Category: God’s workmanship

Faithful, Hospitable Lydia

Sunday, August 19, 2012

“And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul” (Acts 16:14 KJV).

Lydia demonstrates how Christian women can be helpful in the ministry.

In the context of today’s Scripture, Paul, Silas, Timotheus (Timothy), and Luke are accompanying Paul on his second apostolic journey. Luke narrates: “And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days. And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont [accustomed] to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither” (verses 12,13). While Paul, Silas, Timotheus, and Luke are in Philippi, some Jewish women have gathered by a riverside on the Sabbath day to have a prayer service.

Paul, seeing opportunity to share the Gospel of the Grace of God, preaches to the group. While we do not know how many women were present, the Bible only mentions Lydia, a Jewess who is rather wealthy (she is “a seller of purple,” and purple cloth was expensive at that time). As Paul preaches the finished crosswork of Jesus Christ as sufficient payment for sins, Lydia listens intently, and then places her faith in that message (Paul’s Gospel).

After she and her household were saved and water baptized, Lydia told Paul, Silas, Timotheus, and Luke: “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained [urged] us” (verse 15). And so, Lydia lodged them in her house. Later, after being freed from prison, Paul and Silas return to Lydia’s house to see and comfort the Christian brethren there (verse 40).

Scripture never again mentions Lydia. Nevertheless, she was faithful and hospitable in that she took care of God’s apostles by inviting them into her home to lodge. Lydia’s actions will remain recorded forever in God’s Book as a testimony that God can use women for His glory.

333’s First Anniversary: Yet Not I, But the Grace of God

Friday, June 1, 2012

“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV).

We rejoice in the Lord, for we reach a special milestone today: one full year of grace-oriented devotionals. We commemorate our first anniversary by joining our Apostle Paul in remembering: “Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (After all, this is “333 Words of Grace!”)

This past year, we were thrilled beyond words to know the great God and our Saviour was using this devotionals blog to lead people to salvation by His grace through faith in Christ Jesus, and to spiritually enlighten His people with sound dispensational Bible study (1 Timothy 2:3,4). But, again, it was not us, “but the grace of God.”

Paul could have continued wasting his life away by opposing God’s work (1 Corinthians 15:9, the verse preceding today’s Scripture). Instead, he chose to trust Christ Jesus as his Saviour, and Christ saved him by His grace. Thus, Paul, now God’s chief apostle to the Gentiles, could honestly say, “by the grace of God I am what I am.” Just as we could have wasted this past year in unbelief, we chose rather to rely on God’s grace by faith. Thus, we too honestly say, “by the grace of God [we are] what [we are].”

Much labour and prayer went into the past 366 devotionals, so that the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word could be exalted. How the grace and love of God worked in us this past year, and it is our great hope and prayer that He will continue this ministry.

Saints, we extend our utmost appreciation to you, whose input and prayer were not in vain. How we are so grateful to God, for without His grace, this ministry would not exist. And, above all, as we enter our second year, we remember, “not I, but the grace of God that [is] with me.” 🙂

What Does God Want Me to Do? #11

Sunday, April 8, 2012

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13 KJV).

Before God could do His “good pleasure” in and through us, and before Jesus Christ could live in and through us, He had to die and resurrect.

Jesus Christ died, not simply to help us get to heaven as religion teaches, but He died because our “good” works were nothing but “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) and “dung” (Philippians 3:8). Jesus Christ’s death was the only acceptable sacrifice to God: our good works cannot save us and they will never save us. Christ died for us so He could then give His life to us when we trust Him, so He can then live His life in and through us! Christ’s life—not our life—is acceptable to God, for Christ’s life is not “dung” and “filthy rags.”

Have victory over sin by resting in your new identity in Christ Jesus. When Christ died, you died to sin (Romans 6:6). God has given you Christ’s life: “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11). I encourage you to read all of Romans chapter 6 and rejoice in the glorious truths of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and their impact on us.

We should remember Jesus Christ’s resurrection every day. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is now causing Him to live His resurrected life in and through us as we walk by faith in an intelligent understanding of God’s Word to us.

What does God want you to do? He wants you to rejoice and glory in the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. If you have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, you have Christ’s resurrection life now and forever. You have eternal life right now (you do not have to wait until you die to get eternal life).

Friend and brethren, study God’s Word God’s way, and then go and let Christ’s resurrection life live in and through you for His glory!

HAPPY EASTER!

*These past 11 devotionals have been adapted from a larger Bible study titled “Christ Liveth in Me.” The Bible study can be read here and watched here.

What Does God Want Me to Do? #8

Thursday, April 5, 2012

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13 KJV).

God wants to build Himself a house, a place in which He can not only live, but an habitation where He feels right at home! Will you let Him work in you to accomplish that goal?

