Painting God’s Masterpiece Part 5
Scriptures: Ephesians 2:4-6, 10; 5:1; Luke 14:8-11; Matthew 15:24-28;
Introduction:
This is part 5 of my series “Painting God’s Masterpiece”. In order for us to operate in and become the image that God has established for us we must first begin to see that image in our minds. We must see it, believe it and begin to walk towards it. This morning we will focus on one image that we must see that is crucial to our being able to reject the images we currently have of ourselves. Yes, I said reject. It is not enough to just see ourselves as God sees us; we must also reject what we have accepted as ours from the past. Let’s go back to the book of Ephesians and we will start with chapter two.
I. Seated With Christ
In my last two messages on Living in Were, I shared with you our need to leave the past of WERE where we could not remember what God has done for us and walk towards What Shall Be, seeing what God has promised and what He is going to do. To make this transition, we need to understand what has already happened; what God has already done on our behalf. God has already placed us where He wants us. Look at Ephesians 2:4-6 and verse 10. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus….For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Although I talked about these verses in a previous message, this morning I want you to focus on the placement – where God has placed each of us. In these verses we find that God has seated us with Christ. When Christ rose from the dead, we were raised with Him – meaning that the victory that He had was also extended to us – we became victorious. In Matthew 28:18b Christ said “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Remember what we learned earlier, if Christ is the head and we are the body, the body walks in what the head walks in. The authority that was given to Christ was also “transferred” to us when we accepted Christ. In all of our experiences, trials and tribulations, if we do not see ourselves as being seated with Christ, we will not see ourselves overcoming anything. Let me give you an example of what it means to be seated with Christ. This example comes from some advice that Jesus gave His disciples pertaining to “seating” arrangements. Luke 14:8-11 records the following: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” When we read these verses we generally focus on the lesson on humbleness, but this morning I want you to think about the seating assignment.
It was a common practice in biblical times (and still is today) to sit people at a banquet according to their “position” in life. For example, those “most honorable” or being honored are seated at the head table and then based on influence, other are seated with those most influential seated closer to the honorees and those less farther away. In the example that Jesus gave, He stressed to His disciples that when they were invited to a feast to not take the seats of honor, but the lower seats instead. This way, if someone was invited who was more honorable than themselves they would not be embarrassed when asked to take a lesser seat. However, by taking the lesser seat by choice, when the host saw them, the host could then invite them up to the seats of honor, thus they receive honor in front of all the other invitees. There would be nothing more embarrassing than being asked to give up a seat of honor because you took someone else’s seat. So how does this relate to what we read in Ephesians chapter two?
We have been invited to the feast and we have been given an assigned seat of honor. This seat is rightfully ours to take and yet because we do not know this, we sit in the less honorable seats. Jesus is at the head, the most honorable person at all sitting at the head table and we have seats at the same table with Him. Even though we have assigned seats at the head table, when we enter the feast, we sit somewhere else because we do not recognize that we are “supposed” be sitting at His table. God has given us a golden, engraved invitation to sit at Christ’s table. He has given us an assigned seat. When we arrive at the banquet the usher knows exactly where to take us – to the table with Christ. However, because we do not understand that this is where we are supposed to be sitting, we get up and go sit somewhere else. This is how we respond to God when we do not see where He has placed us. Because we do not see ourselves sitting with Christ, we refuse to do so. But consider what would happen if we knew where we are supposed to be sitting. If you knew exactly where you are seated, when you come to the feast, you immediately start looking for your seat. You have an expectation of where you are supposed to be and you are focusing on that. Think about the times you purchased tickets to a concert or play. When you purchased the ticket, you were given a seat assignment. When you got to the concert or play, the usher looked at your ticket, saw the seat assignment and took you to that seat. You did not consider moving and sitting in another seat because you knew that the seat you were sitting in was the one you had purchased. So for that night, for that performance, you owned that specific seat – it was yours. Think about where you sit at your own dinner table. Most of us have a certain seat we sit in, not because it was assigned to us, but because we chose that seat and got comfortable sitting there. Even if the seat was assigned to you, over time you would begin to claim the seat as yours because that is where you normally sit. Well thin about what would happen if you ever got used to sitting beside Christ. I will let that sink in for a moment.
