Word of Salvation – Vol. 22 No. 41 – July 1976

 

Dead Or Alive

 

Sermon by Rev. S. Voorwinde, MA, M.Th. on Ephesians 2:8-10 (cf. Lord’s Day 32)

Scripture Readings: Ezekiel 37: 1-10; Ephesians 2:1-10.

 

In the sixties there was a religious movement that captured the fancy of millions of people throughout the world.  In America it went from church to church, from coast to coast.  Then its influence began to be felt everywhere.  It had a message and it had a slogan.  The slogan was so catching that it even hit the cover of “Time” magazine.  The slogan was “God is dead”.  As a slogan it was magnificent.  It was short, clear and shocking even to the unbeliever.  It caused a stir everywhere.  If you preached on the question, “Is God dead?” you were bound to get a full house.  But what was the message behind the slogan?  And what did the slogan really mean?  Did it mean the same as the atheist’s dogma: “There is no God?”

One of the leading exponents of the movement was Thomas Altizer of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.  He explained it this way: “The God of our fathers has no place in the history of our time.”

Others have said basically the same thing: “We do not say that there is not, and cannot be, any God.  We say that the God whom men used to believe in is dead, for he makes no difference to the world we know and live in.  If that God exists, he is irrelevant – – – ” (W.  Hamilton and T. Altizer, Radical Theology and the Death of God 1966, P.16).  Seen in this light the ‘God is dead’ movement is not entirely passe’, but poses a problem that every present-day Christian faces and must grapple with: Is God relevant to us today?

How would the Bible answer the question: Is God relevant?  Or, Is God dead?  The Bible doesn’t say: “Of course He’s relevant” and “Of course He’s alive”.  It takes us to the very root of the problem.  It turns the tables on us and says: “Man is dead”.  Isn’t this what the Bible says right along?  Imagine how God might address mankind: “I showed you the beauty of my creation, but you did not see me.  I gave you commandments, but you did not obey me.  I spoke to you in Christ, but you did not hear me.”

How would you feel about someone if you showed and he didn’t see, if you spoke and he didn’t hear?  Apart from the possibility of his being both blind and deaf, you might well assume that you were dealing with a corpse and not with a living person.  And that’s exactly the kind of picture that Ezekiel paints of man – he is dead.  But he is not only dead.  He is not just a corpse, not even a skeleton, but loose and scattered bones.  Then, to top it all off, Ezekiel says “- – -and they were very dry” (vs.2).  This is the way God views fallen humanity.  This is the raw material God starts out with.

What Paul writes to the Ephesians is basically the same as this.  In vss.1-3 of Chapter two he is reminding them of who they once were:

“Don’t you realize that at one time you had no interest in spiritual things?  In fact you were spiritually dead.  You were dead because you only followed the trends of this world.  You just did what you wanted and not what God wanted.  In fact you were controlled by the Devil himself.”

Isn’t this a realistic picture of man, though?  Isn’t it true that from God’s standpoint man is simply dead?  Think back to the time before you became a Christian.  Did you think that the Bible was interesting?  Did you think that Church was meaningful?  Did you think prayer was of any use?  In all honesty you would probably have answered “no” to all three of these questions.  For you the Bible was nonsense and fairy tales; Church was boring; and you prayed only when in trouble.  Think, too, of what you were interested in.  Certainly not in spiritual things.  Rather you were caught up in being “one of the boys”, or popular, or sexy, or a success.  But as to communication with God, well, that wasn’t for you.  You were just like everybody else.  You have no vital relationship with God, and you didn’t really want one.  You were simply cut off from God, The Lord and Giver of life.  Small wonder, then, that Paul should say: “You were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Eph.2:1),

But then what happened?  What brought about the change?  How come you are not now dead, but alive?  Was it basically because you decided on doing something?  Was it because you turned over a new leaf or was it something else?

Think back for a moment to Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones.  Was there anything that the bones could do?  Did they suddenly decide to assemble together and form a skeleton, then a body and then a person?  Of course not!  God spoke and He filled the corpses with His Spirit.  Remember, you were once just a heap of dry bones.  Then God came and filled you with His Spirit and now you live.  Was it all a matter of you turning over a new leaf?  No, it was not a new leaf, but a new life a life – which is the gift of God.

That’s why Paul starts verse 4 with the words, “but God…!”  It was God who did it all.  What did He do?

Firstly, He made us alive together with Christ.  What does this mean?  Well, let’s ask a few more questions: What caused Christ’s death?  Sin!  What causes man’s death?  Sin!  But the power of sin has been broken and when we die, we die like Christ did.  He died so that He might receive a spiritual body.  When we die we too will shuffle off this mortal coil and receive a body like Christ’s.  Then we will be truly alive.  But, in a sense, we already have a spiritual body even now because the Holy Spirit lives in us.  A new quality of life has begun.  The old has passed away.  The new has come.

