For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

All creation serves the overarching purpose of God.  What God creates He uses for His Own glory.  While this is true in a general sense of all of creation, it is true in a specific sense for those who are in Christ.  As the Apostle Paul writes the second chapter of Ephesians, he makes this specific point.  In our text for today he says, ‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’  One of the things that it means to be in Christ, is that we become like Christ ‘who went about doing good.’  These good works are not in any way a meritorious exercise whereby we gain favor with God.  What we do that is good is simply a reflection of the growing grace of Christ in us as the Holy Spirit ‘renews us in the whole person after the image of God.’  God has created us as ‘new creatures’ in Christ, who will reflect Christ in our daily actions, which are demonstrations of that newness.  By this means, God uses us who are in Christ to point others to Christ.  By these good works He makes use of us to advance His Kingdom and to build His Church.  Today, let us contemplate Christ in His doing good to see where we can imitate Him in our own lives; ‘For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.’

Our Gracious Master and our God,
we rejoice that we are Your workmanship.
We praise You that each day, You work within us,
to conform us unto the Image of Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:6

In Christ we have a seat in heavenly places.  We started quite a while ago to consider what it means for us to be ‘in Christ.’ Our mediations took us through much of the first chapter of Ephesians.  At a certain point, the Apostle digresses to discuss what he prays for the Ephesians.  He does not, however completely abandon the theme of what it means for us to be ‘in Christ.’   We arrive today at the location where he returns to that theme.  To bridge the gap between the digression and his return, he has spent some time discussing how God has brought us to saving faith in Jesus Christ.  Having described that work of salvation, he says that the results are that God ‘has raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’  How is this so?  If we are united with Christ, in that indissoluble union, in which Christ is the Head and we are His Body, then where Christ is, we are.  Where He sits, we sit.  Where He dwells, we dwell.  Where He rules, we rule.  We have not yet entered into the full realization of all that entails, but in the larger scheme of God’s eternal present, we are already there.  This lifts us up today to know that we have a seat in heaven, ‘in Christ.’

Our Good and Gracious God,
we rejoice that You have raised us up
to sit with Christ in heavenly places.
We praise You that this is only a foretaste
of what shall be for all eternity.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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

‘Created…For Good Works’

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 this text, we come to consider the second portion of it which begins, ‘created in Christ Jesus for good works….’ We began yesterday with a discussion of the fact that God is the Master Craftsman. As that Craftsman, He manufactures His Own Tools. He manufactures them for His purpose. God has ‘created us in Christ Jesus for good works.’ He has fit and fashioned us, and is continuing to do so in order to make use of us to accomplish His Purpose through the ‘good works’ which He enables us to perform. We can take credit for none of this. Christ declared categorically, ‘for without me, you can do nothing.’ We maybe the hammer, the wrench, the screwdriver or the file in the vast toolbox of The Master Craftsman, but He has made us whatever we are, and will use us by the ‘good works’ He enables us to do to accomplish His Good Work. This fact only enhances our desire to make use of the means of Grace which He has provided for us. By these means we interact with Him and He uses these means to make Christ ‘real’ unto us. So He works to conform us to the Image of Christ, and to engage in the imitation of Christ, ‘Who went about doing good.’ Let us today dwell upon the God, Who has so created us, and the Christ, He has set before us.

Our Holy and Wise God, we praise You
that You have made us what we are,
and will continue by Your Power,
to conform us to what You want us to be.
We rejoice that Your Ultimate Purpose for us, is to be like Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

‘His Workmanship’

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

God is the Master Craftsman. He has constructed a perfectly functioning universe. He has created a world which continues to hold its’ orbit and maintain its’ equilibrium. He orders the seasons, seedtime and harvest, summer, and winter. He has created the ecosystems, both flora and fauna, which function flawlessly, apart from the imprudent disruptions of clueless human intervention. When it comes to humanity, in reference to His craftsmanship, we find that Paul affirms, ‘For we are His workmanship….’ Let us consider that concept carefully. For a craftsman to produce something of high quality, he must have a plan and a purpose ahead of time. The latter portion of our text speaks to this by saying that we have been, ‘…created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’ Beyond a plan and purpose, a craftsman must have a vision of what the piece will look like at the last. God’s end vision for us is that we be like Christ. ‘Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’ Moreover, God has, by His Sovereign Decree, foreordained all the steps which will bring us to be His finished product. As the Master Craftsman, so He performs every step of the process which He has planned, to conform us unto that Image of Christ, which is His Ultimate Purpose. Let us dwell today upon His Grand Scheme, and upon how He will complete His Work in us.

Our Gracious Master and our God,
we rejoice that You do all things well.
We praise You, that everything which You have planned and purposed,
You will infallibly perform.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning