You are His Masterpiece

The village elementary school I attended in the sixties required every student to take “handwork” as a subject from the first grade to the sixth. We were required to submit a completed craft once a month, for which we received a grade. At the end of the year, each student submitted one for the final exam. I was very diligent at completing my handwork and submitting punctually, but my products were nothing to write home about. I was not very good at it. No matter how hard I tried, my final products were mediocre at best.

But there was this boy in my class who, as far craftsmanship was concerned, was in a class by himself. For his handwork, he always submitted a professional-quality piece. On a fair scale of 1 to 10, if I was given a 5 for my product, he should have received an 11: that is, 110 percent to my 50. His products, whether woven baskets or ropes made out of twine or brooms for cleaning, were always top-notch. They were always smooth, flexible, and strong. He knew where and how to select the right straw in the bush, how to peel off the right part, how to condition it for the weaving, and how to accurately and artistically weave it into a beautiful shape. And when you held his final product in your hand, you could see and feel the smoothness and skillful artistry, whereas you had to be careful rubbing your hands around my basket or you might have some unpleasant feeling from the rough edges. His products were like the type you might admire and pay premium prices for in art and craft stores. In those days, whenever I thought about handiwork, I would always remember his as masterpieces. Compared to mine, his would be up there with Leonardo da Vinci’s.

Do you know that Scripture says you are God’s masterpiece? Yes, you are! You are His handiwork created in Christ Jesus.

Let’s visit the entire passage from the Amplified Bible:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: “Not of works, lest any man should boast.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:8-10).

The eighth verse of the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians tells us that we have been saved by grace through faith. We did not earn our salvation by our works or any sacrifice on our part. It all came to us through what God did for us in Christ Jesus. God did all the work, so none of us have anything to boast about. Salvation is God’s work and His doing.

The next verse in this Ephesians passage continues the message, saying:

“For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]” (Eph 2:8-10, Amplified).

This is a familiar verse of Scripture that is often quoted by believers, but let’s listen closely to what the Spirit is saying to us through this verse. The Spirit just finished telling us that our becoming new creatures in Christ Jesus is all God’s doing. Then, in this next verse, He continues by saying that we are God’s handiwork, His workmanship. This new creation that is born anew in Christ Jesus is God’s masterpiece. You are God’s masterpiece. Many would say that the Mona Lisa is Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, but it pales in comparison to the masterpiece God has crafted and is making of you in Christ Jesus. Listen to the verse again:

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).

Can you hear what this verse is saying? We are His masterpiece created in Christ Jesus unto good works. What good works? Which good works?

He answers: “Which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” The Amplified version renders this section as saying “that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them.” That is, God recreated us in Christ Jesus to do good works, but there are specific good works which He has foreordained specifically for you and me to do. In His plan, He mapped out some specific work for you to do and some specific work for me to do, and my responsibility is to work so closely with Him that I know His will and align with that specific good work which He has aforetime mapped out for me. I am not to go off and do my own will or choose a good work that I like, even if it is the greatest good work known to man. I will not be doing His will, and that will not earn me a reward.

The good works He is talking about are those that He has preplanned for you and me from the foundation of the world. It was preplanned when He decided to bring us forth. It is written in His book and in His eternal purpose that you and I will be created and will perform those particular good works. That is the will of God for you and me in terms of ministry. We need to find it and walk in it. We must not veer from it to the right or to the left.

Let’s repeat this. Our responsibility is to walk so closely with God that we get to the place where we submit totally to His plan and purpose for our life and do not meddle with His plan by trying to do our own great works for Him. He is working in us to create a unique masterpiece. He is working on us to form a vessel of honor for good works which He has foreordained for us. We are the clay in the hand of the great Potter. The Potter has the image of the final product in His mind. The clay does not. The responsibility of the clay is to yield, to be malleable or pliable in the potter’s hands so He can complete the masterpiece and unveil it to the whole creation that is breathlessly waiting to see.

 Have Thine Own Way, LORD

      Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
      Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
      Mold me and make me after thy will,
      While I am waiting, yielded and still.

      Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
      Search me and try me, Savior today!
      Wash me just now, Lord, wash me just now,
      As in thy presence humbly I bow.

      Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
      Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
      Power, all power, surely is thine!
      Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

      Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
      Hold o’er my being absolute sway.
      Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see
      Christ only, always, living in me!

                                   …By Adelaide A. Pollard 1862-1934

The great artistic painters and sculptors of the Renaissance and post-Renaissance world created masterpieces. They individually autographed these original and unique creations, and professional collectors are trained to recognize these originals and value them. Some of these originals are kept in great museums of the world, while others are owned by the stinky rich. But just as there are unique originals made by these great artists, there are also copies made by impostors and con artists.

In the family of God, all His children are originals, handcrafted and autographed by the great I AM. They have all been curiously and delicately made by the great Creator. There are no duplicates or copies. Each is a unique creation from the Hands of the Great Artist. The Psalmist, singing in the spirit, says:

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psa 139 :14-16).

You have been curiously and wonderfully made by God. You are His handiwork, His handicraft. Your substance was before Him, and out of this He made you carefully, uniquely, individually, and secretly for Himself and for His divine purpose. Your unique parts and spare parts are written in His book, and He is continually fashioning and refining them until Christ is formed in you. This is true for you, and thank God, it is true for me too.

God is at work in each of us to complete and perfect the Body which He has formed for Christ. But we members of the church have a part to play in this work. We have to submit to the operations of God in us. We have to be pliable and obedient. We have to be attentive to what He’s saying and doing. We need to come to that place where we have a hearing ear and a faithful heart, so His eternal purposes are accomplished in us.

This is in line with the prophecy that is the central text of this little book, from the fortieth chapter of the Book of Psalms. The same prophecy is quoted in the Book of Hebrews in a slightly different form, but the spirit is the same in both passages, though the New Testament passage seems to contain a lot more. In the Book of Psalms, it reads as follows:

“Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

“Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psa 40:6–8).

The prophecy from the Book of Psalms begins by saying, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened.” Notice how this is quoted in Hebrews 10:5: “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.” In Psalm 40:6 it says, “Mine ears hast thou opened,” and in Hebrews it says, “A body hast thou prepared me.”

When the Lord came to the earth, He was given a body. He took upon Himself our humanity. Born as a baby in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, He identified Himself with us and became a servant. And then He became a sacrifice. That was the literal body God prepared for Him. But we also know that God, in His eternal plan, has prepared Him another Body. God, who sees the end from the beginning, already can see the complete glorified Body of Christ unveiled and manifested. And Christ Jesus can see this too. And seeing this, He said, “I and the Children whom God hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwelleth in mount Zion” (Isa 8:18). Indeed, a Body has God prepared for Him.

But in the prophecy from the Book of Psalms, He said, “My ears hast thou opened.” Here He’s talking about obedience. We know the Lord walked in total obedience while He was here on earth. It was not necessarily automatic, for He had His own will, but He submitted His own will and followed the Father’s at all times. He was never disobedient, but His obedience was tested throughout.

“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb 5:7,8).

This passage says that the Lord Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered. It’s not that He was ever disobedient, but that He was proved. His obedience was tested and proved. In the desert of temptation, during His laborious ministry, and in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was tested and proved. His perfect obedience was proved through all the sufferings. Now, God is working on us, little children born after Him, in Him, and in the same family, to get us to that same quality of obedience that’s in Christ. He is forming and creating a “hearing ear” and a “seeing eye” in us, so that we also will be able to say, “My ears hast thou opened.”

Here is the summary: we have been born again by God, conceived and born of the Spirit individually. The work is all of God and nothing of man.

But the work is not over yet. God is still at work in each of us, forming and crafting the nature of Christ in us. He’s delicately working in and on each of us, doing his sculpting and crafting in us to bring about the masterpiece that He has in mind. We must cooperate and submit to His will. He is a persevering craftsman, a determined potter, and a patient husbandman. He will mould the clay into the vessel of honor that He has in His blueprint from the foundation of the earth. And when all of us are complete, according to His calendar and His will, the Body of Christ with Jesus Christ as the Head will be revealed.

Yes, the whole of creation will see this unveiling of His masterpiece and exclaim in marvelous wonderment. Creation and all the elements of nature are waiting—and so are we. We are longing for the unveiling, the manifestation of the Sons of God.

“The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them” (Prov 20:12).