Ephesians 2_10 His Workmanship

Biblical:

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Personal:

Cheap replica
Go downtown…
Little vendors..

$15.00 rolex
Has the symbol
Has the confident assurance eof the salesman
Not the real deal

I am not an artist…. A singer…. There are a lot of things I am not…
If I claimed to be an artist… I would be quickly shown to be a fake
God’s workmanship is amazing
He is more than capable of carrying out his plan
Testimony to Him
When I attempt his work… I fail…
When I trust him… he works a masterpiece
Marriage… family…. Relationships
How about faith…
What does it mean to be his workmanship?

Body:

I. We are His Workmanship

· Negatively put…. v. 1-3… Not Us

i. But God

· And in reminded in v. 8-9 … No boasting

· Not of ourselves… no boasting….

· Positively…

· We are HIS Workmanship… his doing… his creation

· First we need to see this as the Church!

i. The letter is to the Church…

ii. Our identity in the Church

iii. Our family is the church

iv. Our salvation is bound to the church!

v. Our promises…

· How do we see ourselves…

i. Do we think of God as passive… and us as active?

ii. Do we think… we approach Him, He is waiting for us to pray… to ask…

· Self-fulling….

iii. He is merely the gatekeeper on the great treasure house… a supernatural supermarket

iv. I decide… I am justified… for a few years then I want to be I sanctified… then I will work on that

· My activity matters it is about my choices… it is what I decide it is what I do.

v. ALL CONTRARY TO THE MESSAGE OF SCRIPTURE!

vi. God is described as the WORKMAN

· Our study of Ephesians… the OT… the whole of the NT… speaks to the activity of God… book of God…

· It starts with, “In the beginning God…”

· He made the world, He made man, God called Abraham, God called and created the judges and the Kings, God called prophets, God gave the law, God gave the instructions to build the temple and the tabernacle, in the fullness of time He sent is Son…. It will be God that closes history… from the Beginning to the End.

vii. We often start on the right path…. And move on to our own idea…. Get disconnected from truth…

· God isn’t passive… He isn’t waiting… He is active… We are His Workmanship

II. We are Created in Christ

· Created…

o Ex-nihlo…

o Not recreate… not reformed…

o Not self-help… not Self-improvement

o Romans 1:20"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."

o Same form of word… bring into being

o Most important fact… new creature… new creation…

· God the Creator… Potter… Artist… Maker…the great Workman… He made us exnihlo… a new creation fashioned by Him and for Him.

· 2 Corinthians 4:6"For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” (creation) has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

· He is creating Christ in us…

· "my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!" Galatians 4:19

· It is beyond our moralities, ethics, decencies… it is Christ being formed in us! By God

· Workmanship of God

· Created in Christ

III. Prepared by The Spirit

It is Through The Spirit

· Father chooses, Son works it out… Spirit applies

· Ro 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

It is through the Scriptures

"Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." (James 1:18, ESV)
Word grows us
Word indtifies with our Spirit

i. Edifies, Encourages, Exhorts, Builds up

2 Ti 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
Our salvation is through the Word… the Living Word of the Gospel
"since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;" (1 Peter 1:23, ESV)

It is through Preaching * "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers," (Ephesians 4:11, ESV)

Not do it yourself…
Body life
Ezra in Nehemiah
Peter’s First sermon
Jesus primary means of communication
Unity not disunity

It is through Providence

Hebrews 12 5-16 “ My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

· God uses our lives to prepare us… and is the work for which we have been prepared.

IV. The Work?

Disturbed and Convicted

“Where shall I flee from thy presence?” Psalm 139

Enlightened Mind

Living Word

New Nature

We are different… spirit to spirit

Ambassadors / Heirs / Children / Redeemed

Ambassador - Responsibility
Heir - Blessing
Child – Love
Redeemed - Perfection