“For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good work, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”
There are texts in the Bible that, in my opinion, can stand on their own. John 3:16; Psalm 23; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 4:8 & 13 come to mind. Ephesians 2:8-10 is another, and this article will be based on this text. It tells us that salvation is made possible by God’s grace and that it becomes effective in our lives by faith. It tells us that salvation is a gift of God, not of works, meaning that we can’t earn salvation, we simply have to accept it in Jesus. But verse 10 is where I want to dwell at this time. It tells us that when we are saved, we become the workmanship of Christ in order for us to do the good works that God has foreordained that all of His people do. Jesus goes to work in us through His Holy Spirit, and He works in our lives to help us grow and progress in the way that He would have us grow. Paul explains this process to us in Philippians 3:12-13: “Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence of only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13. For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” This doesn’t mean, as some suggest, that you can work out your own way to be saved. Jesus took care of that on the cross. What it means is to literally work out what God has put in. Read verse 13. It tells us that we are work out what God has put in so that we can do His will and serve at His pleasure and not our own. The Christian faith is not worked in; rather, it is worked out from within us as we serve Christ under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Jesus works in us through the Holy Spirit to do the works that God has “before ordained that we should walk in them.” Basically, this means that He called us to do the works that are common to all Christians. But I also think that it means that God has plans for our lives and that when we become Christians, God has plans for what we do with our lives. For some that means to enter the ministry and serve as pastors. For some that means that they are to use their gift of teaching to teach in Sunday School. For some this means that God wants them to serve as missionaries in far- away places. For all, however, it means to simply live the Christian life and serve Him in ways that reflect His care, love and mercy. It is important for all Christians to understand that God has plans for their lives. Verse 10 plainly expresses this, and we should believe it of ourselves. Remember Christian, that you are the “workmanship” of Christ Jesus. Rejoice in that fact and live it out before the world. Bro. Joe
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“O Lord, you are my God: I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things: your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.”
Okay, this is a corny title, but I couldn’t think of any better title for what I want to share with you from Isaiah 25:1. Here it is: Personal – “O Lord, You are my God…” In Jesus we have a fuller understanding of this than Isaiah did. Jesus came to earth, lived, died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to the Father, where He intercedes on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25) and advocates for us (1 John 2:1). We have a personal relationship with Jesus. That is what the Christian faith is all about. That is why we do not call Christianity one of the world’s religions. We have a personal faith relationship with Jesus, and He works with, and through us, by the Holy Spirit. If you have a personal relationship with Jesus, you can say “O Lord, You are my God.” Praise – “I will exalt You, I will praise Your name.” It is from our personal relationship with God that we exalt and praise God. Real praise always comes deep within us. Those of us who have a personal relationship with Jesus praise God in different ways. Some worship Jesus in a lively way – so to speak. I certainly have no problem with lively worship, but I worship best in quietness. I did not say that I worship God in staidness and boredom. Worshiping my Lord quietly has deep meaning in my life. I have been in worship services with people praising God in their way and I in mine. After all, true worship comes from the heart in whatever way the Lord leads us to do it. Purpose - “For you have done wonderful things; your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.” In John 14:6 Jesus referred to Himself as “the way, the truth, and the life." In his book, Isaiah’s purpose was to share God’s “faithfulness and truth.” He faithfully shared God’s truth. Our purpose is essentially the same. Christ has called us to share His faithfulness and truth. We do this by faithfully living His truth before the world. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” We faithfully share Christ’s truth in word and deed. They won’t hear our words if we don’t do the deeds – so to speak. Well, those are the “P’s” in Isaiah’s “P” patch. I hope you found a message for you in it. Bro. Joe We have come to the end of our series on “Four Profound Words.” We looked at the words life, love and hope. Today we turn to the word “purpose.” I’m sure there are many other profound words that we could look at, but these occurred to me to be the most important words to look at now. The word “purpose” has other meanings than what I am giving it here, but for our purposes (see what I mean) we need to see the word pertaining to what we are to do with our lives. We are not here to just take up space, but we are here to serve God. I know that many people, no doubt, most people on earth are not aware of this fact, but that does not make it any less true. We serve our purpose for God wherever we work, play, shop, and etc. Let’s see what the Bible says about our purpose:
PURPOSE Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, and them who are the called according to His purpose.” There is no other verse that fits the life that we have in Jesus. When we trust in Jesus and give the guidance of our lives to the Spirit, our lives have great purpose, because we live “according to His purpose,” and not just our own. As believers, we do not have to flounder around to only find some meaningless purpose for our lives. The purposes of our lives are bound up in what God wants with us. The purpose that the Spirit gives has to do with the life that we have in Jesus, the love that He has given us, and subsequently, the love that we give Him and to the people we encounter in our lives. The quality of our lives is greatly enhanced by the eternal purpose that Jesus brings into our lives. What is the purpose of your life? Like most people you have purposeful things in your life, like family and work. Things like this certainly fulfill purposeful things in your life. The real question is what is the overall purpose of your life that causes you to fulfill all of the other purposes? The overall purpose of the Christian is to serve Christ in all that we do. We should endeavor to witness for Him in all of the aspects of our lives. Romans 8:28 refers to Christians as “called according His purpose.” His purpose is included in everything that we do. This brings satisfaction and fulfillment in all of the things we do in our lives. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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