In Ephesians chapter 2 (which I encourage you to read on your own), the Apostle Paul describes our sinful lifestyles and wicked nature before our salvation in Christ Jesus (verses 1-3). Verses 4-10 discuss how God saved us from sin and His wrath in order to make us His “workmanship” (creation). Verses 11 and 12 explain that when God dealt with Israel in “time past,” we Gentiles were “without Christ.” Verses 13-18 explain “but now,” in our Dispensation of Grace, God has removed the division between Jew and Gentile. God is now forming a spiritual body of believers, Jews and Gentiles. Why?

Verses 19-22 explain: “Now therefore ye [believing Gentiles] are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

God is forming the Church the Body of Christ so He can have a house (“an habitation”). Amazing, huh?! The Holy Spirit not only lives in us Christians (1 Corinthians 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 2 Timothy 1:14), He wants to also live through us—to manifest His life living in us, so the lost world can see our new lifestyles and glorify Him!! God wants to fill our minds with sound doctrine, which we gain from proper (dispensational) Bible study, so the Holy Spirit can then take that doctrine and work in us (1 Thessalonians 2:13), “both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (today’s Scripture).

The world cannot see Christ’s physical body; instead, they see Him living in us Christians!

What Does God Want Me to Do? #6

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13 KJV).

God’s will according to religion and God’s will according to the Bible are contradictory—only one can be right. If you want to know and do God’s will, look to the Bible, which is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

Religion causes us to have a superstitious understanding of God’s will. Does God want me to work here, or work there? Marry this person or that person? Buy this house, or that house? Attend school here, or there? Drive this vehicle, or that vehicle? Eat this, or that? Go here, or there? Beloved, God has given us doctrine to make those decisions, but ultimately, He has given us free will. God has not preselected our house, vehicle, spouse, or job: these are decisions we must make—God does not want robots (religion does!).

God’s will—His “eternal purpose” (Ephesians 3:11)—is to exalt Jesus Christ in heaven and on earth (Ephesians 1:9,10). Whenever faced with a decision, you need to ask yourself, “What decision will hinder God’s eternal purpose?” (Avoid that choice.) “What choice will accomplish God’s eternal purpose?” (Choose that alternative.) God’s will is “to have all men saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3,4). God wants to use you to lead others to Jesus Christ and to use you to share sound Bible doctrine (dispensational Bible study) with others. Your purpose as a member of the Church the Body of Christ is to let Christ live His life in and through you, where you are now (your job, home, marriage, et cetera). That is God’s will for your life!

When you study and believe God’s Word dispensationally (understanding that Paul is your apostle, and our Dispensation of Grace is not associated with Israel’s Dispensation of Law), God the Holy Spirit will work in you, and fulfill His will in you (today’s Scripture), enabling you to make wise choices to prove/demonstrate God’s will—to glorify Christ (Romans 12:1,2).

What Does God Want Me to Do? #5

Monday, April 2, 2012

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13 KJV).

God gave us the Bible so that we could learn what He is doing. We do not have to grope in spiritual darkness—although religion hopes that we do! Do you want to do God’s will? Find out what God is doing today, and then, by faith, GO DO THAT!

When we “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), we understand that the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is a giant timeline. God has divided, or segmented, His Word into dispensations, bodies of truth applicable during separate and distinct time periods when He deals with mankind differently. Never confuse the dispensations, or combine directions given in one dispensation with information given in another dispensation.

For instance, millions of church members have been taught that God wants them to “keep the Mosaic Law.” While God strictly commanded Israel to obey the Mosaic Law or suffer divine chastisement (Exodus 15:26; Leviticus 26:1-46; Deuteronomy 28:1-68), Paul writes to us in the Dispensation of Grace, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). God has replaced Israel’s performance-based acceptance system (legalism, Judaism) with His grace-based acceptance system.

God’s will for you is that you not “resurrect” the Mosaic Law, which was nailed to Calvary’s cross and crucified with Christ (Colossians 2:14; cf. Romans 3:21,22; Romans 7:4-6). Today, God’s grace, not the Mosaic Law, teaches us to live “soberly, righteously, and godly” (Titus 2:11,12). Grace shows us that we Christians have died with Christ, so sin is not who we are anymore (Romans 6:6-23; Romans 8:12-14; Romans 12:1,2; et al.).

If you want to let God “work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (today’s Scripture), do not place yourself under religious bondage (legalism, performing religious duties to get God to accept or bless you). Your Christian life operates on the basis of God’s grace, Jesus Christ working and living in and through you (Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21), not you striving to keep God happy (law-keeping).

God’s Workmanship #3

Sunday, March 4, 2012

“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 KJV).

