THE REFORMED CHRISTIAN: ZEALOUS IN GOOD WORKS
We must always keep in mind that to speak about good works is to speak about the work of the Holy Spirit in the redeemed. Virtually every religion apart from Christianity, and even much of what calls itself Christianity today, teaches a form of works-righteousness. Good works, i.e., those works which are judged good in God's sight, are defined very particularly by the Bible. In Lord's Day 33 we will see that good works are "only those which proceed from a true faith, are performed according to the law of God and to His glory." They are not merely those works which men deem good. We speak, therefore, of the fruits of salvation.
That is evident, too, in the passage which we read, Philippians chapter 2. I speak especially of verses 12 and 13. "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." To whom does Paul address that exhortation? To the redeemed; to the Church. So in chapter 1 he begins his epistle with an expression of heart-felt gratitude to God for His work in them, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." That good work of salvation which our Redeemer has begun in us, must be worked out. That is, in the way of obedience to God, we bring to conclusion that salvation. God has saved us for a purpose. That purpose is that in the way of our salvation we glorify His name, also in that way advancing the cause of Christ in this world. And God's purpose is certainly accomplished. For He Himself works in us both the willing and the doing of His good pleasure. So you see why the Catechism gets right to the point by asking the question: Why must we still do good works? We must. That is inevitable for all those in whom Christ lives. Inevitable. We must do good works. Examine, therefore, your own life this morning in the light of God's infallible Word, as we consider how our gratitude to God comes and must come to expression. The theme is:
THE REFORMED CHRISTIAN: ZEALOUS IN GOOD WORKS
We can even be more specific:
THE PROTESTANT REFORMED CHRISTIAN: ZEALOUS IN GOOD WORKS.
I. THE NECESSITY OF GOOD WORKS
II. THE REFORMED CHRISTIAN'S ZEAL
III. THE FRUIT OF WALKING IN THEM
GOOD WORKS ARE NECESSARY.
THE QUESTION IS WHY. "SINCE THEN WE ARE DELIVERED FROM OUR MISERY, MERELY OF GRACE, THROUGH CHRIST, WITHOUT ANY MERIT OF OURS, WHY MUST WE STILL DO GOOD WORKS?"
The life of the Christian is not merely a "getting by." The life of the Christian is not merely belonging to a church, and confessing with the mouth a certain belief in Jesus. There is a recognition that the Christian life is a life of action, a life of doing. The question is asked, "Why?" Yes it is. But there is a recognition of the truth that we must do good works.
Let us emphasize, however, that the must of good works is not a matter of coercion or compulsion. It should be very evident to you, and the Catechism certainly is careful to uphold that truth in its exposition of the Ten Commandments, that the Christian life is not a life of legalism. The reason we must do good works is not to be found in a threatening God. It is certainly true, there are threats proclaimed in the gospel to all who reject God and His precepts. We heard that in Lord's Day 31, when we were reminded what is to be the content of faithful gospel preaching. All unbelievers and such as do not sincerely repent stand exposed to the wrath of God and eternal condemnation so long as they are unconverted. Indeed they do. And by the testimony of the gospel and the repeated call to repentance, God judges them now, and shall call them to account in the day of judgment. All that is very true. And even this Lord's Day emphasizes that truth in Q & A 87. "Cannot they then be saved, who, continuing in their wicked and ungrateful lives, are not converted to God? By no means; for the Holy Scripture declares that no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, covetous man, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or any such like, shall inherit the kingdom of God." So necessary is true conversion and a life of good works, that without them we shall not be saved! But it is not the threat of hell that will compel us unto good works. Not at all. And if your attempts at being religious and doing good things have to be motivated by such threats, and have to be forced by parents or elders or any other authority figures, then you had better face the question of your own relationship to God.
THE MUST OF GOOD WORKS COMES FROM THE FACT THAT CHRIST, WHO HAS ALREADY REDEEMED AND DELIVERED US BY HIS BLOOD, ALSO RENEWS US BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT.
The old man, that old depraved sinner, cannot do any good works. The natural man can do nothing good in God's sight. Romans 14:23 explains that clearly, "for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." That man or woman who has not faith in Christ, who is not one with the living Lord, can only sin, nothing else. Again, bear in mind, we define good works not by our own imagination, nor by outward appearances; but by the Word of God. The heart of the depraved man hates God. His depraved mind revels in the lie, hates to magnify the sovereignty of God, and will not receive God's precepts. In fact, he finds fault with God's Word.
