Good works and love for others
I once had a disturbing conversation with a self-proclaimed Calvinist. For the sake of fairness, I cannot say with any certainty that this person was truly a Calvinist. In fact, I cannot say with any certainty that this friend was really anything. His beliefs were radical and inconsistent, a dangerous and volatile combination. Throughout the course of this particular conversation, I recall that he was arguing against the notion of Christian good works. He wasn't arguing against works themselves I don't think. Instead, he was arguing against any notion of Christian responsibility to engage in them.
Many in our day revolt against the suggestion that Christians should be engaged in good works. Perhaps it flows from an earnest desire to avoid the dangers of legalism, or perhaps they fear being trapped in a works-based religion. But in their efforts, earnest or not, they often tend to become so radical as to become willfully oblivious to the clear call of Scripture.
Works can never save us. This is one of the most basic assertions of Christian soteriology. But an equally basic assertion is that grace, while given freely, is not meant to be absorbed and retained like water in a sponge. True, the Father freely extends his life and love to the Son, but the Son does not hoard it for himself. Instead he reciprocates it back, and the resulting dynamic sharing of life and love is the moral image in which humanity was created, and consequently the intended result of Christian experience. We, like God, are not to receive grace freely without responsibility. As recipients of free grace, we in turn must freely respond by becoming a means of grace to others.
John Wesley articulates this quite well in sermon 114, "The Unity of the Divine Being." He says in paragraph 17:
Who of us is willing to say that works don't matter? Indeed works do not save you, and yet works will legitimize your faith, "for faith without works is dead." You can no more be a dentist and not work on teeth than you can be a Christian and not love fellow men. Let us not become ensnared by the faulty logic of our day.
Many in our day revolt against the suggestion that Christians should be engaged in good works. Perhaps it flows from an earnest desire to avoid the dangers of legalism, or perhaps they fear being trapped in a works-based religion. But in their efforts, earnest or not, they often tend to become so radical as to become willfully oblivious to the clear call of Scripture.
Works can never save us. This is one of the most basic assertions of Christian soteriology. But an equally basic assertion is that grace, while given freely, is not meant to be absorbed and retained like water in a sponge. True, the Father freely extends his life and love to the Son, but the Son does not hoard it for himself. Instead he reciprocates it back, and the resulting dynamic sharing of life and love is the moral image in which humanity was created, and consequently the intended result of Christian experience. We, like God, are not to receive grace freely without responsibility. As recipients of free grace, we in turn must freely respond by becoming a means of grace to others.
John Wesley articulates this quite well in sermon 114, "The Unity of the Divine Being." He says in paragraph 17:
It is in consequence of our knowing God loves us, that we love him, and love our neighbour as ourselves. Gratitude towards our Creator cannot but produce benevolence to our fellow creatures. The love of Christ constrains us, not only to be harmless, to do no ill to our neighbour, but to be useful, to be "zealous of good works;" "as we have time, to do good unto all men;" and to be patterns to all of true, genuine morality; of justice, mercy, and truth. This is religion, and this is happiness; the happiness for which we were made. This begins when we begin to know God, by the teaching of his own Spirit. As soon as the Father of spirits reveals his Son in our hearts, and the Son reveals his Father, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts; then, and not till then, we are happy. We are happy, first, in the consciousness of his favour, which indeed is better than life itself; next, in the constant communion with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ; then, in all the heavenly tempers which he hath wrought in us by his Spirit; again, in the testimony of his Spirit, that all our works please him; and, lastly, in the testimony of our own spirits, that "in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world." Standing fast in this liberty from sin and sorrow, wherewith Christ hath made them free, real Christians "rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks." And their happiness still increases as they "grow up into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."Wesley rightly asserts that the consequence of our knowing God loves us is that we love him and others. Human love is rooted in divine love. In fact, any love that we are capable of is due to the fact that we, by faith, through the Son in the Spirit, participate in the very life and love of God himself, thereby freeing us to truly love as he loves with the love with which he loves.
Who of us is willing to say that works don't matter? Indeed works do not save you, and yet works will legitimize your faith, "for faith without works is dead." You can no more be a dentist and not work on teeth than you can be a Christian and not love fellow men. Let us not become ensnared by the faulty logic of our day.
