We Are His Workmanship, Part 2

WELCOME PRAYER SONG SILENCE Sunday Schooled Principles of Perfection “We are His Workmanship” Part II January 11th 2026 Last week we covered the concept of biblical perfection found first in the very life and victory of Christ that restored the world unconditionally to the Father. But then we also mentioned that the scripture also describes the personal choice to mature and grow in this restored Edenic soil to completion, which the scripture repeatedly ties to something we might call, “love- perfection,”and we cited first John 4:16-17 where he wrote And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. Wrapping up his 2nd Epistle to Corinth, Paul said, 2nd Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Let’s re-read 1st John 4:7-14 to set the tone this morning as he said to the believers in that day, 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. Let’s move forth on this idea and perhaps dig a bit deeper so as to give ourselves more to consider. We live on a planet with several billions of other human individuals - all sharing in some commonalities that cannot be broken and which include our absolute need for (GRAPHIC) Air (Oxygen) Hydration Food Sleep Shelter/safety/protection. (I would include clothing as part of shelter/protection, btw). Listen, whether born or unborn, male female, young old, all races, all human beings, must have these things for their bodies to function and thrive as material beings. Sort of fascinating, isn’t it? That all of us humans share the absolute need for these five things to materially thrive and even survive – remove any of them and at some point thriving and surviving ends. We could easily take the liberty to transpose these five material elements and assign them spiritual application (as the scripture tends to do) by likening them to our Spiritual need for Christ Himself. Consider this comparison. GRAPHIC MATERIAL MUSTS YESHUA THE MESSIAH Oxygen The Spirit of Christ Hydration Our Living water Food The Bread of life food Sleep Our spiritual rest Clothing and Shelter Our protection, armor and shelter. Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs (GRAPHIC) amplifies these needs but in my estimation these amplifications are subjective and are not essentials to our material existences literally speaking. For me, these material and even spiritual realities bears the unavoidable existential question, “but to what end?” I want to take a somewhat extended minute (bear with me – there is a point to this) and review some of the more common responses (limited and insightful) proffered by people we share our material experience with. Of course, right out the gate, we get the juvenile response to the question, “to what end” when they say things like, The meaning of life is to get rich, get famous, get power. Hand in hand with this idea is seen in what Kramer from Seinfeld said which was, “the meaning of life is to feel good all the time.” Immature materialist souls somehow overlook cases in society where people with fame, wealth and power “do not feel good all the time.” (Chris Cornell, Cobain, Kate Spade, Anthony Bourdain) Other responses similar or akin to these things have been spouted for thousands of years, things like, “the meaning of life is to enjoy it,” “the meaning of life is “ha-ppiness, pleasure, and to obtain ease and comfort. But deeper thinkers like Henry Thoreau wrote, "Mankind was not meant for idle pleasures." Because few can afford to “live in idol pleasures,” we often chose to live our lives vicariously through others and somehow find meaning there. Believe it or not, there is even a philosophy out there called, Celebritheism, that says, “The meaning of life is to know, love, and glorify celebrities.” We also have a collective definition of the meaning of life from special interest totalitarian groups that say things like, “the meaning and purpose of life is to make sure every group of individuals statistically reflects the population at large as measured by a few particular traits, and that no one ever thinks any thoughts that ever offend anyone else.” Douglas Adams, in his book, The Hitchhikers guide the Universe,” said, “The Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe and Everything is...42!” Hand in hand with all of the above it appears that in this day and age, the meaning of life for many is to get “followers,” “friends” and “likes” on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. (fascinating, however how many “influencers” that buy into this are winding up dead by their own hands.) Moving into realms of more reflective and subjective thinking others have suggested that the meaning of life is “to be whatever you want it to be,” and/or the Libertine stance of, “the meaning of life is to do whatever you want.” Muslim writer Kahlil Gibran short-sightedly-penned, “It is man’s purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes.” Conversely Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” Of course, we get the more esoteric and open-ended definitions from guys like Eric Fromm who paradoxically said, “There is only one meaning of life: the act of living itself.” (Thanks, Fromm) Similarly, Joseph Campbell said, “The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.” Albert Camus, the existentialist writer said, “The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.” Nihilists, of which I was once one miserably, says, “The meaning of life is that there is no meaning.” Peter Ouspensky, a Russian Philosopher said, “It is only when we realize that life is taking us nowhere that it begins to have meaning.” Alan Watts said, “The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.” Goethe (who influenced numerous thinkers, said) “The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.” He also said, “The man who is born with a talent which he is meant to use, finds his greatest happiness in using it.” While that may be true, is happiness the purpose of life – so many seem to believe this is true. If there is ANY truth to it, then, the question becomes what TRULY makes a person happy? This brings us back to Camus who said, “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for “the meaning of life.” Hmmm? Antoine de Saint Exupery said, “Each man must look to himself to teach him the meaning of life. It is not something discovered: It is something molded.” And from his relentless spirit of inquiry, Kierkegaard, before concluding the importance