Rags to Riches

Our word this morning comes to us from Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, chapter two, beginning at verse one. "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were objects of wrath. But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions.

It is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Well, I think we all love a good rags to riches story, don't we? Certain movies, I don't know if you've seen it, that movie Slumdog Millionaire, how an orphan boy from the slums of Mumbai goes on to become a millionaire simply by somehow knowing all the answers to a quiz show. Or what about the story of a guy like Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple? He was adopted as a baby. His foster parents, or his adoptive parents, couldn't afford to send him to college, but still somehow he found a way to start one of the world's biggest tech companies.

Or what about JK Rowling? I'm not sure if you've heard, but she escaped a horrible family violence relationship with her first Harry Potter manuscript just intact, and she's gone on to become the world's richest author. We love a good rags to riches story. Why is that? Perhaps we love the idea that someone can overcome all the obstacles to make it in life.

Perhaps we just love stories of someone who, by the sheer force of their will, can get there. Or maybe we love those sliding doors moments where if a person hadn't made a particular choice at a particular time, then their story would have ended up very differently. Do you ever wonder what it must be like to be that sort of person who's lived one of those rags to riches stories? In their quiet moments, as they reflect on their accomplishments or their good fortune or the sliding doors moments in their lives, how do they reflect on it all? Do they remember their roots and stay humble?

Or has their character changed along with their circumstances? Who do they thank, if anyone, for the good fortune that they've had in life? How much credit do they take? You might be able to see where this is going. If you think about it, the life of a Christian is something of the ultimate rags to riches story.

That's how it's described for us here in Ephesians chapter two: from the depths of the grave to the heights of the heavenly places. It's a rags to riches story. That's our story. My story. Perhaps it's your story.

Ephesians chapter two describes that rags to riches story for us. And this morning, we're gonna take stock of the story together. In particular, there are three lessons that we do well to take heed of. Lesson number one, you might call it: don't forget where you came from. Ephesians chapter two opens with these words: "You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked."

That's where you and I have come from. By nature, all of us at one time were so spiritually and morally bankrupt that we were as good as dead, completely unable to save ourselves. In the same way that a dead person is completely unable to stand up and walk out of the grave, we weren't drowning in our trespasses and sins in need of a helping hand. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, unable to recognise a helping hand if it slapped us in the face.

The next couple of verses flesh out what it looks like to be dead in trespasses and sins. In verse two, it's described as following the course of this world and following Satan, the prince of the power of the air. And in verse three, it's described as living in the passions of our flesh. Notice there that we have the world, we have Satan, and our own sinful passions and desires. Let's talk about those three things for a minute.

Paul says that at one time we were following the course of this world. And by world there, he really means world as it stands in opposition and hostility to God. That's what the world does. It opposes God, thumbs our nose at God. That's the natural human condition: to deny God, to reject God, to oppose Him and His ways.

There's no such thing as neutrality when it comes to God. You don't get to be Switzerland. Romans chapter eight, verse seven, says that "the human mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God and does not submit to God's law. In fact, it cannot." The zeitgeist, if you like, of this world in which we live is hostility towards God.

And there was a time when we were caught up in that zeitgeist, following the course of this world. Not only that, but Paul says there was a time when we were following the prince of the power of the air. That is, Satan himself. Satan actually gets mentioned a few times in the book of Ephesians. In chapter four, verse 27, we're reminded not to give him a foothold.

In chapter six, verse 11, we're told to stand firm against him. And here, Paul reminds us that there was a time where we blindly followed him. Notice that he's called the prince of the power of the air, which really refers to his realm of activity, if you like. That is to say that Satan and his minions, they're of another spirit realm. But nevertheless, they carry out their activities in such a way as to influence people and events here on earth.

Satan is a spirit who is at work, Paul says, in the sons of disobedience. There's a sense then in which Satan holds sway over people. And Paul tells us that he once held sway over us. Kind of like a terrible boss who makes your life a misery. You and I used to work for this guy, and left to ourselves, we couldn't just quit.

We couldn't just hand in our resignation. We were more like slaves. We followed the course of this world. We followed Satan.

