Sermon Series: Ephesians–the Believer's Bank

Salvation Is... Part 3

Ephesians 2:10

PSBC 5/7/00

In a nutshell: As recipients of salvation, we are God's masterpiece. Created with the capacity to do good works and be the recipients of the good works we are supposed to do. All this to make a difference in the corner of the world where God has placed us.

I. Introduction

A. Invictus, by W. E. Henley

Do you remember high school literature? One of the poems we had to memorize was W. E. Henley's poem, Invictus...

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
Through the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
But under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
There is something very ego-gratifying about that poem. It's individualistic, it gives a person the feeling of control, and it captures something of the unconquerable human spirit. It is very American. It appeals to what I'd like to think is true about me–that I can do anything and that I can be fiercely independent of anyone's help.

Well, "Invictus" might be true about the smaller things of life, but when it comes to the really big issues...
–things like determining the values on which to base our lives;
–making the right choices that will determine our destiny for eternity;
–developing an outlook on life that gives a purpose for getting up everyday and facing the challenges of the day; and
–making sense out of the events of our day...
...in reality we are more like the sparrow described in an old story from the Middle East...

B. Sparrow story

A man was traveling on his donkey when he came upon a small fuzzy object lying in the road. He dismounted to look more closely and found a sparrow lying on its back with its scrawny legs thrust up in the air. At first the man thought the bird was dead. But on closer investigation he discovered that the little bird was very much alive. So the man asked the sparrow if he was alright. The sparrow replied, "Yes." So the man said, "What are you doing lying on your back with your legs pointed toward the sky?" The sparrow responded that he had heard a rumor that the sky was falling, and so he was holding his legs up in support. The man replied, "You surely don't thing that you're going to hold up the sky with those two scrawny legs, do you?" To which the sparrow solemnly looked at the man and replied, "One does the best he can.".

C. Review

Well, friends, the problem with human beings is that in reality, we might try to do the best we can when it comes to making sense out of life, when it comes to making choices of values, and when it comes to making decisions that will affect our eternal destiny. But the fact is, that even our most noble efforts are pretty puny compared to what we really need.

What we really need to cope with life, destiny, eternity and the really big issues of life is something beyond our selves. Something much bigger than ourselves. We need the mind, the heart, the wisdom, the understanding and the righteousness of God–the creator and designer of the universe.

And that's what salvation provides. Salvation is so much more than just fire insurance from hell. As we've seen over the past two weeks, Salvation is...
...from our sin that makes us unable to live up to the righteousness of a holy God.
...accomplished by love. Through God's love, our relationship with our holy God has been restored. We've been reconciled, repaired, and mended back to the way God originally intended when he created man in His image and for a love relationship with Him.
...to make us alive to spiritual things. Salvation opens our eyes to what is really important, not to just what is expedient.
...for a purpose. Salvation gives us the purpose to reflect the love of Jesus Christ onto the part of the world that we uniquely touch.
...and according to verses 8 and 9 of Ephesians 2, salvation is not earned, but given by faith. God's grace alone is responsible for our salvation, not anything we humans can do!.

D. Transition

And, as we'll see this evening, we're not done with the intricacies of salvation, yet. Because as we look at verse 10 of Ephesians 2, we'll see that salvation is also...FOR GOOD WORKS. If you have your Bibles, take a look at verse 10 of Ephesians 2...

Ephesians 2:10
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

II. God's Masterwork

A. The place of works

It was Martin Luther, (not Martin Luther King), who made the statement, "We are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone." What he meant was that true faith will always demonstrate itself by good works. James, the brother of Jesus, and the leader of the First Baptist Church of Jerusalem said...

James 2:26
26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds (or works) is dead.

So, works have a tremendous place in the life of a person who has been given salvation. In reality works or good deeds, prove that salvation has really come to a person.

B. God's Work

Have you ever tried to define God to someone? You can get a case of major "brain strain" if you try to be accurate and totally inclusive. It's hard to put into words, an idea that adequately describes God.

So, most often we describe God in terms of what He does or has done. So we define God as The Creator, or The Master Designer of the Universe . And God's creation is truly incredible if you take time to look at it's intricacies.

Just look at the stars, look at the mountains, look at something like the Grand Canyon. Just drive around this beautiful area and look at the majesty of the mountains, the beauty of the trees in bloom and the uniqueness of the indigenous animals that live here. These are all examples of God's creative genius. The mind and the power and the creativity to make all this is truly marvelous!

But what do you think would be God's masterwork? The Grand Canyon? The Great Lakes? The Amazon River? The Swiss Alps? What about human beings?

