In the financial world of investing, it is usually wise to diversify to reduce risk. This way, different asset classes or industries which may perform poorly for a time in one area can be offset by better performance somewhere else. In the religious world, even among Christian portfolios, there is often a concern that selling out fully into God's grace is risky business ... even dangerous. It has become part of the church culture.
Did Jesus really do everything necessary to connect people to God for eternity and make them alive in Him ... or do we need to do our part to complete what He started? Will it be fully by faith or will it require expanding into various works? Are we going to put all of our eggs into one basket by investing 100% into the Jesus stock or will we feel the need to "hedge our bets" for some other type of spiritual safety net? Will we depend upon blood or behavior? Counting the cost isn't about us trying to figure out how to pay a debt that we'll never be able to fulfill. It's about trusting in Another who fully invested Himself in order for us to experience the peace found in a covenant of a promised guarantee.
The sad reality for many weekly churchgoers is finding themselves wondering if they are doing enough to remain in God's good graces. They've been told about the risk of having dead faith if they lack in works. People who came to believe in Jesus by grace through faith—apart from works—didn't see the rug getting pulled out from underneath them when they had been previously told Jesus was their solid ground. Just exactly what works are needed? What specifically qualifies to keep the heartbeat of faith pumping?
They've heard misguided Bible teaching which they may have assumed was true and it sparked fear instead of love. They veered down a path in thinking faith is established and maintained based on their understanding of Bible verses ... or trusting in how their church leaders interpret them. Human perspectives labeled as absolute truth are limited and can change. There is a better place of peace, and it surpasses our understanding and our Bible academics. Our works are not the basis for justification or faith, but rather, experiencing the perfect love of God will allow for faith to be expressed from the inside out in a multitude of different ways.
For those of us who have experienced the gospel of abundant grace, it can be interesting to think back to the BG days (before grace). The Christian "religion" so often touts the need for believers in Christ to "do" things to maintain salvation and God's acceptance or approval ... while trying to work on finding the right combination of works to keep their faith alive. Bible verses get quoted with misapplied context and without people thinking them through.
As the song says:
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk ...
Well now, I get low and I get high ...
Somebody help me ...
Religion screams that we need to demonstrate an outward walk as some sort of proof of our belief. Paul emphasized that we walk by faith and not by sight. We are gifted with God's righteousness—justification—and salvation apart from works. It occurs by grace through faith. "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness" (Roman 4:4-5).
Let's confront the fear-based notion that faith is dead apart from works. If this were truly the case, it would require the application of grace plus law; and right standing with rules attached. It not only pushes people backwards and upside down to the time of their roller coaster Christianity during their BG days, but even further back to an obsolete covenant containing the impossible Mosaic law the Jewish people were under before the death and resurrection of Jesus. The faith that saves cannot be considered dead while salvation remains alive. They go hand in hand and cannot be separated. Religious legalists will suggest otherwise, but they fail to spell out precisely what works and exactly how much is required in the New Covenant in order to keep faith off of life support.
While works can be an important part of our life in Christ, the good news is that the gospel and our eternal redemption is rooted in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Maybe you've seen it in church buildings where it is declared one is saved by grace through faith, not by works ... and then comes the "but." It's what we call the dreaded and confusing Grace-But Ministries. One of the "buts" is that the faith that saves requires good works as proof or evidence that faith is alive and not dead. They will tout that without this outward evidence of works that are designed to be seen by others, then faith is dead (and maybe they were never really saved in the first place ... in spite of their belief and profession of faith in Jesus Christ).
Even the most passionate grace folks can also slip down a legalistic slope without realizing it. As is usually the case, it can be traced back to misunderstanding a few scattered Bible verses without the revelation of a New Covenant context. Watch out when it's grace one minute and "but" the next.
Let's talk about it…
Are works a requirement for faith to come to life or to remain alive? If so, you'll have something to boast about while God owes you a debt for something you've done.
In legalistic camps—and sometimes grace circles—specifics are almost always omitted, leaving you to guess which works are needed and how much.
Works and fruit are often mistaken for the same thing.
Jesus cautioned against performance for the purpose of being seen by others.
Faith is the evidence of what is not seen (that which is eternal). It's more than a mouthful, which is why two mouths are better than one!
Someone who out-performs the majority of Christians with extraordinary works and extends compassion towards others outwardly, could do so with great consistency without ever having claimed to believe in Jesus Christ. They could demonstrate what appears to be fruitful behavior through their works and actions without having faith that brings justification.
On the other hand, a believer in Jesus Christ may have faith without demonstrating it outwardly in ways that we or certain religious people think that it should be expressed. But that doesn't mean they are not saved and justified. The effort to produce and then boast in works is not proof of faith. Faith is the evidence of that which is not seen. Perhaps this is why Paul said we look at what is not seen ... because justification and righteousness is granted to those who-do-not-work but believe in Him who justifies the ungodly.
