The Vision (4.11.25): Created in Christ Jesus Unto Good Works

 

Image: Climbers ascending Mount Everest.

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on Ephesians 2:8-10.

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).

Ephesians 2:8-9 might rightly be called the Mount Everest of the Biblical doctrine of salvation. It teaches that salvation is the gift of God.

Paul, however, does not stop there. He proceeds in v. 10 to describe the life that should flow from the person who has been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and the conduct that should characterize him.

In his commentary on this letter R. C. Sproul notes: “There is another formula of the Reformation: justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. What does this mean: not by a faith that is alone? It means that true faith will inevitably manifest itself in the performance of works of obedience” (Ephesians, 58).

Paul explains this in v. 10, “For we [notice again that he includes himself as an apostle, alongside the Ephesian believers] are his workmanship [the noun here poiēma means something made, piece of handiwork, a creation] created in Christ Jesus unto good works….”

We are not saved by works, lest any man should boast, but once we are saved, one of the evidences of that is that good works (service to God and man that is pleasing to God) should flow out of our lives.

Good works are stressed over and over again in Scripture as a vital part of the Christian life. See Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (compare also 2 Timothy 3:17; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:12).

“Good works” is not a dirty term for Bible-believing Christian. As we often say, “It is not the root of our faith, but it is the fruit of our faith.” We have an entire chapter in our 1689 Baptist confession dedicated to the topic, “Of Good Works” (chapter 16).

Notice also the last phrase in v. 10, “which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Not only are we chosen for salvation in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), but also our good works have been foreordained. The all-sovereign, all-wise, all-knowing God has set each one of his saints apart for particular and peculiar good works to be done to his glory and honor.

It might be there in the godly raising of your children, in the prayers you offer up to the Lord, in the care you extend to the orphans and widows, in the generous giving you offer to support the church and its mission across the world,  in the visiting and comforting the sick and the aged, the infirmed and the weak, and a thousand other things that the Lord has set out for you do to bless his name and to bless your fellow men.

We have indeed been created in Christ Jesus for good works.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle