The birth of a child is such an amazing thing… we just had our first.  All the intricate details involved in bringing a life into this world are absolutely mind-boggling.  The fact that this is how we are all brought into this world is particularly amazing.  My wife and I experienced this state of awe and amazement a few days after we came home from the hospital and it all started to sink in.  But, in the midst of our excitement we found that for some, child-birth had become somewhat routine, somewhat normal, and even a little bit boring.  We discovered that people who had a few kids of their own or had witnessed numerous births were somewhat numb to the whole deal.  It really made us step back and wonder, “how could something so amazing become so routine, so watered-down?”

As we thought about this, I couldn’t help but think about the gospel.  And as I thought about the gospel the same question arose, “how could something so amazing become so routine, so watered-down for so many Christ-followers?”  How did an opportunity to know God by believing in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ become routine, boring, or old hat???

I know for me growing up, I would tell you I believed the gospel, I would tell you I thought the Bible was true, I would go to church… but, if I am honest with myself, the gospel had become routine in my life.  Whether you grew up going to church or not, I imagine that at some point, maybe even now, you have experienced this same thing.  Maybe the busyness of life has caught up with you, maybe you are “all churched out”, maybe you think you have progressed passed the gospel to more heady, theological truths.  Whatever the case may be, we have all experienced times when we have lost sight of how amazing the gospel really is… and therefore, lost sight of the radical transformation God intended.

In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul reminds us that as Christ-followers we have been radically transformed - by the gospel, for the mission.  Let’s take a look.

Ephesians 2:1-3

Paul emphasizes the brutal reality of who we were in order show us the beauty of we are in Christ.  Words and phrases like dead and children of wrath describe all of our conditions before we were transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.  When we think about the gospel and specifically the cross, we must realize that Jesus’ death on the cross was necessary for our sin, not just for the sins of the world in general, but for your sin, for my sin… so that we may be saved from condemnation.

Ephesians 2:4-10

The beauty of the gospel is that it does not stop with us… verse 4 begins with “But God”.  God enters the picture and saves us “while we were yet sinners”, not when we got our act right, not when we followed a moral checklist to a tee, but while we were dead, children of wrath.  God steps in, saves us from our helpless state and as Paul goes on to say, we don’t get any credit whatsoever… it is a free gift from God, completely unmerited favor.  And He doesn’t stop there… we are called the “workmanship” of God created for good works that have already been mapped out for us.  This is the gospel.  That God takes a condemned people, saves us from wrath, from condemnation, and saves us to a relationship with our Creator and a mission to point all of creation to Him.  We have gone from death to life, from temporary to eternal, from isolation to relationship, from self-pity to mission… all because of God’s great love, mercy, and grace shown to us through the gospel!  How amazing is this?!  This should radically transform our lives… not only at salvation, but it should continue to transform us daily.

So how does being transformed by the gospel translate to mission?  The answer – There is no way we can point others to the transformation available through the gospel of Jesus Christ if we are not being transformed by it first.  So today, make a point to remember the gospel… remember how amazing it is, remember who you were and who you are now in Christ, remember the first time you experienced this radical transformation, and invite someone else to experience it for the first time!