By Mark van Wijk, CCCNZ PastorLink Enabler
Na te aroha noa hoki koutou i whakaorangia ai i runga i te whakapono; ehara ano hoki tenei i te mea no koutou: he mea homai noa na te Atua: Ehara i nga mahi, kei whakamanamana te tangata.
Auā o le alofa tunoa ‘ua fa‘aolaina ai ‘outou i le fa‘atuatua; e lē o se mea lea na ‘outou faia, a o le meaalofa a le Atua; e lē ‘ona o galuega, ‘ina ne‘i mitamita se tagata.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
With tensions on the rise throughout the region, the country of Turkey wasn’t exactly a tourist hotspot. And yet, there we were. It was February 2003—a month before the invasion of Iraq—and my wife Steph and I found ourselves standing among the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus.
As we sat in the city’s impressive theatre and imagined what it might have looked like centuries earlier, we couldn’t help but think about the riot that took place there which Luke recorded in Acts 19:23–41.
The Ephesians worshipped the goddess Artemis, and the local artisans had a roaring trade in Artemis-related shrines and figurines. When the gospel broke out, people no longer wanted to buy what they were selling. The artisans' way of life was threatened, and the whole city rioted.
The Ephesians bought idols and served shrines, trying to achieve salvation. But in a letter Paul wrote to the church in this city he said, startlingly, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast”. (Eph 2:8–9)
The people in Ephesus had for years been trying to earn, or perhaps even buy, their salvation. Then Paul comes along and claims that God has made salvation a gift! Salvation is free, for anyone who will receive it.
This is good news indeed. In a world that values getting what we deserve, receiving all that we are entitled to, the gospel does the opposite. God gives us a free salvation, one that no one deserves.
Let’s not stop there, though. Look at verse 10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.
It’s clear that these works play no part in earning our salvation, but it is also clear that we’ve been re-created with a purpose.
As God’s handiwork, we’re like living works of art, reflecting his good character to the world around us. We're not paintings, meant to simply hang in a gallery. We're living, breathing masterpieces, uniquely designed to bring God glory in the way that we live and grow. We now live to point others to Jesus, the source of this incredible free gift.
