How to Walk in Good Works

Posted at Reformation Scotland:

If “good works” sound exhausting and somehow performative, we are probably doing them wrong. The Bible’s presentation of good works is more to do with exercising the Christian graces (such as faith and love) and fighting our personal sins of heart and life. Instead of chasing recognition and approval for what we are visibly doing, the “good works” of most Christians will be the quiet, ordinary work of pursuing heart holiness and moral integrity. This point is picked up by Zachary Boyd in a sermon on Ephesians 2:10, where the Christian is said to have been “created in Christ Jesus unto good works … that we should walk in them.” Zachary Boyd (1585–1653) was a minister in Glasgow. He contributed around a tenth of the content of the 1650 Scottish Psalter. In his sermon, Boyd explains that those who have been justified by the blood of Christ must walk in good works, and shows that this will be a lifelong walk.

What part do good works play in salvation?

The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:10 that we are, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works,” and he goes on to say that “we should walk in them.” This is why God has ordained good works. He does not say that we should merit by them, but that we should walk in them. Here it may clearly be seen that good works are, as one of the Church Fathers rightly said, “the way to the kingdom, but not the cause of reigning.” It is by the blood of Christ that we are justified, but those who are justified must walk in good works.

The text says “good works.” One good work is not enough for someone who wants to get to heaven. We must not sit down on one good work and say it is enough. No, we must walk in good works, from one to another. When someone has done one good turn, he must not lie down and puff, with those lazy priests in Malachi, saying, “What a weariness is in it!”

As the ending of one hour is the beginning of another, so must the ending of one work be the entry to another. As your breath continually comes and goes, as your pulse beats continually, as the sea is constantly in motion, as the heavenly bodies are always moving in their course, so must we be always doing good, going from one good work to another. This is the Christian pilgrimage. The one who wants to lodge in heaven must walk in works, from work to work, from grace to grace, till he reaches glory.

Many, if they have done any part of God’s commandments, brag of it as if they had done them all. Saul thought he had done well because he had killed the lean and worthless of the Amalekite animals, even though he had spared the fattest sheep and oxen, against God’s commandment. When Samuel came to him, before he could open his mouth to reprove him, Saul began to praise himself, saying, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord!” (1 Samuel 15:13). “Good,” Samuel said, “But what meaneth the bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” (1 Samuel 15:14). There are many Sauls in the world, who will make conscience of little sins, and keep alive the greatest and fattest, straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel (Matthew 23:23). Herod heard John gladly, and did many things at his desire. But the fed ox of his incestuous marriage, lowing in a filthy stable? Because John told him to kill it, he killed John.

Let us learn not to spare our fattest sins. It is a good work to put out the life of sin. It is a good work to destroy the works of the devil. To do good and to destroy evil are the works of the new creature, and we are ordained by God to walk in such works.

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