Good Work!

Most people do good works to get God to accept them.  This assumption is rarely spoken.  It's more like a sneaking suspicion, "if God is really out there, and if I will be accountable to him someday, I better make sure I give money, or spend some of my time once in awhile helping a charitable organization.  The points I rack up can't hurt. The more I give, the more I do, the more assured I will be that I'm in, whatever that means."

The message of the Bible is radically different from this. Even in the Tanach, the first section comprising the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, written as a covenant to the Jews and all who attach themselves to the God of the Jews, works come after redemption, not before.

It was only after God demonstrated the supremacy of his power over the most formidable empire on the planet at the time, and freed his people from oppressive slavery, that he then gave them the ten commandments.  Their obedience was to be a faith response to his redemption.  "I am the Lord God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" is the preamble to the big ten.  "I am your God, you are my people, we are in covenant together, and I have worked a mighty salvation for you, therefore here is how you can demonstrate your appreciation for who I am and what I have done for you. "You shall have no other gods before me..."

So God's people obey because they have been saved, not to earn salvation, even in the Old Testament.

Good parents don't conditionalize acceptance of their kids on the basis of their performance.  They rejoice with their children when they obey and then reward them, and grief with them when they disobey and must discipline them, but their love and acceptance does not change.

No one is capable of living according to the perfect standards of the commandments anyway.  Everyone of us knows we could do more.  All of us know of times that we did our own thing and completely blew God off. If perfect obedience to God's standards becomes the criteria for his acceptance, we are doomed.


But the Bible declares something spectacularly wonderful. Here's just one example of where good works fits in Christianity: In one of the apostle Paul's letters he gives a command, but gives it in the context of God's previous saving work.  "Be tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you."   You are commanded not to be harsh, defensive, resentful and hold grudges, but instead be empathetic, open and forgiving, not to gain salvation, but because God in Christ has been tenderhearted and forgiving to you already.


This is indeed good news.