By Eldon D. DeBoer, Pastor-Teacher
The Apostle John in the Gospel that bears his name repeatedly presents Jesus’ teaching that eternal life is received by believing in Him (John 20:30-31). The Apostle Paul emphasizes in his epistles that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is a gift from God (justification) received also by believing in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1; Galatians 2:16; cp. Ephesians 2:8-9). Since the gift of life and the gift of the righteousness of Jesus Christ are received only by believing in Him, what should be the motivation for good works?
Free to Us, Costly to God
God presents the truth of His love and grace in Christ Jesus so that we will respond in faith (John 1:12, 14-18; Romans 1:7; 5:1, 5-11). While the gifts of life and righteousness are gifts from God with no cost to us, God’s work in providing these gifts was very costly to Himself. The cost to Him was the suffering and the horrible pain associated with His death (Matthew 27:46). The Apostle Peter makes a powerful point of this cost to God in contrast to what people typically view as valuable (1 Peter 1:17-21). His emphasis concerning the great cost of our salvation to God follows the challenge to believers to live a holy life (1:3-16). While life with God and the righteousness of Christ are gifts received by faith, God calls us to live a holy life. We are to set apart our life in moral purity to God.
Motivated by the Love of God
It is abundantly clear in the New Testament that motivation for good works should come from a deep appreciation for the gifts God has so lovingly given to us by His grace. The Apostle Peter, along with the other apostles who wrote of God’s plan for our life, calls us by the Spirit to live a life of thankfulness in obedience to God for the gifts He has given. Far from sinning that grace may abound (Romans 6:1), we are to be motivated to please our Lord because we have received such wondrous gifts from God at great cost to Himself. Our faith is to be truly alive with fruitfulness revealed by such things as generosity and controlling our tongues (James 1:17 – 3:12). It is God’s desire that we freely respond to His love out of love for Him by pleasing Him by living according to His standards (1 John 4:7-19).
Motivated by Love, Not by Fear
When it is understood that life eternal and the righteousness of Christ Jesus are received as a gifts by faith in Him, then we believers in Christ are free to love God and our neighbors without fear. We obey God and want to please Him not out of fear that we need to prove that we in fact have received these wondrous gifts. No, since we fully received the Spirit of God when we believed in Christ (Galatians 3:1-5), we have God’s enabling grace by His Spirit to please Him and should be motivated by His love for us in Christ (2:16-20). The gifts of life and righteousness are not obtained, retained or maintained by good works. If this were the case, our motivation would not be from a heart of love for God.
How different the motivation for good works is for those who think that they must “line up and fly straight” by obeying God to some extent to obtain eternal life with Him. Many people who say they “believe in God” would also say that they must be good to some extent in order to enter and enjoy His heaven forever. So their motivation for obedience becomes something other than love for God for the gifts He has given.
Yes, all too many think that everlasting life must be earned by their own efforts. They have the same problem that the Jews had that lived in the first century (Romans 10:1-4). They have been deceived to think that they can obtain the righteousness of God by their works. They are sadly mistaken and, consequently, their motivation is from fear of God’s wrath upon them because they think they must be good to appease His anger.
The motivation on the part of those who think that they must retain or maintain life eternal and righteousness by their good works is also from a heart of fear. They believe that if they do not perform good deeds to some extent (usually they have a short list of things they think they must do) they should question whether or not they have in fact received the gifts of life and righteousness. Their motivation is also from the fear of never having received these gifts or losing them. They do not obey God out of love for Him.
In relation to the thinking that true believers must perform at some level of obedience in order to prove they have received the gifts of life and righteousness is the perspective of those who observe and conclude that the behavior of other professing believers is not up to true “Christian” standards. In contrast to Paul’s challenge to the Corinthians, the assumption is often made that they must not be saved (1 Corinthians 3). This thinking often comes from misconceptions about their own salvation. Because they perform what they think are good works to some extent, they think that they are proving that they are in fact saved. They are basing their assurance on their good works. What, then, is their motivation for doing what is right before God? Is it out of love for Him with a view to the great cost of their salvation that was completely paid for by the suffering of Christ? It would seem not. But, as is often true, they may have the problem that many believers in Christ have. Often believers in Christ hold contradictory sets of beliefs. They may believe that salvation is truly a gift from God but failing to prove one has received the gift reveals the person was never truly saved. Thus they reveal by their assessment that their own motivation for good works is performance based. They may experience a level of fear on a bad day or week and may conclude that they themselves are not truly saved. (I have personally read the testimony of a popular bible teacher who confessed that on a bad day filled with what he considered serious sins, he questioned whether or not he was truly saved. Such a testimony and thinking comes from a misconstrued theological framework about salvation and is connected to why he strives to do what is right.)
So what does it matter? Well, it matters a great deal to God for He desires that His people freely serve Him from hearts of love for Him because of His love and His grace message. How different the thinking of believers who clearly understand that one’s performance is not the basis for assurance of possessing or retaining the gifts of life and righteousness. They believe God’s Word in that He has declared that they possess His life and righteousness through faith and faith alone in Christ Jesus (John 6:47; Romans 4:1-4). As the Apostle Paul so clearly taught, the huge debt of sin can never be paid off by any amount of good deeds (Galatians 2:16). People who understand the grossness of sin and the huge debt to a holy God that they owe because of their sin should understand that they can never pay off the debt. Christ Jesus completely and totally paid for our sins on the cross of Calvary and we receive His righteousness and His life through faith in Him. Therefore, since we already possess these fantastic gifts bought and paid for by His death, we should freely serve and obey Him out of love for Him. As the Apostle Paul so succinctly wrote,
“For the love of Christ constrains (motivates) us, because we judge thus:
that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live
should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
No comments:
Post a Comment