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Works to Walk In
Good works are an integral part of the Christian’s life, but we must approach works with the right heart. Overcoming laziness isn’t the only problem when it comes to works. We must also guard against wrong attitudes, over extending ourselves, and turning works into idolatry. Yes, works become idolatry if we are trusting in good works as a means to reach God. Works are not what makes us right with God, but they are the outflow of walking with God.
We’ll dig into the Bible’s explanation of works in a moment, but I’ll first start with a true story about burn out to illustrate the danger of working outside of God’s design for you.
Burn out
Burn out is the result of missing God’s call and overloading ourselves with human effort. For an example, consider this true story. Many years ago a pastor friend of mine came to my house to visit. Let’s just call him Pete. When I answered the door, I could tell something was heavy on Pete’s mind. We engaged in the typical small talk for a few minutes before we got to the real reason for his visit.
After explaining the stress of being overloaded with responsibilities, Pete said, “I just don’t know what to do. I’m so stressed out and burned out, I don’t know how to handle it all.” He went on to explain the dozens of tasks he had taken on at church. It was a small church going through some growing pains. Like many small churches, it is difficult to fill the labor needs of the programs. Wanting the church to thrive, he took on each need as it arose, and people became very dependent upon him. Pete was trying to make the church succeed through his own efforts.
Once he finished expressing his current dilemma, I said, “Think about your gifts. If you could narrow your calling down to a few words, what do you believe you’ve been gifted by God to do?”
Without hesitation he said, “I know I’ve been called to be a discipler and an encourager.”
“Perfect! Now let’s look at the duties in the church you have taken on. With each task I want you to ask yourself two questions. Is this something that fulfills my calling? If the answer is ‘no’, then ask, Is this something that hinders my calling? Anything that doesn’t pass the test on both of those questions should be dropped from your life.”
As we went down the long list of duties, it became clear that nearly every task failed the test. He was like a juggler trying to keep two dozen balls in the air. He was so busy keeping the things going God had not called him to do that he didn’t have the time or energy to do what God had called him to do.
I said he should drop all these jobs and let others bear their share. After all, God appoints each person in the church to do a specific work that they have been gifted and called to do. My advice was hard for him to accept because it was difficult to get enough workers to fill all the needs he saw. Pete even protested by saying, “If I drop this duty, what if no one comes behind me and picks it up?”
“Then it isn’t important enough to the church to keep it going,” I said. “A small congregation can’t do everything. Determine what is the most important, call others to step up, and let everything else go until God raises up those who are gifted to do it.”
It’s hard to discern where to draw the line. I love being active in ministry, but I learned long ago to say ‘no’ when I’m being asked to overextend myself. When I’m doing what God has equipped me for and called me to do, I am energized. When I take on the things God hasn’t called me to do, it becomes a burden. Sometimes people get upset, but I just explain that I can’t put another iron in the fire until I take one out. And I can’t remove the things I know I am called to do.
A well-meaning Christian once told me, “Where ever you see a need, you have a call of God.”
Sounds good, but this simply isn’t true. I see thousands of needs all around me, but I can only meet the ones the Lord has called me to do. It may be a call of God for someone, but every need isn’t a call of God to every Christian. The truth is, if you try to do everything, you accomplish nothing. Narrow your focus to what God has equipped you to do, and do not allow your life to be crowded and distracted from that mission.
For many, that mission is to seek God and establish their hearts in faith. Before you can know God’s call, you must first be established on Christ. Without a life being founded upon faith, it’s difficult to distinguish between emotion and God’s call. Not only that, if you are not spiritually equipped, you won’t be work equipped. That is why many people work from human effort, and human nature turns it into a self-centered work founded upon selfish perspectives. Even a well meaning Christian can work from the flesh instead of from the Spirit.
As you are established in faith, and your spiritual life begins to mature, an interesting thing will happen. A desire will sprout in your heart, and begin growing into a call for your personal ministry. Then you’ll begin praying for the opportunity to serve, and when the time is right, God will open up the opportunity for you to serve in that area. Then ministry will be a joy, and will energize your heart. If you just serve to be busy for God, it will seem more like a chore than a joy.
Burn out in the church is when Christians allow themselves to be overwhelmed by the things God has not brought into their life. We aren’t called to ‘get busy for God’. We are called to labor as the Lord has called us. There is a difference.
