"...faith was completed by his works;"

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." - Titus 2:11-14 (ESV)

Sitting at the dining room table eating an early breakfast, Debbie saw her neighbor, Stacy, pulling the trash can to the street for morning pick-up. Stacy had just gone through a rough divorce and was barely making the mortgage payments. Her son blamed her for the break-up and had left to live with his father, leaving Stacy alone in the empty house, devoid of most of the furniture.

Debbie watched as Stacy struggled with the can, trying to roll it down the long driveway on its one good wheel. Suddenly, the can spun to its side spilling a busted white bag onto the cement. Debbie quickly stood at the foot of the table watching as Stacy stumbled trying to catch it, but fell to her knees. Debbie uttered a quick prayer under her breath that Stacy would be okay and let out a sigh as she stood up and dusted the knees of her tattered green pajamas and begin pick up the trash and return it to the can.

Debbie's husband, Mark, stood in the doorway putting the finishing touches on his blue and red work tie. "Sure feel sorry for what she's going through." he said as he slipped his wallet in his back pocket. Debbie turned from the window and began straightening his tie, "I know. We really need to be praying for her. Maybe we can call Steve down at the church and see if he can put her name on our prayer list."

Debbie and Mark are good people. They have kind hearts and good intentions. Yet, they lack a zeal for good works. They have charitable pity for their neighbor, but aren't moved to much more than a sighing prayer and a phone call to the church. Are they in sin because they didn't help Stacy with her trash or plan to reach out to her in love and service? Not necessarily. However, is this a good sign of their spiritual health? Probably not.

Scripture tells us that "what-so-ever does not proceed from faith is sin." Anything we do apart from a faith in Christ, His works, His grace, and His leading or anything done simply through our own strength, our own wisdom, our own sympathies, or anything that is not rooted in our desire for Christ and His glorification is sin. As believers, we are divinely enabled to bear spiritual fruit. The fruits (or works) of our flesh are always present, but spiritual fruits are only born through intimacy with Jesus through His word.

"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealously, fits of anger, rivalries, dissension, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified its flesh with its passions and desires." - Galatians 5:19-24 (ESV)

For the purpose of the point of this blog, I only want to focus on one work of the flesh and one fruit of the spirit. Idolatry is one of the greatest plagues the church is facing today. We idolize our music, our technology, our emotions, our reputations, etc, etc, etc. This is a work of our flesh, which we are told in God's word to daily nail to the cross. The fruit that I believe most combats this work is goodness. Goodness is the motive behind your choices. It is the intention of your words and deeds. The integrity that rules your decisions. In our works, whether a sighed prayer or a lifetime missionary journey, we must bear the fruit of goodness. Our intention must be Christ. It must proceed from the deep desire and love for Christ in our hearts. 

The word became flesh, and He was the light among men. We are commanded by scripture to let our light shine so that the world may see our good deeds. Friends, the works in our lives should be the evident result of our faith in Jesus, not the means we use to grasp for faith in the midst of our doubt. We must seek and study God's holy Word (which is Christ, who embodied every article and period). Then as faith is made alive in us, we must let it give way to zealous works unto God's glory. We are commissioned to "examine" ourselves to see that we are "in the faith." We must examine our works, beginning at their motives, and "work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling" in the presence of a most Holy God. Guys, it's not about what you do, it's about WHY you do it. But, if there are no works to judge, then we must ask ourselves, "Am I in the faith?"

Concluding Remarks: "Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." Reading and doing what the Word says is the closest we can ever bring ourselves to Jesus. He was the Word, and he performed the Word. Let us walk in His example, and cling to Him, both in Word and in spirit. 

**The title of this blog is taken from James 2:22 (ESV).