WHAT AM I? (part four)
INTRODUCTION: So far in our series on what we are as Christians we’ve looked how we are a child of God, we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, we are a slave of God, and we are a part of the body of Christ. Today, we will see that we are God’s workmanship.
1) We are handcrafted. Eph. 2:10a, “For we are God’s workmanship.” We are God’s handiwork, as the Amplified version reads. This is the only verse where we are described using this term. The Greek word here is poinma from which we get the word “poem” and it can also be translated to mean “a work of art” or “masterpiece.”
Doesn’t that sound pretty special? I don’t look at myself as a work of art. Maybe 20 years ago, but today, not so much. I’ve been called a piece of work before, but not a work of art. But the reality is that’s what we are.
God has hand crafted you-first in the womb when he created you and again as a Christian. First it was physically; now it’s spiritually. God is crafting his spiritual character in us. Like an artist he’s painting his canvas. Like a sculptor he’s chiseling away at us until we are a finished masterpiece.
The thing to remember about that is that the chiseling isn’t fun. Having God chip away at us is a process, sometimes a painful one; but a necessary one. He’s getting rid of the stuff that doesn’t belong-to reveal the art underneath. “Dr. Ronald Meeks, a Biblical Studies teacher at Blue Mountain Community College, writes: I have not had the opportunity to travel much, but several years ago my dad won a trip to Italy through his business and he asked me to go along. A highlight of the trip was visiting Florence, the great city of the Renaissance. One afternoon out of curiosity I went to a museum where some works of Michelangelo were displayed. As we viewed the half-finished sculpture of St. Matthew the tour guide explained that this unfinished work was a prime example of Michelangelo’s philosophy of art. He believed that in a stone there was a figure or statue waiting to be released. The work of the artist was to free the statue from the stone. The statute was so lifelike that I thought any minute St. Matthew might just step out of that huge stone.”
At first we’re just a block of marble-nothing too inviting or marvelous. But when the master craftsman goes to work on us things start to change. And we become something to behold-with distinguishable features that stand out and draw attention. Whether it’s a blank canvas turning into a wonderful painting, a block of marble turning into a beautiful statue or a brick of clay turning into an exquisite vase, we see there is a transformation that needs to take place. Sometimes, throughout the process, we become marred and God has to take care of that.
Jer. 18:1-6, “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”
Israel had been disobedient; they had become marred clay. But God is able to take marred clay and refashion it. Marred means blemished, flawed, stained, disfigured. That’s what happens to us through disobedience. But if we don’t harden because of it we can keep our softness and pliability so the potter can fix the imperfections, reshaping and reforming until we are that finished work of art.
2) The art critic. In the art world you will always find the one critic that seems to readily find fault and pick out some flaw. They would be considered hard to please. There are times when we are the critical ones. Whether it’s being critical with how we look or that we’re not as smart as the next guy or not as gifted as the next girl we find fault with how God is working on us. We think we know better. We think we have the right to call the shots.
Rom. 9:20-21, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”
There’s a lot that could be said regarding the context of this passage but categorically it fits within the idea of questioning God’s way of doing things. And Paul highlights the fact that we have no right to do that. I think mainly because we don’t have the whole scope of vision, wisdom or understanding that God does so who are we to question God about his plans or purposes?
One of the early church fathers, Irenaeus, wrote, “It is not you who shape God; it is God that shapes you. If then you are the work of God, await the hand of the Artist who does all things in due season. Offer the Potter your heart, soft and tractable, and keep the form in which the Artist has fashioned you. Let your clay be moist, lest you grow hard and lose the imprint of the Potter’s fingers.”
Isa. 45:9, “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? Really, instead of criticizing and questioning we should be grateful that he wants to spend the time and effort to work on us. Is there a better artist? Is there a better craftsman?
“There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. One day in one such shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, "May we see that? We’ve never seen one quite so beautiful." As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke. ""I haven’t always been a beautiful teacup. There was a time when I was just red clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I remember yelling out, ’Let me alone’, but he only smiled, ’Not yet.’ "Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. “Stop it! I’m getting dizzy?” I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, ’Not yet.’ Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips and he shook his head, ’Not yet.’ Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. ’There, that’s better’, I said. And then he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. ’Stop it, stop it!’ I cried. He only nodded, ’Not yet.’ Then suddenly he put me back into the oven. But this one was twice as hot not as the first one. I thought I was going to suffocate. I begged and pleaded; I screamed and cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head saying, ’Not yet.’ At that point I thought I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later He handed me a mirror and I couldn’t believe how beautiful I was. He said to me, “I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you would have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that you never would have hardened and you wouldn’t have had any vibrant color. And if I hadn’t put you back in that second oven you wouldn’t survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.”
God, the potter, knows what he’s doing with his clay. We might not like the process, but when we see the finished product we will recognize that it was all necessary and worth it.
3) To do good works. Eph. 2:10b, “Created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Earlier in vs. 8-9 Paul highlights that we are saved by grace, not by works-lest any man should boast. So with that, along with what vs. 10 says, we can surmise that although we are not saved by our works, we are saved for good works.
Formerly, as the bible says, our righteous acts were like filthy rags. But now, as one who is born again, we have the power of the Holy Spirit and the capable hands of the Master equipping us to go from useless to useful.
“There once was a drunken man in Chicago headed towards Lake Michigan to drown himself. He stumbled past the Pacific Garden Mission where someone got him in the door. He collapsed and fell asleep right in front of the preacher. The superintendent cared for him, gave him a bed, and the next morning he shared the gospel with him. Harry Monroe became a believer and was transformed by the grace of God. Later he would preach the gospel from the same platform where he once slept in a drunken stupor. He eventually became superintendent of the mission and when he died it took a whole day for the people to pay their respects. A newspaper editorial described him as ‘one of the most useful men in Chicago’. Useful. The world would not have missed a drunken derelict but God got a hold of him and made him into a masterpiece.”
What good works has God saved you for? Eph. 4:11-16. A Minister’s job in teaching and discipling is to prepare God’s people to be active in the faith and to figure out and exercise their spiritual gifts for the work of the kingdom. So that the body would be built up. So that there would be maturity and fullness in Christ. Created to do good.
4) For the glory of God. In the book of Isaiah, God’s people were described as the work of his hands. The purpose of which was to bring him glory. Isa. 60:21, “They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.” We are to represent God to the world.
Rom. 8:29 highlights that God’s purpose for us is that we would be transformed into the likeness of Christ. As an artist or sculptor goes to work it becomes clearer as time goes on what the picture or the sculpture is. As God works on us it should become clearer as time goes on that he is forming Christ in us. All of which is intended for his glory; that people would see what God is doing in us and glorify Him.
1st Pet. 2:11-12, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
We are a new creation with a new purpose. We are to live good lives, doing good works. One of the reasons is to silence those who try to slap an offense on us. Try as they might, but when they see that we are godly people, they will be persuaded to glorify God.
Jesus said in Matt. 5:16, “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” It’s all for his glory.
