DO OUR GOOD DEEDS SAVE US?

Why does God save us? Because we have been good, or because we have trusted in His mercy?

The late Catholic Priest, Henry Nouwen, believed, as many do, that we are saved because we have been good. In 1992, when writing to a friend on how to prepare AIDS victims for death, he writes:

·       I am deeply convinced that Jesus is completely unique in the world as the full revelation of God’s life, but I also believe that many people can come to Christ even when they have never formally known Christ or had the opportunity to accept him. The final judgment, as Jesus says, is not based on whether or not they have known Jesus but whether or not the people have cared for those who are hungry, naked, prisoners, all the people in need.

Jesus did provide us with a portrait of those who are saved (Matthew 25:30-46). It was a portrait of those who had served Him with compassion. However, nowhere did He ever dismiss the idea that faith was at the core of this service. Instead, He would teach:

·       Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)

To the religious leadership, He proclaimed:

·       Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:28-29)

·       I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

If salvation is by faith, why then did Jesus also insist on performing good deeds? Well, if we truly trust in Him, we will do what He tells us to do. In the same way, if I trust in my doctor, I will do what he tells me to do. If I do not trust in him at all, I will not follow his instructions. Therefore, Jesus also taught:

·       Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. (John 14:23-24)

The fruit of faith is therefore obedience. If we love Him, we will obey Him. Therefore, those who are obedient are those who trust Him. Therefore, Jesus taught that the ones who obey Him are the ones who trust Him and are saved.

This has been the message of the entire Bible. Faith in God had to be the foundation of a life in God. To not believe in God is to despise Him:

·       And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? (Numbers 14:11)

Through the Prophet Jeremiah, God cries out to His people:

·       Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 3:12-13)

Restoration required confession of sins. If we have faith, we also confess our sins to God and find mercy and salvation (Luke 18:9-14).

Without faith, which includes the confession of sin and the renunciation of it, God will not be pleased with our good deeds:

·       And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Why is it impossible to please God without faith? Without a changed disposition towards God, our good deeds are built on a foundation of self-righteousness and self-pride. Jesus taught that our lives had to be built upon a foundation of believing His teachings and then acting upon them:

·       “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

A faithful disposition towards God has to be at the foundation of our lives. Without this, our deeds might look good, but they are not good. Just think of a friend who does many good things for you. However, the foundation of his house is corrupt. He is just setting you up to use you.

If we are using the abilities that God has given us while rejecting the One who has given us everything that we have, we are evil and our motives are evil, however much we convince ourselves that we are worthy.

I know, because this had been me. I did good to prove my goodness. Meanwhile, my foundation had been built on the sand of self-absorption and arrogance. Jesus gave us a portrait of such a person:

·       He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. (Luke 18:9)

Self-righteousness and contempt for others are inseparable. Where we find one, we find the other. Self-righteousness also represents a refusal to see ourselves as we really are.

By the mercy of God alone, He revealed to me what was really at the foundation of my life. Once He humbled me, He began to build me up and to release me from my self-imposed prison.

Without faith, our “good deeds” inevitably poison. This is why far more carnage has been caused by do-gooders – those convinced of the goodness of their cause – than by common criminals.

DO MY SINS DISQUALIFY ME FROM SERVING THE LORD?

I noticed that a woman friend (I’ll call her “Susan”) had not taken Communion. She also looked distraught. After the service I asked her if there was anything that she wanted to talk about.

Susan explained that she couldn’t take Communion because there was sin in her life that she was unable to overcome and, therefore, felt unworthy to take Communion. She was thinking about the passage:

·       Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup…That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. (1 Corinthians 11:27-31)

According to Susan, she had examined herself and judged herself “unworthy” of the Lord and of Communion.

This question of “unworthiness” is a big issue. It also pertains to all forms of Christian service. Jesus taught that we are in no condition to correct a brother unless we have first corrected ourselves:

·       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. (Matthew 7:4-5)

Some wrongly assume that Jesus was teaching against all forms of judgment or correction when He stated, “Judge not that you not be judged” (Matthew 7:1). Indeed, we will be judged by the same standard by which we judge. Therefore, we first have to judge ourselves so that God will not judge us. This involves examining ourselves, identifying our blind-spots – the logs in our eyes - and confessing and repenting of them. Only then can we judge others.

