Transcript: Christian Living Workmanship Bible Study Sermon

Music Sometimes when we look at Jesus and His sacrifice, Jesus did the work at Calvary's Cross, right? Jesus did the work. He put the work in. salvation plan was Jesus and Him being crucified, put in a tomb, but more importantly, rising from the dead. That was the work of salvation. But sometimes we look at that and we say, that's where the work ends. But that's not true. This is where the work begins. See, because Jesus finished his part of the work, but then that's where we take up. We must become the workmanship of God to continue the work of Jesus. Jesus did the first step, now it's our part. Paul, the apostle, wrote in Ephesians chapter 2, starting in verse 8, he said, For by grace are we saved through faith. Faith in the cross of Calvary. And I love what he says, And that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. So often what we do is we want to put in that we're okay. Oh, I deserve to be loved by God. Oh, I've never done anything that would be of a problem. I hear that a lot in this day and age. Oh, I do good things. I do good things. You know? But it's not about works. It's not about what we do. It's not about the things that we do. It's a what? Gift. You don't work for a gift. You don't pay for a gift. You just accept the gift. And that's the point. It's the gift of God. And that's exactly what he says in verse 9. Not about works. It's not of works. No matter how hard you work, you're not going to work your way into heaven. It's not going to happen. You know, you can do all the good works you want to do, but that doesn't mean that's going to get you into heaven. It's just not. I know there are people that work in the church thinking somehow that's going to do something for them and get them into heaven. I know people that work at the church I don't mean to go to the church but they work at the church and think that's okay and then somehow God's going to smile down on them and say oh because you worked at the church you can enter heaven that's not the way it works how do we get to heaven Jesus Jesus is the way to heaven Jesus is the way to the Father and no man comes unto the Father but by Him that's exactly what the Bible says so you can do all the good works you want but that's not what it's about so why do we work why do we work well it's because when we accept Jesus' gift then we've got to continue Jesus' work of love. That's what work is about. But you can't work your way into heaven. It doesn't work that way. It just doesn't work that way. Not about worthless any man should boast. And so often what we do is when we do something, we sometimes boast about it. What did you see? What did I do? Well, don't do that, first of all. That's not the way to do things. But the idea is true. We don't do things to get a pattern back. We do things at God's house because it needs to be done, right? God has entrusted his people with his house. Okay? This does not belong to the church people. this building does not belong to the church people this building belongs to God this is God's house this is not ours, this is God's house we have been entrusted with the care of God's house but this is God's house, not ours and we don't need to boast about things we need to love the fact that we get to work for God not about works lest any man should boast Verse 10 says, for we are his what? Workmanship. I like that. Workmanship. We are his workers. He puts his strength, his ability upon us. Now, not all of us have the same abilities. Right? Some of us are builders. Some of us can do plumbing. Some of us can do different things. And, you know, I'm not a plumber. I'm not a poet put a wrench in my hand and put me next to a pipe and you'll have a busted pipe because that's not going to happen I have no clue anything about pipes but stick a computer in front of me and I can usually pretty much figure out what wrong That where God has put his ability upon me is the technology I have that ability, but boy, you know, like, another thing, try to get me to hammer a nail straight. I've done this. I am not kidding you. I've done this. I've tried to hang pictures. I've got posters and stuff on my walls. So I've tried to hang nails or put nails in the wall. And I'm telling you, nine times out of ten, I start boom, boom, boom, hammering that nail. And he goes, and he goes crooked on me. Nine times out of ten. And I have to take pliers and pull it out and start over again. And then he goes again and it's like, you know. I can't hammer a nail straight to save my life. I mean, it's terrible, but it's true. I'm not a carpenter. I'm not a plumber. But I can work. You know, you tell me what to do. You say, okay, this is what you, you know, hold this for me. I can hold it for you. I can do something. But we all have different things that we can do. That's what I'm getting at. We all have different abilities. Different things that God has given us the ability to do. And that's why that old song If we all work together Is such a beautiful song Because I may not be able to do what you can do You may not be able to do what I can do But if