The topic of good works appears again and again throughout the New Testament and in the writings of the early church fathers. The first and second century church practiced good works as a means of meeting pressing needs in their midst and thereby drawing nonbelievers to faith in Christ (Titus 3:14; Matthew 5:16; Acts 2:45, 47; 6:1-7). The primary recipients of good works were Christian widows, single mothers (John 19:26-27, Acts 6:1-6; James 1:27), orphans (James 1:27), and “the weak” (Acts 20:33-35). Non Christian widows, single mothers, etc. could also be the objects of a Christian’s good works. But the emphasis was on meeting pressing needs within the church body first (Galatians 6:10) so that the church could say “there is not a needy person among us” (Acts 4:34) and thereby demonstrate the efficacy of the love of Christ (1 John 3:16-17) and the reality of what it means to be in a new covenant relationship with God and with each other through faith in Christ (Luke 22:20).
We modern evangelicals, on the other hand, have wandered far and wide from the original role of good works in the Christian life and in the local church.
Here are seven reasons why we get good works wrong.
1. We focus solely on how God has saved us and forget why God has saved us.
We are so paranoid about slipping into works salvation that we place all our emphasis on salvation by faith and think the only real reason God saves us is so that we can spend eternity with Him in heaven. We quote Ephesians 2:8-9, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast,” but we often fail to include verse 10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV).
God has saved us for eternity: the “then and there.” But He has also saved us for this world: “the here and now.” Verse ten is emphatic: believers are “God’s handiwork.” Our purpose is to “do good works.” And not just any good works, but good works that God has prepared in advance for us. This means that our salvation should result in jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, Christ-exalting good works; the Christian version of “shock and awe”.
2. We don’t understand what our good works should accomplish.
Imagine I gave a group of men some carpentry tools and wood and said, “Now go build something.” The result would be sheer chaos. One man would build a dog house. Another would build a castle. Some would finish their work. Others wouldn’t.
But this is exactly the state of the role of good works in the church today. We have a vague idea that we are to do good works. But we have no idea of what we are to accomplish with them. And so we go out and do our own thing.
The Bible is very clear about what good works are to accomplish. By our good works we guarantee the well being of those in need around us, the way Judah guaranteed the well being of Benjamin (Genesis 44:27-34), Ruth guaranteed the well being of Naomi (Ruth 1), Jonathan guaranteed the well being of David (1 Samuel 18:1-5), John guaranteed the well being of Mary (John 19:25-27) and Paul guaranteed the well being of the weak in the Ephesian church (Acts 20:32-35). “Let our people learn to engage in good deeds–to meet pressing needs–that they may not be unfruitful” Paul says in Titus 3:14. A Christian man’s family, extended family, church and neighborhood should not have ongoing pressing needs that he is not concerned about and taking concrete steps to address.
3 We don’t understand who the recipients of our good works should be.
What would you think of me as a husband and a father if I took the food out of my kitchen and gave it to the local food bank and left nothing for my wife and children to eat? You would point out that I have my priorities all wrong. I’m sure you would say something like, “You have a responsibility to your family first. After their needs are met, then you can concern yourself with the needs of those outside your family.”
But churches give priority to the needy outside their congregations all the time. They ignore the pressing needs in their own church family and focus instead on the poor and needy in the general culture, and even in foreign cultures. To be sure, there is much good that has come out of the “externally focused church” movement. All kinds of cultural blessing has come from the tens of thousands of churches that now meet needs in their communities, such as food banks, language programs, job programs, car maintenance for widows and single moms, short term missions trips, etc. These are all good and should continue.
But at the same time, churches ignore the needs of their own people. I hear countless stories from desperate widows and single moms who feel neglected by their church.
4. We don’t understand why we should focus on the needs of our widowed and single parents first.
What is at stake with good works is the efficacy of the love of Christ. What does the love of Christ mean in practice to those in our churches who have ongoing pressing needs? Sadly, the answer the world often gives when it looks at the church is, “Nothing.”
