FIXER UPPER

August 25

Bible Reading: Ephesians 2

Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship…”

You’ve probably seen the TV show “Fixer Upper.”  The storyline is the work of the main characters taking an old run-down house, and then fix it up, much to the delight of its new owners.  But when it comes to fixing things and renovation, there is no one is better at that than God Himself.  We are all fixer uppers.  But by grace, God is well-able to take us as we are and save us and transform us and make us to be someone beautiful in Christ.

Because of sin, we all need fixing up.  Ephesians 2:1-3 speaks to the dreadful condition of any lost person.  Spiritually speaking, the situation could not be more dire.  The lost sinner is spiritually dead, deceived by the devil, depraved in his doings, and doomed as a child of wrath.  Being dead, there’s nothing that such a person can do to rectify or change his condition.  He is like Lazarus in the tomb, and unless Christ Himself calls him forth, there is no hope.

How thankful, then, we should be for the grace and mercy of God!  Two words, “but God,” make all the difference in the spiritual trajectory of a person.  Grace = unmerited favor.  Those two words speak to the two dynamics of God’s intervention.  As Ephesians 2:1-3 make clear, the lost person is undeserving in every respect.  God’s grace meets us at that point or our demerit.  On the other hand, by God’s grace, we receive favor.  The undeserved blessings of God are lavished upon us!  It is in the full appreciation of both of these dynamics that we better understand something of the riches of God’s grace!

That brings us to another important word here in our chapter.  We find that in verse 10.  The term “workmanship” comes from the Greek “poiema,” from which we get our English term “poem.”  It was a term that was used in that day of a work of art.  F. F. Bruce has translated the phrase this way, “His work of art, His masterpiece.”

The term has reference, of course, to the individual believer in Christ.  Every believer is, by way of God’s grace, visited on him or her in salvation, a masterpiece.  But Paul here is speaking in the broader sense.  We are His masterpiece.  We, the church, are God’s work of art. 

This term “poiema” is only used twice in the NT.  The other usage is in Romans 1:20 where it speaks of how God has revealed His eternal power and divine nature to man “through what has been made.”  That phrase translates the same Greek word.  God’s creation is His work of art.  His masterpiece.  The church is too, and you, as a part of the church, are that as well!

God’s masterpiece, the church, is on display.  It bears testimony throughout the ages to the surpassing riches of God’s grace.  It testifies to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places regarding the manifold wisdom of God.

In the fixer upper show, they take an old house and spend some money and some effort and make it into something beautiful.  God does the same, only better, with lost humans.  By His grace, through the saving work of Christ, he takes those who were dead and makes them alive.  He takes those who were children of wrath and makes them to be children of God.  He takes those being defeated and consumed by the ugliness of sin in this world, and He makes them into a work of art, displaying to all the riches of His mercy, grace, and wisdom. 

John Newton had a godly mother, but she died when he was only seven years old.  His father was a ship captain, so was away from John for most of John’s youth.  When he was old enough, John got a job on a ship, but John was incorrigible and was in constant trouble with both his overseers and shipmates.  He was a foul-mouthed, troublemaking, and obnoxious sort of fellow.  John ultimately worked his way up so that he became a slave-ship captain.  The conditions on those ships were horrific.  The below decks were only three feet tall.  Hundreds of slaves were squeezed into that small space, chained in place for the long voyage to America.  Many died.  Women were raped.  Dead slaves were tossed overboard.  It was a hellish environment.  And John was the captain.

One day, a storm threatened to sink the ship on which John was sailing. God got John’s attention. He prayed and somehow the ship managed to barely make its way back to England. It would be sometime afterwards until John Newton was genuinely saved, but he then went on to become a beloved pastor and a big supporter of the abolitionist movement in England. He served as a pastor for some forty years and wrote over 200 hymns, besides the one he’s most famous for, Amazing Grace.

At 82, John Newton said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner — and that Christ is a great Savior!” His tombstone reads: “John Newton, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy!” John Newton was a fixer upper. In sin, he was anything but attractive, but in Christ, God made him beautiful!

“All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life” – Gloria Gaither

Amazing grace (how sweet the sound)
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.