we all bring our abilities together And we work together Then everything will get done You see how that works? That's the amazing thing about the workmanship And that is what we are We are the workmanship of God We must all work together if we want to see God's house and the kingdom of God advance. We are in his workmanship, creating Christ Jesus unto good works. God created us to continue the work that Jesus created at Calvary's cross. Jesus created the love sacrifice on Calvary's cross. And now it's up to us, the church of the living God, to continue that love sacrifice by sacrificing our time, our energy, and showing love to our church, to strangers, to our community, and showing people that we care just as Jesus did. Now the interesting thing is We are created by Christ Jesus Or in Christ Jesus Under good works Which God has before ordained Or set it all into motion Said this is the plan This is my plan This is what I want done That we should what? Walk in them Or continue that work that's what God wants us to do God wants us to continue the work of Jesus I'm amazed at when I read the accounts of Jesus and I see what Jesus did Jesus walked through the stores of Galilee and the surrounding areas and all through that time of his short ministry in this world but in that short ministry one thing is always true in everything that he did. And that is one little word. It is a four-letter word. And it starts with the letter L. And it is that he showed love in everything he did. In everything he did. Whether it was showing love to the lepers or those that were crippled or blind or deaf or couldn't speak, or whether it was when he was standing and a group of hate-filled people brought a woman caught in the very act of sin to him. We've said it so many times, where was the man? But hey, they didn't grab him, they grabbed her. They brought her to Jesus, they threw her at his feet, and they said, the law of Moses said she should be stoned. What do you say? What were they trying to do? They were trying to catch him. In some way that they could catch him, that they could say, see, he's not really God's only begotten son. But Jesus, I love what he did. He stooped down onto the ground and he wrote something. We don't know exactly what he wrote. maybe he wrote forgiveness. Maybe he wrote love. We don't know. But he wrote something in the ground, and then he stood up and he looked at all of them, and he said, okay, he that is without sin among you, you cast the first stone at her. And so often what we want to do is We want to cast that stone At somebody But let's be honest We've all sinned Every one of us has sinned And that's why so often what we need Is we need to show love to somebody You know what I was a sinner I was a sinner I was probably if you get down to it when you get right down to it probably with the stuff that I did in my past you know if people know me back when I was going through my difficult times of depression and all most people wouldn want to be around me at that time I'm telling you, as I was a miserable, miserable excuse of a human being during those times. My mom could testify to that for days. About how miserable of a human I've lived like. I was terrible. I was not what I should be. I can't cast a stone on somebody else And say hey you know you're a sinner Hey I was a sinner We were all sinners All we need to do is show love Show love to the sinner Condemn the sin But don't condemn the sinner Because the sinner is just One that hasn't accepted Jesus yet See God hath before ordained that we should walk and be the workmanship of Jesus. Continue the good works. Now, today, sometimes what we do is we sit and we say, well, you know what? I'm not what I was. I'm older now. I don't have the same get up and go I once had. Neither do I. Oh, that I wish I did. I've been doing a lot of research on things in older generations, and I've been thinking about the fountain of youth. That was a big thing. Everybody wanted to find the fountain of youth. Like, there is such a thing, you know. Oh, if we could just find the fountain of youth and jump in and come out and be young again, wouldn't that be amazing? All aches and pains gone. But sadly, there is no fathom of youth. But I want to share something with you about our namesake of our church, which is the Wesleyan denomination, is John Wesley. And that is from the book Walking with Wesley. And Wesley was amazing because Wesley worked till the day he died. and that is true you can read his accounts of his journals Wesley preached and worked until the day he died unbelievable and I want to share with you some things about Wesley here that is found in this Wesley's journal is remarkable in recalling his last years at age 70 he declared he felt refreshed seven years later 77 he proclaimed he felt the same as he did at 28 wow hallelujah at 80 he declared he found no new infirmities in him than when he was in the flower of manhood wow Two years later, at 82, he would write that, Now, it is now 11 years since I have felt any such a weariness. Then at age 86, he said, Now I find I grow old. 86! 