When we mention masterpieces, we often think of fine art. Here are a few:
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
Water Lilies by Claude Monet
Turn Him Loose by Frederic Remington
1963 Corvette Coupe by General Motors
While all of these are masterpieces of art, one of the greatest painters and sculptors in history, Michelangelo, pointed out:
“The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.”
God himself is the master artist, the master craftsman, the master designer. We see that in many places – in space, in nature, even in the human body. But none of those are his masterpiece. None of those are his greatest work of genius. Paul the apostle told the Christians in Ephesus, “We are His workmanship…” And he wasn’t talking about just us as human beings, not just a newborn baby or a person at her best. He said, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…” (2:10) God’s masterpiece is every person who has been created new in a relationship with Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul describes the basic process of God creating us his workmanship in Christ, the making of a masterpiece. (Click on the reference to read the passage.)
What I want you to see is something of how different a person is when God creates them in Christ. God is something of a junk artist. A junk artist takes things that are not useful for much of anything and makes them into objects that are interesting or even beautiful. Here are a couple of examples:
a chicken made out of eggshells
a horse made of old tree limbs
God takes us with all the junk of our lives and by grace makes us into his masterpiece.
Paul says that the way we were before God works on us is dead. Verse 1: “dead in your trespasses and sins”. Dead in our rebellion against our Creator and in failing to live up to his purposes for us. Spiritual zombies. Active and running around as if alive but actually dead.
Then he says that the way we are after God starts working on us is alive. Verse 5: “alive with Christ”. Spiritually alive by our connection with Christ. Receiving the spark of life and the resources for actually living from our relationship with Jesus Christ.
See, there are the two ways of being: dead and alive. Now let’s see some of the differences.
One of the differences is about BELONGING. Who you belong to and where you belong.
Verse 2 tells about belonging when you’re dead in trespasses and sins: “you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” When you’re dead, you belong to the world that is operating without God. It does have a god – the prince of the power of the air – Satan. He’s ultimately the one leading the rebellion against God and working in people’s lives.
Verse 6 tells about belonging when you’re alive with Christ: “raised up with him and seated…with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” When you’re alive you belong to the risen, exalted, reigning Lord. You belong in his Kingdom. You belong in his victory, in his power, in his love.
Another difference between being dead and being alive is about LIFESTYLE. How you operate in life. How you function. Your motivations, goals, desires, dreams, accomplishments. What you do with yourself.
Verse 3 describes the lifestyle of someone who is spiritually dead: “lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind”. When dead, how we live comes from biological and emotional and intellectual impulses. We just do what the body feels or the mind wants. And this is topped off by a spirit that’s in rebellion against God, a sinful nature, so we make decisions and treat people and work for success with a corrupt and broken internal guidance system – we are self-centered and selfish.
Verse 7 shows the lifestyle of someone who is spiritually alive: “he might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”. I would have thought this lifestyle would be built on obedience to God’s will or keeping his law or something like that. But the heart of living in Christ is actually God giving his grace and kindness to us and we receiving. God loves and we live based on his love. God is merciful and we live based on his mercy. God pours out his incomparable riches, his abundant life, and our lifestyle is based on that.
Another difference between being dead and being alive is DESTINY. How you’re going to end up. What you’re going to come to.
Verse 3 also tells about our destiny when we’re spiritually dead: “were by nature children of wrath”. “By nature” means following our natural inclinations, being the kind of people we were – living by our sinful, self-centered, rebellious character. “Children of wrath” is a difficult term, but essentially it means that the natural outcome of living by our sinful nature is experiencing the wrath of God. There is no other possible outcome for living in rebellion against God. The destiny of anyone who is spiritually dead is to end up being judged by God and, as Jesus put it, “thrown into the darkness” (Matthew 8:12).
Verse 8 tells about our destiny when we’re alive in Christ: “by grace you have been saved”. Not “by nature” – by grace. Not the natural outcome of our lives but God’s supernatural gift of love and mercy in Christ. Saved – rescued, delivered, redeemed, reconciled, restored. The destiny of anyone who is spiritually alive is being alive with God forever.
All these differences – a different belonging, a different lifestyle, a different destiny – are God’s work in us to make us a different kind of person. We are God’s workmanship. His project. He’s the designer, the craftsman, the artist. He’s the one, by his grace, who is making something of us.
And when God does something, it’s going to be good. He doesn’t settle for a patch up job using duct tape and spray paint. God makes a masterpiece. That’s what the word “workmanship” means. We get the word “poem” from this Greek word. It’s a work of literary art, a skillfully designed and crafted product.
The project is that everyone of us becomes a masterpiece of God’s own making. That we become things of divine beauty. That we become the best work that God can do.
A missionary in Botswana received a request for a Bible study course. The letter was signed, “Ga se motho” which means “not a person” in the Tswana language. The missionary sent the study materials with a letter asking him how he had gotten that name. Sometime went by then a reply came. The man explained that he had been an unwanted child and that’s what his parents called him: “not a person.” He went on and said he had studied about Jesus and had prayed to receive him as Savior. A change took place and he had changed his name. Now he was “Ke motho” – “I am a person.”
God makes us real persons. Alive with his power and kindness and grace.
You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. See, you don’t have to live like someone who is still dead. You don’t have to live by the priorities and motivations and purposes of that existence. You don’t have to always be making sure that you’re getting the things and the experiences that make you safe and happy. You don’t have to be worrying. You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to be angry and rage against other people. You don’t have to protect yourself and what you’ve got. You don’t have to fight and compete and make up for your shortcomings. You don’t have to live by impulses and habits and addictions. You don’t have to be held back by your hurts and hang-ups. You can give all that up. You can surrender all that.
God is making you a masterpiece. You can live with faith, with courage, with confidence. You can be clean. You can be caring and generous. You can be strong. You can be joyful. You can be hopeful. You can be at peace. You can be merciful, forgiving, helpful. You can love. You can be alive forever.
Most of all, you can engage with God in a real relationship of knowing him, hearing him, following him, and receiving his goodness and grace and love into your heart. That’s really how you are made into his masterpiece. You don’t make yourself into a masterpiece. God invites you to live in a daily relationship with him and work with him as he creates you new in Christ Jesus.
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