God’s Poema

Introduction:

New Year

Last Week Psalm 18 with Travis

Who God is

Our strength

Our rock

Our fortress

Our deliverer

Our shield

Our salvation

Our refuge

Calvin:

“Nearly all wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves”

So as we begin this new year I want us to not only be grounded in who God is

But for us to reflect on our own lives, seeing ourselves clearly

Scripture Reading

Ephesians 2:8–10 (CSB)

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Overview

How many of you have heard these verses before?

If you haven’t heard these verses before, you will definitely hear them again and again

These words contain the beautiful truth of the gospel

And they ground us in 3 realities of who we are and how God has created us

You are Loved

You are New

You are Prepared

You are Loved

Paul begins by telling the readers that:“we are his workmanship”

His handiwork

His masterpiece

His poiema

‘The end result of some work’

How many of you are artists?

Think of the relationship between a craftsman and his works

An artist and their pieces of art

This is one way in which God sees us

Care and effort taken

Energy, time, and devotion given

Pride and accomplishment received

Careful attention to even the smallest details

Guys, this is how God sees you

In the Psalms, David writes these words:

Psalm 139:13–14 (CSB)

For it was you who created my inward parts;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I will praise you

because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.

Your works are wondrous,

and I know this very well.

Psalm 139:17–18a (CSB)

God, how precious your thoughts are to me;

how vast their sum is!

If I counted them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;

God sees us as a beautiful work of art

Like a beautiful painting

Each stroke is adding to the larger picture

Like a beautiful song

Each note combining into a beautiful symphony

Like an amazing story or movie

Each scene/chapter is working towards character development and growth

You and me both

Our lives are far from meaningless

Every detail of our lives (from our upbringing to our personality and sense of humor) are woven together as a masterpiece in the eyes of God

Even the mistakes and sorrows ultimately add to our beauty in Christ

Think of your favorite movie

Finding Nemo

Conflict - Resolution - Growth

God has created you and you are deeply loved by him

Psalms 37:23

'The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.’

So I want you all to know, that even if you feel unloved, or unlovely, God deeply loves and cares for you

Since God created us, whose opinion of us could matter more?

One of my favorite pastors used to always say this:

You are more sinful than you could ever dare imagine and you are more loved and accepted than you could ever dare hope-at the same time.

You are New

“Created in Christ Jesus for good works”

So we are loved in the eyes of the Lord

But it doesn’t end there

The question arises… how can something so broken in such a fallen world be loved?

This only happens because we are made new; we are created new in Jesus

Even as it says earlier in this book (Ephesians)

Ephesians 2:1 (CSB)

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

Ephesians 2:4–5 (CSB)

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

Paul tells this to the Corinthian church:

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!

John writes this in Revelation speaking of the very end:

Revelation 21:4 (CSB)

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

The former things… the previous things… the things of the past

Death, grief, crying, pain, sin, sorrow

There will one day be a world where they don’t exist

Their date is limited — there is an end

In Christ we are new

We are headed on a trajectory into eternity with God

While the things of this world are on a trajectory in the opposite direction

And right now we live in the in between, the tension of it all

Like we are being stretched between two things

A Christian writer (Vance Havner) has this to say:

"We are not citizens of earth trying to get into heaven, but citizens of heaven making their way through this world"

But we aren’t new for the sake of just being new—with no purpose

We are ‘created in Christ Jesus for good works’

We aren’t given a new life to continue living for ourselves

Selfish living will be a thing of the past—it will not follow us into eternity

We are new creations with the purpose of doing good works

Most importantly 2 things (can you guess?)

Love God and love others

Both of these entail relationships with others

We are made new, not just to get to heaven

The point of following Jesus is not to simply escape judgement in the end

But we are being saved into a place that is unmarked by sin

A place where perfect relationships with God and others

We need to constantly remember and focus our attention of the fact that we are made new in Christ

We often neglect our hope of heaven

Or if we do think about it, it can be skewed and misinformed by culture

What are some ideas or images that come to your mind when you think of heaven or hell?

