20110102

At our Watchnight Service on 31 December 2010 our Elder David Lee gave us the Theme Verse for 2011: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10). He shared with us what the Apostle Paul shared with the Asian churches in the period of “the early churches”. The believers in Ephesus and other Asian churches had been brought from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s Light, from the darkness of sin into the light of His forgiveness and from eternal death into His marvellous eternal life. They were not saved because of their own works but purely by God’s Amazing Grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus (Eph. 2:8-9).

As believers today we belong to God because of what He accomplished on the Cross at Calvary through Jesus. We receive His Amazing Grace through faith and realize that we are His design, His workmanship. He hand-crafted us with a purpose in mind i.e. created in Christ Jesus to do good works. These good works are for Jesus to live out His life through our lives for His glory. “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). Jesus’ good works are displayed through our lives for God’s glory. He moulds and shapes us until we bear His the image. These good works are prepared along with His design before our lives began i.e. in advance or foreordained. God already had the design of what He wanted for us even before He made us. Hence, our unique design is just right to get His work done in us by His Holy Spirit
(His work, not ours – His effort and might, not ours). We were created in God’s image but sin, because of Adam’s isobedience in the Garden of Eden, marred God’s image in us. Now God, through Jesus wants to mould us into Christ’s image (our restoration) to do good works and displayed for His glory.

For the next 5 months in 2011 we will be studying the book of “Ephesians”. This study will show us as being chosen, crafted, called and consecrated by God and lead us to know the Christian character and conduct required of us. We can apply the teachings from “Ephesians” in our daily lives wherever God has placed us to be salt and light in the world. Praise the Lord!