But that all changes when Christ works His wonder work of grace in us. When we are saved, we are given the whole work of salvation. Not that the work is fully developed yet. There will be continued growth in grace, even until God finishes His perfect work in us. But when the Spirit regenerates us, He renews us after the image of Christ. That means that we are renewed now in true knowledge. Our mind now knows Christ as our Redeemer. We know God as our Father. The Spirit lives in our heart. And knowing God, we now delight in His truth; we are receptive to His Word, and delight to walk in the way of His commandments. We are also renewed in holiness, so that our life becomes one of devotion to the God Who is our Father and Friend. Instead of being stubborn and rebellious against Him, and resisting His Spirit, we delight in the law of God after the inward man, and cry out, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" The necessity of good works, you see, has become to us a necessity of fervent desire and privilege. We must do good works, because we are alive in Christ. We are not dead in sin any longer; but alive. And though our works are still very imperfect, and polluted with our sinfulness, nevertheless, because we have been renewed after the image of Christ, we live to glorify our Redeemer. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." That is why. Is that your own experience, beloved? Do you know within yourself, and do you see in your life these fruits?
GOD HELP THAT SUCH MAY BE SAID OF US: "THOSE PROTESTANT REFORMED PEOPLE ARE ZEALOUS IN GOOD WORKS."
Those works, after all, are an expression of our gratitude to God! Are we thankful Christians? Look at what God has given us! If a man who is only an acquaintance should decide out of his own good will to give you one of his very precious possessions as a gift, would you not say "Thank you" to him? And if you lay deathly ill in the wilderness somewhere, with an illness that was sure to take you to the grave, except that a man at his own expense fly you a medicine that he alone possesses, should you not be profoundly thankful when he gives you that gift? Do we recognize, now, what God has given us, beloved? When we taste this great salvation; when we live in the consciousness of His wonderful truth; when we love that Word which He is pleased to have preached to us; when we live with Jesus, we have a longing to express our gratitude to Him. Don't you? Of course.
God has richly blessed us. To whom has He given more? Who has he saved from the depths of destruction, and given more than you and me and our children? When we lay hold of His Word of truth, and understand what a tremendously precious possession is ours as a Protestant Reformed people, then certainly we shall be zealous in good works. We can be none other. We are spiritually compelled to walk in such a way before God, "that so we may testify, by the whole of our conduct, our gratitude to God for His blessings, and that He may be praised by us." Oh yes. It starts with God and with our knowledge of Him. That is exactly where good works begin. He formed us to show forth His praise. And praise is a form of acknowledging that God is wonderful, that He is precious, and that He has done something wonderful.
As an aside, if I may just make an observation for a moment, this is also what we do when we properly praise one another. That is important too, that when our children, e.g., perform their duties in obedience to God, when they have the courage among their peers to live out of Jesus Christ and to walk in the way of His Word, that we praise them. We mustn't just rebuke them when they do wrong things. We must praise them too, and encourage them in the Lord's ways. But such praise, (and let us remember that), is really a form of acknowledging that God is wonderful and has done something wonderful, also in the life of that person whom we praise. We ought to praise one another, when we see the work of God in each other, when we have the courage to face crises in our lives and to confess that God is good to us, when we do those things that are edifying to the body of Christ. Certainly there is a place for praise. But then let us give and let us receive that praise as the praise of God Who alone does wonderful things even in our own lives.
WHY MUST WE DO GOOD WORKS? THE ANSWER OF THE REFORMED CHRISTIAN IS: "THAT GOD MAY BE PRAISED BY ME, IN MY LIFE."
God loves to be praised by us, beloved. God loves to hear His creatures tell Him how beautiful He is, how gracious, how good. God loves to be acknowledged by you with that praise which is His due. It is, after all, to that end that He has made us and all creatures. The angels are glorifying God by all that they do. Isaiah was given to see the seraphim, praising God and saying, "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" But God will also be praised by His redeemed. He sent His own Son, making Him, as we read in Hebrews 2, "a little lower than the angels." And in the way of suffering and death, that Son, our Lord Jesus Christ was "crowned with glory and honor." But then don't forget this: "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee." Truly you and I who are in Christ express praise to our Redeemer-Friend, Jehovah God.