Paul had taught in a similar manner:

·       Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

Whatever service we are performing, we need to continually “watch” and judge ourselves. Why? As a skilled judo expert, sin is always at work, drawing us one way or another. If we are not examining ourselves and confessing our sins, we can be sure that sin will knock us off balance.

I tried to explain to Susan that sin isn’t our biggest problem. Here’s what I meant. We all sin. I did not say this to excuse sin but to understand it in perspective. Sin is a present reality for all of us. This is why Jesus required repentance of all:

·       No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5)

Jesus was correctly assuming that we all have sin. According to Him, we should all regard ourselves as unworthy:

·       “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:10)

Consequently, none of us can stand before God in our own merit or righteousness. Instead, we are reminded that we must always confess our sins. This is the uniform message of Scripture. James wrote that we have to always bridle our tongues. Why? Because they are an ever-present source of sin:

·       For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. (James 3:2)

All of us stumble into sin. Therefore, blessedness was not a product of our sinlessness but, instead, of the mercy of God, as David had often written:

·       Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity… (Psalm 32:1-2)

John also wrote that we all have sin:

·       If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

I tried to explain to Susan that our main problem isn’t sin but our unwillingness to examine ourselves and to confess our sins. Why? Because when we do confess our sins, our Lord is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I therefore asked Susan if she had confessed her sins. She answered that she had but was having trouble believing that God had truly forgiven and cleansed her. “Why,” I asked.

She feared that she had passed the point of “no return,” the point where God would no longer forgive her. I mentioned Paul, the worst of sinners who God had elevated to the foremost of missionaries (1 Timothy 1:15-17), to her. I reasoned as Paul had. If God had forgiven Paul, then He was making it plain that He was willing to forgive anyone.

However, Susan was convinced that her situation was different. She was a child of God, and yet she continued to sin, even though it was against her will.

Instead, Jesus counseled His disciples to always be ready to forgive a brother if he repents:

·       And if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” (Luke 17:4)

We have no choice; we must forgive. This also says something about our Savior. He has never required us to do more than what He would do. If He demanded that we always be ready to forgive our brethren if they repent, how much more will He be willing to forgive the repentant!

In fact, we find that there is one thing that induces the angels of heaven to rejoice:

·       Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10, 7)

If they had to wait to find a sinless person, there would be absolutely no occasion to rejoice.

Repentance had also been God’s plea to unrepentant Israel:

·       Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 3:12-13)

Sadly, Israel would not confess, and this brought destruction upon them. However, we see examples of God showing mercy to the worst of the worst. King Manasseh had been the worst. He ruled for 55 years. If anyone had committed sins that made him ineligible for forgiveness, it was he:

·       Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations (he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols), therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah...” (2 Kings 21:10-12).

However, the Assyrians captured Manasseh and threw him into prison. This caused the king to humble himself to confess his sins:

·       Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God (2 Chron. 33:12-13).

I explained to Susan that if God had forgiven Manasseh’s decades of the most horrible sins, He certainly would forgive hers and wipe her totally clean from all of them.

My favorite example is Job. Even though he had been the most righteous of men, he railed against God in the midst of his suffering. However, God confronted Job with a long series of questions that Job was unable to answer. He got the point – If he could not answer any of these questions, how could he suppose that he was in any position to bring indictments against God? He clearly was not.

After this, God confronted Job’s three friends who had spoken incorrectly about God:

·       After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (Job 42:7-8)

Something seems wrong here. After God had charged Job with distorting His “counsel by words without knowledge” (Job 38:2), He twice proclaimed that Job had spoken correctly about Him! This seems like a contradiction, but it is not! Instead, it points to the profound impact of confession:

·       Then Job answered the LORD and said: “Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-6; 40:2-3)

Job’s repentance not only brought forgiveness, restoration, and blessing. It also brought cleansing from his sins. It was as if Job had never brought any indictments against God!

