TO EMBRACE YOUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST (2 OF 9)
by Craig Smith
Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10
This content is part of a series.
To Embrace Your Identity in Christ (2 of 9)
Series: Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 2:1-10
I. introduction
To embrace your identity in Christ, embrace the activity that comes with that identity
Two weeks ago: what we do is a result of who we think we are.
But here's the thing: it can be amazingly easy to forget who we actually are.
[Danny and Mindy illustration...I'm happy to report that what I said worked. God used it. And they're still married today. You want to know what I said? I told him something I learned from the 2nd chapter of the letter Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus...]
II. Main Body
A. What We Were
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 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. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. (Eph 2:1-3)
This might sound like kind of a negative way to talk to someone, but understand two things: first, attacking, he was acknowledging. Everything he says was true of the Ephesians he also says was true of him. Second, Paul wasn't criticizing, he was contrasting. Paul is reminding them of who they were in order to set the stage for helping them embrace who they are in Christ.
So we need to understand this too. Paul says that we were all ''dead in our transgressions and sins.'' There are two key things here:
1. When Paul says we were ''dead'', he means that Dead = cut off from having a relationship with God. This is important to understand, but it's also a little difficult for us to understand because we have been taught to think of ''dead'' in very technical, biological terms. ''Dead'' means that the heart has stopped beating or that there's no more electrical activity in the brain. But in the ancie ...
Series: Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 2:1-10
I. introduction
To embrace your identity in Christ, embrace the activity that comes with that identity
Two weeks ago: what we do is a result of who we think we are.
But here's the thing: it can be amazingly easy to forget who we actually are.
[Danny and Mindy illustration...I'm happy to report that what I said worked. God used it. And they're still married today. You want to know what I said? I told him something I learned from the 2nd chapter of the letter Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus...]
II. Main Body
A. What We Were
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 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. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. (Eph 2:1-3)
This might sound like kind of a negative way to talk to someone, but understand two things: first, attacking, he was acknowledging. Everything he says was true of the Ephesians he also says was true of him. Second, Paul wasn't criticizing, he was contrasting. Paul is reminding them of who they were in order to set the stage for helping them embrace who they are in Christ.
So we need to understand this too. Paul says that we were all ''dead in our transgressions and sins.'' There are two key things here:
1. When Paul says we were ''dead'', he means that Dead = cut off from having a relationship with God. This is important to understand, but it's also a little difficult for us to understand because we have been taught to think of ''dead'' in very technical, biological terms. ''Dead'' means that the heart has stopped beating or that there's no more electrical activity in the brain. But in the ancie ...
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