Sermon Cloud

Now if you’ve ever seen that movie, it takes Bill Murray about a thousand attempts at reliving the same day until he gets it right. But before he gets it right and begins to live for others rather than himself, something happens inside him – he becomes a new person, a different person – someone who is no longer living for himself, but someone who is living for others. In it’s imperfect way, we just witnessed how the gospel of Jesus Christ is supposed to work in us. When we really begin to embrace the good news of all that God has done for us and let him change us, reinvent us as people, our focus turns away from seeking the good life for ourselves, and turns toward doing good things for others. We become the gospel.

As we conclude our series on Soaking in the Gospel, that’s what I hope we can focus on today: How God makes works of art to do His works of grace How God’s handiwork of grace makes something beautiful out of our lives, something poetic, so that we might begin to write the lyrics of a new story with our lives. But first, before we go there. Let’s review where we’ve been during the summer. And let’s start with our gospel definition. We’ve been saying that The gospel is the work of God to restore humans to union with God and communion with others, in the context of a community, for the good of others and the world.

We started in the Old Testament and we saw how the gospel begins with God:
• God initiates the search for us to bring us back to Him
• God provides the substitute we need so we don’t have to die for our sins
• God rescues us when our backs are against the wall
• God restores us even though we don’t deserve His love
• God frees us from our empty way of living to self so we can serve others in love
• God includes us in His Spiritual family welcoming us into His presence and connecting us with one another by His Spirit
• God gives us gifts so He can build up others through us
• God works in us to help us stop doing the things we have no power to stop doing our selves
And so today, were going to see how God creates something good out of our lives so we can bless others with good works through our lives.

And where we see that is in Ephesians 2:10. So if you’d like to turn to the letter of Ephesians in the New Testament. We’re going to be looking at a number of verses in chapter two and then zero in on verse 10. And to lead up to verse ten, Paul gives us a little glimpse of the bad news good news formula of the gospel. Look at verses 1-3. Here is The Bad News of the Human Condition: Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. Ephesians 2:1-3

Here Paul lists some things that are true about the human condition apart from God’s mercy and grace: We were Dead to God we had no spiritual ability to know God or please God

• We were Captive to a Destructive Way of Life
In living a life apart from God we are left to ourselves, and left to ourselves we find ourselves being controlled by unseen powers that oppose God. These powers play on our hearts so that we want to rebel against God and do only what we want. These powers blind us to God’s goodness and play into our own sense of pride. Not only are we controlled by these powers, but we are held captive by the desires of our flesh and the philosophies of the world that tell us that is just fine without God. As a result of all this, a third truth emerges:

• We were Objects of God’s anger
Apart from God we lived under a conscious sense of guilt and condemnation. We don’t like this. There are those who would say, “If this is what God is like I want no part of Him.” But that’s not what God is like. Certainly God gets angry. In fact, the wrath of God is an expression of His love and deep attachment to us. Lactantius wrote, “He who does not get angry does not care.” If God can look at the sin and injustice in this world and not get angry, He is not much of a God. The God of the Bible is not some unmovable, unfeeling force, but a God who cares. So, yes God has a just anger in His heart for those who willingly lead destructive and rebellious lives. So the bad news is that because we oppose God and willingly live ungodly lives – we are objects of God’s wrath, and our only hope is that if we’re lucky God won’t give us what we deserve. But luck has nothing to do with it. We need grace.

So here now is The Good News of God’s Grace: But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7

• We are now Alive with Christ
We are now able to know God. With a new spiritual life, with Christ’s spirit living in us, we can know the thoughts of God, we can understand how God intended us to live, and because of His grace to us, this fresh start provided by forgiveness gives us a new energy and enthusiasm to live for Him. Christ’s Spirit is pulsating in us and we are new, we are alive.

• We are now Objects of God’s grace with Christ
We are no longer condemned. We are no longer objects of wrath, but objects of God’s mercy, and we are enthroned with Christ for all eternity for the world to see the wonderous goodness of His grace. What makes this cool, is that this makes God incredibly pleased to pour out His mercy on us and continually, and forever love us and smile on us. This is why we sing so many songs of praise and thanks for what God has done. He didn’t have to save us from His wrath, but He did. And now He will never let us go! His love holds us and His grace will shine on us forever and ever and ever.

