There
are times when I am moved to do good to others with a conscious awareness that
the love of Jesus Christ compels me to do so. I have been God’s
work-in-progress for such a long time that I actually do not know what kind of
person I would be without God’s gracious work in my life. Any good I do links
very directly to impossible-to-count expressions of God’s goodness to me.
I
often hear others refer to the good works of people who do not trust in Jesus as
evidence that the Christ is not necessary to our expressions of goodness. After
all, we hear of Christians setting up social programs for the poor, and we hear
of other religious and non-religious social groups doing the same things
without Christ. I can appreciate that, at first appearance, this certainly
appears to diminish my claim that Jesus is life, and without him, we can really
do nothing at all.
However,
as these thoughts were tumbling around my mind this morning I realized something
that had not stood out to me so clearly prior to this time. People who do not
believe in Jesus were still created by Jesus.
People
who deny Jesus Christ cannot do so without using the mind he created. They
cannot hold beliefs against God without those beliefs existing in their minds
because of the way Jesus created the human brain and mind to live, and move,
and have its being. They cannot utter their words of denial without using the
mouth that Jesus himself designed to express words that are above and beyond
the ability of any other creature he made.
When
people of any other religion, or any non-religion, claim that they are doing
good works without any reference to Christ, they are speaking like little
children who do not understand where they come from, how they are conceived,
how they grow in the womb, or how they got out of mommy’s tummy. Their claim
that they are working independent of Jesus is mistaken since they are using the
body Jesus created in order to do their independent good works. They are thinking
of these good works at a level that no other creature thinks of such things
because Jesus himself created humanity to be in his own image and likeness. They
are geared to do good because Jesus himself is the shining radiance of goodness
always seeking good to do for all his creation.
When
I do a good work with a consciousness that Jesus so loves me that his living
love inside me makes me want to do specific acts of kindness to others, I may
not appear to do good works any better or greater than those who do not know
the love of Jesus. I simply know the Jesus who causes both his friends and his
enemies to do good things he designed into us as the only bearers of his image
and likeness.
Knowing
such a thing is an invitation to all of us to let every desire of goodness we
feel within ourselves to point us back to the Lord Jesus Christ who created us
to be like him in such goodness.
However,
we must also consider this warning: a branch that is cut off from an apple tree
still has all the design and potential to produce good fruit, but it is going
to die by the very fact that it is cut off from its live-giving tree. In the
same way, people who are not united by faith to Jesus Christ may appear to
produce the same good works as those who are united to Jesus Christ by faith,
but such an appearance is short-lived. Those doing their good works independent
of Christ are already dying.
One
fall we did a major pruning of a large tree in our backyard. Many of the
branches were hauled away, while larger chunks were cut to length for firewood.
Because the firewood was green, I stacked it against the fence to cure until
the following winter. However, that spring I made this startling discovery: my
dead pieces of firewood were sprouting tiny shoots. I began taking pictures to
see how long these dead logs would appear to produce the same signs of life as
the branches still attached to the tree. It was quite amazing to me that I
could actually see such a similarity between the living and the dead wood. That
is, until the residue of sap in the dead logs dried up and the shoots and
leaves died.
This
illustrates to me why it can appear that those lives that are cut-off from
Christ sometimes appear to do just as good works as those who are united to
Christ. We cannot look at the good works of Worldlings as proof that we do not
actually need Jesus. Everyone who does good works apart from Christ does them
because there is still some residue of the created image of Christ seeking to
be what Jesus made them to be. The issue is that without the life of Christ, good
people are dying and destined for hell. Only those who are united with Christ
by faith do good works that will remain forever.
As
we have been celebrating Jesus’ first coming into the world in the Christmas
holiday that bears his name, we are all going to see the day when Jesus comes
again and judges us by how we have related to him in our lifetime. If we
received his Christmas gift of life, we will be filled with joy when he comes.
If we have rejected his gift of life, the residue of life that has kept us
going, and even moved us to be good, will reach its end, and we will be
terrified of his coming.
Putting
any suggestion of my opinion aside, here is what God’s breathed-out word
declares: For those who have received the life of Jesus Christ their Creator,
there is this promise: “so Christ, having
been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to
deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Hebrews
9:28).
For
those who have refused the life of Jesus Christ their Creator, there is also a
promise: “Behold, he is coming with the
clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes
of the earth will wail on account of him” (Revelation 1:7).
If
you ever notice that I have done some small act of goodness towards you, please
receive it as two things: one is the declaration that Jesus Christ created
humanity in his own image and likeness, and every good thing that any human
being does is because Jesus Christ created us for such goodness.
The
other is that the good works of Jesus’ brothers are a specific invitation to
you to come into the family of God and share in the goodness of God as only the
children of God can know. Once you are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ,
the world may not notice that your good works are different from theirs. But
you will now find yourself doing good works that can actually bring people back
to life in Jesus Christ their Creator and Redeemer.
My
testimony remains: Jesus “gave himself
for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that
are his very own, eager to do what is good” Titus 2:14).
From
my heart, Monte
No comments:
Post a Comment