Gods Master Plan

Ephesians 2:4-10 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressionsit is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faithand this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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We have been looking at Gods grace and this wonderful gift of salvation that we possess. It is BY GRACE - THROUGH FAITH - OF GOD. As we look today at verses 6-10 it reminds me of a story I once heard. There was a minister out taking a walk on a beautiful street. He noticed a small boy attempting to ring the doorbell on the porch of a house. The boy was short and the doorbell was higher than usual. The boy could not quite reach it. The minister stepped up to the porch beside the boy and reached up and aggressively rang the doorbell for the boy. AND NOW WHAT YOUNG MAN? NOW, the boy said, WE RUN LIKE CRAZY! Now that you know what salvation is and hopefully that you are saved: WHAT NEXT? Let me tell you, God has a lot in store for us. You and I live in a culture of poverty. In all of America we are surrounded by poverty. Not the kind of poverty you are thinking of not the kind that leaves you homeless, destitute or hungry. But an insidious bone level poverty that leaves this country languishing in uselessness. It is the poverty of selfish ambition and materialism...a poverty that leaves us with no real purpose to live for; a poverty that limits our reason to live to the ridiculously inane mission of making money. Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. And it will leave you unfulfilled. Many of us, and our neighbors, live in this poverty. And it is slowly sapping away our lives. Do you know that a useless life is an early death? Today, I want you to hear that there is no reason for anyone to languish in uselessness. God has something much bigger in mind for every human being! 1. Gods Master Plan verses 6-7: 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. What are the incomparable riches of His grace? When you study what the bible tells us about tell us about Gods dreams for humanity and this world from Genesis to Revelation you come up with the following general list: God intends for humanity to be restored in relationship with Him; Humanity to be restored in community; Racism and sexism to be eliminated; Injustices to be resolved; Poverty to be confronted and alleviated; Authentic community and relationships to thrive; Healing from disease to be the norm; The incapable and marginalized to be cared for; Peace to be the norm between all nations; All of creation to be well cared for. He wants us to be reconciled to Him, reconciled to each other, and reconciled to our world. These are the plans of God for all humanity and His creation! 1

But how does God plan to accomplish all of this? Through us. We are 2. Gods Masterpiece verse 10a: 10 For we are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. The Greek Word for workmanship is really unique, it can be translated in several ways. The NIV says, "We are Gods workmanship. The new Living Translation says, we are Gods masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." We are His masterpiece. The only other place in Scripture this word is used is in Romans 1:20 which talks about Gods creation being a testimony of Who He is. It speaks of the wonders of Creation: expanse of the galaxies, sun, moon, stars and Gods purposes and dreams for all of creation. Some of the most interesting paintings that an artist might paint, at least to me, are what are called self-portraits, like Michael Angelo and Norman Rockwell. You can see Van Goghs progression into insanity by looking at a series of self-portraits he painted. We are to be Gods SELFPORTRAITS of what He intends for humanity and this world. Where He reproduces His image on the canvas of our lives. Every human being is unique - Uniquely shaped in personality Uniquely endowed with gifts and abilities serving, helps, wisdom, administration, arts, care, - With unique journeys and histories that have shaped our lives. That right there is enough information to at least pique our imagination isnt it?

Heres something to get your head spinning: You and your purpose for existence existed before your body was created in the womb. Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. Psalm 139:15-16: My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. So from eternity past God created you to find your calling and to fulfill His purposes and plan in this world - to live for something bigger than yourself - something bigger than the American dream - something grander than the culture of ambition and survival - something more substantial than material wealth and security. Each human being was created to discover this calling that as we find it, makes us alive...a calling in which we flourish...a calling that pulls out of the poverty of ambition and enables us to change the world as God has planned. But YOU are not Gods masterpiece by yourself, WE ARE Gods masterpiece! For WE are God's workmanship (or masterpiece), created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

The word WE tells us that the scripture isnt talking about all human beings but a specific group of human beings - Look at the context in Ephesians 2. When Paul says we he means: Vs 1 - those who were dead but are now alive Vs 5 those who have been made alive with Christ Vs 6 those who have been raised up Vs 8 those who have been saved by Grace Those of us who are saved by His grace are God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

The phrase in Christ Jesus is used 250 times in the New Testament. It identifies those who are in union with Jesus. Those human beings who are united with Jesus, who have been made alive in Jesus, who have been redeemed...they are the ones who discover a purpose bigger than themselves. So, let me put my own spin an Ephesians 2:10: For we, the followers of Jesus, together are God's masterpiece, created through our union with Him and one another to live out the calling and accomplish the purposes which God designed for us before we were born. This is the essential element we cant miss: The calling and fulfillment of the Gods design for all human beings is unlocked when a person chooses to follow Christ and enters into union with Him in THE BODY OF CHRIST. THIS IS A WE PLAN FOR GODS MASTERPIECE. We are created anew to do 3. Gods Works v. 10b: created...to do good works We were created with a purpose to do good works. This sounds rather uninspiring at first; kind of trite; like nothing that will inspire our imagination. That is until we understand what His good works are. Good works are Gods works; the purposes of God for this world that God wants to accomplish through us.