of making a leap of faith, wrote about the meaning of life and said, “I am at the end of my rope. I am nauseated by life; it is insipid, without salt and meaning. If I were hungrier than Pierrot, I wouldn't eat the explanation people offer. Where am I? Who tricked me into this whole thing and leaves me standing here? Who am I? How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it? Why was I not informed of the rules and regulations? How did I get involved? Why should I be involved? If I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager? I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint?” Atheist Christopher Hitchens, the consummate humanist said that the meaning of life is “…self-respect and the desire for the respect of others… A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humor, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless' except if the person living it is also an existentialist and elects to call it so. It could be that all existence is a pointless joke, but it is not in fact possible to live one's everyday life as if this were so…” Anais Nin, French writer said, “There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.” Carl Jung took it up a notch and defined the meaning of life not as a single answer, but “as the lifelong process of individuation which is stiving for psychological wholeness by integrating conscious and unconscious aspects of the self (like the Shadow) as a means to realize one's unique purpose and destiny. Meaning arises from this inner journey, confronting suffering, integrating opposites (like good/evil, conscious/unconscious), and connecting to something greater, leading to a richer, healthier, and more complete existence, rather than external achievements. James Allen, a British Philosopher said, “A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it…He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment…Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.” Then George Benard Shaw quipped, “This is the true joy in life - being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you consistent.” Buddhism says, “the meaning and purpose of life is awakening, or liberation from suffering, ignorance, and rebirth, breaking free of samsara by attaining moksha.” Hinduism says: “the meaning and purpose of life is self-realization, or moksha, or freedom from samsara or illusion.” Taoism says, the meaning and purpose of life is to conform yourself to the Tao. Socrates? “the meaning of life is to do philosophy, to examine life, to become wiser or less ignorant.” Plato said, the meaning of life is to exit the cave and to enter The Real. German Philosopher Hans George Gadamer speaks of gaining understanding in this life as our purpose and said, “Thus the movement of understanding is constantly from the whole to the part and back to the whole. Our task is to extend in concentric circles the unity of the understood meaning. The harmony of all the details with the whole is the criterion of correct understanding. The failure to achieve this harmony means that understanding has failed.” There are some good insights in these quotes, but none- in my estimation – are entirely true. For me, having pursued many of the people and ideas about the meaning of life when I was younger, have come to believe that the most comprehensive, all encompassing, and overall best definition of the meaning of life philosophically must extend from the origin and source of our existences. Peter Kreef, a noted Yale Professor who converted to Catholicism because of the impact of Gothic Architecture on himself, said, “What must I know to know the meaning of life? You must know your origin, your nature, and your destiny. Where did you come from, what are you, and where are you going?” Mormonism steps in and gives certainty in their response to these three questions. Spiritualist Ekart Tolle wrote, “The very best and highest attainment in this life is to remain still and let God act and speak in you.” Of course, then we have to ask, who is God, what is God and how can we say this or that is God speaking in us or if it is ourselves or some other force. And of course we have to also ask, “By what means does God speak in us?” which takes us back to the first query which is, “but to what end?” A very influential early church father, Athanasius of Alexandria, said in relation to the human meaning of life, “God became man so man could become God.” Is that the goal? Are the Mormons right? And then again, if Athanasius was right, by what means? And so it appears that we have a number of questions to answer before we can just take a quote from someone and use it as our working definition. Thomas a Kempis, a German-Dutch Catholic said something important to us today when he wrote, “A humble self-knowledge is a surer way to God than a search after deep learning.” We see professors of ancient scripture given all sorts of street cred for their studies in ancient scripture, languages, and history, and we lean in heavily to their assessments of the faith. I say, “ Sure, they add dimension, but how we detect and know God in us, and how we follow Him, and the means we allow to do it transcends their deep learning – as much as Christ transcended the Law. Jewish holocaust survivor, Victor Frankel said, “the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.” And then he added something super significant, saying, “If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in suffering.” This moves us into another realm of thinking echoes by the Dalai Lama who said, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” Aristotle? “What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.” And Tolstoy? “The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity.” A Bengali polymath named Rabindranath Tagore wrote, “The truth is here! Go where you will – to Benares or to Mathura; until you have God in your soul, the whole world will seem meaningless to you.” Finally, Catholic author and mystic Thomas Merton wrote, “Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves lone – we find it with another.” Suggesting that, as humans, we need other people to learn to love and to actually love, which helps justify this material existence and the need to empathetically and sympathetically serve each other. Like Peter Kreeft said, “to rightly understand the meaning of life we must first decide on our human origin. “ To believers and many soul cited above, our origin is God, and because the God I know is defined by the text we trust as love, I maintain that the best working definition of the meaning of life is. . . “to love and be loved.” Perhaps this best answers the question, “but to what end?” This said, there is a principle even more central and more defining, descriptive, and all encompassing in my estimation to actually living a meaningful life. In other words, and biblically speaking, the true lasting meaning of life could be found in the play, Les Miserable, where the lyricist took Hugo’s overall theme of the book and has Jean Val Jean declare, “to love another person is to see the face of God.” (Beat) While biblical and utterly beautiful, we are still left asking “but . . . what is the central element to this divine love that links humanity to God? With all of that laid out we, as believers in not only a living God but in His incarnate Son, His victory and the power of His indwelling Spirit moving us to choose love, I see the central ideal capturing a meaning life of love in the following word . . . “work.” And we are going to explore this notion over the next few weeks to attempt to understand works that reflect love, works that reflect self, and works that have meaning and application to being human and being God’s children. This is super important because in this world, especially in the realm of organized religion, “work” is abused and greatly misappropriated as a means to capture and control, use and abuse unsuspecting souls desiring to truly love God and Man. So let’s wrap this morning up by venturing into a biblically based but philosophical discussion about the relationship between work and agape love so as to fortify ourselves with information that serves to liberate rather than confine. Right off the bat we know that in this life there are all sorts of applications of the word, work, but no matter the realm or application, human beings quickly discover its meaning. Work might be best described as “purposeful activity requiring effort to achieve a specific goal or outcome, encompassing everything from paid jobs (producing value for money) to personal projects, and even, in physics, the transfer of energy to an object via a force causing displacement. These efforts are directed towards a desire result in some realm and with some sort of intention where in the material world its making money, improving a situation, or expressing oneself. We could summarize work in every realm and intention as a goal-oriented activity – and when it comes to work, the list of these goals and/or objectives are innumerable – Work that is the most general term for our employment to maintain our physical needs. Inner work, as a means to sort out our psyche and emotions and inner struggles House work, home-work, creative work, recreational work, volunteer work – you name the realm of life and all of them have some application to work – unless they don’t but that dark subject is for another day. In physics, which might help us see how work relates to love spiritually, work can be defined as the energy transferred to or from one object by applying a force and causing it to move or to be displaced so in essence, whether it's a job, a hobby, a physical act, a carefully written email work is about applying energy or effort to create a change or to help reach a desired destination. Because agape love is not a feeling but is always an action, even and always selfless, sacrificial and insufferable action (labor, efforts, work) we are able to readily see how agape love and actions are intrinsically interrelated. Wanna know if someone really, truly genuinely loves you like Christ? Watch their labors for you AND (this is key) what those labors are focused on doing far more than what they profess or promise. In the material realm, our SSI labors are far more in harmony with agape love than our material, but the material CANNOT be overlooked or ignored. Perhaps this is what motivated God to create us materially and give us life – that the material conditions of this world are an immediate indicator of our genuine love for others or for self? And here is where our heart-felt sentiments are tried to action because action links “genuine faith” to the “actual love” that God is and promotes – because remember, the scripture plainly says, “even the devils believe.” Fortunately, the only way for humans to assess and observe genuine heart-love is by the SSI actions we take; unfortunately, these indications can be manipulated and false, allowing them to lure others into deception. I’m sorry for the anecdotal story but it is all I have to vet content but when Delaney was in college she started to want a man in her life. They came in, did their dog and pony show, romanced, impressed, said wonderful words of love and adoration, but she was reticent to commit to any of them for life – and this was really really hard on her. Like any woman, she wanted the romance and flowery words but she was wise enough thank God to carefully assess things from other indicators and not just emotions. Who won her heart? A man named Larry who acted in SSI rather than a man who talked the good talk or tried to overwhelm her with jangling enticements. If I were to counsel anyone on picking a partner, the advice I would give is NOT, do you have the same mind, the same will, or the same emotions (especially that last one) but it would be, how much alike are you in the heart of hearts? Because from the heart of hearts comes forth who they really are, and if that heart is centered in SSI love, it will prove itself through SSI action – not easy to accomplish actions like buying candy and flowers and lavish gifts – not that those don’t have a place in romance but they cannot lead. Men are hunters and fishermen – we love to track and trap and capture. But a good man from the heart will prove himself via SSI love every time. Work and love are therefore super intwined and that is why we are spending time on them – to rightly discern the relationship between the heart (our real intentions) and agape - and what is central to this loves existence in the material and spiritual realm – work – especially but not only, but especially SSI work. Next week we are going to embark on uncovering some sound biblical principles of SSI work, as seen in our Maker and in those who have real faith in Him. We will stop here. Questions/Comments Reminder of call in show at 3PM mtn. and of HOTM Ephiphany on Tuesday 8PM Mtn.