Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Welcome to week #2 of our series called Come Together. 40 years after they broke up, the Beatles are as hot as ever. Their new digitally remastered catalog and the new Rock Band video game have people buzzing about the Beatles all over again.

But church might seem like a weird place to run into the Beatles. Some people have wondered why we’re doing a Beatles series here at ACC. The answer is simple.

We’re following the example of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts. When he was in the city of Athens, he used very recognizable things in that culture as a connecting point to preach the gospel. That’s the same thing we’re doing in this series.

Everybody knows the Beatles. But not everybody knows the gospel. And we’re on a mission to change that.

God blew the roof off this place last week when we kicked off the series with Help! We have the power of God to help us. That truth should bring sweeping change into our lives. If we really live in the power of God, every single thing about our lives will be different.

This week, we’re moving on in our series with Can’t Buy Me Love. Our band rocked that song at the opening of our service. Now God is going to rock us through His Word. Let’s pray, and then we’ll get after it.

The Beatles recorded Can’t Buy Me Love in Paris, France on January 29, 1964. This song would go on to become the third consecutive #1 hit for the band.

In a later interview, some American reporters were trying to get Paul McCartney to admit that this song that he wrote had a deeper, hidden meaning. Something darker or sinful. They were trying to create a controversy where there wasn’t one.

Paul McCartney said that the song’s message was simple. He said, “The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won’t buy me what I really want.”

That is actually THE core principle of Christianity. We can’t buy what we really need. We can’t earn it. We can’t deserve it.

The core of our faith is grace. Grace says that you can’t buy God’s love. It’s not for sale. Grace isn’t purchased or earned. It’s a free gift. The whole “Can’t Buy Me Love” principle is more true than the Beatles ever realized.

We’re walking through the book of Ephesians in this series. Today, we’re in the beginning of chapter 2. This passage is a little bit longer than what we normally use, but it is too amazing to condense it. Here we go.

The Bible says, “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, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

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.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 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.

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.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:1-10, NIV)

This is an amazing piece of Scripture. This is why Ephesians is such an awesome, important book. We’re going to go back and unpack this for the rest of our time this morning, and God is tell us loud and clear that we can’t buy His love…and that it’s stupid to even try.

I’m doing Tony Horton’s Power 90 workout program. In the program, you’re supposed to take a picture of yourself at the beginning and then another at the end of the 90-day workout program. It’s the quintessential before-and-after shot.

Paul gives us a spiritual before-and-after shot in Ephesians 2. But unlike my workout videos, my spiritual before-and-after doesn’t rely on anything I do. Paul said we are not saved by works, so no one can boast. I can’t buy God’s love. I can’t deserve God’s grace. If I deserved it, it wouldn’t be called grace.

My before-and-after exercise pictures are completely based on my effort. If I choose to do a lot of work, my before-and-after pics will look very different. If I choose to be lazy and not put in the work, they’ll look pretty much the same. But either way, it’s based on what I do.

But in this spiritual before-and-after shot, it’s not based on anything I do. It’s based on grace. God has done a work in my life. He has changed and is continuing to change my life. Not because I’m good enough. Not because I deserve it. Not because He needs me, but because He loves me.

With that in mind, let’s go back and look at these before-and-after shots that Paul gives us.

Before grace, I was an object of wrath.

After grace, I am an object of love.

This is an incredible before-and-after picture. It’s nothing short of a complete transformation.

Check this out. In verse 3, Paul says that our sinfulness naturally makes us “objects of wrath.” In other words, because of our sin, we deserve punishment. We deserve God’s wrath.

But in the very next verses, Paul says, “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.” (Ephesians 2:4-5, NIV)

We deserved punishment. We received love.

We deserved wrath. We received grace.

In sin, we are an object of wrath.

In Christ, we are an object of love and grace.

But did you notice who made the move? God. Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ…

God made the first move.

We deserved punishment. We deserved wrath. We deserved an eternity in hell.

But God didn’t wait around for us to come to our senses and seek Him out. He sought us out.

Check out what the Bible says in Romans 5. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!” (Romans 5:8-9, NIV)

Don’t ever think that you can impress God. Don’t ever think that you can earn His grace. You can’t buy His love. This Scripture proves it.

These verses remind us that we were still sinners when God mad the first move. We were busy wrecking our lives and ruining our eternities. We were completely jacked up in every way…and God stepped into the middle of that mess and did something about it. He didn’t wait for us to make the first move. Motivated by love, God moved toward us. That step came in the form of a cross when Jesus Christ died for our sin.

And because God made the first move, we don’t have to be objects of wrath. We can be objects of love.

My son, Ryan, loves to invent games for us to play. But he always reserves the right to change the rules, usually so he can never lose.

