Our Purpose in Christ

We have been looking at Ephesians 2:1-10. In previous articles we have looked at our nature apart from Christ, our nature in Christ, and what it means to be made alive. Now we will look at the last part of this portion of Ephesians. Now that we are in Christ, what is our purpose? Why did God save us? There is a song released a few years ago that says God, “didn’t want heaven without us, so Jesus sent heaven down.” That is not the answer. There is no deficiency in the triune God that we could fill. We were saved for a different purpose.

Before telling our purpose in Christ, Paul seems to go on a brief tangent. He says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Notice the repetition of “for by grace you have been saved through faith.” It appears first in Ephesians 2:5 and then here in verse eight. In verse five it serves to intensify how we are saved; to drive home the point that our salvation is entirely by the gracious work of God obtained by faith. Why is he bringing this point up again? In verse eight, Paul goes a step further to say not only are we saved by faith, even the faith that we have is itself a gift of God. This leads to the logical conclusion that we cannot boast about our salvation because it is not a result of works. Paul at this point has made it very clear that works have no part of our salvation; now he can go on to answer the question of why we are saved.

He says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God saved us for good works. Now it is a bit clearer why Paul went through so much effort to show that we were not saved by works. We were saved for works. That may sound almost like a letdown, but this is such good news because Paul is telling us that in Christ a complete reversal of our nature takes place.

Look at all these reversals:

First, we are no longer dead in Adam, as Paul describes in Romans 5, but we are alive in Christ (created in Christ Jesus). We are made righteous and have received an abundance of grace.
Second, our walk is changed. Remember that apart from Christ Paul told us we walked in our sin and trespasses, following the course of the world (Ephesians 2:1-3). Now that we are in Christ, we walk in the good works he created us to do.

Third, we now live to serve the needs of others instead of ourselves. This is what it means to do good works. Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus illustrate this. For example, Paul says a woman who has a reputation for good works is one who “…has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted… (1 Timothy 5:10).” Later he says the rich who do good works are those who are “…generous and ready to share… (1 Timothy 6:18).” He goes so far to say that good works are conspicuous – obvious – and cannot remain hidden (1 Timothy 5:25). He summarizes all of this in Titus 3:8 saying that good works are excellent and profitable for people. The common thread is that they are acts that are done for others.

Let us not miss the significance of what this means. Think back to how Paul described us apart from Christ in the first three verses: by nature, we were selfish and only cared about satisfying our own passions and our own flesh. But now we serve others. Being made to walk in good works is a tangible sign that we are new creations in Christ and that our very natures have been reversed. But we should see changes in how we spend our time and it should become more natural to sacrifice our time to serve others

You may have noticed I skipped a small phrase in this verse. Paul says these good works are works “which God prepared beforehand.” Not only does this affirm that good works are the purpose for our new birth, but it also means that we will have opportunities for good works because God prepared them for us beforehand. If it seems as though you never have the opportunity to do good works, you just may not be looking.

The point is that when we are reborn, we should begin to change and seek ways to serve others. May we seek God for guidance in ways to serve.