Today I'm Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. If you could ask God for an extreme makeover, what would it look like? Maybe an attitude, a relationship, maybe it's your heart. Today we're going to learn how we can change the most important things in your life. that would make you the person he longs for you to be.
and that you will greatly enjoy. Stay with me. Today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram continues our series called You Were Made for More, with a message about a transformation far more radical than a remodeled house. The Apostle Paul describes it in Ephesians chapter 2, dead to alive, prisoner to free. Objects of wrath to recipients of grace.
Today, Chip maps the before and the after and starts answering the question every believer should ask: how does God actually do this kind of transformation in a person? To find out, let's join Chip Ingram with the beginning of a message titled, You're a Masterpiece in the Making. As we get started, I want to make a confession. In fact, I'm going to make three real small confessions.
So brace yourself. And if you don't know me very well, I don't want to be too vulnerable too early. But my first confession is I do not watch a lot of prime time TV and I do not like it.
Okay? I don't like TV a whole lot. There's not a lot of good things to watch. It's just a confession. My second confession is of all the things on primetime TV that I hate, that I loathe, is reality shows.
So you ready for this, my third confession? I watched a reality show recently. Yes, I did. And I loved it. It was called Extreme Makeover Home Edition.
And apparently the theme of this program, Extreme Makeover, is they find people in very difficult situations and then they have a team of construction people and designers and then they go into the neighborhood and to the relational network. In this case, they went to this guy's church and they went to his neighbors and they asked them to donate their skills and they brought in a group of pros and then they take the family away. I don't know if it's for a week or 10 days or how they do it. I didn't get that much into it. But then they totally revamp the house.
Every room was designed to help their life and their family function in a way that would be extremely different and extremely more wonderful than before. And then they bring the family back in. And they look at the house from the street, and all the neighbors who helped are there. You know, and they're all cheering, it's going crazy, and they pull this big truck, and then the truck goes away, and they look at their house, and then they walk in and open the door, and then this is what happens: the tears start going down their eyes. Dad, and then they just walk them from room to room to room, and they tell them why they created this room for them and how to help their family.
And I mean, the people you can tell, I don't think the people who run the show are necessarily Christians at all, but when they love someone that much, they start crying, the neighbors start crying, the people who get love start crying, and I'm on my couch going, I hate reality shows, but I just love this one. I mean, I'm crying in my living room.
Okay. And I thought to myself, Ingrown, this is ridiculous. And so I did a little research. And I found out that There's not one reality show. It is a movement.
I actually did a little research. Not only do they do extreme makeover for houses. They do extreme makeover for cars. They take old cars and then they turn them into spiffy cars. They do extreme makeovers for motorcycles.
On good authority, I have a friend who tells me they have extreme makeovers for pets. You bring your ugly mutt and it'll come out woo-woo woo. You know, woo-woo-woo-woo-woo! Unbelievable. They do extreme makeovers, and this is one I do confess.
out of pure curiosity, they actually do it for people. And then I asked myself, well, okay, what is an extreme makeover, and why are we so fascinated by it? And let me give you a definition of what I think an extreme makeover is: it is the process of taking something that is old, broken, imperfect, damaged, or not useful. and recreating it into something that is whole, useful, beautiful, attractive, and new. In fact, I believe our fascination with makeovers is rooted in the author of Extreme Makeovers himself.
The ultimate extreme makeover, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come. God's desire, listen to this, God's desire, the one who created all that there is, the one who created you, his desire is to do an extreme makeover for every single person on this planet. An extreme makeover.
He wants to take the old and put it away. He wants something new to come in. He wants an open door in your heart and life in a relationship with Christ that gives you new desires and a new future and a new purpose and a new life and a new peace. And he wants to take the old and forgive. And he wants to take the old and he wants to cleanse.
And he wants to put your past behind you. God wants to do an extreme makeover in your life and mine. And the way he does it is through his son Jesus.
Now what I'd like to do, are you ready for a little analysis? I'd like you to open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, and I want to spend a little time and ask ourselves: how does it work?
Okay, if we if we were doing extreme makeover With God, we would say, how'd he do that? How did he do that? And in the book of Ephesians, we're going to learn exactly how he did that. Let's begin in chapter 2 and notice Who you used to be. Over here is the before picture.
