Ephesians 2:8-10: 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Have you ever been there? Have you been sucked into the lie that you’re junk? That nothing is ever going to change; that you’re just stuck? I know I have. I am sure that many of us have been there, but as our friends, The Skit Guys point out God don't make junk. The main text that I want to discuss is Ephesians 2: 8-10.
I want to set the stage for us if you will. In the Creation narrative in Genesis 1 and 2 there are several English words that are used to describe the Creation act. The English language uses words like make, made, formed, create, and created. All of these English words come from three Hebrew words; Bara, Asah, and Yatsur. These three words are very distinctive in the Hebrew language. Bara is where the church fathers get the idea of ex nihilo in Latin, which just means from nothing. So in Genesis 1:1 in the beginning God created (Bara or ex nihilo) created out of nothing the heaven and the earth. Asa is used when the creation narrative says that God formed the plants and the animals each after their own kind. This means that using the matter that He made from nothing that He Bara'ed, He formed or asah'ed each of the different kinds of plants and animals. When this was read to the Israelites, Asah gave the idea or picture of a potter making everyday jars, plates, and other dishes; all of which take little effort to make for a potter—all which are similar, plain, and ordinary. When it comes to Man however, only yatsur is used and yatsur would give the Israelites the picture or understanding of a master craftsman taking the time, talent, and attention to detail to make a masterpiece out of the clay. So in Genesis 2:7 when it says that the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, it means that the Lord God yatsur'ed man from the dust of the ground. This puts the Creation of man as the pinnacle of the creation narrative; it makes Man as the crowning work. Man was/ is God’s masterpiece, in the same way that Leonardo is known for his Mona Lisa and His Last Supper; as Michelangelo is known for his statue of David and for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. God wants to be and should be known for his masterpiece: Mankind.
This is why each day of Creation He said that each day’s work was good, but after He made man and woman He said it was very good, showing completion and showing the high priority and value that God placed on Man. This is also why Christ is referred to as the last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49. The first Adam failed when he sinned, losing the sinless state that mankind had the second Adam; Christ was sinless. He is our Savior as well as our example.
We are a workmanship of grace in Christ Eph. 2: 8-9
“By grace through faith”, these words have significant personal meaning for me as they are the words that started my wife on her journey to faith in Christ. Which led to my salvation years later. When we were dating, we used to spend hours late into the night talking and during that time she asked why I wouldn't go to Catholic mass with her. I told her I didn't agree with what the Catholic church taught because they teach that you receive grace through the sacraments which is works based. Mind you I was drinking most of the times that we had these talks, and I was unsaved myself. I told her that the Bible says we are saved by grace through faith; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. She told me, “no, it doesn’t” and I needed to prove it. I couldn't remember the reference, so I had to call my dad the next day and ask him where it said we are saved by grace. He of course told me Ephesians 2:8-9. This started Terri asking more questions and me referring to my dad. It also started my dad and I rebuilding our relationship, and my coming to Christ and being free from alcohol and drugs five or so years later. All of this because I grew up in AWANA and remembered the verse I had memorized years earlier. We are a workmanship of grace through faith in Christ. Now don’t think that this is a faith that is based on works. The verse says we are saved by Grace: grace that was eternally existent within the very character of God. Grace didn't start at the cross; Grace started way before Creation because God made us knowing what would happen. It's the grace of God to make us even though He knew we would turn away from Him and rebel against His every boundary, every statute, He still made us knowing we would fall and it would cost Him the pain and anguish of His Son dying on the cross.
It was His love and grace that brought His Son Jesus down to earth (John 3:16). It was His grace that compelled Christ to append his attributes, leave heaven, come to earth to feel physical pain, hunger and fatigue (Phil 2:7). It was His grace that compelled Him to put up with dense and weak disciples and spend three years building them up to begin His Church. It was His grace that compelled Him come to earth to die on a cross. To be beaten beyond the point any other man could endure, having His flesh ripped from His bones. It was His grace that compelled Him to allow Himself to be spit on and ridiculed when He is the Creator and Sustainer of everything in existence—everything! It was grace that put Him on the cross for us and it was grace that kept Him there. At any time, He could have just quit sustaining all of existence. He could have stopped it at any time and laid waste to every living soul one by one and prolonged each death in agony for as long as He wanted. It would have been well within His rights as the Son of God and Creator. He could have, but at the same time--lucky for us--He couldn’t do that because that would be outside of His character and so--for Grace’s sake--for each of our sakes--He went to, stayed and died on that cross and three days later rose again, all in the name of grace for us. We are a workmanship of Grace in Christ and we are a workmanship through faith in Christ. It is Grace and Love that stops Him from coming back so that everyone has a chance to accept this gift of love that His Father sent Him to give, but don't think that He will tarry forever.
