Sunday, February 28, 2021
Ephesians 2:10
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
So here the Bible tells us that the byproduct of true salvation is good works that God prepared for us to do in eternity past!
And we’re given an amazing truth: God prepared and planned the good works we’re to do before He made the world!
The Message puts it this way:
“He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing” (2:10).
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Now, when the Bible talks about “works” it’s talking about what you did with the time and the gifting God gave you.
How did you spend your life? What did you spend it on?
In one of His parables, Jesus said we should all strive to be “rich toward God!”
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Now, there are two kinds of works—GOOD works, and BAD works.
—Good works are things we do for the glory of God, in obedience to God, to demonstrate the love of God.
ILLUS: a good work should be like a package you receive from UPS…the UPS driver delivers it, but it’s not from him.
Every package has a return address—THAT is who it’s from!
Likewise, a Biblical good work will have a return address on it—from Jesus, in heaven.
Jesus said, Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Biblical good works point upward to the Father in heaven!
1 Peter 2:12
“having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
SO NOTE THAT—GOOD WORKS ARE GREAT WITNESSING TOOLS!
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And there are BAD WORKS:
The Bible calls them “the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph 5:11 NKJV).
You see, before salvation, we all lived our lives doing bad works because we lived in sin.
Colossians 1:21 NKJV
“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.”
—A bad or unfruitful work can ALSO be: When we do something good for OUR glory, to bring attention to OURSELVES, to gain the praise of men.
—A bad, unfruitful work is also: When we do something good to try to earn our way into heaven—that’s not a Biblical good work because it WON’T WORK.
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So, let’s talk about this one a bit more:
I. Good works can’t save you
No matter how many times we hear that, there’s something inside of us that believes we can somehow do something to merit heaven.
Because we’re all raised on a merit system.
If you’re a good boy or girl, you’re rewarded by your parents.
If you’re bad, you’re punished.
If you do a good job at work, you get a raise; a bad job, you’re fired.
But salvation is the one thing we cannot merit by our behavior!
We often hear it said of someone that has passed away, “Surely he’s in heaven because he did so many good things, he was such a good person.”
But the Bible says, “No one is good—no one in all the world is innocent. 11 No one has ever really followed God’s paths or even truly wanted to. 12 Every one has turned away; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one” (Ro. 3:10-12 LB).
So our view of good, and God’s view of good are two different things.
Galatians 3:22 NLT
“the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.”
So good works can’t save you, no matter what you do.
The Bible says that our salvation is ALL OF HIM, and NONE OF US!
Titus 3:5 NLT
“he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”
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So good works can’t save us—BUT:
II. Good works do show that we’re saved!
James 2:20
“But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”
James 2:18 AMP
“But someone may say, ‘You [claim to] have faith and I have [good] works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works [that is, by what I do].’”
You see, every born again child of God is called to join hands with Jesus to do good works.
This is how Jesus lived!
It says, “And you no doubt know that Jesus of Nazareth was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with power, and he went around doing good and healing all who were possessed by demons, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38 LB).
And we’re called to live the same way!—Not just BELIEVING in Him, but DOING His good works!
Paul commanded church leadership: “And you yourself must be an example to them (the church) by doing good works of every kind” (Titus 2:7 NLT).
He taught God’s people that Jesus “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14 NLT).
He taught that once you’re involved in good works, keep doing them:
“This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men” (Titus 3:8 NLT).
And the Bible says that good works are so important that Christians should “think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24 NLT).
Paul says that the Christian life should be marked by, “… always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58 NKJV).
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Not only do good works bless others and point to the Savior, Jesus Christ, but they play a key part in maturing your faith!
James said of Abraham, “20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish [spiritually shallow] person, that faith without [good] works is useless? 21 Was our father Abraham not [shown to be] justified by works [of obedience which expressed his faith] when he offered Isaac his son on the altar [as a sacrifice to God]? 22 You see that [his] faith was working together with his works, and as a result of the works, his faith was completed [reaching its maturity]” (James 2:20-22 AMP).
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And lastly,
III. Good works follow us to heaven
Do you remember when Jesus said:
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt 6:19-20 NLT).
How do you store up heavenly treasures?—Good works done to the glory of God, in obedience to God, demonstrating the love of God.
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Good works bring eternal rewards!
Jesus said, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord” (Matt. 25:21 NKJV).