Summer Preaching Series May 31 and June 1, 2025
“Grace! Faith! Life!” Ephesians 2:8-10
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Do you know what grace is? Like, when it is used in the Bible, in our reading, “For it is by grace you have been saved”. Favor. Kindness. A gift.
There is a verse in Romans, when you look at its application, it is all about grace. The verse says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21) That is grace – it overcomes evil with good.
Look at some of the great events in the Bible. You’ll find grace right in the middle of them. In Genesis 18-19 the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah was infamous. God had had it with those cities and He was going to destroy them. But Abraham, a righteous guy, pleaded for them. “Lord, it isn’t right that you destroy all these people because of a few evil folks.” “If I can find fifty good folks in these towns will you spare everyone for the sake of fifty?” And God, with grace, said He would.
But Abraham knew he couldn’t find 50 holy people among these two cities. So, he began his bargaining skills. Abraham begins – How about 45? How about 40? 30? 20? “Now don’t be mad with me, Abraham pleads, how about 10?” And God was going to spare them all for 10. That’s grace.
How about in the New Testament? Paul, before his conversion, was a violent person and brought physical harm, even death to others. He hated Jesus. He hated Christians. Do you know what he treasured? Grace. He treasured the kindness and mercy from God when nothing like that should be awarded. Paul would say, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” (I Timothy 1:15)
It was grace that Jesus spoke when He was on the cross. He could hear and feel the hate of those beneath Him. It wafted into the air. Oh, how they despised Him. And what does He give them? Grace. “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
How are you saved from that day when God will stand as your judge? How are we saved from that day when the books are opened, and all secrets revealed? Grace. Undeserved kindness. Just as He was willing to give to Sodom and Gomorrah, or what He gave to Paul or to the haters under the cross. Like Romans 12 says, “Overcome evil with good.” God does that. Jesus does that. Pure grace.
And my, do we need grace!! Before Paul gives us this clear word of being saved through Christ alone, by faith alone, he tells us what our dilemma is when we stand alone, without grace and faith in Christ, “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.” (Ephesians 2:1-2)
We need to stand strong. In God’s grace. We are confident in His sufficient gifts given to us in Jesus. We stand strong with faith in Jesus. We trust in His works for our forgiveness and eternal salvation. We rely completely on the death of Jesus and His resurrection for our eternal hope. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
Martin Luther wrote, “God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything and whoever does not have faith will have nothing.” Faith takes God at His word. Faith believes the promises of God. Faith knows that God will be gracious to us for the sake of Jesus. In the hymn “Rock of Ages” (LSB 761) the third stanza reads:
Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling.
Naked come to Thee for dress; helpless, look to Thee for grace.
Foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.
This faith is in His work, Christ’s work, and not in our own deeds. When he speaks about faith, he then adds, “And this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” We are not saved by our good works, no matter how good and holy they are. Isaiah says, “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6) We are saved by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Alone. Our eyes look to Him. Alone. On that day of judgment, when the books are opened and all is revealed about us, Jesus will stand by our side. He covered all of our sins. Our faith is in Him.
Salvation by self? Salvation by works? That is the greatest idolatry that could ever be. We remove Christ as Lord and place ourselves on that throne. In Romans 4 Paul is working on his argument that “A man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” (Romans 3:28) So, he begins his defense by showing us the life of Abraham, “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. What does the Scripture say, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” (Romans 4:1-5)
By grace. Through faith. One of the clearest passages in the Bible about grace and faith and Christ and salvation is this, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10) Or as Paul added elsewhere, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:31)
These verses in Ephesians teach us the truth that our salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. But faith is never alone. Faith is lively. It shows the best fruits. It does the most good. One writer said, “Good works are not the purpose of salvation, but they are its result.” Verse 10 is our text says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
What are you saved from? An eternity away from God. Your stench of sin. Hopelessness. But that is not all this faith is about. You are not just saved from the worst things. You are saved for the best things. We are saved to share life, the full life, in Jesus with others. We do this by words and by actions. Jesus says of this, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing…This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:5,8)
Everyday I witness people living with a zeal, a drive that says, “This day I live for God by loving His people.” Be one of those people. God has put before you, in your life, the opportunity to live a life of good.
This summer I am preaching on your favorite passages, those that have influenced you greatly. These verses for today were given to me by two different folks. One of them wrote of it, “[One of my favorite Bible passages] is Ephesians 2:8-9 (which is my confirmation verse), because it assures me that my faith is entirely God’s gift to me. Verse 10 is so assuring too, because it reveals to me that God has already planned good works for me to do, so that the way God expects us to live out our lives is also set before us by God Himself.”
Grace! Faith! Life! Gifts from God in every way. Amen!!