But if we believers have indeed been saved from our selfish and sinful ways, then we have to address the ongoing needs in our congregations to prove it. John exhorts his readers, “Whoever sees his brother in need and shuts up his compassion from him, how does the love of Christ dwell in him?” (1 John 3:17). How indeed? And Paul writes something similar to Titus, “Let our people engage in good deeds, to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful” (Titus 3:14).
When the Jerusalem church discovered that the needs of some of its widows were being ignored, it took immediate action to remedy the situation (Acts 6:1ff). The American church needs to take similar action today.
5. We fail to see good works in the context of our covenant relationship with God and with each other.
Marriages and families exist because of a covenant a husband and wife have entered into with each other. That covenant is the marriage covenant. Because of it, a husband and wife are bound to love and cherish each other and to nourish and raise any children they may have.
In the same way, churches exist because of a covenant its members have entered into with God and with each other. It’s called the New Covenant. The New Covenant stipulates that we are to believe in God, and His Son, Jesus Christ, as our savior from sin and love each other as Christ has loved us. Our love for each other requires us to guarantee each other’s well being. If we don’t, we have violated our New Covenant (1 John 3:17). The way we guarantee each other’s well being is by serving one another in love (Galatians 5:13)–that is, by doing good works that benefit others in need in our church (Titus 3:14).
6. We confuse good works with kind gestures and normal living.
In one sense, everyone does good works. Every religion in the world has an emphasis on good works. The result is that people do nice things for others all the time.
Furthermore, most everyone strives to be a good person–a good son or daughter, a good husband or wife, a good father or mother, a good employee, and a good citizen.
But Christian good works are unique in the same sense that the love of Christ is unique. Jesus said that his love is so unique that when we love like him, everyone will know that we are his disciples (John 13:34-35). A Christian who is practicing the love of Christ will find people his is not naturally related to who are in need and take responsibility for their well being. He will do this, beginning with those closest to him just as non believers do–his family and his extended family–but then spread outward to his church and, finally, his community and the world.
7. We abdicate our responsibility to meet pressing needs in our churches to the federal government.
I once asked a United States Senator if he thought the church could play a role in helping the nation overcome its Social Security crisis. He responded as if I were insane. The thought that the church might be able to stand in the gap and meet some or all of the needs of the elderly poor in our nation had never occurred to him, even though he considered himself a devout Christian. This, despite the fact that there are 300,000 churches in America!
Here’s a question: How many churches do you know that have a “widows’s list” similar to the one described in 1 Timothy 5:3-16, where widows in the church who are on the list receive direct support from the church? I’m thinking your answer will be zero. I’ve been all over the country speaking to hundreds of pastors and laymen and I have yet to hear of any church that has such a widow’s list. And yet it is clearly commanded in Scripture.
Why has the church gone AWOL with its widows? The reason is because we think the government is meeting their financial needs, so why should we worry? Instead, the church focuses on families and youth, thinking they’re “the future of the church,” and completely ignore the neediest in its midst. There are tens of thousands of churches around the country that spend billions of dollars on programs, staff salaries, buildings, on meeting the needs of the poor in their communities and even on the needs of the poor in foreign countries, but not a cent on their own widows and others in their midst with needs.
If you want to know why the church is being marginalized in our culture, I believe this is one of the primary reasons. The relatives, neighbors and friends of these Christian widows see the churches they attend ignoring them and wonder what good does it do to be a part of an organization like that.
So there you have it. Seven reasons why we Evangelicals get good works wrong.
What can you do to make it right? Here’s my suggestion.
Make a list of the widows in your church, along with others in your church with long term needs, such as single moms and fatherless children. Then prioritize the list according to those who are neediest. If you need to, get help from your pastoral staff. Next, ask yourself what you and your church need to do long term to meet those needs. Then do it.
It’s as simple as that.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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