God's Workmanship
Life Lessons Learned • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsSalvation is complete by God through Jesus Christ.
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
Good Morning, My name is Matt Doane and I serve as Youth and College Pastor here at Wildwood. I’ve been here a little more than two months so I haven’t had the opportunity to meet some of you yet, but my family is looking forward to the many great opportunities to minister here at Wildwood.
I have been commuting back and forth for the past couple months and I’m excited to say that we are closing on a house tomorrow in Acworth. so I very excited to get my wife and son to Acworth.
It is such an honor and privilege to bring God’s word this morning. When Pastor Ric shared his vision behind this series “Life Lessons Learned” I was very excited about it and the opportunity to speak.
It is such an honor and privilege to bring God’s word this morning. When Pastor Ric shared his vision behind this series, I was very excited about it and
It’s kind of funny though that I am preaching first because when I felt God calling me into ministry when I was in college, my one hold up was having to speak in front of people.
In fact, if I had to give a speech in a class in college, I always waited until the end of the semester because I was so nervous to speak in front of people. It reminds me of how good God is and how he leads us out of our comfort zones for his glory.
My prayer for this series is that God will use the Scripture that each Pastor shares to transform lives’ just as it has our lives.
This morning, I want to take you to a time in my life when I was 20.. I was in my parent’s basement where I lived at the time and I was face down on the floor in tears after reading a passage in God’s word.
This was a time in my life where I began growing in my walk with Christ and had an eager desire to know Him more through studying his word.
A little bit about me. I surrendered my life to Jesus when I was seven years old and followed that by believer’s baptism. Growing up, I was very involved in church and my parents made sure that we attended a church almost every Sunday. We moved around quite a bit and the first thing my parents made sure we did when we moved to a new town is find a church to get plugged into. I am very thankful for that now.
So I had heard and studied this passage before. but on this particular night when I was 20, God spoke to me through this passage in a way that changed the way I viewed my life and the way I viewed God.
I would ask that you would turn to with me this morning. I am going to break down these verses but before I do that, I want to simply read though it:
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. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, 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, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ 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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Background:
In order for us to grasp the Apostle Paul’s intention behind this passage we need to look at some of the background of the letter to Ephesus.
Scholars do not conclude that there is a specific reason why Paul is writing this letter but Paul expounds on some solid truths such as the redemptive work of God in Christ Jesus, unity of the church among diverse people, and conduct in the church, home and the world.
Two main themes we see throughout Ephesians are that
Christ has reconciled all creation to himself and to God
Christ has united people from all nations to himself and to one another in the church.
This morning, we are going to break verses 1-10 down into three sections and I believe when studying and reading through this that the apostle Paul make clear transitions in this passage as he wrote this letter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s look at V. 1-3 again and read it very carefully .
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.
I. Every human being is in a hopeless and helpless state without Christ.
One of the things I am going to do this morning is weave part of my testimony throughout.
Romans
I was at at time in my life where I was growing in my walk with Christ like never before.
The church I attended at the time had a very active and thriving college ministry and some godly men poured into my life and discipled me.
I started taking more ownership and began developing spiritual disciplines in my life and God was working in my life in a powerful way.
With that, I also began to grow prideful. I started thinking I was somebody and that God was more pleased with me because of the things I was doing.
I started looking at others around me and thinking, Wow, I bet they aren’t spending as much time in prayer or Bible study as I am.
I began to get puffed up with pride because I was playing the comparison game. I thought God was more pleased with me than others because I was putting in the time with Him. I was serving at the church, going on mission trips, etc.
I would also hear conversations other students were having and thought I was doing pretty good because I wasn’t as bad as they were or partook in some of the things they were partaking in.
It’s amazing how God will cut us down when we think to highly of ourselves. I was growing in my walk, but something was missing.
It was one night when I was reading the first three verses of that I was reminded of how truly desperate and depraved I was without Christ.
Paul’s words to the church at Ephesus were to remind them of their state before salvation through Christ. Dead, lifeless, unable to do anything to please a Holy God.
In our sin, we are incapable of doing anything that pleases God. We are separated from Him because of our sin and we can do nothing that brings him honor or glory.
This reminded me of how bad and desperate my situation truly was before God saved me by his grace.
paints a picture of what a life before Christ looks like. We won’t read the entire thing, but look at a couple verses with me:
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
It goes back to that lie that many people believe that if we do more good things than bad then we are ok.
If our life was like a scale and if we had more good deeds on this side and bad deeds on this side, the side with bad deeds would be completely filled in God’s eyes because we can do nothing to please a Holy God in
All human beings after the fall have a problem and the problem is sin. It’s not just being a bad person, it’s not just failing some of the time. Sin causes us to fail all of the time and we are considered dead in sin before having a relationship with Jesus Christ.
We could go back to Genesis and see the effects and consequences from Adam and Eve’s first sin and how that sin has been passed down to every human being.
So my son Isaiah turned two this past Wednesday. You know what they say about being two. “Terrible Two’s” Now, I love my son, there’s nothing like coming home and him yelling daddy and running into my arms. I also know though that my son in a sinner. You’ve never seen destruction until you’ve said No to my son or take something away from him.
