8.15.10 – Have you ever wished you had more money so you could do more for your kids, but at the same time, you didn’t want your kids to be “rich kids”? Why is that?

Maybe of us remember the rich kids from school. We’ve seen them in movies. The kids who have no appreciation for life, who expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter because it always has been. As a kid, you might have envied the rich kid his wealth—but as an adult you don’t really want that for your kids, do you?

Unless, maybe, you can teach your kids to appreciate what they’ve got. To realize the value of hard work, et. al.

In the middle of the last century, the son of a prominent car manufacturer was approaching his 16th birthday. He heard a rumor that his father was going to give him a really nice car. It was to be a vintage car, one that had never been on a road. On the morning of his sixteenth birthday, the young man was taken by his father to a building at the plant. The father threw open the door and showed his son the band new car … in pieces. It had not only never been on the ground, it had never been assembled. The teenager stomped angrily away.

But he came back later and his father gave him the keys to the shed and told him he could ask anyone at the plant for advice, but he had to do all the work himself. The teenager was still pretty resentful at first, but as time went by he got the car assembled. In the process, he had come to appreciate hard work, had learned how to utilize the knowledge of the guys at the plant, had learned how to build a car, and had come out with a pretty cool car in the bargain!

Ephesians 2:11-13
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

As far as I know, everyone in this room is a Gentile. We’ve grown up in a Christian nation, though, so maybe we’ve forgotten how far we’ve come and the incredible gift we have. We have no reason to hope in the Old Testament. We’re not born of the bloodline of Abraham.

Not only that, we were sinners before we came to God. Maybe we weren’t murderers or drug runners or politicians, but one sin is enough to separate a person from God and we all had many sins under our belts.

Remember that: we were sinners.

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (NIV)

That’s terrible news, it seems like. It would be devastating news if it stopped there but, praise God, that’s not the end of the sentence!

Romans 3:24
and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (NIV)

That’s what Paul just said in Ephesians. You were lost and without hope because of your sin, But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

We have been redeemed!!

I know one of the things I do is take for granted this incredible salvation. I was a sinner, with no other hope but to be an “object of wrath” as Paul put it earlier in this book (2:3). Thanks to the blood of Jesus, though, I have been redeemed. I no longer need to live in abject fear.

I can live triumphantly.

Look at one of the verses we studied on a recent Wednesday night (if you haven’t been coming on Wednesday night, you’re missing a treat!!):

2 John 3
Grace, mercy, peace shall be with us, from God the Father, and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. (RV)

Grace, mercy, peace, truth and love! Those are words of triumph and fulfillment.

How did these wonders come about?

Ephesians 2:14-18
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (NIV)

Who did the work here? Our good selves? As John Wayne used to say, “Not hardly.”

Jesus did the work, and then invites us to partake in the bounty!

Take a look at a big word in this passage: reconcile. This comes from the Greek word apokatalasso and it means there’s a change in attitude and conduct, but also an end to alienation. In other words, we live and think differently now, because we’re part of the family of God!!

What do I DO with this?

I think one of the things the modern Christian is sometimes missing is an honest assessment of our state before Christ. We are—and were—“nice folks” in our own minds. But you know what? We were sinners. We were lost.

But Jesus wants to redeem us. If you’ve never submitted to Christ, he’s calling you and wants to wash your sins away. If you have already submitted to God: you’ve been redeemed! You are earmarked for eternity with God.

Enjoy the fruits of Jesus’s labor!