Works Righteousness vs. Works of Faith

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Works Righteousness vs. Works of Faith

 

Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-10

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

 

Meditation

            Many Christians today are afraid of “works righteousness”. They tend to use part of the above scripture passage as justification. Namely “For by grace you have been saved through faith…not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” This is true, but it is not the whole truth of this passage.

            Paul continues “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works [emphasis mine] which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. So while we haven’t been saved by works we have been saved for works. So any interpretation of this passage that leads to what I call armchair Christianity is just plain mistaken.

            Personally I would rather see the whole church out there doing good works for Christ than sitting back in their armchairs waiting for someone else to do it. To make matters worse here in America we make celebrities out of famous Christians. Let Billy and Franklin Graham do the evangelism and I’ll supervise is the attitude of some Christians I know.

            Right now our culture is turning its collective back on the church. I believe that one cause is they don’t see Christ making a difference in their world, and that is because Christians are not out there doing the works that God has prepared for us to do. You see if we don’t do the good works prepared for us then nobody will. Let us pray.

 

Prayer:

Holy Almighty God, forgive us for sitting back in our armchairs and grumbling about the way the world is going. Get us up out of our chairs and into the world, so that we may do the good works that you have planned for us! Strengthen us for the task ahead of us. Bringing the good news of salvation by grace alone to a world in desperate need of that message. Help us to hold out the light of hope in the darkness and depression that this world is experiencing right now. Amen.

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