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“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!”
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describes the condition of people in bleak and terrifying terms because of sin. In Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul describes the condition of all people apart from the saving mercy of God revealed in the gospel: “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.”
These are hardly flattering words. When Paul says that “we were by nature chil- dren under wrath,” those words crush our sense of entitlement by proclaiming that we are deserving of only wrath. Romans 6:23 reminds us that the “wages of sin is death.” And Revelation 20:11-15 gives us a terrifying apocalyp- tic vision of what that deserved death, the wrath of God, looks like.
The entitled heart is a heart that has either forgotten or has never known the truth of its own natural sinfulness.
Secondly, the gospel magnifies God’s mercy. We often hear grace defined
as God’s unmerited favor, but people sometimes struggle to identify the dif- ference between grace and mercy. Well, mercy is a certain kind of grace that is given to the desperate. I often say that “mercy implies misery.”
The gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that our desperate misery is owing to our sin. We are destined, by just deserts, for the full fury of divine wrath. But God is mer-
ciful, and He gave us His Son, the Lord Jesus, who died in our place, suffering the fullness of divine wrath for us.
In Ephesians 2:4-5, Paul follows the bad news of our sinfulness with the good news (gospel) of God’s mercy in Christ: “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!”
And just in case we miss the obvious implication of God’s mercy in contrast with our sin, Paul makes it plain that we do not benefit from the mercy of God in salvation by any kind of mer-
it on our part: “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). When a disposition of entitlement begins to make a home in our hearts, a healthy remembrance of the mercy of God in response to our miserable condition will expose the irrationality of such an attitude.
Finally, the gospel is the ground for our enjoyment of every good thing. James 1:17 reminds those who have received God’s saving mercy that “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” It is not just the spiritual benefits nor just the eternal benefits that come down from our heavenly Father. It is every good gift.
Consider this in light of the gospel. Would a warm bed or a well-lit room or a loving embrace be truly good for us apart from the gospel? Those things
– Ephesians 2:4-5
are enjoyable to the unbeliever, and they fall under the category of common grace (God’s grace given to all, whether saved or unsaved). However, in a very important sense, it is only the gospel that can ground a full enjoyment of good things in this life.
If not for the saving mercy of God, then all of the “good” things of this life would ultimately serve as high court evidence against us on the Day of Judgment. Our enjoyment of God’s kindness would
just be “storing up wrath for the day of wrath” (Rom 2:4) if we had not repent- ed and believed in Christ according to the gospel.
So in reality, the gospel is the basis for the enjoyment of every good thing in life. It also, then, becomes the basis for main- taining joy in the midst of pain because you know that no pain in this life can compare to the wrath you deserve. Also, no pain in this life can compare to the glory of your destiny in Christ (Rom 8:18).
Entitlement is the opposite of gratitude; it is the privation of thankfulness. If you find yourself battling with the irrational and wicked disposition of entitlement in your heart, and you want instead
to have a disposition of thankfulness, then look no further than the old, old story of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As darkness gives way to light and cold to heat, so the truth of the gospel believed and remembered will cause entitlement to give way to gratitude.
Kyle Claunch is lead pastor of Highland Park First Baptist Church in Louisville and assistant professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.