Vitalized (2)

A couple of phrases are in Ephesians 2 that are at the heart of the passage: God “made us alive” (v. 5) and God “raised us up” (v. 6). You could say, God “vitalized” us. And when God vitalizes us as individuals, it impacts the family. Vitalized people vitalize families. Now, before we get to the vitalization, we have to see why we need to be vitalized. And the reason we need to be made alive and raised up is in verses 1-3.

Apart from Christ, we were…

… dead.

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins Ephesians 2:1 (ESV)

Dead here means spiritually dead. We were alive physically, but dead spiritually. We were dead men walking; dead women walking; dead boys, girls, and teenagers walking.

And that may be describing you today. Could it be that you are spiritually dead?

This means that we were unable to spiritually respond to God and to truth. It means that we could do nothing to please God.

Think about it. A corpse doesn’t hear conversations going on at a funeral home. A body doesn’t have an appetite. It’s dead.

This is also true when it comes to spiritual life of people apart from Christ. They don’t hear God. They don’t have an appetite for the things of God.

Everyone apart from Christ is dead. The only difference between one spiritually dead person and another is the state of decay. A drug-using drug- pusher might be more decayed outwardly than some apart-from-Christ member of your family. But both are dead in sin.

Not everyone is the same level of decay. Twenty dead bodies would all be dead, but they could have varying degrees of decay. And that’s the way it is with us. All are dead, but there are levels of decay. Our world is one vast graveyard, filled with people who are dead while they live (1 Tim. 5:6).

Apart from Christ, we aren’t just flawed or sick, we are dead! And this has tremendous implications for the family. Just look at a couple of verses in Ephesians 4.

Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. Ephesians 4:29 (NLT)

Make a clean break with all cutting… talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 (Msg)

Who wouldn’t want to live in a family like that? But this is easier said than done. Right?

It’s only when we are in Christ that we can really live this way. Jesus gives us the power to live this way.

But if a person is dead spiritually, they don’t have divine power to live out this kind of life – they can’t truly obey Ephesians 4:29 and 32. Not from the heart. Not from within. Not with purity of motive.

Now this might be one explanation for what’s been going haywire in your home. Are there people in your family who are spiritually dead? Are you expecting them to act like they are spiritually alive? What might be the implications for your family if someone – or more than one – is spiritually dead in your family?

Will you ask God to vitalize them?