Dead Works

When Paul referred to “works” in Ephesians 2:8-9, he was talking about the works of the Law of Moses which some thought they could perform in order to receive salvation. Some also thought keeping the Mosaic Law was necessary along with Faith in Jesus (Acts 15:5), but they got it wrong and Paul corrected them:

Now we see how God does make us acceptable to him. The Law and the Prophets tell how we become acceptable, and it isn’t by obeying the Law of Moses. God treats everyone alike. He accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-22 CEV). God gives you his Spirit and works miracles in you. But does he do this because you obey the Law of Moses or because you have heard about Christ and have faith in him? (Galatians 3:5 CEV)

James taught about the problem of Christians who said they had Faith but had no works to prove it; those people are like the Liberals. Paul taught about the opposite problem of Christians who performed works of the Mosaic Law, and thought that these pleased God and brought them salvation. When I talk about the Legalists, I’m speaking of those in Paul’s audience. Even though Legalists have dropped the Mosaic Law they’ve picked up new laws and have fallen into the same problem.

Faith leads to works; but works, by themselves, don’t equal Faith, because those works did not start with obedience to God’s Word. Faith must be the root. When works are not done in Faith, they are like filthy rags to God (Isaiah 64:6). And dead works is sin (Romans 14:23).

How Dead Works Work

Dead works are the good deeds performed by men to appease their consciences. This is how it happens:

God commands a man to do something.
The man’s conscience is notified, by the Spirit, that he should obey.
The man doesn’t want to obey and will not obey.
While the Spirit is easily silenced, (by simply ignoring him) the conscience is not.
So the man appeases his conscience by doing something he feels is good.
Instead of obeying God, the man obeys his own set of rules and good deeds.
And the man’s conscience is settled by the good deeds he performs rather than what he was suppose to do.

Christians create long lists of rules and laws that look “spiritual” or “godly” but are not what God commanded them to do. These works may even be rooted in the Bible, but biblical commands should be understood and obeyed according to Jesus Christ (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Dead works begin to mask as good works and become a measurement of “faithfulness”, while God sits in the background shaking his head with disappointment. Then these men have the audacity to tell the flock that having Faith in Jesus is following their list of rules and good deeds. The Word says:

“… It is useless for you to worship me, when you teach rules made up by humans.” You disobey God’s commands in order to obey what humans have taught. You are good at rejecting God’s commands so that you can follow your own teachings! (Matt 15:7-9 CEV)

Jesus was saying exactly what leaders in churches do today. Dead works vary from denomination to denomination. Some groups (Legalists) don’t want to obey God by giving to the poor, feeding the hungry, visiting the streets and making disciples. They’d rather stay inside the four walls and spend four hours praying in tongues and getting “deep into Bible study” while souls die daily in their community. While Bible study and prayer are good things, these “hyper-spiritual” Christians have ignored what God also wants them to do; so they silence the Holy Spirit and appease their conscience by replacing God’s instructions with their own list of works they are more comfortable with. After a while, they stop hearing from God because the Holy Spirit stops talking; and why should he speak? They aren’t going to listen anyway. At the end of the day, the pastor pats himself on the back and says, “How faithful we are, for ‘pressing into God’; God is pleased with us.”

Another group (Liberals) prides themselves in doing the “good work of Jesus” by giving to the needy and passing out bibles. But God also told their pastor to preach repentance and truth. There is so much immorality and lack of love in this church that one would have to think twice about whether these people are really Christians. But because the pastor wants to be liked, he continues to preach “seeker-friendly” messages and avoids the real Word of God; which would probably anger most of his paying members. God told him to do something that he wasn’t comfortable with, so he chose to do something else instead. At the end of the day, the pastor pats himself on the back and says, “How faithful we are for giving to the needy and passing out bibles; God is pleased with us”. Passing out bibles and giving to people is great, but the Father is also concerned and deeply grieved about the immorality and lack of love within his own Church; one of the very things he had his Son die for in the first place.

Just because your pastor says that serving as an usher, or in the media and sound department, or the children′s or dance ministry; being on the event committee, participating in the women′s and men′s ministry, or the mimes ministry; paying your tithes and attending church on time is showing your Faith in God, it doesn’t mean your pastor is right. He’s wrong. These things do not qualify as Faith in Jesus.

There’s nothing wrong with being a choir member, or an usher; being a Christian rapper, managing the church’s finances, helping out at the church picnic, or church clean-up day; being a consultant on the “leadership” team and so forth; but simply doing these things is not showing your Faith in God, these are merely works; dead works. Don’t think you please God just because you work so hard in your church.

People will insist again, “These works are necessary because my pastor said so; and I’m submitting to my pastor”, but I DON’T CARE what your pastor said, I’m more concerned with what Jesus says. Did Jesus tell you to do these things? If so, you show your Faith, if not; these are dead works. Faith leads to works; but works, by themselves, do not equal Faith because they did not start with obedience to God’s commands.