So how do we know which things are God’s call, and which things are not? It’s a trick question for identifying our works isn’t the first step in discerning God’s will. The starting point of finding God’s will is not deciding which duties to take on. It begins with seeking the Lord and equipping ourselves spiritually. As we learn to walk with God, we will also discover the good works He is leading us to walk in. Seeking for works before establishing our hearts in righteousness only leads to confusion, frustration, and meaningless works.
Having said these things, let’s begin looking at how we approach works.
Attitude is Everything
You’ve probably seen the person who works hard, but complains constantly about their tasks. When asked to take on responsibilities, they will do it, but then vent their displeasure the whole time they are working. Consider Philippians 2:12-16
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
14 Do all things without complaining and disputing,
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.
There is much to glean from this wonderful passage. The first thing to note is the phrase, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
This passage is not saying to work for salvation. It’s to work out the salvation we have already been given. This is self-evident seeing that just after this we are told that we are children of God, and He is working in us to do His will. A child of God is already in Christ. God within us is evidence that we already belong to Him. The Bible says that the Christian is the temple of God and that the Spirit of Christ is within us[1], and the God has sent His Spirit into our hearts to call out to Him as our Father.[2] Therefore, we are already possessors of salvation before this command applies to our lives.
We are called to work out (or labor) with fear and trembling. This relates to our earlier discussion on the fear of the Lord. The fear is knowing we will give an account for everything we’ve done in our body after God redeemed us.
The Bible says we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account[3]. The unredeemed will stand before a different throne to be judged for sin[4], but we will be judged according to our deeds. Our judgment will not only be for what was done in the body (See 2 Corinthians 5:10), but our works will also be judged for eternal merit. Look at 1 Corinthians 3:11-15
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Don’t miss this important point – some of our good works will not survive the test of God’s fire. These are the things we have done outside of God’s will, or the things we have done with bitter attitudes. Human efforts will be burned up. God’s work laid for us to walk in will not. One thing this passage makes clear is that the foundation of our life must first be laid in Christ before works can even be considered for merit. All good works must first be built upon a life of faith. Salvation is already given. We begin walking in fellowship with God, and only then can we have good works.
Not every good deed will be rewarded. Wrong motives, bad attitudes, works by human effort, things done for the praise of men, these will all be counted as the wood and hay. Any work not produced by God working through us is not counted as precious. We still are bought with a price, so works are necessary – even in the life of someone with a bad attitude. We’ll see the scriptures teaching on this shortly. But first we must realize that crowding our lives with busyness in the church is not rewarded.
Consider the reality of this truth. Think back to Pete. God called him to disciple (teach others how to mature in Christ) and to be an encourager in the church. Those are precious stones, gold, and silver. What God produces will always have eternal significance. However, the tasks that crowded his life appear good to those who don’t know Pete’s calling, but to God they are nothing but wood, hay, and stubble.
Pete labored and labored hard. He was busy for God and working in the church. But because these busy things prevented Pete from fulfilling God’s will, they will be counted as worthless labor. Working hard may appear noble, but consider that Pete was doing many things God had not called him to do, but was not able to do the two things God had called him to do. Doing things that were contrary to God’s will crowded his life and prevented him from doing God’s will. We aren’t measured on how much we work, but how we walk in the works God prepared beforehand for us to walk in.
The same is true for those who grumble through their work, complaining about what God is making them do. Or complaining about how things aren’t going their way. Sometimes people complain because they aren’t getting the recognition from others they feel they deserve. Maybe they are complaining about what they missed out on because they were having to do something that required time and commitment. The Apostle Paul referred to this when he said, “If I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if against my will, I am still obligated by the gospel.[5]”
Your redemption was a labor of love from Christ. Let your service be a labor of love toward Christ.
Merit / idolatry
For many, the next sentence will seem like an odd statement, but we’ll see how this truth draws from scripture. Working for God’s approval is a form of idolatry. This is true for those who think they can earn salvation, but it’s also true when we think we must do something to please God after our redemption.
Think about the purpose of idolatry. Someone makes a sacrifice before an idol to appease the gods or a god. They are taking their works, and presenting it as an offering. The hope is that either the god or gods won’t be angry, or that they will be pleased enough to offer a blessing to the worshipper.
This problem goes all the way back to Cain and Able. Able’s offering to God was accepted, but Cain’s was not. Anger boiled in Cain’s heart and he murdered his brother. The Bible says that Cain killed his brother because his own works were evil and his brothers were good[6].
