Listening to this sermon, I couldn’t help but think about the absence of such critical teaching that is absent in the body of Christ today. So very often new believers in Christ would ask that burning question after extending their faith to Jesus Christ and receiving Him into their hearts, ‘I am saved, now what?’ Believe it or not, there is rarely a concise answer for that baby in Christ. This is what makes the transition to a walk of faith in Christ so much of a struggle for the new believer.
The more I listened to the sermon about how faith without works is dead and that it is not only important, or the journey of belief doesn’t end at believing, but there must be a work to showcase the faith in what you believe. After believing in John 3: 16 of how “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life,” the believer must now embark on living a life commensurate to their belief system.
This is where the work comes in. The scriptures tell us that any man in Christ is a new creature, so now the things you once did are washed away and you are no longer motivated or propelled by the desires or impulses of your flesh or natural appetites but you are led by the spirit of God. It’s a new walk that will always require work and studying of the Word of God which is the guide to a walk of Salvation. It tells us that it was given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God (the believer) may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
As I listened to the word being taught this Sunday, my mind went way back to when churches held a ‘New Believer’s’ class mostly on Sunday mornings during the Sunday School hour or in the evening before the evangelistic service. The new believer was taught what it meant to receive the Salvation of the Lord and 95% of them stayed in their new faith and grew and matured into disciples of Jesus Christ. To some mature Christians, this message would seem simplistic and irrelevant for a Sunday morning worship service, but I found it so refreshing and pleasantly welcoming to the body of Christ.
Putting in the work that salvation requires is a necessary teaching today where we witness the blatant disregard for righteousness and holiness. A few years ago, I shared with one of my fellow ministers of the gospel, who was a fellow teacher of the Kingdom Academy at our church, that I was thinking of starting a young girls' group to teach them how to walk holy and chaste before God and her response was, ‘nobody wants to hear that.’ As difficult as it may seem to believe, many believers do not understand that they have to work at staying saved after they receive the gift of Salvation. With this misunderstanding, they believe that they are saved but continue to live the life of their past in a more dignified and sophisticated manner. It has really bothered me for a very long time and I’ve seen the disregard for holiness in the body of Christ and it is simply because our new believers are not taught the works of righteousness and righteous living.
Romans 10: 9-10 (KJV) tells us clearly “that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus (faith) and shall believe in thine heart (faith) that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Therefore, if there is no work, our salvation is dead. The Disciple James dealt extensively with this when he said in the second book of James, “…faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (vs 17), but wilt thou know O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (vs 20), and for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also (vs 26).” Our salvation requires work not to attain or acquire it, but to keep it and walk a life that is pleasing to the one who has called us into His righteousness.
Jesus Himself said, “Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven,” which tells us clearly that God is not so much impressed with our words as he is with our hearts and what comes out of it in words and deeds. Such teaching delivered this Sunday morning is desperately needed in the body of Christ. It is important that all believers know that having received salvation from the Lord, they must now work the works of righteousness to be found pleasing and acceptable to Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.
I encourage every believer to revisit this message and hold fast to its truth and walk in faith bearing the fruits of righteousness. It takes work to evolve from a natural being to a spiritual being. As believers, we are no more carnal but spiritual and we must work the works of the spirit and not sit idly in the fruits of the flesh. Salvation truly requires work.
Blessings!
