For years, I’ve struggled with the idea of “good works.” What are they? How do we do them? From an early age my parents have taught me that we aren’t saved by good works but rather because of God’s grace and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. That has never been an issue for me. Post-salvation good works are where I struggle. I’ve heard sermon after sermon where the word grace is used but good works is preached.
Why are we so stuck on good works? I think the reason good works is our goal so often is because we are stuck in a law-abiding, rule following, right and wrong mentality that we were born into. The first problem with this is that the law awakens our sinful desires (Romans 7:5), and the second problem is that we are no longer called to live under the law:
“But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:6)
Am I saying good works are bad? Certainly not. Paul says quite clearly that good works are part of our design:
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
For years, I’ve looked at this from the perspective of the law, which says that the sole reason I was created is for good works. Time after time in the last several weeks God has taken me back to the garden where He continues to show me that His design for us as a human race was and is relationship, not good works. Good works have never been ultimate; they have never been our purpose. The ultimate (our purpose) has always been to know Him, to walk in relationship with Him.
The other day, God showed me a powerful parallel for the role of good works in a Christian’s life. Just as sex is not the purpose of a relationship, neither are good works. If we live our lives with sex being the end goal (our purpose) we will go down any path that takes us there. Even if we end up going through the God-ordained path of marriage, our focus won’t be on that relationship but rather on sex. Just as so many times our focus is on the good works rather than the relationship.
When good works is our end goal, we will go down all the wrong paths to get there. It may be selfishness, pride, or some failing attempt at salvation. Regardless of what it looks like, it takes the place of relationship in our lives. This lie, this false focus is so engrained in our lives that even when we hear the truth that God wants relationship, we assume that it is only a way for Him to get good works from us.
Because of this, even when we go down the “proper path” of relationship, often times it is motivated by the end goal of good works. Just as someone who has been used in a relationship assumes that the next time someone is interested in them it is solely for sex. Relationship becomes just a means to an end.
God is calling us to make relationship the means and the end. Just as sex is a natural and wonderful expression of a marriage, good works becomes a natural and wonderful expression of our relationship with Christ when we lay it down as the end goal. God’s purpose in your life is not good works. His purpose in your life is you.
