Reward of Good Works
READ JAMES 2:14-20
“Just as money can be genuine or counterfeit, so too, can faith be the real thing or just an imitation. Works cannot justify us before God, but they can and will demonstrate the genuineness of faith to the world.“
(Beeke, p. 825)
Beeke, Joel R., et al., editors. Family Worship Bible Guide. Reformation Heritage Books, 2016.
Good works demonstrate genuine faith. If you have the real deal, good works will naturally flow out from that faith. Faith is a living and active thing. It is alive by nature. Faith results in active good. Works are the life inside the bones of faith. Works make religion true. Without good works, our religion is nothing more than a valley of dried up skeletons. Our faith is dead, dusty and cold without the lifeblood of good works coursing through its veins. If we have turned to Jesus, humbled ourselves to God, and brought our will into agreement with what He says about our sinful state He is sure to place His Holy Spirit inside of us. His Spirit is sure to stir up a conviction within each of our hearts to produce a harvest of spiritual fruit consistent with what happened to us on the inside (Mt. 3:8).
Verse fifteen illustrates this principle through a dialogue between a beggar and an individual of means. What good do words do when someone is shivering in the cold? Good words profit the starving little at all. Food and shelter are what they need. These are good works. In his book Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper encourages such self sacrificing good works. He also notes our unwillingness to commit to such sacrificial love in that we “think it may jeopardize a security that in fact does not even exist”. We are only stewards of the means that God has entrusted to us. As Piper charges, we must all fight the trap of “the enchantment of security” that “paralyzes us from taking risks for others on the Calvary road of love.”
“Yet, while caring for the poor is not the basis of our salvation, this does not mean that our use of wealth is totally disconnected from our salvation. Indeed, caring for the poor (among other things) is evidence of our salvation. The faith in Christ that saves us from our sins involves an internal transformation that has external implications. According to Jesus, you can tell someone is a follower of Christ by the fruit of his or her life, and the writers New Testament show us that the fruit of faith in Christ involves material concern for the poor. Caring for the poor is one natural overflow and a necessary evidence of the presence of Christ in our hearts. If there is no sign of caring for the poor in our lives, then there is reason to at least question whether Christ is in our hearts.“
(Platt, p. 109)
Platt, David. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Multnomah Books, 2011.Piper, John. Don’t Waste Your Life. Crossway Books, 2018.
If we are faith detectives looking for a weight of evidence for the existence of change in a person’s heart and soul, we would look first to their works. Good works evidence the fact that what is claimed on the inside affects the whole person. We must never shy away from doing good for others. Jesus did not. If the life of faith were a shovel, the blade would be good works. Faith might let you get a handle on the repurposed life, but without a blade on your shovel it will do you know good. To be purposed for Jesus and to make an impact for Him, we must set the blades of our shovels in the earth and get about the good works of the kingdom of God.
C. S. Lewis referred to one man as his “master” in all things literary. His name was George MacDonald. Lewis loved MacDonald so that he wrote a yearlong devotional reader out of his religious teachings. In the book, MacDonald describes faith in his own terms as the “the leaving of your way, your objects, your self, and the taking of His and Him; the leaving of your trust in men, in money, in opinion, in character, in atonement itself, and doing as He tells you” (73). Obedience unto good works flowing out of a heart united to Jesus seems to be the best way to describe the life of faith. What is faith without obedience in good works? It is a husk blown in the wind.
Good Works and God’s Work
READ JAMES 2:21-26
“Paul is speaking about justification before God, while James is talking about justification before humans… Further, while Paul is stressing the root of justification (faith), James is stressing the fruit of justification (works).“
(Geisler, p. 249)
Geisler, Norman L. A Popular Survey of the New Testament. Baker Books, a Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014.
With such an emphasis on good works, it would seem that we are getting the cart before the horse. However, this is not the case. There has been no talk of meriting salvation. Good works do not earn us saving favor with God. Salvation begins when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within the heart of the individual. It seals us for a final salvation at Jesus’ return. The Holy Spirit preserves those who have trusted in Jesus for such a salvation. Good works are what the individual was saved for. These were the things God laid out ahead of time for Jesus-followers to accomplish (Eph. 2:10). The saved respond to the Holy Spirit by doing good works.
While Paul claims that we are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8), James claims that good works perfect faith (Jm. 2:22). Apologist, Norman L. Geisler covers this age old point of contention well in his Popular Survey of the New Testament. He draws a clear distinction in the context of the two references. It comes down to an argument of “root versus fruit”. Grace is the root of faith. This is the grace of the Good News of Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin. Good works are the fruits of faith. In view of the grace we have received from Jesus we learn to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others and to the glory of God. A true Jesus-follower accepts grace and embraces good works.
“God has chosen the foolish, the weak, the base, and the despised things of the world, an idolater like Abraham and an outcast like Rahab. In such a light, no one is too sinful to be saved.“
(Beeke, p. 825)
Beeke, Joel R., et al., editors. Family Worship Bible Guide. Reformation Heritage Books, 2016.
One of the benefits of the Scriptures is that they plainly show us that no one is out of the reach of the grace of God. God wills that all should be saved (2 Pt. 3:9). He has good works planned ahead of time for all people to walk in (Eph. 2:10). Everyone will not choose to walk in them. Everyone will not accept God’s invitation, but we are asked to walk in good works regardless. We cannot stop to get hung up on why others will not. It is simple obedience that God asks of us. Simply do good to others. Simply look after the widows and the orphans. We simply take responsibility for providing for those left alone in the world.
God wants us to take the good work that He did on Calvary to the world. As we go, we do good to those we come into contact with. This is the calling on the life of the Jesus-follower. Together, as a called out people, God invites us to co-labor with Him in the spread of good in the world through the transforming good news of Jesus. This news is so good that it changes our hearts, minds and actions. It causes us to want differently. The Good News of Jesus causes us to want the will of God. It causes us to see our neighbor, to love them, and to care for their needs. No other news does that. That is why faith in Jesus is real. Faith in Jesus fundamentally transforms the love we give to others through good works.
“Remember, God is as Great as He is Good!”
Noah R. Hunt
POIEMA: Created for Truth 