The debate has raged between those who see salvation as completely of God divorced from any part of works and those who see works as part of the process of salvation for hundreds of years. It was a great part of why the reformation occurred. Tonight I spoke to the youth at "Rise Teen Fellowship" about the second half of Epesians 2 : 10, " created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has ordained beforehand that we should walk in them. " it came out stronger than I had initially intended, but it was of God, and several students prayed to rededicate their lives to a life of working faith!
In our self-obsessed culture, we're all about "self-" words. Self-esteem, self-image, self-worth, self-empowerment, self-actualization. We run around for most of our lives trying to decide what we think about ourselves and worrying about what others think of us. What we need to do is read the word of God and realize who He says we are! It's a lot better than all the self-talk stupidity out there. You are His workmanship! Ephesians 2:10 is talked about, one word at a time. This is part 1 of 2, given at the "Rise Teen Fellowship" Wednesday night study at Calvary Chapel of Honolulu.
My Notes:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Who are you apart from Christ?
Self- words are all evil.
Part 1: For we are His workmanship, Created in Christ Jesus…
For: A transition word. What has come before?
We:
We, not I.
While the individual believer is important and loved of God, He is about building a unified church, not only the one saint.
1Pet 2:5
Eph 5:22-32
Rev 21:9
1Cor 3:16
Not They
Don’t get too distant from the goal. You are a part of it. It does include you as an individual.
Col 2:13
John 13:34-35
Psalm 139:13-16
Matthew 10:30-32
You are included, but it’s not ABOUT you.
Are:
Now, not only in the future.
Christians are used to the idea that they will be the workmanship of God (1Jn 3:2; Romans 8:17)
Romans 8:29-30.
Notice the tenses, though. They are complete acts.
Future for us, present for God.
God sees the workmanship as complete now, even if we don’t yet see what He sees in us.
Timothy Keller: “Do you know what it means that you are God’s workmanship? What is art? Art is beautiful, art is valuable, and art is an expression of the inner being of the maker, of the artist. Imagine what that means. You’re beautiful, you’re valuable, and you’re an expression of the very inner being of the Artist, the divine Artist, God Himself. You see, when Jesus gave Himself on the Cross, He didn’t say, “I’m going to die just so you know I love you.” He said, “I’m going to die, I’m going to bleed, for your splendor. I’m going to re-create you into something beautiful. I will turn you into something splendid, magnificent. I’m the Artist; you’re the art. I’m the Painter; you’re the canvas. I’m the Sculptor; you’re the marble. You don’t look like much there in the quarry, but I can see. Oh, I can see!” Jesus is an Artist!” And you beloved are His crowning achievement, His masterpiece!
Certainly not your past.
Phil 3:12-14
Eph 2:13
His:
Not your own.
Not the church’s.
God works in your life to make you what He wants you to be.
C H Spurgeon : “You have seen a painter with his palette on his finger and he has ugly little daubs of paint on the palette. What can he do with those spots? Go in and see the picture. What splendid painting! In an even wiser way does Jesus act toward us. He takes us, poor smudges of paint, and He makes the blessed pictures of His grace out of us. It is neither the brush nor the paint He uses, but it is the skill of His own hand which does it all.”
2 Cor 5:17
Workmanship:
G: Poiema, , a thing that is made, work of art, masterwork
Poem, Poetry.
Only used twice in scripture. Here and Rev 1:20. God has two great masterworks. The cosmos and the church.
C H Spurgeon : “You have seen a painter with his palette on his finger and he has ugly little daubs of paint on the palette. What can he do with those spots? Go in and see the picture. What splendid painting! In an even wiser way does Jesus act toward us. He takes us, poor smudges of paint, and He makes the blessed pictures of His grace out of us. It is neither the brush nor the paint He uses, but it is the skill of His own hand which does it all.”
Joni Eareckson Tada “(God) has a plan and purpose for my time on earth. He is the Master Artist or Sculptor, and He is the One Who chooses the tools He will use to perfect His workmanship. What of suffering, then? What of illness? What of disability? Am I to tell Him which tools He can use and which tools He can’t use in the lifelong task of perfecting me and molding me into the beautiful image of Jesus? Do I really know better than Him, so that I can state without equivocation that it’s always His will to heal me of every physical affliction? If I am His poem, do I have the right to say, “No, Lord. You need to trim line number two and brighten up lines three and five. They’re just a little bit dark.” Do I, the poem, the thing being written, know more than the poet?”
Created
2 Cor 5:17
Bara, out of nothing.
Asa, molded, sculpted.
Both!
Psa 51:10
Ezek 11:19
It isn’t something you have to work at in your own strength. God is doing this creative work in and through you. You are the thing made, not the thing making.