It’s like the whole world is coming to and end. I’m amazed at how strong willed He is, but it reminds me of that sin nature and that I didn’t have to teach him how to throw a temper tantrum when he doesn’t get his way. It’s part of that sin nature of desiring to get what we want when we want it.
Ultimately, sin is the act of seeking to please and glorify ourselves. Seeking to fulfill what makes us happy no matter what the cost.
WIth sin, comes punishment.
Pastor Ric mentioned last week in his sermon about those that think they are justified by doing more good things than bad things. He touched on a tremendous lie that many people around the world believe.
If our life was like a scale and if we had more good deeds on this side and bad deeds on this side, the side with bad deeds would be completely filled in God’s eyes because we can do nothing to please a Holy God in
“Sin is falling short of Gods glory, and falling short of God’s glory in sin..” -John MacArthur
These first three verses describe the severity of sin. Notice in V. 3 that Pauls say’s we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.
Not only does our sin separate us and cause’ us to be lifeless, but due to sin, we are heading toward facing the wrath of God in an eternity of torment and destruction and even worse, separation from Him forever and ever.
Paul is using some very serious language here to describe man’s condition before a relationship with Jesus Christ.
In fact, if we just read v. 1-3 and stopped, we would be pretty depressed.
Let’s read on in Ephesians and look at what Paul writes next.
II. God’s gift of salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, 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, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ 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.
So, If we were having a conversation and I said: I have good news and bad news. 99% of the time what would you want to hear first? The bad news.
I’m wanting to get the bad news out of the way first so that I could end on a high note.
Paul shares the bad news first before sharing the good news with this church so that they can fully grasp how good God is.
II. God’s gift of salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Verses 1-3 gives us information and truth to make verses 4-9 sound incredible. It was through reading these verses that I was brought to my knees and to tears that night in my parents basement.
As Verses 1-3 creates tension and puts pressure on, verses 4-9 takes the pressure off because of Jesus.
I grasped how good God’s grace was in my life. How I needed Him and how he saved me by grace through faith.
It’s the image of God making a dead person alive through Jesus Christ.
The only way I had hope and security was by grace.
This was the most freeing and refreshing truth for me at this time in my life because it reminded me that all the great things I was doing for the Lord weren’t what justified me. It was by the free gift God gave me through Jesus Christ.
In V. 4, “But God” are the greatest two words in this passage because after hearing of our hopeless state, God interjects and because of his mercy and love makes us alive together with Christ.
The same God who raised his son from the dead is the same God that breaths life into dead sinners. We serve a God who’s power is limitless and his power is evident when he takes a dirty, dead, depraved sinner and adopts them as a son or daughter through the power of Jesus Christ.
My prayer is that this morning, you will understand this in a mighty way because when I finally got this truth when I was in college it changed everything for me.
I no longer had to trust in my skills and abilities but had to trust in the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ.
When God grants us salvation, we die to our old dead self and have life.
Listen to Romans 6:4:
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Just as Christ was raised to life, we experience new life when God saves us.
As V. 8-9 tells us “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.”
I think part of our sin nature causes us to want to take credit for everything. I was in a time in my life where I took credit for my righteousness.
Growing up, my dad taught me the value of work. I was 12 years old one summer and he said ok son, it’s time for you to make a living and start helping with the bills. So we loaded a push mower in my moms mini van and went and found some yards to mow and I learned the value of work.
I am very thankful for that lesson and I hope to teach my son the same thing one day. The value of hard work is very important, but when it comes to salvation, we can’t expect to achieve eternal life due to our works and good deeds.
I had this works driven mentality when it came to my walk with Christ when I was 20. I’m spending time in prayer, I’m spending time in Bible study. I’m staying away from the bad things, I’m involved in ministry, and the list goes on and on.
God will not bless us and is not honored by that mentality.
Listen to this quote from St. Augustine
“God gives where he finds empty hands.” St. Augustine
I thought of a good illustration for thi
When we are holding onto other things for salvation, we don’t recognize a need for the grace and mercy of God.
It’s like when I take groceries out of the car, I’m the kind of guy that wants to take every single bag in one trip. I use my fingers, my toes, my mouth, every part of my body to take the groceries in, to the point I have no other limb or ability to carry another item.
That’s what it looks like when we hold onto other things to put our hope and trust in. God is not honored or glorified through that.
In order to understand grace and mercy, we have to come to a realization that God alone brings salvation and we must completely die to ourselves and accept the grace and mercy of the Lord.
John
Only a Holy, Sovereign Lord can bring a dead person back to life and he does it by the power of Jesus.
Before we can truly understand and grasp grace, we have to be broken over the fact that we have absolutely nothing to offer God.
He wants us to come to the realization that we are empty and only he can fill us up.
Listen to a couple passages in John.
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
I’m sure you are familiar with this story but this comes from Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well. I love his teaching style here because he is telling this woman who had dealt with sin and was trying to fulfill her life with things other than God that God can offer her “living water” which refers to a life that is fully alive and has meaning and purpose.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
There is no other way to salvation or eternal life besides Jesus Christ.