Paul appears frustrated as he addresses "you foolish Galatians" in the beginning of Chapter 3. Why? They had started out receiving the Spirit of God by faith but were being lured by a more popular persuasion from men who came from James—and had started to convince these Gentiles to adhere to the old Jewish law in combination with faith in Christ. This led to Paul carefully laying out an explanation over the next couple of chapters or so of how works and faith could not be mixed when it came to their salvation and right standing with God.
Abraham and the foundational message of a promise made to him by God will be Paul's launching pad to explain how the law was a curse and was not of faith. It will be fruitless and ineffective for them to think perfection could come through works (the flesh).
We're wrapping up our recent series about some things found in the letter from James to believers in Jesus from the twelve tribes of Israel ... and the contrasts found with Paul's writings. One example we'll look at is in James 4, where an old covenant mindset is communicated about telling believers to draw near to God which will result in Him drawing near to them. He said they should work at cleansing their hands and purifying their hearts. How? By avoiding becoming a judge of the law but rather a doer of it. It was a follow-through to what was stated earlier in the letter.
Our identity is not meant to be found in what we do and see, but as believers who trust in the sufficiency of Christ and what He did. There is a theme within the letter that focuses much on works of the law and externals—compared to Paul who exhorted people to look at the things which are not seen—who are already declared as clean, justified and sanctified apart from their actions.
The summary here is that most believing Jews at this time thought the law was still in place for them and was to be mixed with faith in Jesus as a way to attain righteousness and justification. There was a greater grace—but the law was still part of their landscape. Paul came along with what was considered controversial teaching by many for which he was harshly persecuted because of his message that the Jews had been redeemed from the law and that they and Gentiles could be saved and inherit righteousness apart from such a law of works.
Does this mean the letter from James should not be in the Bible? We believe having it included actually validates the other things we find in the New Testament. There is an overall divine inspiration being provided ... but that doesn't necessarily mean that every "verse" is coming as a quote directly from the mouth of God. That is not an accurately pure interpretation of how the word "inspired" should be defined as a verse-by-verse assumption. Zoom out from the verses (which were never included in the original scripts) and we'll find the writings as a whole provide an inspiration of a much bigger picture regarding our need for God and how He met that need with the promise of His Son. Perfect grace. Perfect love. No quid pro quo. No strings attached.
Throughout the pages of the New Testament, we see numerous examples of how there were Jewish people coming to believe in Jesus, but understandably also believed the law of Moses was still in place for them. The Apostle Paul came along a short while later with a gospel message he claimed was taught directly to him by divine revelation ... to declare the former law had been put aside and nailed to the cross. His message was that life could not be found in the law which had now come to an end, and that the Jewish people had been delivered from such a burdensome ministry of death and condemnation.
But he was in the minority and suffered much persecution because of it. Various places within the New Testament show how James and his council of leadership within the Jerusalem church were part of this persuasion who believed that the Mosaic law was a component towards attaining salvation/justification (for the Jew). They also encouraged at least portions of it for the believing Gentiles. By not ignoring this important part of the big picture within the scriptures, we can begin to see how all of these books (including the works-based letter from James) harmonize with each other to tell the story. The story of what was happening with the struggles in the early church at that time—but more importantly—the message of Jesus and how eternal life is found in Him as a gift by grace through faith ... apart from works.
Here's the playlist for our previous series, "Faith and Works, Paul and James."
In Acts 13 and 14, after what may have been close to a decade after the resurrection, Paul was in the early days of his ministry of the gospel to Gentiles and also Jewish people. He and Barnabas connected in the region of Antioch for about a year, finally opening the message of salvation available to Gentiles found through faith in a risen Jesus.
But first they addressed Jews who gathered at the nearby synagogue on the weekly Sabbath to hear a customary reading of the law of Moses. Some received their gospel message, but just as many did not ... and the city became divided. Jews who were advocates for the old law didn't appreciate being told that only Jesus could bring them forgiveness and freedom—while the law never could.
This ... combined with Gentiles coming to faith in Christ ... led Paul's Jewish contradictors to stone him while in one particular city, and dragged him out of the town to be left for dead. This would just be Round 1. The bell would ring, and Paul would get up and head boldly back into the ring, undeterred by those who threw rocks while they were clinging to the stone tablets.
When it comes to sharing the good news of Jesus, many have followed a "formula" that features a pattern of sharing bad news first. This is usually based on a form of legalism ... telling each individual they have broken God's law. However, it was a law they were never under, and it came to an end over 2,000 years ago.
There is a better option of pointing people to the One who gives eternal life other than using an obsolete law of works. By pointing out that people need to be saved because of bad works, then they often assume a mindset that works are needed to maintain their approved position with God by having good works that will outweigh their bad. The better choice is to communicate the love of God as demonstrated through what Jesus did on behalf of everyone ... which brought a New Covenant based upon believing—and not good and bad works.
