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SAVED TO DO GOOD WORKS

(Ephesians 2:8-10)                    by Pastor Jimmy             Jan. 9, 2022

Ephesians 2:8-9 talks about how sinner can be saved and Eph. 2:10 is the result and what is expected of saved person. This section Eph. 2:8-10 harks or looks back to Eph.2:5, retelling or recapping and expanding on salvation. In verse 10, few of the expectations from saved person is to serve God, to worship Him, and to do the works He has prepared for us.

Nowadays, there a lot of religion, cults, and occults offered their way for men to be saved. In Ephesians 2:8-9 give us the profound explanation of the basis of our salvation. There are six aspects that I want to discuss about salvation: 1) salvation is by the grace of God, 2) it is still available today, 3) it is through faith, 4) it is not of ourselves, 5) it is God’s gift, 6) it is not by works.

Salvation is by God’s grace.

There are two important terms here; save and grace. Save means to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction. Grace is ‘Charis’ in Greek which means ‘unmerited favor.’ It is a favor from God to undeserved sinners. Thayer lexicon explains further that grace is good will, loving-kindness, favor of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues. Let me simplify this definition. Grace does not stop in saving us, but it continues until we grow mature in the Lord. What a blessing we have from God in Jesus Christ!

Why He gave us His Grace? Simply because God loves us. When the love of God relates to sinners, it becomes grace and mercy. Because of His mercy (Eph.2:4) and His grace (Eph.2:7), salvation for sinners like you and me becomes possible. Because of His mercy, He does not give us what we deserve. Let me explain, we deserve to die and go to hell because we are sinners but God saved us from destruction in hell through Christ Jesus. On the other hand, because of God’s grace, He gives us what we don’t deserve. What is this? Eternal Life! As sinner, do you think you can avail eternal life? No way! But because of His grace we have eternal life in Christ Jesus. Halleluyah!

Salvation is still available today

Paul said, “for by grace, you have been saved.” The phrase “you have been saved” in English grammar is present perfect. Which means an ACTIONS or SITUATIONS, that started in the past and still CONTINUING. Let us apply this in the salvation of God offered through Christ. Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago. From that point, all men who repented and accepted Him as Lord and savior were saved. But the saving of mankind does not stop in the first century, it continues and available even until TODAY! And will still continue tomorrow. When it will end? I don’t know. It depends on Him.

For this reason, let us share the Gospel of Jesus to all men! Let them know that there is God who loves them so much! Let them know that Jesus died for them on the cross! Let them know that salvation is still available today. As long there is “today” share the Gospel!

Salvation is through faith

Faith is the instrument or means of salvation on the part of the person who accepted Jesus as Lord and personal savior. This faith is a gift from God. It is not the produce of our free will and power. We contributed nothing to our salvation; that even our faith to Jesus was a gift from God. This faith in related to Christ is “a strong belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain (get) eternal salvation in the kingdom of God” (Thayer). How faith came to us? It came to us by hearing the gospel of Jesus. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17).

Salvation is not by man’s efforts

Salvation is not of ourselves. It is not of our desiring, nor of our deserving, nor of our performing.  It is only by God’s grace. Salvation is not by religion, not by money, not by prayer for the dead, not by any personalities, or any declaration of faith that is manmade, not by any formula of salvation invented by men.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of man’s doctrines that tell us otherwise. For example, Mormons believe that human beings get salvation both through the grace of God and their own actions. Part of the work of salvation has been done by the atonement of Jesus Christ, in that all human beings are guaranteed resurrection, but to attain the full quality of eternal life, human beings also have work to do. Therefore, it is by grace and works.

How about the Roman Catholicism? The official teaching of Roman Catholicism is that salvation is not by faith alone, through grace alone, and in Christ alone. The Roman Catholic church teaches that one must have good works and observe the rituals (sacraments) of Roman Catholicism in order to be saved. Summarizing the Catholic understanding of salvation is difficult because it is extensive. Here is a summary of the official Roman Catholic teaching on salvation: to be saved, a person must receive Christ as Savior by faith, be baptized in the Trinitarian formula, be infused with additional grace by observing the Catholic sacraments, especially the Eucharist (holy communion), and then die without any unconfessed mortal sins. If one accomplishes the above, he or she will be saved and granted entrance into heaven. Or if he missed the requirements, he can stay in purgatory for cleansing and with the help of prayers of priests upon the requests of loved ones.

How about the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC)? According to their website, “If all men need salvation, then all men need to be inside (or member) the “body of Christ,” the church that Christ will save on judgment day. This is the church of Christ, the one called after the name of the savior. The Bible says, there is no salvation in any other name.” Let me explain. They claimed that Jesus is the savior of the body (true). The body is the church (true). Here is the twist, the founder insists that church should bear the name of Christ because according to the Bible there is no salvation in any other name (Acts 4:12). What is the name of the savior? Jesus Christ! So he named his group the church of Christ or Iglesia ni Cristo! Therefore, anyone who needs salvation should be in the ‘body’ of Christ or a member of their church. Otherwise, you are lost.

