For Whom Should We Work?

Don: Is it possible that our works are judged not for themselves but on whether we use them for ourselves or for Good?

The prohibition on Adam and Eve from eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil implies that in God’s original plan, humankind was not intended to be able to tell good from evil. Scripture repeatedly states that such discrimination is a divine prerogative. In the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13), the landowner (i.e., God) would not allow his laborers (humans) to sort the wheat from the tares in case they mistook one for the other. It was, he said, a job for angels at the End of the Age. Similarly, in the parable of the rich young ruler, Jesus told that worthy that only God was good.

It would seem unfair and unjust to be judged on our ability to discern things beyond our power of discernment. God’s ways are not our ways, and over 100 verses in scripture admonish us not to judge others. But we do it anyway. And we don’t just judge others—we also judge ourselves. Moral law may have some value as a guide, but by and large the human condition since the Fall from the Garden has left us ill-equipped to interpret moral law justly and infallibly. God’s mercy, forgiveness, and bountiful grace is the antidote to that shortcoming.

All that being so, judgment cannot be about right and wrong or about good work vs. bad work. Rather, it is about whether we choose to accept God’s grace or to judge our own works and anticipate a reward accordingly. In the closing remarks of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

This illustrates that we are judged not on the quality or quantity of our works but on whether we try to use our works to claim a reward from God—an alternative to his grace. The parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20), who were paid the same wages by the landowner (God) regardless of how long and how hard they worked, also makes the point. Seen in this light, “good works” and “judgment” take on quite different meanings to those commonly assumed.

Good works is about the sharing of the inner light that is in everyone:

There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. (John 1:9)

He… has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

The sharing of the inner light—of God’s grace—is for the glorification of God:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14)

On the day of judgment (described in Matthew 25) the righteous sheep inherit the kingdom of heaven because they shared God’s grace and compassion with the poor, sick, and oppressed; not for any act of piety. They were surprised to receive a reward from God at all—they felt they were just meeting a need. The unrighteous goats, on the other hand, claimed they never saw a need.

To believe in Jesus is to see and meet the need, and therefore to be absolved from judgment:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:16-21)

The judgment is not about whether or not our works are good or bad—we can’t reliably distinguish between the two. It’s about whether we act like goats in seeking to replace God’s grace with our own misguided version of what is good—in walking in darkness…

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)

…like the rich young ruler and like the laborers who worked longest and hardest under the broiling sun and expected to receive more from the landowner in return. Work has nothing to do with it; but “life in Jesus Christ” has everything to do with it:

Therefore there is now no condemnation [translated sometimes as “judgment”] for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:1)

Paul concluded:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
 We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)

Have we been wrong about judgment and works all along?

David: Is there a difference between “work” and “works”? It seems to me that as used in scripture “works” refers to purposeful, goal driven actions, whereas “work” refers to behavior that just comes naturally—to living life. It is this natural behavior that is judged, it seems to me. We are judged on being good, not on doing good. When we are good, our inner light shines naturally. It is not a light we can switch on at will, through a deliberate “good” act.

Donald: Our faith culture is pretty much built on behaviors. If God is simply Goodness, then all we are attempting to do is to reflect Goodness through our behavior. Faith culture tends to make it more complicated than that.

Mikiko: God made his masterwork, Jesus, the firstborn of angels in heaven. We are judged on how we measure up to that masterwork—on how well we follow the work of Jesus, God’s great gift to us:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)

But God’s eyes see things differently from ours, including what is in our hearts. About judgment day Jesus said:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23)

Don: Yet these people did what seem to be good works—casting out demons, for example. But the point is that they offered their works as special effort worthy of reward, rather than humbly accepting God’s grace then sharing it with others.

David: It’s not clear that these people were promoting themselves. They were simply pointing out that they had carried out the law. Yet they were then immediately accused of lawlessness! No wonder they were surprised and confused.

Michael: It seems that if your attitude is to do works for God then you miss the point, because God does not need them: It is others who need them.

Robin: The difference between the people surprised at being allowed into the kingdom and those surprised at being shut out seems to be one of quiet humility vs. loud piety, and of selflessness vs. selfishness.

Kiran: It is necessary to recognize that God’s grace is so much stronger than our feeble efforts to be righteous.

Anonymous: Jesus defined judgment in terms of love—loving light vs. loving darkness. This love weighs more in the balance with God, than do our deeds. If we love the light, our bad deeds won’t matter; if we love the darkness, our good deeds won’t matter.

