By Grace Through Faith

Uh good morning.

Uh today's scripture is from Ephesians 2, 1 through 10.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we are dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not as a result of work, so that no one may boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated.

Good morning.

Yeah, like Zach said, um, my name is John Kushneroff, and I'm an elder here at Redemption Church.

Um my family and I have been going here for about 10 years, and I've got two two little kids, uh Jack and Lucy.

Um Lucy informed me that when I was preparing for this that uh I needed to be funny today.

So um she might be disappointed.

But um and yeah, it's so just a few announcements.

Um yeah, pray for James and Megan.

They are they're expecting and uh still no baby.

So that's um, and James already used up as two guest speakers.

So um hopefully uh things will move along soon.

And then the other uh announcement is so next Sunday, um they're gonna be doing some work in the other side of the building, and so we won't have bathrooms.

And um what we're gonna do is so there will be no live stream next week.

Um we will not meet in this chapel, but instead we're gonna meet uh most likely across the street in the park, and we're just gonna do a picnic together, uh, sing a few worship songs, um, maybe a quick message, especially depending on if uh Megan has her baby yet.

But um, and then that'll be it.

So we are gonna gather um as a church, but it won't be in here and it won't be normal.

And then the following Sunday, uh James will start with his series on Mark and we'll be back to normal.

Um so I'm gonna go ahead and pray and we'll jump in to the text.

Uh God, thank you so much for uh this church.

Thank you for what you're doing uh in this neighborhood.

We just ask, we just ask that you would just um that my words would be clear this morning and that your Holy Spirit would just penetrate the hearts uh of those in this room and those listening online, um, and that it's your truth uh that will shine through today.

Um and we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So this morning we're gonna look at uh we're gonna look at three things.

We're gonna look at God as a workman, we're gonna look at how God makes us, and we're gonna look at what God has made us for.

So God is a workman, how he makes us, and what he has made us for.

So we'll jump in.

Uh we'll start in verse eight.

So verse eight says, For by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not as a result of work, so that no one may boast.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

So we'll go ahead and stop there.

And first, if we see God as a workman, we see this all the way from literally the very beginning in Genesis 1.1.

It says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

So as soon as God enters the scene, he begins creating and working.

So we see it's God who creates, and then here in Ephesians, we see that it is God who makes dead things new, makes dead people alive, makes useless things useful.

So uh a few years ago, Heidi and I were uh we were blessed to be able to build a home.

And so as we're preparing to build the house and we're looking at, you know, looking through pictures and magazines and ideas to try to figure out what we're gonna do.

And Heidi comes across a picture of a of a bathroom that has a vanity in it, she really liked.

And so I was quickly nominated to build said vanity.

Um so uh yeah, so I you know did what um you know you do now, and you go to a reclaimed Barnwood lumber yard.

And so I grabbed my brother-in-law Justin, because a couple of dudes going to a lumber yard just felt like the right thing to do.

And we show up there on a it was a rainy afternoon, and we're picking through uh pieces, you know, just chunks of wood and beams and siding and all this stuff that that frankly doesn't look like a whole lot.

It's all wet, it's all scraped up, but we find this chunk of wood that we figured is gonna work for uh for the vanity that we want to build.

So we, you know, so we buy it, put it in the truck, bring it home, put it in the garage, dry it out, start cutting it, sanding it, and making it into the vanity that now sits in my bathroom.

So um I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this analogy.

Um, God is the workman, he's the craftsman, and we are his workmanship.

We didn't create ourselves or make ourselves into something any more than that vanity in my house made itself into the vanity that it is.

So then the question is so how?

How does this work?

How does God do this?

Well, the answer lies here in verse four.

So if you remember in the in the beginning of the chapter, Paul is basically lining out what a mess we're in.

Um he's painting a pretty grim picture of our condition.

He's saying that we are dead, uh, we're children of wrath.

I mean, these are not good things that he is saying about us.

But then one of the most glorious things that happens, God enters the story and he says, but God, but God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved.

So we see here, it's by grace, and it's by grace through Christ that we become his workmanship.

So that brings me in to kind of the next point, the next point of how?

How were we created?

How did God do this?

And he did this in Christ Jesus.

It says that we were created in Christ.

So this alone, this idea of being in Christ should should both give us a feeling of humility, but also one of confidence, a feeling of humility because of the condition that we were in.

Remember the dead part, us being there, there was one pastor who described it as um you weren't drowning in a pool.

You were like at the bottom of the pool, and sharks ate half your body.

Like we were dead, dead.

Um we have nothing to offer, nothing to contribute, and we cannot make ourselves into anything.

Certainly not anything new or useful.

So we should that should give us a feeling of humility, but the confidence, we should have a feeling of confidence because we have been made alive in Christ.

So when that happens, that means that the exact same power that raised Jesus from the dead is also making you new, making you alive.

