Ephesians 2:7-10 The Message

^7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Redeemed for Good Work: Masterpieces

Ephesians 2:1-10 Easy-to-Read Version

From Death to Life

2 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God. ² Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers^[a] that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. ³ In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.

⁴ But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. ⁵ We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) ⁶ Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. ⁷ God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.

⁸ I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God. ⁹ You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. ¹⁰ God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.

It is said that when Michelangelo, the great Renaissance sculptor, looked at an ordinary piece of marble, he envisioned his masterpiece long before he put his chisel to stone. In his mind, his creation existed even before he began to create.

Did you know that God, the greatest artist, has a glorious ­vision for each of his masterpieces, including you and me?

Long before creation, God had a purpose for our lives.

The apostle Paul tells us that we are God’s work of art.

He has been busy fashioning us in Christ to be his masterpiece.

But God did not create us merely for display.

God has created us so that, in turn, we too become artisans.

We are saved by God’s grace so that we will fulfill the plan God has had for us from the beginning.

What plan is that?

First, the good works God has prepared for us include a life of holiness.

And, remember, God created us to work: to cultivate his garden and to draw out the potential embedded in creation.

Though sin has damaged and distorted that plan, Jesus’ work on the cross has redeemed it.

We are re-created so that we may fulfill God’s original purpose for work!

How are we doing the good works which God has prepared in advance for us?

Will God Ever Ask Us to Do Something We Can’t Do?

There are an endless number of callings God gives to His people to labor at.

In each situation, we can probably come up with an infinite number of reasons we can’t follow through on those callings.

What we fail to consider is would God ask me to do something I cannot do?

Would God ask you to do something you cannot do?

Would God ask His Church to do something it cannot or will not do?

To answer this question, we must also consider why God created mankind in the beginning and consider how can we know when God is truly calling us.

Consider This: Why Did God Create Man?

Genesis 2:15 Amplified Bible

¹⁵ So the Lord God took the man [He had made] and settled him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

On the first pages of Scripture, we witness the creation of the world, including man. God created the heavens and the earth before he made Adam because He already knew where mankind would live and exactly what their purpose was. 

Genesis 2:15 states “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.”

We see similar instructions given to Noah after the flood in Genesis 9:1, “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.’”

In the beginning and after the destruction by the flood, God specifically states His purpose in creating humanity.

He wants us to work and watch over what is His.

He wants us to be fruitful and multiply by keeping the values of family in our hearts. 

To obey these instructions, we each must be willing to follow through on the calling(s) He has for us.

For God to call us to do something, He must know what we can do – even if we ourselves are not as aware of our skill set as God is of our respective skill sets.

Our individual gifts come from God, and he intended for us to use them to grow His kingdom.

Ephesians 2:10 Amplified Bible

¹⁰ For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].

Consider this: A Biblical Lens on God’s Instruction

God knew that mankind would always have questions about their purpose.

Because of that truth, He revealed many great personal examples in Scripture. 

Moses was asked to bring the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt.

He questioned God.

He said he could not complete the task because he could not speak well.

But God had a plan already and knew that Moses was the one to save His people.

Then there was Esther, a young Hebrew girl who was to become a queen.

She may have thought she could not save her people, but God knew she could.

Through God’s plan, Esther became a queen and saved her people. 

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah did not want to go.

He felt he could not because the Ninevites were dangerous people.

God knew Jonah could and gave him three days in a whale’s belly to consider his choice. With God’s help, Jonah went to Nineveh and proclaimed what God had told him. The Ninevites turned from their evil ways and were not destroyed. 

The disciples may have thought they could not drop their fishing nets and just follow Jesus because they only knew the water and the nets.

When they did, the disciples were witnesses to the miracles and teachings of Jesus. The three years they spent walking and talking and listening with Jesus molded them into the witnesses for Christ that helped build the early church. 

God has always been asking His people to obey commands.

In each situation, God’s instruction is doable because He has already set his own plan into motion. God did not leave Moses, Esther, Jonah, or his disciples.

It was with Him they accomplished their tasks.

Matthew 28:16-20 Amplified Bible

The Great Commission

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. ¹⁷ And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted [that it was really He]. ¹⁸ Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”

Today, the Great Commission is still exactly the same; nothing has changed.

God will always be with us, as promised; Until the end of the age; God does not call us into ministry and mission to obey Him and leave us to our own devices. 

How Do We Know What God Wants from Us?

James 4:7-10 The Message

^7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

As God’s people, we want to do whatever God asks of us. The problem we have is that too often we struggle to know what God wants us to do. We spend a lot of precious time questioning Him and that can leave little time for obedience. 

So, how can we know what God wants from us? We must start by preparing our hearts to hear the Holy Spirit. (James 4:8)

Preparation always starts with prayer.

It does not have to be an elaborate and elegantly worded prayer. It can be a simple prayer, one in which you confess your sins and God cleanses your heart. Prayer will fine tune our spiritual ears to hear the commands of our Lord. 

We also need to search the Scriptures. 

Isaiah 8:20 says, “Go to God’s instruction and testimony!”

