But God: Rich in Mercy

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray walked Ephesians 2 from beginning to end, pressing on what it means that God saved a people, not just a collection of individuals, and that the unity of that people is not optional but essential to God's plan. Paul opens Ephesians 2 by leveling the playing field completely. Every person, Jew and Gentile alike, was dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the prince of the power...

Read together

1. Ephesians 2:1 dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world
2. Ephesians 2:2 according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit working in the sons of disobedience
3. Ephesians 2:3 all previously lived in the lust of the flesh, children of wrath by nature
4. Ephesians 2:4-5 but God, rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ
5. Ephesians 2:6 raised us up and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
6. Ephesians 2:7 in ages to come he might show the boundless riches of his grace and kindness
7. Ephesians 2:8-9 by grace you have been saved through faith, not of yourselves, the gift of God, not of works
8. Ephesians 2:10 we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works prepared beforehand
9. Ephesians 2:11-12 Gentiles formerly called uncircumcision, separate from Christ, excluded from Israel
10. Ephesians 2:13 those far away brought near by the blood of Christ
11. Ephesians 2:14-15 Christ is our peace, broke down the dividing wall, abolished the hostility
12. Ephesians 2:16 reconcile both into one body to God through the cross
13. Ephesians 2:17 Jesus proclaimed peace to those far away and those near
14. Ephesians 2:18 through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father
15. Ephesians 2:19-22 no longer strangers, fellow citizens, built on foundation of apostles and prophets, Christ the cornerstone, growing into a holy temple
16. John 17 Jesus praying that they would be one just as the Father and Son are one
17. John 3 Nicodemus told he must be born again, cannot be good enough to enter
18. John 4 Samaritan woman, cannot be bad enough to be excluded
19. John 14:6 no one comes to the Father except through Jesus, eliminating all roads lead to heaven
20. 1 Corinthians 1 I am of Peter, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Christ, setting up factions
21. Matthew 5:28 looking upon someone with lust is already doing it, Jesus as the greatest example

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray opened Ephesians 2 by saying 'all of y'all were dead in your offenses and sins' and that God uses sinful people 'because that's the only kind there are.' How does it sit with you personally to hear that the playing field is completely level, that no one comes to Christ from a position of being less bad than anyone else?
2. Pastor Ray described mercy as not getting the punishment you do deserve, and grace as getting something good you do not deserve. He said the verb tense in verse 8 means 'y'all are having been saved,' pointing to something God did that is ongoing and not dependent on what you are doing now to stay in. What difference does it make in daily life to think of salvation that way rather than as something you have to maintain?
3. He drew a distinction between believing a tightrope walker can cross a chasm with a wheelbarrow and actually getting in the wheelbarrow, and then said your faith placed in God's faithfulness is what matters because God's faithfulness is objective and real while your faith wavers. Where in your own life have you found your faith wavering, and what has it looked like to lean on God's faithfulness rather than the strength of your own belief?
4. Pastor Ray said the stone around the Jerusalem temple warned that any foreigner who crossed the barrier would be responsible for his own death, and then said Christ has abolished that dividing wall entirely. He listed several modern equivalents, including charismatic versus non-charismatic Christians and Reformed versus others, and said 'all factions within the body of Christ are heretical.' Where do you notice yourself drawing a dividing wall, even a subtle one, between yourself and other believers?
5. He closed by saying that almost always when someone comes to know Christ it is through their experience with a Christian, and asked whether God works his will through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience. He also asked, if every Christian on earth acted like you, would the body of Christ be more unified or more divided. What is one specific thing you could do this week to be part of the unity he was describing?