We Are His Workmanship

We Are His Workmanship

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10.

The works are ready for us, but we do not see them; neither can we do them nor has the time come for us to do them.

“That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His goodness toward us in Christ Jesus.” V. 7.

Now we live in the time of grace, the time during which we are being trained so we can do the works which He has prepared for us. The rapture will take place when the bridal flock has been fully trained. Then there will be a new time during which God’s bowls of wrath will be poured out over the earth. That is the time when God will show the riches of His kindness toward us and take us away so we will escape all that will come over the earth. Luke 21:36.

Then Armageddon will come and the time when Christ will establish His kingdom on earth. He will also show the exceeding riches of His goodness to us, we who are to the praise of His glory. Eph. 1:9-12. Then the time has come for the works which He has prepared for us. We will receive our inheritance during this new dispensation. We will be appointed to positions, the very ones for which we have been trained, and the glory of which we will then partake cannot be imagined by the heart of man. 1 Cor. 2:9-10.

After this God will create a new heaven and a new earth. He will also show the riches of His goodness to us. Then the bride is compared to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. Rev. 21:2, 10. Reading further we also understand that such glory, which God will then show to us, has never entered into the heart of man. Vs. 22-27. This is a glory that is everlasting.

However, during our training period here on earth, God has also prepared works for us, and He shows the riches of His goodness to us. The glory will continue to increase as we advance in our training. The condition for being trained is that we are in Christ. We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works; therefore the condition for being His disciple, or an apprentice, is that we have forsaken everything and hate our own life also. “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Col. 3:1-2.

Then we are in Christ. Our training will stop if we begin to seek the things of this earth. We come to Jesus as we are—fallen sinners; but if He has His perfect will with us, we will be conformed to His likeness.

The ministries vary according to our different gifts. When someone who has not learned anything comes to a construction site, he doesn’t see the work that is ready and waiting for him to do. He has to be put to work, yet there is not much you can give him to do, seeing that he cannot do anything. If a bricklayer, a carpenter, or a painter comes along, they see the works right away that are ready for them to do according to their trade. This also applies to the church. The church shall be built up, but if there aren’t any spiritual people present—tradesmen—nothing gets built. It is therefore a great thing if someone forsakes everything and abides in Christ. He becomes a spiritual person—a tradesman. God puts such servants in the church. Then the church can be built up. We receive our training in the church, in Christ, and as we advance in our training, we see the works which God has prepared for us, and we become members of the same body. Eph. 4:11-16. Everyone can best see the necessity for the ministry for which he has a gift, and so he also grows in that ministry; however, one tends to see oneself as the one who is most necessary. On this point Paul has given us a good and necessary exhortation so we can be knit together in the ministry, so that there will not be a division in the body.

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” Rom. 12:3-5.

On this point God has done a great work among us, and we see this fulfilled before our eyes. However, our training time is not yet finished, so let us with greater zeal pursue perfection, since we have been chosen to be to the praise of His glory. We are His workmanship, and He will be glorified in His work. 2 Thess. 1:10.