So if we go back in the verse into verse four, but God, being rich in mercy, made us alive together with Christ.

Okay, so what is this, so what does this mean?

This means that if you're a Christian, that you're not only made alive, you're not only saved from your sin, but you're his workmanship.

It means you're made useful and beautiful by God.

Just like that, just like that piece of wood that I took home.

I didn't just rescue it from the lumber yard.

I didn't just bring it home, stick it in my house, and leave it there.

That would, I mean, that would be crazy.

That would make no sense at all.

But instead, I took it home and I began working on it, and I made it into something useful, into something beautiful, into something that was necessary to help complete our home.

And so he does with you.

He not only picked you up when you were dead in your sins, unable to save yourself, but he also fashions you and works you into and for good works.

So good works.

This should be this should be life-giving to us because once we are in Christ, God not only saves us, but he uses us.

He uses he uses Christians, he uses his church as a means to bring about his redemption into this world.

This is a wonderful gift that God has given us, that God, who needs nothing, he creates from nothing, chose to include us into his story of redemption.

So why does God do this?

Why does God not simply save us and that's it?

You know, I think for for a lot of us, myself certainly included, um uh I was we were taught that uh that the story of Christianity was just a story of personal salvation.

And that is certainly true.

It certainly is a story of personal salvation, but that's not all that it is.

Um Tim Keller wrote in his book, A Reason for God.

He says this when we look at the whole scope of this storyline, we clearly, we see clearly that Christianity is not only about getting one's individual sins forgiven, so we can go to heaven.

That is an important means of God's salvation, but not the final end or purpose of it.

The purpose of Jesus' coming is to put the whole world right, to renew and restore creation, not to escape it.

It is not just to bring personal forgiveness and peace, but also to bring justice and shalom to the world.

God created both the body and the soul, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both body and soul.

The work of the Spirit of God is not only to save souls, but to care and cultivate the face of the earth, the material world.

If God is both concerned with our salvation and with redeeming the world, then how do we fit into this?

How is God calling his people to participate into the redemption of the world?

The answer lies here in verse 10.

Verse 10, it says, here, we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So for good works.

So let's be crystal clear on this.

Good works do not save you.

Good works do not save you.

See, we were made for good works, not by good works.

Um verse five, it says, By grace you have been saved through faith.

Uh the little commentary in my Bible puts it this way: it says, Only faith, not works, can bring acceptance with God.

But good works are the vital and indispensable consequence and evidence of life with God.

Um, or the book of James, which we just got finished, if you remember back to chapter two, just simply says this so faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

So if we must have good works as the evidence of our faith, and if God is using these good works to as part of his means of bringing about redemption into this world, then how do we know what to do?

How do we know what things God is calling us to do?

So let's move a little bit further into verse 10.

We are created for good works in Christ Jesus, which he has prepared beforehand.

Which he has prepared beforehand for us to walk in them.

You see, this is such an amazing thing because what God requires, he also provides.

See, what God requires, he also provides.

We see this over and over throughout scripture.

We see this in the story of Abraham and Isaac, where God required a sacrifice of Abraham.

And then he provided a ram to him so he didn't have to sacrifice his son.

And then for us, he requires atonement for our sins.

And he gave, he sent Jesus to die in our place.

He supplied that to us.

And here it is with these good works.

He says that he will prepare these beforehand.

So he's providing these things for us as well.

So what are they?

What are these good works that that Paul's talking about?

Well, let's start with what's right in front of you.

Um, are you a husband or a wife?

Do you have kids?

Are you an employee or an employer?

Um Do you have neighbors, coworkers?

See, oftentimes the simplest things, the things that are right in front of us, is the answer.

See, you're the only you that God made, which means that your spouse is your spouse.

Your kids are your kids, your coworkers are your coworkers.

Do you see what I'm saying?

I'm saying that God uniquely put these things in your life, these good works that He has prepared for you, which means, yeah, they are, they're right in front of us.

Um so keep it simple.

And I think we oftentimes um we want to step over the things that God has put right in front of us to try to redeem, to try to do things that might seem more noble uh or more important.

Um I mean, ministries and charities and missions, these are all really, really great things.

But not if what God is calling you to do is simply raise godly children, do your job well, be a PE teacher, maybe.

Um and this is a tough one for me, to be honest, because oftentimes it's easier to come here, serve a church, than it is to go and engage with my wife or or serve my kids on a daily basis.

And but if I neglect that responsibility that God has given me, then he's not pleased with any of it.

Jesus tells us this that he who is faithful with a little will be faithful with much.

So don't misunderstand.

I mean, God may be calling you to missions or ministry, but those things are no more noble, no more holy than if God is calling you to be a mom or a business owner.

Um you see, so why is this so hard?

Why do we step over things and reach for things that God has not given us?

Um because they seem more noble, more important.

And I think it's pride.

