WORK
Notes
Transcript
Ephesians 2:1-10
Ephesians 2:1-10
Good morning, Bibles Out, Ephesians 2.
Good morning, Bibles Out, Ephesians 2.
Intro:
Intro:
4W’s RECAP (brief)
worship, walk…
WORK
Almost all of us have worked a job…either currently or in the past if retired…
Most of the time our works reflects in our wage…
If we do a good job we get payed better…
nWE EARN THROUGH OUR WORK…
This morning we are going to see something a little different than we are used to…
How our works have fallen short, but through Jesus our wage is one that will sustain us forever!!!
Our focus today will be on one verse……
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
This is a key foundational verse of the identity of a disciple…
And this morning we are going to break this one line of scripture down into 4 pieces…
And coming out of these 4 points we will know exactly how and why the Lord calls us as disciples of Jesus to work for Him!
So lets take the first piece of this verse and dive right in…
Point 1- For we are His workmanship…
Point 1- For we are His workmanship…
What does it mean that we are “His workmanship”
In order to fully understand this first point being made by Paul, we have to go back starting in V1.
Ephesians 2:1-7 READ
Look back at verses 1-3
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Paul opens up here and is very direct with his accusations of mankind's sinful past.
He says “we were dead in our trespasses and sins”
“Carrying out the desires of the body, passions of the flesh”
He calls all of mankind “children of wrath”
All of us have fallen short…All have sinned (we spent time before Christmas coming to terms with our sinfulness)
However, in verse 4 we find one of the greatest words in the bible.
BUT…
READ V4-7
God, rich in mercy MADE US ALIVE in Christ!
KJV “And you hath he quickened”
This word “quickened” means to be made alive!
HOW?
BY HIS GRACE!
THIS IS THE GOSPEL!!!
By His grace we are saved!
So when you look at verse 10, “For we are His workmanship”
This word “workmanship” means “that which has been made.
Through the works of Jesus we have been made brand new.
If you have placed your faith in the death, burial , and resurrection of Jesus…
YOU ARE NO LONGER AN CHILD OF WRATH
NO LONGER IDENTIFIED BY YOUR SINS AND TRESPASSES…
BECAUSE WE ARE THE WORKMANSHIP OF JESUS…
WE ARE MADE BRAND NEW THROUGH HIS FINISHED WORK ON THE CROSS…
WHAT PAUL IS SHOWING US HERE IS THIS…
OUR WORKS CANT SAVE US…
No amount of good works on our part can gain our salvation…
We are made brand new ONLY by faith in the finished work of Jesus
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
SALVATION IS A FREE GIFT, NOT ONE THAT CAN BE WORKED FOR
In fact that is why Paul is writing this letter…
The old Jews in this church of Ephesus are trying to get these new gentiles to follow the Old Law, the Law of Works…
Paul is telling these Jews, your righteousness no longer depends on your works..
YOU FELL SHORT IN THOSE WORKS!!!
ONLY BY THE WORK OF JESUS!
HEAR ME WHEN I SAY THIS CHURCH…
GOOD WORKS DO NOT PRODUCE SALVATION…GOOD WORKS ARE A PRODUCT OF SALVATION!
And as we are about to see, as we take our eyes back to Ephesians 2:10, this is what we were created to do.
Point 2- Created in Christ Jesus for good works…
Point 2- Created in Christ Jesus for good works…
This is in direct contrast to what we were doing before…
If you remember back in verses 2-3…The only works we were producing in our old dead state was that of fulfilling our flesh desires…
Now that we are made new through the shed blood…Our new identity comes with a new calling…
To produce good works!
Again, good works are a product of our salvation through Jesus…
Last week, BEARING FRUIT IN OUR GOOD WORKS
We saw in John 15 that -Fruit bearing is a byproduct of salvation in Jesus...
Its the mark of a true Christ follower...
OUR GOOD WORKS GLORIFY GOD…AND GLORIFYING JESUS IS WHAT WE ARE CREATED TO DO AS THE CHURCH!
BUT WHAT ARE GOOD WORKS???
These are acts of service to the church body (fellow brothers and sisters)
These acts of service GLORIFY JESUS!
1 Peter 4:10–11 (ESV)
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
All of us who follow Jesus are given unique gifts…
These gifts are unique to each individual…
As the word says these gifts were given to us by the “manifold grace of God”…
The apostle Paul discusses these gifts in Romans 12 where he says…
Romans 12:4-6 “For as in one body we have many members,[e] and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:”
We are called to steward these gifts appropriately…
Each of us has a unique skill that the Lord has given us…
And here Peter is calling us to use that skill to serve Jesus and His Church…
We are called not to waste them, but to use them as the Lord intended…To GLORIFY HIM!
NOT ONLY ARE WE CREATED FOR THESE GOOD WORKS, BUT THESE GIFTS AND WORKS WERE PREPARED BEFOREHAND
Point 3- Which God prepared beforehand…
Point 3- Which God prepared beforehand…
This piece of verse 10 is often exegeted in 2 different ways…
First is that Jesus himself prepared our good works through serving the people of God by coming down from heaven to serve…
He shows that by acts like, feeding the 5,000, washing the disciples feet, and ultimately sacrificing Himself for us.
The one amazing thing about our Lord Jesus is that He never asks us to do something that He hasn't already done.
He prepared the way for us to walk in good works, by first SERVING IN HIS GOOD WORKS…
The second way this is interpreted is that God prepared these works in us in our creation…
These gifts we are discussing are the talents or skills we have being used to serve Jesus…
Whether its playing music, or painting, or maybe you’re a great carpenter, or mechanic…
Each of us has a unique skill that the Lord has given us…
And these gifts are that which GOD PREPARED BEFORE OUR CONVERSION.
HE PLACED THEM IN US.
TO BE USED TO BRING HIM GLORY!
Either way you interpret this piece…WE HAVE BEEN FULLY PREPARED TO SERVE LIKE JESUS!!!
If you are unsure of what your gift may be…PRAY!
Point 4- That we should walk in them.
Point 4- That we should walk in them.
THE FINAL PIECE OF THIS SENTENCE IS A COMMAND FROM THE LORD
WE ARE SAVED THROUGH JESUS…
BY HIS LOVE…
FOR GOOD WORKS…
THAT WERE PREPARED BEFOREHAND…
AND WE ARE CALLED TO SERVE IN THIS WAY
THATS WHAT GODS WORD IS SHOWING US TODAY!!!
BIG IDEA: The Gospel should compel us to serve like Jesus.
BIG IDEA: The Gospel should compel us to serve like Jesus.
WHAT ARE OPPORTUNITIES TO START SERVING GODS PEOPLE LIKE JESUS CALLS US TO TODAY???
EASIEST WAY- SERVE TEAMS- KIDS ROCK, GREETING TEAM, WORSHIP BAND
SMALL GROUPS- DISCIPLING AND SHEPHERDING FELLOW BELIEVERS
PRAY!
PRAY!