Works or faith? Give me Faith!

February 27, 2022 . . .

When I made my first feeble forays into the wonderful world of cooking, one of the things I learned early was to pay close attention to the recipes. For example, ½ cup of sugar is way different than 12 cups of sugar (just trust me on this one). If you put in a wrong ingredient or even the wrong amount of the right ingredient, you will end up with a less than desirable outcome. Recipes are precise for a reason. Mainly, so would-be-chefs like me have a pattern to follow. Let’s move this discussion into spiritual waters. Most of us believe, correctly, I might add, that we are saved by faith alone. Jesus Christ accomplished what was necessary for our salvation on the cross of Calvary. None of us are good enough to earn our way to heaven. But here is where the waters get kind of muddy. I recently read a couple of prominent theologians who stated that while good works aren’t necessary for salvation, a saved person must perform good works in order to show that he or she has been saved. Let’s stop the horse right here and tie him to the hitching post for a minute. In other words, these well-meaning folks are teaching that good works don’t save us, but if we are saved, we better be doing good works to show that we are saved (isn’t that a roundabout way of saying good works are necessary for our salvation?) One of the men said that Christians should certainly show good works “in some measure” in order to have assurance of their salvation. Don’t get me wrong, I think Christians should show good works, but that is another topic. Salvation and works are two separate issues. Let’s get back to our recipe illustration for a minute. Just like the recipe called specifically for ½ cup of sugar (not “some sugar”), exactly what is meant by the term “some measure” of good works? How many good works is “some measure”? One…Three…One Hundred Three? Either we are saved by trusting in Christ’s finished work on the cross, or we are saved by pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps and working our way through the pearly gates. I don’t know about you, but I am untying my horse from my hitching post and tying it up to the cross and letting Jesus Christ and His finished work on that cross lead me home. Oh, and by the way, on my journey home, I am going to tell everyone I can about the good news that Jesus saves and brother, THAT is good news!!

Be blessed and be a blessing . . . Bro Andy