Fourth Sunday in Lent

 Sermon Text: Ephesians 2:4-10

 Other Readings: Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21

 

  1. Find five different words or phrases in this precious section that highlights God’s goodness.
     
  2. Find four different words or phrases Paul uses to emphasize that no part of the rescue is our doing.
     
  3. Our Gospel reading tells us that the criterion for God’s judgment is faith (John 3:16). But note that Scripture always talks about being saved “through faith” and never “because of faith.” What is the difference?
     
  4. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement. Why? “Good works are necessary.”
     
  5. The sermon touched on doing good works in a COVID-19 culture. What do you think are some of the unique “good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do” (v. 10) in such a time as this?

 

  1. Five key phrases which emphasize God’s goodness: his great love for us, who is rich in mercy, riches of his grace, his kindness to us, it is the gift of God.
     
  2. Four key phrases, emphasizing that we cannot save ourselves at all: “We were dead in transgressions,” “not from yourselves,” “not by works,” and “no one can boast.”
     
  3. To say that we are saved “because of faith” places an emphasis on our believing, as if it is an act that we do to earn salvation. Scripture talks about being saved “through faith” because we are merely passive recipients of the blessings Jesus has earned. The Spirit creates faith; we don’t. Then God gives his blessings into the hand of faith; we don’t go out and grab or earn it.
     
  4. We agree! Good works are necessary because God has “created us in Christ Jesus to do good works” (v. 10). They are a necessary byproduct of faith. However, if someone says that they are necessary for salvation, then we must disagree; salvation is “not by works” (v. 9). (Shortly after Martin Luther died, a major controversy broke out over this question.)
     
  5. There are many unique ways for us to love our neighbors as ourselves during the COVID era—from being patient with someone with whom you might disagree to actively looking for ways to protect others, and everything in between.