A GOOD WORK OR GOOD WORKS?

Jas 1:22    But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Jas 1:23    For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

Jas 1:24    For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

Jas 1:25    But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

Recently, I was reading my Daily Bread devotional, and the above verses that went with it.  The phrase But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, literally jumped out at me.  I hadn't realized that when Jesus sets you free from your old life where you are a slave to self and you try to be good with good works, that this is what the perfect law of liberty is referring to.  James makes a clear distinction that once we are saved, if we just simply read the Word and do not act on it, we will fall back into our old ways, and we will not be free.  I read the Matthew Henry commentary, and he said that the papists tried to generalize the phrase to doing "good deeds," but the Scripture actually means the good work that God has specifically given us to do, so it says, "the good work." It doesn't say, "the good works," in the plural.  In other words, it is a very individual thing.  Whatever God has told us to do we are to do "the good work," and we will be blessed in our deed. How do we know what He has asked us to do?  We take it from His Word, and then He confirms it to us.  Many times the thought or the idea, which will line up with His Word as righteous and true, will dominate our thoughts and will persist until we obey, and do it.    

I thought about the idea of works and how some churches become so formal and so organized that they speak more of good works and less about a personal relationship with Jesus, and specific works we do out of love and obedience to the Lord.  I wondered why they do this, and then Galatians 6:12 came to mind: 

As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 

It is much easier to do good works, then it is to pray about what the Lord wants us specifically to do.  That way, we can please ourselves and feel good, or perhaps feel we fit in more with what others expect of us to do, and not take any flack for not doing it their way. 

Christians who know the truth can even persuade you to do good works that you have not been specifically directed to do by the Holy Spirit.  They may not have prayed about it themselves, and so they assume that what they are asking you to do in the name of "good works" is for everyone to do, including you.  They may use guilt if you do not do or cannot do what they have asked, but guilt is not of God, even though it may "feel" like you should do what they have asked.  We are never to put our trust in another person, but to put our trust in God, and do what pleases Him first and foremost.  He fulfills all in all, and meets our needs, however He chooses to do so.

SEEKING A PLACE OR A PERSON?

Recently I talked to a woman who believes that you have to work hard at your faith and you have to work hard to attain eternal heaven.  She was very confused about who Jesus is, and believes that "Jehovah" is the only true God, although that is only one of His many names.  I told her that there is no other way to heaven other than through Jesus Christ.  She couldn't seem to grasp that fact, but I kept giving her verses to assure her that the only assurance of salvation and the way to heaven comes through Jesus Christ alone, and not our own works.

 As I drove away, praying for her, I thought about what she was really saying.  She is looking for an eternal home outside of looking for the only Person who paid the price for our sins, who loves us so much He laid His life down for us, and He is the only Person who can get us into His eternal heaven.  Heaven is the reward and the result of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  So in her situation, she is trying her hardest to get to heaven by as many good works as she can do, and then she hopes that Jehovah will accept her into His heaven, even though she has never known Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. 

 The Bible is crystal clear on the only way to get to heaven.  Here are some verses to verify this:

JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET TO HEAVEN:

 Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 Joh 8:21    Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

Joh 8:22    Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.

Joh 8:23    And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

Joh 8:24    I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

 THERE IS NO SALVATION APART FROM JESUS CHRIST:

 1Jn 2:22    Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1Jn 2:23    Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

 2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

 WE ARE NOT SAVED BY OUR OWN WORKS:

Gal 2:16    Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Tit 3:5    Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Tit 3:6    Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; Tit 3:7    That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Read over verse 7 again.  We are justified by "grace," not our own works.  We are "made heirs," and this is something we ourselves do not and cannot do.  You are either an heir or you are not, you cannot suddenly make yourself an heir.  As a blood-bought believer, God has made you an heir! He HAS OPENED WIDE THE DOORS OF HEAVEN FOR YOU!  What an incredible gift! 

THE WORK OF GOD IS ALWAYS PERFECT, THERE ARE NO IMPERFECTIONS:

Jas 1:17    Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Jas 1:18    Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

 In verse 18, it says we are "begotten of God!"  We did nothing to join His family, and it certainly had nothing to do with our own good works, which are imperfect and could never reach His perfect standards.  The word "begot" and begotten means "procreated, generated."  Only God can create a new creature, and that's what He did when we became born again:

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

And again, in the following verse, our salvation and our inheritance has nothing to do with our own good works or religious acts:

Gal 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

There are other religions that use good works as a guarantee that if followers would just do such and such, they will reach a type of paradise after they die.   But of course this is not the Biblical heaven, nor is this the God of the Bible that condone any other way to heaven except through the cross of Jesus Christ, and a personal relationship with Him by faith.