Good Works

Good works come from a vine. Check out the Lord’s illustration:

¹ Jesus said to his disciples: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of what I have said to you.

⁴ Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.

⁵ I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. ⁶ If you don’t stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire.

⁷ Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered (John 15:1-7 CEV).

Notice verse 5 of the branch and vine illustration: “If you stay joined to me… you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me”. What does Jesus mean by “anything”? He means anything of significance like: salvation (John 14:6 CEV); but more specifically, in this passage: the good works of obedience. In verse 7 he explains the purpose of being joined:

to let his teachings become a part of them
then they could pray for whatever they wanted, and their prayers would be answered

We know, from reading 1 John 3:22, earlier, that only obedient followers get their prayers answered. So Jesus was telling us to maintain a close relationship with him in order to teach us how to obey the Father. Notice this scripture:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age (Titus 2:11-12 NIV).

“The grace of God” refers to Jesus, who teaches us to obey our Father. We need the Son because without the Son, we cannot obey the Father; he teaches us how. Jesus tells us to stay joined for the purpose of learning how to properly obey the Father. In other words, we don’t understand how to obey the Father’s commandments. We need to allow Jesus to help us. The Son understands the Father better than we do. An example is Jesus’ fulfillment of the Ten Commandments. Jesus said:

Don’t suppose that I came to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I did not come to do away with them, but to give them their full meaning (Matt 5:17 CEV).

And here’s an example of Jesus helping us to understand the Father’s commandments regarding murder, adultery and divorce:

You know that our ancestors were told, “Do not murder” and “A murderer must be brought to trial.” But I promise you that if you are angry with someone, you will have to stand trial. If you call someone a fool, you will be taken to court. And if you say that someone is worthless, you will be in danger of the fires of hell (Matt 5:21-22 CEV).

You know the commandment which says, “Be Faithful in marriage.” But I tell you that if you look at another woman and want her, you are already unfaithful in your thoughts (Matt 5:27-28 CEV).

You have been taught that a man who divorces his wife must write out divorce papers for her. But I tell you not to divorce your wife unless she has committed some terrible sexual sin. If you divorce her, you will cause her to be unfaithful, just as any man who marries her is guilty of taking another man’s wife (Matt 5:31-32 CEV).

Do you see how Jesus clarifies what the Father commands? Jesus is truly our mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). He talks to God for us and interprets what God says. We must obey the commands of Jesus Christ; it is the only way to obey the Father properly. Here’s how it works:

The Father tells us to do something
We, in turn, ask Jesus, “What does our Father mean, and how do we do that?”
Then Jesus says, “This is what he means, do it this way…”

This is what it means to be joined to Jesus. Jesus is our big brother, who knows Father God better than us. We must stay close to Jesus, and do as he tells us. As we obey the Son, we obey the Father; and through this process, we will produce fruit. What is this fruit? The fruit is the result of our obedience which leads to good works.

What do good works look like?

Jesus teaches us to say “No” to sin as we read in Titus 2:11-12. When we abstain from sin and live self-controlled and godly lives, this is what good works look like. Along with the help of Jesus, is another aid, the Holy Spirit (John 16:5-15) who gives us the power to obey. Paul instructs us to “be filled” with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). The following passages further explain what good works will come from walking in the Spirit:

¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (…)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16-18, 22-25).

So we know now that a good work is the fruit produced by staying joined to Jesus and walking in the Spirit. Good works never include sin; and you will know them by love, joy, peace, self-control, etc. (Gal 5:22-23). A good work is whatever God tells you to do; and if you obey, you will please God.

Earlier, we talked about how some say, “it’s impossible to keep God’s commandments”. This is true. It is impossible, in our own flesh, for Jesus said, “You cannot do anything without me.” That means: if we try to obey the Father alone, without Jesus’ help, we will fail. But if we listen to Jesus and learn how to obey God, we will produce much fruit. The Holy Spirit gives us power to obey and overcome sin (Eph 3:20). With Jesus and the Spirit’s help, we can keep the commandments of God.

Only Perfect Fruit

If you try to obey in your own flesh, you will screw it up, because the flesh is weak. The flesh is in opposition to God. In our flesh, it may seem like we’re doing the right thing, but the works won’t be exactly as the Father would want them. Therefore, in the flesh, we cannot perform as God would want us to. But as we stay joined to Jesus, with the Spirit’s help, we are able to perform perfectly.

God doesn’t want the flawed, brown grapes from your vine. The Gardener only wants the perfect, sweet, plump, firm, colorful grapes produced through his Son, the true Vine. We have our perfect Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us for the purpose of producing perfection; two perfect people helping us achieve what the Father wants; why should God accept less than perfect results?

Can God redeem and clean up works that were rooted in a desire to obey God but were handled in the flesh? Perhaps he will. In his love and mercy, he may show us our error, and teach us how to do it right the next time. But to think that we can do anything God asks, without Jesus, is a clear sign of ignorance, pride and unbelief because Jesus said, “You cannot do anything without me”.

There are many Christians who try to obey in their flesh and fail miserably and damage others in the process. Look at ministries that started off great, only to produce “works of the flesh” (as Galatians 5:19-21 puts it) rather than fruits of the Spirit. They had the right heart in the beginning, but lacked an understanding of how to obey God. At some point, they detached themselves from the true Vine, went astray, and into the arms of their flesh; causing massive damage to themselves and others around them.

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. Then we can rightly be called “people of good works”.

Learning how to submit to our Father, abiding in Jesus and walking in the Spirit are the hardest parts of Christianity; which is why most people prefer dead works.

Dead Works →