Works in the Life of a Believer

Introduction

So over the last couple of weeks you have been seeing how connected the OT and NT are connected. This week the trend continues. This chapter starts off with talking how this chapter is during the Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths). This is a time they would remember the wandering in the desert for forty years. So again John give us a time period. The Feast of booths would have happened about 6 months after chapter 6. All of us are going to have works in our lives. The question though will be are you working for God’s glory or towards ungodly goals? We know a lot about what we should do. So tonight we are going to talk about the purpose, timing, and response to works.

Purpose and Timing of Works

The purpose of works is not to be known, but to please God.

Another scripture that really helps with this conversation is found in Matthew 6:1-4

Matthew 6:1–4 ESV

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

We should not worry about others knowing what we do. Being a christian, doing godly things is not about being center stage, but more of backstage. We do it so God can get recognized, so God can get the applause, get the glory, etc.

When it gets down to it, we don’t do something nice for the thank you. Is it upsetting when we do something nice and no one says anything? Yes, but the reason we keep going is no them, but God. At times it gets aggravating being the nice one, that always shows grace and strives to do good no matter what. When others act ugly and ungrateful and seem to get to run the show. The ungodly seem to prosper. Guess what? They will have to answer for their wrongs. Romans 5:3-4 says:

Romans 5:3–4 ESV

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

While they have became complacent in life and cause their life self inflicted trauma, your character is growing and you are daily becoming a better person for what trauma they put you through.

God’s timing is perfect, despite our lack of understanding.

How many of you understand God’s timing? None of us. We tend to lack patience. We tend to want God to move quicker. Rather it is doing something in our lives or bringing judgment on someone.

Jesus in this passage mentions several times the time has not come. His disciples thought it was time. They were experiencing the power of God. They were a part of the birth of the Christian Church. They were in a sense pioneers. It would have been exciting time to them seeing some traction getting gained. Jesus becoming more public with his ministry to them would have been a very wise PR move. Jesus knew it wan’t the wise move or the time. When Jesus became very public with His ministry, what happened? He was shortly later crucified. Jesus knew he had somethings still to accomplish in his earthly ministry before letting it come to an end.

Trust God’s timing:

God’s vision is greater than yours

God made the plan

God created time.

Jesus knew his ultimate plan on this earth. Jesus knew what it would take to initiate that plan. So Jesus was not going to let some humans impatience mess up his divine plan.

When we get impatient waiting on God several things can happen:

If we act out of our impatience we could possibly face discipline (Proverbs 3:12).

We make mistakes in our hurry

We miss out on blessings meant to be experienced in the waiting

You learn less.

Response to Works

For this we are going to look at verses 10-13. You see some praise him and others criticize him. People are still like that today.

No matter what you do, you will always have some who appreciate you but more that criticize and attack you.

The good. Some will recognize what you are doing. Not many, but some will point out the good and realize the changes you are bringing. When you see things each other is doing right. Compliment one another. don’t take the simple things for granted.

More times than not though, you are going to face criticism and false accusations. It is mind blowing sometimes how people will treat you. Its like when you try to be a good person, their is a target put on your back.

Verse 24 is worth spending some time discussing.

Do not judge by appearances

Many times this is the approach we fall prey to. When we do this we fail to take time to understand what is going on. We jump the gun. More times than not this causes issues and does not solve any. Many times this hurts your reputation. It results in bad work.

judge with right judgment

What is right judgment? Right judgment is judging according to the word of God. Matthew 7:1-5 says

Matthew 7:1–5 ESV

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Make sure your life lines up with the word before you go making sure everyone elses does. For several reasons:

It helps you understand the word better

It helps you live a holy life

It humbles humble you and makes you carry yourself humbly