GOD’S MASTERPIECE
Eph. 2:10; Phip. 1:6
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
Since this is Labor Day, I thought I would give you “The 7 Signs of Aging.”
B. GOD’S MASTERPIECE
1. Q: In the Universe, what do you think of when you think of God’s Masterpieces?
2. Examples:
a. Great Mountains c. Sunsets
b. Niagara Falls d. Hubble pics of galaxies
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F79Ck8rFIes
C. AMAZING THINGS ABOUT HUMANS
1. SNEEZE. A sneeze can exceed the speed of 100 mph.
2. SPIT. The average human produces 25,000 quarts of spit in a lifetime, enough to fill two swimming pools.
3. FEET. The feet account for one quarter of all the human bodies bones–that's 52 bones in the feet alone. A pair of feet has 250,000 sweat glands.
4. NOSE. Your nose is not as sensitive as a dog's, but it can remember 50,000 different scents.
5. SYMBIOSIS. Every square inch of the human body has an average of 32 million bacteria on it.
6. BRAIN. In man is a 3 pound brain which has a 100 billion neurons intricately linked to each other. The total number of connections in the brain approaches 1015 or 1,000 million million.
7. EYE. An eye is composed of more than 2 million working parts.
An eye cannot be transplanted. More than 1 million nerve fibers connect each eye to the brain. Your retina is thinner than paper, yet its tiny surface (only 1 inch square) contains 137 million light-sensitive cells. These retina cells perform up to 10 billion calculations per second in determining the nature of the image transmitted to the eye by light photons. No supercomputer on earth is capable of matching these virtually instantaneous calculations.
8. DNA. Francis Collins, the scientist who led the team that cracked the human genome, says, "When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information…you can't survey that…without a sense of awe….and…a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God's mind.”
D. THESIS
1. Eph. 2:10; “For we are God’s handiwork [“masterpiece” ISV, NLT], created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
2. “Workmanship” = poiema (poem). Not “made in the USA” but “made by God.”
3. We are His masterpiece. Remember the creation account? The 6th Day?
4. Ps. 8:5, “Made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor.”
5. You are the Crowning of God’s creation! I hear someone saying, “He didn’t do too good a job.”
6. Remember, God always makes Masterpieces! You are one. But there is a problem:
I. IDENTITY THEFT/ CRISIS
A. DEFINITION:
1. “Identity Crisis” was a term coined by psychologist Erik Erikson in 1970 for a developmental stage that especially teenagers experience when they lose a sense of “personal sameness and historical continuity.”
2. But this can happen to adults too, in our fast-paced world.
3. “Today we see millions desperately searching for their own shadows, devouring movies, plays, novels, and self-help books…that promise to help them locate their missing identities….They urgently wish to leave their present existence and leap somehow to a new life – to become what they are not.” Alvin Toffler.
B. THERE’S A SPIRITUAL IDENTITY CRISIS!
1. There are many Christians who, when they go to church, they are:
a. Drawn into God’s Presence &
b. Spiritual things become real;
c. They hear the Word &
d. Are convicted of its importance & their need to obey.
e. They may even come to the front & “make a commitment.”
2. But almost as soon as they get out the door of the church,
a. They forget their identity;
b. They forget what they’ve heard.
c. They forget all that God’s done for them.
3. Like the Scriptures:
a. 23 “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like” James 1:24.
b. “But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins” 1 Pet. 1:9.
4. Most Christians live beneath God’s will for them. Some think of themselves like creations from the Junkyard Wars (The Learning Channel series). It was an engineering contest where people had to build machines with parts they scrounged out of a junkyard.
5. Example – the teams were required to make a street cleaner, a torpedo, a monster truck, and an egg shooter, all out of junk. The egg shooter was a machine that would shoot an ostrich egg as far as possible and bring it back to earth in one piece.
6. BUT THAT’S NOT SO! You’re not junk, you’re Masterpieces of God! So what does God say about you?
II. YOUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST
A.YOU ARE APPROVED
1. “Before you were ever formed in your mother’s womb, I saw you and approved you” Jer. 1:5.
2. That means, you are not ordinary or average; you’re one-of-a-kind original! When God created you, He went to great length to make you exactly the way He wanted you; a person of value!
3. You’re not meant to be like everyone else; God designed you the way you are for a purpose. Everything about you is unique and everything about you matters.
4. You may feel like your life looks ordinary today, but when you understand your value – not only who you are, but also, whose you are – then you will love yourself more, and you will also love those people around you in a greater way.
B. “BORN FROM ABOVE” JN. 3:5
1. CHILD OF GOD! “Partaker of the Divine Nature” 2 Pet. 1:4 KJV. Not just a new life, but a diff. type of life is “planted” in us.
2. 1 Jn. 3:9, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.”
