Good Works
By Mike Rule
"Anna never left the temple courtyard but worshipped day and night by
fasting and praying." Luke 2:37
When we try to emulate Jesus' work it is so easy to lose sight of who He is
and what He teaches us. In attempting to imitate, we lose sight of the source of
His work. I have to admit there are times when inflating good works is very
tempting. It is easier to minister by calling attention to strength, victory,
power, glory and righteousness. It gives us something to boast about and make us
feel good when we call attention to all we are doing for God. For a time, the
outward appearance is better, the witness more powerful, and the work far more
"astounding "… at least in the eyes of man. However, I have lived
that way, and the underlying dread of being discovered as a fraud continually
erodes your peace and your mind. There is constant anxiety while fear and guilt
become the motivation for what we do.
The natural outcome of this kind of ministry is intense frustration and
exhaustion because there is no lasting fruit or good works in us or anyone else.
We become desperate to see God do something of significance through us, and we
have an underlying sense that we are on the verge of something great but it
always eludes us. When focusing on all we do for God, we become boastful and
proud, treating people with rudeness. Without realizing it we become harsh,
critical, judgmental, and condemning of those who cannot muster as much strength
and effort as we do to live the Christian life. We justify all our self-effort
while unknowingly adopting a spirit of impatience and unkindness. We insist that
others meet God on our terms, and we base our acceptance of them solely upon how
they measure up to our doctrine, theology, and understanding. If they do not
measure up, we keep a mental list of all their faults. This makes us very
irritable with people who do not see things our way. We feel justified when
someone else stumbles or falls because we knew there was something wrong with
them. Every one of these things that I have mentioned goes against what love
really is as defined by 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
Martin Luther once said,
"Someone might say about this passage (Luke
2:37 above), "In Anna's story, we see Scripture praising good works, such
as fasting, praying, and going to the temple. Doesn't this keep us from
rejecting good works?" Here is our answer: Who rejected good works? We only
reject false works that appear to be good works. Fasting, praying, and going to
church are good works if they are done in the right spirit. But the problem
begins when blind fools jump into the Scripture and clomp around in it with
boots and spurs, and only look at the works and outward example of people in the
Bible. They want to learn to about being holy and so immediately try to follow
their example. This only leads to people becoming hypocrites because they forget
that the Scripture speaks much more about the person than his works."
We are not after good works, nor are we against them. But let's not grow
impatient with God and settle for fake results. We are after the very Source of
all good things, Jesus Himself. Everything else flows naturally in response to
Him and we will love both God and man, because He first loved us. (Matthew 6:33
& 1 John 4:19) Since Jesus said everything flows from these two commands,
let us persevere in faith waiting upon the Lord. The good works and fruit He
produces will always spring forth in unconditional love leading to abundant
Life.
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