I think I heard a works-righteousness sermon this morning.
We had a guest pastor and he preached on the story from Mark 10 where James and John request to sit at Jesus' right and left in Heaven. The pastor said that there was nothing wrong with wanting to be great. I agree with this. I don't think that there's anything wrong with wanting to be successful at what you attempt in life. I mean, God gave us gifts and we should strive to use them in the best of our ability to glorify Him.
I started to disagree with him when he said that we practice servanthood in order to be great. He went back to Mark 9:35 where Jesus said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." Now I agree with that, but I don't like the way our guest pastor explained this verse. He basically described servanthood as means to an end, with the end being greatness and then ended his sermon.
I think he needed to keep going. I think that servant-hood is an end in itself. I don't think that we should practice servanthood with the idea in the back of our head that these acts of service will make us great in the eyes of God. That's working to get a reward, or works-righteousness. I think that because Christ loved us first, we do acts of service. Greatness may come eventually as a byproduct, but attaining greatness shouldn't be the driving force behind our servanthood.
Where this really makes a difference is when I think about my Muslim friends. They do good things and acts of service because they need to earn their salvation. I, on the other hand, as a Christian, don't need to work myself into Heaven. I can't. I'm sinful by nature and anything I try to do on my own is tainted with that sin. Christ did the work of salvation for me. My good works spring from the love that Christ showed me and are expressions of my trying to share that love with others.
Now this pastor was retired so I don't know how many times he has preached this sermon while filling in at other churches. I hope he didn't mean to preach works-righteousness. I hope he just needs to think a bit harder about how his words are being heard.
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I never heard the sermon, but from what you have said, I would definitely label it "works-righteousness."
ReplyDeleteWhen I meet with patients at the hospital who struggle with works-righteousness, I tell them that there is nothing that they can do to make God love them any more or any less. That is what grace means to me.
On a related note, the only worth that I have that is worth anything is the measure of how much God loves me (a lot). So, even if I am the first in the kingdom of God (or the last) I have zero bragging rights.