel the pain of their sin on their own. I think there's a time for that. But what they really need and what God did for us is they need connection And so instead of sending my kids away, a lot of the times I'll draw them really close to me, even when they're thrashing around and yelling and screaming and I'll whisper in their little ears in between there, their tears and yells and I'll say I love you so much. No, in case you get in the sense that I'm a great father, I'm a mediocre father and best but in my best moments, that's what I do and what it does is it gives the child an opportunity to know their true self and their place to feel safe. Not because of what they've done, but because of the gift that I give them. Not because they've been good, but because I give them the gift of grace. And this is what the God of the universe wants to do with us. As we thrash around in our sin, he moved towards us. He took the pain of our of our flailing arms and our kicks and punches and he wrapped us up and he whispers in our ears, I love you so much because sin equals death and our natural state is death and we will live and die. And the destruction that we create in this life will be reaped on our bodies at the end. But God gave us life when we were dead. But not because we are great, Not because we deserve. It is because we are. It's not because we're lovable and it's not because we deserve it. It's because there is no other way for us to be united and connected with God. It's only by his grace. Now, I want you to look closely at this passage, is there a singular pronoun for christians or the people in the Ephesians Church? When you read this passage, I don't think you'll find one that says, we are dead. He gave us life. You all have been saved. He raised us from the dead. He seated us with him in the heavenly realms. Do you see singular pronouns there, the answer is no, salvation is not a singular thing. It's not for an individual, it's not for you, it's for us, the people that God himself has redeemed for himself. I think this is a huge issue in our world. We believe that our faith is singular and individual. We think of our relationship with God as an individual act. And across the last two centuries, we've asked the wrong question. The question that we have asked is are you singular, saved? We've been asking the question, do you as an individual? Have you made a choice to become a follower of jesus? But here's the thing and I think that this is more important than we realized God doesn't save individuals. He saved his people in one Great Act of Kindness and all those who belong to his family were saved from destruction as a people, not as individuals. It was effective and complete immediately for all who belong to the family and the tribe of Gad and the jewish people wrongly believed that they were saved because they were Children of Abraham. They thought that they had a birthright to salvation as a part of God's work. They didn't understand that it was their membership and the people of God. Uh they did. They, they thought that they had um this membership and the people of God, that was marked by ritual purity that made them a part of God's family and that salvation was coming for the whole tribe, not just individuals. They were right about that. That is what God does. Is anybody who wants to be a part of his family, joins in in obedience and faith in him. And then as a family, as a tribe, we are set apart for his good pleasure for his good works. And the Pharisees were so powerful because they believed that the messiah would only come if everyone fulfilled the law together. They knew that their individual choices affected their collective salvation. Now they thought that it was by their works and it was by them performing that God would have great mercy on them, that he would fulfill the covenant because of what they had done. But what we see throughout the Bible from Genesis 15 all the way forward is that God is going to fulfill his covenant of grace for his people, not because of what we do. they couldn't fulfill the law on their own. They struggled with the three temptations that we talked about approval, ambition, appetite. And they had no way to remedy it. So the question should be, what must we do to be saved? Plural? What must we do? And we see this answer in Acts Chapter 16. When paul is speaking to the jailer verse 29 of Acts chapter 16, the jailer called for lights and rushed in and fell trembling, fell trembling before paul and Silas Silas. he then brought the mouse out and asked, sir, what must I do to be saved? They replied, believe in the Lord jesus and you plural will be saved you and your household. Okay, I love this passage because it simplifies everything we're talking about into believe in the Lord jesus and you are saved you and your household. So what's this word? Believe pistons and greek is um it really is more than just a mental assent. It is do the thing that shows that you have faith in something live as if something is true. That is what faith is. Put your loyalty or your faith in King jesus, the Lord. So it says, believe in your Lord jesus. That's not an accident. This as Lord jesus didn't say believe in jesus says, believe in your Lord jesus. So belief is putting your loyalty into the kingship of jesus and then participating in his family. That he's including you into. Um so that's how you get salvation. And that's how your family gets salvation. It's being connected to his family, putting your faith in him as Lord, giving him your loyalty. It's a literal relationship. You are a part of God's family because you've drawn near to him and he's drawn near to you. It's not because of what you've done. It's not because you're good. It's because God himself has drawn you near and you have chosen to enter into that relationship. Okay, let's keep going verse eight, God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can't take...
Find more from Redemption Hill at redemptionboise.org, or follow us on Instagram @redemptionboise, and Facebook at Redemption Hill Boise.