Now that praise of God can be expressed in different ways. We praise God when we seek His face in prayer. That is why the Catechism will treat prayer as "the chief part of thankfulness." We praise God when we confess His name, and when we acknowledge that He is good to us, and that our help and strength is in Him alone. But ultimately the praise of God comes forth in the our actions. The inspired Apostle John expressed in this way in I John 5:2,3: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." Isn't that exactly what we teach our children? When our children begin to understand things, and they know our love for them, and yet are torn in that tension with their old man of sin and walk foolishly sometimes, we say to them: Look, do you really want to show that you love us your parents, that you love God in us? Then be obedient. Do what God tells you to do in your life. Words mean nothing without actions to back them up.
So with all of us, obedience is the action that expresses praise and gratitude to God. But by our obedience we give expression to the truth that it is God Who works in us both to will and to do that good work. Our praise will not add anything to God. That isn't the idea of praising God. But the idea of praise is that God is acknowledged for that glory which He has in Himself, and which He has revealed to us His new creatures in Christ. When in word and deed we acknowledge that He is truly the God of our salvation, that all which is good comes from Him, then we praise Him and magnify His holy name. We are zealous to live according to His Word, zealous to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, zealous to walk in love and to love one another.
Is your life in Christ defined by the term zeal? Is it? Are you zealous in good works? That question, you see, is really a question of your awareness of what Christ has done for you. It is a question as to how thankful you are to God. Good works, as the Catechism explains, are the expressions of our gratitude to God for His blessings. Oh what thankfulness must be in our hearts, for us to be Christians zealous in good works. To live in the comfort of belonging to Christ, to know that I am not my own, that I don't stand in my sins before an avenging God, that He has emptied the pains of my deserved hell upon His own Son — what joy wells up within me! To see that God has exalted me at His own right hand in Christ Jesus, that He has made me a partaker of the divine image, to know that it is for Jesus' sake that all the joy of heaven is mine — what unspeakable comfort that is to my weary flesh. How I long to thank my heavenly Father for His goodness and for His grace! How I desire to hear His Word, to enjoy His fellowship, to abide in His love, to walk in the way of His commandments! The thankfulness that fills my heart is a compelling drive in me, to offer myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness, holy and acceptable unto God. Is that your confession? Are you overwhelmed with the privilege that is ours, to live and die happily in the fellowship of our Redeemer as those who walk hand in hand with Him? Are you?
IN THE FIRST PLACE, THERE ARE FRUITS OF A PERSONAL NATURE.
The Catechism points to good works as bearing this precious fruit: "that every one may be assured in himself of his faith by the fruits thereof." Not only are good works themselves the fruits of faith, as is emphasized again in L.D. 33, but by these fruits one may be assured of his faith. Even as a good tree, so also faith can be known by its fruits. That is clearly biblical. In James 2:14-17, where emphasis is given to the necessary fruits of faith, we read this: "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." And so he concludes in the 26th verse of that chapter, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." That is, it is no faith. It is counterfeit. The Bible teaches clearly that faith can be known by the fruits thereof.
At the same time, however, we must not misunderstand this truth either. The Catechism taught already back in Lord's Day 7 that one of the elements of faith's activity was that of assurance. Certain knowledge and an assured confidence are the two elements of saving faith. We must not, therefore, look at assurance as some illusive pot of gold that lies at the end of a mystical rainbow. Assurance must not be viewed as something only a few Christians receive. Not at all. Assurance belongs to the very essence of faith. What L.D. 32 would teach us, therefore, is the biblical truth that the Holy Spirit seals upon our hearts and minds the testimony that we are in the faith only as we walk in the way of sanctification. Truly assurance is the work of the Holy Spirit. He is the Author of our faith. By the Spirit we are sealed unto the day of redemption. He is the One Who testifies with our spirits that we are the children of God. He works that in our hearts by the gospel, through the preaching of the Word of God. But He works that assurance in us, so that we are confident that we are in the faith, not in the way of sin, but in the way of sanctification. The assurance of faith, which fundamentally is the assurance of our election in Christ Jesus, is worked spontaneously in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as we walk in the way of sanctification. That is why Peter writes, in II Peter 1:10, "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." We are to give diligence. By the power of the Holy Spirit, and moved by the efficacious Word of God and His exhortations, we must and do fight the good fight of faith.
For this reason also, we must never base our assurance on something in the past. Spiritually that is very dangerous. There are those who will lay claim to the assurance of being in the faith, merely because they were brought up in the church, or because several years ago they confessed their faith. There are those who will even deceive themselves by such thinking. Scripture teaches that you and I have a battle to fight, an ongoing battle of faith, and a way of sanctification in which we must walk today. A continued walk in sanctification, an ongoing life of true conversion, alone gives us assurance of being in the faith. That is really the emphasis in Q & A 87, as I referred to earlier. Would you continue in sin? Then you can have no assurance of being in the faith. As we read in Romans 8:13: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."