Well we have a seat that has been purchased for us. It did not cost us anything but a decision to accept Christ. When we accepted Christ we were given a seat beside Him by God. If we have a seat that has already been purchased for us, why are we trying to sit somewhere else? We have an assigned seat and yet we are trying to sit in someone else’s seats. You see, Satan does not want us to understand the seating assignment – he wants us sitting in the back. He wants you to think that you are being humble not sitting next to Christ, not considering yourself to be able to do what Christ does. We must come to understand that this lie of his is crippling us. Look around this room right now. Many of you, for whatever reason, normally sit in the area where you are sitting now. Cynthia and I can always be found up here for the most part. The musicians can be found over by the instruments. Marsha and Aileen on the front row on my left with Jackie right behind them. The deacons on the front row on my right with Justin right behind them. These are seats and areas where you have gotten comfortable sitting. Others will not sit there because they normally see you sitting there. This is what I am talking about. When we start seeing ourselves sitting next to Christ, we will eventually begin to claim that seat. When others see us sitting there consistently, they will begin to recognize that the seat is ours. What would happen if I assigned seats to you for Sunday services? Some of you would rebel or question me as to why I want you to sit in a certain place. Some of you might start arriving later hoping that someone else would sit in your assigned seat so you can sit where you want. Once again, this is what we are doing with Christ. God has given us an assigned seat, and yet because it is not where we want to sit, we seek ways to get out of sitting there. God wants us to take our place with Christ. He wants us to own it; to look forward to sitting there; and to be upset if someone tries to tell us that the seat is not ours. Right now we are giving up our seat, our rightful place with Christ, to any Tom, Dick or Mary that comes along and asks for it. This is a trick of our enemy – he wants us to give up the seat. So this morning I want you to see in your mind a new image. I want you to see yourself sitting beside Christ with God the Father looking at you smiling and the Holy Spirit standing behind you with His arm resting on your shoulder. Here is where we have been seated and here is where we should stay.
God has set us in heavenly places through Christ Jesus and if we never grasp the meaning of this we will continue to see ourselves and victims of being born into sin. Yes Adam sinned and thus changed our nature – but come on, how long can we claim this excuse? Just as we accept the fact that Adam’s sin brought on our sin nature we should accept that Jesus’ death brought us out of that sin nature. Why is it so much easier to believe one and not the other? Well the answer is it takes little effort to believe one and walk in it, and a lot of effort to believe the other and walk in it. For us to walk in the presence of Christ requires some work and our old excuses will no longer work. If we cannot see what God is saying about us, our nature and who we are, we will not be able to receive it. Paint the picture of you being seated with Christ and then take a step back and see the picture. Everything we have been given is because of grace.
Ephesians 2:5 says that “by grace you have been saved.” Grace is our enabler! It enables us to do what God wants us to do because we have left our sin nature. Imagine trying to do something for God while you were still under your sin nature and your desires were focused on fulfilling that sin nature. By grace we have been saved, meaning that because of the grace of God our natures have been changed. Through God’s grace, there are things, by-products of grace if you will, that are now available to us. For example, healing and deliverance is a by-product of grace – it has been given to us through the grace of God. Remember the story of the Syrophoenician (Canaanite) woman from the book of Matthew? She had come to Jesus for deliverance for her daughter who was demon possessed. When she cried out to Jesus, at first Jesus ignored her. After His disciples asked Him to make her leave He spoke to her. Turn to Matthew 15:24-28 and we will pick the story up there. Matthew 15:24-28 says “But He answered and said, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!’ And He answered and said, ‘It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ But she said, ‘Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘O woman, your faith is great; if shall be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed at once.”
Notice what happened in this story. When she asked Jesus to heal her daughter, He explained to her that He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel only – He was not sent for the Gentiles; that would come later. But she continued to beg Him and here is what I want you to see. Jesus told her that it was not good to give the children’s bread to the dogs. What was this bread He was referring to? The bread in this case was the healing and deliverance that this woman’s daughter needed. He was sent to provide this “benefit” for the lost sheep of Israel, not to the Gentiles. So why was this woman not eligible for this bread? Because she was not the one He was sent to give it to. But the woman did not give up – she kept pressing until she got what she needed for her daughter. Remember what I told you a couple of weeks ago? When you want something bad enough, you must take one step more than where you already stopped. This woman did not stop when Jesus told her He had been sent for the lost tribe of Israel. She understood that He was not sent to her, but she pressed on anyway because of her love for her daughter. Although the woman received what she needed, consider the fact that it was something that was not “immediately available” for her. When Christ died and rose from the grave, what was once only for the lost sheep of Israel was now available for everyone. Healing, deliverance, forgiveness of sin, authority and power are all by-products of grace. So we have been given what we need and we have been given the best – but we must visualize it. Several years ago R. Kelly wrote the theme song for the movie Space Jam. The song was titled “I Believe I Can Fly”. In the sons were these words: “If I can see it, then I can be it, if I believe it, there’s nothing to it….I believe I can fly.” When you listen to the words it is talking about what I am telling you now. If you can begin to see what God sees when He looks at you, then you can be what God sees when He looks at you. If I believe within myself that I can be whatever God has called me to be; then surely I will become that because I see it and believe it.
