Stewards In Action

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 (New King James Version)

In chapter 2 of the Apostle Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, he begins by describing the state of every individual born upon the face of the earth prior to their initial encounter with the grace of God. Paul says that we were all dead. The tools that were used to lead us to our eternal demise were "trespasses and sins." (v. 1) As a result, we were habitually disobedient, conformed to the world system, and consistently fulfilling the lust of our flesh and mind. The record clearly states that we were in a total and utter mess. Our lives had no rhyme or reason.

Enter the mercy of God. "But God who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved." (v. 4) The mercy of God where He allows us to "miss" what we rightfully deserve; as a result of His great love for us, reaches down into the muck and mire of our mess, cleans us up and gives us something that we didn't deserve; grace. It is at this precise moment that God saves us, places His hands on us, and begins to make out of us what He ultimately wants us to be. It is the picture of the potter and the clay where the potter patiently and lovingly places the clay on the wheel and begins to form it with his own hands.

Not only does He save us, but he also raises us. (v. 6) This He does that He may seat us positionally "in Christ" that we may walk in the newness of life. "In Christ" is the spiritual position of every blood bought and twice born believer. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) Christ's death and resurrection for us and our identification with Him by faith allows God to begin and continue the new work in our lives until the day that He returns for his glorious church without spot or blemish.

We are His workmanship. The word workmanship in the original text means "to make". It is the picture of a manufactured product that has been specifically designed to meet the blue print and the desired objective of the manufacturer. God is the master designer and He works on us because of the value of the investment that He has placed in us. His desire is to make a good work out of us. This He determined beforehand and "ordained" it to be so. That is to say that, God has sovereignly and selectively planned and purposed the work that He would perform in our lives in advance. Through trial and trespass; suffering and sin; God desires to perform a good work in us. Work on us Lord until you get everything out of us that you have invested.

“Do not rejoice over me my enemy; when I fall, I will arise, when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.” Micah 7:8 (NKJV)

The contemporary application of our devotional passage can easily be assigned to anyone who has experienced the wrath of the enemy, fallen into unpleasant and potentially devastating circumstances, or who find themselves living in darkness and in need of a word or revelation from the Lord. Let it be known that whenever and however you may fall, it is categorically and unequivocally guaranteed that you will rise again. How long you decide to stay down and in the midst of the event that placed you there is strictly up to you. You will rise again. “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” Proverbs 24:16 (NKJV) For the sake of clarification in this context, a “righteous” man is not gender exclusive but is defined as “ a just person who is in line with God’s standards.”

The historical backdrop of the passage speaks directly to the ultimate restoration of Israel. They had sinned; just as we do. They had rebelled against the word of God; just as we do. They had lost their focus and chosen other gods or material things as their priority; just as we have. They had become willing victims of sin’s deceptions, disappointments, and distortions; just as we have. It was said that the moral climate of that day was so decadent that a man could not trust his friend or counselor. Family relationships had fallen into the deepest forms of dysfunction and disrepute. “For son dishonors father; daughter rises against her mother in-law. A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.” Micah 7:6 (NKJV) Israel had fallen; just as we have at some point and time. Thank God that was not the end of the story.

“Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” Micah 7:7 (NKJV) This is the proper attitude and mindset for those of us, including Israel who find ourselves in any fallen condition. Who we look to when we fall will determine who we look to when we rise. When we rise, the enemy cannot rejoice over us. When we rise, we will be better then than we ever were before. When we rise although we were once in darkness we can now experience the light of the Lord. These statements are a creed for crisis times. They make specific what the vision, attitude, and faith of a believer should be. If you want to rise again from being down then look up to the Lord. We look up in a spirit of repentance. Okay, you made a mistake. You fell short. You came short of the glory of God. You fell but don’t ever underestimate the mercy of God, you will rise again!

When you are down and fallen, there is only one place to look. “I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2 (NKJV) God is able and willing to lift us when we fall. Falling is not an “if” condition. As long as we live we have the potential to fall, it is merely a matter of when. Yet, as long as we live we have the irrefutable truth of God’s word that when we fall, we will rise again. “We fall down, but we get up. We fall down but we get up. We fall down but we get up. For a saint is just a sinner who fell down, and got up.” Donnie McClurkin.

“Do not be deceived; evil company corrupts good habits.” I Corinthians 15:33 (NKJV)

We have all heard several of the old adages such as, “Birds of a feather flock together.” “Association brings about assimilation” or, “You get like the company that you keep.” While obviously not biblical, these sayings are very similar to the Apostle Paul’s admonishment to us in our devotional passage. However, there is one very marked difference. Paul voices this warning or caution within the backdrop of his treatise on the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is the transforming power of the empty tomb that resurrects our dead nature, gives us new hope, and the opportunity for eternal life. If we have indeed experienced the power of the risen Savior, not only will it change our nature but it will also change our associations and the fellowships that we partake in.

We need not fool ourselves. Even though we have been, and are being transformed we must renew our minds each day in order to continue the transformation process and not fall into conformity with this world system and those who can potentially have a negative impact on our walk with the Lord. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 (NKJV) We must take heed to our conduct and our conversation, because what we believe in and who we believe on always determines our behavior. Simply put, Paul is saying in essence that we need to avoid being involved with a “shoddy” fellowship. From the historical perspective many of the Corinthians had not only embraced the teaching that there really was no resurrection, but they had fallen also into the lax moral lifestyle that such a denial would encourage.

