What is a Good Work?

What is a good work? It is a work that our God has given us to do as we trust Him, love Him, and heed His Word.

One of the most popular platitudes of our day is “Follow your heart.” The assumption here is that man’s heart is basically good and will choose good things. In fact, that “good” is entirely oriented to the satisfaction of the individual’s desires.

A barrage of questions confront those with this mindset, however. Is my happiness the standard for goodness? Can good be determined by each individual? What if the pursuit of “your good” crushes my dreams? Further, am I even capable of goodness? What role does faith play in the pursuit of good works? What about motives? And what is the ultimate aim for which all people were created? The Bible has clear answers to these distorted cultural thoughts.

Man exists not for his own praise but for the praise of the Lord. While people may herald our good works, the eye that ought to concern us is the Lord’s. He searches the heart, and all things are to be “to him” (Rom. 11:36). So when anyone trumpets some self-declared good thing before men, or other people lay flowers at his feet, dedicate buildings to him, or name streets after him, such a one, as Jesus puts it, has received his reward (Matt. 6:2, 5). Perhaps the thing that he has done is what God requires, but was it done unto the God who sees in secret? The Lord does not reward the good works done for man’s praise. He rewards righteousness rendered to Him (v. 1).

But though it is possible that sinful man may do something God requires, what is good is not devised by man (Isa. 29:13). Sinners have a perpetual problem of pursuing the good in their own eyes. The things that are good, however, are only the things that God declares to be good (Mic. 6:8). If we would know what a good work is, we must not be conformed to this world’s ideas (Rom. 12:2). We test and approve our thoughts by the will of God. When Eve made a self-centered evaluation of “the good” in defiance of God’s command, it was a disaster (Gen. 3:6). She looked at the forbidden tree as good for food, as though eating it would be a good work. But her actions to take and eat became instruments of death. And as a result of the fall, man is truly in a precarious position. Paul states it this way, quoting Psalms 14:3 and 53:3: “No one does good, not even one” (Rom. 3:12).

Fierce objections fly in view of that three-fold scriptural statement. What about the celebrities who give to charitable causes? What about political leaders who, while rejecting Christianity, contend for laws that protect life? What about atheists who nevertheless argue for principles of decency in society? Richard Dawkins, the prominent author of The God Delusion, contended for the goodness of cultural Christianity, a societal idea that appreciates freedoms and care for humanity, among other things. Are these not signs of a basic goodness?

A better description would be to call these yearnings for civic righteousness or help to man a display of common grace. God, in His kindness, has not allowed every vestige of His image in fallen man to be destroyed. Man is not as bad as he possibly could be. In fact, Paul will speak of how he is able to rejoice that while men preach Christ with rotten motives, it is still the gospel that they preach (Phil. 1:15–18). Therefore, while these men are dominated by selfish ambition and desire to cause Paul distress, they yet declare the riches of Christ. In light of that fact, Paul rejoices and will keep on rejoicing.

These corrupt men are doing a work that is outwardly good, and that’s the mercy of God. But where their preaching of Christ fails is at the level of the heart. God wants truth in the inner parts (Ps. 51:6). The Lord sees to the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). He knows what is in us (John 2:25), and at the level of the heart there is corruption (Gen. 6:5), deception (Jer. 17:9–10), and all manner of unclean things (Mark 7:21–23). Our native condition is such that the defiled of heart (and “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart pure . . .’?”; Prov. 20:9) can never do the good work of gaining acceptance with God. Our hearts, by nature, are far from Him. We are incapable of cleansing ourselves. We cannot do good so that we might merit God’s mercy. We have fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23), of the One who is goodness itself (Ps. 34:8).