When you read the first ten verses in Ephesians chapter two, you find that you are dead to sin and no longer under the power of the god of this world. We have been delivered!!!! I have shared with you from verse ten where we are called God’s “workmanship”, His work of art; His Mona Lisa. God got personally involved in our making and because He made that choice, we must see that we are not by chance – we are by choice. I do not care what others may tell you – you are God’s choice, not a chance. Chance is defined as “the happening of events without an apparent cause.” Well that does not describe us because there is a cause for our existence and that “cause” is our Heavenly Father. Choice however, is defined as something that was “carefully chosen; the best part; of special excellence.” We are all “choice” creations, not a chance. Now here is a point that I want you to take home with you today when you leave this place. “The Handiwork is only as good as the one doing the work!” I want to let this sink in. You see, we had the best craftsman – there was no one better suited to create us. If you were needing an electrician, you would not use someone who does it “sometimes” and “may understand” what your problem was. You would find someone who has been trained and certified and capable of not only diagnosing the problem, but fixing it. This would not be one of those situations where you wanted a friend to give you a hook-up. You’d want to make sure that this was done correctly and the codes followed. You would not want this job done sloppy. When you want the best work, you hire the best, even if you have to pay more. Why do we do this? Because you get what you pay for because the handiwork is only as good as the one doing the work. God does excellent work! Just look in the mirror and you will see His creation. Let me close with this.
II. Be Imitators Of God
Someone one said that the greatest compliment that you can receive is when someone imitates you or tries to be like you. When you examine what it means to imitate another person, you find that it means to “to see to follow the example of; to mimic; to resemble or reproduce.” So when you think about imitating someone, you are actually trying to be them. You do what they do and you act like they act. So let’s take this one step further. What happens when someone tells you that they want you to be like them so they decide to take you under their wings and train you? You become their protégé – the person they will train to be like themselves. Well God wants us to imitate Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Look at Ephesians 5:1. It says “Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children.”
To be an imitator of God means that we should be trying to do or act like He does. Now I know some of you are thinking that this is impossible, but think about everything we have learned to date. We have learned from Genesis 1:26 that God made us in His image. We learned in Colossians 2:10 that we have been made complete in Christ. We learned in Ephesians 2:10 that we are His workmanship – His work of art. So, if we are made in His image, have been made complete in Christ and are considered to be His work of art, then it stands to reason that there would be an expectation that we would be like Him. I have been told many times that my daughters have some ways that are similar to me – that they act like me “sometimes.” If our children act like us sometimes because of how much time they spend with us, does it not make sense that the more time we spend with God the more we will start acting like Him? This is not a bad thing – it is an expectation. Remember, Jesus came to give us a visual example of how we are to live in addition to bringing us salvation. Jesus stated that we have the power and the authority to duplicate what He did and in doing so we will be fulfilling what God has enabled us to do through grace. Grace is not just about the forgiveness of sin, it is about enabling us to do now what we could not do before. Can you see this?
God has seated us beside Christ – He has made us sons and daughters. This was not by chance or accident, it was His choice. With that choice, God made it possible for us to begin acting like Him where before we were acting like the god of this world. How many times have you heard someone say “he’s acting like the devil” or I will “beat the devil out of him”? Both comments are based on the individual acting like the devil – meaning they were acting bad or in some cases devilish. If a person can act like the devil or act devilish, is it not also possible for the person to act like God or act Godly and it not be a bad thing? I am not talking about someone going around and acting all big and bad and righteous; I am talking about someone who believes what God’s word says and operates according to that word. When God says we should be holy, by golly we should be holy. When God says we should pray for the sick and they will recover, then let’s start praying for the sick so they can recover. When God says that the things we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, meaning that He will support our efforts here as we walk in His will, then we should start walking in His will. Everything points to the fact that we are His and therefore if we begin to spend time with Him we will begin to act like Him. We cannot spend time with God and not at some point start thinking like Him and believing what He has to say. God says that we have been seated with Christ – we need to see that.
It is extremely easy to see failure versus success. It is very easy to see me as your Pastor believing what I am saying because I am supposed to believe it versus believing that it applies to you too. It is very easy to say “I don’t know the bible that well” versus reading it and asking God to reveal it to us. Start painting a new picture. Start from scratch. We already perfected the picture of “no can do” and it is time to paint a new picture. Look in the mirror and ask yourself “what if?” What if I start believing I am more than I appear to be? What if I start reading God’s word and acting like Him? What if I start seeing myself as a success versus a failure? What if I start choosing to walk like a warrior versus walking like a defeated foe? What if I see myself as God see me? What if……….? What if I paint a new picture based on what I am seeing now? I will continue this series next week. May God continue to bless and keep you.
