At Calvary Memorial Church, we’ve been reflecting for the past several weeks on Paul’s prayer that the Colossians live a “fully pleasing” life (Col. 1:9-14). Many of us were struck by the fact that for Paul the leading aspect of a fully pleasing life is . . . good works. Paul prays that the Colossians would be “bearing fruit in every good work” (1:10).
But what might this look like in concrete, doable terms for you and me? Well, you can read about one great example (involving some Calvary folks!) in this week’s Wednesday Journal, in a piece by Abigail Cramton’s entitled, “Pouring Love, Breaking Through: Tutoring on Chicago’s West Side Benefits Tutors and Students.” As the tag-line suggests, Ms. Cramton highlights the mutual blessing and benefit of serving others through tutoring.
Her encouraging and thoughtful piece, in turn, got me to thinking about not only what bearing fruit in every good work might look, but why bearing fruit in every good work is commanded and commended in the Bible. Here are some of my thoughts:
- Good words adorn doctrine. Doctrine, or truth, is a beautiful thing, even when naked. But what’s even more beautiful is doctrine, or truth, dressed-up, as it were, in a life of good works, conviction clothed in good deeds while tutoring somewhere on the West Side. That’s why obedience is commanded and commended: “so that in every way [we] will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” (Titus 2:10).
- Good works encourage others to think highly of who God is. Good works point – ultimately not to themselves or to the doer, but to the One who enables and receives them. So we are told by Jesus to “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Good works are beams of light that radiate out from a magnificent Source.
- Good works enliven one’s own life of faith. Ms. Cramton’s article contains a wonderful line in which she points out that the tutors she featured in her article “serve out of a conviction of faith and believe that it truly is more blessed to give than to receive.” This is an allusion to one of the only statements of Jesus outside the Gospels; it’s found in Acts 20:35, where a follower of Jesus, the Apostle Paul, says that when he was with a church in the ancient city of Ephesus, “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” More blessed to give than to receive? A truly stunning and even paradoxical thought: the one who gives actually receives more than the one who receives. And yet that’s precisely the mystery – almost, you might say, the magic – of obeying and serving in Jesus’ name: it enlivens one’s own life and faith. One finds that in the act of giving, one receive far more.
- Good works meet real needs. Of course, good works are designed not only to showcase the greatness of God or enliven the faith and life of the one who does them; they’re also designed to meet real, practical, concrete needs in our communities. Which is itself a good in itself.
- Good works will be met with a real reward. One of the more terrifying and yet terrific passages in all the Bible is Matthew 25. In that chapter in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus paints a rather sobering picture of when he will one day return to earth to judge humankind according to their good works – according to whether they have fed the hungry, given a drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked and needy, cared for the sick, visited the oppressed and suffering (25:34-40). And as that passage makes clear, as do innumerable other passages in both the Old and New Testaments, these good works will be met with a very real reward: the kingdom itself. “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (25:34).
7 comments ↓
Todd I’m glad you linked to the article about tutoring featuring the Birkey family. I was delighted to run across that in the Wednesday Journal yesterday. It’s exciting to read about Christians who live out their faith by meeting the needs of others in their community (or a nearby community).
I think this is one answer to how to address the issues raised by the book unChristian. Outsiders are impressed when they see Christians helping others in these sorts of practical ways. They are happy to, for example, feature their activities in local newspapers.
I think it would be neat to raise awareness within Calvary of what Calvary people are doing to serve the community. My sense is that many people at Calvary believe this is important and have found ways to get involved. Also that they have done this on their own initiative rather than Calvary directly facilitating it.
Maybe the Calvary leadership can move towards taking more of a role in facilitating Calvary people getting involved in serving the community. However many people are already involved, there are probably more who would get on board if someone helped them get started.
Todd, thanks for spending so much time focusing on the “Fully Pleasing Life.” It’s a present and relevant topic that I think we all need to hear. It’s wonderful to see an article place a spotlight on the good works that Christians are doing. As an aside, I’d like to bring another perspective to this topic. I’ve been thinking about it all week.
I recently spoke to a fellow believer who spent a considerable amount of time trying to convince me that Christians are the most giving and generous population in the world, and that Christians serve in secret. While I have no doubts about the generosity of Christians, I became concerned when I realized that his point was that somehow service in secret is a sign of humility and is more Christ-like than service that is known. I respect this person and their opinion, but I disagree.