86. But, this is the thing I want you to tell. No, even though he said, now I feel I grow old. Wesley was still preaching two sermons a day. I want you to think about that. Wesley was preaching two sermons a day at 86. A year later, at 87, he said, I am now an old man, decaying from my head to foot. But he said, blessed be God, I do not slack my labor. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. He preached his last sermon just a very short week before he died. I want you to understand the idea here. Wesley continued to work even though he began to feel a little faint. He continued to work even though he felt like my body is rebelling against me. He continued to. He didn't give up. He didn't quit. He kept pushing. and that's what we've got to do. Me, you, all, we have got to continue to work. We've got to continue to push. See, Wesley was our example here. There are so many great examples in the Bible and Wesley was a great example of what we should do as Christians as well is to push continue to go Don let the old term don let grass grow under your feet right You know you got to keep moving you got to keep going you've got to keep going, you've got to keep going. Because if we slow up, Satan's going to creep up and get us. You've got to keep moving, you've got to keep going, you've got to keep doing. And as long as we keep moving and keep going and keep doing, we're going to be like Wesley. we're going to be like Wesley and we're going to continue to do the work of God and we're going to continue to be blessed I'm amazed at our people here I really am I'm amazed at you, our older people here I really am, I'm amazed when I look and I see how good you guys do at your older age I mean, I think it's amazing I'm not going to call anybody out But I'm just saying, but it is amazing. When I look and I see that we continue to go and continue to do, that is an amazing thing. And young people could take a big, big lesson from our old people. I want to complete his work by showing love to people, by showing love to others, and saying, you know what, God loves you so much. Wesley preached, flew up to the end. and at the end when he was on his deathbed Wesley was surrounded by many many friends and many many followers and before he passed he sat there and he shook everybody's hand every single one of them and he said the silver cord has been severed the golden bowl is broken keep up the work and he shook everybody's hand. And then Wesley went on to his reward. But Wesley worked basically the day, the moment he died, in encouraging other people, in showing love to other people. That's what we need to do. We need to continue to do the work of Jesus. So I say that today as a word of encouragement to all of us here, including me. Continue to work. continue the work be God's workmanship let's make the world our community and our place we worship God's house the best it can be because we are his workmanship hallelujah and don't, don't, don't let Satan talk you into defeat crush his head under your foot with the power of God. No matter when you're in trouble, whenever you're having troubles or trials, crush his head under your foot. Tell him he's a liar. And keep going forward. Let's pray this morning. Father God, today, this message is for our people, but more importantly, Father, this is for all Christians. Maybe someone is watching our video today and they're needing that little bit of encouragement of, hey, maybe I'm a little older, but I don't want to give up. I pray, Father God, for each and every one in our house today, in your house today, right now, Father God, this house. I pray, Father God, for each and every one, that, Father God, you will inundate with the Spirit and the power of God, that they will be blessed beyond measure. They will feel the strength of Almighty God deep down in their souls. And it will build them up to new heights with God. And Father God, for those that are watching the video today, I pray, Father God, that you will inundate them that need it with the Spirit of God. You will build them up and they will be blessed beyond measure. And Father God, we will continue the work of Jesus. We will continue the work of Jesus. We will be His workmanship. Created unto Christ Jesus into good works, which God had before ordained that we should walk in them. May we be the blessing of God to someone with just a kind word, a little word of encouragement, a little something to just say, we love you. May it be the case. Father God, I thank you for today. I thank you that we could come together and be in your house. Father God I ask that you will not dismiss us this morning Father God but Father as we dismiss I ask Father God that you will go with us that Father you will keep us safe through all the trials and tribulations and all the stuff that goes on in this life I pray that you will keep us safe and then Father God I ask that you will bring us back safe into your house next time that we might be able to worship you yet again and Father for all that you are for all that you do we give you the praise the honor and the glory for it all for it's truly in Jesus name we pray and we say a hearty Amen you