May 1, 2014
GRACE + FAITH = GIFT OF SALVATION
Ephesians 2:1-10
Kendra Kimball
Central Truth
God's salvation plan of grace and faith are the simplest thing, and yet we can make it so complicated!
Key Verse | Ephesians 2:8–9
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. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Ephesians 2:1-10
By Grace Through Faith
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body 1 2:3 Greek flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 2 2:3 Greek like the rest 4 But 3 2:4 Or And God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Dive Deeper | Ephesians 2:1-10
This passage wrecks me! There is so much goodness packed into these ten verses that I hardly know where to begin. I pondered on a different verse for awhile, but God just kept bringing me back to our key verses 8 and 9. I thought they were too simple to write about, but God kept bringing them up to me in different ways.
Because I love math, I like to make things into equations that are easy to remember. For me, these verses and the simple truth of the entire Bible are a great math problem: His Grace + my Faith = Salvation. God tells us that by His grace and through our faith, He offers us the free gift of salvation. I could easily make it so complicated, but really it is so simple, right?
In my humanness, I tend to complicate things by putting rules, restrictions, and stipulations on myself that make it harder than God intended. I feel like I need to perform or do something in order to be good enough for salvation. But that misses the entire point of salvation being a gift.
In addition to loving math, I love checklists and rules. It would be so easy to have a handy list of "to do's" in order to receive salvation: read three chapters in the Bible every day, attend church weekly, say your prayers daily, forgive, be patient, follow the Ten Commandments. Check, check, check. But God loves us too much to have a legalistic relationship with us. The Bible tells us that He created us in His image (Genesis 1:27), that we are His masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10, NLT), and that God desires time with us (Mark 1:35). He wants us to know His heart and His great love for us so that we desire to read His Word, talk to Him, seek Him, produce spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). A set of rules can lead to legalism. A desire to know Him is the relationship He desires with us!
Discussion Questions
1. Is there an area of your life in which you struggle with legalism and checking boxes rather than having a true relationship with Christ?
2. Have you accepted His grace and salvation freely as the gift they are?
3. What is one thing you can do today to deepen your relationship with Christ?