In a minute, we'll see the after picture. The first three verses of Ephesians 2 is going to give you the before. Before the spiritual plastic surgery, before they came in and knocked out the drywall and put in the second floor. Notice what it says: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live, and you followed the ways of this world, and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, and the Spirit. who is now at work and those who are disobedient.
All of us, no exceptions, also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Now, we could spend a lot of time studying this, but I can give you three quick observations about how you used to be before Christ. or where you are at if you don't know him personally. Number one, it says we were dead in our transgressions. Theologically, that just means we are separated from the life of God. We are separated from God.
There is a wall. There is a barrier. We are separated from relationship with the God who made us. Second, you'll notice we're prisoners of the world system. the ruler of the power of the air.
We're prisoners to addictions. We're prisoners to dysfunctional relationships. We're prisoners to being addicted to pleasing people. And then finally, notice it says that we're objects of wrath. There is just judgment for living in a way that hurts people, the stealing and the lying and the manipulation and the image casting and the things that we all have done.
And God says, this is who you used to be. You used to be dead. You used to be a prisoner. You used to be an object of wrath. But notice, it gets really good.
Notice: who are you now? For those that have a personal relationship with God, by faith in Jesus Christ, picking it up at verse 4, what's it say? But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions. It is by grace that you've been saved. And then notice what he did.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. And if you had a lot of time to study that, you would realize some major changes occurred. You used to be dead, now you are alive. You used to be a prisoner, now you're delivered from sin's power, Satan's grip, and past mistakes. You used to be an object of wrath and now you have a new standing with God.
You are righteous, you're cleansed, you have a new identity, you have new power, you have a new future, a new purpose, a new family, new privileges. And then very excitingly, you have a new inheritance. Before And after. And then you ask yourself, well, well, why? Why did God do that?
Look at verses 7 through 9. In verse 7, notice the purpose clause here. In order that In the coming ages, he, God, might show the incomparable riches of his grace. Expressed in the kindness to us in Jesus Christ. And then we get a very familiar passage.
For it is by grace you've been saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's not by your works, not by your effort. Extreme makeovers are done by God, not by you.
lest any man should boast, God wants to do an extreme makeover in your life and mine, and the reason He wants to do it. is so that we could see the riches of the kindness of His grace demonstrated in Christ. and see what God is about. for every one that'll let him He is about doing something in you. that takes who you were And changes it through the power of Christ into this new creature and this new person.
That if you would meet someone ten years later who maybe you went to school with, or maybe you used to do drugs with. Or maybe you used to run with, or maybe you did some stuff back in junior high with. If they could see you and your life and your relationships, they would go, Bobby? Is that you? I actually had this experience.
And there was a fellow that I played basketball with in high school. And he went on to play in one college and I went on to play at another and he was a couple years behind me. And We were a couple high school guys, both non-Christians, both kind of living the high school life in the 70s. And I came to Christ, lost track of him for 25 years. He later went through some hard times, came to Christ, and he got on the internet.
Looked at our website, found out what we were doing, emailed somebody.
So it's a new members' thing, and we're kind of saying, Hi, it's good to have you. Anna? And I look at the first row and I'm going, I literally thought, Phil, is that you? Yeah. Chip, is that you?
Yeah. And it was kind of like we knew our history. What are you doing here? You know, and he looked at me and I looked at him. God did an extreme makeover on you, didn't he?
And God did an extreme makeover on me. He wants to do it in every single person. And you say, well, where do you get that? Look at verse 10. Here's what I want you to see.
You are a masterpiece in the making. Look at verse 10. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. You are his masterpiece. Every person on the earth, what's it say?
If any man, if any woman is in Christ, what's it say? The old. The old things pass away. All things, notice it's a process, become new. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and will continue our message in just a moment.
We're in the middle of Chip's series, You Were Made for More, How to Discover God's Purpose for Your Life. If you'd like to catch up on any programs you've missed or share a message with someone who needs to hear it, every program is available free at livingonthege.org. You'll also find study resources and bonus content from Chip. That's livingontheedge.org.
Well now back to chip.
