Should Christians Value Good Works?

Kile Baker Contributor
Updated Dec 28, 2022

The word “works” has a long, complicated history in Christendom.

It has often been the punching bag for grace-based theology and the silent companion for evangelism. But it is also the heavyweight going toe to toe with evil, and the loud cheerleader for the person maturing in their faith. The idea of “works” is a burden for people trying to earn their way to God, and a welcome necessity for those who realize that they can never earn their way to God but want to show that they now walk with Him hand in hand.

It’s all of these. But the idea of works doesn’t have to be only on the polar extremes mentioned above. Works are an important, pivotal, and even rewarding way of thinking about our faith. It’s important to start off with the right foundation though, otherwise works can be relegated to the extremes of being avoided or overemphasized. Instead, works should sit right in the middle, right in the trenches of our everyday actions— but let’s start with what they’re not.

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Highwaystarz-Photography

“From” and Not “For”

Paul does an incredible job of communicating and compartmentalizing what works do and do not do, and how our standing with God is and is not received. A simple reading of Romans 3, and Ephesians 2 put it all into perspective. Paul lays out his argument about works are through four important subjects: sin, righteousness, faith, and finally, good works. These first three are pivotal to being able to understand what good works we should do in the first place. Paul lays the groundwork for where the motivation for good works come from: either the law or love.

For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. (Romans 3:9)

First, all of us have the same starting point. We’re all under the power of sin without God. The Jews may have had the advantage of being the chosen people, but they also couldn’t banish sin from their lives. They, like all Gentiles (the rest of the world), are under the power of sin without God.

Here’s the second big point

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. (Romans 3:19-20)

The works of the law, or so-called “good acts” that are based on God’s law can’t help with our standing with God. On the contrary, Paul states that the law simply points to the fact that we cannot be righteous (or have a good standing) with God by our works. That good standing can only come by God’s grace, through faith:

Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. (Romans 3:27-28)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Based on Paul’s arguments so far, here are some conclusions we can draw about good works:

The Law does not instruct us on how to be good, moral people. The Law informs us that without Christ we are bad, immoral people.
You cannot do good works to earn your way into a good standing with God.
Salvation by grace through faith enables good works to be what we’re glad to do, rather than what we have to do.

Good works are meant to happen from our good relationship with God by His grace through our faith; they are not meant for achieving a good relationship with God through our works for His grace. In fact, this is impossible, grace can only be given, not earned.

Two Big Realizations about Good Works

Good works are our service back to God. It’s our way of showing our gratitude and as a way of gladly working for Him because we already know we have been given everything we need through Christ. And yet, not everyone will do good works and serve Him. Why not?

As we listen to Jesus’ lengthy story about doing good works, let’s check out two big realizations about good works:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Matthew 25:31-46

Why will they get to be in the kingdom of God? Because of their loving works:

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Think about it this way when it comes to doing good works:

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/zenstock

1. When we love and serve others with good works, we are loving and serving Christ.

Christ’s followers need no better motivation than this. If we believe that Christ served us first through His death, resurrection, and promise of eternal life, all of us should want to pick up some tools and ask Him “what would you like us to do for you?” And indeed, true Christ-followers want to do this.

But as Christ continues His story, we realize there are those who will not do good works for Him:

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Here’s the second big realization:

2. When we fail to love and serve others, we succeed in loving and serving only ourselves.

Ouch, right? We’ve probably all done this. We’ve succeeded in serving ourselves and failed to love others at times. Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that a few times of doing this means you won’t get to be with Christ; but what it does mean is that a heart that looks for good works to do is the kind of heart that Christ is looking for!

Here’s what a heart realizes when it comes to the importance of good works:

Good works remind us that God loved us and served us first.
Good works reinforce our love and service to Christ.
Good works reveal Christ to others as we serve and love them.
God will reward us for our good works because He loves us and we served Him.

Rewards? Wait a minute, aren’t we supposed to do good works because we want to honor God? Of course! However, we have the added benefit, according to God, of being rewarded for the good works we do.

Here’s how Christ says it on the last page of the Bible:

“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. (Revelation 22:12-13)

He will reward people based on their good works; and not their good intentions. Good works really do matter this much to God, in fact so much so that He is looking to reward those who do them! Active, intentional, selfless, God-honoring good works will actually be rewarded in the next life.

hand outstretched help up forgive forgiveness man sitting on ground

So, what should we do now?

Right now, we should think about it this way: we have a limited life, with the potential of doing unlimited good works.

God has given us all the time in the world to do good works on His behalf. Every day is an opportunity. But how do you know which good works to do?

Well, fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), Jesus doesn’t give us a list. And that’s probably a good thing as it would have just ended up being another version of the law. But here’s a good starting point:

When you think of what’s good for others and not for you, you’ll come up with a good work to do.

You probably already know what’s good for your family, friends, kids, spouse, neighbors, or co-workers. You just need to be willing to do it!

What can we look forward to next?

What we have to look forward to is: an unlimited life, with limited wants.

Ultimately the reward we will get for honoring God in our lives now, is to be with the giver of the rewards forever. The greatest gift God can give us, is Himself. And when we’re with Him forever, there will be very few things we’ll want beyond Him.

Final Thoughts

Good works are absolutely something we should think about as Christians. If Paul is right (and I think he is!) we were created to do good works for God. Our job is to honor Him and delight in working for Him for His glory and for the benefit of others. And as an added bonus, we’ll be rewarded for them! This shouldn’t be the motivation, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want an added benefit. God has been so gracious to us now, and will be so gracious to us forever — who wouldn’t want to do good works for a God like that?

Kile Baker is a former Atheist who didn’t plan on becoming a Christian, let alone a Pastor, who now writes to try and make Christianity simple. Kile recently wrote a study guide to help people “look forward to and long for Heaven.” You can get one on Amazon here. He also writes at www.paperbacktheologian.com. Kile is the grateful husband to the incredibly talented Rachel, Dad to the energetic London and feisty Emma and Co-Lead Pastor at LifePoint Church in Northern Nevada. He single handedly keeps local coffee shops in business.