The word “company” in the passage can also be rendered as “communication” which can be defined as associations. As saved as we might be and loving God as much as we all do, there is a corrupting danger and influence that impacts us if we are in fellowship with evil associates. It is a case of light and darkness. Light always has an indelible effect on darkness. But if the power of the light is diminished to any degree it allows the darkness to resurface in a very subtle and seductive manner ultimately regaining its influence. As a result, our “good” habits are corrupted and many times we can’t even explain how it happened. That is why Paul says “don’t be deceived.” “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” I Corinthians 15:34 (NKJV) Paul further solidifies his argument by warning us not to fall asleep at the wheel, but stay focused on righteousness. Wake up! Many of the associates of the Corinthians and even some that we may have did not even have knowledge of God. What a shame.

There will be times of ministry that God will lead us to share with those who are of different persuasions and lifestyles but only at His request or leading. Some people need to be loved and prayed for from a distance in order to protect our witness and the integrity of our relationship with God. Yes, people still judge us by the company we keep. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them.” Ephesians 5:11 (NKJV)

“To you I will cry, O Lord my Rock: Do not be silent to me, lest, if you are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary.” Psalm 28:1-2(NKJV)

You have prayed and cried. You have cried and prayed. Nothing can be more frustrating than when we have pleaded, petitioned, and prayed to God and it appears in our own estimation that He has not answered. Not one word, one clue, one glimpse of the revelation that we so desperately need. Perhaps what we may be experiencing is not God’s failure to respond but it could possibly be that we are not in the proper position to hear what He has to say. We understand that He is the only one that can help us deal with the issues that are presently confronting us yet in the still of the night when we long to hear from Him, there is silence. While in His sovereignty God may very well choose to be silent, it is not to punish us or prevent us from our breakthrough. In some cases He simply wants to bring us to a point in our walk with Him that we are relentless in our pursuit of Him.

The book of Psalms tells of several instances where David had a genuine concern with regard to God’s silence towards him, one of which is found in Psalm 35:22. “This you have seen O Lord; do not keep silent. O Lord do not be far from me.” David in this circumstance desired the Lord to act upon, acknowledge, and answer his prayer concerning his secret enemies so they would not be allowed to triumph over him. Here in our devotional text, David needed to “hear” a word from God and realized that if He were to be without a word from God he would be as those who are found in a horrible pit. Here the “pit” carries the idea of a tight place, such as in Psalm 40 were David witnessed the delivering hand of God bring him up out of a horrible pit. Have you ever been there? If you haven’t, rest assured that it is a place that you never ever want to be.

What David does in verse 2 of the text serves as the posture that we should assume when we stand in need of a word from God or feel that for whatever reason that He is silent relating to our need. David requested of the Lord that He would hear his supplications and the voice of his cry when, “I lift my hands towards your holy sanctuary.” Here the picture is quite clear. It is one of worship. Could David be suggesting to us that during our time of worship and adoration of God it is then that the times of presumptuous silence are broken and we are in the place where we can properly hear from God? To understand the significance of this process you would have to know what it is like to be driven to God by an overwhelming sense that you had no where to go and nothing else would do so you then lift your hands in humble surrender to hear and discern the voice of Almighty God.

Even when we have the feeling that God is silent, we must rely on the facts. God has pledged himself in a multitude of ways to hear the cries of His people. He hears, He says so, and that should be enough. If it seems that God is silent, worship Him, He is waiting to hear your cry. “Blessed be the Lord because He has heard the voice of my supplications.” Psalm 28:6 (NKJV)

I said, Oh that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert. I would hurry in my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm. Psalm 55:6-8 (New International Version)

This particular Psalm of David penned at a time when his son Absalom's rebellion was coming to a head in Jerusalem is called a maschil psalm (pronounced mahss' keel). It is written for instruction, as much a sermon, as it is a song. If we have been tempted to give up, to run away from our problems or storms that we encounter, then this psalm is for us. Most of us have been where David is in this passage. We have been hard-pressed by circumstances that are partly our own fault but which have passed beyond our control.

Storms always occur as a result of pressure. When a low pressure system comes in contact with a high pressure system it creates an atmospheric disturbance characterized by severe winds, heavy rains, hail, and often thunder and lightning. The high and low pressures that permeate the circumstances of life are inevitable. In John 16:33, Jesus said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation." The word "tribulation" in the original text gives us the word "pressure", which in turn creates storms. For the believer, storms can materialize in order to correct us, perfect us, or direct us.

Storms of correction challenge us to make an adjustment in our behavior, attitude, or obedience to God (Jonah 1:1-12). Storms of perfection occur at times to help us grow, mature, and endure as a result of our experience (Matthew 14:23-33). Then there are storms of direction, that appear to emerge out of nowhere but have a way of helping us to maintain our focus, purpose, and ultimately arrive at our God ordained destination (Acts 28:9-24) While we cannot clearly observe from the text exactly what type of storm David was encountering, it is important to note that there are unique times in our life that one storm seems to birth another. It is similar to the hurricane that spawns a tornado or the tornado that creates a thunderstorm. Then just perhaps, it is fair to conclude that sometimes we are the "I" of our own storm.

David desires to flee. If he had wings he would fly away like a dove. Given a choice between two possibilities he would rather the desert than the storm and tempest. Can we really blame him? Yet the time comes when we can't run or hide, but we must endure. It is then that we discover that we have an anchor in the promises of God, "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." (Hebrews 6:19a KJV) These are the words of a gospel song that says, "Stand the storm, it won't be long, you'll anchor by and by." Be encouraged!