God would not have us doubt, beloved. We all doubt to some extent. We all experience times in our lives when God seems far from us. There are times when we are grappling with sin, and we wonder whether we are really children of God or not. Sometimes the Lord leads us down difficult pathways, as we doubt His ways with us. But let us understand: Doubt is sinful. That is the weakness of our sinful flesh. Doubt is our failure to lay hold of the promises of God. God would not have us doubt. He would have us live in comfort, enjoying the fellowship of His love. And the way in which we enjoy Him is by walking in the way of His Word. That doesn't mean that we do so perfectly. We have only a small beginning of that obedience for which we long. But when we are working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, we are indeed longing for growth in sanctification, and we are indeed striving to walk in obedience to God. The unbeliever has all kinds of excuses as he continues in his sin. But we have no excuses, and are deeply sorry for our sins. That's true of you, isn't it? Do you know why? When you are sorry for your sins, and earnestly desirous to fight against them and to put off all unrighteousness; when you are actively engaged in the battle of faith, there is only one reason: God is at work in you by His Holy Spirit. Of that you may be sure.
SECONDLY, THE FRUITS OF WALKING IN GOOD WORKS ARE SEEN IN THE SALVATION OF OTHERS.
From the texts quoted by the Catechism we are pointed first of all to those others in our own homes. Reference is given to I Peter 3:1,2, where those new converts in the church, wives, are given instruction concerning their calling in the home. "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear." It is striking that the Catechism refers first to that passage in its proof that God uses our godly living to gain others to Christ. That points to the emphasis that the Reformed Churches have given historically to the covenant family. The greatest influence we have will be found within our own homes and among those to whom we are closest.
Now, let us understand, we personally can do nothing to save a loved one or anyone else. That is not point of this emphasis, either. You have the text, e.g., with which James closes his epistle, James 5:19,20, which emphasizes the importance of going to the brother who walks in sin and seeking his restoration. The text reads this way: "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." The point there is not that you and I have power to save a soul from death, or to convert the sinner. That is not the point, either, when the Catechism speaks in terms of gaining others to Christ. The point is, that God is pleased to use means in gathering His Church and saving His people from among the wayward. Never are we any more than means in God's hand. But in our maintenance of God's sovereignty, let us never reject the means which He has ordained.
What is our greatest desire as godly wives, godly husbands, as far as our relationships are concerned? Is it not that we walk together on the pathway to heaven? Can two walk together, except they be agreed? We live to edify one another. Scripture teaches that concerning our place in the Church. How much more important is that in the home. And what is our greatest desire as godly parents? Is it not that our children show themselves as faithful covenant children? Then how must we live? God gives us an urgent calling. Lead the little ones to Jesus. Our lives as Christians have a very powerful effect, personally, in the intimate family relationship. It is very easy to become an offense, to become an occasion for our children to walk in evil. If we walk in sin; if we constantly criticize God's Church and ministry and show a despising of select portions of His Word; if we live in separation from the body of Christ; if we reject those whom God has placed in positions of authority, whether that be our children's teachers, or governing authorities or the elders of the Church — we shall reap the fruits of our sins. Scripture does not lie when it says, What a man sows, that shall he reap. That isn't to say that in every case a child walks in rebellion against God, there is blame to be laid at the feet of the parents. And those children who walk in rebellion against God have no right to point the finger at their parents or anyone else. They stand accountable and responsible before God for their rejection of Him and His Word. But to put it positively, by our good works, we see God's work come to fruition in the gathering of His Church from us and our children. And what greater joy is there, than to walk as one covenant body in the enjoyment of our only comfort in life and death?
But this Lord's Day also speaks of Reformed evangelism. It speaks of our witness as those who bear the name Christian, and more particularly Protestant Reformed Christian. We are always advertising by our speech and by our behavior. What is your witness? The Reformed Christian, zealous in good works, longs that anyone who crosses his path may enjoy the comfort that he enjoys. Because our relationship with our Redeemer is so precious, so comforting; because we long to praise and glorify Him, we also long that others join us in that fellowship. This is what it means to love the neighbor, to walk in obedience to God as God works in us that which is pleasing in His sight. We must do that for God's sake. He has created us unto good works. So He will be glorified. Believe it.
Amen.
Preached: Randolph PRC 7/27/97 (am)
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