The Bible presents God as the Poet; we Christians are but His poem. He is the Mastermind; we are merely His design. God has the power; we are just His vessels. Our will and our works have not the preeminence; God’s will and God’s achievements do. The Creator of the universe is doing something excellent; the creatures’ work, our work, pale in comparison. What God did for us is foremost (grace), not what we do for Him (religion). This is God’s grace, and we are His workmanship.

Religion is not the work of God; it emphasizes man’s performance to make himself acceptable to God. Christianity is God’s workmanship, for it stresses how God can use mere frames of dust (us) for His glory (see today’s Scripture). Those of us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, God is using us to make a “new man,” a “new creature,” the Church the Body of Christ, an entity He will use in heaven forever (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:13-17); this is something that God, not us, does. God is building us—a temple, a house for Himself (1 Corinthians 3:16,17; Ephesians 2:18-22). We are “God’s husbandry, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9).

Currently, God is preparing us Christians for eternity. We have His preserved and inerrant Word, the King James Bible, to learn and grow in His knowledge. The more sound doctrine we study and believe in the rightly divided Bible, the more equipped we are to function here and in eternity (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). In the ages to come, God will use us to restore the government of the heavens unto Himself (Ephesians 2:6,7; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:1; Colossians 1:16-22).

God saved us to use us for all of eternity future, to do His good work in us now on earth, and to do His good work in us forever in heaven. Verily, verily, we are God’s workmanship… forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever! 🙂

God’s Workmanship #2

Saturday, March 3, 2012

“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 KJV).

When we Pauline dispensationalists proclaim God’s grace, are we really encouraging people to pursue careless, frivolous lifestyles, as our (legalistic) critics claim? God forbid!

Religion deceives billions through indoctrination: to wit, lies repeated long enough are accepted as truth. Works-religion (legalism) prevails in the professing church today: “Perform so God can save you!” Thus, the average church member, upon hearing the Biblical truth, “God will save you, regardless of your works,” they mistake this as careless living. They are programmed to accept error as truth; consequently, they reject contradictory information (God’s truth!).

When we Pauline dispensationalists declare, “Salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing,” we mean salvation is COMPLETELY independent of our performance (Romans 3:28; Romans 4:1-5; Galatians 2:21; Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5; et al.). Grace saves us solely because of the merits of Jesus Christ at Calvary; grace does not save us on the basis of our good works—grace is unmerited favor (Romans 11:6).

Grace is what God can do for us because we sinners can do nothing for God. The Greek word translated “workmanship” in today’s Scripture is poiema, meaning “creation,” from which we get “poem.” Interestingly, poiema is used one other time in Scripture: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

From salvation and the Christian life to the origin of the universe, the emphasis is not on the creation—(us, the heavens, and the earth), but on the Creator, Jesus Christ (see Romans 1:25). The focus is not on the poem (workmanship), but rather the POET (Creator)!

God the Holy Spirit is doing something amazing in us believers. He is transforming us from the inside out for His glory. “Our” good works are God’s sound doctrine working in us. It is God’s work (1 Corinthians 15:10; Galatians 5:16-26; Philippians 1:9-11). Indeed, we are God’s workmanship!

God’s Workmanship #1

Friday, March 2, 2012

“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 KJV).

Many charge us Pauline dispensationalists with the following: “You are telling people to sin all they want because God’s grace and forgiveness cover it!” When we proclaim God’s grace, are we really encouraging people to pursue careless, frivolous lifestyles, as our (legalistic) critics claim? Or, are they simply misunderstanding grace?

The Greek word translated “workmanship” in today’s Scripture is poiema, meaning “creation,” from which we get “poem.” Interestingly, poiema is used one other time in Scripture: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

From salvation and the Christian life to the origin of the universe, the emphasis is not on the creation (us, the heavens, and the earth), but on the Creator, Jesus Christ (see Romans 1:25). Just as we did not engineer the heavens and the earth, neither did we work to receive salvation in Christ—Christ alone worked to save us. Now that God has saved us, His grace can permeate our inner man, and teach us how to live in Christ Jesus (Titus 2:11-15).

Grace teaches us not to focus on what we do for God, for we sinners can do nothing to please God (Romans 3:23), but rather focus on what God did at Calvary for us. Our good works could not save us, so how could they keep us saved? They cannot! Thus, our receiving and keeping salvation, and our Christian lives, are not reliant upon our performance, but on Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork on Calvary.

As today’s Scripture specifies, we are not doing good works. “Our” good works are actually the outward manifestation of what God the Holy Spirit is doing internally (Galatians 5:22,23; cf. Romans 8:1-14). When we study and believe sound Bible doctrine, God will use that doctrine to transform us from the inside out (Philippians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 2:13). We are God’s workmanship!