Do Good Works Matter?
30 years ago I had several Latin phrases tattooed on my arm, including “sola gratia” and “sola fide.” For me, these permanent marks are not decorations, but declarations that testify of the hope that I have in Jesus. My acceptability before God rests on his grace toward me in Jesus Christ (sola gratia), and I lay claim to this grace by faith alone (sola gratis), and not by my works.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
This doesn’t mean our good works are unimportant or unrelated to our walk with the Lord. Good works are a vital part of the Christian life. Unfortunately, I’ve spoke with too many Christians who, in their effort to be gospel-centered, have become works-wary. So, what does the Bible say about our “works?” First, a definition.
Many people think of Good works as “good deeds,” but precision is necessary here. But as Christians we would say good works are acts of obedience to God’s commands that flow from and serve as evidence of saving faith.
Our Works Are Imperfect
As I think about my own “good works,” I am struck by how feeble they are; how weak and corrupt my best obedience remains. As the Second London Confession says:
“We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin or eternal life at the hand of God, by reason of the great disproportion that is between them and the glory to come, and the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom by them we can neither profit nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins; but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty, and are unprofitable servants; and because as they are good they proceed from his Spirit, and as they are wrought by us they are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection, that they cannot endure the severity of God’s punishment.”
However, the weakness of my works does not encourage me to stop working. The inability of my works to please God on their own does not lead me to lay aside his law as a rule for godly living, for I am not on my own and my works are not offered to God apart from Jesus.
Our WORKS IN CHRIST ARE RIGHTEOUS
Our good works are imperfect, but that does not mean they are worthless. Our good works can be imperfect and still good as they proceed from faith and are purified and perfected by Jesus Christ.
“Yet notwithstanding the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in God’s sight, but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.”
My justification is not only my hope of standing before God, but it is also the hope of my works standing before God. He not only accepts me, but he accepts my works and delights in them, however deformed they are, for Christ perfects it all.
So why do we do good works? We seek to obey God for his pleasure and glory. But we have to remember we are not more acceptable to him because of our fasting, praying, loving, and serving. As Martin Luther said in his commentary on Galatians, “Works indeed are good, and God strictly requires them of us, but they do not make us holy.” Our works are a means by which we reflect more of God’s greatness to the world around us. As Jesus taught us in Matt. 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
MY WORKS IN CHRIST ARE GOD’S WORKS
Our works make much of God, and as they are offered in faith they are pleasing to him. But this is no cause for boasting, because all our good works are God’s working in us. The Apostle Paul wrote,
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
God commands us, and then works in us to carry out the commands. This doesn’t make us passively indifferent to the law of God, but passionately interested in doing what God has commands. God hasn’t given us impossible rules to follow and left us alone to fail. He stay with us, works in us, to empower us to walk in his ways. Again, the Second London Confession says,
“Their ability to do good works is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the Spirit of Christ; and that they may be enabled thereunto, besides the graces they have already received, there is necessary an actual influence of the same Holy Spirit, to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure; yet they are not hereupon to grow negligent, as if they were not bound to perform any duty, unless upon a special motion of the Spirit, but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in them.”
Your good works matter. To dismiss your works as useless because of their imperfection is to dismiss God’s work in you. We should work hard at our good works, recognizing that God has not only called us to good works, he accepts them in Christ, and produces them in us by his Spirit. So even in our working, we are resting, for God accepts us and our works on account of Christ alone.
