A few years ago, a 65-year old woman named Debra Hamil was pulled over and tazed.

She rebelled against the police officer’s commands, and it escalated until she couldn’t rebel anymore.

Most of us have a natural inclination to rebel against authority. And all of us from birth have rebelled against God’s authority, and that reality has very dire consequences.

Ephesians 2:1-3:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

We were reminded on Easter that though Jesus was dead and in the grave, He was raised to life.

And our Scripture reminds us today that we were also dead (v. 1). We were dead because of the sins we committed. Sin is not just what we consider the big things. Sin is missing the mark. We’ve all missed the mark of life. Sin causes us to be spiritually dead even while we’re physically alive.

There’s a flower nicknamed the Corpse Flower that illustrates what we’re like.

It looks like rotten flesh. It smells like rotten flesh. But it actually doesn’t even have any of the nutrients that animals want when they eat rotten flesh. It’s useless in that regard.

In the same way, a dead person can do nothing. A dead person may appear alive, but produces no living fruit.

It says that we were dead even while we walked (v. 2a). As we lived our lives, according to the ways of the world, we were spiritually dead. William Barclay wrote this about walking according to the ways of the world:

[Sin] is life lived on the world’s standards and with the world’s values.

A lot of the things that the world approves of are not at all what God approves of.

This is because the ways of the world are actually more in agreement with our adversary, the devil (v. 2b). Satan is called the ruler of the power of the air.

It was believed the air was where demons lived, since God cast Satan and his demons out of heaven. It’s interesting that belief in angels is more popular than belief in Jesus.

The truth is, we are all in a spiritual warfare, with unseen demons tempting us to turn away from God.
When we disobey God, we are aligning ourselves with Satan and his demons.

And we should never forget that we all rebelled against God and were dead in our sins (v. 3a). And we weren’t just mostly dead.

No, we were dead dead. And a dead person can do nothing.

Remembering this keeps us humble before God and others. Remembering that we have all rebelled against God also reminds us of what we’re saved from (v. 3b). Being children of wrath means several things. As sinners, we brought wrath upon ourselves. As sinners, we deserved God’s wrath. As sinners, we judged ourselves in wrath, and we judged others in wrath.

Next week, we’re going to see God’s response to our condition. Although we deserved His wrath, God shows us His mercy. God is able to rescue us even from the worst condition, and show us His grace.

God’s power and goodness are most magnified in the worst of situations. There was once a missionary who was completely lost in an African jungle. The missionary asked the native, “Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?” The native responded, “In this place, there is no path. I am the path.”

Not only were we lost, but we were dead!

But Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.