Works of Worship

Action

Last week, I mentioned that we were beginning a series on how we worship God with our whole self. In that post, we considered the most obvious way we worship God - with our words. But worship is a much bigger subject than simply the prayer we pray or the song we sing. Genuine worship is about the life we live!

God is worthy of the worship of our works. As soon as we mention the word “works,” our first thought may be to repudiate any hint of salvation by works. This is a good impulse, because as recipients of God’s grace who have been transformed and regenerated by His power and not by anything that we have done, we always want the focus to be on what God has done. If you are a Christian today, it is because God the Father in eternity past set His love upon you and chose you in Christ for Himself (Ephesians 1:4). The Father sent Jesus to save you (John 3:16). If you are a Christian today, it is because Jesus lived the righteous life you should have lived and died the death you deserved to die and rose from the grave to save you (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). If you are a Christian today it is because the Holy Spirit called you, convicted you, and converted you by His power. All of this was not of your doing. But because of all of this all our future working should be in worshipful response to what He has done.

Product

The Scriptures are clear about our inability and unwillingness to produce good works on our own apart from the grace and goodness of God. Many might respond that even atheists and others caught in false religions do many “good” things. However, we must remember that God gives, by His common grace, a kind of restraining of evil that is working providentially even in the lives and circumstances of unbelievers to accomplish His foreordained purposes. Also, this judgment of “good” is against the subjective standard of our own fallenness and not the ultimate standard of God’s holiness and righteousness.

The Bible is also clear that if our faith is legitimate it bears good fruit (Luke 6:43-45).  This is not an instance of works earning anything, only the natural production of that which is alive. All living things produce. So If we are alive we will produce works that are a part of the state of being alive. These works are a form of pleasing worship before our great God.

Proof

The idea of works as the product of our genuine life then also leads to the reality of our works as the proof of our being alive. When medical professionals assess patients they usually check their vitals signs (blood pressure, pulse, body temperature), because these give evidence to the state of the person’s well being, and if they are absent, clear evidence that the person is dead. In the Scriptures we are also told that without genuine vital signs of spiritual life we should conclude that the patient is dead (James 2:14-26). James instructs us on this so that we will be able to recognize those who are alive and those who are not. James says that our works are the only way that we can show our faith. These demonstrations are not for our glory but for the exaltation and worship of God.

Purpose

The Scriptures are replete with references to the purposes of God in the works of His people. The idea that our salvation is without a purpose of worship and glory to God is a dangerous misunderstanding of what salvation is. God is at work in us to restore us as the image bearers of God that we were made to be. Just today I spoke with Jim Adams and had the opportunity to see an old truck that he restored that had belonged to his father. It was an amazing story and a stunning vehicle, but God is doing an even great work of restoration in every one of His people. 

He is also conforming us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).  As we are conformed more and more into the image of Christ as Pauls says from glory to glory then God is rightly magnified because of His work seen in our works (2 Corinthians 4:6). We must be people who rightly live for God’s glory and work for the fame of His name. God’s own fame and glory is the reason you were made and remade, born and reborn!

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