4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 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. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
- Ephesians 2:4-10, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.

Dear Friends in Christ,

I would guess that for most of us the word "monument" brings to mind images of impressive buildings or landmarks.  We might think of the Washington Monument or the Statue of Liberty or Mount Rushmore.  All are imposing creations that stand as lasting tributes to a person or an ideal…

Since a monument is a tribute or a memorial to someone or something, it is not customary to speak of people themselves as monuments.  For one thing, people don’t last as long as structures of wood or stone.  People die while monuments endure.  At best, we could only speak of a person being a temporary monument – which defeats the whole idea of permanence that a monument is supposed to convey.

But on second thought, and certainly from a Christian perspective, we can speak this way.  We as believers are monuments.  Regardless of how we may inwardly feel about ourselves or outwardly view ourselves, the message of our text today is that every single one of us is an imposing, impressive creation fashioned by the will and hand of God as an enduring testimony to His grace…  In other words, we are

For the next several minutes, let us turn our attention to

"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 transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved."  In the previous verses Paul outlined the natural condition of man, a point that he reaffirms here when he says "we were dead in transgressions."    What he’s telling us is that from a spiritual standpoint we are not born spiritually neutral or with a spiritual spark within us that we can eventually fan to life by our own hard work and effort...

No.  We are born spiritually dead.  By nature and on our own we have no more power to obtain spiritual life than a corpse does to gain physical life.  It can’t be done. And let’s be sure to note that Paul is not just talking about a particularly vile or decadent portion of mankind.  He’s talking about all of it.  He’s talking about us.

But here’s the god news:  What we couldn’t do, God did for us.  God "made us alive with Christ."  Three weeks from now we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  What Paul is saying here is that the same power God used in raising Jesus from the dead has been used on us to make us spiritually "alive."  God is in the resur-rection business, and we are living proof of that.  He is the One who has moved us from spiritual death to spiritual life.  We who once were spiritually dead and on a downward spiral to hell have been made alive and are now heirs of heaven.  Quite a transformation.

Why did He do all this?  Here is the answer:  Because of "His great love for us" and because He is "rich in mercy."  The Greek word translated "love" is agape.  There are a number of words for love in the Bible, but this word indicates the highest and purest form of love.  It is a love which gives expecting nothing in return.  It is a love that generates from the heart and nature of the lover, rather than a love that is purely a response to being loved by another.  It is the love we see in Jesus when, between the hammer blows that nailed him to the cross, He said, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

In addition to love, God is also described as being "rich in mercy." The two terms are related.  The simplest and best known definition of mercy is "undeserved love." It again calls to mind that everything God has done for us and continues to do for us does not emanate from us being deserving, but comes purely because He is loving.   Put these two ideas of agape love and mercy together and we come up with the concept of grace.  And so Paul concludes this opening verse by saying, "it is by grace you have been saved."

Love, mercy and grace.  It is so important and so comforting to know that these characteristics are not incidentals when it comes to our God.  They are essentials.  They don’t only define for us what God is like, they tell us what God is.  God is love.  God is mercy.  God is grace.  And He extends all of it to us, all the time.

Even when we may not think so.  When things aren’t going very well, there is a temptation to think that maybe God isn’t paying good enough attention to our prayers or that God is somehow upset with us or incapable of making the difference we want Him to make in our lives at a particular time.  There is a temptation to think that maybe God isn’t always as rich in mercy as He ought to be, because if He were, He might take a more active role in my life…  And then there is the familiar taunt of the world that asks if God is so good and loving and merciful why are there starving children in Africa or tragic accidents that tear families apart.   The suggestion is that God is either powerless or not true to His nature…

When those kinds of emotions are felt or thoughts are expressed there are two things that we need to remember.  First is that God doesn’t need us to act as His lawyer to defend Him against all the charges that sinful, shortsighted men might make against Him.  And the second is that when it come to His world and especially His children, God will never be untrue to His nature.  And His nature is love.  His nature is mercy.  His nature is grace.

If we need proof, we know where to go.  Calvary.  There "upon the cross extended, see, world your Lord suspended" for your sins and my sins and the sins of every other human being in the past, present and future.  When we look at things from the perspective of the cross we know that whatever God allows to come into our lives may be for reasons we don’t immediately understand;  but this much we always know for sure:  God will never act toward us in a way that is inconsistent with His nature.  And His nature is love, mercy and grace.

