For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
Sometimes we think that it all depends on us. We are taught that the burden of the world falls squarely upon our shoulders. We are conditioned to think this way. It's the good old American work ethic. As the commercial slogan goes, “They make their money the old-fashioned way, they EARN it.” This ideal is held up for all of us to follow.
There is something intensely individualistic and ego-affirming in the idea that you make your own way. We would all like to think that we can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We like the idea of being in charge of our lives. We want to cry aloud with W. E. Henley, in his Invictus,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
But we are actually more like the little sparrow described in an old story from the Middle East. “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 upward. At first he thought the bird was dead, but closer investigation proved it to be very much alive. The man asked the sparrow if he was all right. The sparrow replied, `Yes.' The man said, `What are you doing lying on your back with your legs pointed towards 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 think that you're going to hold it up with those two scrawny legs, do you?' The sparrow, with a very solemn look, retorted, `One does the best he can.'“ [1]
Our problem is like the problem of the sparrow. We might try to do the best we can, but our best is not good enough. In fact, our most noble efforts seem altogether puny compared with what is really needed. When the sky is falling, our reaction might be to lift our hands to stop it, but it will do us no good.
We are told in Ephesians 2:9 that we cannot save ourselves by works. This runs counter to what we are taught in our society. While we might like to think we are in control of our fate, it is really an illusion. We are not the masters of our fate. We are not the captains of our souls. And if we live as if it all depends on us, we will be bitterly disappointed. The fact remains that we cannot save ourselves, no matter how much we work.
The reason we cannot save ourselves by our own efforts is that all our efforts are not good enough. Some of our efforts are better than others, but none measure up to the standard needed to earn our salvation. What we need is pure righteousness. And when we add up all of our good works they equal less than righteousness. We can simply never do enough to earn our salvation.
But the good news is that our salvation has already been earned. Through the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our salvation has been purchased for us. By faith in that finished work of Christ on Calvary, we can enter into salvation by grace. That is the whole message of Ephesians 2:8-9. There we read, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” Salvation is by grace through faith without works. There is nothing we can add to what Christ has done. What He has done is enough. We only need to place our trust in His work and stake our lives on it.
But what place do works have in the life of the Christian? This is a very important question. True Christianity is a faith filled with good works. And while we are not saved by works, works accompany salvation. I believe it was Luther who said, “We are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.” What he meant by that was that true faith will always reveal itself by accompanying works. To quote James 2:26: “Faith without works is dead.” So works have a tremendous place in the life of every believer. They are evidence of the genuineness of our faith.
From our text today we would like to examine the place of works in our lives. This passage of the Word of God has a tremendous message for us. Here we see profound truths concerning both God's work and ours. Let's turn our attention first to God's work.
We have always had a hard time defining God. We mere mortals strain our brains to the limit, seeking terminology which would describe and define God. Volumes of theological works have been written over the years in this noble effort. The best we can seem to do is to describe God in terms of His work and attributes. Consequently, we know God as our Creator. He is the Master Designer of this universe and of humankind. And just this characteristic of God is in itself mind-boggling.
The creation itself is a work of art. Everywhere you look, if you are perceptive, you cannot help but be amazed at the intricate and detailed design of almost everything. The stars, the mountains, the oceans, the rolling hills, even a rose, all are fascinating exhibits of God's creative genius. From a grain of sand or a snowflake, to the Swiss Alps or Niagara Falls, we are forced to marvel at the kind of mind that could conceive of these things and the kind of power that could create them. They are all marvelous.
What would be God's masterwork? There are so many things which are so beautiful. In Psalm 19:1 we are told that the heavens declare the “work of His hands.” Have you ever sat out under a starlit canopy on a clear night? If you have, then you might understand what David, the writer of this psalm, felt about the handiwork of God. I have only viewed the stars with the naked eye. But from my meager understanding and study of astronomy, I am absolutely amazed at the detail, order, and design of this universe. To some, perhaps an astronomer, this heavenly realm would be God's masterwork. But, although it is magnificent, it is not His masterwork.
If you want to see something marvelous, take a look at a little baby. We all marvel at the creation of human life. Physically, the design is almost beyond belief. You can spend hours simply contemplating the eye. It is almost beyond comprehension how light passes through the cornea, then through the focusing lens where it strikes the retina, simultaneously stimulating 125 million nerve endings. Millions of microswitches process this information and funnel it down the optic nerve. The optic nerve itself contains one million separate insulated fibers. The image finally reaches the brain where an incredibly complex process translates these impulses into the picture of what we see. All this happens in less than a millisecond. [2] And this is just part of the physical nature of human beings. When you add to that our emotional makeup, our intellectual capacity, and the fact that we have a soul, you could truly say that humankind is the pinnacle of God's creation.
But humankind by itself is not the masterwork of God. The masterwork of God is the human being who has been made alive in Christ. Our text says, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. The ultimate creation of God is the one created in Christ Jesus.
The word translated workmanship is the Greek word poema. Of course, you will readily recognize that from this word we get our word poem. But poema means much more than this. It means a “work of art” or a “masterpiece.” Those of us who are created in Christ Jesus are the masterwork of God.
