We Are His Workmanship Series

Who are we in Christ? Have you ever wondered about that? Just who are you, who am I, to God?

Sometimes when I look at the night sky on clear and moonless night, when I’m out in the open, no lights around to obstruct, and I see endless maze of stars about. I really feel insignificant. I begin to grasp what the psalmist was trying to convey:

Psalm 8:3–4 (CSB) When I observe your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you set in place, what is a human being that you remember him, a son of man that you look after him?

That is what we are to consider today, what we are in the sight of God. I’m talking about those who are in Christ, who have been born again, who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Ephesians 2:10 (CSB) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

We are His "workmanship." The word "workmanship" in the Greek in “poiema.” We get our English word "poem" from this word. Directly translated it means a created object, something that was brought into existence by someone. A “work of art” if you will. We are God’s work of art, His masterpiece. His crowning achievement in Creation. Not people in general, but in context, it means those that are a new Creation in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (CSB) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

We are very special in the eyes of God. We have been made new and we are His creation, we are not self-made, we are God made.

Yes, we are insignificant when compared to the whole of the universe, but not in the eyes of God. We are going to concentrate on Ephesians 2:10, but before we do that, we to put this verse into context.

Ephesians 2:4–10

Have you thought about that before, we, who are in Christ, are God’s masterpieces. Look for a moment back at verse 1.

Ephesians 2:1 (CSB) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

We were dead and didn’t even know it. That is the condition of the world around us. They are the real walking dead. Look at verse 4 and 5.

Ephesians 2:4–5 (CSB) But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

"But God." No one else could have made the change in us. And for that matter, none of us would have made that change if we could. It was all a work of God. Why? Because of His great love for us.

Ephesians 2:6 (CSB) He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,

Spiritually speaking, we have been lifted up to to where Jesus is today. Our earthly bodies are here, but our true home is in heaven. This is why Paul tells the church in Philippi:

Philippians 3:20 (CSB) but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter calls believers:

1 Peter 2:11 (CSB) Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles to abstain from sinful desires that wage war against the soul.

The NKJV has "sojourners and pilgrims."

The NASB has "aliens and strangers."

As a new Creation in Christ, this earth is no longer our home, we are just passing through. Some us tend to make ourselves too comfortable here and are quite satisfied to stay here. But we don’t belong to the world. Jesus said as much, in His prayer to the Father the night before He went to the cross:

John 17:14 (CSB) I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

As being strangers here on earth, and belonging to the heavenly realms with Christ, certainly in our value system and manner of life, everything changes.

Colossians 3:1–2 (CSB) So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Our perspective on everything changes. We start seeing the world as God sees the world. We begin to love the things that God loves and hate the things that God hates. But while we are here:

Ephesians 2:7 (CSB) so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.