Alright, we are in our series on Ephesians, looking at God's plan, his purpose in our broken world and the last couple of weeks I think have been really rich diving into this, this special kind of book, I think it's Ephesians a special book because it was written to a group of churches in the first century and it was used for a couple of centuries as like an early cattle carcasses which is um that's what they used to teach people what it was like to fall in the way of jesus. That's the way that's written, is to give some big themes of what it means to be a follower of what it means to belong to God's family. And then the second the second half is what does it look like to live as a part of God's family and live in the way of jesus. So it's just such a practical book but it also has some really big themes that we've been jumping into and the last couple of weeks um I love that the purpose of God is um not just to save some but to save all and the purpose of God is that this big inclusive family that is not just for the jews but for the whole world for all the gentile nations as well, which was a radical thought, especially for jewish believers in the first century and for gentiles who were not a part of the jewish people to hear that they belonged, that they had a place in God's family. So when you hear the word chose and plan and God pre destiny, it's this incredibly um powerful image of God inviting us in even when we don't look like his family and for us when I look back on the first century, particularly Ephesians, um I love it because they were a house church of micro church movement just like ours. They had uh it was, it was written to a church in a city and Ephesus with lots of house churches that were throughout Asia minor in different cities and across Ephesus there's probably 10 to 12 small gatherings that happened in households, they were sent to these house churches, they were you know hand copied down and they didn't have like large meeting spaces where hundreds and thousands could gather, especially to worship jesus because the large gathering places were in places that were meant to be set aside to worship the pagan gods of the romans. And so they would have these multigenerational houses and households mostly by wealthy individuals that would gather in as many people as they could to learn the way of jesus weekend and week out. And that's what we're trying to do as a community. Um we believe that we are an extended family on mission. That's how we see this little community and Redemption Hill as we have our families, whether it's our, our nuclear family, our extended family or our micro church as a tight knit unit that does family together weekend, week out, sharing our lives. And then um as as a group, we meet together, there's about six or seven micro churches right now throughout Redemption Hill, that meat throughout the city and together we gather to celebrate all that God has done and be aligned in his mission and learn more together about how to walk in the way of jesus. We do that on sunday mornings and then we're part of a group called the syndicate, which is a movement of house church and micro churches across our valley. There's almost 27 micro churches that are part of that, that are all worshiping this week, gathering in households, celebrating the Lord's supper and uh teaching each other. What does it look like to live in the way of jesus. Uh and then we're also part of what is the worldwide body of jesus followers, everybody who has put their faith in jesus throughout the world. It's these extended families of of of the people of God on mission and when I look back at Ephesus particularly, I see that we're mimicking what they had created in the first century that lead to the same explosion of spiritual life throughout the roman world. The last couple weeks we talked about some important things um and it culminated at the end of chapter one and this is what I said in verse 23 of chapter one and the church is his body, it is made full and complete by christ who fills all things with himself and that is the work that God is doing throughout all time in history, is to is to fill all things with his presence, his spirit and then have all things come under his rule and reign. That brings the flourishing the, the hope for a renewed creation that we're all living and dying for. I just, I love that. So God has a plan is to choose for himself, a people to adopt forever into his family and is making a new family out of people who were far away from him and people who are near from him. He's bringing them all into this new family um and that, that's that's what we're doing as as a family at redemption him. So, alright, let's start in verse one of chapter two, that's where we're gonna be at today and I think that I can get this to show up um on picture and picture, hopefully that's gonna come on the screen as I'm going. But here's if you're if you have your bible open up to Ephesians chapter two verse one, once you were dead because of your disobedience and your sins, you gotta love that opening. You used to be dead because you disobeyed God and you had so many sins. I used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world and he is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way. Following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature by our own very nature. We were subject to God's anger, God's wrath, just like everybody else. I like how the message puts it because I think that it's um it's powerful. This is what it says. It says it wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live, You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief and and then exhaled exhaled disobedience. We all did it all of us doing what we felt like doing when we felt like doing it all of us in the same boat. Doesn't doesn't that just feel like you can feel it when I talk about like being mired in the old stagnant life of sin. I love how Eugene Peterson just makes it so visceral. That's like our bodies are mired, they're they're held back and held down and overwhelmed by the weight of sin. And what we see is that we talk a lot about this in our, in our discipleship, but we're talking about the three temptations that show up of jesus in the desert right after his baptism of approval, ambition and appetites. And when we give into our temptations, these these