Illustration: If you want to see something marvelous and amazing, take a look at a baby. Physically, the design is almost beyond belief. You could spend hours just contemplating how that child's eye works...
–Light passes through the cornea, then through the focusing lens where it strikes the retina.
–That action stimulates 125 million nerve endings that act like micro switches
–These nerves process the information they receive and funnel it down to optic nerve.
–Then the optic nerve, which itself contains over a million separate insulated fibers, sends a message to the brain.
–And when the message is received by the brain, the brain, through an incredibly complex process, translates that impulse message into an image.
–And that image is what we finally see.
And all this happens in a millisecond.

And that's just part of that baby's physical makeup. When you add to that the emotional makeup, the intellectual capacity, and the fact that that child has in it something that will live for eternity, called a soul..., you could probably say that human beings are the pinnacle of God's creation? Right?

But friends, human beings by themselves are still not the masterwork of God. The masterwork of God is the human being who has been born again through Jesus Christ. Verse 10 says, "for we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus...". In other words, when we are re-made through a relationship with Christ Jesus, we are God's ultimate creation.

The word in this verse, that is translated, "workmanship", is the Greek word, POEMA. I think you can see our English word, "poem" in this word. But POEMA means much, much more than just a poem. It means a "work of art" or a "master piece". In other words, when we are created in Christ, we become God's ultimate masterpiece.

C. God's Masterpiece

Let me explain why this is.

Human beings are definitely at the top of God's creative work. We really are works of art. But we become a "master piece" when we are re-created into something even better. That's what happens because of salvation.

2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

When salvation entered our lives, God took our old self and replaced it with a new self. A radical metamorphosis takes place when we have a relationship with Christ. That change is of even greater proportions than the metamorphosis that takes place when a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. The very nature of our eternal DNA has been altered when we become a new creation in Christ Jesus.

And that's what salvation is really all about. Salvation is a work of God that changes us from merely earthly creatures of high value...
...to eternal creatures of the highest value.
Because only those who have exchanged their personal unrighteousness for the righteousness of Jesus Christ, through faith in Him, will be citizens of heaven, with God, as sons and daughters of God. That means, you, Christian, are God's masterpiece!

III. Prepared for Good Works

A. Prepared

But verse 10 not only tells us that we are God's masterpiece, but the masterpiece that is you and me has been created for a purpose... for good works.

The masterpiece has been prepared for the Master's works. That is one of the main reasons why God hasn't transported you and me to heaven yet. We've still got a job to do for Him, on earth.

You see, God has done a work in our hearts in this salvation process that gives us a new nature. Our nature is now consistently compatible to do good works.

Before we received salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ, we could do good works, but our motivation to do those good works had at it's core...selfishness. You see, the nature of a person without a supernatural indwelling by God, is selfishness or self-centeredness. That means the motivation for doing good works is based on what it gives to me... or how it makes me feel..., or what I can get out of it.... And at it's best, those good works are inconsistent in frequency, and only mildly effective, compared with what God wants done.

B. Nature is Hard to Change

The fact is, a nature is an impossible thing to change.

Illustration: Another story that comes out of the Middle East is the story of a turtle and a scorpion. They were both trying to cross the river. The scorpion said to the turtle, "Take me across on your back." But the turtle said, "if I do that, you'll sting me and kill me before we reach the other side." The scorpion replied, "No I won't. Why would I do that? If I did, we would both die, for I would drown." So the turtle, yielding to the logic of the scorpion's argument, agreed. The scorpion mounted the turtle's back and off they went. About half-way across, the scorpion couldn't stand it any longer, so he stung the turtle. As they were both sinking to their death, the turtle cried, "Why did you sting me?" The scorpion replied, "I couldn't help it. It's my nature!"

But as people who have received salvation through Jesus Christ, a supernatural change takes place. We are given a brand new and different nature–one that is entirely compatible to do good works. Good works should be a central characteristic of someone who is really saved. Jesus gives a serious command..

Matthew 5:16
16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Paul echoes this in...

Colossians 1:9-10
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

At the start of salvation, God begins performing a second creative work in our hearts that changes our nature. That change makes it possible for us to naturally and unselfishly do good works and bear good fruit. That happens because we are now motivated by the love of God that lives in us, not the love of self.

IV. Works Prepared for You

A. Already Prepared

But we'd be at a loss of where to begin doing good works, and overwhelmed at all the good that needs to be done in our world, unless we read the last statement of verse 10...