Nevertheless, God’s standard of goodness remains. What, then, shall we do? We need our consciences purified from dead works that we might serve the living God (Heb. 9:14). We need redemption through the blood of Christ (Eph. 1:7). We need the Righteous One, the Lord Jesus, to wash us, give His perfect record to us, and change us that we might renounce ungodliness and worldly passions (Titus 2:12). There may be a collective judgment among the sons of this earth concerning good things. But the blood-bought believer aims not to lean on his own understanding but to follow the Lord’s instruction and walk worthily of Him (1 Thess. 4:1). Indeed, the cry of the psalmists is repeatedly, “Teach me your paths” (Ps. 25:4), “Teach me your way” (Ps. 27:11), and “Teach me your statutes!” (Ps. 119:12).

Is this our prayer? Do we recognize that the pull of sin is a pull toward corrupt works? By nature, we are inclined to go astray (Isa. 53:6). Our faith, then, cannot rest in the wisdom of men (1 Cor. 2:5). We need instruction, and our good and upright Lord is pleased to give it (Ps. 25:8). He will show us the good works that we must do. He will further call us to devote ourselves to those good works (Titus 3:8) and to consider how to stir one another up to love and good works (Heb. 10:24).

The flesh may crave certain pleasures in the pursuit of earthly happiness, a good thing by the appraisal of our lusts, but the believer in Christ walks by the Spirit and does not gratify the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). We, as Paul puts it in personal language, live by “faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (2:20). Our walk, the path of goodness, is thus shaped by what the Lord says. We hear the Lord say by means of His Word: “This is the way, walk in it” (Isa. 30:21). Only then can our work be good.

Thus, we pursue the path that the Lord has given. In dependence on the Spirit, while we are in this fallen world, “we make it our aim to please him” (2 Cor. 5:9). Moreover, we recognize that the Lord who saved us also trains us that we would be zealous for good works (Titus 2:14). These good works are no ground of boasting, as though our efforts earned God’s favor. Even at our best, we are still unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10). We are saved by grace through faith. Salvation is God’s gift, and it is not the result of works (Eph. 2:8–9). But shaped after Christ, who always did the good that pleased His Father, believers pursue good works. We have been created in Christ Jesus to do them (v. 10).

Moreover, our endeavor after the good things that the Lord has taught us must be vigorous. We are not passive in the practice of godliness. We fight, strive, wrestle, run, and pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). Our union with Christ leads to bearing fruit (John 15:5). Yes, our pursuit of the path of faithfulness will be full of fits and starts. The obedience of all, except our Savior, will manifest our weaknesses, for the stirring of the Spirit within us is always met with fiery conflict by the flesh (Gal. 5:17). Yet coming again to the fountain for sin and uncleanness (Zech. 13:1), we press on for the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).

Paul knows that he is not perfect, but the prize remains in view (v. 12). Washed in Jesus’ blood and stirred by the sanctifying Spirit, he forgets what lies behind and strains forward to what lies ahead. Paul desires to edify the brethren by providing a model of godly endeavor (v. 17). He calls Titus to that same model: “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works” (Titus 2:7). Believers adorn our profession by walking in the light of Christ’s Word. We act in faith (Heb. 11:6). We obey from the heart (Rom. 6:17). We commit ourselves to the Scriptures, “a lamp to [our] feet” (Ps. 119:105). We aim for the glory of God, which will always prove to be for the good of His people (2 Cor. 8:19).

What is a good work? It is a work that our God has given us to do as we trust Him, love Him, and heed His Word. It should be our prayer that the Lord would equip us with everything good that we may do His will (Heb. 13:21).

Article by Rev. David Gilbert / Tabletalk Magazine

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Rev. David Gilbert is senior pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Douglasville, Ga.

• “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10. These are works done, not in our own strength and for our own benefit, but by the grace of God and in obedience to Him – led by the Holy Spirit, to God’s glory.

  
  

• The way of works is the way of life, for “He who does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:17.

  
  

• “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven … Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” Matthew 7:21-23.

  
  

• To the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we read constantly, “I know your works,” and “Do the first works.” “You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans.” “As for your works, the last are more than the first.” “… and keeps My works until the end.” “For I have not found your works perfect before God.” In other words, they should have been perfect!!!

  
  

• The only thing that interests God is our works – the works He has prepared for us! It is the only thing that weighs anything on the scales!