Raised with Christ: Embracing God's Immeasurable Grace

Devotional

Day 1: Seated With Christ in Heavenly Realms

Paul’s bold declaration that believers are already seated with Christ in heavenly realms defies human logic. This present reality reshapes identity, not as people scrambling for worthiness but as those resting in Christ’s finished work. The Ephesians struggled to grasp this truth, clinging to incomplete teachings about baptism. Yet God’s grace elevates flawed people to share in Christ’s authority and intimacy. This seating is not earned but given, a gift to be lived into daily. [58:47]

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
(Ephesians 2:6-7, ESV)

Reflection: What practical difference would it make today to act as someone already seated with Christ? How might shame shrink if you embraced this identity fully?

Day 2: The Incomparable Riches of Unquantifiable Grace

Grace cannot be measured, negotiated, or exhausted. Paul calls it “incomparable” – a river wider than failure, deeper than shame. The Ephesians initially knew only John’s baptism of repentance, missing the flood of grace in Jesus’ resurrection. God’s kindness outlasts every attempt to quantify it, turning unworthiness into a canvas for divine artistry. To question if grace is “enough” misunderstands its very nature. [01:01:12]

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.”
(Ephesians 3:17-19, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you still trying to calculate God’s grace? What failure feels “too big” to entrust to His immeasurable kindness today?

Day 3: Baptism as Participation, Not Performance

The Ephesian believers’ incomplete understanding of baptism left them unaware of the Holy Spirit’s power. True baptism isn’t a ritual bath but a plunge into Christ’s death and resurrection. Like Apollos needing correction, we often reduce grace to self-improvement programs. Yet baptism declares we’re swept into God’s story – our old selves buried, our new lives hidden with Christ. [59:43]

“Paul asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them.”
(Acts 19:2-6, ESV)

Reflection: Have you reduced faith to self-betterment? How might embracing baptism as ongoing participation change your daily walk?

Day 4: Living the Already-and-Not-Yet Resurrection

The tension between present transformation and future glory mirrors Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom. Just as the Ephesians balanced resurrection hope with daily struggles, believers today wrestle with brokenness while claiming victory. To neglect either aspect distorts grace – making it either a distant dream or a cheap self-help tool. True resurrection life walks the mountain path between valleys and peaks. [57:32]

“Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, “Here it is,” or “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is in your midst.’”
(Luke 17:20-21, ESV)

Reflection: Do you lean more toward “escaping earth” or “ignoring eternity”? How can you honor both today’s grace and tomorrow’s hope?

Day 5: Receiving the Gift You Can’t Repay

Grace humiliates pride – it cannot be reciprocated, only received. The Ephesians’ temptation to add works to God’s gift mirrors our struggle to “balance the scales.” Like a climber clinging to safety ropes on the Chief mountain, we must release our grip on self-justification. True thankfulness isn’t repayment but joyful surrender to the Giver’s love. [01:05:19]

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”
(Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV)

Reflection: What “gifts of guilt” do you still try to offer God? How might receiving grace today free you from the need to earn it?

Sermon Summary

Paul wants the Ephesians to live into the reality that God has raised them up with Christ and seated them with him in the heavenly realms. That reality sounds almost too bold, because simple human beings do not naturally feel worthy to sit close to Jesus in glory. God’s grace says that no matter what a person believes about himself or herself, Christ wants that person there in his presence.

Acts shows how much struggle surrounded Ephesus. Paul knew the difficulty of that place, from conflict in the synagogue to the confusion among believers who had not even heard of the Holy Spirit. Acts also shows Apollos preaching Jesus strongly, but still needing Priscilla and Aquila to reason with him and explain the baptism of Jesus more fully. The Ephesians needed a better understanding of the gospel, not just information, but maturity in the riches of God’s grace.

Paul’s repeated phrase, “for this reason,” points back to Ephesians 2:6-10. God has raised his people with Christ, seated them with Christ, and saved them by grace through faith. Grace is not from human beings. Grace is not a reward for being a good person. Grace is “God’s gift of joy and peace to a people whose lives have proven unworthy of it.”

Raised with Christ is both a present and future reality. Baptism joins believers to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, so new life begins now. The Lord’s return also promises a final resurrection into eternal glory. If the present reality is neglected, transformation gets pushed off into some distant day. If the future hope is neglected, life loses the promise that reaches beyond death.

Baptism is more than repentance if resurrection is truly attached to it. Without the promise of being raised with Christ, baptism would be little more than taking a bath. With Christ, baptism becomes participation in his sacrifice and an invitation to the reserved seat Paul describes.

Grace also exposes the place of shame and guilt. Shame and guilt can be healthy when sin is seen honestly, because salvation cannot be treated like a wage earned by inner goodness. God gives the gift freely, and the right response is to receive it well with thankfulness. Yet even the best response never matches the gift.

Grace is cultivated most deeply on the level ground of ordinary life. Mountaintop moments and valleys both form faith, but daily rhythms are where God’s grace becomes real. God’s love inspires action, but action does not inspire God’s love.

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Key Takeaways

1. Grace is not earned wages [01:03:01] Grace loses its meaning when salvation becomes a reward for being good enough. Paul’s logic makes boasting impossible because the gift comes before any worthy response. The honest soul does not pretend sin is small, but it also does not pretend obedience can purchase what God gives freely. [63:01]
2. Baptism joins believers to resurrection [59:43] Baptism is not merely a religious washing or a moment of remorse. The baptism of Jesus carries the promise that Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection become the believer’s own participation. Repentance without resurrection would leave a person clean for a moment but not raised into a new reality. [59:43]
3. Christ reserves the unworthy seat [58:47] Paul’s claim that believers are seated with Christ is bold because the human heart knows its own unworthiness. Grace does not wait until a person feels good enough to draw near. Christ’s invitation rests on his kindness, not on the sinner’s confidence. [58:47]
4. God’s love comes before action [01:06:31] Christian obedience is real, but it is never the engine that makes God love his people. God’s love inspires action, while action does not inspire God’s love. That order protects gratitude from becoming performance and keeps discipline from turning into self-salvation. [66:31]
5. Grace grows on level ground [01:10:01] Mountaintops can feel holy, and valleys can cut deep, but most life happens in the plain rhythms of ordinary days. Grace is cultivated in the steady climb, where faith keeps moving without dramatic scenery. The daily place becomes sacred when God’s gift shapes what feels repetitive and slow.

