Ephesians 2 lesson plan

Here is the lesson plan for Lesson Two of our Ephesians Class tonight. If you can use it, do so to his glory. Again, just don't take credit for it.

Ephesians 2: Alive, at Peace and a Temple of God

We were at one time without the grace of Jesus. All of us were. But God loved us and wanted us to be better than we were and knew there was nothing we could do ourselves to make ourselves better. Because of this, he made his grace available to us. We were brought back to him, like we were when we were young, and like humanity was before Adam and Eve sinned.

We were saved by his grace, not of anything we could do. It was his love and his mercy that brought us back to him. Any goodness or beauty we might have in our lives was because of him and his grace, not ourselves. We were made to do good things, but we were not saved by doing the good things. And he gave us that chance not because we deserved it, but because he loved us. We are not rewarded for what we have done, we are given those things in advance before we can do them. We are made righteous in advance of doing anything.

As a people, Gentiles were once outside of God. Jews were chosen of God as a special people, but became full of pride at this. They considered themselves to be special because of how good they were, rather than because God was great. And the things they did as service to God became things that they felt made them even more holy.

But God decided that, since the Jews had turned from him, he would open his kingdom to the entire world. He made all who served him, whether Jew or Gentile, to be equal in his sight. All were saved. Nobody was a special people simply because they were born in a certain place or did a certain thing. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. From now on it is not what we do that makes us  holy, it is who we are. In other words, it is he who makes us holy. We cannot do anything to make ourselves holy and righteous before God.

When Jesus died on the cross, he reconciled humanity to God. Everyone has the opportunity to know him and to be his people. And his Spirit is available to anyone who comes to him and acknowledges him as God with Jesus as his Savior. He took the two systems of service to God – the Gentile with its one on one relationship with God – and the Jewish – with its corporate worship and system of priesthood – and made them into one people of God. We are all one body with one head, Jesus.

Today, we are all his people. No one is outside the grace of God. All can be members of his family. When we join his family, when we accept him into our hearts, we become part of his family, his people. We become his house and his temple, giving the sacrifices of our lives on the altars of our hearts. No one is outside the power of God to save. And no one is a stranger and an alien to God. We are all his family.

QUESTIONS:

1. What does it mean to be dead because of disobedience and sin? Is there a parallel in our own lives to this?

2. What do you do in your life out of love and not out of deserving?

3. How is it that people can feel that they deserve what God has given them? when you talk to some people, you would think that God was lucky to have them. Why do people feel that way?

4. Why is the system of grace so hard to understand and accept?

5. How does this Good News of Peace (v17) fit in your life? What does it do to you?

All of us are the dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (22). What does this mean to you?