And all this leads to why God leaves us here on this earth when we receive the blessing of His gospel: We have received a new Way of Life with Christ: God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:8-10

Here is the pinnacle of the gospel. We are now Works of Art: We are the masterpiece of God’s hands. He may have created galaxies, planets, azure blue oceans, glorious beaches, stunning sunsets. But us – you and me, people who were bent on destruction, rebels against God - He didn’t just make us friends, He didn’t just wipe away our sins - He changes us - He makes us a display of His grace. A work of art. For all eternity, you will be on display as God’s best work. What’s the best thing you’ve ever made or created? What’s the greatest thing anyone has ever created? You’re life touched by God’s grace is greater. Your life touched by His grace will stand forever as the magnus opus of God. You! You who think you are insignificant. You are not. You, who don’t think you’re life matters all that much, God has made you His masterpiece – a poem! You are God’s story of grace in the flesh. You are a display of His mercy, a portrait of His kindness, a poem of His love, a masterpiece of His grace.

All this because when we put our trust in Jesus Christ, God did something to us. You are now Created in Christ Jesus: You are a new creation, a new person, with a new Spirit, a new heart, a good heart and a fresh start – all because you have been united with Christ. Because you have been created with Christ, you now have His power, His authority, His presence, and His passion percolating in you.

Why? He has created you in Christ Jesus To be the heart and hands of Christ in the world. He has created you to be the good news. If you were here last week, Zach taught us that it is impossible to change ourselves – to stop doing the bad things, to stop thinking bad thoughts, to just stop. We don’t have the power to stop. And if we were to try to live that way, we would fail again and again. In fact that way of living is futile. Living that way is living under the law. But we are under grace. And it’s the Christ in us that changes us from the inside out as we begin to learn His ways, embrace His thoughts, and let His love invade our hearts.

The same is true about doing good works. God’s eternal plan is that we would live for the good of others and the world: That good works would flow through our lives and bless others. So here’s the point: When we begin to live out of our Christ identity, when we begin to live out of transformed lives, the Spirit of Christ in us will naturally flow through us and do the things that Jesus would do. We will be the hands of grace – the hands of Christ.

Think what could be? Good works would not be something you have to do, but would be the fruit of a healthy relationship with Jesus. You would do works of grace because the Spirit leads you to do them. Let me tell you a story of what I mean:

Last week we were on vacation and stopped in Sisters to eat lunch. There’s a great deli there and I wanted to take my family there. So we found it and got in line and all ordered. After about 20 minutes we figured our food was about to come. It didn’t. Another 15 minutes went by and I was starting to get impatient, especially when people who came in after us got their food. Finally, about 50 minutes after ordering, they brought us our food. They explained that they were out of chicken for Becky’s chicken wrap and had to unthaw some chicken. Well, we were on vacation, my patience was pretty good, then I bit into my mushroom burger. It was cold. I mean, the meat was cold. I think my burger had been sitting for about 40 minutes. It was kind of gross – so I finally decided to take it back, not to complain, but to just have them heat it up. But when I got up there I did complain. I told them it was cold, but not only that but I had to wait 50 minutes for a cold burger. Immediately I didn’t like the sound of my complaint even though I knew I was justified. So the guy offered to make me a new one, and I said, “No, could you just heat this one up?” And he did, then he reached in the till and told me he was going to refund me the price of my meal – and so he put the $8.75 in my hand. When I finally got my burger back, it was then that a thought popped up in my head. I shouldn’t take this money. After all, I was eating what I paid for. They made a mistake, but we all make mistakes. And the more I began to think about it, the more I realized that it was the spirit of God moving in my heart. So I told Becky, “I’m going to give the money back.” So I did, I went back to the till and gave it back. You should have seen their faces – I don’t know if anyone else had ever done that. They asked me why, and I said, “We all mess up once in a while. I like your restaurant and I don’t want to take money from your pockets. I had eaten my lunch. I was ok.” So I gave them the $8.75 and we went on our way.

Without the Spirit of Christ in me, I would’ve never done that. But with the Spirit of Christ living in me, I was prompted to show grace. That’s the point: God isn’t looking for us to do huge dramatic works of grace, but everyday little things that we don’t have to do for people who don’t necessarily deserve them. And when the Spirit of Christ living in us prompts us to do an act of grace – it’s so that others might see Jesus in us. But even if they don’t see Jesus – we will have blessed them with the goodness of God. And when we do these things we fill in the blanks in our poem, or color in the lines of our portrait, and we paint or tell the story of God’s grace – we become the Gospel. This is the change that takes place in us when Christ begins to live through us.

I think everyone of us here wants a life like that, where our life lives up to the masterpiece of grace that God has made – where we live out the gospel. That’s why God has done all this great stuff for us. So our lives are lyrics of grace. And so if you want your life to reflect His grace, you must be a person who continually lives in His grace. So what I have done is written out a little prayer based on this series. In the pew in front of you is a card. On one side is the Gospel definition we’ve been using. On the back is a prayer based on the truth of what God has done for us. If that prayer rings true to you, I want you to have the opportunity to pray it with me – so that we might be His works of art, so we might be the Gospel.