On Page 85, Wiersbe says, "True saving faith can never be by itself: It always brings life, and life produces good works."
There is a recurring theme that exists in the Epistles, which is that Faith leads to the love of God as it is explained by the demonstration of God, in how He loved us first, and how He demonstrated His love for us, in giving His own son, and His Son, who was and is God also, having fulfilled the will of God the Father, by going to the cross, being buried in the grave, and then in rising from the dead. And all this so that we could have an Abundant Life In Christ.
Wiersbe also says, “Faith in Christ brings life (John 3:16), and where there is life there must be growth and fruit.”
There’s an interesting aspect of our faith though: faith is not a state; and it is not a condition; and it is not a state of mind or even heart. Real faith has an action that is birthed from it.
Just like Agape love is not just a thing that exists as something we feel toward each other or that God “feels” toward us, but it is a verb - it's love in action, in which the Love of God is demonstrated.
And so is faith demonstrated in that growth that comes from a mature life that is surrendered to Christ!
As such, just as James says, faith seems to require demonstration or action more than just a thing we have, just as Wiersbe will bring out later in that we are not saved by “faith in faith,” but we’re saved by THE faith OF Christ.
And that faith of Christ had a direct action attached to it, which demonstrated the Love of Christ, the Love of God to us!
So what are the good works that should come from our faith?
I think those works are easier than we sometimes make them out to be. First of all, they are not born our of our own strength and power, as if we in and of ourselves could make them happen.
What are they born out of then? I think they're born out of the fruits of the Spirit, which Paul lays out in Galatians 6:22-26. And they are enhanced when we follow Peter's exhortation to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance (self control), patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and of course, Agape love! (1 Peter 1:5).
When I think about this, I quickly become aware of the fact that I do not possess a single one of the fruits of the Spirit on my own. We might be able to argue and rationalize that some people have some of these traits naturally, but when we consider each of them in a pure sense, let alone all of them together, there is no way any one human being can come remotely close to them (well, except for the man, Christ Jesus). The point is, they all come from the Lord, who perfectly demonstrated every single one of them, altogether, all at the same time, perfectly.
And in the context of, James' statement, that "faith without works is dead (verses 2:17, 20, 26), I think that the works of God could be considered the fruits of the Spirit as they are traits that testify to the Truth and Goodness of our Heavenly Father. What other works are there? Physical works, in helping people, feeding & clothing the poor, rescuing the defenseless, and the like, are all good works when born out of this faith, born out of one or more of those fruits of the Spirit. Look at the list again. Any single act of kindness toward your brethren (or even the lost) - if it’s done out of a response to the Father’s love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (self-control), as all of these fruits are manifest in the person of Jesus Christ, then isn’t that His will for our lives?
And one side note about His will, and what He desires from us, with respect to the fruits of the Spirit, the Scripture tells us, that the work of God is to believe on Him whom the Father sent.
So what's the summary to all of this?
Just like we've been studying on Sunday mornings in 1 John, to do various things we ought to be doing becomes effortless when we do them in the Spirit, letting the power of the Holy Spirit direct us, and the power of the risen Christ - our Savior, our Lord and Master - to motivate us. And His Love plays a crucial part in all of that. Perhaps His love even transcends all of the other fruits! As Paul says, "love never fails" and he also says we're to abide in faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love!
Are you struggling to do good works for God? Let's supplement our faith with the things Peter tells us to add, and then watch God work in our lives to produce fruit that is pleasing to Him, where there is no strife, but just awe and wonder as He reveals the depths of His love for us.
There is a recurring theme that exists in the Epistles, which is that Faith leads to the love of God as it is explained by the demonstration of God, in how He loved us first, and how He demonstrated His love for us, in giving His own son, and His Son, who was and is God also, having fulfilled the will of God the Father, by going to the cross, being buried in the grave, and then in rising from the dead. And all this so that we could have an Abundant Life In Christ.
Wiersbe also says, “Faith in Christ brings life (John 3:16), and where there is life there must be growth and fruit.”
There’s an interesting aspect of our faith though: faith is not a state; and it is not a condition; and it is not a state of mind or even heart. Real faith has an action that is birthed from it.
Just like Agape love is not just a thing that exists as something we feel toward each other or that God “feels” toward us, but it is a verb - it's love in action, in which the Love of God is demonstrated.
And so is faith demonstrated in that growth that comes from a mature life that is surrendered to Christ!
As such, just as James says, faith seems to require demonstration or action more than just a thing we have, just as Wiersbe will bring out later in that we are not saved by “faith in faith,” but we’re saved by THE faith OF Christ.
And that faith of Christ had a direct action attached to it, which demonstrated the Love of Christ, the Love of God to us!
So what are the good works that should come from our faith?
I think those works are easier than we sometimes make them out to be. First of all, they are not born our of our own strength and power, as if we in and of ourselves could make them happen.
What are they born out of then? I think they're born out of the fruits of the Spirit, which Paul lays out in Galatians 6:22-26. And they are enhanced when we follow Peter's exhortation to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance (self control), patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and of course, Agape love! (1 Peter 1:5).
When I think about this, I quickly become aware of the fact that I do not possess a single one of the fruits of the Spirit on my own. We might be able to argue and rationalize that some people have some of these traits naturally, but when we consider each of them in a pure sense, let alone all of them together, there is no way any one human being can come remotely close to them (well, except for the man, Christ Jesus). The point is, they all come from the Lord, who perfectly demonstrated every single one of them, altogether, all at the same time, perfectly.
And in the context of, James' statement, that "faith without works is dead (verses 2:17, 20, 26), I think that the works of God could be considered the fruits of the Spirit as they are traits that testify to the Truth and Goodness of our Heavenly Father. What other works are there? Physical works, in helping people, feeding & clothing the poor, rescuing the defenseless, and the like, are all good works when born out of this faith, born out of one or more of those fruits of the Spirit. Look at the list again. Any single act of kindness toward your brethren (or even the lost) - if it’s done out of a response to the Father’s love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (self-control), as all of these fruits are manifest in the person of Jesus Christ, then isn’t that His will for our lives?
And one side note about His will, and what He desires from us, with respect to the fruits of the Spirit, the Scripture tells us, that the work of God is to believe on Him whom the Father sent.
So what's the summary to all of this?
Just like we've been studying on Sunday mornings in 1 John, to do various things we ought to be doing becomes effortless when we do them in the Spirit, letting the power of the Holy Spirit direct us, and the power of the risen Christ - our Savior, our Lord and Master - to motivate us. And His Love plays a crucial part in all of that. Perhaps His love even transcends all of the other fruits! As Paul says, "love never fails" and he also says we're to abide in faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love!
Are you struggling to do good works for God? Let's supplement our faith with the things Peter tells us to add, and then watch God work in our lives to produce fruit that is pleasing to Him, where there is no strife, but just awe and wonder as He reveals the depths of His love for us.