TEXT: Romans 1:20; Ephesians 2:8-10; Psalm 92:1-4
Several years ago I ran across a quote that I liked. One of my daughter Abby’s friends was a budding artist and I asked her to paint a scene to go with that quote, and I hung the painting in my office. Abby’s friend, the artist, is Brooke Drury, and this is what she painted for me. I wanted to show it to you because it embodies the word we are going to focus on today: poiema. That is a Greek word which is very rare in the New Testament, but which is important to our understanding of grace and works. In fact that’s what the word means: ‘work’. But do you hear what it sounds like? It sounds like ‘poem’, right? And that gives you a better sense of the kind of work it describes. In fact, it is better; translated as ‘workmanship’ – the kind of work that an artist or craftsman makes, reflecting the creative purpose and will of that artist. So this painting is Brooke’s poiema, her “work of art.”
Poiema only occurs two times in the New Testament, in the two readings you heard this morning. It is also used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament another handful of times, like in Psalm 92, which we read for our Call to Worship. There, in v. 4, it translates “the work of [God’s] hands.”
Today I want to look with you at this idea of ‘works’ – both God’s and ours.
Works of Revelation (Romans 1:20)
Let’s start with God’s works. The verse we read from Romans 1:20 says this: “For since the creation of the world [God’s] invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Now this verse is part of a “they are without excuse” argument, but I want to focus in on what is said here as part of that argument. And that is that God’s eternal power and divine nature have been made visible in creation, and understandable as such through what has been made. That “what has been made” is poiema, God’s handiwork.
While Brooke’s painting conveys a message itself, it also reveals some things about her. She is creative. She sees and imagines in color. Though you may not know it just from this painting, she was not copying a photo or real scene, she created this from the short phrase I gave her. If a human painting can reveal something about the artist, how much more can this world and everything in it reveal about the Creator?
Romans tells us that creation reveals God’s power and nature. We can “see” (at least in part) the invisible God through the visible creation and we can understand (at least in part) something about God.
Works that Bless Others (Ephesians 2:8-10)
And that’s amazing all unto itself, but there’s more! The second chapter of Ephesians is describing God’s grace, the gift of salvation not because of anything we’ve done but because of everything God has done. It’s clearly said in vv.8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
But we are supposed to do good, right? There are all those commandments, not leas of which is “love your neighbor.” And we often read in scripture about the importance of showing mercy and compassion, working for justice, and living rightly before God. So if not for our salvation (and it’s not), how do those good works fit in to our lives?
This is where Ephesians uses the word poiema to great effect. From the general description of creation as God’s poiema, now WE are God’s handiwork, God’s poems. It’s there in verse 10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” God made us for good works! And that fits with the account of creation in Genesis. It records God creating the world and everything in it. After each part of creation God declared, “It is good.” But at the end, when God created humanity, in God’s own image. And God