I think that there is pride there that we are trying to give good works to ourselves.

We think that we know how God is working and redeeming his world.

So, how do we know what it is that we are to do?

And if you remember back to the being in Christ, that means that we also have the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will direct you, the Holy Spirit will show you what it is that God is calling you to.

We we just need to listen to that leading.

See, we live in a grand narrative that has been written by God, and he has written you in to the story of redemption in the exact time and way that he intended.

So, like I said before, there is not, nor will there ever be another you, and that means that God has placed you in space and time for the good works that He will give you, not that you give yourself, but that He gives you.

If we look back at my house analogy with the vanity, um what if the vanity wanted to be, you know, the hardwood floors?

What if uh what if the toilet wanted to be the front door?

See, now I'm living in a house with no toilet, no way to wash my hands.

This is this is a problem.

And so, but yet these things were actually created for a purpose to fit into the whole purpose of a home.

Um and look, it's it's not always glamorous to go home, engage with your spouse, change diapers, go to work.

But what is glamorous is being the workmanship of God, the being the workmanship of the creator of the universe, because he is fashioning you into exactly who he desires you to be.

How wonderful is that?

This this means that the pressure is off because he's created you for the very thing that he is calling you to.

And he says this he says, This world is a good in and of itself.

It is not just a temporary theater for individual salvation.

If the Holy Spirit is not only a preacher that convicts people of sin and grace, but also a gardener, an artist, and an investor in creation who renews the material world, it cannot be more spiritual and God-honoring to be a preacher than to be a farmer, artist, or banker.

To give just one example, evangelism is temporary work.

While musicianship is permanent work, in the new heavens and new earth, preachers will be out of a job.

Ultimately, the purpose of evangelism is to bring about a world in which musicians will be able to do their work perfectly.

True Zach loves that.

Um, but what if we really believe that?

What if we really looked upon our lives not as parts that are that are sacred and parts that are secular, parts that are that are noble and parts that are common?

But what if we looked at the whole of our lives as God's work, bringing about his redemption into this world?

You know, um in today's current climate, where it seems like uh more and more of our culture is in opposition to God's truth, we as Christians need to be diligent in the things that God has given to us, no matter how small they may seem, because those things, those are the very things that God is using to bring his redemption into this world.

Think, how would we, how would culture change if Christians simply raised up a generation of children?

To love Jesus and not to turn from their faith when they go to college?

What if we invested in the relationships that we have with our coworkers, with our neighbors?

See, this is not a fast process, but it is one that produces lasting change.

Uh so Warren Buffett uh was once asked by Jeff Bezos.

Bezos says, your investment thesis is so simple.

You're the second richest guy in the world, and yet it's so simple.

Why doesn't everyone just copy you?

And Warren Buffett responded saying, because nobody wants to get rich slow.

See, this process of redemption can seem painfully slow.

I mean, after all, it's been over 2,000 years since Jesus completed his ministry on earth and went back up to heaven, and we are still somewhere in the middle of the story, of this grand narrative.

But make no mistake, God is redeeming the world and he is using you.

He is using Christians, he is using his church as part of his means of doing that.

A great example of this is uh is actually Heidi's grandfather.

He he was a PE teacher, uh, as the family business goes, um, for about 30 years in Denver Public Schools.

And uh and he was a Christian.

He loved Jesus and he he simply he went to work every day, he invested in the kids that he taught, he coached, um, and that was that was what he did for 30 years.

And uh about four years ago, he passed away.

And we went to his his memorial service and and it was packed.

Um, but the remarkable thing about it was that there were there were ex-students in that service that stood up and and talked about how he had changed their lives.

He hadn't seen these people for probably 20 years.

But he changed their lives simply by being a PE teacher that cared, that invested, that he took the things that God had given him seriously.

Philippians 1, 6 tells us this.

It says, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

So as we leave here today, I want you to think of God as the workman that He is fashioning you and shaping you in Christ to move towards the good works that He has prepared for you to walk in.

I encourage you to look at the seemingly ordinary things in your life with a new excitement.

Because if we believe this, if we believe what Paul is teaching here, then that means that nothing in our lives is actually ordinary.

And when that happens, we can move through our lives with confidence.

Because we knowing that what Jesus has asked us to do is bring about his redemption of the world, and we get to participate in that.

So we're gonna pray, and then uh we'll go ahead and take communion, and then Zach will come back up and we'll we'll sing a few more songs.

Father, uh thank you for your word.

Thank you that you don't just uh that you don't just save us, which is which is so amazing in and of itself, but that you also use us, that you also fashion us into um objects of redemption uh to enter into our lives with purpose.

Um God, I just pray that uh those here, uh those listening online, that that we would take hold of this truth and that it would give us a renewed excitement and a renewed purpose for what you are doing in this world.

God, we thank you and we praise you for everything you have given us in Jesus' name.

Amen.