“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”- Ephesians 2:8-9
The first question that always comes to my mind when the topic of works or good deeds for God comes up is if it were possible to earn our way to heaven by doing good deeds, then why on earth would Christ have had to die a gruesome death on a cross? What does the Bible have to say on the topic of doing good works for the Lord?
When we are born we have a carnal or sinful nature. God’s standard, The Ten Commandments, was established to reveal to man their sinfulness. There is nothing man can do to eradicate the sin nature within. “For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.” – Romans 8:7.
Even when you do “good works” in the name of God, if you have one slip up and break any part of God’s Law you will be cast out of union with him. “For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.” – James 2:10. Christ’s death was the fulfillment of the Law. A blood sacrifice was required to remove the blemish of sin, so“With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”- Hebrews 9:12
Listen to Psalm 103:12, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” Micah 7:19 says: “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Some refer to this as the ‘Sea of Forgetfulness’, not that God could ever be forgetful. Instead, the Lord CHOOSES NOT to remember our sins against us any longer.
Non-believers are still under the Law because they’ve never accepted the cleansing of their sins. Christ took all the punishment connected to that Law onto himself so we might be free of the Law’s penalty.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (today’s text) eliminates the whole idea of working ones way to heaven. God sent his Son Jesus to pay the penalty for all our sin. That is a demonstration of his grace or undeserved favor. We did nothing to deserve or earn this favor; it is the result of our submitting our will to Christ by recognizing and acknowledging our sinful state and asking for forgiveness. Salvation from sin is in no way tied to anything good that we may have done in this life so we have nothing to brag about. Christ alone receives the glory, honor and praise.
We do good because we love the Lord and wish to please and serve him. It’s a choice. We do good deeds as an outcropping of our faith and trust in our Lord. We do them not for any personal gain or accolades, for all praise goes to our God and he shares his glory with no one. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing. rlkeller
Resources: The Life Application Study Bible; http://www.gochristianhelps.com/tracts/stl/cantearn.htm
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