THE ROLE OF GOOD WORKS

Theme: “Good works and right living do not cause the new birth, but are its expected results.”

You are saved by grace, not by works, lest anyone boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). The sole reason you will make it to heaven is that you have received Jesus and become God’s child. It has nothing to do with your works, past, present or future.

Perhaps you have been an upright, moral, philanthropic nice guy all your life. All that is still worth nothing as far as getting you saved in concerned, since one sin is enough to send you to hell.  (We covered this in earlier lessons.) You can’t work your way into heaven. You cannot work for salvation; you can only receive it. All the good works in the world cannot change a sinner with a dead spirit into a saint with eternal life.

Paul said that he counted all the righteous religious things he did, which was many, as rubbish, or dung, depending on your translation (Philippians 3:8). In other words, it was all worthless and despicable as far as obtaining salvation went.

Some people look at a “moral” person and say, “Well, God must consider Him a Christian because he lives a Christian life.”  But he ISN’T a Christian unless he is born again.

But this doesn’t mean that good works don’t matter now that you’re saved!  Paul told Titus to affirm constantly to his people (we assume that Titus was a pastor) that they should be careful to maintain good works (Titus 3:8).   He also said in the same book that Jesus Christ gave himself for us so that we could be His own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:14). That’s not talking about being lukewarm!  We should want to do good works on this earth to the extent that we can. Christians are expected to be involved in putting their faith into action, not just becoming storehouses of Bible knowledge. By itself, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1).

What good works should we be doing?  That differs by person. But did you know that God has specific plans for you? He created you with a purpose, and your purpose is unique. One thing you can be sure of is that His plans for you are good. He has already planned out things for you to do; you don’t have to spend your life stumbling around trying to figure out where you fit in. Why not ask the One who designed you where you fit 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.

But whatever you’re equipped to do, be enthusiastic about it.  Proverbs 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:23 says, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.”

We’ve already covered the issue about James saying that one is saved by works in an earlier lesson and seen that he was not preaching some different gospel when you could work your way to heaven. His point was that faith without works is dead.  In other words, if you have no works to show, there is no evidence of the faith you claim you have.

Christians are not expected to live in sin just because they’re forgiven and figure they can get away with it!  Your eternal destiny does NOT depend on how many sins you commit after you’re saved; it is impossible to “sin your way out” of your salvation.  But, as Paul said, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How can we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2)

There even is a class of people, as we saw in an earlier lesson, who sin deliberately after receiving a knowledge of the truth.  There is no evidence that such a person is really saved.  In fact, there are people out there who would tell you they are saved who aren’t because their works disprove their confession of faith.  John warned that he who does not love does not know God, for God is love (1 John 4:8). He said that whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, not is he who does not love his brother (1 John 3:10). It isn’t that works save you – they don’t – but a tree bears fruit based on what kind of tree it really is on the inside.  A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit; a tree is known by its fruit. (See Matthew 12:33.) If someone claims to be a Christian but does not show any evidence of it, we have to assume he isn’t.

Paul warned about people who would CLAIM to be Christians but would really be sexually immoral, covetous, idolaters, revilers, drunkards and extortioners.  His command was not even to eat with such a person (1 Corinthians 6:11). You aren’t above temptation, and bad company does corrupt good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33). Keep this in perspective, though, Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6 that he wasn’t talking about sinners, since you’d have to leave the world to avoid them.  Jesus was a friend of sinners and often ate with them!  (And He took lots of flak for it, too!)  But don’t believe anyone who says he’s a Christian but still lives like the devil!  For a new believer, it may take a while to shake some bad habits, but you should expect to see progress, though not perfection.
 

Question 15-1: If I’m not “hot” enough for the Lord, will He condemn me for being lukewarm and puke me into an eternity that’s VERY warm?

Revelation 3:16 is sometimes used in legalistic churches as a scare-tactic Scripture. I’ve heard it, preached that way, too.  The implication of the message is that if you don’t measure up to someone’s idea of a zealous Christian, you’ll lose your salvation and go to hell.  In other words, you’ll be lost because you didn’t do enough good works. That is simply not true. Jesus was addressing the church at Laodicea, and He told them that because they were lukewarm, He would vomit them out of His mouth. I believe that means that the church would close its doors, not that the members would end up in hell! If the latter were true, salvation would no longer be based on grace; it would be grace plus your good works that are “hot” enough to qualify you for heaven.  That is a big lie, and if you believe it, you could spend your life in unnecessary fear of losing your salvation. Some churches teach things like this to keep the people in line, but the Good News is based on love, not trying to manipulate people with fear. The idea of “works” salvation is totally foreign to the New Testament!
 

Question 15-2: Okay, then, what about Matthew 25 where the salvation or perdition of the sheep and the goats was based on what they did and did not DO?

I can see why this chapter would concern you, since it might seem at face value that the salvation of the sheep and the goats was based on whether they did or did not do things for others, thus doing or not doing them for the Lord. This shows the danger of taking a passage in isolation from what the rest of the Bible teaches.

I believe the point here is that many people think they’re Christians because they live in a Christian culture, but they don’t live as Christians.  The ones who did all the good works were the real Christians and the ones who did not do the works were non-Christians or fake Christians, and once again, they were known by their fruits. But the Bible does not contradict itself, and salvation, even for them, is based on faith, not works.  The works in Matthew 25 would be evidence of faith, so the people who had the good works would be saved.  However, their works would demonstrate their salvation, not earn it.
 

Question 15-3: Matthew 7:22-23 seems to say that some will even do miracles and cast out demons and call Jesus Lord and STILL be sent to hell!  How can I know that I won’t be in that category?

The people who call on Him saying “Lord” in those verses are not people who really considered Jesus their Lord.  He was NOT their Lord.  How do we know that these people couldn’t possibly have been Christians like you? After all, they did miracles and cast out demons in the name of Jesus, so they must have been saved, right?

Wrong! For one thing, Jesus explicitly tells them to depart because He never knew them.  If you are saved, you do know Jesus. You could not possibly in the category of people who never knew Him. For another, Jesus referred to them as “those who practice lawlessness”. That doesn’t describe a real Christian! You might slip up, but you don’t make sin your normal practice like you would have as a sinner.  These people were hypocrites who may have used the word word “Lord” but didn’t really follow Him or know Him.

As far as the miracles go, the apostles weren’t born again when they first went out and did miracles in the name of Jesus in the gospels, either.  His name is so powerful that sinners COULD go out and use that name and command sickness and demons to leave. Apparently that happened in this scenario. That shows you how powerful the name of Jesus is!

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