We are God’s Workmanship 4

Ephesians 2:10d

Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O’Neill

We’re about the fourth study I think in Ephesians 2:10, so we’re coming to the end of this great
verse. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.” And you remember, we’ve said that what God is saying
plainly to us is that we were created, not primarily in our mothers, but we were created in Christ
Jesus. And I’d just mention that to you again. It’s important to think about that for a moment or
two and really grasp it and rise to it, because I think there’s something inside us that — I think
as Barth says — wants to sink back into ourselves, into our comfortable little selves, and think
primarily of ourselves as Lucy Blomfield or Sandra Tomczyk, or Ernest O’Neill. And instead of that
of course, the reality is that we were created not primarily in our mothers whom God just used as a
way of getting us into this physical world, but we were created in Christ Jesus. And we are part of
Jesus. And we only help our own perception of reality if we really do fix our minds on that and
say, “Yes, I am part of Jesus. I have been created in him and he is my true Father, and he is the
world in which I live, and he is the heart of all my life.”

And that’s what this verse says, that we were created in Christ Jesus; and then not for our own
personal experience primarily; not primarily for our own personal mystical experience. Because I
think that’s temptation for all of us, to get utterly preoccupied with this truth that we are in
Jesus, and to get utterly preoccupied with what it feels like to be in Jesus, or, “Can I feel I’m in
Jesus?” or, “Can I see Jesus?” I remember one dear fellow, Hank Arndt. I don’t know if you
remember him, just a very ordinary American guy. But when I look back I’m sorry for him, because he
would say to me, “Pastor, how can you see Jesus?” And there I would try of course, to explain to
him how he could see Jesus. The dear fellow of course, was just taking very literally our
terminology. But I do think it’s easy to get preoccupied with that. It’s easy to get preoccupied
with, “Do I feel Jesus’ presence? Do I really feel as if I am in Jesus? Do I really feel God
here?”

And of course, the verse very clearly says, “We were created in Christ Jesus,” not primarily for our
own subjective experience, not primarily to sense God’s presence, but we were created in Christ
Jesus for a very practical purpose, for good works. “We were created in Christ Jesus for good
works.” And I think we’ve talked about that now, not works of law, not works that we do to try to
prove that we are not autonomous and that we are in God, but good works: Works that stem from our
being safe in Christ.

And I’d just remind you of that. You remember, Romans 7 puts it very clearly if you look at it:
Romans 7 and particularly there from verse 7. “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no
means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin. I should not have known
what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, finding opportunity in
the commandment, wrought in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead.”

Do you remember what Paul is trying to bring out clearly to us is that works of law are really works
that we do to try to prove to ourselves that we are truly in Christ, and we are truly dependent upon
him, and we are truly trusting in him? And of course, the more we try to do those works, the more
the law exposes to us that we ‘are’ autonomous, and that we ‘are’ living independent, and that we

‘are not’ deeply trusting in him, and the more clear it is to us that the sin is exceedingly sinful.
So sin is the desire to live on our own, the desire to be apart from God, the desire to be
autonomous. And that in its turn produces sins, produces covetousness, produces anxiety. And the
law speaks to us and says those things are wrong. And then of course, if we try to overcome those
without trusting deeply in God, and sinking deeply into Jesus, we in fact, compound our sin. And so
that’s what Paul is saying here, “The law said to him, ‘You shall not covet.’” And suddenly he
became aware that he was coveting, and not only that, but that the coveting came because he felt he
needed something that he didn’t have; and he felt he needed it because he was not resting in God who
supplies everything to him.

So it’s important maybe for us to see that the purpose of the law is to show us, not that we’re
coveting, not that we’re stealing, but the reason why we’re coveting, and the reason why we’re
stealing: that we’re not trusting deeply in God. But of course, our reaction often is the opposite.
Our reaction often is, “I must prove that I am in God. So even though I do steal, even though I
covet, even though I bear false witness against my neighbor, even though I do have other gods
besides God, yet I have to prove that I don’t do those things, and that I am in God even though I am
not.”

So that’s I think, what we shared last day, that the purpose of the law is to expose sin. But so
often our response to the law is to try to obey it, while we still remain in sin. And so that’s
what he goes on to say, you see, in Verse 9, “I was once alive apart from the law, but when the
commandment came, sin revived and I died.” In other words, law provoked my sin, my desire to show
that I was on my own, independent of God, and could live that way very successfully. “The very
commandment which promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, finding opportunity in the
commandment, deceived me and by it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and
just and good.”

“Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin:” my own autonomy, my
own living on my own, my own incorrigible independence of God. I don’t know, maybe that’s the word
for it. It’s our own ‘incorrigible’ independence of God. I don’t know if you’ve felt that. You’ve
felt, “Yes, I want to depend upon him, I want to trust in him, but there’s something in me that just
won’t let go. There’s something in me that won’t let go. I have this grim grip on my life because
I think that I alone can run it; I alone can supply what I need.” And it’s as if it’s an
incorrigible independence of God that we have.

“Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me
through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might
become sinful beyond measure.” [Romans 7:13] And that’s the purpose of the law: not really to get
us to obey it, but to show us that we’re not only not obeying it, but that our own attitude to God
is utterly and completely wrong. “So that sin becomes exceedingly sinful.”

And of course, you know the response that we can so often produce ourselves to that, we just get
‘mad’. We get ‘mad’ with it. We say, “Well, I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I can’t do what I
ought to do.” And of course, that’s exactly what the law is trying to do, is try to bring us to a
conviction that that is the situation. But so often of course, we hang on and we say, “But I’m
going to try, I’m going to try.” And we keep on trying because you remember, C. S. Lewis says, “We
would do anything to keep our self alive.” We’ll do anything if we can only hold onto a little of
self. We’ll do anything to hold onto a little of self. And then he says, “No, Jesus says you must
be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” He’ll accept nothing but perfection. And of

course we so often, we’ll accept anything but the total loss of ourselves.

And so that’s what Paul is getting at here, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal,
sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very
thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. So then it is no
longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me,
that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I
want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”

And that’s what we mean here in this verse Ephesians 2:10 when we say, “We were created in Christ
Jesus for good works.” Not for works of law, not for that striving and straining to try to prove
that we are deeply in Christ and dependent on God even though we’re not. But we were created for
good works, works that flow from our being in Jesus. ‘Good works’ are ‘works’ done, not to get
saved, but that come from our being saved in Jesus. And we’re created for good works, works that
will stem from our trust and our oneness with Christ.

And that’s really the heart of it And you remember, we tried to emphasize it a little by looking
up a couple of verses. One of them I think is Philippians 4:4. It may be one of – in a way it’s
law. It’s not put as ‘law’ but in a way it’s part of God’s law, that is, that it’s part of the law
of his nature. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your
forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” And so often you and I hear
those verses and we say, “Yes, I’m not rejoicing. I’m not rejoicing. And I should be rejoicing,
and I’m not rejoicing. Oh, I’ll have to rejoice more. I must get some joy in my life. I mustn’t
be thinking right. I should think of the birds, and the sunshine, and the bright day, and think of
all the good gifts; ‘Count your blessings; name them one-by-one,’ see what the Lord has done for me.
I should rejoice.” And of course, that’s a ‘work of law’. And in fact, the only way to rejoice is
when your own heart rests deeply in Jesus, and so his joy surges up inside you.

And that’s where we left it last day, that the only thing a person can do is say, “Lord, I’m not
rejoicing. I do not rejoice. I do get depressed and I do get anxious about the money, and I get
anxious about the sales, and I get anxious about my car, and I get anxious about the future. So I’m
not rejoicing; I am being anxious. Lord, in what way am I still my own god? In what way am I
taking charge of things that I should not take charge of and cannot? In what way Lord Jesus, have I
not accepted my crucifixion with you and my resurrection?” That’s it! That’s the only right
response when we find ourselves in this position, because the good works that God has created us for
in Christ Jesus can only come from our being in Jesus. And they only come from our resting in him.
And that’s where the joy comes, and the freedom from anxiety comes.

So, we’re created in Christ Jesus for good works, not for works of law. Works of law are works done
by us in our own strength to try to prove that we’re obeying the law, and that we are deeply resting
in Christ, when we aren’t. We’ve said it before; we don’t know all the symptoms of cancer, or all
the symptoms of the diseases, but it’s like having a disease that has certain pimples, and those are
the symptoms. And it’s like taking a knife and scrapping the pimples off and saying, “Now, now I’m
free from the disease. Now, you see, I have no disease.” Well no, you’ve just scrapped the
symptoms off, and they’ll come back. The disease is what it says. “Dis-“ in Latin, the prefix is
“not.” And “ease” of course: “not ease”; disease is “not ease.” It’s “unease.” It’s lack of ease
in Jesus. It’s lack of ease in God. And from that come other diseases that one can see. So we were
created in Christ Jesus for good works.

