June 9, 2013
Dear friends in Christ.
Did you know that if you examine
every religious teaching in the world, each and every teaching and each and
every religious group will fall into one of two categories? It’s true.
Either they will teach that you have to do something, no matter how
great or how small, you have to do something to aid in or to earn your
salvation; or they will teach that your salvation is given to you as a
gift. Now I know that this is something
that I’ve told you before and I know that every time I make this statement
there is always someone who doesn’t quite agree with me. But it really is true. Either you were taught that you had to do
something in order to aid in or earn your salvation, or you were taught that
your salvation was given to you as a gift by Jesus who died on the cross, rose
again from the dead, and lovingly instilled the very faith in your hearts
through his word; the very faith through which you receive his gift of
salvation.
Now, because of that type of
thinking, there are also two ways that people think about good works. Because there are so many religious teachings
and philosophies that fall into the category of the need to do something to
earn salvation, there are millions, of not billions of people in the world who
believe that if they can be good and do enough good in this life, God will
welcome them into heaven as a good person.
However, the other side of that type of thinking is the biblical
teaching that good works are something that the Lord has prepared us to
do. They are something that he would
have us do, not because we have to and certainly not because they are
contingent on us earning our salvation; rather, according to God’s Word, good
works are things that Christians do, simply because good works naturally flow
out of our hearts in thankfulness to the Lord for all that he has done in
freeing us from our sins and blessing us with his salvation. In fact, this is the very thing that we will
be seeking to understand as we study the Word of God before us this
morning. For as we examine the passages
set before us, we will seek to answer the age-old question, “What is a good work
in God’s sight?”
To fully understand what, in
God’s sight, constitutes a good work we must first take a look at the attitude
of our hearts. This is something that
the writer to the Hebrews brings out very clearly chapter 11 as he speaks about
Enoch as one who pleased God. The writer tells us, “By faith Enoch was taken
from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found,
because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as
one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God,
because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards
those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:5–6, NIV84)
In simplest terms, the Lord makes
it clear that the only way that we can possibly please him and can be pleasing
to him is through faith. It is only
through the very faith that he, himself, created in our hearts by sending the
Holy Spirit into our hearts through the Means of Grace (which we discussed a
few weeks ago is the Gospel in the Word and Sacraments) that we have been
called to faith in Jesus Christ our Savior, and now through that faith are
commended as people who please our God.
Through that very faith, we are able to do works that are pleasing to
God—good works that naturally flow out of our faith and our lives in
thankfulness to the Lord our God who called us to faith in him. This is something that the Apostle Paul
emphasizes as he writes his beautiful letter to the Ephesians. As he writes in chapter 2: “As for you, you were
dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you
followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the
spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived
among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and
following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of
wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by
grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us
with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming
ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his
kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by
works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to
do." (Ephesians 2:1–10, NIV84)
In God’s sight, this is exactly
what good works are: they are acts of faith that he has prepared for us to
do. They are acts of faith that please
him because they spring out of our faith and our love for him. They are acts of faith that are motivated and
flow out of a heart that believes in the one who has called us to faith. They can be as simple as giving a drink of
water to a thirsty person, as important as helping another person through a
difficult crisis, even as complex as planning, organizing and building a
structure for God’s glory such as our church and fellowship hall! But the most amazing thing about the good
works that we do for the Lord is that most often we don’t even realize that we
are doing them. This is the point that
Jesus brings out in his parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, where
Jesus tells us, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who
are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you
since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something
to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and
you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you
looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the
righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and
invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick
or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the
truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did
for me.’” (Matthew 25:34–40, NIV84)
As we know from the context, this
parable gives us a picture of the judgment on the Last Day. It shows us how easy it will be for Jesus to
separate the believers from the unbelievers, because, as we talked about last
week, the Lord knows our hearts and the Lord knows who believes in him. But the most amazing statement of this
beautiful section is the believer’s reaction to all that Jesus has just said to
them in verses 37-39, “‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and
invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick
or in prison and go to visit you?” Even
though there are times when we recognize the good works that the Lord has
prepared for us to do, and even though there are times when we might plan to do
a specific good work for the Lord, so often the good works that flow out of our
hearts and lives are things that we don’t even realize that we are doing. They are things that we simply don’t keep
track of because keeping track of them would only be a detriment to us as our
sinful human nature would naturally begin to feel pride in all that we are
doing for the Lord and would begin to focus on our good deeds rather than on
Jesus and how he freed us from our sins by his life, death, and resurrection.
Now, as simple as it can be for
us to understand that a good work in
God’s sight is a work that flows out of our faith, the reason we
sometimes have difficulty with this concept is that there are many things that
people can do in this life that are thought of as good works. For example, Oscar Schindler was hailed and
remembered as a righteous person because he worked so hard to save so many Jews
from Nazi death camps. Bill and Melinda
Gates are often thought of as good people because they been able to do so much
good through the foundation that bears their name. Oprah Winfrey is often thought of as such a
good person because she has been able to help so many people through her Angel
Network and other networks that she has organized. And the truth is, based on the good things
that they have done and are continuing to do, we would call them good people
who are doing good things for the people of the world. However, even though these are works being
done for the good of the people of the world, they may not necessarily be good
works in the eyes of the Lord. I cannot
say one way or the other simply because I do not know if Oscar Shindlar was, or
if Oprah Winfrey or if Bill and Melinda gates are believers in the Lord Jesus
as their Savior. If they do not believe
in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, then even though the works they are doing
are good works in the eyes of the world, anything done outside of the context
of faith in Jesus Christ is not a good work in the eyes of the Lord. Just as Isaiah told us when he prayed, “All
of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like
filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us
away." (Isaiah 64:6, NIV84) And as
the writer to the Hebrews tells us, “without faith it is impossible to please
God.” (Hebrew 11:6, NIV 84)
Though there are times when this
concept can be difficult to understand, when we see it from the eyes of faith
it becomes all the more clear. When we
light our path according to God’s Word and when the faith to which the Holy
Spirit has called us transforms our hearts and our minds, we are able to test
and approve what God’s good and pleasing will truly is. We are able to judge our actions and our
works as good according to God’s standard just like manufactures products must
pass certain tests before they are put on the market. Rope has to meet a strength test. Automobiles must pass power and braking
tests. Baby cribs must pass safety
tests. Similarly, in order to know
whether what we do is a good work or not, we must test it according to God’s
Word. We can’t just follow a popular
opinion poll. Popular opinion might say
that because God is love I can live however I want, or it might say that it is
perfectly acceptable to cheat if you don’t get caught. But if God’s Word says that God forbids
something, then we will know that even if we are living in faith, doing that
thing that runs contrary to God’s Word is not only not a good work but it is a
sin.
So what is a good work in God’s
sight? Quite simply it is something that
God has prepared in advance for us to do.
It is something that we have done out of faith and love for the Lord our
God. It is something that is pleasing to
the Lord our God because it is something done according to his Word and his
will. May the Lord continue to bless you
as you live in and grow in your faith in Jesus Christ who died and rose again
from the dead! May he continue to bless
you in your life of good works that naturally flow out of your hearts because
of the faith that he, himself has instilled in them, through the work of the
Holy Spirit in connection with the means of grace.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
GraceEvangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