~Culturally Informed Ideas of Heaven and Hell~

But on the true heaven our eyes should be set

Like Paul says:

2 Corinthians 4:18 (CSB)

So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

The final point tonight:

You are Prepared

“Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”

Everything before us in the newness (this life and next) has been prepared ahead of time for us

We aren’t striving to forge our own paths of good works

We are simply walking in a path already laid out for us

Psalms 37:23

'The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.’

The idea of walking alongside God

With this truth there are two things that this brings: comfort and humility

Comfort

When we meditate on this truth we should be comforted by the fact that if we are walking with Jesus and pursuing God’s will that everything has been prepared in advance

That nothing has caught God by surprise

Example—Trip to Hungary

There is a deep comfort in knowing that ultimately God is the one in charge

Despite trials and hardships we trust that God is in control

We can relate to the Word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 1:5 (CSB)

I chose you before I formed you in the womb;

I set you apart before you were born.

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet (Lamentations)

He was rejected by Israel

Yet God prepared all that he would do, even before he was born

We too can trust that as Children of God, He has prepared our path to heaven, through the good times and the bad

And we get this imagery from Psalm 23 in our head

Psalm 23:1–4 (CSB)

The Lord is my shepherd;

I have what I need.

He lets me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside quiet waters.

He renews my life;

he leads me along the right paths

for his name’s sake.

Even when I go through the darkest valley,

I fear no danger,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

In the calm and peaceful times, and in the scary and dark times, God will lead us

So there is a deep comfort knowing that God has gone before us and prepared our ways

Humility

There is also a deep humility that comes with this

There is no good work that we can do that God hasn’t already prepared for us

At the end of the day, He receives the glory

Even if we look at the amazing lives of our church heroes (Paul, C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Tim Keller)

They can’t boast or receive the glory for anything they have done

Because God was the one who prepared everything in advance for them

All they did was walk with Jesus and obey

Again even in my story of going to Hungary (expound)

And for you

What ever God is calling you to do

Have peace and comfort knowing that He is in control

Be humble and recognize the honor of being used by God

God himself wants to invite us into the work he is doing in the world

Conclusion

So last week you have seen the truth of who God is

And today I pray that your eyes would open to see the truth of who God has created you to be

I love this passage we went over today

It doesn’t instruct the reader to do anything

It only states what God has done for us

But the implications are enormous

We have to ask ourselves how we should respond to such great truths

We are made wonderfully as a masterpiece by God and loved deeply

We are made new with a new destiny in God’s dwelling place

We are prepared for anything that could come our way

So listen to me know:

If you are here and feel unloved and unlovely, maybe that you feel your life is one mistake after another:

God wants you to know that he is not done with you

Your story isn’t over

Your life is a beautiful masterpiece that is being painted stroke by stroke

And we might not see the whole picture yet but we can trust that God makes wonderful pieces of art

To make a beautiful sculpture or gemstone requires a lot of work to be done

Perhaps in the difficulties you are facing God is working in you something beautiful beyond comparison

2. If you are here and you feel trapped in your sin and unable to live a life that is holy and pleasing to God:

God wants you to know that you are a new creation

Because you are on your way into eternity with Christ, the days of your sin are numbered

In the grand scope of eternity, there are only a limited amount of times that you will fail

But even if we do fall, we can trust him

Like the Psalmist says:

'Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.'

The worst that the enemy can do to you in this life is nothing in comparison to what we have in store for eternity

Conviction vs Condemnation (expound)

Hope

3. And finally, if you are fearful and uncertain of the future, facing anxiety:

God wants you to know that He has gone before you in whatever uncertainties you are facing

This is what Moses had to say to Joshua as he was preparing to pass on his role to him

Imagine the big shoes to fill

Deuteronomy 31:8 (CSB)

The Lord is the one who will go before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

From before we were born, God has known us

He knows where we have come from

He knows where we are going to

We can trust that he is with us now, leading us

Many things about tomorrow...

Following Jesus is not easy but it is the most worthwhile thing you could do

He often calls us to difficult things so that we might trust him more

Listen to Jesus’s own words:

John 16:33 (CSB)

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

So in all of these things, know this:

You are his workmanship, created new in Christ Jesus, for good works which God has prepared ahead of time for you to walk in.

Amen