God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does

 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

-Ephesians 2:8-10

Many times I have heard Lutherans quote the phrase, “It’s all grace, you don’t have to do nuth’n”. Well, poor grammar aside, this statement, while true, often empowers some very poor discipleship. Since we ‘don’t’ have to ‘do nuth’n’, well, many don’t. It’s as if we want to somehow prove how lousy a Christian we can possibly be and still squeak by getting into Heaven. As if the only difference between a Christian and someone who is not a Christian, is the benefits plan after death.

However, if you have, in fact, received by faith the grace of God, that by trusting in what Jesus did on the cross is applied to you personally as a free gift, that also means that you have invited the living God into your heart, into your life.

Your. Very. Life.

THE RESURRECTED LORD of the UNIVERSE, now resides inside of you! Yes, YOU! And knowing that, do you want to just pittle along waiting to die, just being a decent human, indistinguishable from all the other decent humans except for the end-of-life benefits plan? Please, Lord! No!

God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does. Luther said this in part to correct for the gross mediocrity he was beginning to witness in many as his recently rediscovered message of salvation by grace through faith was spreading and sadly, being reduced to nothing more than an end-of-life, religious benefits plan.

The Apostle Paul, long before the church forgot the message of being saved by grace through faith, anticipated this potential danger and wisely added verse 10 in his letter to the church meeting at Ephesus, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Indeed, we should walk in them. We were in essence, set free from selfishly striving to please God so that we could, by our actions and testimony be the means through which others might hear and respond to the Good News of Jesus. In other words, we were saved for good works. Saved, so that we might freely share in word and actions, the grace and mercy of Jesus to those nearest to us. Grace and peace to you all as you join Jesus in his mission field!

Pastor Mark