L
God’s Masterpiece
I am amazed at the number of times that I have heard verses or passages of scripture quoted in a sermon or in a text and the person doing the quoting stops just short of a powerful truth that can do much to liberate the constrained Christian heart. By constrained, I mean the heart of a new believer (and some old believers) that have not yet discovered the pearls of wisdom that are found in the scriptures. Their heart is constrained by their lack of understanding and their limited belief. Our purpose as leaders is to show them how to strengthen their faith through the scriptures and thereby let their hearts soar with the freedom that Christ truly brings. Romans 10:17 states “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
A prime example of “shorting scripture” is in the use of Ephesians 2:8-9; “8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9not by works, so that no one can boast.” Now these verses contain a powerful truth of understanding that we have no hand in the process of salvation, that it is entirely a work of God. Both the grace and the faith are God’s gift to us. There are many great teachings and I have heard many sermons on these two verses alone and they have indeed done what they were intended to do, they have shown me that I am a miracle of God and that without His grace, I am nothing. The problem that I have comes from“shorting” this scripture. The passage is incomplete without verse ten which reads “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.
You can see how the addition of this scripture moves the passage from one of teaching to one of faith building. Now we understand not only that our salvation is a gift of grace but that we are crafted by God for a purpose, His purpose. He has been preparing good works for us to. These works were meant for us and us alone, individually. God has prepared them for us and He has also prepared us for them. When I received Christ as my savior, God set in motion events in my life that have brought me to a point of personal growth. I must now move from understanding God’s grace at work to bring me to salvation; to believing that God has a purpose for me and that He has already prepared those works for me to do.
Lets look at this scripture a little closer. It first states that we are “God’s workmanship”. To me this means that God has been preparing me for His service since before I was born. He has used every event in my life, both good and bad to prepare me for the work that He has for me to do. We Christians, especially those with checkered pasts have a tendency to try to forget our pasts as if they never happened. It is as if we were born at whatever age we became Christians and have lived only since then. The problem with this is that we negate the purpose of God having prepared us for His purpose for us. I would not be able to minister half as effectively if I were not able to draw on my past experiences and use them to show people where I was and where God has brought me thus far. All of my life has been in God’s hands. He protected me in my mother’s womb when she tried to purposely abort me by mis-carriage when she went bare-back riding when she was in her seventh month of pregnancy with me. He watched over me when I was drinking heavily and spent many days in an alcoholic stupor. He gave me hope when I was suicidal and no one else heard my cries for help. Today I minister to alcoholics, drug addicts, street kids, and those who are without hope. My past gives me credence with them because they know that I have been there myself. I also have the benefit of telling them about my benefactor, Jesus Christ. As Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, Who have been called according to his purpose.”
The second thing this scripture tells us is that we are “created in Christ Jesus”. I am led by this statement to 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” When we receive Christ as Lord and savior we do become new creations but we must understand the importance of this scripture. God takes the combined DNA of our parents and combines it with the special gift that He gives us (ref. Romans 12), then He uses our life experiences to prepare us for His work. At that moment of grace He sets us aside from the world as a new creation. This “combination of ingredients” makes us as unique as our individual fingerprints. I tell my congregation that “Christ in me is different than Christ in you”. God’s purpose for me is far different from His purpose for you. They may be very similar but they will always be different. We must get away from the broad brush approach to personal Christian ministry. One of the most popular of these is that “all are called to be evangelists.” While I agree with this in principle, I believe it frightens many believers away from ministry because they do not see themselves as another Billy Graham.
I see being a new creation in a more detailed manner. God is a God of details. He concerns Himself with the details of our lives so we should concern ourselves with the details of His purpose for our lives We do this by first acknowledging that He has a purpose for us and then seeking that purpose with all of our heart. This will involve some study (Both Bible and extra-biblical study) and a great deal of earnest prayer. I strongly suggest before doing this that you search your heart and be sure that you really want to do what God wants you to do. I guarantee you that His purpose for you is not one that you would pick for yourself
The third thing that this passage tells us is that we are “to do good works,”. These works become obvious to us when we have discovered God’s purpose for us. I cannot tell you what they are but God will make them plainly clear to you.
