‘God made us. He created us to belong to Christ Jesus. Now we can do good things. Long ago God prepared them for us to do. (Eph 2:10 NIrV)’
‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10 NIV)’
Living much of the year in Colorado, Kay and I are grateful to be surrounded by so much beauty. From our neighbourhood we can see the majestic sight that is Long’s Peak, a permanently snow capped mountain that towers 14,000 feet in the sky. Scripture declares that the nature of God is revealed to humanity through His creation. Creation reveals the ‘magnalia dei’ - the magnificent works of God.
Writing to the church in Rome, Paul said, ‘Ever since the world was created it has been possible to see the qualities of God that are not seen. I’m talking about his eternal power and about the fact that he is God. Those things can be seen in what he has made’ (Rom 1:20).
The poet Gerald Manley Hopkins wrote, ’the world is charged with the grandeur of God’.
But in Paul’s letters believers are also regarded as God’s work (cf. Rom 14:20 and Phil 1:6).
And so stunning as the mountains are, the highest expression of God’s masterful handiwork is seen in a human being who is a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). As Paul describes us as God’s workmanship, he uses the very same word for us that he uses in Rom 1:20. And these are the only two occasions that this word is found in the New Testament. In short, God’s glory is to be seen, first in His creation, and then, more clearly in His new creations - us! St. Augustine said: ‘Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the season, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering’.
While, as the notes for today say, ‘workmanship’ is the Greek word poiema, from which we get our word poem, more specifically poiema meant any work of art. It was used to describe a statue, a song , architecture, a poem or a painting. The best translation by far is that given by F. F. Bruce: ‘His work of art, his masterpiece. We are God’s works of art!
How is His artistry seen? Through our being transformed by the Spirit, and by the good works that follow - the fruit of the Spirit and the works that flow from that fruit blossoming. Our good works reflect the character and action of God himself. God gave his people the law that they might be like him: “I am the Lord your God; … you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44–45)
This truth is echoed by the prayers of the New Testament again and again: ‘May our Lord Jesus Christ himself … encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word’ (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17). ‘And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God’ (Colossians 1:10). ‘Now the God of peace … equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever, Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21, NASB).
We are not saved by our works, but by faith alone. But salvation is not ‘by works’ but ‘for works’” Kent Hughes says, ‘Works are a sign that we are his workmanship! There is nothing more beautiful than his workmanship working for him!’