And then the wonder of the next words are just so ‘uplifting’ and so ‘saving’, “We are created in
Christ Jesus for good works, which he has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
“…Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them.” I’d like to point out first of all — clarify one thing for us. And you’ll see it there in
Matthew 21:2. And it’s just a very simple statement of this depth truth. You could read verse 1.
“And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent
two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an
ass tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If any one says anything to you,
you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and he will send them immediately.’ This took place to
fulfil what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is
coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass.’”

“The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the ass and the colt, and put
their garments on them, and he sat thereon.”

Do you mean that Jesus knew that the ass was there, and he knew what the man would say to them when
they asked him for the ass? Yes, Jesus obviously did. He knew what would happen. He knew the
future. And in fact, you can see in Verse 5 that it’s obvious that someone else knew the future,
“Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and
on a colt, the foal of an ass.” It’s obvious that – well, it was Isaiah you can see the footnote
there to 21:5, Isaiah 62:11 and Zechariah 9:9. Isaiah, 800 years before, knew that this would take
place.

In other words, God himself knows the future. God knows the future and he revealed that future not
only to Isaiah, but Jesus also could see that future when he directed them to go and get the ass
that he could ride on into Jerusalem. So God knows the future and God knows each one of our
futures. God knows the future. He can see into the future. And that’s why the verse is so real
that we’re studying, “Good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

When you think of all the fretting, and all the worrying, and all the talking with vocational
guidance counselors, and with our teachers, and with our mums and dads, and with our peers, all the
discussions that we entered into because we wanted to find out what we should do in our lives;
whether we should be teachers, or nurses, or doctors, or social workers, or dentists, or whatever.
But when you think of all of that, and then you read this verse and you realize our Father has the
good works prepared long beforehand that we should walk in. He has prepared them all. He has
lovingly foreseen our whole lives and has prepared everything that we are to do in our lives, so
that it’s all laid out and it’s ready. Indeed, in a deep way ‘in Jesus’ he has lived our lives for
us.

Now, I’d encourage you to think about it a little more deeply because it’s easy for us to say, “Oh,
it’s impossible, impossible.” But I submit to you it’s logical. It’s logical. If our God has an
infinite mind, and he himself is the one that created everything, that created atoms, and neutrons,
that thought of us, that created us human beings, that thought of the eye, and the ear, and how they
would detect sounds and sights, if our God is able to do all those things, do you think, for one
moment, that he has made a lot of little things and then has no idea how they’re going to turn out,
or how they’re going to work? I mean, I’d push you on it. If that is the case who? Is there
nobody then, that knows how it’s going to turn out? Is there some unknown realm that God has no

control over that he can throw us all into it and let something happen. Something must govern that
realm.

In other words, our God of course, is the same as we are. Every manufacturer that makes a boat, or
a plane, or a car, or a pencil will give you a warranty about what that thing will do, because he
needs to be able to foresee what it’s capable of, and as the maker he usually can. But we’re
talking of God who is infinite and of course, he has seen our whole lives, and has seen them
stretched out before us, and he has made plans for them all and prepared them carefully. So every
work, every good work that we will ever do in our lives has been prepared by God. And every day of
our lives has been prepared. You remember, in Psalm 139 how the words are clear that every day of
our lives has been written in his book before there were any of them.

And so “we’re created for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them.” And I remember reading something in Barth where he dealt with passivity. Someone said, “Oh
well then I don’t have to do anything. If it’s all prepared beforehand I’ll just lie back and I’ll
let it happen.” And Barth answers, “No, all God’s work presupposes our actions.” God has worked
that all in. God knows how we will act, and he works out what will result. And he works out how to
draw us gently in his direction again. And then he sees us make a wrong decision; we turn that way.
And he draws us gradually back that way, and he balances the whole thing perfectly, so that our
will is never steamrollered by his, but is gently drawn more and more towards him, until we willing
give it completely to him.

So God lovingly arranges everything so that our free wills are preserved, and yet his own will draws
us continually in the way that he, in his infinite wisdom, saw in a millisecond in eternity that we
would go. But to me, the wonder and the beauty of it is, that there is no need for one moment to
worry about tomorrow. And there is no sense at all in being anxious for next week, and there is no
reason for anything but relaxation and peace about the next 10 or 15 years, because our Father has
prepared all the good works for us. And all we’ve to do is live joyfully in those.

Let us pray.