THE CHISEL
THE CHISEL
A message on spiritual formation
Text: Ephesians 2:8-10
Key Idea: God is making a masterpiece of each of us by chiseling away
what sin has added onto our lives
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this 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 workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
INTRO: MAX LUCADO SHARES A STORY
Some pranksters broke into a department store
in the middle of the night. They were not there to steal,
but just to have some fun. They swapped the price tags.
The values were exchanged.
The tag on a handbag costing $40 was swapped with a dress costing $60. They prowled the store and switched price tags randomly.
Almost everything in the store was re-priced!
But the more amazing thing happened the next morning.
The store opened as usual. Employees went to work.
Customers began to shop. The place functioned as normal for four hours before anyone noticed what had happened.
Four hours! Some people got some great bargains. Others got cheated.
For 4 solid hours no one noticed that the values had been swopped.
We live in a very confused world,
and people do not always know the true value of things.
Life is precious and yet we’ve seen people ending it prematurely, carelessly or throwing it away for worthless things and trivial pursuits.
One of our deepest needs is to re-establish
the real value of our lives in Christ.
AND I HERE TODAY TO TELL YOU SOMETHING
VERY, VERY IMPORTANT – YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE
Listen to these words from the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
Read Ephesians 2:9-10
THERE’S A WORD HERE IN THE TEXT
The word in the Greek is “poema”
Poem – creative piece
Poema – workmanship – His creation expressing something
It literally means “masterpiece” and is used only in Romans 1:20 to describe God’s creative act that is Creation itself
God’s self-portrait painted on the canvas of our lives (Guy McGraw)
TRANSITION: ART NENDZA IS A WOOD CARVER
Display the Burning Bush
“I take a block of wood and begin to carve away until the
Burning Bush inside emerges” (quoting loosely)
This a masterpiece … one the most compelling things I have ever seen
YOU ALSO ARE A MASTERPIECE
I’D LIKE YOU TO WATCH THIS VIDEO
Paying careful attention to what God is saying to you personally.
YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE CREATED BY GOD
TO DO HIS WORK
Yet it is very clear that sin has added things onto our lives in such
a powerful and persistent way that this masterpiece is hidden to
most of us. We look in the mirror and see people of
failure, imperfection, brokenness, shamed and damaged
We are quite mindful of our weaknesses
and we have lost our vision of who we are created to be in Christ
READ WHAT DAVID WROTE IN PSALM 139:13-16 …
Do you believe this?
Or do you want see yourself as the world often seeks to define you?
Are there things in your life that God needs
to chisel away?
PRIDE
A PAST HURT
AN INABILITY TO FORGIVE
A DESIRE TO CONTROL
A PERFECTIONIST ATTITUDE
A DESIRE TO PLEASE PEOPLE
SELFISHNESS
A SIN THAT MAKES YOU FEEL DISTANT FROM GOD
A RELUCTANCE TO TRUST HIM
YEARS AGO A DRUNKEN MAN IN CHICAGO
headed towards Lake Michigan to drown himself.
He stumbled past the PACIFIC GARDEN MISSION
where someone got him in the door.
He collapsed and fell asleep in front of the preacher who was speaking.
The superintendent cared for him, gave him a bed,
and led him to the Lord the next morning.
HARRY MONROE was transformed by the grace of God
that day and later would preach the gospel from the same platform where he once slept in a drunken stupor.
He would eventually become superintendent of the mission
and when he died it took all of a day for the people to pay their respects.
A NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL described him as
‘one of the most useful men in Chicago’.
USEFUL? WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE: The world would not have missed a drunken derelict but God took His life and made him a masterpiece.
How useful are you to God?
Dr. Stephen L. Dunn
Church of God of Landisville
June 19, 2011
