Starving for Truth (4)

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2.10

Starting points
We recall that John Calvin wrote that a true church exists and is visible where the Word of God is preached and heard. Just because people are listening to preaching and teaching, or having daily devotions, or even participating in a Bible study group, does not mean that they are hearing the Word of God as God intends. In many ways, the famine of hearing God’s Word, which the prophet Amos foresaw, has settled on the evangelical Church in this country. From the evidence – or lack of it – we appear to be a people who are starving for truth.

But how can we find our way out of this famine? By beginning to hear the Word as we should, bringing forth the fruit of repentance, and, from there, turning away from whatever the Word of God describes as sin, and bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

We cannot escape the clutches of the materialistic and hedonistic spirit of the times without change taking place in our lives. Repentance, rejection of sin, and the pursuit of holiness are the starting points for hearing the Word in all its transforming power and grace.

Good works
A third fruit that blossoms as we hear the Word of God is the proliferation of good works of ministry to touch the weary, searching lives of others with the grace of God (2 Tim. 3.5-17).

God’s Word is given so that men and women of God might be perfected in divine grace, “complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We are created anew in Christ Jesus to be, as it were, sponges of grace and truth. In the tight spots and hard squeezes of life, amid the misery and grime of sin, those who hear the Word of Christ emit not a squeal of fear nor a wail of complaint, but the warmth of grace to heal and bless, renew and revive, encourage and edify those around us. Having drunk our fill at the fountain of grace and truth (Ps. 36.8), we go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit, rivers of living water flowing out from us to bathe the unclean, refresh the thirsty, and buoy the sinking with the message of forgiveness and eternal hope (Jn. 7.37-39).

The Apostle Paul is adamant about this. We are not saved by good works, he would say, but we’re not truly saved without them. To Titus he wrote that God wants His people to be “ready for every good work” (3.1) and to be “careful to maintain good works,” “to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful” (3.8, 14).

James wrote that you cannot claim to have true faith in the Lord, or to be a true hearer of His Word, unless there is evidence of abounding good works in your life (1.22-25; 2.14-26). And the writer of Hebrews explained that we can only be sure of having heard the Word of God in a saving and sanctifying way when good works of service and love are proliferating in our lives (6.9-12).

And today?
But is this the reflection of Christian life that characterizes the evangelical community today?
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Certainly good works are being done by Christians in many different walks of life. But as a community, it seems to many that we are a people ever seeking, in the first instance, someone to heal our own hurts and bolster our own bruised egos, someone to reach out and minister to us rather than someone for whom we may give ourselves as living sacrifices unto the Lord.

The Word that was meant to equip us for every good work is too often resorted to only as a momentary spiritual thirst-quencher, a pick-me-up to temporarily assuage our deeper hunger. We take our draught – whether in our devotions, or by hearing a sermon or participating in a Bible study group – and thank the Lord for the refreshing reassurance that all is well with our souls. Then we go out into the world hardly changed and no better equipped to do the good works of ministry that touch others with the grace and truth of Jesus.

We are just too weak in our faith to fulfill that vision of Christian life which turns its world upside-down for Jesus Christ (Acts 17.1-9). We are starving for truth in a world that will die without it.

We will not begin to find our way out of the famine of hearing which has settled on us as a community until we begin to show more spontaneity, consistency, and selflessness in touching others with the good works of love that characterized our Lord Jesus, and that characterize all who truly hear the Word of God. And that will only happen as we hear the Word so that it penetrates our souls, floods us with the glory of God, and transforms us into the image of Jesus Christ.

For reflection
1.  We’re not saved by good works, but we’re not saved without them. Explain.

2.  Where does God want us to do good works? In church activities only?

3.  How does the Word of God equip us for every good work? What does it do to strengthen us for good works in our daily lives?

Next steps – Transformation: Make a list of the people you see each week on a regular basis. What are some ways you might touch these people with the grace and truth of Jesus? What specific good works would enable Jesus to show Himself through you to these people (2 Cor. 3.12-18)? Begin praying for grace to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ, and for opportunities to show His love to the people you meet.

T. M. Moore

This week’s series, Starving for Truth, is available as a free PDF download, for personal or group use. Click here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.