Now here's what I want you to do. Do you have a pen? Pull out your pen. I want you to circle the word workmanship. Then I want you to put a little squiggly line under created in Christ Jesus.
And then I want you to put a box around to do good works. For you are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for a purpose, to do good works. Then, notice, which God has prepared in advance for you to do. God wants to give us an extreme makeover, He wants to give you a second chance. Have you ever been shooting foul shots or shooting darts with someone and you make a little bet?
I'm sure you've probably never done this, but just in your former days or something. And you're not quite warmed up. And you shoot one and you miss it and you say, redo, redo, right? I mean, you know, I mean, if you want to have good competition, I mean, I wasn't loose. I was going to get loose, right?
I want a second chance, I want to redo, I want to start over. And don't we all want to redo? You know what God's saying to this passage? He wants to give you a redo. He wants to give you a second chance.
He wants to give you a new life. This little phrase, you are his workmanship. The Greek word here, literally, it's the picture of a masterpiece in the making that's in progress. You could picture a beautiful piece of art, and you're the canvas, and God is painting and reworking and recreating, and you're on his easel, and you are a master, you're his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus.
Or you could see it as a sculptor and he's re-sculpting your life and he's taking the clay of who you are and he's forming the different parts and he is making you, you are his workmanship. Or you could be a literary work. This word was used of a poem or a literary work that was in progress. You are the workmanship of God. He's recreating you.
How? Through your relationship in Christ. Why? For the purpose of Good works. Doing good.
God has a purpose for your life. Don't we know that now? I mean, if 23 million people buy a book, If 23 million people buy a book, To discover what their purpose is, don't you think there's something down deep in the heart of men and women that say, I want to have purpose? God says he has a purpose for you to do good works. Did you notice the little phrase?
Literally, that were preordained for you to do. Before the foundations of the earth, God knows you and He loves you. He understands you. He cares about you. He wants to save you.
He wants to put away the old, have you have a relationship with Christ, demonstrate the kindness of who He is, the love of who He is, the wisdom of who He is. And then what He wants to do is He wants to take you and take you on this extreme makeover process. where your life is beautiful and winsome and loving and kind instead of the way it used to be. And then he has a special set of good deeds, good works, good purposes that you're designed for. And we're going to learn in a minute.
He actually will gift you or give you the tools so you can fulfill what he wants you to do.
Now what I want to do is talk about, so where does God do this? I mean, I don't know about you, but you can't like go into a spiritual super closet and say, okay, this sounds really good. I go into the spiritual closet, close it, turn on the super spiritual light, old ways gone. Walk out and go, I'm new in Christ. Is that how it works?
It didn't work that way for me.
So, how does it work? He's going to tell us right here in Ephesians chapter 2. It's going to happen. Notice in chapter 2, pick it up at verse 18 with me. And he goes on, he's going to say.
For through him Christ We both, he's talking about Jews and Gentiles, have access to the Father by the One Spirit. Then verse 19, consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people. And now, follow along carefully, and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, Christ, the whole building, is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him, you two are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.
Notice the word God's household. End of verse 19. Notice as you come down, you are a building. Notice it's a holy temple. Notice you are being built.
Notice becoming a dwelling. There is a special place where God does spiritual makeovers, but it is not a magic closet. It is a house. It is a special house. It is a holy temple.
It is a supernatural community. And you know what we call this house today? He's telling them about this mystery that he'll explain in chapter 3. Jew, Gentile, come together. It's been hidden in the mind of God.
He hasn't revealed it. But he's creating this new thing where he does extreme makeovers in people where the old becomes new and where the person of Christ is the head and he's the cornerstone and it's called the church. The house where God does extreme makeovers is called the church.
Now, don't get in your mind, oh, the church building. Don't think in your mind, institutional religion. I'm talking about the living, breathing, called out people of God who are living in community, who are walking authentically, who are living out significantly in purity, doing life together in the power of the Spirit based on the Word of God in that supernatural community. That is where extreme makeovers happen. That's how God works.
That's why the local church is the hope of the world. The m the just Functional part of all that is that so many local churches aren't operating in a way God wants us to. And so we don't see the extreme makeover happen in people's lives. But it's not just a building. Notice as Paul, he's giving us, well, here's where it happens: the church, the supernatural community, God's people gathered around His Word, empowered by His Spirit, with Christ being the focus.
