Created Anew: A Living Masterpiece Ephesians 2:8-10
The book of Ephesians is really a letter. It was written by Paul to a group of Christians who together made up one of the first churches. They lived in Ephesus. Paul writes this letter not to address a certain problem or to correct a certain kind of heresy. He writes this letter to encourage the church and challenge them to live out what it really means to be a Christ follower.
Illustration: High Ropes Course (pictures)
Last weekend, we took some students on event we called Elevate. It was a time where we challenged them to elevate their relationship with God. During that time, the teens could participate in a low or high ropes course.
Some of us showed up to do the high ropes course. Janden, Alex, Andrew, Amada
It was amazing what you had to do just to experience the course. First you had to be age 14 which meant some of the students weren’t able to participate. Next you were given instructions on how to wear the helmet. Then you were told how to put on your harness. There were these yellow lobster claws that you had to attach to your harness and clamp to the wires. You had to have a partner, and you had to get permission to move each of your carabineer. Then there was a certain way to attach a carabineer and you had to have your partner make sure you did the squeeze check. You had to have spotters when you were on the ladder. There were even instructions for the zip line so that you made sure you would roll forward and not scrape your back.
All so that you can experience the thrill of this course.
When it comes to God, many people feel like there are so many things you have to do in order to be right with God. It as if you have to earn God’s approval.
It is in this letter to the church in Ephesus that we find a major point that Paul wants to make concerning this very thing. Start with verse 8…
Ephesians 2:4-10
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Three words we are going to focus on today. The first one is…
Grace
We have been saved not because of anything we have done. It is a gift from God. Unlike other religious worldviews that say if you do the right things you can work your way to God, grace says you can’t work your way to God. You cannot earn God’s approval. You can never do enough stuff or score enough points. Grace is God coming to us. Grace says that God loves you exactly the way you are. God comes to us and saves us. You don’t have to put on helmet, harness, have spotters, climb the ladder, climb the tree, get approval to move your carabineer, and do squeeze checks. Grace says that the rule system is tossed. The ladder and tree that you climb isn’t really there. You don’t have to do all this stuff and climb the pole to experience what it means to be loved by God. If we can trust God, grace is God’s gift to us even though we don’t deserve it.
Vs 9 – Paul says that salvation is not a reward for all your work. It is a gift. You are saved by grace, not by works. How many of you have heard that phrase? Saved by grace, not by works?
Sometimes what comes to play in the Christian message is that grace becomes very positive and it is. God saves us by grace, a gift, and we don’t have to earn that gift. At the same time, it is as if works becomes negative. We are saved by grace, not by works. You can’t stop with grace, as if works doesn’t matter.
That brings us to our second word. Masterpiece.
Masterpiece
How many of you like art? We have a few pictures from Julian Beever. He is a British artist famous for his chalk drawings on the pavement in England, France, Germany, USA, Australia, and Belgium. Beever gives his drawings this amazing 3D illusion. http://www.jibjab.com/view/42456 (order: laptop, seal, hold, politicians meeting end, heroes)
Ephesus was a city known for art. It was the world center of art for the goddess Artemis. Artemis was one of the Greek goddesses. Statues of this goddess were a main source of income. This city was world famous for people who made art of the gods.
There is this great play on words here as Paul says,
Verse 10 - 10 For we are God’s masterpiece.
He says that God makes art of people. You are God’s artwork which of course is where we get the phrase “you are a piece of work.”
Illustration:
Art from a child - Some of you would think that this picture is worthless. But if you simply knew who made this piece of art, your perspective would change. It says right here, “Brendon.” For a parent it means a lot because of the name that is on it. I know who made this piece of art. There is an incredible designer behind this art. The same is true for each person. There is an incredible designer behind you. God has placed his name on you.
Paul says that in Christ, we are God’s artwork – His masterpiece. The reality is that some feel like they are anything but a masterpiece. Some feel like an accident. Their parents may have even told them they were an accident. Paul says that you are a masterpiece.
You received a picture with an easel. That is for you to draw or color or write as you reflect on the questions listed on the back of your outline. You may be here today, and the one thing that you need to embrace is that in Christ you are God’s masterpiece.
It is in verse 10 that we find the next couple of words we want to focus on today. Paul says… God has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Created Anew
I was doing a little research on what makes a masterpiece. One of the descriptions of a masterpiece said this: “A masterpiece takes your breath away because nothing needs to be added or done to improve it. You know when you encounter a masterpiece. It stays with you. It causes you to enter into the work of the artist.”