Dead works block growth and fulfillment. God has given you spiritual gifts and talents (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:4-11; Eph 4:11-13); but you can’t be used by God because you’re too busy serving the church facility. This is why some Christians feel so empty, even though they are plugged-in to so many ministries; dead works bring no real or lasting fulfillment. God has so much in store for you as an individual; you have so many gifts and talents. You are unique. You are his vessel and he wants to use you his way. I hate to see Christians become drones in the “church factory”. Church has become a systematic, organized institution that requires maintenance and workers; then it lies to these non-paid “employees” by telling them that they have Faith in God by working and keeping this system going.

Everything you do must be done through the leading of God! We all need to chill-out, take a break, and reconsider whether Jesus really told us to do these things. Were you really led by the Spirit? If we can be honest, we can admit that most of what we do is by tradition and not by the Spirit. And sadly, as you look at your church today, it is evident that we are led by the flesh:

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).

God is not pleased with these dead works. Once again: Christians must be led by Jesus through the power of the Spirit in all areas of their lives and at all times in order to effectively produce the fruit the Father wants. This means: constant prayers like, “What do you want me to do today, Jesus? How do you want me to do that, Jesus?” Once we begin to be led by God, we will find that the majority of what we do is not even necessary.

Maybe

Maybe God doesn’t want your church to evangelize and distribute Bibles until all of you build a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. Maybe God doesn’t want the choir to sing three songs, preceded with the weekly announcements, then prayer, and finally, an hour long sermon. Maybe God doesn’t want to be boxed into your church’s schedule. Maybe God wants everyone to weep and mourn for the state of our city and to repent of our sins.

Maybe God doesn’t think you’re a good person just because of your humanitarian efforts in Africa. Maybe he would like you to respect and love your neighbors in your own backyard first. Maybe God will only look at you as “good” if you walked in his Holy Spirit and stayed joined to his spotless Son.

Maybe God doesn’t want the pastor to preach anymore sermons until he begins to love his wife and raise his children (who need him the most), and then, preach only the Word of God as he was commanded to in the first place. Maybe God wants every member to apologize to other members they’ve mistreated.

Maybe God isn’t interested in growing the membership; maybe God wants mature Christians. Maybe God didn’t call you to the spiritual office of Pastor, but rather an Evangelist. Maybe God doesn’t want the congregation to go on a “Daniel Fast”; maybe he wants them to “hold-fast” to the teachings of Jesus, and quit listening to doctrines of demons.

Maybe God would loooove you to give to your neighbor, across the street, the one with the three kids and no husband, instead of to your multi-leveled cathedral. Maybe God doesn’t want you to start “your ministry” just yet, maybe he wants you to learn love, obedience and humility (you arrogant egomaniac), then you would stop discouraging people from coming to Christ because of your not-so-Christ-like character. While some of these activities are great and seem godly, when done outside of the leading of God (outside of Faith) and in the flesh, they are dead works.

²² Obey God’s message! Don’t fool yourselves by just listening to it. ²³ If you hear the message and don’t obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror ²⁴ and forget what they look like as soon as they leave. ²⁵ But you must never stop looking at the perfect law that sets you free. God will bless you in everything you do, if you listen and obey, and don’t just hear and forget (James 1:22-25 CEV).

Christians have not been listening to the Holy Spirit or the Word of God. They may preach it, they may hear God, but they aren’t really obeying him. But then they turn around and say, “We’re being faithful; we’re followers of Christ, and we love Jesus”. This is complete crap! And God knows it. Christians have engaged in dead works for so long, and then they wonder why the Body of Christ is so ineffective in their communities. These are not works of Faith but rather dead works. Dead works are powerless, they make matters worse, and we have to stop doing these things!

Dead works may fool the doer and most of the viewers but not the all knowing, all present, all powerful God of all. In the Bible, dead works are referred to as filthy rags. Filthy rags were the undergarments women wore during their menstrual periods. Maybe God doesn’t like the fact that you keep leaving him nasty maxi-pads. Maybe God is angry. Maybe you should stop pissing him off. Maybe, if you obey God, he would bless you in everything you do (James 1:24 CEV).

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of Faith toward God (Heb 6:1).

Faith and repentance from dead works are elementary things, says the Word of God. Let’s understand that our works, if not backed by Faith, are dead and unacceptable to God; if we can get this, we can move on to the more complex things of Christ and to perfection.

So here’s how Faith works:

I believe in God
He tells me to do something
I ask Jesus how to do it and get power from the Spirit
And so I do what God commands me to do
What I do for God is a good work
I am producing the fruit the Father wants
God is pleased, I have Faith in Jesus Christ

Faith Believes →