8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
How do you describe yourself? What nouns would you use to say “This is who I am”? Ephesians 2:10 helps us answer that question in a remarkable way. The first few words are, “For we are God’s handiwork” (NIV). Other translations say that we are God’s “accomplishment” (CEB), “workmanship” (ESV, KJV), or “masterpiece” (NLT). The Greek original uses the word poiema, which is related etymologically to our word “poem.” Poiema had a broad range of meaning in Greek, referring to many things made by a creative agent – usually a human being. Ephesians 2:10 is not claiming that our physical existence depends on God’s creative power, though this is ultimately true. Rather, this verse emphasizes our new identity in Christ. Similarly, 2 Corinthians 5:17 reveals, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” When we respond to God’s grace through faith, not only do we receive assurance of our future salvation, but also, we are remade by God’s creative power. We become new people, even though we continue to live in our old bodies. In this sense, we are God’s handiwork, accomplishment, workmanship, or masterpiece. “Masterpiece,” the word found in the New Living Translation, might exaggerate slightly the sense of the Greek original. But “masterpiece” rightly conveys something about the nature of our new creation in Christ. After all, God doesn’t make damaged goods or mediocre products. Whatever God makes could, in a real sense, be called a masterpiece. Perhaps, you might not feel like a masterpiece today. You may be feeling like something far less than this. Perhaps you had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, thinking about the work that you’d be doing today. Perhaps your body is aging and you’re struggling to do things you once did without a second thought. Or you may be sensing your moral and relational failures. Or, well, you name it. You wonder: How could I possibly be God’s masterpiece? The answer is that you are a masterpiece, not because of how healthy you are, how accomplished you are, or how moral you are. You are a masterpiece because of what God has done in your life by His grace. You have been newly and wonderfully created through Christ, so that you might live in relationship with God and for His glory. This is true no matter how you might be feeling today. In Christ, you are God’s masterpiece. As you go through your day, pause to re-member that you have indeed been created anew in Christ. Let this truth affect how you think, feel, and act. Gracious Father, thank You for I am Your handiwork, even Your masterpiece, not because of my effort, but because of Your grace. May I see myself in light of this truth. May I live each day embodying this truth. May I be Your masterpiece today, Lord, in all I do, think, say, and feel. For Your glory! Amen. 18Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” (Luke 13:18-19)
As citizens of the United States, we have relatively little personal experience of an actual kingdom. But, in spite of our inexperience, we can say with confidence that kingdoms are often full of pomp and circumstance. When a king or queen shows up somewhere, it’s time to pull out all the stops. And when the Crown puts on a royal wedding, it isn’t what one would call subtle. The association of kingdom and pomp and circumstance isn’t anything new, and it isn’t reserved for the British. In the first century A.D., when the Jewish people envisioned the coming of the kingdom of God, they pictured something even more spectacular than a British royal wedding. The King of kings would come with earthquakes and fire, with thunder and lightning. The whole world couldn’t miss it. Every nation would take notice. Thus, when Jesus talked about the coming of the kingdom of God, His listeners were surely confused. Yes, many were also intrigued. What Jesus said about the kingdom didn’t match their expectations. For example, when He said that the kingdom of God is “like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden,” this would have been perplexing. Mustard seeds are tiny. And when sowed in a garden, they would have been completely invisible, at least for a season. The kingdom as a tree big enough for bird nests might have gotten traction with Jesus’s audience, but it takes a long time for a tiny seed to become a bit tree. This just wasn’t what faithful Jews were expecting or hoping for. Though we live in a different time and culture, and though we may not have much experience of royal galas, we may also expect God to do it up big. We’re impressed by big churches, big concerts, big preachers, and big results. Things the size of a mustard seed just don’t cut the mustard with us, if you’ll pardon my pun. But the truth is that God is still in the mustard seed business. Yes, sometimes the kingdom of God shows signs of its future growth. But, for the most part, God’s work in this world happens in small ways, in faithful actions that are virtually invisible. A boss treats an employee with unexpected kindness. A colleague stands up for a co-worker who is unfairly treated because of her race. An older adult invests in the life of a neighborhood kid whose father is serving overseas in the military. And so forth and so on. Each day throughout the world, the kingdom of God shows up in millions of actions that will never make headlines. Today, you may not be engaged in “big tree with bird nests” kingdom work, but if you seek God’s guidance in all you do, if you are committed to do everything in the name of the Lord (Colossians 3:17), then the kingdom of God is truly present in your life in lots of “mustard seed” size actions. Lord Jesus, I confess that I can be overly impressed by big things. Help me, Lord, not to worry about whether what I accomplish is big or small. Rather, may I seek to serve You in dozens of mustard seed activities. May I do this in my life, in my home, in my neighborhood and in my church. To You be all the glory. Amen. 12Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
If you’re like me, you have mixed feelings about this past year. It was filled with things both terrible and wonderful, both sad and joyful, both discouraging and hopeful. Yet, no matter how I feel about the past year, I’ve found it helpful to reflect upon what’s happened in the new year, to see what God might want to show me through a time of annual examination. I want to invite you to use Psalm 90 to guide our reflections. The context of Psalm 90 is not a happy one. It was written in a time when the people of God were “consumed by [God’s] anger” and “terrified” by God’s anger (v. 7) because of their “iniquities” (v. 8). Nevertheless, beneath the bad news of God’s judgment lies a bedrock of confidence in God’s everlasting goodness. Rejoicing and prosperity will come again because of God’s “unfailing love” and “favor” (vv. 14, 17). Psalm 90 reframes the way we think about time and its passing. The psalm begins with good news: “Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations” (v. 1). Moreover, God exists outside of time, even “before the mountains were born” (v. 2). Indeed, the psalmist exults, “from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (v. 2). Because God is timeless, God views the expanse of time differently than we see it: “A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by” (v. 4). In contrast to God’s eternal existence, our time on earth is short: “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (v. 10). The shortness of our life, especially if we live in difficult times, could be discouraging. But, in Psalm 90 it can lead to wisdom: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (v. 12). The phrase, “number our days” means “know that our days are numbered.” Knowledge of the shortness of our life can help us become wise. How? How can the number of our days help us to be wise? To begin, the brevity of our life contrasts with the eternity of God’s life. When we count our days, we are reminded of our smallness compared with God’s greatness. This recognition leads us, on the one hand, to want to use well the time given to us. On the other hand, it also reminds us of our utter dependence on God. Thus, the final verse of Psalm 90 reads, “May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us – yes, establish the work of our hands.” (v. 17). When God’s favor rests on us, when God prospers us, then our work will be fruitful. What a fascinating and relevant conclusion to this psalm! The psalmist’s reflections on God’s timelessness, the relative shortness of our lives, and our dependence on God’s grace lead to a prayer that God “prosper” our work. In this request, we hear an echo of the creation story in Genesis 1, in which God created us in His image so that we might work in this world as God’s agents and co-laborers. Though our time on earth is limited, our work still matters. It matters to the world and it matters to God. Psalm 90 reminds us that what we do as workers will prosper as God’s grace is active in our lives. (The biblical understanding of work includes all human work, not just that for which we are paid.) At the start of 2022, and as we remember the shortness of our lives, we do not despair. Rather, when we count our days, we renew our trust in our timeless God and we ask for His favor so that we might make a difference through our work in the brief time allotted to us. From that perspective, it can be helpful to examine our lives, to count our days in the past year so that we might live more fully and fruitfully in the future. Lord God, teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. 4Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You. 5Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 6As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 7They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. (Psalm 84:4-7)
The new year is always a time to think about the road ahead. It’s a time of transition and new beginnings. A time to consider how to leverage all the experiences pain, and growth of the previous year for the next one. What if you spent 2022 truly dwelling in the house of the Lord (v. 4)? Blessed are those who get comfy and make nests and settle in with the Lord. What if like the swallow, you find a place in God where you can settle in and stay awhile? What if you applied the dwelling muscles we were all forced to strengthen in 2021 for good in 2022? The very next verse in our text today talks about what at first might appear like a really different charge – pilgrimage. The psalm teaches us to sing: “Blessed are those whose hearts are set on a pilgrimage!” If you’re unfamiliar with what a pilgrimage is or if it makes you think of colonization, I get it. Know this: a pilgrimage is spiritual journey—like a quest for meaning. The Bible is filed with pilgrim stories and pilgrimage themes. Consider Abraham leaving his home to search for the land God tells him about or the Israelites wandering in the desert in search of the Promised Land. In both cases, pilgrimage holds themes of hardships and care, search for promise and an assurance