these things that our body desires and we let them rule us, then we obeyed and participated in the powers of darkness in this world. So approval When we seek approval, um, it leads to destruction in our lives. When when we're dying to get people to like us, we'll do things that ruin relationships, will destroy the world around us by choosing what we want rather than what's good will hurt others so that we can avoid rejection at work at home at the pub. Maybe it's maybe it's you're just joining in a lie about a coworker and then you see their careers evaporate because you want to be light, uh, maybe it's letting your kid do what they want so that you don't have to be the bad guy and speak truth and you ruined their lives by not giving them the discipline that they need. Maybe it's seeking approval of others and then it makes you a prisoner to sin. So approval can be this powerful force or admired in our sin is Brokenness. Um ambition is another one that is kind of this big heading of the types of temptations that we have ambition leads to incredible evil in our world. We blur lines will steal and kill and destroy to gain wealth. And wealth is really about power. Anytime you see wealth, what we're talking about is wealth equals the power to do what I want and to get other people to do what I want, which is to give their time and energy to serve me. Our enemy, our enemy. That one that um is is entangling us the spirit of this world. He uses our ambition to justify breaking all of the 10 commandments. Look at sports. Look at religious leaders, look at the wealthy. Look at our our politicians. Power and ambition for power is an absolute corrupting force because seeking it and fulfilling our ambition requires us to do evil things. Period, anytime you let your ambition run wild, it will lead you into evil. We cheat at sports, we act unfairly in business. We treat our employees badly. Politicians lie and cheat and steal to gain power. Religious leaders are willing to hide evil to protect their positions and their institutions. When we when we let our ambition run wild, it leads us an unimaginable into an unimaginable amount of human suffering. Look at Mark Driscoll and Bill Hybels and Ted Haggard and Perry Noble and James Mcdonald and others who thought that the size of their churches would make their church board protect the institution from their bad behavior. They were hurting lonely and they acted out. But they all had the audacity to try to cover up their pain that they caused to protect the institutions that they built. Ambition will cause evil in this world. And that's why it's one of those things that Myers us into the ways of sin. No one is immune from this kind of risk appetites are they lead us to ruin in the same way, this is this is what we see in addiction. We we feel and we feed the pleasure centers of our brains with food and drink and drugs and social media and anything else. So that as we, as we, as we feel the devil kind of telling us how to live by, by being hedonists by seeking pleasure. And it leaves a trail of devastation in our wake. So you got approval ambition, appetite. All these are extreme sides of good parts of human nature that God built into us, we we seek approval so that we can connect with others. That's not a bad thing, but as soon as it becomes an ultimate thing that ruins us, we have ambitions so that we won't Starve, so that will create things out of the raw materials of this world. That's a good thing, we'll learn and we'll grow because of it. But when it's out of control, it rules us and when we have appetites because of our body and our minds, it's because they have needs and they're meant to be fulfilled. And pleasure is a part of how God drives us towards the things that were meant to have. But when they run amok, they ruin our lives, all three of these abused will approval, ambition, appetite valmeyer us and sin will make us slaves to the powers of darkness in this world and most of history, this was the default reality for most of creation, lost in sin. Some of you are like thinking I'm still lost in sin right now. I'm overwhelmed with my own approval ambitions and appetites and I'm stuck and left to our own devices. We're never gonna find the piece that we're looking for. We couldn't find freedom from our slavery on our own. But verse four is to me the best Verse um, in in all the Bible, this is what it says. Let me see if you can see that. Okay, hopefully you can. It says this verse four two best words in the English Bible, but God, in spite of all of the wreck that we've made of our lives, even though we're admiring our sins, but God is so rich in mercy and he loved us so much that even when we were dead in our sins, he gave us life when he raised christ from the dead. It's not only by God's grace that you have been saved, it says for he raised us from the dead along with christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with christ. I love that word, but God in in greek it's and I have a friend who has it tattooed on her foot because it constantly reminds her that on her own she's a wreck. But God in his great love and mercy provided salvation for us were subject to God's anger because of our evil. But God in his love sought us out. It doesn't say but but science shows us and it doesn't say, but we proved him wrong. It doesn't say anything about anybody else but God showing up and transforming our lives. This one verse seven says so God can point us point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness towards us. As shown in all that he has done for us who are united with christ, jesus. I think this passage sounds so familiar, but in the ancient world, this was still revolutionary. God who is the creator of the universe looks on us with love and compassion because we are deceived and lost and struggling mired in our sin in the rest of the ancient world, The people of the world were treated as pawns in the gods schemes, but the God of the universe, the true creator, that's not the way he is. Mhm. But God loved us so much that he was willing to do anything to be with us. My my kids are young, they've got very strong emotions at times and early on I I would feel this anger, this welling