QUICK TAKEAWAYS
- Learning to walk with Jesus is a process; when you stumble, get back up and keep growing.
- Apart from Christ, sin leaves us spiritually dead and unable to rescue ourselves.
- The turning point of the gospel is two powerful words: “But God.”
- Salvation is a gift of grace received through faith, not a reward for good behavior.
- Good works do not earn God’s love; they flow from knowing we are already loved and accepted.
- Walking in grace also means learning to rest in grace instead of constantly wondering whether we have done enough.
SERMON SUMMARY
Learning to Walk
Learning to walk takes time.
When Tony’s youngest son, Jin, received his first prosthetic leg at three years old, he had never taken a physical step before. His first steps were exciting, emotional, and full of courage, but everyone knew those first steps were only the beginning. There would be wobbles, falls, crashes, and moments when he needed help getting back up.
The same is true spiritually.
Following Jesus is a walk, and nobody masters it overnight. There will be moments when we lose our balance, make mistakes, and fall short. The invitation is not to give up. Get back up. Stay with Jesus. Keep walking. Over time, we grow stronger, steadier, and more mature.
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is written to help believers learn that kind of walk. In Ephesians 2, however, Paul starts with difficult news before getting to the good news.
The Bad News That Makes the Gospel Good
Paul says that apart from Christ, we were spiritually dead because of sin.
Sin is more than an occasional bad decision. It separates us from God, the source of life. Scripture does not describe humanity apart from Christ simply as basically good people who sometimes make mistakes, or even as bad people who need improvement. It describes us as spiritually dead people who need a Savior to bring us back to life.
Paul also explains that sin is not merely something we do; it is a condition affecting our nature. We naturally bend toward pride, anger, jealousy, lust, greed, rebellion, and other forms of sin. Nobody has to teach a child how to be selfish. That tendency is already there.
On top of that, humanity faces a spiritual enemy. Paul describes people apart from Christ as being influenced and deceived by Satan even when they believe they are simply living life on their own terms.
The picture is bleak: spiritually dead, unable to save ourselves, pulled by our sinful nature, opposed by a spiritual enemy, and separated from God.
Then everything changes.
But God
Two of the most hopeful words in Scripture appear in Ephesians 2:4:
“But God.”
We were dead, but God is rich in mercy.
We were lost, but God loved us.
We could not save ourselves, but God made us alive with Christ.
This is grace: undeserved kindness and favor from God. We do not receive salvation because we earned it, deserved it, or accumulated enough good behavior. We receive it because God is merciful, loving, and gracious.
Baptism gives a beautiful picture of this reality. Going beneath the water represents the old life being buried. Rising from the water points to new life in Christ. The details of each person’s story may differ, but the heart of the story is the same: “I was spiritually dead, but Jesus made me alive.”
Jesus is still doing resurrections.
Grace + Faith + Nothing We Can Do
Ephesians 2:8–9 makes the truth unmistakable: salvation comes by grace through faith, and it is God’s gift.
There is nothing we can add to it.
A simple way to remember the equation is:
Grace + faith + nothing we could ever do.
Most of life operates through achievement. Students earn grades. Employees earn raises and promotions. Athletes earn playing time. Children may earn rewards for good behavior. Because we live in a world built around performance, it becomes easy to assume our relationship with God must work the same way.
It does not.
Salvation is not a spiritual report card. God is not waiting until the end of our lives to see whether our good behavior barely outweighs our failures.
The most important thing we will ever receive is the one thing we could never earn.
That truth also destroys spiritual pride.
There is no room for swagger in our walk with Christ because none of us rescued ourselves. Sometimes our Christian walk may look less like a confident stride and more like a stagger or a limp. But grace keeps holding us up.
You Cannot Earn More of God’s Love
Even longtime Christians can slip back into performance thinking:
“Have I prayed enough?”
“Have I read my Bible enough?”
“Have I served enough?”
“Does God still love me?”
Spiritual disciplines matter. Reading Scripture, praying, serving, giving, gathering with the church, joining a group, and sharing our faith all help us grow. But they do not convince God to love us.
We do not serve so God will love us.
We serve because He already does.
We do not obey so God will save us.
We obey from gratitude because He has saved us.
