Will Work For Favor

“God counts people as righteous, not because of their works, but because of their faith in God who forgives their sins.” (Romans 4:)

Food For Thought: If you are a “doer” personality like me, you wrestle with this whole business of faith and works in your relationship with God. You feel good when you are doing things for God, and if you’re not careful, you can begin to see your identity in God and your value to God based on how much you do for him.

And that’s an easy trap to fall into because everything you’re ever taught tells you that what you get in life you’ve got to earn; that there’s no such thing as a free lunch; that if you work hard, success and recognition will come your way; no pain, no gain.

Doesn’t it seem that everything in our lives is predicated on performance? When you were growing up, you were told. “be good and you’ll get dessert…keep your room clean and you’ll get your allowance…get good grades and you’ll go to the best college.”

Society tells you, sculpt the right body, get the right hair style, wear the right clothes and you’ll get the right husband. Drive the right car, get the right job, make enough money and you’ll get a trophy wife. If you want a promotion, you work for it. If you want nice things, you’ve got to work hard to get it. If you want be tops in the company, you’ve got to out-work everybody else. If you want to succeed in life, you’ve got to make it happen. “Make it happen” — that’s the mantra of the human spirit. It’s deep within our genetic code.

And we’re pretty good at making it happen. We earn a respectable living, live in respectable homes, we drive respectable cars, our kids go to respectable schools. We’re self-made men and women. We’ve worked for it. We call this the Protestant work ethic, and it has served our country very well.

There’s only one problem with the Protestant work ethic: It doesn’t work in the kingdom of God. God doesn’t follow it! Here in Romans 4, we read that God didn’t accept Abraham because he worked for it; God accepted him because Abraham believed God.

“Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” (Romans 4:3)

Where, then do our works fit in? After all, an authentic faith ought to produce some fruit, shouldn’t it? Look at it this way: Salvation is the gift of God; saving faith is reaching out to receive that free gift; works is the response of gratitude to God for the gift. Here’s a paraphrase of how Paul puts it in Romans 4:10-11,

“Clearly, God accepted Abraham before his works (i.e., circumcision). Works were a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before the works.”

Salvation is the gift of God. Accepting it and orienting your life around it—that’s faith. Your works are simply a lifetime of saying thank you to God, not as a way to get his favor, but simply as the natural overflow of a heart that is mesmerized by God’s grace and love for you.

Now the good news is can that you can break free from the need to work so hard for God’ approval and acceptance by resting in what he has done for you. How? Let me spell out 4 practices using the word REST that will help you quit striving and start thriving in your salvation:

Reflect

First of all, simply reflect on God’s grace. Ephesians 2:8 says “it is by grace you are saved…” Ephesians 2:4-5 say, “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead…”

In other words, you did nothing to save yourself and make you acceptable to God. You were dead! Do you know what a dead person can do to be un-dead. Nothing—except lay there and be dead! Your spiritual rebirth from spiritual deadness was all up to God. Just spend some time thinking about that.

Express

Secondly, express your gratitude to God for the gift of salvation. Everyday, include thanksgiving to God in prayer for your spiritual resurrection—your spiritual rebirth, God’s gift of your eternal life. Do you realize how marvelous this gift of salvation is? Ephesians 2:8 goes on to say that every aspect of your salvation “is the gift of God.” Even the faith to believe was God’s gift, according to the grammar of that verse. “It” in the Greek language is the same gender — not of “grace” nor of “saved” — but of “faith.” God even provided you the ability to believe—how awesome it that!

Stop

Thirdly, stop working for what you already have—God’s acceptance and approval! Ephesians 2:10 says, “you are God’s workmanship…” God does not approve of you based on your efforts—he does so based on Christ’s work. You were “created in Christ Jesus.” You are his masterpiece! So whenever you feel the need to work for favor—quit! You’re already favored. Just take delight in God and what he’s done for you through Jesus. Delighting in God is a very spiritual matter—and it’s appropriate! John Piper writes, “Delighting in God is the work of our lives. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” So stop working for approval and enjoy God!

Trade

Trade your ‘to do’ list for God’s. Verse 10 says you were created, “to do good works which God prepared in advance for you to do.” Once you’re freed from the need to work for approval, you can do the “good works” that arise out of grace. What are those good works? I don’t know, but as Augustine once said, “just love God and do as you please” and I have a feeling you’ll be just fine!

A flea was riding on an elephant’s ear when they came to a rickety old wooden bridge. And as they crossed, the bridge wobbled badly and almost collapsed. When they got the other side the flea said to the elephant, “Boy, we really shook that bridge, didn’t we!”

Here’s the deal, you’ve crossed over the bridge of faith ridding on someone else’s efforts. So quit trying to add to it—it’s already done. Quit trying to get there—you’re already there. Just rest and enjoy the ride.

Enjoy God and do your works for him out of the gratitude of your heart.

Prayer: Father, I can say nothing to you except “thank you!” I did nothing to contribute to my salvation—you did it all through Christ’s death. All I can do is accept it—and with gratitude I accept your free gift. And as a act of gratitude, I will humbly and happily serve your for the rest of my life and for all eternity. And as an offering of thanks today, I will rest in my salvation.

One more thing… Martin Luther said, “Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works.”