Dead Man Walking, But God

In one paragraph

Deborah taught from Ephesians 2 as part of the ongoing series through that letter. She worked through what Paul means when he calls believers saints, what spiritual death looks like, and how God's mercy and grace bring the dead to life. The session was part of a women's Bible study gathering at First Baptist Jackson. Deborah opened by noting that Paul's word "saint" always appears in the plural in...

Read together

1. Ephesians 2:1-3 read aloud from the New Living Translation to describe spiritual death and living in sin
2. Ephesians 2:4-6 God rich in mercy raising us from death with Christ and seating us in heavenly realms
3. Ephesians 2:7-8 God pointing to us as examples of grace, saved by grace through faith not by works
4. Ephesians 2:10 we are God's masterpiece created to do good works he planned long ago
5. Ephesians 3:7-8 Paul describing himself as least deserving yet given privilege of spreading the good news to the Gentiles
6. Acts 26:18 closing call to open eyes and turn people from darkness to light, used as the sending commission for believers
7. Luke 22:31 Jesus telling Simon that Satan has asked to sift him like wheat
8. Romans 2:14-15 all people born with a conscience and God's law written in their hearts
9. 2 Timothy 2:25 prayer that those who don't know the Lord would repent and be saved from Satan's snare
10. Matthew 7:9-11 Jesus saying earthly parents give good gifts, how much more will the heavenly Father
11. John 14:6 quoted by Franklin Graham in his response to Duke University, Jesus as the way the truth and the life
12. Psalm 139 referenced as the passage about God knitting us together, used to build children's sense of identity

Talk about it

1. Deborah described Paul's repeated use of the word 'saints' as always plural and meaning 'set apart,' never implying one person is more virtuous than another. How does thinking of sainthood as a shared identity rather than a personal achievement change the way you see your role in this congregation?
2. Deborah used the image of a spiritually dead person who cannot hear, see, or respond to God's ways, and said nonbelievers are not necessarily evil, just spiritually unable to receive those truths. How does that picture affect the way you approach relationships with people in your life who don't follow Christ?
3. Deborah talked about the tension between mercy and grace, saying mercy is God not giving us what we deserve and grace is God giving us what we don't deserve. Where have you personally felt the difference between those two things?
4. Deborah quoted Rick Warren's point that trying to build our sense of worth through clothes, athleticism, intelligence, or other things is ultimately a form of rebellion against what God says about us. Where do you find yourself most tempted to look for that kind of validation, and what does it look like practically to replace that with what God says?
5. Deborah closed by returning to the call in Acts 26 that God sends us to open eyes and turn people from darkness to light, and said that calling starts in the hardest place, our own families. What does being salt and light look like for you specifically in that closest circle?