All Scripture is God-breathed?and is useful for teaching,?rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,?so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
?I went to bible college for four years, but I was never taught this.?
?Todd? was a young man who was a new recruit in the local police department. His church had just started a men?s team ministry to their widowed and single parents.?Todd and his team had also just done something I?ve never heard anyone else do: he and his fellow team members met together for a couple of months and reviewed all of the scripture we covered in our orientation?twice!
And in spite of the fact that Todd had recently graduated from a solid, bible teaching school that taught the word of God to him in depth for four years, he had never gained an understanding of how pervasive the idea of practicing good works towards widows, fatherless children, immigrants and the poor is throughout scripture.
Unfortunately, Todd had not been given ?all that is needed to do every good work,? as 2 Timothy 3:17 states. Sadly, Todd is not alone in his experience. There is a pervasive ignorance throughout the local church on the topic of good works. The result is that the church has been handicapped when it comes to ministering to those in its midst with long term needs. No one knows what to do with these people.
We use the inspired word of God to teach doctrine, including the doctrine of salvation by faith apart from works. We use it to reprove believers for their sin and to correct their faults. And we should do all these things. But we are not using God?s inspired word to teach believers about the importance of good?works after they are saved. And the irony of 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is that being able to do “every good work” is the culmination of a Christian?s life!
We?re very good at teaching believers what they shouldn?t do. But we aren?t very good at teaching believers what they should do. The result is a great tragedy in the local church, with the most needy and desperate having their needs either going completely unmet, or the church attempting to meet those needs in superficial and ineffective ways. And all the while we wonder why the world thinks the church is irrelevant.
This post first appeared in Doing Good Well: 30 Meditations on Developing a Biblical and Focused Discipline of Good Works, by Herb Reese, and 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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