We are a Workmanship through faith in Christ Eph. 2:8
Verse 8 also says "through faith", faith that is planted and nourished by the Holy Spirit in our hearts if we let Him. This is not a faith that is works; this is a faith born of the Spirit through us as Christians as we spread the good news that is the Gospel. As Romans 10:14-15 says:
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
And we grow in our faith through obeying the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Please pay attention here! Paul never says through the faith, as if it could be the cause of salvation. The cause can only be grace of God alone. This fact is compounded in the following two statements in verse 9: “for it is the gift of God” and “not of works lest any man boast.” It was, is, and can only ever be God’s gift to His masterpiece: Mankind.
Hebrews 11:1, 2 says Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. for by it the elders obtained a good report.
The word substance means it is the substantial evidence of our hope. In the court system it is substantial, not circumstantial, evidence that gets a guilty or not guilty verdict from the judge or jury. So faith is the substance, the very material that makes up our hope. It is also the right kind of evidence for our hope because of what we hear God has done in others. Remember what Paul said in Romans 10 about how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel. When people hear what God has done in your life, the Spirit moves in their heart and they have to make a decision to accept or reject that testimony based on what they see and hear in your life. This is why living a holy life is so important. If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior you may be the only Bible your family and friends ever read.
"The evidence of things not seen"; for the Old Testament saint it was looking forward to the coming Messiah. They looked forward to His coming in faith. They looked forward to the cross. We look back to this cross and forward to His coming again to take us home. The Elders obtained a good report because they had faith in Jesus coming to die on the cross.
Isaiah 53 makes it very clear God’s free gift was the death of His Son. Jot this passage down, read it later, meditate on it, let it ruminate in your mind. This passage makes it very clear God set it up for Christ to be killed so we wouldn’t have to die. All so He could start restoring His masterpiece, Mankind. All so He could redeem the Creation that He loved.
We are a workmanship through faith in Christ because, before He ever made us, He knew we would shake our fist like the rat does at the eagle in the painting “The Last Act of Defiance".
We are a workmanship of Grace through faith because before He ever made us, knowing we would rebel, He made us anyway and He already had in place a plan to restore us through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are a workmanship of Grace through faith in Christ, and we are a workmanship of masterpiece quality through Christ.
We are workmanship of masterpiece quality through Christ Eph. 2:10
It’s funny. I grew up memorizing Ephesians 2:8-9. I have studied the book of Ephesians both academically and personally. I have preached from the book and heard many sermons on the book. It was only recently, when I watched “Chisel” the video mentioned at the beginning, and re-read Ephesians in light of verse ten, that new insights have come throughout the whole book. I see Ephesians in a slightly different light and a little deeper than before. Verse ten says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
We are his workmanship created in Christ. This points directly to two passages: the Creation narrative in Genesis 1 and 2, and to John chapter 1. Earlier I talked about the three Hebrew words used in the Creation narrative bara, asah, and yatsur. I talked about the significant difference in the meaning and understanding the words had to the Israelites and should have to us. Genesis 1 and 2 shows that we were created to be His masterpiece, His greatest creation.
John 1:1-5 also points to this. It says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.”
This passage establishes the supremacy of Christ in Creation. The word translated “word” in Greek is “logos”. It has the same root as logic. When it talks about the Word in this passage it is saying that Christ was eternally present before Creation and that God the Father created through Christ everything that has been created.
It is also telling us that everything in Creation while complex, very complex, was completed in an orderly and systematic way. Look at the simplest protein that works in our body to the complexity of the mind. There are proteins in each cell of our body that have a single function, to allow one thing in or out of the cell and nothing else. If they don't do that simple job we stop functioning and die. The brain is so adaptable and so complex that we still don't fully understand this three to five pound ball of jelly that is capable of grasping and understanding math equations that take up entire white boards, can come up with theories of relativity and quantum mechanics--at least some of them can. The brain cells that do that kind of processing must have been the ones that I destroyed with alcohol, because frankly I don't get most of that. But still, did you know that the brain can withstand significant damage and still adapt and continue to function within a normal lifestyle? Over a third of the brain can be removed, and with occupational therapy the brain will adapt and rewire to accommodate.