And next, Paul tells us we lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of our bodies and minds. Again, when Paul says flesh there, it's really code for fallen, sinful human nature that's dominated by impulses and desires that are contrary to God and contrary to His law. We get lists of what those desires are in various places around the New Testament. So here you go. Romans chapter one lists unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, slander, hatred of God, insolence, pride, boastfulness, invention of evil, disobedience to parents, foolishness, faithlessness, heartlessness, and ruthlessness.

That's Romans one. Quite the list already. Galatians chapter five lists sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. You get the picture. These are the desires of our flesh.

The passions of our body and mind which we used to be enslaved to. The transgressions and sins in which we once walked, like dead men with nothing at the end of the road except for the fearful condemnation and judgment of God. We were by nature children of wrath, Paul tells us. Friends, don't forget where you came from. The dreadful reality of life outside of the Lord Jesus Christ is a bleak picture.

There's an awful gravity and weightiness to it that we do well to remember. Remember that by nature, this describes you and me. Don't forget that were it not for the miraculous intervention of God, that's where we would still be. And may that actually be a reminder to us never to look down in judgment on those who are still outside of Christ. Don't look down in judgment, and certainly don't envy.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I look at people around just kind of living their life, doing their thing with no thought for God, no care about Him, free to live how they want. And I see those people, yes, with a sense of complacency sometimes, but also a sense of envy, which is a bit like envying a corpse. It is good for us to grasp the sheer horror of the spiritual death that's described for us here in Ephesians two. It protects us from pride as we remember that by nature that's where we are, and it guards against complacency and envy of those who are still in that condition. And it also helps us to more fully appreciate where we are now.

That's the second lesson that Paul actually wants to teach us. He says: appreciate where you are now. He says, "We were dead, but God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places within Christ Jesus." John Stott, he was an Anglican minister in England in the twentieth century. He said that those two words, "but God," are the greatest two syllables ever spoken.

We were dead, but God has made us alive together with Christ. We were six feet under, but God has raised us up.

And it's for no other reason than His great mercy and His rich mercy and His great love. Did you notice those two words? Mercy and love? Of course, they're not just words. They describe the very character of God, His disposition towards us, if you like.

Mercy means that we don't get what we deserve. We deserve wrath. We deserve judgment, but God gives us mercy. He poured out His wrath on Jesus instead of us, so that we are forgiven and debt free. That's mercy.

And God is rich in mercy. He doesn't just kind of stingily hand it out. No. He lavishes His mercy on us. Why?

Because of His great love. Don't miss that. God loves us. He loves you. He loved you even when you were dead in your sins, when you were living in active, open hostility towards Him.

God still loved you. Like the father who can't help but love his wayward son, or the mum who can't help but go on loving her screaming, tantruming toddler. God loved us at our absolute worst. That can be hard to believe sometimes. It can be hard to believe that God still loves us, because some days we're still at our worst, aren't we?

It's so good for us to remember that God, my Father in heaven, You love me. That is Your disposition towards me. God is a God of great love. And that love is a love that goes to work. It's not just a feeling.

It's not wishy-washy. It's a self-sacrificial love. Romans chapter five, verse eight, says that "God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." It's interesting, though, to notice that it's not so much the death of Jesus that's the focus of these verses. It's actually His resurrection and His ascension and His victory.

Verses five and six tell us that "God has made us alive together with Christ and seated us together with Him in the heavenly places." That's language that's a reference back to Ephesians chapter one. If you've got your Bibles, go there: Ephesians chapter one, verses 20 to 21. There we read that "God raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come."

God raised Jesus from the dead, that great moment of history, the resurrection, that gives us enormous hope for this life and the next. God raised Jesus from the dead. That's what we're told in chapter one. And here in chapter two, we're told that God has caused us to share in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. The same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead has come into effect in our lives.

The new spiritual life that we have is a sharing in the life of Jesus Christ. The life that He received when He was raised from the dead, we now share through our union with Him by faith, which means that we also share in His victory over evil spiritual forces. Jesus has the victory over Satan and over all evil spiritual powers. He demonstrated that powerfully during His life when He cast out demons just by speaking a word. In His death, He disarmed those spiritual forces and made a public spectacle of them, and He is now risen, victoriously seated at the right hand of God.