How about Islam? Let me give you seven summarized teachings of Islam. 1) Salvation from sin is not necessary in Islam, 2) Islam does not believe in original sin, 3) The fall occurred in heaven, not earth, 4) Jesus’ death on the cross was not necessary for salvation, 5) There is no assurance of salvation in this life, 6) There is no forgiveness for personal sin, 7) Salvation, as Islam understands, it is based upon a person’s good work outweighing their bad.

It is not by works

Salvation cannot be ‘of works’ because the work of salvation has already been completed on the cross of calvary 2000 years ago. This is the work that God does for us, and it is a finished work (Jn. 17:1-4; 19:30). There is no amount of man’s effort to add on for our salvation.

When Jesus died, what happened to the veil of Herod’s temple? It was torn in two from top to bottom not from bottom to top. It means that no human or priest tore the veil. This veil divides the holy place and Holy of holies where the Ark of Covenant was in place which symbolizes the presence of God. The Holy of Holies is the dwelling place of God among His people. In the Holy of Holies only the high priest is allowed to enter once a year. But God tore the veil. What does it tell us? Telling us that the way to God is open! Salvation is now available to all! No man did it, no religious leaders did it. only God alone!

If salvation is by the grace of God, if it is through faith, if it is not by man’s efforts, because it is a gift of God, then we cannot boast before Him. No one can say, “I am saved because I am a good man.” No one can say, “I was saved because I was religious and educated.” All saved person will say, “I am saved because of what the Lord has done for me.”

Saved to do the good works prepared before hand

We were not saved just to go to heaven. That will happen in the future. Yes, we have assurance that we can go there because of what Jesus has done, but we should understand that we are still living in this world. And why we are still here? Just for waiting? No! Just to survive from pandemic? No! To have a lot of money and be famous? Absolutely no! Why we are still here? Part of the answer is in Eph. 2:10. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

There are four important points here: 1) We are His workmanship, 2) We are created in Christ Jesus into good works, 3) The good works were prepared by God Himself, 4) The purpose of good works (good things).

We are His workmanship. This means that it is God who has worked in us to make us what we are. He gave us new heart and new spirit in us. He works from inside out. You are what you are now because He is working in you. From your old life to new life. From worst life to godly life. From dead life to glorious life.

We were created in Christ Jesus. This means that He has given us new life because we are united with Christ Jesus. Paul said, we are a new creation. When anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new world. The old things are gone; suddenly, everything is new (2 Cor.5:17). What has come is fresh and new, but it does not stop here. There is a purpose and the purpose is that we can do the good works. He saved us so that now we can do good things/works in our lives.

Doing good works. Let me remind you that doing good works cannot save us. It follows after our salvation. You do good works because it proves you are already saved. The question is, are we going to make plans for good works and execute it? The answer is NO! Why? Because verse 10 says, those good works/ things were already prepared by God. It was not prepared by man, it was not even prepared by angels, it was not even prepared by our parents. It was prepared by God Himself. What are we going to do with these good works? The Bible says that God prepared those good works for us to do or walk on it. In Greek, to walk means to regulate one’s life; to conduct one’s self; and to pass one’s life. Other translation says, we would spend our lives doing the good things/works he had already planned for us to do. This is where a lot of Christians failed. Because they walk in this life by their own plans, their own ways, their own strategies. At the end of the day, they were confused and failed.

So what are these good works? A lot! Basically, let us look good works on daily basis. As factory worker, you have to work from Monday to Saturday. That is good work. That is from God.  But on Lord’s day, go to church!  Simple as that! Not to other places! Many Christians work on Sundays or go to other places. If there are good works, there are also bad works. Working on the Lord’s day is bad work. Don’t tell me that bad works were also from God. If good works were prepared by God, therefore who prepared bad works? He tempted us that is pleasing to our eyes.

It seems working on Lord’s day is good for you because of money. Why Eve ate the forbidden fruit? Because it is ‘pleasing to her eyes’ (Gen.3:6). Do you think she will eat the fruit if it is not pleasing to her eyes? Of course not! The truth is that the forbidden fruit is not pleasing if she was not tempted. It became pleasing because she was tempted. The same principle is with us. We do bad works because we are tempted and we make wrong decisions. Whatever your justifications, God will not concede on it. He has the final say! Not you, not me!  

To summarize, we are saved by grace through faith, but let us NOT make His grace very cheap.  Our salvation is God’s gift. What follows salvation? Good works! The good thing is all good works were already prepared by God. All we have to do is to discover those good works through the Bible and walk on it! Amen!