This brings us to the fourth part of this scripture which states “which God prepared in advance for us to do” It very clearly states that God Himself has already prepared, in advance, the good works that He wants us to do. They have been waiting for you since before creation. God will use you at just the precise moment to bring about the results He has always intended. We may never understand how He accomplishes what He does but we should always be in awe that He uses us in the process.
If I may share a bit of testimony that I believe will illustrate this point; I was serving as a deacon and a Sunday School teacher in my church and I was looking for another way to be involved in ministry. I thoroughly enjoyed both of these ministries and they both gave me great opportunity to minister to the individual needs of people but I always felt that there was more that I should be doing. Now I was not looking for a different ministry; I just wanted more ministry. God, however had other plans for me. He took me out of my comfort zone by closing the door on my ministries while at the same time moving me out of that church and into a new type of ministry. I found myself in a town that I had silently cursed for ten years because of the crime, drugs and corruption that was so prevalent there. I was no longer part of a large church, instead I became an elder in a small start up church. Within a year, God had broken my heart for the people of this town and opened the pulpit to me. I am in awe that He saw me as a pastor. I must admit that none of this would have happened if I had not prayed that I would do whatever God asked of me in service to Him.
As you can see, I had to “make myself available to God” before He could use me as He intended. I would never have chosen myself to be a pastor. I am terrified of public speaking. I am not a good conversationalist. I have never been a good counselor because I do not listen to others very well. I have always felt that these were good and necessary qualities for an effective pastor. God, however looks at us through His eyes and sees us as the finished “project” that He will make us to be.
The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” God can make us into whatever He desires but we have to allow Him to by getting ourselves out of the way. Only then can we truly become God’s masterpiece.
All scriptures taken from: New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
I am amazed at the number of times that I have heard verses or passages of scripture quoted in a sermon or in a text and the person doing the quoting stops just short of a powerful truth that can do much to liberate the constrained Christian heart. By constrained, I mean the heart of a new believer (and some old believers) that have not yet discovered the pearls of wisdom that are found in the scriptures. Their heart is constrained by their lack of understanding and their limited belief. Our purpose as leaders is to show them how to strengthen their faith through the scriptures and thereby let their hearts soar with the freedom that Christ truly brings. Romans 10:17 states “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
A prime example of “shorting scripture” is in the use of Ephesians 2:8-9; “8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9not by works, so that no one can boast.” Now these verses contain a powerful truth of understanding that we have no hand in the process of salvation, that it is entirely a work of God. Both the grace and the faith are God’s gift to us. There are many great teachings and I have heard many sermons on these two verses alone and they have indeed done what they were intended to do, they have shown me that I am a miracle of God and that without His grace, I am nothing. The problem that I have comes from“shorting” this scripture. The passage is incomplete without verse ten which reads “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.
You can see how the addition of this scripture moves the passage from one of teaching to one of faith building. Now we understand not only that our salvation is a gift of grace but that we are crafted by God for a purpose, His purpose. He has been preparing good works for us to. These works were meant for us and us alone, individually. God has prepared them for us and He has also prepared us for them. When I received Christ as my savior, God set in motion events in my life that have brought me to a point of personal growth. I must now move from understanding God’s grace at work to bring me to salvation; to believing that God has a purpose for me and that He has already prepared those works for me to do.
