Our welcome team members will pass an offering basket during this song.

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A warm welcome to all, and especially to any visitors joining us today – if you’re new to our community please take a moment to fill out our digital visitors card or speak to us after the service!  

If you have children, they are welcome to join our Sunday school classes! 

^2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

¹¹ Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

1. Saved by Grace vv 1-10
2. Made One in Christ vv 11-18
3. God’s Church in Christ vv 19-22

Introduction

1. Can you recall a time when remembering your past helped you better understand your present?
2. Can you recall a time when you realized the difference between being included in something and being responsible for it?

Into the Text 

3. In Ephesians 2:1–3, Paul describes humanity as “dead,” “following,” and “by nature children of wrath.” How does Paul’s repeated emphasis on God’s initiative in 2:4–7 challenge common assumptions about salvation and spiritual effort?
4. What does it mean that believers are “made alive,” “raised,” and “seated” with Christ? How do these past-tense realities shape the believer’s present identity?
5. In 2:19–22, Paul uses political, familial, and architectural imagery. What does each metaphor reveal about the nature and purpose of the church?

Applying the Text

6. Where do you see traces of self-reliance or spiritual independence in your own faith? How might Christ be calling you into a deeper dependence on him from this passage in Ephesians 2?
7. In what ways does unity in Christ lead to sacrifice rather than preference? How is this sacrifice shown practically at UCC Helsinki?
8. In what ways do your rhythms of life reflect that you belong to the church rather than merely participate in it?