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What We Believe: faith vs. works

A natural extension to last month’s article in our “What We Believe” series where we spoke about the distinction between the Law and the Gospel, is to address faith and works this month Even Christian churches struggle to profess or distinguish the purpose, value or application of these attributes of the Christian walk.

The apostle Paul once said, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.” Eph 2-8-9. In other words, the undeserved favor of God, the promise of eternal life (going to heaven) is not based on merits we earn, good deeds, how many ‘brownie points’ we build through the course of our lives. The promise and gift of eternal life is given to those who don’t deserve it, which is everyone, all humans, church-going or not, because “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Rom 3:23-24.

In a culture that promotes hard work as the key to success, something we all teach our children, it challenges us to accept in our minds that favor with God comes in a different way. We are led to believe that God rewards goodness with membership in heaven. Yet no amount of goodness can add up to deserving eternity with God, as just one sin, one bit of selfishness shows we are still sinful by nature. We are saved freely by Jesus Christ’s work on the cross, that being dying for our sins, taking our blame, and God the Father imputing (applying) Jesus’ sin-free righteousness to us, and seeing us in a new and forgiven way. Hard to believe, and hard to accept, but true — faith in Jesus alone saves!

Yet later in Scripture we read, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” Jam 2:14, 17. Rather than to conflict with, this verse actually supports those previously quoted. This passage from James does not tell us that works or deeds merit eternal life, or that faith in Jesus alone is not sufficient. In full context, God’s Word here says that the good works we do, the sacrificial giving, the kindness we share, these are a natural extension of faith, the evidence of our faith. To believe and receive that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son Jesus to die for the sins of man, to know that our sins are forgiven, that this gift that cost Jesus His life for our sake, instills a response from us. Faith in the abounding love that God showed us does not sit still, or lie dormant. It brings about a change and a response from us, a desire to do the will of God in our lives toward God and toward others. These good deeds we perform do not merit God’s favor toward us, for we have this already through faith in Christ. They rather demonstrate the change in us, our appreciation, our desire to serve God for what we are already promised and given.

Faith and works have their place, and go hand in hand with this important distinction.

To learn more about faith and works, our churches are: St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fredonia (672-6731), Immanuel Lutheran Church in Gowanda (532-4342), or Trinity Lutheran Church in Silver Creek (934-2002).

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