Remember another time when God called something good? He called His shaping and creating of the world good: Just as he wanted it - the fulfillment of His dreams for creation and humanity. In the same way good works are the fulfillment of Gods dream and purposes for humanity and creation. This means that you and I were created in Christ Jesus as Gods masterpiece to fulfill His purposes and dreams for all of creation.

So, dont think of good works as merely helping change someones tire or serving in your schools bake sale. These are good acts, but not the ultimate goal of God. Think of good works as changing the world in cooperation with God Almighty. Every Christian is created anew in Christ as a part of His masterpiece to change the world. But we cant do Gods work in our way! We must do His work in His way. 4. Gods Way v. 10c: Which God prepared in advance for us to do

How does this relate to my life to day and to my family, neighbors and community? . What does this have to do with my career and my every day struggle to keep going? Hang on Sparky, well get there in a minute. First I want you to grasp just how significant a role each human being is designed to have in this lifetime. I want you to understand how we were created to have a divine purpose thats bigger than we are. II Corinthians 5:18 says, God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. Vs. 18 the ministry of reconciliation is interpreted this way: ministry = servant, table waiter, runner. We are runners in this world. God is the general and we carry His message out to the world. We are table waiters and God is head chef. We carry his food to the world. We are servants and He is Lord. We do Gods work in the world. We tell others the good news of the Gospel and break down the barriers between people with His love by the power of His Spirit. This scripture says that we act as Gods ambassadors and bring others to Christ. II Corinthians 5:20 goes on to say, We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Ambassadors of Christ means we are spokespersons for God - ones who make Gods appeal on behalf of Him. Again - these are reasons for which to live that are much bigger than our daily chores and the American dream! I Peter 2:9-10 says, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. We are created anew to live as examples of Gods chosen people the hand picked family that represents God in and to the world. Fighting racism, sexism, and discrimination. We are created anew to act as Gods royal priesthood - ones who dispense the grace and mercy and forgiveness of God and act as intermediaries between people and God: forgiving others, accepting others in Christ, reaching out to the least, the last and the lost and reconciling people to God and to one another. We are created anew to serve God and others as a holy nation - a community that models the values of God love, forgiveness, grace and holiness unique and set apart.

My point is that human beings were created by God to live with an epic sense of purpose, an enormous sense of calling! Let me summarize what we are as Gods masterpiece in this world: Caretakers of creation Heralds of peace and forgiveness Catalysts of community Agents of healing Rescuers of the poor and marginalized Runners of reconciliation 4

Ambassadors of Christ Spokespersons for God Dispensers of grace and mercy Models of holiness This is what you and I were created anew to do in this world. There are ten reasons to get up in the morning. If we do our part in Gods way, He will change the world through us one person at a time. So, what does this have to do with our every day life? What does it have to do with our friends and family that live around us in our world? How does this relate to the people in our lives who we suspect may be far from God? We will never escape the humdrum poverty of survival and ambition until something crucial happens in our life; until we wake up and see what God has created us to be and to do. Our friends, family, neighbors, fellow students and co-workers will never escape their poverty of survival and ambition until something crucial happens in their life. They wont discover their God given calling until they meet Jesus and until they get involved in Gods work He has prepared in advance for them to do. Many of your friends arent yet in union with Jesus. Thus though they may be gifted people and even feel somewhat fulfilled with their lives they will not totally step into their calling until they experience the cross and resurrection, until they are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ and their lives are redeemed. Why do your friends and family need Jesus? They need their relationship with God restored They need healing for their brokenness They need to be reconciled to one another They need a community of real relationships They need a reason to live for that is larger than their own little world of ambition. Who will introduce them to the joy of forgiveness and reconciliation to God? Who will direct them to the healing and purpose they crave in Jesus Christ? Who will open the door into the new community of the church? Who will lead your friends and family out of the poverty of ambition into lives of Gods purpose? If not you then who?