What Place Do Works Have in Our Worship Experience?

We have been told many time over that we are saved by grace and not by works. This is a true statement, there's nothing you or I can do to gain our salvation. It's gained by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. There has been a lot of debate over this because denominations explain the place works has in our worship in different ways. A good definition of works, is how one conducts themselves in life. It encompasses the personal choices one makes, the way one interacts with their family and how one treats others that they come in contact with. This would include friends, strangers, employers, employees and anyone else you or I might have occasion to have contact with. One other area that is often missed is how works affects the faith we profess to have and our prayer life.

To paraphrase Hebrews 11 : 1, Faith is being sure of things we hope for and certain of things we can't see. Understand that a prayer of faith, as it stands alone is no more than a thought or a wish for a need to be met. Faith must be active, you must participate actively in the answering of the prayer. James, chapter 2, verses 14 - 17 says, " What does it profit, a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace be warm and filled, without giving them the things they need for the body, what does if profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." This is the part that many of us don't understand. We talk a good game but we don't play.

To use a television detective story term, our MO must reveal the presence of The Holy Spirit in our lives. This is revealed in the works that we do, it's called the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is listed in Galatians 5 : 22, " But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control."

Before you get the impression that I'm perfect and have all these qualities, let me put your mind to rest; I don't. My understanding of this is that one is working on making these qualities part of their works. Since we are doing what we can to be as God has asked us to be His Holy Spirit can aid us in our quest.

When we pray for our own needs or the needs of others we must do all we possibly can to bring about the answer to the prayer. To pray and then sit in a corner waiting for a miracle, fruitless; faith without works is dead. Some times I think we get confused because we are told to place things in Gods' hands and have faith, we take it to mean we should sit back and do nothing. Think about this for a moment, a friend calls and says they're in a bind and need to borrow some money so you lend them some. Then the next week they call again and ask for more money, you ask if they've been looking for work and they say they're going to start looking next week. Won't you be less likely to have sympathy for them since you now know that they've been sitting around doing nothing to help themselves? Perhaps God Feels the same way.

More and more people are ending up on the street without the means to take care of themselves. There are thousands of children, in America, that go to sleep each night without a meal or a bed to sleep in. This is also true of people and children all over the world. I also understand that there are a lot of dishonest people out there taking advantage of folks with big hearts that try to help. With our economy in the shape it's in we are all wondering if we might be the next one to end up homeless. Yet we have an obligation to do what we can to help our brothers and sisters. I believe that God prompts us when He expects us to do something for someone else. When my wife Nancy or I get the feeling we should do something for someone, we do what we can. Some times all you can do is buy someone a meal or a bag of groceries. Perhaps just a kind word or you taking the time to listen to them will be helpful. Once you open yourself to the promptings of the Spirit, you'll know what to do. Here's an example of what I mean; I was driving home from work one morning, I passed someone whose car appeared to have stopped and they were trying to hitch a ride. It was 2:00 in the morning, I was tired, so I went by him. All the while I was driving, I believe, the Spirit was prompting me to go back. I turned around and went back only to find that I'd seen the man at church and he truly needed my help.

I would like to give you some advice at this point. God will never tell you to be foolish, so don't be. There are so many bad actors out there that you could easily get yourself into a bad situation. If you have the slightest doubt about something, don't get involved.

Sources:

Good News Bible

Revised Standard Bible

Strong's Concordance

Life Experience