up in me as I watched them do what they knew to be wrong and be so frustrated with them. But what I found is I watched how God has dealt with us. I've changed the way that I approach them. My initial response is to reject them to push them away and to make them spend time by themselves, they feel the pain of their sin on their own. I think there's a time for that. But what they really need and what God did for us is they need connection And so instead of sending my kids away, a lot of the times I'll draw them really close to me, even when they're thrashing around and yelling and screaming and I'll whisper in their little ears in between there, their tears and yells and I'll say I love you so much. No, in case you get in the sense that I'm a great father, I'm a mediocre father and best but in my best moments, that's what I do and what it does is it gives the child an opportunity to know their true self and their place to feel safe. Not because of what they've done, but because of the gift that I give them. Not because they've been good, but because I give them the gift of grace. And this is what the God of the universe wants to do with us. As we thrash around in our sin, he moved towards us. He took the pain of our of our flailing arms and our kicks and punches and he wrapped us up and he whispers in our ears, I love you so much because sin equals death and our natural state is death and we will live and die. And the destruction that we create in this life will be reaped on our bodies at the end. But God gave us life when we were dead. But not because we are great, Not because we deserve. It is because we are. It's not because we're lovable and it's not because we deserve it. It's because there is no other way for us to be united and connected with God. It's only by his grace. Now, I want you to look closely at this passage, is there a singular pronoun for christians or the people in the Ephesians Church? When you read this passage, I don't think you'll find one that says, we are dead. He gave us life. You all have been saved. He raised us from the dead. He seated us with him in the heavenly realms. Do you see singular pronouns there, the answer is no, salvation is not a singular thing. It's not for an individual, it's not for you, it's for us, the people that God himself has redeemed for himself. I think this is a huge issue in our world. We believe that our faith is singular and individual. We think of our relationship with God as an individual act. And across the last two centuries, we've asked the wrong question. The question that we have asked is are you singular, saved? We've been asking the question, do you as an individual? Have you made a choice to become a follower of jesus? But here's the thing and I think that this is more important than we realized God doesn't save individuals. He saved his people in one Great Act of Kindness and all those who belong to his family were saved from destruction as a people, not as individuals. It was effective and complete immediately for all who belong to the family and the tribe of Gad and the jewish people wrongly believed that they were saved because they were Children of Abraham. They thought that they had a birthright to salvation as a part of God's work. They didn't understand that it was their membership and the people of God. Uh they did. They, they thought that they had um this membership and the people of God, that was marked by ritual purity that made them a part of God's family and that salvation was coming for the whole tribe, not just individuals. They were right about that. That is what God does. Is anybody who wants to be a part of his family, joins in in obedience and faith in him. And then as a family, as a tribe, we are set apart for his good pleasure for his good works. And the Pharisees were so powerful because they believed that the messiah would only come if everyone fulfilled the law together. They knew that their individual choices affected their collective salvation. Now they thought that it was by their works and it was by them performing that God would have great mercy on them, that he would fulfill the covenant because of what they had done. But what we see throughout the Bible from Genesis 15 all the way forward is that God is going to fulfill his covenant of grace for his people, not because of what we do. they couldn't fulfill the law on their own. They struggled with the three temptations that we talked about approval, ambition, appetite. And they had no way to remedy it. So the question should be, what must we do to be saved? Plural? What must we do? And we see this answer in Acts Chapter 16. When paul is speaking to the jailer verse 29 of Acts chapter 16, the jailer called for lights and rushed in and fell trembling, fell trembling before paul and Silas Silas. he then brought the mouse out and asked, sir, what must I do to be saved? They replied, believe in the Lord jesus and you plural will be saved you and your household. Okay, I love this passage because it simplifies everything we're talking about into believe in the Lord jesus and you are saved you and your household. So what's this word? Believe pistons and greek is um it really is more than just a mental assent. It is do the thing that shows that you have faith in something live as if something is true. That is what faith is. Put your loyalty or your faith in King jesus, the Lord. So it says, believe in your Lord jesus. That's not an accident. This as Lord jesus didn't say believe in jesus says, believe in your Lord jesus. So belief is putting your loyalty into the kingship of jesus and then participating in his family. That he's including you into. Um so that's how you get salvation. And that's how your family gets salvation. It's being connected to his family, putting your faith in him as Lord, giving him your loyalty. It's a literal relationship. You are a part of God's family because you've drawn near to him and he's drawn near to you. It's not because of what you've done. It's not because you're good. It's because God himself has drawn you near and you have chosen to enter into that relationship. Okay, let's keep going verse eight, God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can't take...