For example, if he’s the hero and I’m the bad guy, I might pull out my freeze ray. I’ll shoot him and tell him that he can’t move. I froze him with my freeze ray. But then he’ll inform me that he has a flame thrower that melts the ice from my freeze ray, so I can’t freeze him. He’s un-freezeable.

Now, he never told me that he had a flame thrower until I pulled out my freeze ray. All of a sudden, he changed the rules. It’s hard to lose when you can always change the rules.

We have to understand that grace is the game changer. It completely changes the rules that we play by. Before grace, we are objects of wrath. We deserve punishment, condemnation, and death. We don’t have access to God. We are completely estranged from Him. We are forced to walk through life, and walk into eternity, without Him.

But grace changes the rules. Because of grace, we become objects of love. We receive grace, and mercy, and forgiveness.

It’s God’s game, and He can change the rules if He wants to. Grace tells us that He really wants to. He wants to change the rules so we can be with Him. Instead of wrath, there is love. You can’t buy it. You can’t deserve it. God chooses to love you.

Some of you struggle with feelings of insignificance and worthlessness. You’ve gotta hear this. God doesn’t have to love you. You can’t make Him love you. He chooses to love you. Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, chooses to love you. And nothing is ever the same after that.

Now, if you think that it awesome, check out the next before-and-after picture from our text.

Before grace, I was dead in my sin.

After grace, I am alive in Christ.

A few weeks ago, Nicki and I took Ryan to The Wilds, up near Zanesville. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it. It is the largest conservation center in North America.

You get to go out on these open-air safari buses and get very up close and personal with the animals. Ryan could have reached out and touched this rhino. On this tour, there are times where you forget that you’re in Ohio. It honestly feels like you could be in the middle of Africa.

During our visit, our tour guide told us about one of the newest efforts at The Wilds. They are trying to save the American Burying Beetle.

Our guide told us about this endangered bug. A male and a female join together and they find a small dead animal. They, they dig out the ground under the animal and bury it. After that, they burrow into the animal’s carcass. And apparently it’s a pretty romantic atmosphere inside the dead and decaying animal, because that’s when they get busy making baby burying beetles. They live in, mate in, and lay their eggs in a rotting animal carcass. That carcass will be food for their larvae when they hatch.

Gotta be honest…by the time he finished describing the American Burying Beetle, I had heard enough. That’s kind of gross.

I don’t want to live in the stench and filth of death and decay like this beetle does. You don’t either.

But if you haven’t given your life to Christ, this is exactly what you are doing. Everyday of your life, you are surrounded by death. You are living in the nastiness and filth of a decaying carcass.

And if you think I’m overstating it, listen to what the Bible says about our lives pre-grace. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…” (Ephesians 2:1, NIV)

The Bible doesn’t mince words here. Before grace touches our lives, we are dead. It doesn’t say that we are sick. It doesn’t say that we are wounded. The Bible says that, without grace, we are dead in our sin.

When we live in unforgiven sin, when we live by the pattern of our world, it produces one thing…death. Someone here today knows exactly what I’m talking about, because you live dead every single day.

Everyday you wonder what it’s all about. Everyday you hope for significance, but feel meaningless. Everyday you pursue hope, but find despair. Everyday you hope things will be different, but everyday always ends up the same.

Here’s the problem…you are relying on yourself to fix a God-sized problem. A God-sized problem requires a God-sized solution.

This is where grace comes in. Some of us have a myopically small view of God’s grace. God’s grace isn’t just the avenue for sin forgiveness. God’s grace is the catalyst for a complete life transformation.

This is why Paul tells us that, through grace, we are made alive in Christ. If before grace we were dead, and after grace we are alive, something more than simple forgiveness has happened. It’s a lot bigger than that. Not only does grace forgive our sin, but grace brings us back from the dead.

If you’re still not convinced, check out the next verse. “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…” (Ephesians 2:6, NIV)

When Paul said that God has raised us up with Christ, he is referring to Jesus’ resurrection.

Jesus died a real death on the cross. But three days later, Jesus rose from the dead. Not as a ghost. Not in a dream. But a real, physical, bodily resurrection. Jesus died on Friday, but was literally alive again Sunday.

Through God’s grace, Paul said that we are united with Christ’s resurrection. We were dead in our sin. But just as Christ was raised to life, God’s grace raises us to life.

Don’t you dare sell God’s grace short. It’s more than fire insurance…a way to avoid hell. It’s more than sin forgiveness. The grace of God is the gateway from death to life. The same power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available to raise you from the grave and give you a brand new life.

That’s why the Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)

If you are following Christ, then God has made you alive in Christ. So quit acting like you’re a walking, talking corpse! If you are alive in Christ, then everyday ought to bring a new sense of energy and vitality and joy!

I’ve met so many Christians who need a personality transplant, and it makes no sense. If they have been raised with Christ, brought back from death to life, you would think that this would exude out of every pore that they have.