3. New Life originates at the genetic level. We have received the seed/ genes of God (Greek, the “sperma” of God).
4. Each creature reproduces after its own kind. Mortal to mortality; immortal to immortality.
5. Two types of Life: Human level & Divine level. Each one loves its intended environment.
a. Fish love water.
b. Groundhogs love dirt.
c. Birds love the air.
6. We shall become like our parent! Now we are in embryo! 1 Cor. 15:37. New Creatures belong to the new creation. We have a New Nature, a New Name, a New Song.
7. The Spirit of Adoption in us cries, “Abba Father!” All good seed needs to grow is the proper environment.
C. CHILDREN BECOME LIKE PARENTS
1. “Chip off the old block.” “Spitting image.” “Cut from the same cloth.”
2. In Mexico – “Part of the same TACO!”
3. Rom. 8:29, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
D. WORKS IN PROGRESS
1. “I don’t measure up!” Phip. 1:6; “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
2. A Christian wore a button that said “PBPWMGINFWMY.” Now a button with that jumble of letters begged the question, “What does that mean?” The wearer was happy to inform them; “Please be patient with me – God is not finished with me yet!”
3. That gives us hope!
III. THE POWER OF YOUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST
A. HELPS YOU RISE ABOVE YOUR PROBLEMS
1. God has a great plan for you. You have unique gifts, talents, and abilities.
2. We all face discouragements, trials, hardships, difficulties.
3. As a child of God, YOU HAVE POWER within you to overcome the world.
4. The Bible says that Faith comes by Hearing the Word of God. As you hear the Word of God & store it in your heart, your faith in God grows stronger.
5. When the enemy tries to attack you through sickness, fear, worry, or financial mishaps, just put your faith to work by declaring the Word of God.
6. Declare that by His stripes you are healed! Declare that perfect love casts out all fear! Declare that God shall supply all your needs! Declare that because you are Born of God, you have faith to overcome the world!
7. EXPECT GOD’S BEST! What are you expecting? Good things? Live with faith & expectancy!
B. HELPS YOU ACHIEVE GOD’S GOALS
1. YOU HAVE RESOURCES NORMAL PEOPLE DON’T HAVE – the Holy Spirit, Angels, a new Nature, God’s Providence, divine appointments, insight, etc.
2. SO YOU CAN DO THINGS NORMAL PEOPLE CAN’T DO.
3. Do you have a vision for victory in your life? Do you perceive victory in every step?
4. The steps of a good person are ordered of the Lord! Live at the divine level God has called you to!
C. AFFECTS YOUR LIFESTYLE
1. A farmer once went to a country fair with a pumpkin that was the exact size & shape of a 2 gallon jug. His pumpkin won the blue ribbon.
2. When someone asked how he got his pumpkin to look like that, he said, “It was easy. As soon as it started to grow, I stuck it inside a 2 gallon jug.”
3. Rom. 12:2 Phillips Trans, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold.” Living Bible, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you.”
4. YOUR IDENTITY OUGHT TO DETERMINE:
a. What kind of music you listen to;
b. “ “ “ books “ read;
c. “ “ “ TV “ watch;
d. How you dress;
e. How you spend your time;
f. What your priorities are;
g. Who you date & eventually marry.
5. Is what you’re doing moving you toward your God-given destiny?
6. IF YOU’RE A PEASANT, ACT LIKE ONE. IF YOU’RE OF ROYAL BLOOD—destined to fulfill an historic role in the world, nobly born with a noble name, Then RISE & ACT LIKE IT. Be what you are!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. There was a man who lived in a tiny apartment and died in extreme poverty. This man never had any successes to speak of, nor any noted victories. He lived and died as just another face in the crowd.
2. After the funeral, some family members went to his little run-down apartment to clear out his belongings. They found a painting hanging on the wall, so they decided to sell it at a garage sale.
3. The woman who bought it from the garage sale took it to a local art gallery for an appraisal and was shocked to discover that the painting was extremely valuable.
4. The piece of art that hung for so many years in a little run-down apartment was painted by a famous artist who lived in the early 1800s. At auction it sold for several million dollars!
5. Just think how that poor man’s life might have changed if he had known the value of what he possessed. He was a multimillionaire and didn’t even know it!
6. So many people today are living with priceless treasure inside, and they don’t even know it. Don’t settle for living a mediocre existence.
7. You are a masterpiece, created by the most famous Artist of all, but if you don’t understand your value, you’ll go on thinking, “I’m just average; I’m not that talented; I’ve made so many mistakes.”
8. Instead, every morning when you get out of bed, remind yourself, “I’m important. I’m handpicked by God, and I’m God’s special treasure, created in the image of Almighty God!”
B. THE CALL
1. How many are ready to Stand Up and Be what you are? How many are tired of being fooled by the enemy?
2. How many are hungry for REVIVAL? The infilling of the Spirit? Do you desire to know Jesus better?
3. Are you hungering for salvation? Come & Pray!
