The Work of God

“But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” (Luke 6:35-36)

Most people, including unbelievers, attempt to adhere to something called the Golden Rule. The idea is treat others as you would have them treat you. Kindness for kindness. Indeed, Jesus approves of this ideal. But he goes further than that.

He says to love your enemies. How can you love someone who has wronged you? It’s difficult and for some it seems impossible. All are sinners and yet somehow, by our flawed standards, there are some folks who seem the worst among us. By our reckoning, they should never be forgiven. Thank God we are not Him, because we would be unmerciful and unjust if left in charge.

He says to do what is good. But we cannot do what is good without Him. We can try to treat others with respect, but ultimately our nature expects reward for our efforts. We are self-serving even when we believe ourselves selfless. True altruism, I should think, is impossible for us. Even a good feeling can be considered a selfish reward.

He says to lend, expecting nothing in return. It’s not a simple task to give others what they need and not anticipate a reward. Even charity comes with it the expectation of recognition and, as I said, the prize of warm feelings. Again, the self wants to reward self so it seeks that which will accomplish this kind of task.

Yet the Lord expects us to do good. He wants us to fight ourselves and our sin, so that we may be made more ready for his workmanship. If these verses were taken in isolation, one might believe in a works-based salvation. After all, He says that good works will be rewarded in heaven, right?

But that betrays our intentions, doesn’t it? If we’re looking to do good deeds in order to get into heaven, then we’ve already failed and shown ourselves to be untrusting and perhaps even unsaved. For as Paul says:

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift – not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

If good works saved us, then we would have reason to boast. Our pride would excel in our own righteousness. But that is not God’s plan and He knows that we can do nothing of our own volition that is truly good. Instead, He has made it so that good works flow naturally from faith in Christ Jesus. The believer has been created and ordained to do these things from before the foundation of the world, that we would become holy and blameless in His sight (Ephesians 1:4-6).

What then are good works? Truthfully, I’m unsure of all that God considers good. Certainly, he acknowledges that caring for widows and orphans are signs of solid faith (James 1:27). But narrowing it to this level is highly unorthodox. If the only signs of saving faith were caring for these two people groups, then I dare say very few Christians could count themselves among the elect. There must be more broadness to it.

Better to measure the good works of the believer by the fruits of the Spirit (who dwells within us). Here we see a more carefully articulated list:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

If a man possesses these things, doesn’t it follow that he will abide in the commands of the Lord? If a man has love and peace, joy and patience, kindness and faith, etc. does he not show his compassion for others? Will he not be able to forgive even those who have harmed him? By the grace of Christ, he will.

But the greatest work, the truly saving faith, is much simpler. It’s so simple that it is recanted and fought against the world over. What is this great and defining work?

“‘What can we do to perform the works of God?’ they [the crowd] asked. Jesus replied, ‘This is the work of God – that you believe in the One He has sent.’” (John 6:28-29)

There’s no more important thing on this earth than believing on and trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. No amount of charity, good deeds, or false altruism will get a person into the kingdom. The true path is both easy to understand and difficult to follow. One must recognize that they are a sinner who has no hope for salvation without Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2018 is just beginning. You’ve probably got a number of resolutions on your plate already and different ways to succeed in these tasks. Why not take the first steps in 2018 to the only Way that matters – life eternal with Christ in the kingdom of heaven?

Thanks and praise be to Him for the new life and new creation to follow. And thank you for reading. God bless and peace be with you!