Artisan Soul: Masterpiece

[podcast]http:/www.revkwon.com/podcast/artisan-masterpiece.mp3[/podcast] Last week I left all of you with a question: What are you doing with your canvas? If you don’t’ remember why I asked you this, then to recap I want to tell you that your canvas is your life. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection was God’s masterpiece on the canvas of human history. It was because Jesus made the most of His life, His death, and His resurrection that we are redeemed before God. Who would have imagined that wretched people would cause God to take the form of humanity, then a sinless life that could only be imagined? God used what was available to satisfy the law. He didn’t change the law. He worked within the means of the law to deliver all of us into a freedom we didn’t deserve. This is exactly the creative mind God has given you. To do things within means and to do it in a way that is inherently your own. He doesn’t want you to live somebody else’s life. He wants you to live yours within your canvas because that’s when we make the most beautiful life. The creative process to save people started way before the life of Jesus. It was in God’s mind eye before we even know we had a salvation problem. He saw it. Through a limited canvas, “humanity”, God saved us for eternity. The finite was traded for the infinite. What a beautiful work of art that is. This week, our final week in this series, I want to challenge you to create your masterpiece. We’ve talked about the various elements and processes we need to be an artist, now it’s time to live it out. I want to conduct a little exercise right now. I know it’s not traditional and it may be a little childish, but since I have a bunch of artists here, I want to try it out. Using this clay, I want you to create an icon or symbol that defines hope in your mind. Let’s open up our Bibles to John 12, we’re going to look at verses 9-11. ⁹ When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹ because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. John 12:9-11 What if I told you that God created you, like you created out of clay, a symbol of hope. Your life represents that hope. I stumbled upon this passage by accident a few days ago, but it makes so much sense. Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. If you don’t remember the story, it goes something like this: Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha fell sick and then died. They told Jesus that he needed to come because their brother was dying. Jesus says to the messenger that went to get him, “no he’s not going to die, he’s sick for the glory of God.”  You know as soon as he said that, Lazarus died. Of course he did. Three days had passed, and now Jesus is going to see his sick friend, Lazarus. Mary and Martha are so sad, they’re hysterical. Jesus let out a little tear. Then Jesus says, “Lazarus Come out.” Then Lazarus comes out of the tomb. What in the world do you think happened next? That’s right, everybody and their mom is talking about Lazarus. Lazarus is now telling everybody what happened. Mary and Martha can’t keep quiet about it. The story is crazy. “Jesus raised me from the dead.” Lazarus would tell people. Lazarus’ life became a witness to the power of Jesus. Everything Lazarus did and said was part of the masterpiece Jesus leaves behind for people to see. It is pretty amazing. That brings us to John 12. Jesus’ plan was always to have his work displayed for other people to experience so that they can be used for the work of God, as God’s wonderful masterpiece. The people came to see Lazarus who was pointing to Jesus. This made the Pharisees jealous and they started plotting an assassination. The assassination was Jesus’ death on a cross which would in turn allow us to be fulfilled as redeemed people to create on a great canvas given to us by Christ. The conclusion is that our very lives can bear witness to the power of God. I want to ask, has anyone ever been curious about you because of the way you live your life? Often times in business, I’ll come across people at a meeting and they’ve heard that I pastor here on the weekends. So instead of talking business, I talk the business of Jesus. It’s interesting though, because what these people really want is for somebody to agree with their religious concepts and ideas. But I’ll sit through these long and enduring conversations and point to Jesus and say, that’s that. But there are people, you know who they are in your life, but you’re curious about them because of the way they live their lives. They do something interesting and/or exciting. Google allows you to stalk them. Come on, you know what I’m talking about. But I don’t want you to be chasing people because they seem interesting or curious by the way they live their lives. I want you to be the person that people are curious about. I want you to be the person Jesus raised from the dead that people curiously wonder about and come and seek you out. If you really think about it. We too, had a similar experience as Lazarus. We died in sin, did we not? We all were dirty and completely and utterly worthless. You may not think you were bad, and I’m not saying that you were bad, but you have those dark dirty secrets you think nobody knows about. You have those evil, and mean days that you feel justified to have. You even have those days where people hate you for all the right reasons, because you’re hate-able and despicable. We all were dead and deserve to die because the illness we have is sin and it’s killing us or has already killed us. Jesus tears up for us when sin kills us. He says, “come out.” It’s time to come back to life. We come from a retreat or revival, and this “masterpiece defining” moment in our lives happen because we are prepared to give God our best. We need to sustain that and be the curiosity people have about us because of Jesus’ work in our lives. There’s one thing you’re probably asking about these arguments I’ve been making until now: What if my canvas isn’t curiosity drawing? I mean after all, art is just an extension of myself. Everything we create reveals who we are. It’s a legitimate question because a lot of us have a problem with self-esteem and self-worth. I want to look at one more passage in the Bible this morning. Let’s go to John 2:1-11. On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.² Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. ³ When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” ⁶ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. ⁹ When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” ¹¹ This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. – John 2:1-11 The “third day” is literally the third day of Jesus’ ministry on earth. He collected two disciples on day one and two more in day two. Now they were all at a wedding on day three. What’s better is that Jesus’ mom was also there. She’s the one that causes the problem. You know there are always people in our lives that seem to always be where we’re going and causing problems for us to fix. Oh wait, but this is the instigation of creating art. Some of the best work we will ever do in life is when we are at the intersection of a problem or tragedy and freedom. The problem here was that there was no more wine for the wedding. The freedom Jesus had was, well, he is Jesus, he could do whatever he wants. So what does Jesus do? He tells the servants to take 6 jars that were used for taking baths and fill them up with water. I’m not talking about jars like kimchi jars. I’m talking about big stone vats, like your bathtub. We know this because John says they hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus has the servants fill them up with water. Then he tells them to give a cup to the MC. The MC drank the best wine he’s ever had in his life. I doubt that God would have given the party box wine. But considering the circumstances—water in a bathtub? Yeah, that’s something I would have done—I would’ve made it box wine. But Jesus doesn’t do that. The MC says, it was awesome wine, better than the awesome wine in the beginning of the wedding. I wanted to share this story for two reasons. The first reason being that we are in the image of God and as such, we can be really, really creative. If God can make water into exquisite wine, then we better stop settling for box wine because we can do better. Secondly, water is so ordinary, there is nothing to it, but it can become exquisite. We all have the potential to become better than we think we are by the manifest power of God. This is exactly why we were saved by Jesus. We are redeemed by God because we’re not ordinary, we’re beautiful in God’s eyes and He rescues us from death to be transformed and to manifest into something greater than we expected. The brilliant thing about this passage is that the water just turns to wine. Nobody really knows it’s a miracle until the end of the story when the narrator tells us it was a miracle. Our lives will become miracles and transition from the ordinary and mundane in great big vats that seem unfitting for exquisiteness at the right time, when it’s time to be served up. Don’t you see that your best work, your masterpiece may start mundane and unimportant, but when you reach that crossroads where you are free and confronted with a problem, you will create something miraculous in the name of Jesus and for the glory of God that will make people curious. I know it to be true. There is a masterpiece that needs to be created by the lives we live. You are a work of art and you are an artist always creating. You can create out of human emotions, which usually suck and is dark because our emotions are moody, at best. Or you can create beauty from the mystery of the cause of those emotions—that is to say from the eyes of God. I want you to go forward and create your masterpiece. You have the tools, you have the vision. Jesus is setting you free for the job. God will manifest in your life and in the work that you do and people will believe in Jesus because of you. Let’s pray.