## [70:01]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[49:52] - Ephesians 2 and the Riches of Grace
[50:40] - Living Into a Raised Reality
[51:35] - Paul’s Struggle in Ephesus
[52:17] - Apollos and the Baptism of Jesus
[53:37] - “For This Reason” in Ephesians
[55:38] - Raised With Christ Now and Later
[57:55] - Seated With Christ in Glory
[59:43] - Baptism as Participation and Invitation
[60:34] - Grace as God’s Gift of Joy
[63:21] - Shame, Guilt, and Receiving Grace
[66:31] - God’s Love Inspires Action
[67:40] - The Chief and Mountaintop Moments
[70:01] - Grace in the Daily Climb
[71:31] - Glory to the God Who Does More

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Ephesians 2:6-10
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” [49:39] [54:44]

Acts 18:24-26
“Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.”

Ephesians 3:17-19
“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” [01:01:54]

Observation questions

In Ephesians 2:6-10, what actions does Paul say God has taken for believers, and what things does he say salvation is not based on? [54:44]
In Acts 18:24-26, what was true about Apollos’s teaching, and what was still incomplete in his understanding?
What repeated phrase in Ephesians does Paul use to connect his prayer, his ministry, and God’s grace, and what reason does that phrase point back to? [54:00]
What two sides of being “raised with Christ” are described here, and how are both connected to baptism and future hope? [55:52]

Interpretation questions

Paul says believers are already seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. Why does that feel so bold and even hard to believe, and what does that reveal about how grace works? [58:47]
Apollos knew the Scriptures and taught about Jesus accurately, yet he still needed help understanding the baptism of Jesus more fully. What does that suggest about the difference between knowing true things and fully living in the gospel?
Paul says salvation is a gift, not wages. Why is that order so important for the Christian life, especially when people are tempted either to boast or to despair? [01:03:01]
Paul prays that believers would grasp the vast love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. How can something be truly known and yet still be beyond full measure? [01:01:54]

Application questions

Many people believe in grace in theory but still live as though they must earn their place with God. Where does that show up most clearly in personal life right now: in guilt, perfectionism, fear of failure, or something else? [51:06]
Christ reserves a seat for the unworthy. What makes it hardest to receive that invitation personally, and what would it look like to stop arguing with grace in that area? [59:08]
Baptism is participation in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, not just a religious washing. How might remembering baptism reshape the way a believer faces sin, shame, or discouragement this week? [59:43]
Shame and guilt can expose sin honestly, but they were never meant to become a way of trying to pay God back. How can a person tell the difference between healthy conviction and the kind of self-condemnation that refuses to receive grace? [01:03:31]
God’s love inspires action, but action does not inspire God’s love. Where is there a temptation to perform for God, and how could gratitude replace performance in one practical area of life? [01:06:54]
Grace is often cultivated on level ground, in ordinary rhythms rather than dramatic moments. What daily habit or setting most needs to become a place of receiving God’s grace right now? [01:10:01]
Being raised with Christ is both a present reality and a future hope. Which side is easier to forget right now—present transformation or future resurrection—and how does that shape the way life is being lived? [56:31]

Sermon Clips

62s

“``It's a bold statement to make because I don't know about you, but I don't feel worthy to sit there with him. I don't feel good enough to even be close to him. God's grace is that no matter what I believe about myself, he wants me there in his presence. And what's so important about the Ephesians situation and Paul's emphasis on their knowledge of god's grace and their knowledge of the gospel that they come to a better understanding of all that Paul has explained to them and even all that Apollos has explained to them. The goal of all of this is to see that baptism is our participation and our invitation to this reserved seat.”

42s

“Though we neither make nor save ourselves, we can understand that the one who has made us and the one who has saved us should shape and form our reality in light of his grace. So may god's grace be the new reality that we live into, that in the daily rhythms of our lives, we understand his grace is enough for me. There's no goodness in myself that could ever earn it. It is God's free gift.”

56s

“And the way that Paul describes grace is with this. He uses these words. He says that God's grace is incomparable. He describes God's kindness as the incomparable riches of his grace, which is another way of saying that God's grace is immeasurable. God's grace is unquantifiable. You cannot place any label upon it. At any point in time where we wonder, is God's grace sufficient enough for me in this failure? Is God's grace sufficient enough for me in this part of my life? In any way, shape, or form, it outlasts anything we could ever imagine.”

92s

“Raised us up with Christ is both a present and a future reality. It is something that for all those who find themselves as baptized believers in Christ Jesus is a present reality that we are raised in Christ. Through participating in baptism, we participate in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we are therefore raised as new persons. But it's also a future reality that one day, the lord will return and raise us all once again to eternal glory. And if we neglect one over the other, we sense a bit of a struggle. For those who neglect the present reality of resurrection and focus just simply on the future reality and the hope and that promise of it will often fail to see the ways their life could be different and transformed for god's glory. And the inverse of that as well, those who focus simply on the present reality and neglect the future reality may lack a bit of hope for anything that comes beyond this life.”

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Grace Street Church of Christ Crockett, Texas This sermon · AI assistant

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