Live Like a Champion – Week 12
The Promise of Good Works!
Ephesians 2:10 (NAS95)
In this sermon series, we are learning how to live like a champion by learning how to live according to the victory of the promises of God. Our guiding image for this series is being a member of an NFL team who wins the Superbowl. We live like champions so that others will come to know the One who gave us His Victory—Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and coming again!
The play of the week is the “Promise of Good Works!” The memory verse for this promise is Ephesians 2:10,
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Listen to the promise as part of Paul’s gospel presentation from Ephesians 2:1-10,
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
“nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”
You were saved by grace alone and the good news is that God’s grace never stands alone—grace always produces the results of God’s intention! You were saved by God’s good work so that you would live out your life of good works for His glory! As James said in James 2:14-16,
What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
What will be your life’s legacy? One of the most powerful testimonies about the promise of our good works is found in Revelation 14:12-13, which calls us to persevere in good works:
Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
Amazingly, this is the first time the Holy Spirit explicitly speaks in the Revelation of John and it is to those who are in union with Jesus, or as I like to say, are in the yoke of Jesus. There is a blessing for them; the second of the seven beatitudes of Revelation, reminiscent of Jesus’ beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount.
The promise of God is that upon death we will not only rest from our work, but that our good works will follow us. The key to the promise is ensuring that our efforts are in alignment with God’s grace. Paul speaks clearly about this in 1 Corinthians 3:8-15,
Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
In the easy yoke of Jesus Christ you will fulfill the purpose of your life by producing the good works God has prepared for you to do in your life. God’s word from 1 Corinthians 3:8-15 teaches us the importance of ensuring that our efforts are in alignment with God’s calling. That is what the yoke does—keeps us aligned!
Never forget that grace is not opposed to effort, but to earning. It is not your salvation which is at stake, that is secure in the promise of God’s love. It’s your experience of rest in this life! You are called to the family of God to represent the Father through your good works, so now walk in them and don’t waste another ounce of energy by doing it alone for nothing done alone will last (John 15:5). I join with Paul from Galatians 6:9 and pray for you, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
We see this so clearly demonstrated in Joseph’s life—he was abandoned and betrayed, falsely accused, thrown in prison, and forgotten about, but he never let go of the promise and he never stopped doing good works because of His relationship with God. No matter the circumstances Joseph stayed in the yoke!
The key to the promise of good works is not to focus on the work itself, but to focus on your union with Jesus—your relationship with the Father through the Son. The good works that are done while in the easy yoke of Jesus are promised to follow after you because these are the works done in agreement with God and by His power. This is the very reason Jesus came and died on the Cross—for relationship! Jesus didn’t die for workhorses, but for those who would “partake [partner with Him] in His divine nature” (2 Peter 1:2-4).