Grace vs. Works

I continue to constantly hear more vacuous teaching on the subject of God’s grace. It seems the likes of Joel Osteen and Joseph Prince have infiltrated even country preachers with the idea that WHAT WE DO, THE THOUGHTS WE THINK AND THE IDEAS THAT DRIVE US have no bearing on how and what we receive from the Lord’s hand. This is utter nonsense. This is not only bad theology, it is actually quite dangerous because it removes from the equation our own responsibility for how we act and what results we receive in life. You would never, for example, train your kids this way and be considered a good parent. This is completely irresponsible teaching. It sounds attractive, though, because we can blame everyone but ourselves (even God) for our failures. It is very much in line with modern thinking which seeks to blame any problems we may have, including our addictions on others. In this case, in the case of blessings, it is all up to God.

Recently I heard a preacher say that everything, every blessing and every gift we receive from God is wholly the product of God’s desire to bless us unconditionally and he strongly implied that nothing we do or can do will change that fact. We just need to believe this and we receive it. God is, it seems, bent on giving us our every desire and meeting our every need regardless of our response to Him, our level of obedience or our level of understanding of His Word or the ideas which drive our behavior. Again, this is wrong. Clearly, if nothing we did or thought mattered, why bother to think correctly, use wisdom or even behave well? Furthermore TRUE faith or belief in God manifests itself in HOW WE ACT: “Faith without works is dead,” the Bible says. In fact, this is the point of the entire Book of James. Works matter! Works by faith are evidence of that faith. True faith produces good works which, in turn, produce blessings. This has always been the traditional and correct teaching. Faith is what drove Christians to build hospitals, orphanages and great ministries. Those who worked towards that end will reap the rewards for that. Though God’s grace is needed for any undertaking, good results are not automatic. We are partners with God’s grace. We work with God. What these modern day heretical preachers of grace fail to grasp is that God fills in the blanks by doing what we cannot do for ourselves. That is where grace (and prayer) comes in! What we CAN do for ourselves, God rightly expects us to do. It is bit like the old saw, not a direct biblical quote but accurate nonetheless, “God helps those who help themselves.” How true.

Think about it. If grace was automatic and blessings flowed to us in the form of job offers, money, good health and sound relationships, regardless of whether we used the gifts, talents and brains God gave us to obtain these things then would not everyone be similarly blessed? Does God randomly bless some more than others? Is God arbitrary or is God purposeful and perfect in his dealings with us? Does not our faith in God require that we act upon it, use it, trusting him enough to take his word by relying on it? Do we just sit back and wait for grace to happen? Imagine if David had felt that way about challenging Goliath. Did not David’s faith in God’s deliverance force him into the battle arena with just a slingshot and a few stones. That action, motivated by his faith in God, won the day! THAT is how faith often works.

The way grace works is typified by The Parable of the Talents, taught by Christ himself in Matthew Chapter 25. Three different “servants” of the Master were each given a different measure of grace as measured by the number of “talents” doled out at the beginning. First, we should note that all were servants of the Master who here clearly represents God. Grace is NOT equal even at the first because each were given a different number of talents. All, however, were required to put those talents to work to achieve the Master’s aims and serve his interests.  The first two faithful servants were commended in proportion to what they accomplished based on the amount with which they started. That is, the one with ten talents earned ten more and the one with five earned five more. Both were commended by the Master as having done well. The one with only one talent, however, was scolded, punished and called “worthless” for not using what he was given. He failed to act. This is how grace works. We work with what we are given BY GRACE and we produce results (even the economy is a form of grace which allows increase). But the faith of the two faithful servants is aptly demonstrated by the works which they did with the grace they were given. Obedience follows faith. They multiplied what they had, they took the raw material and turned it into something useful for the Master. Modern “grace teaching” heresy would hold that they need not have put forth any effort at all; “just believe” or just “claim it.” Note that the works here does not detract from the grace of God but it puts it into proper context. It is no less grace because they used wisdom (wisdom is grace from God) to make their investments, nor is it less grace because they worked at their various projects (the energy and diligence they used was also grace from God). Thus is grace present the entire time. It is also God’s grace that gave them the talents in the first place. It is God’s grace that instructed them (implied) to make use of those talents and it is God’s grace that supplies the market forces and the economy to render an increase. All of that is screaming grace. But grace is not found in the servants sitting back and not trying. That is considered wicked slothfulness and is a serious sin. 

