Get to work
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Yesterday I had three instances where Ephesian 2 came before me. Very early this morning I was tossing and turning getting sick; I felt God speak to me about “In His hands”. I have not slept all night, and have been thinking about what He was pressing on me. In Ephesians Two, the central meaning of the gift of the gospel is stated in verses eight and nine. God’s grace is what allowed you access to Him, through the giving of His Son to pay the penalty of your sins. There is no way you will ever do enough good works to earn access to God. If you think that you can earn access to God, you are saying you are better than the perfect sacrifice He gave; you feel your good deeds outweigh Christ’s blood…..really?
Verse ten speaks of that grace that follows the act of Salvation; you have been born again, renewed by that grace through Christ’s blood and you are a new man. Paul speaks much about becoming that new man that Christ created you to be in his letter to Ephesus. Ephesians 4:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Matthew Henry writes: “Yet God, in his new creation, has designed and prepared us for good works: Created unto good works, with a design that we should be fruitful in them.” Our new man is created by His hand to live a life producing good works.
The apostle James spoke much about the faith and works debate. James understood that we are not saved by our works, but our salvation is to produce good works. James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. We are called by Christ to produce fruit, to make disciples, to live a life in pursuit of Him. If we live a life in true pursuit of Him, the natural product of that pursuit will be good works. We will feel that tug to share what we now possess as a new man in Christ. Jesus spoke to these good works that a come as a result of abiding in Him in John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. Is their evidence in your daily life that you are producing good works as a child of His? Let there be no doubt that you are called to live a life producing good works to honor His name and sacrifice. That is what His hands designed the new creation for, that has been born again of the water and Spirit. John 3:7
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