Think of the indomitable spirit of mankind; for example the Wounded Warrior Project, and Tough Mudder programs. These are heroes who have lost parts of their body, some both arms and/or legs. But their spirit within them--I would say the image of God that they bear--will not let them go quietly into the night. instead they fight; they improvise, adapt, and overcome, to them I say hoowah!!! But I also say praise God, because He made that body, that spirit that is able to overcome such damage. Now i realize that not all are able to overcome easily. everyone is different and that is also a testimony to God's greatness. 7 billion people in the world and no two are exactly alike not even twins are 100% the same in every single way.
Yet we are so twisted and damaged that we would rather believe that everything that exists does so because of a series of accidents over the course of millions of years. Come on, really? I don't have that much faith to believe that.
In Colossians 1:17 and Hebrews 1:3, Scripture tells us that He sustains everything that He created. The passage in John 1 tells us that Christ created everything, including man, in sinless perfection (John 1:1-5) and because His masterpiece fell and was ruined by sin, He came to earth to restore; to redeem His masterpiece and put it back to its original state, as it was when He said In Genesis 1, “It is very good” (John 1:10-14). This is the process of salvation, being saved, and sanctification, the process by which we are renewed (2 Corinthians 5:17 and Romans 12:2).
Now when we as humanity fell, we still did not become junk. God didn’t make junk. The fact is that our value truly is in our Creator's love for us. Because of this we are incapable of becoming junk. When we lost what we had because of sin, we did not become junk. We are a workmanship of masterpiece quality through Christ. We are His Image bearers; even in our sinful and lost state prior to salvation we still bear His image--it is just so twisted and broken that it is hard to see in ourselves or others. It is only when Christ starts the workmanship that we are talking about in Ephesians 2:10 that the Image we bear begins the process of restoration in Jesus Christ.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
We are a workmanship in process of restoration through Christ. Eph. 2:10
There is a whole science and art discipline whose sole purpose is to restore artwork of the masters of art from times past. But even the great masters of the Renaissance pale in comparison to the Master Creator of the Universe. Much of the artwork of man is in a constant state of decay; the plaster that Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Last Supper on started to flake almost immediately after he finished the painting and because of it the painting is almost constantly in a state of restoration.
Much like us, because of the fall we age, grow old, lose capabilities as we age and die. People spend a good part of their lives learning up to and past the PhD levels to learn the science and hone their talent for the art of restoration of masterpieces of art. Fortunately for us as humanity, our Restorer knows everything we need to be restored to our original design. Unfortunately for us, unlike the masterpieces that Human restorers work on, Christ has to work on us even as we fight Him to stay the same. The first part of the verse says we are His workmanship.
In Malachi 3:3 it says, 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
In specific context, He is referring to the Levites and Israel, but we have other verses that tell us He does this for us as well. Philippians 1:6 says He will finish the work He started in us. I Peter 1:7 talks about the testing of our faith through tribulations. James chapter 1 talks about the results of refinement, which are perseverance and patience. All of this is restoration, which won’t be completed until we see Him face to face in Heaven.
Far too often we want to restore ourselves into our image, our idea of what perfection is.We spend so much time trying to fill this God-shaped hole in each of us. In Romans 1:20 and Job 12:7-10 both passages say essentially that Creation cries out, “I was created as the masterpiece of God!” As His image bearers--even in our lost, unsaved, sinless state--our innermost being cries out,
“I was meant for more than this!
"I am incomplete!"
"I need something! Someone tell me what it is”
Unfortunately we fill it with whatever we come across, mostly junk. For some of us it’s material possessions; for some it’s sex, drugs, or alcohol, TV, or video games. Some allow themselves to be swallowed up by their job, school or their reputation, what they look like to others around them. For some of us it’s yes to all of the above. Augustine said in his confessions about God that, “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” Once we realize that only God can fill that restless emptiness, only He can redeem us to our true being and begin the lifelong process of restoration back to our original creation, only then, through salvation, being justified and sanctified, this process of restoration we have been talking about, can we find fulfillment and purpose in Him.
God doesn't make junk, but we live in a junkyard because of our sinfulness and our attempt to reconcile in our own power the missing relationship with Christ that we all feel. We are a workmanship of masterpiece quality and we can only be restored to that original design and purpose by surrendering to the great Creator, Sustainer, and Restorer: Jesus Christ. Who would be the best person to restore the painting the "Last Supper"? Leonardo, of course. But he is dead. He can't restore it so others have to do the best they can. How awesome is it for us that Jesus is alive and fully capable of restoring us if we let Him. Even better, He hasn't given up on us and He deeply desires to restore us to Himself, to His Father, and to our original creation.
