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Are you sure you want me to say that?
A number of years ago, I took some college students over to Ukraine to teach vacation Bible school in the summer.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Our Bible passage today comes from Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine.
Indeed, 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)
A number of years ago, I took some college students over to Ukraine to teach vacation Bible school in the summer, and I was teaching in this small church. I had about 30 children in front of me, and there was a lady who was not from the church, but she was a professional translator, and she would translate my English into Russian so that the children could listen to my lesson.
And while I was speaking with them, I had brought along a little gift, a packaged present with a bow on it. And I was trying to teach the children that God has given us the gift of going to heaven as a free present, just like I just read from Saint Paul that going to heaven is a gift from God. And I had just made that statement and my translator, who was not from the church, turned to me and said, “Are you sure you want me to say that?” And I said, “Yes, go ahead and say that.” So she did. That heaven is a free present, that God just gives us this because He loves us for the sake of what Jesus has done.
And afterwards I said to the translator, “Haven’t you ever heard of that before?” “No,” she said. Now she thought of herself as a Christian, but her church taught that part of what gets you to heaven is how good you are. And she knew very well about herself that she wasn’t always so good, just like all of us aren’t. There was a pastor nearby who had a Russian Bible and he sat down with my translator and showed her this very passage from Ephesians two verses eight and nine. That getting to heaven is a gift from God, not by our works, so no one can boast.
And I remember she looked up at me and was so surprised that she had never seen or heard of this before. Sad to say, there are probably many people who would call themselves Christians who really don’t depend on Jesus and what he’s done and His grace in order to get to heaven. They still feel it has to do with their own goodness. And all of us know we haven’t been good enough to be let into heaven. So she was so relieved to hear this.
The next year she ended up being the translator for my brother and she saw the same strange name, Moldstad. And she said to him, “Are you a relative of Don Moldstad?” He said, “That’s my brother.” And she said, “Could you please tell him that I have now joined the church? And because of that lesson, I learned that getting to heaven is just a present from God.”
And what a wonderful thing that is that God teaches us in His Word. That God simply gives us this gift because of His wonderful grace in Christ. And our gratitude to God should be for our knowing this and understanding this so that someday we can all be in heaven with those who love this grace. Amen.