It's a picture of ultimate victory, and it's a victory that He shares with us. These are the great realities of our life now. We're spiritually alive, seated with Jesus in the heavenly places, victorious over our spiritual enemies. These are realities which cause us to relish in the grace and the kindness and the mercy and the love of God shown towards us in Jesus. Actually, that's the purpose for which God has done all this. In verse seven, He's done all this so that in the coming ages, He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

There's a sense in which all that God has done for us isn't actually so much about us. Although, of course, we are involved. We are the beneficiaries. But really, God has done it to display His own grace and kindness for the whole universe to see for eternity.

That is God's endgame, and it's begun already in us as we are transformed from death to life, from rags to riches. Friends, don't forget where you came from, but don't fail to appreciate where you are now either. Alive, victorious, seated in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Relish in the kindness and the mercy and the love of God towards you. Stand in the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Walk in the victory that He shares with you. Know that this power, this victory, is a present reality in your life. Paul doesn't say that you will be raised up and seated with Jesus. He says that God's already done that for you. This isn't something that's earmarked for the future.

It's something that is true for you right here and right now. It doesn't always feel like it. Sometimes life can feel like a bit of drudgery. We slip into sin over and over again. We don't have a sometimes tangible sense of the power of God at work in our life, but Paul wants us to, Paul wants to remind us that it is there and it is real.

It can sound a bit triumphant, perhaps so triumphant that we get a bit uncomfortable. Talk too much about resurrection power and walking in victory, and you can stray into a kind of higher life triumphalism, this idea that Christians are completely free from sin or can be completely free from sin in this life. We want to avoid that theological error. We don't want to overplay things, but we don't want to downplay things either. God has worked in you a miraculous and spectacular reversal.

Once you walked in trespasses and sins, and now, even though you still stumble into sin, it doesn't completely characterise your life in the way that it once did. That is new life in Jesus. It's His resurrection power at work in you. It's victory. Once you followed Satan, always giving in to his temptations and his schemes, powerless to say no.

But now you have the power to say: "Get behind me, Satan. I'm not giving in to your temptations. I'm not picking up what you're putting down. I won't be tempted by that. I'm not your slave anymore. I'm working for someone else."

That is new life in Jesus. That is His resurrection power at work in you. That is victory. Once you were a slave to your own passions and desires, bit like a bull getting led around by a ring in its nose. Greed and lust and envy and anger and pride held sway over you, and now they don't.

Yes, they're still there. But you see them for what they are, and you fight against them, and you hate them. And sometimes you even know what it's like to have the upper hand in that fight. That is new life in Jesus. It's His resurrection power at work in your life.

It is victory. That is rags to riches stuff. Don't downplay that. Celebrate it. Get pumped about it. Praise and thank God for it.

Walk in it more and more. Appreciate where you are now, but don't you dare brag about it. That's the third lesson to take away from our rags to riches story: that we're in no place to brag about this miraculous and spectacular change that's taken place in us. Paul writes to the Ephesians: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

That word "for" at the start of verse eight is the start of an explanation. It's an explanation that Paul's already given in verse five: "By grace, you have been saved." But now he repeats it and he goes further. How is it possible that we've been made alive and seated in the heavenly places with Christ? By grace.

We've heard that mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Grace is a bit like the other side of that same coin. It is getting what you don't deserve. We don't deserve salvation. We don't deserve to be made alive with Jesus and seated with Him.

We haven't earned it. We can't buy it. We can only receive it as a gift through faith. And even that faith is a gift. There's some conjecture about what those words in verse eight, "this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God," refer to.

That word "this" - what does this refer to? Is it faith itself, or is it the whole package of salvation? And I think the answer is there's no reason why it can't be both. By grace, you have been saved. That salvation is not your own doing.

It's the gift of God. By grace, you have been saved through faith, and that faith is not your own doing either. It's the gift of God. You only need to go back to verse five. Even while we were still dead, God made us alive with Christ.

Dead people are unable to exercise faith. It has to be implanted in them, granted to them as a gift that's not of their own doing. If it weren't so, then the door would be left open for us to turn faith into the one work, the one thing that is our own doing, that does contribute towards our own salvation. But Paul shuts that door for us and says: even the faith that you have is a gift from God.

