Unto Good Works ... by West End Church of Christ

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Unto Good Works ... What part do "good works" play in God's plan of salvation? What are good works? How much stress ought be placed on good works? What place do they occupy in salvation from sin? These are questions preachers discuss with a variety of answers. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10). For the past several weeks we have been studying this very scripture -- today we will conclude this series by a study of the good works God has prepared beforehand for those who are saved by grace, through faith. Please remain tuned. The West End church of Christ presents this program each Sunday with only one purpose in mind. We want you to know something about the greatest book of all time, the Bible. We also want you to become acquainted with us. We urge you to study the things we present in the light of what you can understand in plain language from the Bible. If you find us teaching anything contrary to Scripture, we will count you a dear friend if you will call that to our attention. We also invite you to visit our meetings today. At nine this morning we have Bible classes for all ages. At ten, we meet for congregational worship and again this evening at 6 p.m. we assemble to worship. We won't embarrass anyone, or badger you for contributions, or anything else. We just want you to visit and see what the church of Christ is really like. Wednesday evenings we meet at 7 p.m. for Bible study also. Our meeting house is located at the corner of Parkside Drive and Old Morgantown Road, just across from Lampkin Park and Tapp's Drive-In, formerly known as A&W Root Beer. We publish a paper called, "The Voice of West End." It is free, in the truest sense of free. We neither ask for, nor accept, any donations at all of any kind for our work. If you want a religious paper mailed to you twice a month, absolutely free, please let us know. Write us a note or a card to: West End church of Christ, 1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, KY. 42101 or call 842-7880. I will repeat that at the end of today's lesson. Work never has been a popular word. In the world around us there are those who shun it like the plague. In the religious world, especially so-called Protestantism, there are pastors and evangelists who insist that works are of no value at all in regard to salvation. They contend that one cannot be saved by any kind of work, either from past sins, or eternally in heaven. A few years ago, I read a tract from the late Sam Morris. Sam Morris was a Baptist preacher whose radio programs originated from a very high powered radio station in Mexico. He was widely known for his crusades against alcohol abuse. In the tract he wrote of the security of the believer and said that "all the churches a person may attend, all the Bible he may read, and all the works he may do will not in anyway help in going to heaven." Sam Morris was a strong advocate of the idea that "once you are saved, you are forever saved." He stressed this by adding, "and all the sins one may commit from idolatry to murder will not endanger his soul." I shudder to think anyone would believe once saved always saved -- for Morris' conclusion is the actual consequence of that heresy. Can any of our listeners deny that Mr. Morris came to the logical conclusion of the doctrine which affirms that if a believer is truly saved, he can never be lost regardless of what happens? Morris, and others like him, hold such a view of salvation basically because they deny that works we do have anything at all to do with salvation. But works are important. Someone asks, "But did not Paul just say that salvation is 'not of works'?" Certainly he did -- no question about that. What kind of works did Paul have in mind? In our study of the Bible we must always consider the context in which a thing is said. In order to be sure we fully understand a thing we must also understand one passage in harmony with all other verses on that same thought. That means that when you read something, read the whole setting in which it was written. Paul said that salvation is by grace, but it comes through faith. When he said, "not of works," he also added "lest anyone should boast." If a person could do everything absolutely perfectly, flawlessly, throughout life, that individual would put the Almighty in debt for salvation. Listen to Paul again. "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt" (Romans 4:5). You may be sure that if you were able to work perfectly everything God has ordered you would merit salvation. At the end of the way you could turn in a perfect score and God would then reward you for your works. Such would give one a basis for boasting. But the minute one mistake is made in life, the first sin one commits, there is no way he can ever be saved unless God forgives that sin. Forgiveness is not a matter of perfect works -- it is a matter of grace -- a gift freely given by the Father in heaven who has been offended. Because works are not perfect in any mere mortal, grace was offered. Solomon wrote, "For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20). The only thing one who is accountable for sins can do is appeal to God's mercy and grace. And then, salvation is the gift of God. But this expression, "not of works," does not eliminate obedience to Christ. Jesus plainly stated, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). The