WORKS WITHOUT FAITH

The following passage should make it clear to anyone that works are not nearly as important as the ICofC would want us to believe. Works have their purpose and are important, but their importance is restricted to their purpose. Outside their purpose, they fade away. In God's sight, they give us no salvation or assurance of salvation. Even if you're doing all the works of an disciple, your attitude should not be so arrogant and self-ish like the ICofC. Just read this passage and see how worthy your works really make you. Please pay special attention to the last sentence.

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied,
"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will
obey you.
"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the
sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field,
'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say,
'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat
and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the
servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when
you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are
unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" (Luke 17:5-10)

I'm afraid to say anything against good works because most Christians quite frankly don't do enough works. What I've written could be misunderstood as a reason not to honor God with our works, and that would be a horrible mistake. Faith and works have a cause and effect relationship. Works are the natural result of true faith. Without works, you don't know for sure if there's faith. On the other hand, you can't say there's no faith simply because there's no works. For one thing, you don't know exactly what kind of works resulting from faith to look for. Immature faith produces immature works. In different people, faith is small in certain areas and larger in others. The important thing is that faith produces an effect, no matter what kind or how small the effect. If there's no observable effect, the most you can determine is that the faith is uncertain. It may or may not be there. Perhaps the change will be observable to the naked eye in the future. Because it's not observable to you, it doesn't necessarily mean it's not there. That would be illogical and unreasonable. But do keep in mind that real faith produces works. Be tolerant, encouraging, and keep looking for the effects.

Remember that salvation is received by faith. The works are a result of that faith, and therefore, happen after salvation. They only testify to your faith, that you trust in Jesus alone for your salvation. They're like a "thank you" message to God. I would encourage Christians to do good works, but only to glorify the Lord and not themselves. Most Christians seem to get stuck on the notion of "not by works" and relate that to living the Christian life. What a horrible mistake. After salvation, the tables are turned on works. It turns completely around, from "not by works" to everything by works.

The reason the ICofC is so self-ish and arrogant when it comes to works should be obvious by now. The true believer knows he's saved and does works as a result, so the works aren't a factor in salvation or retaining salvation. But ICofC false doctrine says faith isn't enough and works must be performed regularly, as vigorously as their leaders dictate. When anyone relies on his own actions to make himself worthy, of course he's going to become arrogant--extremely arrogant, conceited and proud of himself. Not to mention fearful lest he didn't do enough. The ICofC member is in a constant state of panic to make sure he does the requirement. The requirements aren't even clear, so all the more anxiety. Most of the arrogance comes from this panic in an attempt to vindicate oneself. The rest of it comes from a purely conceited attitude.

The Luke 17 passage serves to destroy the idea of making oneself worthy. After you've done everything, consider yourselves unworthy servants. After all, you were only doing your duty. When you were doing good works, you were only carrying out your faith. Faith is what saved you. Faith is what made you worthy. (Christ's shed blood on the Cross made you worthy, you receive it by faith.)

Although ICofC members may think they're doing good works to please God, in reality, we have to come to grips with the truth of their motivation--for themselves to get and keep themselves saved. The Bible says God looks beyond the outward appearance and looks at the heart. ICofC members certainly aren't doing it entirely for God, but for their own salvation, which means placing the needs of self above God because nothing can be more important to oneself than eternal life. Because of this, they're actually committing sin. They mock the completeness of Christ's atonement by rejecting the doctrine of salvation by grace. They don't believe Jesus offered the same kind of substitutional atonement for sins; instead, they believe He did something else. Instead of by grace, they believe you have to partially earn your own way to Heaven, as if Jesus did only some of the work and you have do the rest. They hold a different view of Jesus as the Way. They believe in another gospel and another Jesus. That's why, at the Judgment, I'm convinced the ICofC will be one of those who will say, "Didn't we perform marvelous works in your name?" And God will say to them, "I never knew you. Away from me." (Matt 7:22-23) They thought they could enter Heaven on the basis of their actions apart from Christ's *complete* redemptive work on the Cross. --Steven Rauch
SRauch4321@aol.com
P.S.
When you read Matt 7:22-23, please note I was using the principal of works illustrated there instead of using a direct example of a work.

I know the ICofC uses verse Matt 7:21 to support themselves. They interpret it like you have to do God's will, which they say is good works, to enter Heaven. Verses 22-23 lend support against good works, but then the ICofC brings up verses 24-27, which is the parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock. "Therefore, everyone one of you who puts my words into practice is like the..." starts off verses 24 & 26. The ICofC will jump on the words 'put into practice' and insist you must put all His teachings into practice to be saved.

To communicate the truth to them, you must begin at verse 15 to get the passage in context. Jesus is talking about recognizing false prophets the whole time. It's not the case that the Christian must do these to be saved; it's a set of observations to detect false prophets. This would apply to a leader and not to believers in general. (Observing someone is different than the requirements for salvation, by the way. This is a major fallacy of ICofC biblical interpretation, most readily in 1John.) My explanation may sound weaker in verses 24-27 but remember the word 'therefore' links the verses together. At this point you might want to ask what's meant by "do the will of the Father" and putting His "words into practice." Reading the passage without bias, it doesn't say what His will actually is. These verses are too ambiguous to support ICofC beliefs and shouldn't be used. "Do the will of the Father" could just as easily mean believe in Jesus. Is that not His will? Putting His "words into practice" could also mean believing in Jesus. Is that not putting his words into practice? The context of false prophets adds weight to the possibility He was only talking about believing in Jesus.