Then skip down to chapter 3. And he's going to give us the purpose. He's gonna, why is he going to use this thing called the church? What's his intent? Verse 10.
Chapter 3. His intent, he's been talking about the church, was that now through the church, The manifold wisdom of God should be made known to rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to His eternal purpose, which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Him and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence. Did you get that? His intent was now through the church.
To express or demonstrate the manifold wisdom of God, so that angels and principalities and powers and created things, and men, and women, and saved people, and lost people, and all the things of all the universe would step back and see this thing called the church. And what they would really see Is all My. Whoa! God is great. You know what God wants?
the purpose behind extreme makeovers, he wants humans and angels and principalities and people forever and ever and ever and ever to see who he really is and be in all of his wisdom. God wants the principalities and the powers and the people of all times and all eons. to go, God. That is you. I thought so small.
You're so much bigger. You're so much more wonderful. You're so much more powerful. You're so much more faithful. You're so much more loving.
You're so much more kind. You are so much more gracious than I ever dreamed. How do I know? Because I see what you do in your church. How does it work?
How does it work? Notice that's the corporate side of it. Notice the internal side skipped down, and the Apostle Paul prays where it really works. He says, for this reason, right, we're talking about, for this reason, I kneel before the Father. from whom the whole family, verse 14 of chapter 3.
from the whole family in heaven on earth derives its name. And I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power where? Through his spirit in the inner being or the inner man. Purpose, verse 17, so that Christ may dwell in your heart. Through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled. to the measure of the fulness of God. Where does God do extreme makeovers? Two places. One, He does it in a house.
And the house is this church that's being built up. The second place he does it is in the heart. He does it in the inner man of every woman, every man who allows the Spirit of God to have His way. And the reason He does it is what? to demonstrate to the world his manifold wisdom.
That's what God wants to do. It doesn't happen in a magic box. It doesn't happen overnight. There is a clear process. but the dramatic nature of the change, the extreme makeover God wants to do in you and in every person through a relationship with Christ.
That's what he wants to do. And where he does it is in this thing called the household of God, the church. And how he does it individually is in the human heart of people. And he works in your human heart in the household of the church. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and a message titled, You're a Masterpiece in the Making.
We'll hear some final thoughts from Chip in just a moment.
So what does today's lesson mean to you? As you've heard that God sees you as a work of art, a masterpiece, a poem. According to Ephesians 2.10, that is what you are. God's workmanship, not a finished product, but a beautiful work in progress, created in Christ Jesus for a purpose he prepared for you in advance. That's a life-altering realization, if you truly accept it.
And to help you take your next step in understanding how God has specifically designed you, we encourage you to try our free online assessment at theerealyou.org. It's a practical, biblically grounded tool that helps you connect your personality and strengths to the purpose God has placed in you. Visit therealyou.org today. It's free.
Now these teachings and resources only happen because people believe the mission of Living on the Edge is worth investing in. Every broadcast, every free resource, every message that opens someone's eyes to the truth of God's Word is made possible by the generosity of listeners just like you. Partner with us today. Give online at livingonthege.org or call us at 888-333-6003. You can also mail your gift to LivingOnTheEdge, PO Box 3007, Atlanta, Georgia, 30024.
Well now here's Chip. What I know for sure is a lot of you don't really believe what you heard today. When you look in the mirror, you don't think you're a workmanship. You don't think you're a poem. You don't think you're something special.
In fact, you wonder down deep, you know, why did God even make me? or you don't really like yourself. You wish you had enough money to do a real makeover. And here's what I want you to know. You are special.
God has a purpose for you. There is a good work. I mean something that will tap into the depth of your heart that He designed you for and part of your DNA spiritually, your personality, your background, your experience. He wants to get you on the canvas and He wants you to cooperate in a way so that He can dramatically change you from the inside out in a way that will be better than you could ever dream. In our next broadcast, we're going to talk about where God does His extreme makeover, and we're going to talk very specifically about how God does extreme makeovers.
Don't miss when Chip reveals the specific tools God uses to accomplish His transforming work in you. I'm Dave Drewy and we'll see you again next time here on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Yeah. Bye. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.
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