stress here is on doing the will of the Father in heaven. And this doing is the work God requires. You see, the gift is salvation by His grace, but faith is also His condition we must meet in order to be saved by His grace. Those who have faith only are imperfect, incomplete, and inadequate. By inspiration, James wrote, "Do you not see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect?" (James 2:21) Also, "You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only" (James 2:24). And Paul then added, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6). This is an interesting verse. There were two ethnic groups that made up the membership of the churches of Galatia and elsewhere in the first century. They were Jews and Gentiles. They were often identified as either "the circumcision" or the "uncircumcision." Is Paul simply saying, "Regardless of who you are, the important matter in your life is that you obey your Lord implicitly and completely." In any case, if anything is in anyway "in Christ" obedience through love is the test of faith. We can safely conclude that the expression "not of works" certainly does not eliminate obedience from the heart. Paul was not excluding works of obedience to God when he said, "not of works." But turning to the next reference to works, the "good works" are the reason why God's workmanship, His new creation, came into being. The ones saved by grace through faith are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for (or unto) good works. This places a responsibility upon every person who has been truly saved by grace through faith. God does not save sinners by His grace just so they can look nice, feel good, be happy, live in fine homes, and worship in beautiful temples or edifices. He does not create something for simple admiration. His creation is designed to be productive and active. His creation is far more than a work of art to be admired. It is to be filled with profits for Himself. And that is only achieved through the works He Himself ordained for His creation. Far too many of us fail to think seriously about the good works we are to do. The time has come that anything anyone thinks needs to be done can be labeled a "good work" and God is supposed to be as pleased as He can be. But let's think together a little more deeply about this. The good works are ordained even beforehand. Who has the right to change anything God has ordained? If God has ordained it, commanded it, ordered it, what right do men have to alter it? There are numerous examples in both the Old and New Testaments of those who presumed to enhance something God ordained, only to learn too late the enormity of their mistake. Nadab and Abihu were two young priests, sons of the venerable Aaron. The scripture describes their blunder. "Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord" (Leviticus 10:1-2). Fire was ordained -- but the profane fire was not. There was probably no difference in the physical properties of the ordained fire and the profane fire -- but there was a world of difference in the results. Anytime anyone dares to offer God a service that He has not commanded they engage in that which is profane. God's works are sacrosanct and inviolate. We must keep them that way. Paul wrote Timothy, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (II Timothy 3:16-17). If we all accept the revealed word of God as the sole source of the doctrine we teach and believe, for every practice in which we engage, for the reproof, correction, and instruction we need spiritually, we are duty bound to look to that same revelation for authority for our "good works." That simply means that a work is not "good" if it is not ordained by God. We can devise a million things and label them good but unless some biblical basis can be found for them, they are profane -- not good as God Almighty sees it. Let's make an imaginary leap into the future. We are standing before God. Christ is seated at His right hand. This is the judgment day. Very near us, we hear many feverishly saying, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in Your name?" You recognize that don't you? It's Matthew 7:22. The frenzied cries continue until we hear the Lord hush them by replying, "I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness!" (Verse 23). How will we feel if we have come up on the short end of His law? There will be no appealing the sentence. There is but one safe and sensible course of life to follow -- "do all you do, in word or deed in the name of the Lord" (Colossians 3:17). When you turn in your record at the end, there will be no boasting, no pride, nothing in your hand of your own devising to bring -- just your simple obedient faith that has led you throughout life in a pathway God Himself has outlined long before any of us were even born. It is doing the Will of God. I urge every rational hearer today to study His word, obey His word, practice and teach His word and recoil from every man-made device and doctrine. If you have a question about this study today, please let us hear from you. Remember, we offer a free paper to those who ask for it. To get it write West End Church of Christ, 1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, KY 42101 or call 842-7880. Thank you very much for being with us this Sunday -- hope to have you in the same radio audience next week. Till then, good bye and God bless you. Radio Sermon No. 8, Page 1