Faith’s Review and Expectation
Shiloh United Methodist Church — March 14, 2021
Ephesians 2:1–10 (CEB)
At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God. You used to live like people of this world. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power. This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience. At one time you were like those persons. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.
However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace! And God raised us up and seated us in the heavens with Christ Jesus. God did this to show future generations the greatness of his grace by the goodness that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.
You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.
John Newton was born in London in 1725. Later in life, he looked back at his young adulthood and described himself as having been “an infidel and libertine.” He generally thought of no one but John Newton, and, to borrow a phrase from the scripture we just read, he followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power.
He had an office job, with prospects of success, but lost it because of his own impulsiveness and lack of self-control. He was drafted into the Royal Navy but then tried to desert, and he was flogged for it.
He joined the crew of a slave ship, the Pegasus. The Pegasus would take dry goods to West Africa — to Sierra Leone, a country that I visited on a mission trip…