Lets look at this scripture a little closer. It first states that we are “God’s workmanship”. To me this means that God has been preparing me for His service since before I was born. He has used every event in my life, both good and bad to prepare me for the work that He has for me to do. We Christians, especially those with checkered pasts have a tendency to try to forget our pasts as if they never happened. It is as if we were born at whatever age we became Christians and have lived only since then. The problem with this is that we negate the purpose of God having prepared us for His purpose for us. I would not be able to minister half as effectively if I were not able to draw on my past experiences and use them to show people where I was and where God has brought me thus far. All of my life has been in God’s hands. He protected me in my mother’s womb when she tried to purposely abort me by mis-carriage when she went bare-back riding when she was in her seventh month of pregnancy with me. He watched over me when I was drinking heavily and spent many days in an alcoholic stupor. He gave me hope when I was suicidal and no one else heard my cries for help. Today I minister to alcoholics, drug addicts, street kids, and those who are without hope. My past gives me credence with them because they know that I have been there myself. I also have the benefit of telling them about my benefactor, Jesus Christ. As Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, Who have been called according to his purpose.”
The second thing this scripture tells us is that we are “created in Christ Jesus”. I am led by this statement to 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” When we receive Christ as Lord and savior we do become new creations but we must understand the importance of this scripture. God takes the combined DNA of our parents and combines it with the special gift that He gives us (ref. Romans 12), then He uses our life experiences to prepare us for His work. At that moment of grace He sets us aside from the world as a new creation. This “combination of ingredients” makes us as unique as our individual fingerprints. I tell my congregation that “Christ in me is different than Christ in you”. God’s purpose for me is far different from His purpose for you. They may be very similar but they will always be different. We must get away from the broad brush approach to personal Christian ministry. One of the most popular of these is that “all are called to be evangelists.” While I agree with this in principle, I believe it frightens many believers away from ministry because they do not see themselves as another Billy Graham.
I see being a new creation in a more detailed manner. God is a God of details. He concerns Himself with the details of our lives so we should concern ourselves with the details of His purpose for our lives We do this by first acknowledging that He has a purpose for us and then seeking that purpose with all of our heart. This will involve some study (Both Bible and extra-biblical study) and a great deal of earnest prayer. I strongly suggest before doing this that you search your heart and be sure that you really want to do what God wants you to do. I guarantee you that His purpose for you is not one that you would pick for yourself
The third thing that this passage tells us is that we are “to do good works,”. These works become obvious to us when we have discovered God’s purpose for us. I cannot tell you what they are but God will make them plainly clear to you.
This brings us to the fourth part of this scripture which states “which God prepared in advance for us to do” It very clearly states that God Himself has already prepared, in advance, the good works that He wants us to do. They have been waiting for you since before creation. God will use you at just the precise moment to bring about the results He has always intended. We may never understand how He accomplishes what He does but we should always be in awe that He uses us in the process.
If I may share a bit of testimony that I believe will illustrate this point; I was serving as a deacon and a Sunday School teacher in my church and I was looking for another way to be involved in ministry. I thoroughly enjoyed both of these ministries and they both gave me great opportunity to minister to the individual needs of people but I always felt that there was more that I should be doing. Now I was not looking for a different ministry; I just wanted more ministry. God, however had other plans for me. He took me out of my comfort zone by closing the door on my ministries while at the same time moving me out of that church and into a new type of ministry. I found myself in a town that I had silently cursed for ten years because of the crime, drugs and corruption that was so prevalent there. I was no longer part of a large church, instead I became an elder in a small start up church. Within a year, God had broken my heart for the people of this town and opened the pulpit to me. I am in awe that He saw me as a pastor. I must admit that none of this would have happened if I had not prayed that I would do whatever God asked of me in service to Him.
As you can see, I had to “make myself available to God” before He could use me as He intended. I would never have chosen myself to be a pastor. I am terrified of public speaking. I am not a good conversationalist. I have never been a good counselor because I do not listen to others very well. I have always felt that these were good and necessary qualities for an effective pastor. God, however looks at us through His eyes and sees us as the finished “project” that He will make us to be.
The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” God can make us into whatever He desires but we have to allow Him to by getting ourselves out of the way. Only then can we truly become God’s masterpiece.
All scriptures taken from: New International Version (NIV) Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
