Ephesians 2

Friday night we continued on with Ephesians 2. Although we first played the classic game of sardines. One person (or a pair) hides somewhere while the rest of the group waits in a closed off room for a few minutes. Then the group seeks the hiders, and when they find them, hide along with them. This is a great game and has always worked well with the groups I've led.

Ephesians 2 has two major themes: being alive in Christ (v. 1-10) and unity in Christ (v. 11-22). I focused on v. 3 for our devotional time. This is the verse from the NIV Bible:

"All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."

From this verse I brought up a mini-discussion on how good is good enough? 100% of humans sin. And it's not only Christians that do good in the world. If we had a spectrum of bad to good, where would humans need to be for God to accept them into heaven? If you were anywhere in the middle of that spectrum- what would happen if you came before God for judgment and His standard for entry into heaven was a little better than you thought?! The truth is that God demands 100% good to get into heaven. This cannot be accomplished without the gift of salvation of Jesus' redemptive work on the cross through faith.

See Andy Stanley's book "How Good is Good Enough" and Bruce Wilkinson's book "A Life God Rewards." Both are short and good reads.