Kiran: We are vulnerable when we come out of the darkness and into the light. The transition causes tremendous pain to the heart and soul, which makes us realize that we need God to help us through it, but which also tends to keep us in the dark. Ezekiel was forced to stand in front of God while his accuser picked apart his deeds, an excruciating experience but in the end the angel let him in.

David: Does the “lawlessness” decried by Jesus in the judgment passage in Matthew 7 refer to the Mosaic law or to Jesus’s idea of law? The Good Samaritan did not (in the eyes of the Pharisees) keep the Mosaic law, and he did not set off on his journey that day with the intent of doing a good deed. He simply reacted to the situation, prompted (I have to believe) by his inner light. Yet, if he were judged by Jesus according to the principles set out in Matthew 7, he would have been welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven. By Jesus’s definition, he had acted lawfully, not lawlessly.

Robin: He was practicing the spirit of the law. He was not hung up on the letter of the law.

Mikiko: So then, you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:20)

Kiran: Jesus said he was not giving a new commandment, but one that was already there: To love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. This is the meaning of the law, and it is not just a law for Christians—it applies to everyone. If I only focus on my Christian rituals and ignore this commandment then I am gone.

Robin: Isn’t it an example of a true conversion when the works that we do for others become natural and not because we seek credit for them.

Mikiko: God’s eyes and our eyes see things differently. But God is merciful. He knows that we are sinners:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12)

But when we repent in our hearts, he sees it.

Kiran: Do genuine works result from accepting grace? For example, I host a men’s group and try to help them in whatever way I can. Do I do that because I was appointed to it as my duty, or because I was chosen as a men’s leader, or because I like the sound of my own voice? Or is it because I realize what God has done for me, how gracious he has been to me, and want to share that with others? I can’t imagine a way in which I can be good innately on my own, because I tend to be lazy and selfish. Something has to drive me.

David: I think that almost anyone who comes face-to-face with someone in desperate need feels spontaneous compassion. I am not so sure that God places much store by what we do next but I do believe he cares deeply that we feel spontaneous compassion when it is called for.

Kiran: To me, the question is how far do we go to exercise our compassion?

Robin: …Like the Rich Young Ruler, we won’t go that far…!

Kiran: The Good Samaritan went that far, though.

Michael: Motive is important. If you love one another, people will know you are of God. But if your motive is to reap a reward, it will fail. It will only work if your motive is to obey the law of God, without expectation of a reward.

Anonymous: Is a desire to share God’s grace a good motive? If I truly show love to my fellow wo/man, I am not consciously thinking of God or of sharing his grace. My sole concern is: How needy is my brother, and what can I do for him?

Don: Like the sheep in the judgment scene, who did not even recognize that they had made an eternal investment in helping their suffering fellows. All they saw was a need in front of them, so they set about meeting it. They were genuinely surprised to find at the judgment that this turned out to be their passport to the kingdom of heaven. The goats, in contrast, apparently could not see the needs in front of them. They would certainly have helped if they thought they saw God in need of help, but they never saw it. The notion that we have to help God may in fact be the root of one form of evil.

Anonymous: When your life revolves around doing things for God, it is seldom a happy one, because you will turn people away. You will not help people on the Sabbath because you feel God needs you more.

Donald: Can one “earn” eternal life? Is it selfish to want to live with God forever? If we want to meet the enormous needs of humanity, can we even make a dent? I have the privilege of taking students to Tanzania every year. There we see profound needs. In Chicago I see homeless people. What is my responsibility exactly? At Andrews University, there are many different ideas of what faith looks like and how it is interpreted and valued in life. Some are very confident in their faith and their interpretation. The questions we are discussing are meaningful but perplexing.

David: Interpretation is the problem. It is the heart of the matter. We are trying to intellectualize—analyze and interpret in our minds—concepts such as divine judgment, good works, and good and evil themselves. But these are not intellectualizable. The action of the sheep did not stem from their intellect. They could not know it, but it stemmed from their spirit. The action of the Good Samaritan was deeply spiritual, but he had no thought of spirituality in his head when he did what he did. That’s the point: It’s all about letting the spirit shine through.

Donald: It is remarkable that everyone—sheep and goats—are surprised on judgment day. Whatever preconceived notion they held in their minds, it was wrong.

Michael: It seems to me that truth is a complex matter, and that the more we try to simplify it, the more prone we are to mistake it.

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