I explained to Susan that each time we confess and repent, our slate is wiped perfectly clean! I stand in awe before such a God. I hope that Susan also does.

***********

Let’s now deal with the problem of elders/pastors who fall into sin. In one case, a homosexual male prostitute “outed” a famous and popular pastor. When he could no longer hide it, he confessed his sins with tears before his church.

However, a controversy emerged. While everyone was willing to embrace and forgive their fallen pastor, half believed that he should resume as their pastor; the other half did not. Sadly, this caused great dissension.

Well, doesn’t forgiveness entail restoration? Yes, but not necessarily to leadership! Why not? First of all, there are definite qualifications for pastors and elders:

·       Therefore an overseer must be above reproach… He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?... Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:2-7)

The pastor did not meet these qualifications. Therefore, restoring him to the pastorate would surely create dissension and division and violate Scripture. This doesn’t mean that he could never again pastor. However, it does mean that he would first have to win the trust of his family, church, and community.

Along with this, church leadership is to be held to a higher standard:

·       Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)

·       Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (James 3:1)

Although our God is completely forgiving, we should not be surprised that there is a price to pay for unfaithfulness, especially if we are in positions of leadership. While elders should receive honor (1 Timothy 5:17), they should also be publicly rebuked if they failed in their calling:

·       As for those [elders] who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. (1 Timothy 5:20)

What is Prayer? A Matter of Techniques and Gimmicks?

 
 

Is prayer a spiritual force, which we can learn to unleash? In The Power of Prayer on Plants (1959), Rev. Franklyn Loehr tries to make this very point:

• The discovery that prayer can measurably, and consistently, affect plant growth… is now recognized… Powers hitherto considered occult, extrasensory, or just plain magic, were given scientific proof… Man does have spiritual powers beyond this physical being. (9)

Similarly, Word of Faith TV preacher, Rod Parsley, also claims that prayer is a spiritual power that we have to exercise if we want to receive anything from God:

• “When you ask God what He wants, He only tells you one time in the whole 1,166 pages of your Bible…’Here’s what I want: Ask of Me!’ Why does He say that? Because He Can’t do it on His own. He can’t get what He wants on His own because He placed you in authority on this earth. Did you hear me? He has to compel you to ask Him so that then He can answer, because He said ‘Call and I will answer.” (CRJ, Hunter) 

According to the Word of Faith preachers, even God depends upon our spiritual authority. This is so different from the teachings of Scripture. Jesus warned His disciples that we can do nothing apart from Him (John 15:5). Paul declared our utter inadequacy (2 Corinthians 3:5).

According to Parsley, God cannot answer our prayers “on His own” and is dependent on us. However, Job confessed the very opposite thing:

• "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” (Job 42:2) 

Did God correct Job’s poor assessment of his own authority? No! Instead God affirmed Job’s words:

• After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. (Job 42:7)

Why did God affirm Job? What had Job said that mattered to God? He had repented:

• “Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:6) 

Sarah certainly didn’t exercise her prayer power when she overheard Yahweh promising Abraham that He would give Sarah a child at the ripe age of 90. Instead, she laughed in unbelief. This prompted Yahweh to declare:

• Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." (Genesis 18:14)

Evidently, Yahweh did not depend on Sarah to accomplish His purposes. Nor did Jesus require Mary and Martha’s prayers. They had sent word to Jesus to come heal their brother Lazarus who was mortally ill. However, Jesus purposely delayed coming at the time when their faith was at its peak. Instead, He allowed Lazarus to die and only arrived after he had been in the grave for four days. By this time, they had given up all hope and even prayer. When Jesus finally arrived

• "Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."  Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." (John 11:21-24)

While it seemed that Martha had faith that Jesus could raise up her brother, she only thought that this was possible as part of the future general resurrection. However, Jesus proved that He didn’t need her faith or prayers.

