My wife took a photography class a few years ago from a guy who had been in the business for years. He’d done fashion shows in New York, done shoots of movie stars and singers, and had just gotten hired to shoot some of the incredible architecture in Dubai. His passion for photography was contagious and my wife caught it. In addition to teaching her an incredible amount about how to take great pictures, though, he also gave out some business advice: “never work for free, not even for friends and family. People don’t respect what they don’t pay for.”
It sounds a little mercenary at first, doesn’t it? But it’s true. We’ve had garage sales where the free stuff barely got touched…until we raised the price to $.50. We think that if something doesn’t cost anything that it doesn’t have value – and if it costs us a lot, then it must have a ton of value.
So when we hear that salvation is free – that the worst sinner can be forgiven, gain Paradise, and be adopted into the family of God – we don’t trust it. Many people actually reject Christianity specifically over this kind of grace, and go to some other system or religion. But if you look around, every system or religion I can think of is performance-based. Significance is earned. Gods are appeased. Even non-religious people will look for significance in generally “being a good person.”
This is how things worked in Ephesus, too. Artemis controlled everything, and if you wanted her to help you out, there were things you had to do. This makes sense: if you want something of value, you have to give something of value. It’s basic economics, right?
But this is not how things work in God’s economy, and Paul goes right after it. After reminding the Ephesians that they were spiritually dead, he continues:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
I’ve got to think that the Ephesians had to read this part of the letter a couple times. They were used to the way things worked with Artemis, after all. My guess is that at least some of them were under the misunderstanding that they had done something that impressed the one true God, and that was why Jesus had saved them, or maybe they felt like they’d made a wiser choice or been “more open” to Paul than the ones who rejected his message, and so God had rewarded them for their wisdom.
After all – it couldn’t be free. That’s just not how things work.
But Paul is pretty clear: God didn’t save you or me because of anything we did. We didn’t do something to cause God to save us. Remember from Ephesians 1 – He’d been pursuing us long before we were born.
What makes you feel significant? If I’m honest, it’s what I do. I’m significant because of how well I can do something, and when I fail to perform, to live up to expectations – my own or someone else’s – I’m less valuable. But this the same trap the Ephesians were in, isn’t it? Defining themselves in terms of how they impressed God?
Jesus saved you because He loves you. He left heaven and suffered and died to give you the indescribably wonderful gift of salvation, of being remade in His image – and that is what makes you significant! The truth that Paul tells the Ephesians (and us) in 2:8-9 is that our identity is in Him, and our significance is based on what He did – not in what we do.
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