Both men offered what they believed to be good, so why was Cain’s offering rejected as evil?
One brother was a master gardener, and the other tended to the flock. The gardener, Cain, sweated over his work as he planted, tilled the soil, nurtured the plants, and produced the fruit of his labors. He then took the best he could produce and brought them to God as an offering. He must have been proud when he laid before God his best fruit and vegetables, because they were fit for a king. Disappointment hammered at Cain’s ego when God refused to accept his hard work and the best he had to offer.
Able, on the other hand, didn’t sweat over the soil. He simply guarded the flock from wild beasts, and led them to good pasture. When it comes to raising cattle, you aren’t producing the livestock, you are keeping anything from interfering with their growth. In the Old Testament, God often used livestock as a blessing to His people. He would increase their flocks, and bless them with health and abundance. And then God called for the best of the flock to be taken and sacrificed as an atonement. As we’ve already seen, this was a foreshadowing of Christ. Able’s offering was pointing directly to the future sacrifice of Christ.
Cain disobeyed the mandate to offer a proper sacrifice. Instead, he looked to himself as the source of the offering. He worked hard, gave his best effort, utilized all his skills, and then gave God the works of his hands. He discovered that man, at his best, cannot measure up to God’s requirement. Able submitted to God and trusted in God’s goodness as an acceptable sacrifice, but Cain decided to offer something he thought was better. Which turned out not to be better in God’s sight. As we have already seen, It’s just as the Bible says in Romans 4:4-5
4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
We’ve already viewed this passage, but because it is a key to understanding the Christian’s works, it’s important to keep this principle in sight. What made Able’s works righteous? The grace of God. He believed God and didn’t take upon himself the work of meriting favor with God. His offering was an act of faith – believing God and giving an offering that acknowledged God as the provider.
What made Cain’s works evil? It’s the same as we are taught in the New Testament. The one who works doesn’t earn grace. He only counts his labors toward his debt. A debt that cannot be paid by man. According to scripture, our work is counted as debt, not merit. Able believed God and was declared righteous. Abraham believed God and was accounted as righteous. Neither labored for acceptance, but rather acted in obedience while depending upon God for grace. Grace simply means, unmerited favor.
In the same way, if we are depending on our deeds or works in order to please God, we have stepped outside of faith and have made the labor of our hands the source of righteousness instead of God. That’s why it’s idolatry. Our works become the source of goodness rather than God being the source of goodness. Or you can substitute goodness for righteousness. The same principle applies. This is the trap the Galatian church fell into. Look at Galatians 5:4-5
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
In their situation, the men of the church attempted to become righteous by keeping the Old Covenant law of circumcision. In Cain’s situation, he looked to his skills and hard work to earn God’s favor. In the church, people think they can earn righteousness by tithes, church programs, saying certain prayers, or various other practices. Those who look to their efforts to obtain righteousness have fallen from grace. Grace is given to us by faith – believing God. We wait eagerly for the hope of righteousness that will one day be fulfilled in us. And we do this through the Spirit – abiding in Christ and walking in obedience.
Is tithing, reading the Bible, working in ministry and all the other things we do as Christians a waste of our efforts? No, but it is not what makes us righteous. Our righteousness is found by faith in Christ. As we saw earlier, faith is active and calls us to obedience. Human belief can be passive, but true faith always shows the fruit of obedience to God.
The point is that you and I are not working to become righteous. We are taking what God has created and given to us, and fulfilling His will through obedience. We are righteous in Christ; therefore, we walk in righteousness in the Spirit. That walk of faith is paved with good works – but works are not what we worship, nor is it what we place our trust in. We trust in Christ alone.
Sometimes it can seem like a fine line, but it really boils down to having the right heart. Having a heart that is dependent upon the flesh and the efforts of the work of our own hands is to trust in something other than God, which is a form of idolatry. The Bible says, “Whatever is not of faith is sin.”[7] Faith comes first. So even works are accounted as sin if they are not born out of faith in Christ. God deals us the measure of faith, and everything of God comes through faith.
Works do not produce faith, but faith does produce works. The difference is God working in you to do His good will, or you working without God in an attempt to merit (or earn) His favor. One is as the offering of Cain, and the other as the offering of Able.
[1] 1 Corinthians 3:16
[2] Galatians 4:6
[3] Romans 4:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10
[4] Revelation 20:11-15
[5] 1 Corinthians 9:17
[6] 1 John 3:12
[7] Romans 14:23