Lesson Two: Salvation
Pastor Jayson Combs
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10
Firmly, Awana stands. I grew up as a “church kid.” Every Wednesday night, I was a part of a program called Awana, an acronym for, Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. The program focuses on Scripture memorization; currently, we have this program available for each of The River Church locations. Ephesians 2:8-10 is one of the passages I memorized in Awana that I have never forgotten. I am guilty; however, of skipping right over these verses because I have heard it so many times. We are never done learning, though, and fortunately, I continue to glean truth from passages I have heard over and over. We could spend hours on this particular passage, but I want to focus on four key words for this study.
The first word is “grace.” Yes, you have probably heard the definition of grace as “unmerited favor,” but what does that mean? Paul effectively explains the word grace in Ephesians 2:5. He says that “even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…” In other words, when you had nothing, He gave everything. Romans 5:8 states, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” To sin means to reject His ways, and to reject Him. I believe this verse should pull at all believers. Jesus died on the cross even when we were the ones spitting in his face. That, my friends, is grace.
The second word is “faith.” Yes, it is by grace that we are saved, but Paul also makes a reference to faith in verse 8 (KJV), “for by grace are ye saved through faith.” Faith is our response to salvation and our action. In chapter 1 verse 13, it says we hear the word of truth, and then we believe. Faith is also a gift of God, like grace (verse 8). It’s all His gift to us; grace, faith, and salvation. Therefore, we cannot boast of faith because it is only through God’s grace that we have faith. Tony Merida, in Christ Centered Exposition, says, “Faith is the instrument by which we lay hold of Christ.”
The third word is “boast.” When we “get grace,” we can understand that boasting about our part in salvation and faith is laughable. Paul says it well in the first chapter of his first letter to Corinthians when he says, “So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:29-31). Church, let us boast in the Lord. Let us boast about Him at our work, with our family, and in our neighborhood.
The final word is “works.” Scripture clearly says we are not saved because of good works, but rather as followers of Christ, we are created to do good works. Ephesians 4:24 puts it this way, “Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Again, we do not do good works to be saved, but I believe the reverse is the truth we need to understand. If good works are not evident in our lives and we have no desire to follow Him and to live for him, then where is the salvation? Salvation takes us to good works.
What an amazing passage! I challenge you to memorize this passage and make it part of your life.