Paul says that in Christ you receive this incredible gift of grace. You receive forgiveness, a relationship with God that is completely free. There is nothing you can do to earn it. As a result of receiving God’s grace, He puts you back together and begins to recreate you to be the masterpiece you were intended to be. God’s is the artist. To realize what this designer has done in you, takes your breath away. Nothing needs to be done or added to improve it. In fact, it is so awe inspiring that it causes you and others to enter into the work of the artist. It inspires you to enter into what the Artist is doing.
You may be asking: What is the Artist doing? What am I created anew to do? Paul says that you are created anew in Jesus so that you can join in God’s work and do the good things.
Central to what it means to be a Christ follower is that a Christ follower is created to be a new person who begins to live a new way.
The problem is that it is easy to focus on being saved by grace and not by works, as if what you do or how you live doesn’t matter.
Illustration:
Julian Beever – Remember the artist who painted on the street. Here is another one of his paintings. If you are coming from a different direction it might look like this. It looks distorted. It is actually 40 ft long, but you can’t quite make out what it is because you are looking at it from the wrong angle. But if you change your perspective, you realize what it was intended to be. World - Make Poverty History.
You must have a different perspective in order to really understand and appreciate what it means to be created anew. Problem is when people don’t have a new perspective. We focus on “saved by grace not by works”, and we fail to realize the importance of living out our relationship with God.
At Elevate last weekend, we talked a lot about the fruit that should show in our lives. Galatians says that our lives should produce love, peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, patience, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. We were created anew to love, to serve, to do good things or good deeds. You find this idea throughout the New Testament and even in the Old Testament.
If you turn over to Matthew 5:16, you find Jesus talking about what his kingdom is like and what it means to live like a Christ follower. He says that you are the light of the world….
Matthew 5:16 - In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
How will people know God? There is this idea that people who perhaps don’t even know about God will see a follower of Jesus doing good deeds, living this changed life, that it ultimately changes them.
1 Peter 2:12 – This is a letter written by Peter to a group of Christians who were living in the Roman Empire. The Emperor at the time was Nero. He so hated Christians that they referred to him as Anti-Christ. He had a giant garden and he would have huge parties for friends. He would then strap Christians to poles and place the poles throughout the garden and set them on fire to serve as light for his parties. He killed many Christians. It is in that context that Peter writes,
1 Peter 2:11-12 - [11] Dear friends, you are foreigners and aliens here. So I warn you to keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls. [12] Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when he comes to judge the world.
What does he say? Get some Bible tracts and hand them out to your neighbors, and take a John 3:16 banner to your kid’s games. No. He says live such honorable lives that in the midst of your unbelieving neighbors, people who are killing Christians, in the midst of people who have nothing to do with Christ, that they will see your acts of love, your compassion, your grace, your justice and they will ultimately praise God.
What would it be like to be the kind of people, the kind of church, the kind of place that people who believe totally different things, that people who wanted nothing to do with God, saw such good deeds, such incredible love, such honorable lives that they want to know more. What would it be like for you to be the kind of people in your neighborhood where others knew you by your love and honorable lives more than anything else? What would it look like if we left today understanding that to let your light shine means to search out what needs to be done to better serve people and love people?
What would it be like to live such good lives, that people who wanted nothing to do with God begin to say, “God is good. I hope that group of people or that family or that person never leaves our neighborhood.”
Questions for Reflection on outline – Use the card to draw or journal.
Who are the people in your life that need to see your love? In your neighborhood, in your class at school, down the hall in the cubicle next to you, in the factory where you work? They may even rub you wrong or they may have nothing to do with God. To be a Christ follower is to live such a good life that you begin to ask:
What are the needs around me that I can meet? How can I love the people around me?
Occasionally I talk to people who really want their friend, neighbor, or coworker to really know God. They want to focus on trying to say the right things to help people come to know God to convince people. It comes from a pure heart, but they think if can craft the perfect argument. It isn’t that there is never a time or place for that. But what does Scripture say? Over and over it talks about being a living masterpiece so that people are in awe. They are inspired to enter into the work of the artist. They are inspired to join God’s work.
I placed some other scriptures on your outline, but I want to quickly refer to another one in Matthew. Matthew 25:40 – Jesus tells a story about the final judgment, and to illustrate he talks about a King who divides his people into two groups. One group is invited to enter into His kingdom, and the other group is not. To the one group, he says, “Enter in for I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared, I was in prison and you visited me.”