While I admire those who serve quietly and seek no earthly recognition for their work, I think it’s dangerous when we as Christians start to compare each other’s good works. (I hope you’ll spend some time on this). I love that this article highlighted the Birkey family’s service, but I’m certain that they would have continued to serve without recognition because they know Who they are serving. But the recognition benefited the Church more than it did them. Shouldn’t the Church get great PR too?
I guess my point is that it takes all kinds of Christians to serve. Some serve quietly, while some serve more loudly. Some are called to lives of prayer, while others are called to media evangelism (our PR people). Why do we judge each other? Why can’t we see that God needs us all to serve according to our gifts and then some? The poor do not care who feeds them, as long as they are fed. How much more meaningful is it when it is a representative of the One True God serving?
When I look at the life and service of Jesus, I cannot disregard how much time Jesus spent outside of the temple. While he could have set up shop in the Temple waiting for his followers to come to him, he went out instead. While he could have spent all of his time preaching. He healed. He gave. While ‘ll never be enough like Jesus, He is a wonderful example to emulate.
kbaker,
I think you make some good points. And I think Scripture clearly teaches that some Christians are called, often because of their giftings, to serve and represent Christ in a very public way. I can think of no better examples than Mother Theresa and Billy Graham. I believe that both of them were outstanding examples to us all and I also think that God probably gave them very public positions in large part because of their humility – as James 4:10 says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you”.
I think we do have to be very careful here, though. As you say, when we do our good works to be seen by men, it is almost inevitable that we will find ourselves comparing ourselves with others, rather than serving out of gratitude and generosity that flows from God’s love and grace. I’ve learned that when we step out to serve and do good works, our work and effort will more often than not, be unrecognized. But God rewards us in His own way, in His own timing.
Also, I suppose you could also say that we should be involved in PR, or at least in trumpeting the service of our fellow believers. We need the encouragement and rejoicing that results in articles like the one referenced here. Imagine how much more we would be stimulated to love and good works if we encouraged just 2 or 3 fellow believers by affirming them in their service!
Finally, thank you to the Birkey family- you guys are a great example and illustration to Calvary as we seek God’s help in being fruitful in every work!
Sorry, forgot to append my comments with this passage from Christ, regarding the danger of being PR minded when we are “being fruitful in every good work”.
Matthew 6
Giving to the Needy
1″Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2″So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
I don’t see how kbaker’s and derek’s comments are in disagreement. Think of it this way, how can we “let our light shine before men” as it says in Matthew 5:16, if we are not letting our light shine at all? Matthew 5:16 and Matthew 6:1-4 are not in disagreement with each other. The first passage uses the passive verb “let” to describe how our good works should be out there for people to see, especially unbelievers. The second uses the active verb (not to) “do” to command us not to intentionally do good works to receive earthly rewards. However unbelievable it may be, the religious folk of the time had people literally blow trumpets as they made donations to the needy so that other people could praise their generosity. Such hubris is what Jesus was speaking against, not the act of encouraging others for their service, and certainly not the fact that they were doing good to begin with. Both passages in Matthew assume that believers are doing good works – that is the real issue here, am I actively engaged in doing good works in my community? It seems to me that people are too concerned about getting or making sure they don’t get PR for their good works. Do you think this issue was on the minds of Billy Graham and Mother Theresa? I’m sure it was, but they put that aside enough to live lives of well-recorded service to God. Many of us live lives of not-so-well-recorded service to God. How many more good works might we do if we were cheering each other on rather than worrying about PR? No matter how you slice this issue, we MUST serve God with our actions, and yes each according to his or her gift. How else will people (again I say, especially unbelievers) know we are serving God if we don’t say so? God’s pretty clear about this, get up off the computer and go do some good works because it really is better to give than to receive.
Well said PMB. No other response is necessary. You summarized both sides of this issue most effectively.
Derek, I like your idea of affirming others in their service.
It seems to me that the main emphasis of Matthew 6:1-2 is, be careful about your motive for doing good works: don’t do them just so others will praise you.
I don’t see it as laying down a rule that you must do good works in secret; rather I think it’s pointing out that’s one way to make sure your motive is not gaining praise from others.
I also think, if you are doing good works because you’re loving God and other people, and some people happen to notice what you did and affirm you, you haven’t done anything wrong or gone against the spirit of Matthew 6:1-2.
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