There is nothing we can do to make God love us less, and nothing we can do to make Him love us more. His love is not something we maintain through spiritual performance.
From a Mess to a Masterpiece
Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s masterpiece, created anew in Christ Jesus to do the good things He planned for us.
Grace does not mean doing nothing.
God has purpose for us. He wants us to grow, serve, bear fruit, study His Word, pray, share our faith, and become disciples who make disciples.
But the order matters.
We do not do good works for acceptance.
We do good works from acceptance.
As Dallas Willard put it, “Grace is not opposed to effort. Grace is opposed to earning.”
God is still working on us. Our lives may have been a mess, but in Christ He is shaping us into His masterpiece.
Sit Down and Rest
Ephesians 2 also says God has raised us with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms.
That word “seated” matters.
After Jesus finished His work on earth—living perfectly, dying for our sins, rising from the dead, and ascending to heaven—Scripture says He sat down at the right hand of God.
Why sit down?
Because the work was finished.
Hebrews 10 describes Jesus offering one sacrifice for sins that was sufficient for all time and then sitting down in the place of honor.
If Jesus has completed the work necessary for our salvation, we can stop running around spiritually trying to complete it ourselves.
We can rest.
Some people live with constant spiritual anxiety:
“Does God like me?”
“Have I done enough?”
“Am I doing enough?”
“Do I need to prove myself?”
Walking with Jesus was never meant to be a frantic race fueled by fear. It is a walk of grace—and sometimes walking in grace means sitting down and resting in it.
We still have purpose. We still have work to do. We still want to accomplish great things for God.
But we do it from a position of rest.
God has us.
His mercy holds us.
His love surrounds us.
His grace carries us.
Your Favorite Chair
Picture your chair as God’s grace.
Sit in it.
Let the weight of guilt, fear, condemnation, and constant striving lift.
Stop believing you are on spiritual probation, trying to work off your past until God finally decides to accept you. If you belong to Jesus, you have already been given a seat at His table.
Your favorite chair can be grace.
And you can sit there every day.
If you do not yet have that relationship with Christ, the invitation is simple: say yes.
You do not earn your way to Jesus through church membership, classes, achievements, or religious performance. Receive Him. Trust Him. Admit that you cannot save yourself and receive the grace, forgiveness, love, and new life He offers.
Jesus still takes spiritually dead people and makes them alive.
If you are walking with Jesus, you are walking in grace.
And if you are walking in grace, learn to rest in grace.
KEY SCRIPTURES:
- Ephesians 2:1–10 — Spiritually dead because of sin; made alive with Christ by grace; saved through faith; created anew for good works.
- Colossians 2 — Spiritually dead in sin until God made us alive with Christ and forgave our sins.
- 2 Corinthians 4 — The minds of unbelievers are blinded by the god of this age.
- Hebrews 10:11–14 — Jesus offered one sacrifice for sins for all time and then sat down at God’s right hand.
- Luke 10:38–42 — Mary and Martha, used as a picture of sitting with Jesus rather than constantly striving.
- James 2:19 — Even demons believe that God exists; intellectual belief alone is not a saving relationship with Christ.
APPLICATION / NEXT STEPS:
- Stop trying to earn what God gives by grace. When guilt, fear, or spiritual performance takes over, remember that salvation and God’s love are gifts, not rewards.
- Serve and grow from gratitude. Pray, study Scripture, serve, give, share your faith, and make disciples—not to earn God’s acceptance, but because you already have it in Christ.
- Practice resting in grace. When you find yourself asking, “Have I done enough?” remember that Jesus finished the work of salvation. Slow down, breathe, trust Him, and live from the security of His mercy and love.
QUOTEWORTHY LINES:
- “God helps the helpless. God helps the hopeless.”
- “We don’t do the good things so God will love us and accept us. We do the good things because He has.”
- “If you’re walking in grace, learn how to rest in grace.”
PLAN YOUR VISIT:
Are you looking for a place to belong and grow? At MorningStar Church, we invite you to Connect, Grow, and Go! Whether you’re exploring your faith for the first time or seeking a fresh start, join us in building authentic relationships, deepening our faith and sharing God’s love with the world. Click here to Plan Your Visit and let’s embark on this journey together!