The Gospel and Works

THE GOSPEL AND WORKS

There is only one way to receive forgiveness of sins and that is by faith in Jesus and His finished work of redemption. His resurrection to be sure substantiated it all, but the cross was the culmination of all the shadows, types, forerunners, and prophecies. Nothing can be added and nothing can be taken from that glorious sacrifice. That alone is life.

But without an engine there is no car, and without a head there is no body. So the gospel message has at its core the sacrifice of Christ, offered once for all. Upon that Rock there can be no dispute. But is an engine a car? Is just a head a body? And is the gospel message a stark doctrine of spiritual redemption but without any accoutrements that help present it and influence men? Or is it built upon the Chief Cornerstone and uses the sacrificial works of men to shine an eternal illumination upon the work of Jesus?

I am asking an important question. Are there things about the teachings of Jesus which have to do with our lives that should be tethered to the message of the gospel? No, not do they aid in redemption, but do they provide salt and light that when seen before men can and do help in drawing men to Jesus Christ. I suggests that if the answer is no, then our lives are little more than corpses waiting in sarcophaguses for heaven and without much good on this earth. But if there is a mystery, a ministry of the Spirit which empowers and directs the followers of Jesus, then it is imperative for us to establish what they are and do them.

And when we examine His teachings we find all kinds of exhortations which display His Person and the essence of redemption. And since the gospel pulsates with eternal redemption, any earthly works that reflect that redemption must be in and of themselves redemptive. In practical verbiage, our lives must be beacons of God’s love expressed by how we treat and minister to each other as well as those outside of Christ. And even though the gospel message can only be engaged through personal faith, are not the teachings of Jesus part of that gospel, at least woven into its fabric? In essence, the church preaches a message of redemption through faith in Jesus Christ, but it also lives that gospel through deeds that reveal the redemptive heart of God.

This symbiotic relationship between faith and works has been systematically compromised because of doctrinal fear and yet the very Bible that is so openly defended indicts this kind of unnatural and synthetic separation. For so long the message of James has made the doctrinal bourgeoisie very uncomfortable and over the years I have watched as various forms of linguistic gymnastics have been employed in order to explain James without wandering into sacred doctrinal territory. But if we embrace the teachings of Jesus as more than good manners or humanitarian suggestions, then we may be able to see something very practical and glorious. We may be able to see a divine relationship between the gospel message and the ministry to fellow human beings. This relationship is nothing short of breathtaking as well as a glorious mystery.

No one can be saved through human works. Regardless of how many poor you feed, or how many sick you heal, or how many prisoners you visit, only the blood of Jesus can forgive sins. And that must come through faith alone. What a work of grace! What a glorious offer from God’s very heart of love! It is the gift of all gifts, and it is eternal in the heavens. But Jesus clearly outlined a kingdom which not only walked in the power of that message, but exhibited living acts which came from that kingdom and which, when translated through the ministry of the Spirit, could capture the hearts of sinners who do not know Jesus. This entire “process”, if you will, is a great mystery and it was meant to be. Lest the church make the regeneration of lost sinners something that can be achieved through a manipulative and pragmatic approach.

But so many churches have cleverly designed evangelism tools which employ sales techniques that “guide” a person into buying what we are selling. And so we have a sort of assembly line kind of discipleship which can take a sinner from point A and lead him to point Z, all with a “trained” leader. And “poof”, we now have a church member. But do we have a born again believer? His life may now include going to a church and even being involved in some of the ecclesiastical activities, but has he been born again? You see, the church has removed the heart of Jesus’ teachings and replaced them with subtle ways to achieve what we desire. And when this kind of practice becomes widespread, then our churches are filled with religious and moral folk who are being told over and over again that they need not worry about heaven for they are going there.

There is an eternal difference between going to church and being a member, and being born again by the Spirit of God. And if you really do not understand that, then you are not born again. In 1975 when I became a believer I had never heard the phrase “born again”, but when I read those words after I was saved, I knew exactly what Jesus meant. Why? Because I had been born again, and when my experience met God’s truth, it was a match. I did not have to make God’s truth bend to my experience, but the work that the Spirit had done in me was obviously done by the power of God’s eternal truth.

So many of the teachings of Jesus are humanitarian in nature. And His teachings on nonviolence are radical and genuinely illogical when processed through the prism of the culture and the world large. But again, the church has been so uncomfortable with the implications of many of His teachings when received as literal, that alterations were necessary if we were to operate and live within the culture without being seen as fools. His teachings so stretched the parameters of reason that they have been diluted and are now little more than suggestions concerning situational ethics and making sure we include helping the poor in a way which requires no sacrifice. The uncontested volume of our lives is consumed with ourselves and the things of this world, and there can be nothing more at odds with what Jesus lived and taught.

I am suggesting, I am challenging all of us to read through the four gospels in a matter of a few days. And as you read invite the Spirit to reveal not only new truths, but an entire new revelation concerning what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Most church members have never read the four gospels, much less set out to seek the heart of God through them. They are content to hear a well crafted Sunday message and with that sustain their souls. But in fact many times what they hear poisons their souls and reinforces their current lifestyles bound by the interests of self and the pleasures of this present world. And through the western ecclesiastical world the gospel has been deprived of the Spirit’s life and has become a ticket to heaven and a power point on a church member’s resumé.

So after you are born again, what does the gospel require of us? Just our entire lives.
Lk.14: 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
 ²⁹ Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
³⁰ Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
³² Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
³³ So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.