Living As God's Masterpiece

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Living As God's Masterpiece</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id407.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Its Who You Know"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id411.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gods Building Project"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"Living As God's Masterpiece," </B><A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Eph+2:1-10" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U><B>Ephesians 2:1-10</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, October 12, 2003</B></div> <bR> <div>      Sometimes people's lives spiral out of control for one reason or another, and sometimes their friends will "intervene." They will get together with this person and help them see their need to get help. In such intervention situation, the person whose life is out of control may say, "I didn't realize it was such a problem," "I thought things were under control," or "I thought I could quit at any time." Someone else has to show them their need.</div> <div>      Consider ABC's "Extreme Makeover," where people beg to be on the show and receive an extreme makeover, because they have full awareness of their need of change. On the other hand, on TLC's "What Not To Wear," people are nominated because someone else thinks they have a need for a style update. Many times this comes as a surprise to the object of the show.</div> <div>      Ephesians 2:1-10 reveals people's spiritual need, whether we knew we had the need or not. It not only reveals the need of every human being, but it shows us what God did about it. The passage tells us about God's intervention for people in a desperate situation, and it tells about the extreme spiritual makeover he performs.</div> <bR> <div> I. Ephesians 2:1-3 - What we were before God intervened.</div> <div> A. We were spiritually dead (vs. 1). We were separated from God, without a life-giving relationship with him.</div> <div> B. We were under the dominating influence of sin, and therefore unable to please God. Verse 2 discusses the outside influence, the spiritual forces of evil in the world. But verse 3 talks about the internal influence, our fallen, sinful nature. Compare murder or anger, adultery or lust. Humanly we may make a distinction, but before God, it is not one sinner compared to another, it is every sinner compared to God and his holiness.</div> <div> C. We were objects of God's wrath (vs. 3). This is because of God's justice and holiness. He cannot give a free pass for sin. He must judge it, because he is holy and just.</div> <bR> <div> II. Ephesians 2:4-6 - What God did to intervene.</div> <div> A. What God did.</div> <div>      He gave us life with Christ, and he raised us up and seated us in heavenly places with Christ (1:19-21). Verse 4 starts with the phrase, "but God" - that is his intervention for the human race. He saw a dreadful situation, and he got involved.</div> <div> B. The basis for what he did.</div> <div>      He is rich in mercy, great love, and grace. Yes, God is holy and just, and because of that we were destined for God's wrath (vs. 3). But God is also rich in mercy and grace. He alone through Jesus Christ, God the Son, paid the penalty. He poured his wrath for us out on himself in our place so that he could be kind to us, forgive us our sin, and give us new life.</div> <div>      To receive the benefits of what God did for the human race, a person must recognize their need and accept God's solution through faith in him (vs. 8).</div> <bR> <div> III. Ephesians 2:7-10 - The result of God's intervention.</div> <div> A. He demonstrates the riches of his grace and love (vs. 7).</div> <div>      Often we emphasize God's wrath and anger. But he wants his kindness, grace, and mercy to be known, because it is just as real as his holiness, justice, and wrath. Salvation is a free gift from God, and we do not get the credit for it, God does (vss. 8-9).</div> <div> B. We are his special creation, designed and enabled to do good works (vs. 10).</div> <bR> <div> IV. We are "God's masterpiece," his work of art. Think it, live it.</div> <div>      What we now are leads to changes in what we do.</div> <div> A. Our "walk" is different (the way we live).</div> <div>      Compare vs. 10 to vs. 2. The Greek word for "walk" is used in both verses. We used to "walk," or live in, the realm of  transgressions and sins. Now we are to "walk," or live in, or perform, the practice of good works, a lifestyle that is pleasing to God. Notice that his power is available for this (see Ephesians 1:19-20).</div> <div> B. What influences us has changed.</div> <div>      Again, compare vs. 10 to vs. 2. Our primary influences used to be the evil spiritual forces of the world, and our own sinful nature. Now that God has rescued us who have faith in him, our primary influence is to be God himself, through the Holy Spirit. He created us to obey him, and he can give us the necessary power to make this a reality in our lives (not that the sinful goes away - just yet).</div> <div>       It is a well-known fact that the sale of Reese's Pieces candy skyrocketed after the candy was featured in the film E.T. What you are exposed to (Friends, TV, music, movies, internet, reading) has a profound influence on what you think and how you then behave. Be exposed to the things of God, through his Word, prayer, and meeting with his people. Let him be the primary influence in your life for how you think and how you behave. You are his masterpiece. Let him shape you into what he wants.</div> <bR> <div>      We were dead in our sins, but God gave us life and salvation through Christ. We are his special creation, created to do obey him with our lives on earth.</div> <div>      While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle. "Still it has the heart of an eagle," replied the naturalist, "and can surely be taught to fly." He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, "You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again. The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly." But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food. Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens.  It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken. (From Theology News and Notes, October, 1976, quoted in Multnomah Message, Spring, 1993, p. 1.).</div> <div>      If you know Jesus, you are a Christian. You are a follower of Christ. You are God's masterpiece, created to do good works. Think it. Live it.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2003, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>