Poiema
Ephesians 2:1-10
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Ephesians 2:3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. (John 3:36)
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Ephesians 2:6 and raised us up together & made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2:7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8 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.
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.
2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
His workmanship
The Greek word is POIEMA which gives us our English words “POEM” and “POETRY”. (NL- “Masterpiece”)
- God is the Author… You are His Poem.
Have you ever thought of your new life in Christ as a work of “Divine Poetry”?
- God is the Artist…You are His “Divine Work of Art”.
C S Lewis said “We are a Divine Work of Art.”
If a Rembrandt masterpiece has great, undisputed value, (35 million)… would not God’s one-of-a-kind human masterpieces be of even greater value?
When we understand the word POIEMA, we begin to understand our incredible value in Christ.
- God is the Painter… You are the Canvas.
When God paints… He paints with all the colors He chooses! (Explain)
- God is the Sculptor… You’re the Marble.
You maybe don’t look like much here in the quarry, but In truth you are His Masterpiece!
Michelangelo was once asked what he was doing as he chipped away at a shapeless rock. He replied, “I’m liberating an angel from this stone.” That’s what God is doing with us.
We are in the hands of the Master, the Ultimate Sculptor, Who created the universe out of nothing…
He begins His work in us when we come to faith in Jesus…The Holy Spirit through the reading and the preaching of the Word of God begins to shape us.”
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
God’s Spirit uses difficult circumstances & difficult people & difficult times in our lives to sculpt our character & fashion our lives into His “Masterpieces”
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His MASTERPIECE, created in Christ Jesus…
The truth is “In Christ” you are a Divine, one of a kind MASTERPIECE… of UNTOLD worth.
This truth is hard for us…to take hold of… as we exist today in frail human form in a fallen world!
But in Christ … YOU are His— Divine, one of a kind MASTERPIECE!
Some of us… have had things happen to us… which make us doubt our WORTH.
Joni Eareckson Tada, who became quadriplegic after a tragic accident, describes herself as God’s “poiema” in her book A Place of Healing.
“God has a plan and purpose for my time on earth. He is the Master Artist or Sculptor, and He is the One Who chooses the tools He will use to perfect His workmanship. What of suffering, then? What of illness? What of disability? Am I to tell Him which tools He can use and which tools He can’t use in the lifelong task of perfecting me and molding me into the beautiful image of Jesus? Do I really know better than Him, so that I can state without equivocation that it’s always His will to heal me of every physical affliction? If I am His poem, do I have the right to say, “No, Lord. You need to trim line number two and brighten up lines three and five. They’re just a little bit dark.” Do I, the poem, the thing being written, know more than the poet?”
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.
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.
2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.