The Blessing and Necessity of Good Works
As a protestant, I grew up hearing “good works” talked about the way so many talk about porn today—with utter disgust and horror. Legalism was condemned with a fiery fervor, and “works righteousness” was presented as the sin of all sins.
This universal disgust and warning continue today, and while I understand the danger, I don’t understand the emphasis. When I look around, I don’t see anyone trying to get to heaven through good works, nor anyone who thinks that’s the key to getting into heaven. Maybe I’ve been cocooned in churches and traditions that have emphasized grace, but if you look at the major Christian publishing houses, they all release books emphasizing grace and condemning legalism.
As they should.
Condemning works righteousness today is like condemning nude sunbathing in an Alaskan winter. You’re screaming against something that most people wouldn’t even think of doing.
On the other hand, I don’t see hardly any Christians (outside perhaps the recovery movement) working diligently and conscientiously to live a holy life. For every believer who seems to take growth in sanctification seriously, I see ten who fall into what Dietrich Bonhoeffer would call “cheap grace.” There are a lot of Christians who have uttered the sinner’s prayer and now take great comfort that they aren’t “under the law” and can live the same self-absorbed lives as anyone else.
But please don’t mistake this post as a call to focus on no longer doing bad things. On the contrary, it’s a call to become zealously devoted to good things. A healthy Christian is devoted to doing good works.
These aren’t my words, they’re the apostle Paul’s: “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14). Paul says elsewhere that we were created to do good works: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
One of the reasons the writer of Hebrews urges us to keep meeting each other is to inspire each other to do good works: “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works” (10:24).
These good works have nothing to do with salvation and everything to do with salvation. They have nothing to do with salvation in that they don’t earn it. They have everything to do with salvation in that they are a direct response from it. When you feel cherished by God, it follows that you want to cherish others. In Titus 3:1–14 alone, Paul mentions this pursuit three times: “be ready for every good work” (verse 1), “devote themselves to good works” (verse 8), and “learn to devote themselves to good works” (verse 14). Paul—the champion of salvation by grace through faith—emphasizes the necessity and blessing of good works proceeding out of grace.
One a Day
So what is a healthy Christian’s response to God’s stupendous grace? How does a heart that truly “gets” mercy and forgiveness and the kindness and generosity of God supernaturally respond? We want to show the same mercy, forgiveness, kindness, and generosity to others in the form of good works. Again—not to get into heaven but to bring heaven to earth.
I try to think of at least one good work to do a day. This might sound legalistic, but good works are so woefully neglected and de-emphasized that aiming for “one a day” is sort of like a millionaire tithing ten percent. It seems like the least you can do. And once you start doing this, you’ll realize it’s not legalistic at all and want to do good works all day long. Serving others in practical ways is the widest avenue to increased joy and happiness.
Look, I consider a day without Scripture a day with loss. A day without prayer, unthinkable. A day without talking to and encouraging my wife would make me feel like a woefully neglectful husband. So why, with all of Scripture’s admonitions, would I be “afraid” of wanting every day to contain at least one good work, since that is what I was created to do and what Scripture says I should be devoted to doing?
When I find out a friend is looking to hire someone, and I know another friend who is looking for a job, I go out of my way to make the connection. That’s my “good work” for the day. I’m not just going to say “I’ll pray about that.” I want to put in a little effort—who could be blessed by this connection? That good work might take all of three minutes to compose a text or email, but that three minutes could make a huge difference in someone’s life.
I’ve helped connect “invisible” others with national ministries for interviews, speaking engagements, or book contracts. Because Lisa and I were so poor in the early years of our marriage, every Christmas we try to “adopt” a family that’s feeling a financial pinch. We know a financial gift could make such a difference for their Christmas celebration and perhaps they’ll worship God with a little more gusto if they have extra money to give each other gifts. That’s the marvelous thing about good works: when done in the right spirit, out of a joyful, thankful heart, they motivate people to praise God. And what gives a true believer more joy than to see others actively praising God?
I try to look at every blog post, every sermon, every chapter in a book as a “good work” to bless someone with. They’re not to impress someone—they’re to help someone. That might seem like a distinction without a difference, but it’s not if you give yourself over to it. Motivation is a big part of ministry—not just what we do, but why we do it. For other good works, I’m asking God to awaken me to phone conversations, text messages, or emails I might be able to send. If I have some extra time walking off a run or walking through a store, I’ll offer a silent prayer that if there’s someone God can bless through me, I’m available.
If you look through my past Twitter, blog, Instagram and Facebook posts, you won’t find hardly any mentions of books I attack (and maybe none—I can’t even remember a time I’ve done that). You’ll find plenty of books I encourage people to read. I would rather bless an author and bless a reader than go on the attack. Doing so feels like a good work. (I’m not denying the call some feel to occasionally point out misguided books; there’s a balance here.)
I want my life to be filled with good works. It’s not about getting to heaven. It’s not about being legalistic. Doing good works is fun. It spawns joy. There’s a deep fulfillment when you know you’ve been able to bless someone.
Here’s where I go negative: I believe the fear so many have in doing good works because it’s mistakenly characterized as being legalistic “works righteousness” is demonically clever and insidious. It has impoverished the church’s outreach, ministry and witness. If you’re doing good works to be saved, you’re probably not saved and you’re badly mistaken. But if you’re devoted to doing good works because you are saved and you want to honor the God who saved you, you’re doing what God created you to do! For every sermon that denounces “works righteousness” there should be one urging the church to be devoted to good works. Almost all of us who are preaching are preaching to the 95 percent saved; such people need to be motivated, stimulated, and urged to devote themselves to good works.
That’s why I like the motto of “one a day.” Without such a modest goal, I can become self-absorbed and go a long time without even thinking about what Scripture says I should be devoted to. Looking for that daily good work keeps it fresh in my mind.
God didn’t create us to focus on “not sinning.” He created us to do good works. But how many Christians are obsessed with the former and completely ignore the latter?
Start small: put a nice note in a child’s lunch. Fill up your spouse’s gas tank. Call a lonely parent and offer to come over or babysit. At work, look for a way to leverage whatever influence you have to lift someone else up. Tip generously. Let someone in while driving in heavy traffic. Open up your eyes, ask God to show you what He wants you to do. Maybe it’s something as simple as a smile or an encouragement to a harried customer service representative.
We worship, serve, and are empowered by a very creative God, so once you start walking on the road of being devoted to good works, you’ll think of a hundred things that have never crossed my mind. And when you do, please come back here and share a few of them in the comments below. Right here, we can begin to fulfill Hebrews 10:24: “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.”
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