The people answer, “When did we see you hungry, thirsty, naked, a stranger, sick, or in prison?
Verse 37 - And the King tells them, 'I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'
What do the people around you need? In your neighborhood, your school, at work, in your community need?
Williams Street: For Duane, he sees the needs represented in jail ministry. There are numbers of things in our community like that. It is so important for people and families to embrace those kinds of things. It is so important for us to get involved in our community, and to serve people in our community.
But the reality is there are so many simple things you can do. There are needs around you everyday that are in front of you. Practical needs that can be met – someone who struggling to meet financial debt, to fix home, to mentor… But you must be looking for those needs.
The entire letter to the Ephesians is filled with instructions on the importance of becoming mature like in Ephesians 4 where it talks about leaving your former way of life, being spiritually new with your thoughts and attitudes, and displaying a new nature because you are a new person.
Ephesians 4:21-24
Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, [22] throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. [23] Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. [24] You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness—righteous, holy, and true.
Prayer: about forgiveness, receiving, grace, embracing masterpiece, being a living masterpiece
Instructions: use drawing, reflection questions
Illustration: 2001 Space Odyssey
How do you feel? What are you feeling?
If you stop with grace and leave out works, then it is like a crescendo that stops before the best part. You end up with Christians who simply focus on being saved by grace and they miss out. They miss out on being and doing all that God wants and creates them to be. You miss out on the full picture of what God intends for your life.
In Christ, God has created you to be a new person and to live a new life. As we close with this song, know and embrace that you are a living masterpiece.
Song: Amazing
Send Out:
Go and live a new life so that the people around you are so inspired to join God’s work. Go knowing God has creates you anew to be a living masterpiece.
References:
Rob Bell – Directions 2.0 Part IV
Julian Beever - http://www.jibjab.com/view/42456
Scriptures:
Matthew 5:16
1 Peter 2:11-12
James 2:14
Revelation 1-3 (letters to the churches)
Matthew 25:40
Ephesians 4:21-24
Questions: Use these questions for reflection or to help you journal or draw.
What does it mean for you to know that you are a masterpiece?
What would it look like for people to know you more by your love than anything else?
Who are the people in your life that need to see love?
What are the needs of the people around you?
How can you love people?
2008/04/20
Sermon Reources available here...
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Created Anew: A Living Masterpiece Ephesians 2:8-10
The book of Ephesians is really a letter. It was written by Paul to a group of Christians who together made up one of the first churches. They lived in Ephesus. Paul writes this letter not to address a certain problem or to correct a certain kind of heresy. He writes this letter to encourage the church and challenge them to live out what it really means to be a Christ follower.
Illustration: High Ropes Course (pictures)
Last weekend, we took some students on event we called Elevate. It was a time where we challenged them to elevate their relationship with God. During that time, the teens could participate in a low or high ropes course.
Some of us showed up to do the high ropes course. Janden, Alex, Andrew, Amada
It was amazing what you had to do just to experience the course. First you had to be age 14 which meant some of the students weren’t able to participate. Next you were given instructions on how to wear the helmet. Then you were told how to put on your harness. There were these yellow lobster claws that you had to attach to your harness and clamp to the wires. You had to have a partner, and you had to get permission to move each of your carabineer. Then there was a certain way to attach a carabineer and you had to have your partner make sure you did the squeeze check. You had to have spotters when you were on the ladder. There were even instructions for the zip line so that you made sure you would roll forward and not scrape your back.
All so that you can experience the thrill of this course.
When it comes to God, many people feel like there are so many things you have to do in order to be right with God. It as if you have to earn God’s approval.
It is in this letter to the church in Ephesus that we find a major point that Paul wants to make concerning this very thing. Start with verse 8…
Ephesians 2:4-10
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Three words we are going to focus on today. The first one is…
Grace
We have been saved not because of anything we have done. It is a gift from God. Unlike other religious worldviews that say if you do the right things you can work your way to God, grace says you can’t work your way to God. You cannot earn God’s approval. You can never do enough stuff or score enough points. Grace is God coming to us. Grace says that God loves you exactly the way you are. God comes to us and saves us. You don’t have to put on helmet, harness, have spotters, climb the ladder, climb the tree, get approval to move your carabineer, and do squeeze checks. Grace says that the rule system is tossed. The ladder and tree that you climb isn’t really there. You don’t have to do all this stuff and climb the pole to experience what it means to be loved by God. If we can trust God, grace is God’s gift to us even though we don’t deserve it.
