But God - Ephesians 2:1-10

Posted by Amber Bruce |  Print This Post

This week Men’s Ministry Director Dave Stevanus preaches from Ephesians 2:1-10.

Homework Challenge: memorize Ephesians 2:8-10.

If your group meets later in the week, you may want to email them and ask them to work on this before group. If you meet earlier in the week, take a few minutes to practice it together and ask them to memorize it over the following week. Be sure to follow up on it next week!

1. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you think the gospel has transformed your life so far? What in your life is due only to God’s goodness and presence?

This is a sharing question to start off the discussion, build relationships, and help us connect the basic truths of Eph 2 to our lives.

2. Read Eph 2:1-10 and review:

a. What is the goal of this passage?

Dave Stevanus started his sermon by looking at Eph 2:10 and pointing out that he sees this as the goal of the passage. He reminded us of this at the end, pointing out the contrast between “walking” in trespasses and sins in verse 1 and “walking” in good works in verse 10.

b. What does it mean to be spiritually dead? Why is that significant?

Dave explained that spiritually dead means to be cut off from God, completely unaware of Him and unable to respond to him. He asked, “What do dead people do?” The answer is: nothing.

c. What did God do? Why?

When we were dead to Him, God reached out to us, saved us, made us alive together with Christ, and reserved a seat for us in the Kingdom of God.

God did this because of His own love and mercy. Dave pointed out that God is love. Eph 2:7 shows us God’s reason: to show us the riches of His grace for eternity.

d. Why is this good news (gospel)?

This question is to give each person an opportunity to articulate why the gospel is good. Sometimes an answer may seem obvious, but just the simple act of forming an answer in our own words can help us understand it better, remember it longer, or realize something new about it.

e. What jumped out to you from this passage?

This question gives each person an opportunity to share any aspect of this passage that the Spirit is illuminating to them or using to convict them of something.

3. Discuss the following C.S. Lewis quote: “When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less.” Have you experienced this in your life? How?

Those who have been Christians for a while have probably experienced this on some level. As we relate with God through Bible reading, prayer, listening to sermons, fellowship, and other spiritual disciplines, we realize more and more how bad we are, and how gracious God is.

If your group has many young Christians or non-believers, try to prepare an answer to this question as an example from your own life. If there are others in your group who have been walking with Jesus for several years, encourage them to share how they have experienced this.

4. Why do you think Paul interrupts himself in Eph 2:5 to tell us that it was “by grace we have been saved,” just to repeat himself in verse 8? What is so important about this concept?

As a group, look again at verses 5 and 8. It is interesting that Paul repeats this phrase twice in this short passage, especially since the first time he says it, it’s an interruption of his sentence (God … made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him…). It seems that this concept is so vital that Paul doesn’t want his readers to miss it: our new life in Christ and our reserved seat in God’s Kingdom are given to us because of God’s grace and no other reason.

This idea of grace is so important because we don’t naturally like grace. We want to think of ourselves as deserving. Grace means that we are truly dead and lost without Christ. Grace means that we can’t add our good works for God to like us more or approve of us or be pleased with us. Grace means that even our faith is a gift of God (Eph 2:8), not something we can point to as making us worthy.

Grace means we are not worthy.

But God loves us anyway.

5. Discuss the relationship between God’s grace and good works.

God gives us the gifts of faith, life, salvation, glory in heaven, and good works by his grace. We do good works because we are God’s good work (Eph 2:10). His grace in us produces the good works He designed us to walk in.

6. When sharing the gospel, what are the key points to emphasize? How does Eph 2:1-10 help you highlight those points?

Most of us know the gospel but have difficulty articulating it. Some of your group members not only have trouble articulating it but don’t even know it or have a wrong idea of what it is. Use this as a time to gauge how well your group knows the gospel and to help them come to a concise wording of it. Since the gospel is a message of great depth and many facets, each person’s answer will be a little different, but should include some variation on the following core concepts:

• God made us and we are accountable to Him (Rom 1:18-23).
• Man is sinful beyond hope (Rom 1:24-25, 3:23; Eph 2:1-3).
• The Father sent Christ as Savior of the world (1 John 4:14; Eph 2:4-7).
• When we respond through repentance and belief, he cleanses and forgives us so we can have eternal life with Him (1 John 1:9, 4:15; Eph 2:4-7).
• We have new life and purpose (Rom 6:4; Eph 2:8-10).

Here is a 6-minute explanation of the gospel from Pastor John Piper that may be helpful.

7. Who are you going to bring to the Christmas series? As a group, start praying for those people.

If someone can’t think of somebody to bring, have them pray this week and ask God for who He wants them to invite and bring. Follow up with them the following week.