But too many times, we see people who claim to love Jesus, no matter how miserable it makes them.

At the core of most of these miserable people is a horrible misunderstanding of grace. They view our faith as a set of rules to be followed. It’s all about what I can do for God. If I’m happy, then that means that I must be pleasing myself and not God, so I’ll be miserable to make God happy.

This is why church is seen as the place where fun goes to die. God is some cosmic killjoy. Christians wouldn’t know a good time if they tripped right over it. If they smiled, their faces would crack.

I am so thankful to be part of a church that is reversing the trend. We know how to have fun around here. There is a palpable joy in our church. We are excited about what God is doing in our lives and we’re excited about what He’s doing in our church!

Don’t ever let some grumpy, miserable, religious legalist drag you down. God has raised you from death to life. You’re alive…it’s ok to act like it!

Before grace, I lived to please me.

After grace, I live to please God.

Once your life has been transformed by grace, you want to spend your life helping other people find grace. Grace increases your potential and changes your purpose.

Pre-grace, we lived to please ourselves. In verse 3, the Bible says, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.” (Ephesians 2:3a, NIV)

Pre-grace, my purpose was me. Gratify myself. Take care of myself. Please myself. Serve myself.

But God’s grace changed my life, and therefore it changed the mission of my life. Now I know that I am God’s workmanship, and I was created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

Because grace has changed my life, my response is to use my life to bring other people to grace. Ultimately, grace is the motivator behind every good thing we do. Every act of kindness, every time we serve someone, it’s all done because of grace.

The reason I do good works is a response to God’s love. Not because I’m trying to buy His love, but because I’m so thankful for His love.

This plays out in my marriage all the time. I will admit to anyone that I married up. Seriously. There are times when I don’t know why Nicki chose to marry me. I don’t know why she loves me. And I’m not blowing some false humility your way. I seriously wonder why she chooses to love me, but I know that she does.

I want to do everything I can to please her because she loves me. I’m so in awe that someone like her would want to be with someone like me. It motivates me to do things to serve her and please her. I know I can’t buy her love. I can’t earn it or deserve it. That’s not why I do things for her. I do it because I love her and I’m so thankful that she chooses to love me.

We don’t do good works to make God love us. Here’s where so many people miss it. Instead of a faith based on grace, they have a religion that is based on works. And so they spend their lives sucking up to God. Doing all kinds of good deeds to make God love them.

This is a false gospel. It is a heretical treatment of God’s grace. Good works don’t save us. Paul blows that out of the water.

Go back to verse 8. “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.” (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)

As we’ve been talking about all morning, I can’t buy God’s love. I can’t con Him into accepting me. I can’t force Him to forgive me by the good things I do.

Grace destroys that view of God. God made the first move in this whole deal. God stepped toward me. God died for me. God loves me.

Some of you need to stop and breathe. You’re huffing and puffing, running around trying to impress God. You feel like you can never say “no” when someone asks for your time. You’re schedule is crammed. There is no margin left in your life. If you’re overly busy doing good things, that must mean that you’re being a good little Christian and God will notice you.

Can I show you what God thinks of that?

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” (Isaiah 30:15, NIV)

This should set you free. You are not saved by what do. You don’t have to run yourself ragged in a crazy scheme to impress God. You can buy His love with anything you do.

Some of you need to simply breathe. Give yourself permission to simply relax and enjoy being in grace.

It doesn’t mean that we don’t do good things. But this crazy race to make God love you has got to stop.

Grace really does change everything. Don’t you feel sorry for the people who believe that they have to bargain with God, or con God, or manipulate God into accepting them?

God is crazy in love with you. You don’t have to buy His love. If you did, it wouldn’t be love in the first place. His love and grace is a free gift. But it’s more than simply the means to salvation. It’s the catalyst to completely change your life.

And the message of grace is that no life is beyond changing. Not life is beyond the reach of God’s grace. It’s because grace isn’t based on what we do or don’t do. It’s based on what God has done.

God loved you enough to give you His Son. We talk about it every single week here at Amelia, but it never gets old. If you are at a point where the cross of Jesus Christ doesn’t move you…where it doesn’t stir something inside of you…something is really, really wrong.

This is love at its best. It is grace at its finest. Jesus loved you and me enough to endure an excruciating death on a cross. He took our punishment. He took the wrath of God for us.

There is no life that is beyond grace. If you think you are beyond the grace of God, then your view of the cross is way too small. Jesus didn’t die to make grace available for good people. He died to make grace available to all people.

Grace is the game changer. It changes our standing with God. It forgives our sin. It releases us from our past. It takes crushing guilt off of our shoulders. It sets us free. It brings us back from death to life.

And it’s available to you right now.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Come Together: A Beatles Series, Ephesians, God's love, grace, works