Paul continues to instruct us on the depth of God’s character and grace as it pertains to our eternal salvation.  "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."  This is one of the all-time beautiful, clear and instructive passages of Scripture.  Let’s break it down and look at it…

"For it is by grace" – The cause of what will follow is God’s love and mercy… "you have been saved" – Eternal salvation is ours as opposed to eternal damnation… "through faith" – faith is trusting and believing what God has done for us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ… "and this not from yourselves" – this whole process of God’s grace and even our own faith (meaning the ability to believe in Christ as our Savior) is not our doing, but all God’s… "it is the gift of God" – again, everything pertaining to our salvation (including our faith) is an act of grace… "not by works" – we did nothing to either earn our salvation or cause our faith… "so that no one can boast" – no one can take credit for their salvation but must lay all credit at the feet of an amazingly Gracious God.

What we are clearly told here is this:  Our salvation is entirely, totally and exclusively due to the amazing grace of God.  The Bible does not allow for any type of "decision theology" which is taught in many Protestant churches today, including most of those seen on the religious TV channels.  ("Decision theology" is the idea that a person can "make a decision for Christ" – that is, personally decide to come to faith.)  Here we are told that everything having to do with our coming to faith and eventually going to heaven was not our decision… but God’s.

Why is it important to understand this?  First of all because it is simply proper to give credit where credit is due.  Secondly, because once we understand grace it moves us to love God all the more.  And thirdly, if we don’t understand the pervasive nature of God’s grace in our lives, we can fall into errors that can be spiritually harmful…

A spirit of work-righteousness, for example.  If I am of the opinion that I am the one who has made the decision to believe, then I have in some small way contributed to my salvation.  And if I have in any way contributed to my salvation, then my salvation is no longer a gift.  I believe it was Augustine who said that grace, if it is not a gift, is no longer grace.

Furthermore, if I have had a hand in my own salvation, the door is wide open to spiritual pride.  After all, I might reason, if I made that choice why don’t others?  And instead of praying that God in His grace may bring others to faith as He has me, I can find myself looking down my nose at others for not being as smart or enlightened or spiritual as me.  Grace when it is properly understood drives us to our knees in thankfulness.  When it is not, it is replaced by spiritual arrogance…

Paul concludes by telling us that God has bestowed His grace upon us for a reason.  "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do."  Note how we are described:  "God’s workmanship."  The Greek word has behind it the idea of a creation or work of art.  It’s rather uplifting to think of ourselves in that way, isn’t it?  We are all beautiful, original creations.  If Leonardo daVinci’s Mona Lisa is considered the greatest painting in the world, we’re all Mona Lisas.  And just as that work of art calls forth praise for its creator, so our lives are to call forth praise to God.  We have been "created in Christ Jesus" through faith.  And the purpose for our being created is "to do good works" – meaning, produce fruits of faith which bring glory to God before a watching world.

Furthermore, the good works we are to do "God has prepared in advance for us to do."  This suggests that God in His providence has planned and provided opportunities for believers to do good works.

But what is a good work?  It’s not necessarily something spectacular or even particularly public.  A good work is anything we do to the glory of God.  Luther makes the comment that the Christian maid scrubbing the floor is doing a good work because she is faithful in the work of the calling into which the Lord led her.  Likewise in the days before dishwashers were common the story is told of the Christian woman who placed a hand lettered sign above her sink: "Divine services held here three times daily."  She understood what a good work was.  It doesn’t have to be the cure for cancer or the solution to world peace.  It’s even the smallest things we do to the glory of God.

The practical side of this:  Perhaps we can all find a little more joy in our lives if we redefine many of our simple, daily tasks as good works and opportunities that come from the hand of God rather than drudgery or necessary evils.  Driving the kids to school… being kind to our spouse… helping a child with his or her homework… making ourselves available to that person who always seems to need us… faithfully doing our job day in and day out… all are more than just exercises in mindless repetition or joyless duty.  They are the good works God has prepared for us to do.  When we think along those lines, we can daily give glory to God and present ourselves as living monuments to His grace…

That’s the bottom line message of our text.  From start to finish, from what we are to what we do, we are monuments to God’s grace.  In His grace He sent Jesus to save us.  In His grace, He brought us to faith.  In His grace continues to preserve us and give us a purpose in life.  What blessed people we are!

Consequently, may our lives and actions be a testimony to the fact that we understand and appreciate God’s amazing grace.

If people want to see the Washington Monument, they have to go to our capitol.  If they want to view Mount Rushmore, they need to be in South Dakota.  To see the Statue of Liberty means a trip to New York.

But for the greatest monument to be seen we need only to look in a mirror.  May God give us profound thankfulness and joy in the knowledge of what we are now and will be forever:  Monuments to Grace.  Amen.