Alive with Christ

Show me the evidence!

Any good lawyer working a case, researcher digging into the past, scientist unravelling a mystery of the world, or parent hearing an outrageous claim of their child, knows that you need to ask, “where’s the proof?” What can you show me to prove the reality of what you’re claiming? What evidence do I need to gather to make a well-informed decision as to what I’ve heard, seen, or felt? Many of us were taught to look for all the information, to hear both sides of the story, and yet we often fall prey to believing something or jumping to a conclusion without doing the digging necessary. Unfortunately, this makes its way into our relationships with Jesus all too often.

We easily fall prey to laziness in our faith and fail to take the steps necessary to ensure that we are truly, actively walking with Christ. Instead of asking ourselves, “where’s the proof of faith in my life?” we rest on past confessions, allow people's posts on Facebook to bring us to conclusions on what we believe, and give other people the task of discipling our families. This kind of faith-apathy is a kiss of death to the church, to our influence in the world, and to our fellowship with God.

This Sunday we’ll look at Ephesians chapter 2, one of the classic gospel passages, jam-packed full of incredible theological truth. We will take a deep dive into our own lives and ask ourselves, “where’s the evidence that I’m walking with Christ?” Coming out of the last 18 months, I pray that God uses this time together to open our eyes to the things we’ve been blind to and incite in us a renewed passion and fervour for the “good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Sermon Notes

Alive with Christ

Jordan Coros

August 1, 2021

Ephesians 2:1-10

—

Where’s the evidence that I’m walking with Christ?

—

1.  Am I aware of how lost I was?

Mr. Worldly-Wiseman is not an ancient relic of the past. He is everywhere today, disguising his heresy and error by proclaiming the gospel of contentment and peace achieved by self-satisfaction and works. If he mentions Christ, it is not as the Saviour who took our place, but as a good example of an exemplary life. Do we need a good example to rescue us, or do we need a Savior? Jon Bunyan, The Pilgrims Progress

Genesis 8:21

Wrath is God’s settled stance against sin—the response demanded when holiness encounters sin and evil. William Klein

—

2.  Am I awestruck by what he did to save me?

Therefore, when we look at the ministry of Christ in the four Gospels, we are seeing what “rich in mercy” looks like—how “rich in mercy” talks, how it conducts itself toward sinners, how it moves toward sufferers. Jesus not only proved that God is rich in mercy by going to the cross and dying in our place to secure that mercy. Jesus also shows us how God’s richness in mercy actually looks and speaks. Dane Ortlund

Acts 7:55

—

3.  Am I active in working for him?

Salvation is not from works, but it is surely for works. Klyne Snograss

Matthew 7:14

James 2:17

We know the Scriptures so little. And if we’re really honest, we love the Lord Jesus so little as well, that if someone put us into a room with no distractions and said, “I just want you to sit there and think about the Lord Jesus for five minutes,” many Evangelical Christians in the Western world would find that an enormous trial, because we don’t know five minutes’ worth of the Lord Jesus. Sinclair Ferguson, Ligonier National Conference, 2015.