We human beings are certainly at the top of God's creative work of art. But it is the new creation that fully reflects His genius. Think of what has transpired in us. We have not only been created once, we have been created twice. We are part of the new creation. The Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV). God has taken our old self and replaced it with a new self. We have experienced a radical metamorphosis of life --- more dynamic than the change from caterpillar to butterfly --- in which the very nature of our soul has been altered. We could not do it. We're not talking about turning over a new leaf here. We're talking about a new life in Christ.
This is really what salvation is all about. Salvation is a work of God. As a Christian, you are a work of God. Indeed, you are His masterwork. It is from this perspective that we can understand the place of works in the life of every believer.
Our text indicates why we have been created. We are not only told that we are His workmanship, we are told that we were created . . . for good works. This new creation in Christ Jesus has a reason for its existence. It is for good works that we have experienced the creative power of our Lord. As a believer, you have been prepared for good works. That is the reason why you were created and left here on planet Earth.
God has done a work in our hearts to give us a nature which is now compatible with good works. Before we met Christ, we could do good works, but by nature we were selfish. Whatever works we did were motivated by that selfish nature. A nature is hard if not impossible to overcome. I heard of a story, told in the Middle East to illustrate the conflict among certain groups there, of a turtle and a scorpion trying to cross a river. The scorpion said to the turtle, “Take me across on your back.” The turtle said, “If I do that, you will sting me and kill me before we reach the other side.” The scorpion replied, “No I won't. Why would I? 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 sinking to their death, the turtle cried, “Why did you do it?” The scorpion replied, “I couldn't help it. It's my nature!” A nature is indeed a hard thing to overcome.
But, as believers, we have a new nature --- one wholly compatible with good works. Indeed, a central characteristic of the Christian ought to be good works. Jesus said, in the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16). It is by our good works that we will glorify God. Again, in Colossians, Paul prays for us that we might “Be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10). God has prepared us for good works.
God has performed a work in our hearts to adjust our nature so we naturally bear the good fruit of good works. And now we can do it, not from a selfish perspective, but from the motivation of love --- the love of God which is implanted in our hearts by His Holy Spirit.
But God has not only prepared us for good works, He has prepared good works for us. Our text says that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God has prepared two things. He has prepared us. And He has prepared the works for us.
In Philippians 2:13 we read, “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” God is at work in us to prepare us for the good works we are to perform. But the works we are to perform are the works He has prepared and ordained for us to do. There is a match here. God matches us to the work and the work to us. We are not simply told to go out and do good works. Instead, we are told that God has ordained the very works we are to perform. He has prepared them and placed them in our path.
This ought to be a very encouraging aspect of God's provision for us. To know that the very works we are to do have already been prepared for us means that we can relax. It is not up to us to go out and figure out what we should do for God. God has already taken care of that. It is up to us to find out what God has for us to do.
Ray Stedman told of flying to Albuquerque with an intern from their pastoral program. They decided to pray for the work there, and as the intern prayed, he said, “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.” [3] The works which God has prepared for us are waiting for us to step into.
A minister was taking a walk by some old Victorian homes on a beautiful street when he noticed a small boy attempting to ring the doorbell on the porch of one of them. He was short, and the old-fashioned doorbell was set high in the door. Despite his leaping attempts, the boy could not quite reach it. The minister, seeing a good work at hand, seized the opportunity. He stepped up on the porch and vigorously rang the bell for him. “And now what young man?” inquired the minister. “Now,” exclaimed the boy, “we run like crazy!”
We may occasionally step into good works like these. But if we never open our eyes to the opportunities, we will never find what God has for us. What has God called you to do? I believe we see this manifested in two ways. The first is on the level of our ministry. God has called all of us to be active in ministry. But our ministry is not merely of our own choosing. It has been prepared for us. It is one of these good works we are to perform. So our first task is to be open and sensitive to the leading of the Lord in terms of our ministry. And all ministry is important. There is nothing God could call us to do that would not be a high privilege. If two angels were sent to this earth, one to rule an empire and the other to sweep a street, they would never think to argue on the way which was the greatest task or which one of them was the greatest for being chosen. Both would be great because God had asked them to do the task for Him.
We must find the general ministry God has called us into, but we must also be sensitive to the daily tasks God places in our path. As we encounter these opportunities for ministry, we need to ask ourselves a very important question. Do not ask, “What would Jesus do?” as if He were not present. He is present. He lives in you! Rather, ask, “What will Jesus do through me?” You can be sure that if God has placed this good work opportunity in your path, then He has prepared you for the work, and the work for you.
As believers, we must come to understand that we are God's masterwork, and that as such we have been prepared by a change of nature to do good works. But not only have we been prepared, the good works themselves have been prepared for us to do. We do not earn salvation by these works. We do not keep our salvation through these works. But we reveal our salvation by doing what saved people do --- good works.
[1]. R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 84.
[2]. Ibid, pp. 82-83.
[3]. Ray C. Stedman, "On Display," Riches In Christ (Palo Alto, CA: Discovery Publishing, 1972), Catalog No. 3011, p. 5.
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