The Gift II From Mess to a Master piece Text: Ephesians 2:1-10

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1 The Gift II From Mess to a Master piece Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 Intro: Welcome to restoration Life. We are excited to have you with us this morning. We are in a series entitled The Gift where we left off last week with God s greatest Indescribable Gift to us. That Gift we unwrapped was the grace and mercy shown to us through the giving of His son for the forgiveness and freedom from sin. Today I want to look at another Gift. I Have Pictures on 3 screens of Master pieces (Van Gogh, Kandinksy, Salvador Dali) Play classical music - ambience. During the beginning of message. Have One of Aurora s Pictures on display. Have Adam do Graffiti on canvas. I love seeing different types of artwork. I love seeing how completely worthless materials, when put together in such a way by a capable artist, becomes a masterpiece. It think is a cool creative process. Illustration: A man takes some regular paint, a typical canvas, and some regular paint brushes and over a small period of time Bam! a Van Gogh is created! Or a Salvador Dali! Or a Kandinsky! Valuable pieces of art are created with the most ordinary, worthless materials. I don t know if you realize this, but the Bible talks about God Himself being an artist, taking ordinary materials and making them into magnificent displays of His greatness. Look at Psalm 19:1 let s read it together The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. I. From the beginning of creation, God shows Himself to be an Artist. a. Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created 5 words into the 1

2 Bible, we see God as artistic, creative. And according to Genesis, He created everything. There is nothing in this world that exists that God did not create, because part of God s nature is to create and make things beautiful. b. Genesis chapters 1 & 2 record the creation of the world, and notice in Genesis 2:7 (on screen) And the LORD God formed a man s body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person. God is a master Artist or Craftsman by taking worthless materials ( dust of the ground ) and making them into something valuable (man). II. Mankind is part of God s glorious artwork a. Even David pointed this out in Psalm 8:5, For you made us only a little lower than God, and you crowned us with glory and honor. So mankind, as the crowning point of God s creation, the masterpiece, is placed on the earth that God created, and is given some instructions. Genesis 2:15-16, The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. 16But the LORD God gave him this warning: "You may freely eat any fruit in the garden 17except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die." The permission to have anything you want is followed by a simple warning if you disobey Me in this one small area, you will die. God s masterpiece would become a major mess. Story: Listen to this news story dated January 30, 2006: A visitor to a British museum destroyed a set of priceless 300-year-old Chinese vases after tripping up on his shoelace, the Daily Telegraph reports. The three Qing vases, dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, had stood on a windowsill at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for at least 40 years. Their prominent position made them among its best-known artifacts, the paper said. The report was accompanied by a photo, taken by another visitor, of the culprit, an unnamed man in his 40s, attempting to pick himself up among the porcelain debris after last week s accident. Steve Baxter, another visitor who saw the accident, was quoted as saying: "We watched the man fall as if in slow motion. He landed in the middle of the vases and they splintered into a million pieces." "He was still sitting there stunned when 2

3 museum staff appeared. Everyone stood around in silence, as if in shock. Then the man started talking. He kept pointing to his shoelace and saying, There it is; that s the culprit! My Point: I could not imagine the complete embarrassment and horror of breaking something priceless like this. It was a masterpiece that turned into a major mess. From masterpiece to major mess created to be a thing of beauty, preserved over the centuries in one careless move it went from timeless treasure into tiny pieces of trash - what a tragedy! b. Turn to and let s read Genesis 3:1-7 God s masterpiece mankind - turned into a major mess because of a moment of carelessness and disobedience. While Genesis 1 & 2 are inundated with words speaking of creation and artistic beauty, the words in chapter 3 after Adam & Eve s sin, reflect a ruined masterpiece: Vs. 7 they felt shame Vs. 8 they hid Vs. 10 they were afraid Vs. 14 you will be punished Vs. 15 you will be enemies Vs. 16 there will be intense pain and suffering Vs. 17 this will be cursed Vs. 18 you will struggle Vs. 19 you will sweat Vs. 19 this will happen until your dying day What ruined the masterpiece? Answer: Sin and disobedience. Ephesians 2:1-3 reveals the long lasting effects of Adam s sin. Paul reminds that we were hopeless and helpless, dead in our sins. The masterpiece that we were in Genesis 1-2 turned into major mess, and Paul exposes us to be hopeless and helpless. Ephesians 2:1-4 2 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 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. 3 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. 3