It doesn’t matter if you have the entire Bible memorized, you’ve had perfect attendance in church your entire life, what family you come from. Our justification comes through Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Taking hold of that truth will free us to live a life under grace and living a life under grace causes us to live a life of service to a God who saved us by his grace and mercy.
It will take us all eternity to fathom the great love of the Lord. The fact that there was nothing good in us, but he simply saved us because of the love he had for us is something I will never be able to fully grasp but it’s a truth that I can accept and live by everyday.
If verses 4-9 aren’t good enough, let’s read v. 10 as Paul wraps his thought up.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We have to be careful when we study God’s word, because if we pick and choose verses we like and enjoy without reading the context, we can get in a dangerous situation.
We can’t make the mistake in reading verses 4-9 and ending there because we are encouraged by the truth we read.
III. God’s saving work in our life through Jesus Christ will result in obedience through good works.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
Again, we see the truth that we are God’s workmanship. He is molding us and crafting us to look more like his son Jesus.
Once we are new in Christ, God has prepared great works for us to accomplish for His glory.
I like to think of it as we are not working for grace but we are working from grace.
For Christians, our prize has already been won by Christ. We are not trying to win the prize but we are running toward the prize we have already won. WIth that, comes sacrifice and a life that seeks to honor and glorify God in all that we do.
If you’ve ever been shown grace by someone meaning an undeserved gift, I would hope that your mentality would be to try and repay the same act of kindness they have shown you.
Katherine and I have moved four times in the six years we have been married due to renting and buying a house and now buying a house in Acworth. Every time we have moved I’ve had a group of friends help me. Now, having friends help is not always the greatest because most of our furniture is scratched up and there’s usually marks on the walls, but after feeling that kindness and love from my friends, whenever they have moved it’s only natural to offer my services to help them move as well.
We will never be able to repay God for the grace and mercy he gives us, but he reminds us in V. 10 that once he saves us, that’s only the beginning of our walk with Him. There are works that he has prepared for us to do.
He is not done with us. At the time of salvation, God has an exciting journey and road for us by his grace for HIs glory.
We now desire to live a life in service to Him because we grasp how good his grace and mercy are.
WIldwood Students started studying James this past Wednesday night and I’m very excited to see how this study will challenge our students to live out their their faith.
:Listen to
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
When we place our faith in Christ, our life will have evidence of that faith in the way we serve the Lord.
A Christian life will produce fruit.
Faith is non existent if it does not have fruit and works to back it up.
We will live a life joyfully serving the Lord because we understand that without God’s saving grace and work in our life, we would still be dead in sin.
I try so hard to stay away from saying things like “I have to go to church today” or “I have to teach this class today”
Collo
Instead I want to say “I get to go to church today” “I have the privilege to teach today” Why? Because of God’s grace and mercy.
From V. 1-3, we deserve nothing but wrath from God because of our sin, but His mercy and kindness gives us a reason to live out our faith in the way we serve Him and serve others.
It’s a daily death to ourself and reminding ourselves that we are nothing without Christ.
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
We are being renewed each day when we walk in the newness of life that God’s word talks about.
You may be sitting here and feeling convicted that you aren’t doing enough for the Lord. Use this passage as an encouragement to get plugged in somewhere.
Conclusion
There are numerous ways you can get involved in ministry at WIldwood. Talk to one of the Pastors and we would love to help you get plugged in so that you can use your gifts and talents to serve the Lord.
The Christian life is not a show where you get your ticket to church, come and sit every week then go back into your normal routine of like. The Christian life and the Christian walk is a Go and Tell. Always being active in finding ways to serve the Lord and show others how great his love and his mercy is.
Conclusion
In closing this morning, I think the truths we read about in serve as great reminders for us to recite daily.
Paul David Tripp: Preach the Gospel to yourself daily.
When we remind ourselves of this truth everyday, we live a life under grace and it frees us from thinking we have to have it all figured out and we have to earn our way to God.
When I was in youth ministry, there was a book I read about climbing a mountain to God. The illustration the book used was that the Christian life was like climbing a mountain and eventually we would reach God.
According to Scripture and according to the Gospel, We are at the bottom of the mountain and God raises us up to the top not by our effort but by the power of Jesus Christ.
We are nothing without Christ. He saves us and sustains us. We are justified by the precious blood of Jesus.
Now, the question this morning is: How will that truth change our lives’?
I know for me, It helped me live a life knowing that I was accepted by God only by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
I’ve made it a regular routine in my life to go to and read it. Sometimes I read it aloud to just let the words impact my life.
I would encourage you to do the same.
Three daily reminders:
Sin separates us from God and we need restoration.
God saves us by grace through faith in the work that jesus Christ accomplished.
We are saved for good works which God prepared for us to become more like Christ.
I pray that the truth found in this passage will impact you like it did me. We can never overlook or downplay how good God’s redemptive work though Christ is in our life.
We are great sinners in need of a great savior and that savior was provided for us through Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray.