Created To Do Good Works

Created to do Good Works

Ephesians 2:10

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Great Works of Art

The ability to take existing materials and either paint, sculp or build something spectacular is something a rare few creative genius’ have been able to accomplish. When one investigates Mona Lisa’s “enigmatic expression that seems both alluring and aloof” one can’t help but marvel at Leonardo da Vinci’s talent to use soft, heavily shaped modeling to bring almost to life happiness of the Italian Renaissance era. As one looks up and sees the magnificent 343 figures painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo one can’t help but marvel at his shear talent to not only develop the platforms but also to paint so eloquently in such high places! And as one looks at the intricate detail of Christ the Redeemer statue done by Paul Landowski that is at the top of the Corcovado Mountain some 2300 feet high, weighing more than 635 tons, 98 feet long and 92 feet wide one can’t help but stand in awe of such a brilliant engineering feat! We honor such great artistic endeavors by first naming the person whose creative minds produced them and then by the “vision” or object in which they created. While humanity has made some rather impressive works of art nothing compares to that which God has created! Unlike the artists who had something such as paint or building materials to create their masterpieces we are told in Genesis that God created all that exists out of nothing but by His mere commands! While seeing Leonardo or Michelangelo paint would be a moment one would not easily forget imagine being able to see God create humanity with all our trillions of intricate cells out of the dust of the earth and then out of nothing but His command to be given a soul that is meant not only to communicate but love and be loved by Him!

God’s Masterpiece of Grace

And if the creation of the human body was not impressive enough in God’s grace and through our faith we see and experience the miraculous, being born again! In Ephesians 2:10 Paul states believers are God’s “workmanship,” the masterpieces of His grace! While humanity was created in God’s image after the Fall the Bible describes us as being dead and entangled in sin and incapable of being righteous. No matter how spectacular the human body might be or how hard one might try to get onto the narrow path by our own effort we simply cannot do so for one who is dead in sin cannot evolve beyond a “fermenting mass of hate, envy, malice, lust, and cruelty” in the presence of He who has no sin! A renewed nature does not come from darkness of the dust of the earth but from the very finger of God Himself! While being “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalms 139), the first sketch by the Master’s hand is truly miraculous, how much more miraculous it is to see the Potter mold the clay into one who walks, talks, and thinks with the mind of Christ Himself? “Think of the patience that lent its arm, and its eye, and its heart, and its infinite mind, to the carrying on of the supreme work of producing the image of Christ in those who were born in sin! Think of the skill which makes heirs of God out of heirs of wrath!” It is from the Potter that we the fallen and unrighteous are molded into a masterpiece of His grace by “His loving and powerful hands” … we are of infinite value to Him! To have the Master give one a new birth, and write His laws upon one’s heart and seal one’s eternal destiny with His very own Spirit is a work that cannot be fully understood or rightly appreciated by us mere mortals but in humility and a spirit of thanksgiving gladly received and appreciated!

God’s Workmanship in Jesus

Apostle Paul not only states we are God’s workmanship, but the source of our new birth comes solely from Jesus Christ! In the previous two verses Paul says, “for it is by grace you have been saved not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (2:8-9)! One may think one can by one’s own effort become moral, righteous, and holy in God’s sight but the truth is that “people do not contribute to the rebirth any more than they did to their natural birth.” Only God can justify a person and only through the power of the Holy Spirit is one born again! It is by the grace of God that a person passes from death to life. In the book of Ephesians Paul says God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (1:4) and it is by faith in His atoning sacrifice that a person’s sins are washed away (1:7) and instead of heading to hell (2:1-4) receive unmerited grace, salvation (2:5) and an eternal place at our Father’s table in paradise (2:6-7). Becoming born again is not a “kind of transaction between God and us in which He contributes the grace and we contribute the faith” but the willful submission of the clay to deny oneself, take up one’s cross and follow the Master (Luke 9:23) who forever redeems, molds and transforms one back into the image of God in which one was created! Believers are called to follow Jesus by joining Him and offering their lives as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45) by doing good deeds that point to the glory of God the Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Doing good works fits well within the doctrine of justification by grace through faith because good works are the fruit of one’s salvation and not the cause of becoming saved in the first place. We have been given every spiritual blessing in Christ not just “for a beautiful destiny that God has prepared” for us but to do good works in His name and for His glory.