Grateful For My Salvation

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) - Ephesians 4:7-10 (NKJV)

God's plan, orchestrated from eternity past, was this. He knew our sinful condition. He knew we were human. He knew we would stumble, we would fall, we would live bound and held captive in our sin. And in His plan He would send His only Son to die for our sins, to rescue us, to reclaim us, to transfer us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, so that we would experience the new life of Christ within us. So where do you find yourself in that plan?

Over the course of the first three chapters of Ephesians, you see that God has a plan. God has a purpose. God has a design. Everything is moving toward accomplishing that plan. But now we want to ask a specific question: where do we fit? What does He have in store for you and me?

Steven Spielberg directed a film a while back called Saving Private Ryan. Some men who have actually been on the battlefield have said that Spielberg somehow captured what combat is really like. The movie is not perfect, of course, but it is a powerful and fairly honest portrayal of the chaos, fear, and cost of war.

In the movie, there are four brothers in the Ryan family. Three of them have already been killed in the war. And when the army realizes that their mother is about to receive the news that three of her sons are dead, a decision is made that she is not going to lose the fourth one too.

So orders are given. A captain named John Miller is told to take a small group of men - about seven of them - and go find Private James Ryan, who is somewhere behind enemy lines. Their mission is to find him and bring him home safely, so that at least one of those four brothers can live.

The film opens with an older man standing in the American cemetery at Normandy, overcome with emotion. He is looking at a grave, and as he stands there, the movie takes us back into the story of what happened.

Then, near the end of the film, after almost everyone on that rescue team has been killed trying to save this one young private, Captain Miller is lying there with barely enough breath left in his lungs. Private Ryan comes close to hear him. And Miller looks at him and says two words: “Earn this.”

It is a moving scene, because that really is the whole movie in a nutshell. Here is a man who has been rescued from the battlefield by people who paid with their lives, multiplied lives, and what is asked of him is simply: earn this.

The other moving part is when Private Ryan, now an old man, is standing at that grave reflecting on everything that was sacrificed to rescue him. He is overcome. He hears those words ringing in his mind. His wife comes up and asks if he is okay, and he turns to her and says, "Tell me I'm a good man. Tell me I've lived a good life." What he means is: have I been worthy of the sacrifice others made for me? Have I lived in a way that reflects what they gave? Did I earn it?

This loosely connects to Ephesians 4:7-10, where Jesus' sacrifice purchased our salvation and "He gave gifts to men," but it pictures a couple of things. We too have been rescued from a battlefield. We too have been rescued from our life of sin. We too have had Someone lay down His life for us. We cannot earn our salvation - that is what Jesus did on the cross. He died so that we do not have to. He paid for our sins so that we do not have to pay for them. He was punished for our sins so that we would not have to be punished.

But maybe we can hear those words just a little differently. Maybe instead of the captain looking at the private and saying, "Earn this," we hear Jesus saying: "Live in such a way that shows you are grateful for the sacrifice." 

Have you reflected on what Jesus did? The great depths He went to in order to rescue you from your life of sin? And the question I keep coming back to is this: what is my response?

Maybe you recognize the sacrifice He made, but you have not stopped to really think about what He did on the cross. Maybe you have experienced His salvation, and you have said, "Thank you, Lord," but you have not taken it to the next level and started living in a way that reflects what He did for you. We cannot pay for our salvation, but we can show our gratitude, and Ephesians 4:7-16 overall points us to two ways of doing that: 1) We help build His kingdom, and 2) We grow our own lives as children of God.

We cannot pay for our salvation, but we can live in a way that reflects our gratitude for what He did for us.

Reflection Question: Have you stopped to think about what Jesus did for you, and is your life showing gratitude for His sacrifice?

Dear Heavenly Father, help me reflect on what Jesus did for me and live in a way that shows my gratitude for His sacrifice. Help me find my place in Your plan, building Your kingdom and growing as a child of God. In Jesus' Name, amen.

Check out the sermon "Our Part in God's Plan" (Ephesians 4:7-16):  https://www.joshfranklin.org/media/fpz7c66/15-our-part-in-god-s-plan-eph-4-7-16