Verse ten from our text says: 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Let's break that down. We have already established “created in Christ Jesus”. However what about "for good works, which God prepared before hand that we should walk in them"?
“For good works” the obvious passage that comes to my mind when I read those words is James 2:14-26:
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 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? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
In essence this passage is confirming Ephesians 2:8-10, "We are saved by Grace through Faith" so that good works can be done by us for God's glory. But there is much more to this last verse. These works that the verse is talking about are a two way street between us and God: we do good things, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, for the right reason which is to bring glory to God who has saved us and changed us. This is exactly what James is telling us in chapter 2, but that verse says "for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them." This is also talking about our sanctification. This verse is also talking about good works that God does in us, how through various answered prayers and petitions that we, through developing the spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting, Bible study and meditation, simplicity, silence, temporary times of solitude) are changed, renewed, by God (Romans 12:2).
This is the process of untwisting the damaged image that we bear of Him. This is the reworking of the workmanship that Christ does in us and through us by the indwelling and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Don’t think that what I am saying is that these good works that God prepared beforehand are a free ride or that life gets easy and we sail through the rest of our life with no cares or worries. I talked about the refiner's fire earlier. In order for us to be strong in our faith and able to do the works that James tells us are required and necessary in James 2, we will go through the trials and tribulations that James talks about in chapter 1.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
James says we should count it joy because this is how our faith grows and becomes strong enough to stand in the face of our adversary: in the power of the Holy Spirit, as the last part of Ephesians 6 says to and, as we are seeing in our text, God has prepared these things for us before hand so that we would be able to finish strong in this life as a well disciplined warrior who stands before God at the end and can hear from Him, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
We are a workmanship in process of restoration through Christ. Restoration work is not easy; it's not easy on the artist doing it nor is it on the piece of art being restored. Sometimes old paint has to be scraped away or pieces removed for a time so that the restoration process can be completed.
There is a story about one of the statues at the Vatican, I think it is St. Paul or Mary, that the toe of the statue has been kissed so many times that it has been worn away and had to be replaced. So when they replace it they have to cut what's left off so that the replacement toe can be installed. We probably find that funny but there are times when part of us has to be removed so that we can continue the restoration process that God is trying to do in us. Many times that hurts, but when I work out my muscles hurt. That doesn’t mean that pain is bad; sometimes it is a warning to us that we need to get something taken care of at the doctor's office. Other times it is telling us that we are in the process of building new muscle tissue. It hurts, but it is a pain that lets us know we are improving.
It’s the same thing with Jesus refining and restoring us. And as James says, we can count it all joy because Ephesians 2:10 says God prepared these works before hand so that we should walk in them; and we know that we can persevere through the process of restoration because Philippians 4:13 says we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. God only has our best for us but our best never means easy. When I went into the army the recruiting slogan was "be all you can be". That’s what Christ wants for us: to be all that we can be in and through Him by the power of His Holy Spirit.
Romans 3:23 says that the wages of Sin is death. Isaiah 53 talks about how He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities He took that death on Himself.
I hear a lot of talk today about reconciling the wrath of God and the love of God. Scripture is very plain on this and I am somewhat confused by others’ confusion. As a parent I get angry with and punish my kids, and rightly so. This is something that I should do; it’s how they learn right from wrong and how they learn consequences for their actions. Just because I get angry with my kids doesn’t mean I stop loving them. My love remains unchanged--if anything it becomes stronger. But if my son who has been told not to play in the street repeatedly--it is a well known rule--and he does anyway results in him getting hit by a car and dying, did my rules cause him to die? Of course not! Did my love for him that set up the rule cause his death? No!
His disobedience caused his death. It’s the same with us and God. Our disobedience caused us to be spiritually dead because we are born sinners; we are born spiritually dead, spiritually separated from God. If we die physically while we are spiritually separated from God, we are physically and spiritually separated from God for eternity in a place called hell. Is this what God wanted? Of course not! Do His rules cause us to go to hell? No! Does His love for us in setting up the rules cause our going to hell? No! Did our disobedience to His will and ignoring His pull on our heart, our whole lives, cause us to go to hell? Yes, it did.
God doesn’t put people in hell; people put themselves there by rejecting the gift of His Son’s death burial and resurrection. But God made a way of escape through His Son, all you have to do is accept it.
