Works Prepared Beforehand

Works Prepared Beforehand

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

As we continue our meditation upon God as the Master Craftsman, we arrive at the third portion of the text we have been considering for the past two days. Here we concentrate upon the words, ‘which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’ God, as the Master Craftsman, has the larger end in view.  Christ said, ‘I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.’ God has ordained both the end and the means whereby He will build His Church. His Church is all of the redeemed of all ages. He will bring them together, in human terms, by the ‘good works’ of His chosen tools. Hence, for us, who are those tools which He will use, He has ‘created us in Christ Jesus for good works’ and ‘prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’ So, God draws our attention to Christ. He fills our vision full of Christ. He brings us to contemplate Christ and then to imitate Christ. Every virtue, every command of the Scripture, every exhortation to ‘be’ or to ‘do’ is integrally related to Christ. To attempt to emphasize these things as what must be in the life of the believer, while making scant reference to Christ, is to speak of ‘the form of godliness,’ while denying the ‘power.’ God has set Christ before us as the Great Template of the good works which He has, ‘prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’ Today, let us magnify the God Who has ordained both the end, and the means.

Our Great and Sovereign God,
we rejoice that You see the end from the beginning.
We praise You, that You have laid out the plan,
and guaranteed the success of all the means,
whereby You will conform us to the Image of Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning