Masterpiece

This Saturday morning we were awaken at 6:15am by a phone call.  I jumped out of bed because any phone calls early in the morning before the sun usually means it's something of importance.  It ended up being my older brother calling just to tell me he was driving by the exit to our town on the Interstate.  I'm too little to beat him up but next time I see him in person I'm going to have Arthur rough him up a bit for waking us up on a Saturday morning when we could blissfully sleep as long as we wanted.  The other problem was that we had stayed up until midnight on Friday which is very rare for us.  I had been at a Pinterest party with several friends and while crafting time just kind of slips away and all of a sudden it was time to head home so my husband wouldn't worry.  At our party we had snacks and spent the evening painting blank canvases with ideas from Pinterest.  I had decided to paint a piece of art for our bathroom so I consulted Arthur on if he had any opinion on the verse I used.  He selected Ephesians 2:10-- For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  A few translations use the word "masterpiece" instead of workmanship.  I decided to use the phrase "We are God's Masterpiece" on my canvas.  At the party we started pouring paint to make the first coat.  I wanted something to match the colors in our bathroom-- browns, sage greens, slate blues-- and the colors of paints my friends had were all bright colors-- pinks, purples, aquas, lime greens-- so it became obvious I would have to pull out my inner Bob Ross to mix the right color.  During this process it looked like my color was going to be a disaster, a lost cause, and I should cut my losses and start over.  However it actually turned out to be the perfect shade that I wanted when it was all said and done, jut very muted compared the color explosion on all the other canvases.  Next was the tough part for me, creating the design.  My best art is usually done looking at a picture and I can get pretty close to creating a similar representation but when given something blank and having to create my own I am lost.  So I decided to eat some snack and hope for inspiration.  After a few helpings of little smokies and chips and dip I dove in without much of a plan.  I don't claim to be a creative person, and I am very thankful my job or career does not depend on my creative juices on a daily basis.  However on occasion it is freeing and relaxing to sit down and create or work with your hands on a special project.  Watching an idea in your mind take shape into something tangible that you can share with someone else whether this be art work, music, writing, etc.  Here's my finished product from the evening:

This verse has come up in my life a few times this week which usually means I need to take closer look at it.  Also I found carefully painting words makes you think about them and meditate on them over and over.  To give a little more context here is Ephesians 2:8-10

 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.    (ESV)

As readers of this blog you are probably tired of hearing about workmanship but here it is again.  The picture of God as a master craftsman.  He is the potter and we are the clay, he is the silversmith and we are the silver that needs a refining fire to remove impurities.  Jesus was a carpenter.  God is the ultimate Creator.

  First I wanted to look at the definition for masterpiece-- I love definitions of words and I don't know why.  Masterpiece is defined as a work done with extraordinary skill; a piece that is considered the greatest work of a person's career like a magnum opus.  When I reflect on God's natural creation I am in awe.  However the natural creation- sunsets, starry nights, oceans, mountains with their all their beauty and majesty- is not His defining work.  We are.  However this is speaking about much more than a physical creation but a spiritual creation such as in 2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

In verse 8 and 9 of Ephesians 2 we are reminded that our salvation is not because of anything we have done but by faith in Christ and what He did.  Furthermore, we do not make ourselves into "masterpieces" but it is God's work in us.  If you were to go to Europe and view Michelangelo's David or de Vinci's Mona Lisa, you don't give credit for being a masterpiece to the stone or paint but to the artist, the one who can make stone like flesh and paints take on life.  In the same way, if we are God's masterpiece, what people see in us should bring them to give the glory and honor to God, the artist, not the art itself which did nothing in the process.  However this process, sanctification, is still taking shape as the Artist has made the final brush strokes yet.   (The following was one of my favorite "church songs".  I like that we could sing about planets in church since at a young age that made more since than being washed in a fountain of blood and as a child there is a hankering to continue growing so it's nice to know God's still at work and I won't be small forever.)

He's still working on me 

To make me what I need to be 

It took him just a week to make the moon and stars 

The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars 

How loving and patient He must be 

'Cause He's still workin' on me 

There really ought to be a sign upon my heart 

Don't judge him yet, there's an unfinished part 

But I'll be better just according to His plan 

Fashioned by the Master's loving hands 

In the mirror of His word Reflections that I see 

Makes me wonder why He never gave up on me 

But He loves me as I am and helps me when I pray 

Remember He's the potter, I'm the clay

In verse 10 it says, "We are God's workmanship or masterpiece."  I find it interesting that in the previous verses (Eph 2:8-9) the pronoun "you" is used and then verse 10 it becomes the plural pronoun, "we".  God's masterpiece is not us individually but his children or church as a whole.   Verse 10 then goes on to the second half,  "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  The purpose we are created for is good works.  Once again, distinctly different from verses 8 and 9 where it states that we are not saved through our good works.  Faith and good works seems paradoxical but in Charles Sprugeon's sermon on this passage he says, "Faith doesn't come from good works, the fruit of a saving faith is good works."  Good works are God's intention for us as new creations.  However we are not doing good works for God, but God is performing His work in and through his believers.  Naturally we have no capacity or inclination towards good works on our own but in Christ he has made us new for this purpose.  He has laid out a path of good works in front of us and we are called to walk that path.  This is our personal choice to follow this path.  The term "walk" also denotes more than existing in one place but advancing forward His kingdom. 

 In an orchestra or symphony a single instrument may play glorious music but when the entire ensemble plays together the music is deeper and richer.  This is why God's masterpiece is not an individual but His chosen people.  We don't do good works for God but we are the tools or instruments he uses on a grander scale.  And finally the Creator has a design, blueprint, or musical score in which He has give each of us a specific role and purpose so he isn't scrambling to find a part for you to play.  Each of us has an important part to play.  Our good works are not just something we might do if we have some free time here or there but our calling and vocation from God.  

So each morning getting ready in front of the bathroom mirror hopefully this verse painted by unskilled human hands will reminded us that we are true masterpieces, God's greatest work.  And throughout that day what we do will reflect glory and honor of the Artist. Omnia Vincit Amor.