He Has Prepared, Eph, 2:10

Well, we're privileged this morning. You're not going to believe this, but we're actually going to get to study God's Word, OK? And because of that, you might notice that your handout for this morning was like six pages long. And that's disproportionate to the length of the passage. And the reason is there is so much in this brief verse that, as a matter of fact, I just had to just crowd everything to get it on six pages because I just couldn't bear to go to seven.

So anyway, Let's go ahead and dive into it here. There's a lot there. One of the things we're going to start off with, though, is a good question. Everybody likes a good question. Bad ones? Well, not so much. Why is Paul telling us this? Why is he telling us this here? Why is he bringing up these particular points? Well, let's see.

If we back up a little bit, we'll get a little bit of a clue. Starting with verse 8 and 9, which we looked at last week, For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." Do you notice in verse 8 how much not there is? Okay? I'm not talking about those little funny things in the wood.

This is negative. He's saying not this, and there's a reason why. He's very clear and explicit as to why he is saying it's this, not this. He's very deliberate and repetitive so as to make certain that people have no mistaken idea. Notice the not for yourselves, not as a result of works, and then affirming it's God's workmanship. He makes these statements that divide the truth from the false. That's what he's laying out before us here. The reason, I think, is this.

If you look back at the people in Ephesus, they had this massive temple that that was like the big draw. Everybody in the Roman Empire would want to come see one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Here you come into this magnificent harbor and as you walk up the harbor way, you begin to see this temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders. Well over a hundred columns in this magnificent edifice. This is a fantastic building and structure and a religion that was centered around it.

But one of the things that Paul's trying to get clear to them, these people in Ephesus who have everything so centered on their religion, even to the point where we see described in Acts a riot, where for two hours they're chanting and yelling, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. That's how enthusiastic they were about their religion.

But what you find is that man-made religion, interestingly enough, really hasn't changed a whole lot. At the surface, on the outside, yes, there are appearances that look different. They've got different names and they've got different personalities involved. But the truth is, underlying it, man-made religion has a lot of commonality over time, in spite of what appears to be differences on the surface. Man-made religion has remained basically the same for centuries.

And why? Because man has remained the same. unless saved by the Lord Jesus Christ for centuries. Paul's trying to make the distinction here, and that is why he is repetitive about, you are saved by grace. That is why he is so emphatic about, it is not this, and it is not this, and it's not this. Now, make the distinction here.

Man-made religion works in uncertainty. You are never certain in man-made religion, am I really headed for salvation? You're hopeful about it, but never quite certain. The basis of your salvation is going to depend upon what did you do, what did you not do. It's going to depend upon you, your workmanship. That's man-made religion. Salvation, until you die, is always hanging in the balance. There is the possibility that you might blow it at the very end.

Even in the religion of much of the Roman Empire, They had people who would continue to work with those who are the families of the deceased to try to steer things into the right direction once the person had already died, to make sure that once, for example, the Thracian horsemen had picked up the soul to take him to the underworld, that they guided him into the right direction. The religious institution in these man-made religions calls itself the soul channel.

We are the only ones. We are the only way. and they make the church, the institution, the channel for salvation. Now, in man-made religion, faith is all put together as believing in works to save us. It's the stuff that we do that saves us. That's the design of man-made religion. Grace is God being good enough to allow us to work for our own salvation. How about that? That's man-made religion.

Salvation is always there out in front of us, It's on us to make that hope for salvation come to pass, sort of the carrot out in front principle, right? You can't depend on what's behind you. You've got to keep the carrot out in front of them. And so, the same principle gets carried forward.

In man-made religion, we do our part and then God does His part, right? First our part, then God's. In man-made religion, this is then when we stand before God, we can say, thank you, God, for allowing me to work for my own salvation. In the end, we're going to stand before the Lord and boast of our good works.

I was good enough. I was better than average. Of course, you've got the fine curve here, and I'm on this side of the bell curve, right? You're hoping, of course, in that scenario, that the heavens look like this and not like this, right? You're hoping that things look favorable when you finally have to make that presentation before the Creator of the universe.

In God-made salvation, and you notice I made a distinction, man-made religion, God-made salvation, there is an important distinction, the basis of your salvation is what God did in Christ. You are His workmanship. That's a key point that he's making here. In God-made salvation, you have been identified with Christ. Who did the identifying? God did. Is it any of your doing? No, it's a gift.

Salvation is always assured because of who Christ is in Him, not who we are and what we did for ourselves. The Church is a living organism. It's been brought together because these are God's instruments for bringing to maturity both us as individuals and the Church corporately, those who are already completely and entirely saved by faith alone.

Ooh, big distinction. In God-made salvation, faith is the means to God's salvation, but it does not get credited or counted as a work. Grace is God's character, so deep and so vast that rather than being just enough to allow you to work for your salvation, it will take eternity for you to discover the depth of it. That's a huge difference.

Salvation is an accomplished fact depending entirely upon God's character and entirely upon God's work, period, exclamation point, several exclamation points. God does it all. And God made salvation, then when we stand before God, we can thank him for his completed work. You've done it. The only thing we have left to do is to praise him because God has accomplished it all. We will praise Him for His amazing grace, for what He has expressed to us incomparably in Christ.

In man-made religion, man-made religion expects blessings here on earth, depending on what you do. Pass the offering plate, pass it several times. Make sure everybody sees what you do and don't put in there, because we want to make sure that you put stuff in there because then you'll get blessed, right? And the more you put in, the more you'll be blessed.

That's the message you get in man-made religion. But guess what? In God-made religion, salvation is already 100% accomplished. You're already 100% blessed. You can't put more or less on the offering plate and vary your blessings in the heavenlies one bit. It's entirely dependent upon His works and righteousness. In man-made religion, we depend entirely on our personal history.

We're going to go up before God and say, God, this is what I did. Isn't it great? And we're going to roll that history before the Lord and say, oh, it's so good. Isn't it wonderful? God, I am so great. Look what I did for you. My personal history is just marvelous, way above average, compared to all those other raunchy human beings I am just the ultimate.

That's what we're going to do. Now, however, in God-made salvation, we're going to go there entirely depending upon Christ's history. That's right, Christ's history. Entirely depending upon Christ's history, already having been blessed with every spiritual blessing beyond anything that we can imagine. In man-made religion, in return for faith in our work, we expect, of course, God's going to cash the check for us. Here is from heaven's bank payroll account, dated my death, pay the order of the worker. After all, you work for this, right? You pay the amount of eternal life. God signs the check and you're in. That's it. After all, we earned it.

That's man-made religion. In God-made salvation, We received salvation entirely as a gift to whosoever believes, 100% gift, no works. It is entirely Christ's work that matters, none of ours. In man-made religion, and I'm sure you've heard this, Christ was such a wonderful example. Oh, delightful example. I mean, that just grabs your heart strings. In man-made religion, He was so very inspiring. Oh, and this picture of the cross and the mountain up above the fog, oh, inspiring all the more.

So, in that kind of a religion, we might be asking, what would Jesus do? Because, of course, we want to do exactly what He would do, right? And we would say, oh Lord, I will do my very best to do exactly what Jesus did. And I'm so glad you wrote it in a book to tell me what He would do most of the time. And then we would ask God, I might fall a little short here and there, so I'm just going to ask you to help me. That's all right, isn't it?

But in God-made salvation, you've been identified with Christ entirely, 100% as a gift. Your works, your history, your effort, all for naught. In man-made religion, good works are things that we prepare for and do. You better get ready. Here's the things you've got to do. Oh yeah, and not do. There's a list of things that are good and a list of things that are bad. Make sure you do the things that are good and not the things that are bad. Keep things on the right list, keep track of the list, and make sure you do it all right.

Okay. Our job, of course, we're going to go to God and we're going to prove that we really do have life. Boy, do we have life. And are worthy to keep on living, of course, in the best of circumstances throughout eternity. And God made salvation. Good works are what God has prepared for us to do based on His workmanship. We don't have anything to prove before God. He's going to do the proving, right? Because our living is solely by Christ's life, having been identified with Him in His death and His burial and His resurrection and in His ascension and seeding.

So here's Ephesians 2.10. Paul has already told them, it's salvation by grace through faith.

None of that man-made stuff. You have lived your whole life. You have lived in a city where that edifice has been exceedingly important to everything you do and all of what you are and everything that you hope. And I'm telling you, that is not what I'm offering. I'm not saying, here's just another God to stick aside with the rest of the ones you've got. Here instead, I'm saying, here's another God to stick aside with the rest of the ones you've got. is the sharp, eternally different contrast where we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, and we didn't do the creating, for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. That's what He's laid out here.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Look at this we. Where does this we come from? Who's the we? Now, what He's been doing here all throughout this passage, He's been using these Pronouns. Us. Our. Okay? And we and you.

And he's being very inclusive here. And he's underscoring, this is by grace, you have been saved. It is all those who have been saved by grace that he's including in the we here. We are his workmanship. Okay? We're the ones who have been saved by God's grace through faith. It's entirely of God's doing. It's not of our own doing. It is God who has done the identifying.

Completely and entirely. We are his workmanship, okay? In the Greek, his is the first word that shows up on the sentence. It's emphatic. The idea is to get clearly across, it is not your workmanship, it's his. It's not your works that count, it's his works that count. His workmanship. Now that's a word we ought to take a look at here.

It's poiema, and the only other place that it shows up is what we've noted here, Romans 1.20. So it's a rare word in the New Testament. It shows up here very aptly.

This word was often used of artistic craftsmanship, workmanship, something that was done very, very well, finely, to a fine art. Those are the kinds of places that this was used. In one ancient document, it's described as making a crown. This word is used there. It is, in English, the root word of our word, poem. So it, again, it verbally and gives by example this artistry, workmanship.

To look at it, what's he saying? We're God's work of art. You're God's walking, living poem. You are God's expression of character, an artistic expression. Poema, in this passage, contrasts with the human works, the ergon. We are God's workmanship. in contrast to the human works, the things that human beings do. Where is workmanship created?

Let's take a look at that word as well. This word created, katizo, or we looked at the noun katisis when we were in Colossians chapter 1 and verses 15 and 16. This word is used to describe God's creation of the world in Mark 13, 19 and Revelation 10, 6.

It is a word that is not created in some minor sense, but it's created in a grand sense. And one of the things that underscores that point is the fact that the word is never used of human beings making something. It is only used of God making something. The very use of this word underscores that we are not those who are responsible for creating ourselves in Christ Jesus, not even a fraction. He chose this word explicitly because you could not credit a creation with quetizo to a human being. Only God would use that. Only God would be combined and paired up with that word. We are His creation alone, exclusively His.

Remember, as we spoke in weeks past, there is a teaching in Scripture that there is the old creation, that's the physical creation in which we now live, And there is the new creation, physically existing in time to come at the end of the millennial reign, more than a thousand years from now, but as close as 1,007 years from now.

The point we want to bring together here is 2 Corinthians 5.17 and Galatians 6.15 speak of kynos katesis, that is, it calls us a new creation. As believers here this morning, we look at our bodies and we say, well, these things are part of the old creation.

Spiritually, however, we are already the leading front end, if you will, of the new creation. Now. Not later. Now. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus, part of the new creation. Okay. We made the point here this way. We mentioned the old creation and illustrated it as the black line in the bottom of this chart here. The new creation having begun in Christ, We are the leading front end, having been identified with Christ, of that new creation which extends on into eternity. The new creation is populated by those of the old creation who have believed God, we being those of the Church who have done so. All these are called saints in Scripture.

Ephesians 4.24 puts it this way. and you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. This new man, Kainos Anthropos. Kainos, by the way, means new, not just new in sequence, but new of a different kind. And Anthropos meaning man. Now, created is this word katizo, showing up again.

For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. And here's this little word, in, that has a huge significance. The creation of us was entirely within Christ Jesus. We are His workmanship created within Christ Jesus. We are not created in any way outside of being in Him. Okay? There isn't any workmanship outside of what God has created in Christ Jesus. and created for a purpose.

There is a direction towards which this creation has been done for the purpose of good works. This word for there, epi, has the idea of a sense of intended purpose. You say, why does God still have me here? From the point that He created you, He has a purpose, His intended purpose, even now, not waiting until later, even now. is that you are created in Christ Jesus as a new creation for good works.

These good works, it's interesting, this is the first time in the passage that works are called good. First time. And we'll look more at that in a little bit here. This phrase, good works, is only used of Christ and believers in the New Testament. And this word works here is ergon, and the point we have to make here If you haven't been created in Christ for that purpose, God simply does not call your works good. See, it's very exclusive. A person cannot say, give me the list of good works and I'll go out and do them. If you haven't been created in Christ Jesus for that purpose, and that only happens by faith in His Son, then God cannot call the works good.

So what kinds of works are there? Certainly we've seen in this passage that there are good works, but aside from that, there are works that are evil, there are works that God calls dead. The folks who studied in Hebrews this last couple of quarters saw that a couple of places. There are works of the flesh, there are works that are unfruitful, there are works that are ungodly, works that are of darkness, and we'll see that farther on in the book of Ephesians. There are works of the law. There's lots of works, but only those that are God's works are the works that are described as good. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared. God did the preparing.

And one of the points to make here is that the Greek has the definite article. Remember the contrast that he's making? Here's the Ephesians with a whole bunch of gods and one particular one, Artemis, that's kind of at the top of the heap for the Ephesians. And he's trying to make the distinction, unlike all those dozens of gods that you've had before, this is the God.

This is the one God, contrast with all the others of the man-made religions that you've seen, which the one singular specific God that I'm telling you about prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. in Ephesians 2, 1 and 2 that we read before, and now in 2.10, notice, you formerly walked in trespasses and sins.

Now, you walk where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them. Either you're going to walk in trespasses and sins, or you're going to walk in the works that in Christ Jesus you have been made for, those for which you have been created. That we would walk in them. Here this word in comes again, in the Greek en, prepared beforehand, that we would walk entirely in, in them, the works for which we have been created.

Entirely those, not the others. but those. Okay, so who's working and what for? One thing, we're not working for God. Ever hear somebody talk about that? Working for God or something of that sort? You know, do it for God, okay? We're not working for God. No, it doesn't put it that way, okay? There are no good works except those which God has prepared beforehand and we walk in them but we don't work in them. Do you notice that? We walk in them, but we don't work in them. Ah, now we've got it. Now we've got the idea. Finally, I've got the idea. If I understand this right, God doesn't want me to do anything at all. Nothing. God has done all the work already, so I don't have to do a thing. Nothing at all. Sit back and sip a cool one. Now we've got the plot, right? Yes? No? Okay, all right. Now, the problem with that is it's not simply an issue of action or inaction. That's not the point. We're not working in order to be saved.

We're working because we're already saved, and because of what that means by God's design. God is not asking for our best efforts at good works so that we can then be spiritually blessed. That's the message of man-made religion. He's created us in Christ Jesus for His good works in and through us, having already blessed us. The blessings are already a done deal. We're not carried out in front. We're already resting on the blessings and the salvation we already have.

When we were going through Philippians, we saw the message that he's trying to get through. For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Who's doing the work? God's doing the work. Ah yes, there we go. That Greek N comes in again, right? And so you, plural, God is at work in you. That's the simple message that he passed along to the Philippian church, and he's got the same message for these folks here. God is done and is doing it all.

We have one single responsibility, and that is entirely to believe. We don't have anything to boast about in what we do, what we know. We can only boast of Him. And these things are true of every single believer, even if they don't know it. Even if they have no idea that it's true, it's still true of every believer. But beyond that, we have no basis on which to be proud for what we know.

Do we? No. All the boasting is in God. The fact that we know these truths is only because they've been revealed. And if learning this is what the Lord intends, it's some of His good works. We have no basis on which to be proud, no matter what we know.

Interesting. Now, so here's Paul. He's writing to the Ephesians. In the next chapter, he's going to tell them this. He says, to me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. Paul is not even proud about being the one. He says, the least of all the saints, I have this marvelous grace that was given to me to preach. So even that we know this, there's no basis on which to be proud. Paul, on sharing it, had no basis on which to be proud. He instead calls himself the least of all saints, and it was a grace given to him, not something he earned.

So here's this, verse Ephesians 2.10.

A lot in this. So now we have a really good question for us. You ready for a really good question? Okay, let's try it. How do we know what are the good works which God has prepared beforehand? How are we going to tell? How are you going to figure out what those good works are? When we spent a good period of time looking at this verse and it's talking about the good works, how are you going to know what they are? How are you going to figure that out?

You're going to get up each day and you're going to say, alright, I've got to know what those good works are, what am I going to do? Good question? Good news? Great answer? Wrong question. Reason why? The issue is not what's the list, okay? That's falling back into the law. That's falling back into the, give me the list so I can do it. Here's what comes up as real interesting.

Here he tells them in Ephesians 2.10, here's the workmanship we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. You say, that's great, man. I love good works. Give them to me. Give me the list and I'll go for it.

He says, not so fast. Real interesting, as we go through the rest of Ephesians, he doesn't bring up this walking in them, okay? again until chapter 4. And he brings it up again and again. It's when we get to chapter 320 that he gets the clue to them before he starts talking about what that walking looks like, and he says this, Now to him who is able to do far...

Wait a minute, who's able to do? That's Vern, right? Him who's able to do? Oh, I can do far more than anything you could ask or think, right? No. To Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. That working, that working out through us is exactly the message that He wants to bring across. And before He starts talking about the walking in chapter 4 and in chapter 5, before He starts talking about how we walk in those works that God's prepared, It is God's doing. It is God's energizing that brings it about.

In Philippians 2.13 we have this message for it is God who is at work, energizing in you both to will and to work, and He's doing it for His good pleasure. It is God's accomplishment. It is God's doing.

It's not our place to look for the list. It's not our place to look to the list. Well then, where do we look? To Him. To Him. It's very interesting that Paul talks about the important... We've been created for good works and then he doesn't give us a list. Without first addressing this key issue. It's looking to Him that we find the good works. Not in looking to the list. Not in looking for the list. or discovering who's got the right one. There is no substitute, no getting around that personal relationship with the Lord. There is no getting around that walk with Him. Then we walk in the good works that He's prepared, and not by looking for the list.

Let's praise Him for that. Lord, we thank You as we look here at this passage this morning. What marvelous truths You've laid before us, Lord. We have every good work to do because of who we've been created in Christ Jesus. We have every good work to do not because we've found the right list, but indeed it is your very life that is in us. Indeed it is your very resources on whom we depend, for we have died and it is you who lives. We thank you and praise you for that marvelous truth. In Jesus' name, Amen.