This is the third and, I think, final installment of that can of worms I opened at the beginning of September...grace versus works. We continue from the last post with Question #2: If I don’t have to work for tuna, why should I work at all? Why not do as Joe Black is doing in this picture, kicking back and relaxing in the sun?
Or, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 6:1, ”Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” (NIV).
Shadow and some of her compatriots may have the answer to that. (Paul has some pretty good thoughts, too, but we’ll look at Shadow first. After all, this is her blog.).
Cats, like people, seem to have a few basic motivations. Hunger and thirst, fear, defense of family, sex drive…all the basics are there. As with humans, different impulses can drive seemingly similar behaviors. Then again, that actually makes the behavior different, doesn’t it? There’s a big difference between stalking a mouse because you’re hungry--because you have to--and stalking that same mouse because you think your human may appreciate a small gift.
You know what I’m talking about, right? Most of us have heard of, if not been owned by, gift-giving cats. We may not need their gifts of mice, snakes and crickets (or appreciate them much, either.) We can appreciate, however, the impulse that drives a small feline to drop a gift at the feet of its human.
In the last post, I talked about the fact that God doesn’t need our good works any more than I need that snake B.J. just brought into the kitchen. In this case, though, you might say it’s the thought that counts. What thought is that? Gratitude.
To put it another way, the relationship between works and faith is a matter of perspective. Salvation and works go together. Yes, they do. According to James, if you’re not doing what God says, your faith may be in doubt.
“But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like (James 1:22-24, NRSV).
Or, if you want it put more bluntly, “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:17, NRSV).
Which comes first, though, salvation or works? In the last couple of posts, I think Shadow and I made it clear that works don’t lead to salvation. So, it must be the other way around. It’s faith and salvation that lead to doing what God says. Let’s let Paul now answer his own question: should we sin more to get more grace?
“By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2, NIV)
Paul was big on grace. He was also faced with new Christians who thought that, now that they had grace on their side, they could do whatever the heck they wanted. (They had a lot in common with many people today.) Paul had a few compelling arguments in the face of that belief.
“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” (Romans 6:15-18, NIV)
The thought of slavery may not rest well in minds today, but another way to view the relationship between faith and works is as fruit. That’s the imagery Christ Himself used when talking to the disciples.
“I am the vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit” (John 15:1-2a).
It’s not just “good deeds” Christ is talking about here, but spiritual fruit. (See Galatians 5:22-26 for more information on that.) From the spiritual, though, comes the physical. Obeying the law, doing good things, works…they’re natural extensions of a relationship with God, blossoming and ripening as naturally as a pear tree loads its branches with juicy pears. It’s the tree’s molecular makeup that makes it a pear tree, but it’s the fruit that makes that fact obvious to the world.
We’ve already established that we can’t obey God’s laws under our own steam, though. So, how are we supposed to produce these Divine apples? Jesus, as always, has the simplest and most difficult answer.
“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me....And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name” (John 15: 4, 16b).
Remember, saplings don’t bear fruit; mature trees and vines do. It’s time spent connected to—“abiding” in—the vine that produces abundant fruit. And what does it mean to abide in Jesus? It means keeping in touch with God by praying and reading the Bible. It means staying plugged in to a group of other faithful Christians and learning from those whose faith is bearing more fruit than yours.
Abiding in Christ means keeping His commandments (John 15:10). His most basic commandment is to love one another as He loves us (John 15:12).
Once you comprehend the truly awesome extent of God’s love for you—the poor, homeless, beaten, exhausted, sweating, bleeding, dying love—it becomes more simple to love in turn. Not always easy, but simple. Simple to love God enough to do what He says. Simple to value your relationships with God and those around you. And “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt. 22:40).
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