Beloved, we are told to do good, help others, serve our neighbors, care for those in need, support the church, encourage one another, and be useful for the kingdom of God. All of these things are important. Yet, sometimes fail to ask: What actually makes a work good in the sight of God?
We live in a world where almost everyone has his own definition of what is good. One person says, “I meant well.” Another says, “My heart was in the right place.” Someone else says, “I thought it was the right thing to do.” However, as Christians, we cannot allow our feelings, culture, traditions, or good intentions to define what is good. God Himself must define what is good.
We must remember God determines what pleases God. We do not have the authority to invent our own ways of serving Him and then expect Him to accept them simply because we were sincere. God Has Told Us What Is Good: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
Note, the first few words: “He has told you.” We do not have to guess or invent something new. God has spoken. God has given us His Word, and His Word tells us what He requires of us. Remember this because, sinful man always wants to replace God's commands with his own ideas. Sometimes we think that if something feels religious, looks spiritual, then surely God must be pleased with it. God does not just want enthusiasm. He wants obedience. God does not just want sincerity or religious activity. He wants obedience that flows from faith and is governed by His Word. Scripture must be our standard. We must ask ourselves “Has God said this is good?” Not “Do I think this is good?” Good Intentions Are Not Enough
We must be careful about works invented by men out of “blind zeal” or “a pretense of good intentions.” Some might say Good intentions are better than evil intentions or sincerity is certainly better than hypocrisy. Still, sincerity by itself does not make something right. A person can be sincerely wrong. Jesus confronted this very problem among the religious leaders of His day. He said, “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:9
These people were religious. They had traditions. They had rules. They appeared devoted to God. Yet Jesus said their worship was “in vain” because they had elevated human commandments to the place that belongs only to God's Word. That should make us stop and examine ourselves.
Is it possible to be so busy doing religious things that we miss what God has actually commanded? Is it possible to have so much zeal and still be pointed in the wrong direction? Is it possible to say, “I am doing this for God,” while ignoring what God has plainly said in His Word? Brothers and Sisters, God does not need us to improve upon His commands.
God's Word is sufficient for faith and life, then God's Word is sufficient to teach us how we should live before Him. We do not need to invent new commandments to become more spiritual. We do not need to chain another believer's Spirit when Scripture has set it free. We do not need to turn our personal preferences into God's commands. This is especially important within the church.
Sometimes Christians can enforce what God Himself has never commanded. We may develop traditions or preferences, and there is nothing necessarily wrong with those things. The danger comes when we try to shove this onto other faithful Christians when it is not in the Word. Our Spirit belongs to God. Therefore, we must continually return to Scripture and ask, “What has God commanded?”
There is another truth we cannot miss. The Christian does not perform good works in his own strength. “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20–21 What a beautiful truth. God commands good works, but He also works in His people so that we might walk in obedience to Him. The Christian life is not simply gritting our teeth and trying harder. God, by His Holy Spirit, is at work within His redeemed people. Hebrews says we are equipped “that you may do His will.” That is the heart of good works. We are seeking to do His will, not invent our own.
Now, we must be very clear here. Good works are important, but good works cannot save us. We are sinners. We have broken God's law. Even our best works are unable to erase our guilt before a holy God. We cannot pile up enough good deeds to outweigh our sins. Our salvation rests entirely upon Jesus Christ. Jesus obeyed where we have disobeyed. He lived the righteous life that we could not. He willingly went to the cross and bore the judgment due to sinners. He died. He was buried. On the third day He rose victoriously from the grave. We are justified before God through faith in Jesus Christ, not through our works.
But the same We are not saved by good works, but when God saves a sinner, He begins producing good works in that sinner. The gospel that saves you also changes you. We obey because we have been redeemed, not so that we can become redeemed. That distinction is extremely important. God gives us spiritual life through regeneration by the Holy Spirit. He brings us to repentance and faith in Christ. Then, because we have been made alive, we begin to produce fruit.
Our desires begin to change. We want to obey God's Word. We want to love our Brothers and Sisters. We want to care for our families. We want to serve Christ's church. We want to help those in need. We want to speak truthfully. We want to forgive. We want to pray. We want to worship. We want our daily work and our ordinary lives to honor Jesus Christ.
None of this makes us perfect. Sanctification is a lifelong work. We stumble, we fall, sometimes we must repent of trying to serve God according to our own wisdom instead of His Word. Yet the direction of our life has changed. Sometimes we think good works must be something spectacular. We imagine christians making enormous sacrifices. Most good works God gives us are much more ordinary.
A father patiently teaching his children God's Word. A mother faithfully caring for her family. A church member encouraging discouraged Brothers or Sisters. A Christian employee working honestly when no one is watching. Forgiving someone who has wronged us. Praying for another believer. Providing for someone in need. Speaking the truth when lying would be easier. Showing kindness to someone who cannot repay us.
Brothers and Sisters, never underestimate ordinary obedience. You may never stand behind a pulpit. You may never travel to the mission field. Your name may never appear in a Christian book. Most people may never know what you have done. But God knows.The question is not whether people noticed. The question is whether we faithfully walked according to God's Word.
So, before we say, “This is what God wants,” we should ask, “Where has God said this?” Before we bind someone’s Spirit, we should ask, “Is this God's command or merely my preference?” Before we congratulate ourselves for our religious activity, we should ask, “Am I actually obeying God's Word?” Before we become proud of our good works, we should remember who gave us the strength, desire, opportunity, and grace to perform them.
Hebrews tells us that God is “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.” Therefore, even our good works should lead us back to worship. There is no room for boasting. Brothers and Sisters, Chapter 16:1 of our 1689 Confession gives us a simple but important guardrail for the Christian life: God defines what is good through His Word. Our culture does not define good. Our emotions do not define good. Our traditions do not define good. Our sincerity does not define good. Our intentions do not define good. God does.
So we open His Word. We listen to His commands. We trust His wisdom. We walk by the power of His Spirit. When we fail and we will, we run again to Jesus Christ, confessing our sin and resting in His finished work. We do not perform good works hoping that God will finally love us. In Christ, we serve because God has already shown His love toward us. We do not obey to purchase salvation. Christ purchased His people with His own blood. We obey because we belong to Him. May we never be satisfied merely to say, “I meant well.” May our desire instead be, “Lord, show me from Your Word how You would have me live.”
Then let us get busy doing what God has actually commanded, loving Him, loving our neighbor, serving His church, caring for our families, helping those in need, speaking the truth, sharing the gospel, and faithfully walking in the ordinary duties He places before us. Not to earn His grace, but because we have received His grace. Not to make ourselves righteous, but because Christ is our righteousness. So we live our lives beyond ourselves to the Glory God. Good works are not our way to Christ. Good works are the fruit of belonging to Christ. The Word, not the wisdom of man, tells us what good works are.
16:1. Good works are only those works that God has commanded in his holy Word.1 Works that do not have this warrant are invented by men out of blind zeal or on a pretense of good intentions and are not truly good.2