Isaiah 8:19-22 The Message

^19-22 When people tell you, “Try out the fortunetellers.
    Consult the spiritualists.
Why not tap into the spirit-world,
    get in touch with the dead?”
Tell them, “No, we’re going to study the Scriptures.”
    People who try the other ways get nowhere—a dead end!
Frustrated and famished,
    they try one thing after another.
When nothing works out they get angry,
    cursing first this god and then that one,
Looking this way and that,
    up, down, and sideways—and seeing nothing,
A blank wall, an empty hole.
    They end up in the dark with nothing.

Everything we need to know is right in front of us when we open God’s Word.

If we saturate our hearts and minds and quicken our hands and our feet, with eyes and ears tuned to God’s truth, we cannot miss what He is calling us to do. 

God speaks in various and mysterious ways.

To allow yourself to hear Him, you must silence the distractions you have in your life.

We must turn the TV and social media off at times.

We must not fill our schedules with earthly obligations and forget the sacred obligation we have to the God who created us. 

We must also seek counsel and consider the context of what we feel God is calling us to do. 

Proverbs 11:14 says “Without guidance, a people will fall, but with many counselors there is deliverance.” Godly counsel will help you and me know if what we are feeling aligns with the character of God and will then produce kingdom fruits. 

Consider: Why Do We Miss God’s Call?

Proverbs 3:5-12 The Message

^5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.

I believe the number one reason we can miss God’s call is that we are simply too busy to hear him. We naively rely on our own understanding, miss the mark. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 tell us we are to rely only on the Lord and when we do, our paths will become straight. 

Our doubts can also keep us from seeing and hearing God’s call.

The idea that we cannot do something or don’t have time to carry out God’s instruction seriously clouds our judgement and hinders our faith in God. 

Hebrews 11:5-6 The Message

^5-6 By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

We expect God to always speak in a bold, dramatic way.

God is not always going to give you loud, vivid instruction.

You may not get your answer from a burning bush; Elijah received his answer in a gentle whisper outside a cave on a high mountain top (1 Kings 19:12).

1 Kings 19:7-12 The Message

⁷ The angel of God came back, shook him awake again, and said, “Get up and eat some more—you’ve got a long journey ahead of you.”

^8-9 He got up, ate and drank his fill, and set out. Nourished by that meal, he walked forty days and nights, all the way to the mountain of God, to Horeb. When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep.

Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”

¹⁰ “I’ve been working my heart out for the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”

^11-12 Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”

A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God  was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.

When we quiet our souls is when we will hear Him call. 

Missing God’s call can also happen when we do not prioritize worship.

God did not intend for man to do everything alone.

He wants us to have a strong Christian community that will encourage us, pray for us, and make disciples out of us. 

Consider These Final Thoughts

1 Corinthians 15:58 Amplified Bible

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].

Will God ask you to do something you cannot do?

No. God’s purpose for humanity was to steadfastly do the work He called us too.

Through examples like Moses, Esther, Jonah, the disciples, and many others in the Bible, God showed us that He would never call us to something we cannot do because we can do anything with His strength. 

Philippians 4:10-20 Amplified Bible

God’s Provisions

¹⁰ I rejoiced greatly in the Lord, that now at last you have renewed your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned about me before, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹ Not that I speak from [any personal] need, for I have learned to be content [and self-sufficient through Christ, satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or uneasy] regardless of my circumstances. ¹² I know how to get along and live humbly [in difficult times], and I also know how to enjoy abundance and live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret [of facing life], whether well-fed or going hungry, whether having an abundance or being in need. ¹³ I can do all things [which He has called me to do] through Him who strengthens and empowers me [to fulfill His purpose—I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency; I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses me with inner strength and confident peace.] ¹⁴ Nevertheless, it was right of you to share [with me] in my difficulties.

¹⁵ And you Philippians know that in the early days of preaching the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of ^[a]giving and receiving except you alone; ¹⁶ for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. ¹⁷ Not that I seek the gift itself, but I do seek the profit which increases to your [heavenly] account [the blessing which is accumulating for you]. ¹⁸ But I have received everything in full and more; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent me. They are the fragrant aroma of an offering, an acceptable sacrifice which God welcomes and in which He delights. ¹⁹ And my God will liberally supply (fill until full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ To our God and Father be the glory ^[b]forever and ever. Amen.

If you feel that God is calling you to do something, put the distractions and doubts aside.

Pray and search the Scriptures.

Participate in worship and lean on your Christian community to guide you.

If you do these things, you will be given the strength and knowledge to do whatever God calls you too. 

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

God, our Creator, Jesus, our Blessed Redeemer, we are in awe of the way you re-create broken people like us to be your masterpieces. Help us to honor you each day by doing the works you have prepared in advance for us to do. Amen.

Psalm 119:105-112 The Message

^105-112 By your words I can see where I’m going;
    they throw a beam of light on my dark path.
I’ve committed myself and I’ll never turn back
    from living by your righteous order.
Everything’s falling apart on me, God;
    put me together again with your Word.
Adorn me with your finest sayings, God;
    teach me your holy rules.
My life is as close as my own hands,
    but I don’t forget what you have revealed.
The wicked do their best to throw me off track,
    but I don’t swerve an inch from your course.
I inherited your book on living; it’s mine forever—
    what a gift! And how happy it makes me!
I concentrate on doing exactly what you say—
    I always have and always will.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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