A question of motives

Why? No matter how you answer - it never seems to satisfy a 3 year old. The catechism takes us to a why question today.  Last time we learnt that we don't need to top up Jesus good works.  In fact, if we do good works to earn salvation, we are denying all that Jesus has done for us.  So why bother doing anything good?

Q34.  Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through Christ alone, must we still do good works and obey God's word?

A. Yes, 

because Christ having redeemed us by his blood, also renews us by his Spirit; 

so that our lives may show love and gratitude to God; 

so that we may be assured of our faith by the fruits; 

and so that by our godly behaviour others may be won to Christ.

A couple of things to note:

• We must do good works Last time the answer began with a clear no.  This time, with a clear YES.    We must do good works.  Indeed that is what Jesus is aiming for in our lives, through his Spirit.  Doing good works is part of our sanctification (see Q32).

• Motives matter We do our good works because we love him.  We don't do them to earn something from him.  He loves us, and we love him.  So we live good lives, which show our love and thankfulness to him.Of course, on the surface the good works look the same.  That's why motives matter.   And God knows our hearts.  He knows our  motives.  We might fool others, but not him.

• Results come Two things come out of our good works.  We gain assurance, and others put their faith in Jesus.We have said all along we can't do good works to earn anything.  Yet, in a strange way we do gain through our works.  Not extra credit, but an assurance of God's love for us and our identity in him.  The catechism tells us that we don't get that assurance through dissecting our hearts, but atthe fruit our hearts produce.  If is it good fruit - it can ONLY be produced by having our roots in Jesus Christ. And what is that fruit?  It includes the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5) .  And  the best fruit - seeing others, taste and know the love of God.  And once they have, they too come to rest in him for their salvation.  That too is a strange dynamic, which really tests our motives.  You see, when we do something, we often want credit for it.  But here, we do something good, and God gets the credit.  And really - there is not better thing!

So let's do good works and pray for the fruit to come.