Mar
01
Q & A: “What work do you need to do to be saved?“
I recently began an e-mail correspondence with a pastor in the Philippines who discovered our website. He is doing a great ministry in a rural area and has led many to the Lord. Many of his e-mails contain great questions from people in his church. I took some time writing my response. This series of blogs contain those questions and answers.
Question: What work do you need to do to be saved?
Answer: With God’s help I will attempt to explain this great mystery about salvation that has puzzled many since the time of Christ.
I think one of the best passages of scripture on the relationship of faith and works is Ephesians 2:8-10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Salvation comes by faith in Jesus work on the cross on our behalf not by faith in our own work. (This is what makes Christianity different from all other world religions.) Salvation is not something we earn through are efforts but is a gift. A person does pay for a gift or earn a gift. A gift is something you you receive, not something you earn. This gift comes to us by God’s grace. “Grace” is defined as receiving something good you don’t deserve or you haven’t earned. So even though we have done nothing to deserve salvation, God gives salvation to us as a gift. Verse 10 is where good works comes in. Now that we have received salvation by faith we have been changed. We are now being molded into the image of Christ by God the Father. Our good works are the result of salvation taking hold in our life. We do good things that our Heavenly Father has prepared for us, not to earn our salvation, but in a grateful response to what he has done for us. James tells us that good works are important because they prove that we have a genuine faith (James 2:26). The way I like to illustrate the relationship between faith and works is this. Salvation is like some extravagant gift someone gives to you for no apparent reason (maybe a house, car, boat, etc.). Although the gift is free, the gift now by necessity will change your life. You will have to work to take care of the gift. You may have to invest time and money in the gift in order to maintain or get the most out of the gift. The presence of that extravagant gift you received for free can’t help but change what you do with your life.