I Am A Masterpiece Series

Let’s read through Eph 2:1-10.

You want to know how God sees you – verse 10 says, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

You are God’s workmanship (literally perfect workmanship). NLT: You are God’s masterpiece!

• I’ll use MASTERPIECE because that’s the word we are more familiar with.

• We are God’s MASTERPIECE, made in Christ Jesus to do what God created me to do.

Previously, this masterpiece is marred by sin. I was made good but then sin destroyed that.

According to God’s Word, apart from Christ, something was not right about us. Something was missing from our lives.

• I put it this way: Without Christ, there is something wrong with you.

Paul was very frank in Eph 2. He says there were at least 3 aspects that were wrong:

• (1) You are dead in your transgressions and sins – spiritually dead. (2) You have a sinful nature – you are sinner. (3) And you are the object of God’s wrath.

• That was verse 1 to 3. You WERE like that… BUT (in verse 4), he says God changed that.

This BUT was important. God showed up; and because He came, everything changes.

• “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive” – we did nothing; God started it all.

• He MADE US ALIVE with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions...

Previously dead but now made alive; the old was removed, the new came.

• God did a transformation when He removed sin from our life, through His Son Jesus. You are not restored, but BORN AGAIN into a new life.

• That’s our IDENTITY in Christ. Now, not just creation of God but children of God.

God did that because that was man’s problem. God has to do that because that was the only way to make us right.

• We were marred by sin and the effects of sin. We “follow the ways of this world and Satan”, Paul says in verse 2.

• BUT that was the past. God changed all of that through Christ.

Therefore our perspective of ourselves MUST change.

• Many suffer from low self-esteem today. They feel lousy about themselves – that they are not good enough, smart enough, fast enough, nice enough, capable enough, good-looking enough, and on and on and on.

• I think everyone battles with feelings of insecurity at one time or another, including myself.

In the early years of my ministry, I often felt like I am not measuring up, that I am not qualified, and that I am not good enough to teach.

• More so because I did not have any working experience; I made the decision to serve God full-time at the end of my NS, and then the next thing was my study at the seminary.

• Beside a short attachment during my Poly years, I have not worked in the marketplace. So no working experience, no knowledge in the marketplace, know little about the corporate world.

• That was how I felt. “You lack the working experience, you are young, and you are inadequate…” That was my handicap. I don’t feel good about myself.

Do you sometimes feel that way? That you don’t measure up, that you are not good enough?

• Let me tell you this – you are right! You will never be good enough. There will always be someone better than you.

• But why must you be good enough? The Bible says even “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” to God (Isaiah 64:6).

Let me rephrase this question again, why must you be good enough, when you are already good in Christ?!

• Our confidence is not in ourselves. Our confidence is in Christ.

• Paul says “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1:31). “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Phil 4:13

So WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

• With Christ, you are God’s MASTERPIECE. You are cleansed by the blood of Christ to be holy and righteous.

• You are fashioned by God, in Christ Jesus. Let this truth sinks in for a moment.

• That’s how priceless you are to God.

I remembered Max Lucado shared this story:

Some pranks broke into a department store in the middle of the night. They were not there to steal, but just to have some fun. They swapped the price tags. The values were exchanged. The tag on a handbag costing $40 was swop with a dress costing $60. They prowled the store and switched price tags randomly. Almost everything in the store was repriced!

But the more amazing thing happened the next morning. The store opened as usual. Employees went to work. Customers began to shop. The place functioned as normal for four hours before anyone noticed what had happened.