Vs 9 – Paul says that salvation is not a reward for all your work. It is a gift. You are saved by grace, not by works. How many of you have heard that phrase? Saved by grace, not by works?
Sometimes what comes to play in the Christian message is that grace becomes very positive and it is. God saves us by grace, a gift, and we don’t have to earn that gift. At the same time, it is as if works becomes negative. We are saved by grace, not by works. You can’t stop with grace, as if works doesn’t matter.
That brings us to our second word. Masterpiece.
Masterpiece
How many of you like art? We have a few pictures from Julian Beever. He is a British artist famous for his chalk drawings on the pavement in England, France, Germany, USA, Australia, and Belgium. Beever gives his drawings this amazing 3D illusion. http://www.jibjab.com/view/42456 (order: laptop, seal, hold, politicians meeting end, heroes)
Ephesus was a city known for art. It was the world center of art for the goddess Artemis. Artemis was one of the Greek goddesses. Statues of this goddess were a main source of income. This city was world famous for people who made art of the gods.
There is this great play on words here as Paul says,
Verse 10 - 10 For we are God’s masterpiece.
He says that God makes art of people. You are God’s artwork which of course is where we get the phrase “you are a piece of work.”
Illustration:
Art from a child - Some of you would think that this picture is worthless. But if you simply knew who made this piece of art, your perspective would change. It says right here, “Brendon.” For a parent it means a lot because of the name that is on it. I know who made this piece of art. There is an incredible designer behind this art. The same is true for each person. There is an incredible designer behind you. God has placed his name on you.
Paul says that in Christ, we are God’s artwork – His masterpiece. The reality is that some feel like they are anything but a masterpiece. Some feel like an accident. Their parents may have even told them they were an accident. Paul says that you are a masterpiece.
You received a picture with an easel. That is for you to draw or color or write as you reflect on the questions listed on the back of your outline. You may be here today, and the one thing that you need to embrace is that in Christ you are God’s masterpiece.
It is in verse 10 that we find the next couple of words we want to focus on today. Paul says… God has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Created Anew
I was doing a little research on what makes a masterpiece. One of the descriptions of a masterpiece said this: “A masterpiece takes your breath away because nothing needs to be added or done to improve it. You know when you encounter a masterpiece. It stays with you. It causes you to enter into the work of the artist.”
Paul says that in Christ you receive this incredible gift of grace. You receive forgiveness, a relationship with God that is completely free. There is nothing you can do to earn it. As a result of receiving God’s grace, He puts you back together and begins to recreate you to be the masterpiece you were intended to be. God’s is the artist. To realize what this designer has done in you, takes your breath away. Nothing needs to be done or added to improve it. In fact, it is so awe inspiring that it causes you and others to enter into the work of the artist. It inspires you to enter into what the Artist is doing.
You may be asking: What is the Artist doing? What am I created anew to do? Paul says that you are created anew in Jesus so that you can join in God’s work and do the good things.
Central to what it means to be a Christ follower is that a Christ follower is created to be a new person who begins to live a new way.
The problem is that it is easy to focus on being saved by grace and not by works, as if what you do or how you live doesn’t matter.
Illustration:
Julian Beever – Remember the artist who painted on the street. Here is another one of his paintings. If you are coming from a different direction it might look like this. It looks distorted. It is actually 40 ft long, but you can’t quite make out what it is because you are looking at it from the wrong angle. But if you change your perspective, you realize what it was intended to be. World - Make Poverty History.
You must have a different perspective in order to really understand and appreciate what it means to be created anew. Problem is when people don’t have a new perspective. We focus on “saved by grace not by works”, and we fail to realize the importance of living out our relationship with God.
At Elevate last weekend, we talked a lot about the fruit that should show in our lives. Galatians says that our lives should produce love, peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, patience, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. We were created anew to love, to serve, to do good things or good deeds. You find this idea throughout the New Testament and even in the Old Testament.
If you turn over to Matthew 5:16, you find Jesus talking about what his kingdom is like and what it means to live like a Christ follower. He says that you are the light of the world….
Matthew 5:16 - In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
How will people know God? There is this idea that people who perhaps don’t even know about God will see a follower of Jesus doing good deeds, living this changed life, that it ultimately changes them.