to trust because God is present. There’s even a whole set of Psalms (120-124) thought to be sung as pilgrims made their way up to Jerusalem. The fact that these verses about pilgrimage come right after “Blessed are those who dwell in Your house” makes me wonder about the connection between our dwelling with God and our capacity to take meaningful journeys. And it makes me wonder about the connection between dwelling, pilgrimage, and home. What if we are most ready for the quests that matter most to us when we have settled in and gotten comfortable in the house of the Lord? And, what if because we were forced to spend so much time learning to dwell last year, we’re readier than we’ve ever been for a pilgrimage in 2022? So many major events happen over the course of a year. Who knows what 2022 will bring? It could be the year you start a new job or finally launch your business. Or it could be the year God invites you to mature as a follower of Jesus Christ by undergoing a pruning process. It could be the year you meet new people that you will know for the rest of your life. Think about it, you really don’t know what this year will hold in your life or your work. So, why not, consider the unknown as an opportunity to follow God on the path of pilgrimage: to wrestle and wonder, build trust in God, and hope for all the good grace that might be? On any pilgrimage we embark, we are invited to make God’s mission of redemption and restoration in the world our North Star. For a pilgrimage is about us, but it is never about just us. Consider what or who God might be asking you to be attentive or responsive to at the start of this near year. The answer will inevitably lead, in same way, to something new in the journey that will be 2022. In the beginning of this new year, 2022, I want to invite you to make a list or journal about your hopes for 2022. Offer them to God aloud and then make space to listen to God. Sit in silence or go on a walk, and ask God to speak to your hopes for this year. Gracious Father, thank You for a new year and the new life that comes through Your Son Jesus. Help me to hope for the things You hope for and help me to follow You more closely, as I look to You as my North Star. May this year be indeed a holy journey, in which I grow to listen and love You and all those You place in my life. Lord Jesus, You have given all to me. To You, Lord, I return it. Happy New Year! Our church has adopted new wordings on our vision statement to help us refocus our ministry goal, “Be a Loving Family to a Broken World”. We live in a broken world, whereby we feel the pain and troubles of our hearts. We experience despair, depression, disharmony, frustration, confusion, disorder, separation, even death. When we turn on the television at night, what we hear from it is nothing good but bad news. I look around our world, I see the chaotic and seemingly hopeless situation, it saddens me and gives me a great heaviness in my heart.
One of the greatest sorrows I feel for people around us is that they work so hard for their existence, yet they feel lonely and lost, have no community life, no purpose in life, and above all, they don’t know God. Most of the people we encountered expressed the anguish of the vanity of life. Many continue to seek the meaning of life. We know with certainty where and with whom the meaning of life lies. But who would be courageous enough to go and share the gospel of Jesus Christ? For the love of mankind, is there anyone who would be like Paul, willing to be accursed and cut off from Christ, so that our kinsmen might be blessed? As Jesus enters Jerusalem in the last days of his earthly life, he started to have a crisis in his heart. Luke recorded: “As he (Jesus) approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it.” Jesus lamented that eternal peace was within their reach and yet they turned it down. The crowds got caught up in all the hoopla and decided to focus on the festivities. For a moment, they forgot the real issues in their lives. They pretended to live in a knockout world without worry and problems. If Jesus could, he would have stayed longer here on earth. If he did not have to fulfill the Father’s will, he would have delayed His mission and homegoing. Jesus would have wanted to make this world again as the Father’s world; “where the birds their carols raise, the morning light, the lily white, declare their maker’s praise.” Though oftentimes we imagine that evil seems so strong, yet forgetting that God still rules supreme. Remember that God continues to love the world that He created. Not only He had sent Jesus to reconcile us to Himself, furthermore, He also gave His Holy Spirit to protect, comfort, and direct us. In his last will, Jesus challenged his disciples. He said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) We can only continue Jesus’ ministry when we practice loving one another as He has loved us. When Christians learn to love each other, we can extend that same love to the outside world. In doing so, we will have the opportunity to impact our broken world, and change it into a beautiful loving world. Brothers and sisters, this new year provides a new opportunity for us all. Won’t you commit yourself to God and this church to be an instrument of God’s love, peace, and joy? You don’t need to go to a faraway land to reach our kinsmen. They are just right at our doorsteps, in your neighbors, in your workplaces, in your schools, wherever you are, they are there. Have a blessed New Year! |
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