What then is prayer, and how does God desire us to pray? Clearly, it’s not about the exercise of certain techniques or powers. It’s not about controlling our brain waves or even our thinking. Prayer is about something more fundamental and relational.

The Roman Centurion Cornelius was heard by God. Why?

• He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. (Acts 10:2)

They were “God-fearing.” God was first in their lives. As evidence of this, Cornelius “gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.” As a result, God sent an angel to him announcing:

• "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.” (Acts 10:4)

Our Lord therefore sent Peter to them to preach the Gospel. As they listened, He filled them with the Holy Spirit. There is no mention here or any other place in the Bible that they first had to learn a set of prayer or concentration techniques. 

In contrast with the biblical revelation, the Quaker mystic, Richard Foster, instructs that if we want to receive from God, we must exercise our imagination:

• Imagine the light of Christ flowing through your hands and healing every emotional trauma and hurt feeling your child experienced that day. Fill him or her with the peace and joy of the Lord. In sleep the child is very receptive to prayer since the conscious mind, which tends to erect barriers to God’s gentle influence, is relaxed. (Celebration of Discipline, 39)

However, Scripture never identifies the failure to exercise our imagination as a reason for the failure of our prayers. Instead, Scripture consistently identifies our hard heart towards God as the problem. The Lord explained to His prophet Zechariah why He had turned His back on His children, Israel:

• "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. "'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.” (Zechariah 7:11-13)

Israel’s problem was not that they had failed to exercise their imagination, but that they had turned away from the Lord.

Prayer isn’t magical; nor is it a secret power or even a skill. Instead, it is a matter of being real with God (Psalm 51:6). Our words must express truth and sincerity. Why aren’t our prayers heard? Because they are insincere! The Lord explained His problem with Judah to Jeremiah:

• “From the time I brought your forefathers up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, ‘Obey me.’ But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts… Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes. You have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.'  "Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress. (Jeremiah 11:7-14)

Only God could rescue Judah – not their gods or their various means of petitioning their God or even the prayers of Jeremiah. They had violated God’s covenant and refused to return. They had turned their backs on God, and now He would turn His back on them.

When Israel turned their back on the Lord, they also turned their back on the commandments of the Lord. Therefore, when the Lord charged Judah with unfaithfulness to their wives, He was also charging them with unfaithfulness to Him and the commandments He had given them:

• Another thing you do: You flood the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Malachi 2:13-14 (NIV) 

Judah wondered why God wasn’t responding to their offerings and sacrifices, even to their cries and tears. If they weren’t living sincerely and obediently, a yardstick of their faithfulness, all of their fervency was for naught. They had not been faithful with their wives, and they weren’t making any moves to correct this matter. Tears wouldn’t rectify the matter; nor would achieving states of relaxation, but only sincere confession of their sins and repentance.

Some think that if they atone for their own sins by cutting or punishing themselves, they will gain merit before God. However, even these acts of self-sacrifice fail to engage God. If you beat up your wife, self-punishment or an expensive vacation will not take the place of humbly confessing your sins and tangibly demonstrating that you are truly repentant. God requires no less!

Peter echoes the same truth. When we give our sins safe haven, we build a wall against God:

• Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."  (1 Peter 3:7-12)

When we refuse His will and teachings, we also refuse Him. In effect, we tell Him, “I can live my life just fine without your meddling.” We are also telling Him, “I don’t need you to answer my prayers.”

What does it mean to be righteous? Does it mean that we have to achieve a certain level of spiritual perfection? This is an important question, because Scripture tells us that God is attentive to the righteous (Psalm 4:3; Proverbs 15:29). The righteous are not the morally perfect – none of us are! The righteous are those who turn from their sins:

• Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous [those who turn from evil] and his ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all. (Psalm 34:14-19)

Strikingly, King David counted himself among “the righteous” even after his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband, Uriah (Psalm 32). He had been assured that God had forgiven him, and that made all the difference!

Prayer is not a matter of magic or of gimmickry, but rather a sincere and humble cry to a Father who can lift us up and wash us off.