I understand the desire driving people to accept the false notion that we can each have it all but it is simply not true and is not born out by the evidence. In the parable just mentioned, the end result was unequal, as was the starting point. In fact, in the end, the lazy servant was stripped of his talent and it was given to the one with the ten talents. We have other biblical examples. David was exceptional in his courage and in his trust in God. That was God given grace. Not many people would venture out to face that giant in a fight to the death; indeed the entire Israelite army had refused to do so, including King Saul. David acted upon his convictions and David got the rewards for it. We teach our children to behave well and expect rewards. Is God less intelligent or less wise than us? Does God scatter his rewards aimlessly, without regard to merit or justice? It may seem that way at times but that is because we don’t know all the facts. Some things are not readily apparent and only God knows all but it would surely be absurd to believe that our choices, our actions and our beliefs don’t matter. In one way or another, David was preparing his entire life for that conflict; he was skilled with a sling shot from long hours of practice in the desert. He had faced up to the lion and the bear and prevailed. THAT was grace of which David took advantage by GROWING in skill, courage and faith. That is how grace works.  Like the talents, grace grows when you apply it by using it.

Isn’t it a better theology to teach that APART FROM SALVATION grace not only falls as God gives it (it is still unmerited and never stops being grace) but attaches to obedience, courage and wisdom where the wise and the diligent, according to God’s ways, position themselves and seek to tap into the never ending flow of God’s grace? Is that not what the Christian life is all about? Isn’t that what we ought to exhort others to do? Pastors should encourage their flock to excellence, good deeds, courage, wisdom and right living! Should not we strive, paradoxically, to experience more of God’s grace by diligently SEEKING His favor by doing good and acting wisely? Of course! Pastors do their congregations a huge disservice by pitching grace’s results as automatic and our response as irrelevant…for that is what our response would be if indeed we (our actions) did not factor into the equation. Throughout the Bible and often in the New Testament we are told to urgently seek greater blessings from God. The gift of prophecy (1 Cor 14:1), healing (Isaiah 58:8), long life (Eph 6:2), eternal rewards beyond salvation (1 Cor 3), treasures in heaven (Matt 6:20), finances (Malachi 3:10) and strong healthy relationships (Eph 5) are all, in part, the product of following God grace and doing his will. The very teaching and discipline of God FOR HIS CHILDREN is calculated to move us in exactly that direction, away from sin, poor choices, laziness and thoughtless living. In fact, the major part of the New Testament is instruction to believers on how BEST TO LIVE! Grace is in the instruction. We apply it by doing it. Grace for blessings in this life should not be equated with grace for salvation..they are two completely different things. Failing to distinguish between the two is foolish.

Grace is markedly different only when it comes to salvation. Only then is is all God and not us. Only with salvation can it be said that God reaches down to us who were dead in trespasses and sins and gives us a heart of faith necessary to receive the grace of the cross and Christ’s atonement and redemption of our poor and hopelessly lost souls. Only by pure grace (with no conscious action on our part!) could we have ever been saved since the natural man is at war with God, an enemy of God, unable to respond due to our dead condition. Dead means lifeless. One cannot be partly dead. That is our natural state, spiritually: DEAD, an enemy of God! Without the saving grace of God, extended sovereignly to us, by his divine election, not ours, could we ever respond to the Gospel. We do nothing to get saved because we COULD DO NOTHING. He saved us solely by his grace. He also blesses us after salvation, by his grace, but in a different ways. Grace is differently apprehended once we are God’s children, born again, regenerated spiritually and with Christ in us. Modern grace preachers fail to make this important distinction, proclaiming that grace is always automatic because it is effectuated that way one time in the salvation process. It is not. Once we are alive in Christ, the Holy Spirit, living inside us leads is into more grace but we have to follow, we have to obey, we have to put forth an effort in cooperation with God. That’s how grace works once we are his children. It is similar to how grace works with a natural parent. We know that spiritual things often have a parallel in the natural world. We never stop being God’s children after are regenerated but whether we experience blessing or discipline depends in large measure UPON US!

My child, don’t reject the LORD’s discipline, and don’t be upset when he corrects you.