It doesn't mean that you don't have to exercise it. We do. We exercise faith. But that faith itself is a gift. And so boasting is completely out of the question. It's gone.

We are not self-made men and women. This isn't a Steve Jobs story or a JK Rowling story. No. We are God's workmanship, His creation. He is the author of our rags to riches story.

God has done this miraculous and spectacular work in us so that His grace and kindness might be displayed for all eternity. Far be it from us to ever think that we deserve any credit for the change that's taken place in us. We need to nip that in the bud as soon as we recognise it in our hearts. Snuff it out before it can do any damage. Actually, I think one of the dangers as you go on in the Christian life, as you start to experience the upper hand in some of the fights against sin, is you can sneakily start to get a little bit pharisaical about that.

Start to think: "Wow, look at me. I've come so far." But we do well always to remember that any change that happens in our life is based purely on the goodness and the grace of God. All the credit, all the thanks, all the praise goes to Him. Which sort of begs the question: where do we even come in? If our salvation is all God's doing, does that mean that we just get to kind of rest on our laurels, cruise our way down easy street until we get to heaven?

Of course not. Notice with me in verse 10: "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. Why?" There's that word again: "for." "For good works which God prepared before us, before prepared for us beforehand that we should walk in them." The passive nature of our salvation, where all boasting is excluded, that doesn't mean that we stay passive.

No. There are good works for us to do. These works aren't the ground of our salvation, but they are the goal of our salvation. God has saved us for a purpose: that we might walk in the good works which He has prepared beforehand for us to do. Friends, our rags to riches story is a story where boasting is excluded, but it's also a story where power and privilege and purpose is infused into every step of our lives.

God has infused our lives with the power to overcome the world and Satan and sinful desires. What a privileged position to be in. And that privilege comes with a purpose. Every day is a day where we get to get out of bed and think: "I know that God has got good works for me to do today." The things that you're called to do each day, in fact, mundane as they might be, are the good works that God has prepared for you.

The roles that you play as employees, retirees, husbands, fathers, grandparents, wives, mothers, children, ministry workers, friends, coaches, whatever roles you fulfil each day, are enveloped by this God-given purpose on your life to walk in the good works which He has prepared for you to do. And the godly lifestyle and character and attitude with which you carry out those roles are included in that, which means that every day is infused with great purpose. Not a day goes by that isn't enriched by the question: "How can I use this privilege of being a new creation in Christ to serve God and the people around me?" What a great way to live. Nothing is really mundane anymore, even though it feels like it.

The day to day grind can feel just so same-same every day. But now, if we remember this question "I'm a new creation. What are the good works that God's got before me?" it's a great way to live. A meaningful way to live. A purposeful way to live.

Every day is infused with great purpose, with preordained good works. And at the end of every day, after you've done those good works, do you sit down and give yourself a pat on the back? No. This passage takes even that away from us. The good works are works which God has prepared for us.

They are good works which God works in us. "Work out your salvation," Paul says in Philippians, "with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to do His good pleasure." We are God's workmanship. Our good works are His work, which He has prepared for us, and we dare not brag about them. Friends, what a story we live.

A rags to riches tale where we do well to remember where we came from, appreciate where we are now, and dare not venture to brag about it. It's a story with God as the author, the one to whom belongs all the praise and all the thanks and all the glory for His grace and His love and His kindness towards us in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the one without whom this story would never be possible because He is the one that took on our rags and gave us His riches. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank You so much for the wonderful work that You've done in us.

Lord, it's something that we don't deserve, something that we can't take any credit for, but nevertheless, we wanna celebrate what You've done for us in and through the Lord Jesus. We thank You for the new life that we have in Him. We thank You for the victory over sin and Satan that we have in Him. We thank You for the great purpose that this infuses into our life. Lord, please, by Your Spirit, help us to appreciate and relish in these great things that You have done for us.

Lord, may our lives be infused with great joy and thankfulness even in the difficulties that we face. Lord, help us never to forget what You've done in us. All the praise, all the glory, all the thanks goes to You. And so we pray that our lives may be a testimony to You and Your great grace and love. We pray it in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.