Open to Ephesians 2:1-10 and read out loud. The Word tell us how God sees us without Christ.
- Without Christ there is something wrong with you
There’s a lot. In fact, in our text today; Ephesians 2, Paul is very direct, basically he says that there are three things wrong with you without Christ. I will just summarize, he says; you’re sinful, you’re spiritually dead, and you are the object of God’s wrath.
I mean, most people don’t talk about that. “Oh, God loves you, God loves you, He has a wonderful plan for your life.” Well, actually, without Christ you are the object of God’s wrath. How does that make you feel?
Gods Masterpiece
- You are the masterpiece of God Himself. You’re not the masterpiece of some artist, you are the masterpiece of God. You are the perfect workmanship of God in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2
Vs 8-10 say this; God’s Word says: God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Verse nine, it’s so important: Salvation is not a reward for the good things we’ve done. It doesn’t matter how hard you try, how religious you act. Salvation is not a reward for the good things that we have done, so that no one can boast about it.
Verse ten tells us who we are if we are in Christ, you are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned long ago for us to do.
We are not saved by the good things that we have done, but we are saved to do good things for the one who saved us.
- You are the masterpiece of God created for the Master’s purpose.
The Greek word that is translated as “masterpiece” is the word “poiema” and here’s what it means, it can be translated as a beautiful poem. I love this, you are, with Christ, you are a poetic statement of the glory of God. Like a picture that when you zoom in you see it’s made up of thousands of tiny words. What words are you putting into your masterpiece? Are they promises of God? Are they affirming? Are they truth?
Remember when You know who you are, you’ll know what to do. You are the masterpiece of God, created to serve the Master’s purpose. And this is what’s so powerful. In all of history, in all the span of time, God decided that this little slice; this seventy years, or eighty-two years, or ninety-one years, whatever you have on earth, God decided that in this moment in history, you would serve Him best.
The problem though for so many people is they don’t believe they are the masterpiece. And they don’t understand their purpose. When you don’t understand the purpose of a thing, all you can do is abuse the thing. I’ve seen kids ruin almost anything and everything until I sit down with them and explain this cost money, its important, etc or else they’ll abuse and ruin it. And so many people don’t understand. The purpose of their lives. And if you don’t know the purpose of your life, all you can do is abuse the masterpiece of God.
You need to understand this; as God’s masterpiece, you have everything you need to do, everything God wants you to do and you’ve got to believe this.
This is what Scripture says, 2 Peter 1:3, the Bible says that: God’s divine power, (notice it’s not our own power, but it’s God’s divine power) has given us everything we need for life and godliness. It’s given us everything that we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him. It’s through our knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and goodness. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Think of it this way; God never calls someone and says, “Hey, you’re my masterpiece, go do this”; and then goes, “Oh! I wasn’t thinking!” When God called Moses to deliver the people of Israel, Moses didn’t believe He was a good enough masterpiece to do it. He didn’t believe, ‘Hey,’ he said, ‘I’m not a good speaker. I’m not good enough to get this done.’ And God never said, ‘Oh yea, I’m such an idiot! I forgot! I mean, I thought you could do it, but you’re obviously not good enough!’ God never ever did that.
When God calls you, he’ll give you everything that you need to do everything that He wants you to do. The problem is, so many people have “masterpiece envy”, they’re looking at other people saying, “Well, I’m not like you,” and “I don’t have this,” and “I wish I had…”; and when they look more at other people, they don’t realize how God created them. They say, “Well, I wish I could do that!” And they don’t realize what they can do! They look at someone else and say, “Well you know, I’m not like her!” And they don’t realize how God has created you. “Well, I can’t do this!” And they don’t understand what they can do. God has given you everything you need to do, everything that God wants you to do. but when I stop looking at what I cant do, I can see what I can do and I am the masterpiece of God created for the Master’s purpose
He is the potter, you are the clay, and He is continuing to shape you and form you into His masterpiece to serve His purposes. Romans 8:28, if you don’t know this verse it’s a great one to commit to memory. And we know that in and we know that in all things God works together for good
When you realize that He is the Potter, you are the clay, and He’s forming using all things to bring about good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. That will give you tremendous confidence to step into His will and know that He is the Sovereign, Good God.
- But I don’t like myself, I don’t like what I’ve become.”I’ve got great news for you, if you don’t like yourself, let God remake you.
- This is what Jeremiah said: So I went down to the potter’s house and I saw him working at the potter’s wheel. He was using his hands to make a pot from clay, but something went wrong with it. Unfortunately, that phrase describes so many people’s lives.
- Maybe you would say, “I had a dream to be at such-and-such place in my life, but something went wrong with my dream.” “I hope to be financially at this place, but something went wrong with my hopes.” “I thought that I’d be married, but something went wrong with my plan.””As I look at my life, I know that God had all these things intended for me, but something went wrong along the way.
What do you do when you realize something went wrong? Well, you let God remake your life. He is the Potter, you are the clay. Here’s what Jeremiah said after he realized something went wrong: So the potter used that clay to make another pot the way he wanted it to be.