Secondly, He raised us up with Christ.  Why do we have new life?  Why do we have the Holy Spirit?  Only because God raised Jesus from the dead.  The resurrection was not only an event in history, but also takes place in the experience of every believer.  Jesus said: “You must be born again”.  A new life must begin.

Thirdly, He seated us with Christ in the heavenly places.  Notice that Paul does not say “He will seat us”, but “He seated us” – past tense.  In other words, we are already seated with Christ in the heavenly places.  How can this be?  It is because Christ is our perfect representative.  Let me illustrate it like this: Suppose that there was someone in the House of Representatives who has the exact same ideals, standards and ideas as you have.  Then, in a real way, couldn’t it be said that you have a seat in Parliament?  You have a voice because you are so perfectly represented.  Christ is such a representative in Heaven.  He pleads our cause and has all our interests at heart.  Because this representation is perfect, Paul can say that even now we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

So then, it was God who made you alive with Christ.  It was God who raised you up with Him.  It was God who seated you in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus.  Well, if it’s God who did all this, what did we have to do with the change in our lives?  Well, let’s examine some of the terms the Bible uses.

A person who is converted is someone who is born again.  When a baby is born there’s not much that it can do about it.  So it is with the person who is born again.  He is not born again because he decides to be born again.  Rather it is the work of God’s Spirit.

In a similar vein the Bible sometimes says that the person is made alive – just like the scattered, dry bones.  Those bones did not have much say in the matter either.  God spoke, His Spirit entered, and they lived.  They did nothing one way or the other.  It was all a matter of God’s grace.

There is an important implication to be drawn here.  If God collected those bones together, put flesh on them and gave them life, do you think that He would let these bodies die again?  Or do you think that a person who is once born again will perhaps have to be born again again?  It sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?  But there are many people today who say they were once Christians, then stopped being Christians and then started being Christians again.  But God doesn’t start with something and then change His mind.  As Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “I am sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”  The true Christian can confidently say: “Once alive, always alive!”

At this point though, someone might object and say: “I can see that what you say is Biblical, but it doesn’t quite fit.  You say God does it all – makes alive, resurrects and keeps.  Now here in our Church we’re doing a lot in the way of witnessing and evangelism, and you make it sound as though man can’t do anything.”

To answer this problem let me go back for a moment to Ezekiel’s vision.  There was not just God and the dry bones.  There was also the prophet.  God could speak through the thunder as at Sinai, but He chooses to use us.  Therefore, we are responsible to tell people to repent and believe the Gospel. True, it is like preaching in a cemetery. But if we speak God’s words His Spirit will bring life to those who are dead.

This consideration will help to give us the proper perspective to evangelism.  There are two pitfalls it will help us to avoid.  Firstly, it will help us not to be overly anxious about results, as though these depended solely on us.  Secondly, we won’t be tempted to say: “What’s the point of evangelizing?  God will save whom He will anyway”.  Neither anxiety nor reluctance, but rather obedience should characterize our attitude to evangelism.

But this is not all.  Hand in hand with the responsibility to witness and evangelize there goes another great responsibility.  If you live you must also grow.  Once you were dead spiritually.  Now you must grow spiritually.  Just as growth follows birth, so spiritual growth must follow your being born again.  As a Christian, you are to grow strong and healthy.  The Ephesians had grown this way.  That is why Paul could say: “We are God’s workmanship” (vs.10).  Yes, you could even say that the Christian is God’s masterpiece.  In the work of salvation, too, God is a great Artist.  The sculptor gets a rough rock and makes it into a beautiful statue.  The potter takes some miry clay and makes it into a beautiful vase.  God takes a heap of dry bones and brings to life healthy, growing people.  Are you God’s masterpiece?  Are you a healthy, growing person?  How can you know?  God’s masterpieces are not ornamental.  They were “created for good works”, (vs.10).  Since you have become alive, have you been doing good works?  Are acts of kindness, love and compassion in evidence in your life?  Has there been a change for the better?  That’s the only way you can tell you are alive.

In conclusion, then, what are you to say to the question: “Is God dead”?  Well, that depends on what state you are in.  To the dead all things are dead.  But to us who live, God is gloriously alive and at work, changing our very lives.  Let me close with an example from history.  Between a hundred and two hundred years ago there were revolutions all over Europe – in France in 1789, in Holland in 1795, and in Germany in 1848 Why?  Because there were people all around who were saying that God was dead and irrelevant.  But in Britain there was no revolution.  Why?  Because the Evangelical Awakening, led by the Wesleys and Whitefield in the eighteenth century had led that nation to depend on God.  There was no revolution and in the nineteenth century it was the most powerful nation on earth.

But what about us today?  We have seen the God-is-Dead movement come and go.  Then the “Jesus movement” took its place.  Whatever we may say of this movement in retrospect, there is little doubt that people’s lives were changed.  It was God who changed them, and He is still changing lives today.  Yes, God is alive.  The question is: Are you?