“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 works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10 is one of those texts that I return to again and again. Like John 3:16, this passage is what we could call “the gospel in a nutshell.” It tells us that it is because of the grace of God that we can be saved in the first place. In other words, God will save us in spite of ourselves. It tells us that we are saved when we put our faith in Christ Jesus. Furthermore it tells us that we have not been saved by our works, but that we have been saved to work for the Lord. Nothing that we do can save us, but when we are saved God has work for us to do. Notice that the text tells us that we are God’s workmanship. What this means is that by God’s grace, when we put our faith in Christ we are saved. In other places in scripture we are told that when we are saved we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit begins a work in us to do the works that God has called us to do. Our salvation is not “worked in;” rather it is "worked out" through the Holy Spirit within us. Notice also that the works that we are to do have been “before ordained.” The NIV translates it: “which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” The idea is that when we are saved, God has plans for us. We are led by the Holy Spirit to do the things that God planned out in eternity for us to do. These works take many forms. Many of these works are carried out in the churches that we attend. There are many ways that God can use our gifts in the church. There is always work to be done at the church, from teaching a Sunday School class to singing in the choir. God prepared in advance that we would do these works that keep the church going and carrying out its mission for the Lord. But God also has prepared in advance works for us to do in our daily lives. I think that we forget that and think that it is only at the church that God can use us. I don’t know what it is that God might want you to do in your community, but you should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and do the works there that He would have you do. The world needs for us to do God’s work outside of the walls of the church. I don’t know what work God has called you to do, but I know that if you are a Christian, He has work for you to do. We should be aware that God is working in us to work for Him in daily life. The KJV translates it: “that God has before ordained that we should walk in them.” In this context “walk” means what we do in our daily lives. The point is that we are God’s workmanship every day of our lives and that God can use us in many ways as we live out our lives in the world. We are God’s workmanship whether we are in church, at work, on vacation, attending a sports event –whatever. Doing God’s work is not just event oriented; rather it is part of our lifestyles. I don’t want to be trite here, or seem to belittle the work that God wants us to do, but there are times that this work can be to smile and say a good word to someone who is in bad need of encouragement. If the Holy Spirit can lead a lost soul to Christ through us, He can surely use us to be an encouragement to discouraged people. The point of this article is to make you aware that God wants to use you at your church and in your community. You are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that (you) should do.” Bro. Joe
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|