"...which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Not only has God now changed us so we are able to do good works for the right reasons and do them consistently, but He has also prepared the good works that He wants us to do. This should be encouraging to us. Because this takes the pressure off of us. In a world that is so needy, we could get overwhelmed by all the good that needs to be done. But we don't have to be overwhelmed. We just have to make ourselves available and God will show us through His Sprit in us, what he wants us to do.

Illustration: Ray Stedman, a pastor who has influenced me a great deal, told of flying to Albuquerque with one of his interns from the pastoral program at Peninsula Bible Church. While they were flying, they decided to pray for the work of the conference they were going to be attending and that Ray was going to be speaking at. So, the intern prayed, "Father, thank you for the good works already prepared for us in Albuquerque, for the fact that they are waiting for us to step into them and experience them." Ray commented when he retold that story, "That young man had it right. The good works which God has prepared for us are just waiting for us to step into them."

B. Joke:

A minister was walking by some old Victorian homes on a beautiful street in his town when he noticed a small boy attempting to ring the doorbell on the porch of one of those old stately homes. The boy was having problems because the house had a door bell that was one of the old fashioned kind–set high in the door, not on the door post. The little boy was trying hard to jump up and ring the bell, but he just wasn't tall enough. He just couldn't reach it. So, the minister seeing an opportunity to do a good work, stepped up on the porch and vigorously rang the bell for the little boy. "And now what young man?" asked the pastor. "Now," exclaimed the boy, "we run like crazy!"

Occasionally opportunities for good works just happen upon us, but most of the time good works are accomplished because we are intentionally looking at the world like God does. I ‘m convinced that we need to be intentionally looking in two specific areas:

C. Two Specific Areas to do Good Works

1. Ministry

The first is through a ministry in our church. I'm talking about a ministry where you use your spiritual gifts and where you have a spiritual passion to do something that helps build up this body of Jesus Christ.
It may be giving care in the nursery,
or in opening your home for a social event,
or in planning,
or in teaching,
or in leading on the Board of Elders,
or praying on the Pastors' prayer team
or in the music ministry,
or ushering,
or leading a Flock group,
or volunteering to do office work,
or whatever you do that utilizes the gift or gifts that God has given to you that will help this church body, Love, Accept, Guide and Partner to Share God's Truth and to Be His Light. If you're unsure of where that place of ministry is for you, then you'll need to take the 301 course that we'll be offering this coming Fall– Discovering Your Spiritual Passion and Gifts. (different from what I'm teaching this Spring)
Understand something..., everyone of you has a ministry that has been prepared for you by God, Himself. It is something very important! Because there is nothing God would ask you to do that isn't important to His Kingdom development.

Illustration: If God sent two angels to earth–one to rule an empire an the other to sweep a street–they would never argue between them, who had the best task or which one of them was most important. Both would be great, because God had asked them to do something for Him.

As your pastors, one of the most important tasks we could ever be doing is to help you find out what that area of service is, and equip you to do the good works that God has prepared for you to do.

2. Circle of Influence

But there is also a second area to look at for good works. And this is one that I'm afraid we often neglect, because we don't look at it through God's perspective.

That area is within our unique circle of influence–your family, your neighborhood, your community, your job, the people who serve you, and your friends.

Since God is a sovereign God, it follows that God in His almighty wisdom has ordained you to... –live at this time in history,
–live where you live,
–work where you work,
–know the people whom you know,
–shop the stores and restaurants that you do,
–have the family or extended family that you have.
And it's in that context that He has also prepared good works for you to do.

And if God has placed you in a situation that requires an action that is good, and He's already decided what that good action should be, then almighty God...
–through your life experiences,
–through the Holy Spirit in your life,
–through your upbringing,
–through your compassion,
–through your education,
–through your talents,
–and through your gifts...
...has uniquely prepared you for the work that needs to be done, and has uniquely prepared the work that needs to be done for you. If you are in fellowship with Him, and sensitive to God's working around you, you'll know what to do. You'll do what needs to be done, naturally–actually, you'll do it SUPERNATURALLY!

V. Conclusion

Don't miss the point of this crucially important verse. Salvation is.. for good works. You were made into God's masterpiece–prepared by a change of nature–to do good works. And placed in situations where the good works themselves, that you've been created to do, have also been prepared for you.

C. S. Lewis gives us some insight as to why our sensitivity to this issue is so important...

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.

Friends, there are no retirees in God's Kingdom, and there are no vacations that He asks us to take. Almighty God expects each one of us, regardless of age, stage of life or physical condition... to serve Him wholeheartedly.

So, look for the opportunities to do what you've been created to do. That's one of the fronts where the war against evil is won!

Amen.