Based on Ephesians 2:8-10 (New King James Version)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
For a long time, and in different places, a gospel has been preached that teaches that when you receive God’s salvation, that you don’t have to worry about doing works because works neither save you nor are they necessary to keep your salvation. Basically, they use part of the passage that we just read to justify that everything is by grace, both obtaining salvation, as well as being able to maintain it. But, unfortunately, the enemy’s schemes do not consist of creating new things in trying to deceive, but rather, of taking parts of the truth and distorting them so that the lie sounds like the truth, and like that, be able to cause the deviation. Satan’s work is very easy because it only consists of just producing small deviations to carry out his plan of destruction for the soul of a person. The word “sin” is defined exactly that way, that it’s about “missing the mark”, and so, the deviation. That’s why we need to be very careful and take the Bible as a whole, not just certain passages here and there.
The issue is that yes, the truth is that we are saved only by the grace of God, through faith in God. No one can save themselves through the works they do, as it is written: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Galatians 2:16. But, where the passage is usually cut off is at verse 10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We are saved by grace and faith, but for something. We were created in Christ Jesus for good works. So, every Christian was made with a purpose, and that purpose is through Christ, not to live whatever way you want to live. And here is where the devil comes in with his lie; to try to paralyze the work of God, to take away the good purpose of God, and to try to destroy the very reason we were created for.
And here we need to see the first problem. To be able to get to God’s salvation, you need to believe and accept Jesus as the Lord of your life. For it is written: “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10. This implies that you belong to Him and that He is the One that is in control, not you. If you are struggling with this concept, that Jesus needs to be the One in control of your life, I have to tell you that you haven’t even entered the race yet, that you haven’t even registered to run or to be able to do what God desires for us to do. The Lord Himself taught us to pray this way: “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10. The will of God must be fulfilled, not our will. We were created and saved by God so we can serve Him, and not so that God can serve us and fulfill our whims. That is why the Word also explains this to us: “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:9-10. So, if you struggle with accepting the Lord’s lordship, then you have serious problems. If you are struggling with problems that have to do with the practice of sin, you also have severe problems, because you will give an account. We have to be very clear on this, that “we must all appear”, for even Paul who writes the letter to the Corinthians includes himself in this judgment seat of Christ, that he will give an account for his actions, whether they were good or bad (And who is going to question Paul’s salvation?). And the Bible also teaches us this: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” James 2:26. So, we can explain it this way, based on the Word of God, that salvation is not kept through good works, but rather, it is necessary to do good works because of the salvation we have received. It is vitally necessary to do God’s will. Otherwise, we are not letting the Lord be the Lord in our lives, and that carries within itself serious problems at Christ’s judgment seat. How do you think God will see that?
And finally, let’s see this passage which sums things up: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Matthew 25:14-30. Whoever receives God’s salvation (by recognizing Him as Lord) receives the title of servant (because that is the natural relationship) and also, receives a talent, at minimum, through God’s Spirit, something that comes from God to be used for Him, and according to their capacity (not something that is beyond them). And simply, if we don’t serve God, and we don’t use the talent He gives us for His purpose, nothing good awaits us. Because even though we may be servants (beyond being children of God), we will be cast into the outer darkness, to a place that the Bible describes as hell if we don’t do what we should do. Understanding it this way, can we believe anything else that does not have to do with fulfilling God’s purpose? Do you understand that the Lord needs to truly be the Lord in your life and that you were saved for a Godly purpose, and not to fulfill your own will? Lord bless! John