1 Peter 2:12 – This is a letter written by Peter to a group of Christians who were living in the Roman Empire. The Emperor at the time was Nero. He so hated Christians that they referred to him as Anti-Christ. He had a giant garden and he would have huge parties for friends. He would then strap Christians to poles and place the poles throughout the garden and set them on fire to serve as light for his parties. He killed many Christians. It is in that context that Peter writes,
1 Peter 2:11-12 - [11] Dear friends, you are foreigners and aliens here. So I warn you to keep away from evil desires because they fight against your very souls. [12] Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when he comes to judge the world.
What does he say? Get some Bible tracts and hand them out to your neighbors, and take a John 3:16 banner to your kid’s games. No. He says live such honorable lives that in the midst of your unbelieving neighbors, people who are killing Christians, in the midst of people who have nothing to do with Christ, that they will see your acts of love, your compassion, your grace, your justice and they will ultimately praise God.
What would it be like to be the kind of people, the kind of church, the kind of place that people who believe totally different things, that people who wanted nothing to do with God, saw such good deeds, such incredible love, such honorable lives that they want to know more. What would it be like for you to be the kind of people in your neighborhood where others knew you by your love and honorable lives more than anything else? What would it look like if we left today understanding that to let your light shine means to search out what needs to be done to better serve people and love people?
What would it be like to live such good lives, that people who wanted nothing to do with God begin to say, “God is good. I hope that group of people or that family or that person never leaves our neighborhood.”
Questions for Reflection on outline – Use the card to draw or journal.
Who are the people in your life that need to see your love? In your neighborhood, in your class at school, down the hall in the cubicle next to you, in the factory where you work? They may even rub you wrong or they may have nothing to do with God. To be a Christ follower is to live such a good life that you begin to ask:
What are the needs around me that I can meet? How can I love the people around me?
Occasionally I talk to people who really want their friend, neighbor, or coworker to really know God. They want to focus on trying to say the right things to help people come to know God to convince people. It comes from a pure heart, but they think if can craft the perfect argument. It isn’t that there is never a time or place for that. But what does Scripture say? Over and over it talks about being a living masterpiece so that people are in awe. They are inspired to enter into the work of the artist. They are inspired to join God’s work.
I placed some other scriptures on your outline, but I want to quickly refer to another one in Matthew. Matthew 25:40 – Jesus tells a story about the final judgment, and to illustrate he talks about a King who divides his people into two groups. One group is invited to enter into His kingdom, and the other group is not. To the one group, he says, “Enter in for I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared, I was in prison and you visited me.”
The people answer, “When did we see you hungry, thirsty, naked, a stranger, sick, or in prison?
Verse 37 - And the King tells them, 'I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'
What do the people around you need? In your neighborhood, your school, at work, in your community need?
Williams Street: For Duane, he sees the needs represented in jail ministry. There are numbers of things in our community like that. It is so important for people and families to embrace those kinds of things. It is so important for us to get involved in our community, and to serve people in our community.
But the reality is there are so many simple things you can do. There are needs around you everyday that are in front of you. Practical needs that can be met – someone who struggling to meet financial debt, to fix home, to mentor… But you must be looking for those needs.
The entire letter to the Ephesians is filled with instructions on the importance of becoming mature like in Ephesians 4 where it talks about leaving your former way of life, being spiritually new with your thoughts and attitudes, and displaying a new nature because you are a new person.
Ephesians 4:21-24
Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, [22] throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. [23] Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. [24] You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness—righteous, holy, and true.
Prayer: about forgiveness, receiving, grace, embracing masterpiece, being a living masterpiece
Instructions: use drawing, reflection questions
Illustration: 2001 Space Odyssey
How do you feel? What are you feeling?
If you stop with grace and leave out works, then it is like a crescendo that stops before the best part. You end up with Christians who simply focus on being saved by grace and they miss out. They miss out on being and doing all that God wants and creates them to be. You miss out on the full picture of what God intends for your life.
In Christ, God has created you to be a new person and to live a new life. As we close with this song, know and embrace that you are a living masterpiece.
Song: Amazing
Send Out:
Go and live a new life so that the people around you are so inspired to join God’s work. Go knowing God has creates you anew to be a living masterpiece.
References:
Rob Bell – Directions 2.0 Part IV
Julian Beever - http://www.jibjab.com/view/42456
Scriptures:
Matthew 5:16
1 Peter 2:11-12
James 2:14
Revelation 1-3 (letters to the churches)
Matthew 25:40
Ephesians 4:21-24
Questions: Use these questions for reflection or to help you journal or draw.
What does it mean for you to know that you are a masterpiece?
What would it look like for people to know you more by your love than anything else?
Who are the people in your life that need to see love?
