Do Good Works
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Me
In the 1920’s the city of Cincinnati began construction on a multi million dollar, state of the art subway system in an effort to provide steady transportation around their city.
They hired engineers, designers, planners, laborers to dig the tunnels, concrete workers, track layers, everyone they needed to complete a subway and over several years laid dug numerous tunnels and laid miles of underground track.
The rapid spread of the automobile killed all interest in the project.
And today, sitting underneath the city of Cincinnati, lays a multi million dollar subway system that never fulfilled it’s purpose in life.
I don’t know about you, but hearing things like that just bothers me.
It just gives me a feeling of sadness and grief knowing that all that time, all that money, all those resources were put into something that was never used!
And I don’t even have a personal connection with that subway, in fact I’ve never even set foot in Cincinnati!
But I think about what other good things the time and money could have been used on. How many hungry people could have been fed, how many homes could have been built, all kinds of things that could have been useful, but all it is and all it ever has been is a few holes in ground.
I feel this same feeling but on a much smaller scale at my house.
Now Shambra is going to look at me like I’m crazy here, because she’s going to wonder when I’ve ever done this, but I hate when it’s time to clean out the refrigerator. Perhaps that’s why I never do it. Because I dislike seeing things that we’ve purchased go to waste. Now typically this happens with salad and leafy greens as I’ll tell myself I’m going to begin eating healthier so I’ll buy some spinach, but when I look in the fridge and the freezer and I see leafy greens or beef, I can’t help myself, I choose beef.
And after doing that for long enough you open the fridge one day and that container of spinach, it’s all wilted, and even though it wasn’t ever my first choice for a meal obviously, I hate throwing it out! Why? Because I bought it and it went to waste, it never fulfilled the purpose for which I bought it. I could have used that money better, or I could have gave that to someone who needed it.
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Today I think what we will be talking about is in essence a continuation of that idea. The “practical application” of what we do with that knowledge of God as our creator and as our redeemer.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
in saying that we were made for a purpose by God who is our creator to glorify Him, to abandon what we want and to chase after what He wants. What He desires. To do that which God has commanded us to do.
Yet it’s
We
We
We are a strange people. I don’t necessarily mean we as christians, but we as a country, we as a culture.
Because I don’t think I’m alone in my despising of waste, but we as a nation are far and away the most wasteful country in the world.
We are simultaneously one of the most prosperous nations in the world, and the worst at saving for retirement.
Tons and tons of food is thrown away every year.
And what’s sad is that over time, like with anything, we become numb to the fact of waste.
We see food thrown away and we don’t care, we see spare change laying on the ground and we don’t pick it up, we handle our money carelessly without and plan and shrug when we don’t have enough to help out others.
Last week we discussed our purpose, that we are here for a reason and that reason was laid out in
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
And the point that Soloman makes in Ecclesiastes is that without God, everything is meaningless, everything is a waste.
Well today I’d like to expand on that idea and continue it into a “practical application” of what we do with that knowledge of God as our creator and as our redeemer.
Today I think what we will be talking about is in essence a continuation of that idea. The “practical application” of what we do with that knowledge of God as our creator and as our redeemer.
Because we need to know that God detests waste. He despises the souls that he has bought going bad before they’ve born any good fruit.
Turn with me to the book of Titus this morning, and I hope to present to you what I think is a desperately needed counter balance to some off balance teaching that sometimes leads to the wrong idea’s of the role of Good works in a Christians life.
God
God
There can be no doubt that we live in a world that is in dire need of fundamental Christian teaching.
EMPHASIZE THE NEED TO UNDERSTAND GRACE AND FAITH AND THAT WE ARE UNABLE TO WORK OUR WAY INTO SALVATION.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
And even in the book of Titus, Paul is clear
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
Tit 3:3-
SO I WANT TO BE PERFECTLY CLEAR FROM THE START, OUR GOOD WORKS ALONE DO NOT SAVE US.
WE ARE OWED NOTHING BECAUSE OF ANY GOOD THINGS WE’VE DONE.
WE’VE EARNED NOTHING OF OUR SALVATION.
IT’S GOD’S FREE GIFT GIVEN THROUGH GRACE AND ACQUIRED THROUGH OBEDIENT FAITH.
YET, WHAT CAN SOMETIMES HAPPEN WHEN WE FAIL TO BALANCE OUT THAT TRUE AND ABSOLUTELY CORRECT TEACHING, IS THAT WE CAN START TO THINK OF GOOD WORKS IN ONLY NEGATIVE TERMS.
WE CAN START TO THINK OF GOOD WORKS in the way that Isaiah referred to them in
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
In fact, if you go out into the broadly Christian world today and merely mention the phrase “good works” you are likely to get shouted back at you as if you said something wrong.
My point is if that’s as far as we get in our knowledge of our salvation, we truly miss our purpose and we risk our lives becoming a waste.
After all in the very next verse, Paul in makes a statement that most people likely don’t even know is there.
verse 10 says
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Paul says, “No we don’t earn our salvation, but yes Christ has created us for good works!”
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Last week I quoted from
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Today I think what we will be talking about is in essence a continuation of that idea. The “practical application” of what we do with that knowledge of God as our creator and as our redeemer.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
in saying that we were made for a purpose by God who is our creator to glorify Him, to abandon what we want and to chase after what He wants. What He desires. To do that which God has commanded us to do.
Yet it’s
Titus
Titus
Which brings us to Paul’s letter to Titus.
Now usually we know Titus as one of the places we can go to find the qualifications for elders along with .
But when we read the letter of Titus we notice a theme throughout the letter and that is that Paul wanted Titus to convey to all the importance of Good works.
16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Titus 1:16
There are certain things that we know God hates:
16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
We know that God hates murder, know he hates adultery, we know he hates the harming of the innocent, He hates idolatry, He hates evil.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Prov 6
We know that God hates murder, know he hates adultery, we know he hates the harming of the innocent, He hates idolatry.
But would we include in that list proclaiming to be a Christian and not acting like one?
7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
Titus 2:7
BE A MODEL
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 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-
Zealous
1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,
Ready.
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city. 20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
Mark
Titus 3:
v. 13, for it was not the season for Figs.
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
Devoted
You have been made ready to do good works.
You
You
We
We
Notes