4 c. But then we read the first two words of Ephesians 2:4 But God These two words represent God s grace and kindness. These two words launch us today into how we can become masterpieces of grace instead of major messes of sin. Let s read Ephesians 2:7-10 (NIV) together (screen). Ephesians 2:4-10 NKJV 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 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. III. If we are going to see God turn our mess into His masterpiece, we must declare to the enemy and the opposition a. Declaration #1: I am timeless vs. 7. What does that mean? Answer: Well, God created us to live forever. God is the only Being that has always existed and always will exist. We are created beings, meaning we had a beginning. But God made us so that we will never stop existing. Even after you and I die physically, our spirits will continue to exist for eternity. b. Paul writes here in Ephesians 2:7 that God has extended a wonderful invitation to all of us, to live in the coming ages as examples and Finished masterpeices of the Almighty Artist forever. The term in the coming ages refers to eternity, as in in the coming epochs that is, God wants you and me to forever be examples of what He did for us, of His grace. c. What is grace? 4

5 Grace is undeserved kindness extended to me, and it is God s response to my guilt. God didn t have to extend His grace to us, but He did. And it will be because we embrace His kindness and grace that we will continue to live forever even when we physically die, because God made us to be timeless. d. But there s a flip side to this you can choose to live your life as a major mess denying God s grace and living your life without God. Because the fact is, masterpiece or major-mess, you are still timeless. If you are living as a major mess, denying God s grace, whether you are a Christian or non-christian, you need to know that God created you for different purposes. And God s grace, regardless of your sin, is still there. I believe even right now He is pursuing you, initiating grace to you to turn your life over to Him while there is still time. e. He created you to be a timeless example of His grace, not a timeless example of His judgment. But there is a second declaration of truth, and that is this: Declaration #2: I am priceless vs a. This is a simple yet profound statement let s read verses 8-9, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. Application: Salvation is a gift of God you can t possibly purchase it because it is priceless. But it is a gift that is reflective of God s love for us a priceless gift for a priceless creation. Illustration: Take out and hold up a $20.00 bill. Ask, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Crumple the $20 dollar bill up, then ask, "Who still wants it?" "What if I do this?" Drop it on the ground and start to grind it into the floor with your shoe. Pick it up, crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" There s a valuable lesson here. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. 5

6 b. Application: Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make, and the circumstances that come our way. Eventually, we feel worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, God still desires you and loves yo.! Remember that grace means that there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, or make God love me less. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to God. In God s eyes, our worth comes from who we are priceless treasures. c. God thought we were so valuable that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ. There was no amount of money or good works for us to do that could have changed our hopeless and helpless state. But then Jesus came and died for OUR sins so that we could have an eternal relationship with God. He paid the price we could not because He considers us PRICELESS. In closing: But there is one more declaration and this is an interactive declaration. Declaration #3: I am not a mess, I am a Masterpiece! vs. 10 For we are God s workmanship a. The fact is that we are God s specially crafted piece of work (not like, you re a real piece of work, Eddie!) The Greek word here is the word poinma from which we get the word poem and which is also translated masterpiece. Paul tells us that God considers us to be His masterpieces! Wow! You might look like a Hot mess but God says your timeless, your priceless and You are God s masterpiece. Stop looking down our yourselves 1 John 5:4-5 NIV 6

7 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Stop believing what THE WORLD SAYS, DECLARE WHAT GOD HAD ALREADY DECLARED WHEN HE CREATED YOU! I AM NOT BROKEN I AM BREAKING THROUGH I AM NOT DEFEATED I AM DEFENDING MY PLACE OF FAITH I MAY BE DELAYED BUT I WONT BE DERAILED I MAY HAVE BEEN SET BACK BUT IM ONMY WAY BACK TO BEING WHAT GOD CALLED ME TO BE A MASTERPIECE. WHEN MY PROBLEMS SHOW THEIR TEETH I WILL SHOW THEM MY FAITH WHEN MY ENEM REMINDS ME OF MY PAST ILL REMIND OF HIS FUTURE! SOMEBODY STAND UP AND SHOUT UNTO THE LORD! I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE Psalms 139:13-14 NIV 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; I am Timeless I am Priceless I am God s Great Masterpiece 7