GOOD WORKS, DEAD WORKS, GOOD FRUIT, BAD FRUIT!
Most folks need clarification about “works “because religion has gummed up the works. Let’s take a look.
One of the Bible’s most misinterpreted and misunderstood verses is a quotation from James about works:
“If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled but you do not give them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?
Thus, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works, Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble!
But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was Abraham, our father, not justified by his works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect? The Scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called God’s friend. You see then that a man is justified by works, not by faith only.
(James 2:15-18)
It is important to understand that how Abraham was justified is irrelevant to us. We are justified by believing and believing in the One Whom He Has Sent, not by works.
(John 6:28-29, John 3:16-18, Romans 10:9-10)
Folks who are works pounders twist this teaching about faith into a message about works. They use it as their cornerstone philosophy and to negate Jesus’s covenant of GRACE.
James, however, simply states the obvious. Paraphrased, he means that FAITH PRODUCES WORKS. If we have chosen to believe and believe in Jesus, we change. If we believe Jesus, our hearts will grow to be like His heart.
FAITH (living in this present moment joyfully celebrating the receipt of Jesus’s great and precious promises without regard for what our senses tell us) is a gift from Jesus. When we choose to believe in Him, we receive His faith.
(2 Peter1:1, Romans 10:17)
When we have Jesus’s faith, we are led to behave as He did. Jesus’s faith is infinite and incomprehensible. By His faith, Jesus always did GOOD WORKS. His faith produced those good works.
Here is a thought from Holy Spirit:
WORKS WITHOUT FAITH ARE DEAD!
A MESSAGE TO US FROM HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH
THE PROPHET ISAIAH:
Isaiah had a conversation with God and begged Him to come to earth so that the entire world could see Him and worship Him, which He did seven hundred years later in the person of Jesus. Isaiah asked God how His people could be saved when none of them were without sin, and even their attempts at righteousness by good works meant nothing.
“For we have all become like one who is unclean and all our righteousness, our best deeds (works) of righteousness and justice are like FILTHY RAGS OR A POLLUTED GARMENT; we all fade like a leaf and our iniquities (sins) like the wind, take us away far from God’s favor, hurrying us toward destruction.
(Isaiah 64:6)
There is no need to explain what Isaiah meant by filthy rags or polluted garments. Your imagination will do that.
Isaiah is loudly declaring what we know to be true: IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GAIN THE RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD BY WORKS!
DEAD WORKS:
Attempts to be reconciled to God through deeds and rituals.
A message to us from Holy Spirit through Paul:
Therefore, let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings of Jesus. let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith in God.
(Hebrews 6:1)
Also:
How much more surely shall the blood of Jesus, Who by virtue of His eternal Spirit has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from DEAD WORKS and lifeless observances to serve the ever-living God?
(Hebrews 9:14)
AND THEN THERE IS THIS:
A message to us from Holy Spirit, through our appointed teacher, Paul:
“It is by GRACE (God’s willingness, ability, and power that have done those things for ourselves that we can not or will not do for ourselves) that we have been saved through FAITH. THIS IS A GIFT FROM GOD, NOT OF WORKS, LEST ANYONE SHOULD BOAST. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Simply put, salvation, Grace, faith, and right standing with God are all gifts from God. Our performance does not earn them. Furthermore, no gift from God is incomplete.
If works were our report card, people could brag about their performance and claim to be better than others, which some do today.
Paul continues:
FOR WE ARE GOD’S OWN HANDIWORK RECREATED IN JESUS THAT WE MAY DO THOSE GOOD WORKS WHICH GOD PLANNED BEFOREHAND FOR US, that we should walk in them living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live.
(Ephesians 2:10)
God the Father, God Holy Spirit, and God Jesus knew that when we choose to believe in and believe the One Whom He Has Sent, He comes into our hearts, and we become one with Him.
(1Corinthians6:17)
When we truly believe in and believe Jesus, we change. We take on the attributes of Jesus. Here is how Holy Spirit explained it to Paul:
“But you did not so learn Jesus! Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as Truth is in Jesus, Strip yourselves of your former nature, which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusions, and be constantly renewed in the spirit of our mind having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude, and put on the new nature created in God’s image, in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)
When we become believers in Jesus, we have and operate in His faith. That faith produces what He called GOOD FRUIT.
A GOOD TREE (Those who believe and believe in and are led by Jesus) CAN NOT BEAR BAD FRUIT, NOR CAN A BAD TREE (Those led by their flesh and the evil one) BEAR GOOD FRUIT! Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will know them by their fruits.
(Matthew 7:17-20)
MEANING:
If you operate in Jesus’s faith and are led by Holy Spirit, you do good things. If you are led by the evil one and or your flesh, you do bad things. If someone claims to believe Jesus, you will know them through their good works.
Here are a few good fruits that belief in Jesus produces: Leading with love, being teachable, meekness, hunger and thirsting for righteousness, being merciful, being a peacemaker, Kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, goodness, temperance.
(Matthew 5:1-12, Galatians 5:22-23)
When we focus on Jesus and the Holy Spirit, our minds produce good works. Here Holy Spirit, through Paul, teaches us how to train our minds:
For the rest, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on these.â€
(Philippians 4:8)
Understand this: none of us can ever lead a life without sin! We all sin and come short of the glory of God. Jesus knew that. So He paid the price for all our sins: past, present, and future. He also established our new covenant with God based on Grace.
(Zephaniah 3:17, Isaiah 53:4-5, Psalm 103:1-3, John 1:29, 1 Peter 2:24, Hebrews 8:12, Hebrews 10:10-18, Revelations 1:5)
REMEMBER THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GAIN RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD BY OUR WORKS!
How we behave is determined by who we are led by: our flesh and/or the evil one, or Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Let your light shine through your good works. Demonstrate your belief in Jesus by doing things that reflect well on Him.
TREASURES IN HEAVEN:
Jesus taught us that our good works earn treasures for us in Heaven.
“Do not gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust and worms consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal. But gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy and where thieves do not break through and steal; For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
(Matthew 6:19-20)
So, we do good works because we serve the King of Good, the King of Love, the King of Forgiveness, the King of Mercy, Grace, and Kindness, the King of Peace, the King of Joy and Gladness, and the King of Truth.
SO DO GOOD!
