Our Natural Religion

It is so easy to misunderstand how and why Christians do good works. Our natural religion is to turn the good things we do into tokens with which we can purchase the prize of God's grace or into deeds we collect as evidence to prove to ourselves and others (including God) that we have faith. How unfortunate for our egos and pride that our good works do not twist God's arm into liking us. Christianity doesn't work like that, if it did, there would be no significant purpose for Jesus. Grace isn't grace when it has to be paid for by the debtor, that would be justice. 


Our good works don't bring us closer to God, but rather are a product of faith in Christ. When our works are said and done, we respond like recipients of grace, saying, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what is our duty.' (Lk 17:10), knowing that '... all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.' (Isaiah 64:6). No matter what we do, it's not good enough. Our sins put us at odds with God and our good works don't help the situation. The only one who benefits from a good work is the person who is helped by it. 


So lets not kid ourselves. We're sinners in need of complete grace. Being a better Christian or doing more good isn't the answer, its a trap of self-righteousness and self-help so that we can feel justified and secure. But what is more secure and justifying than the forgiveness of sins Jesus gives? Here are a few selections that I think bring out the point quite nicely:


'And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before-hand, that we should walk in them.' - Ephesians 2:1-10, ESV.


'As long as a man's mind is at rest and he does not feel God's wrath or judgement, he can imagine that he wants to love God and that he wants to do good for God's sake. In this way the scholastics teach men to merit the forgiveness of sins by doing what is within them, that is, if reason in its sorrow over sin elicits an act of love to God or does good for God's sake. Because this view naturally flatters men, it has produced and increased many types of worship in the church,... someone has always been making up this or that form of worship or devotion with this view in mind.... If we can be justified by reason and its works, what need is there of Christ or of regeneration?.... So if we accept this teach of the opponents that we merit forgiveness of sins and justification by the works of reason, there will be no difference between philosophical or Pharisaic righteousness and Christian righteousness.' - Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV, 9-18, Tappert.


'But people need to see- for their own good- that self-realization, self-fulfillment, and self-help are all contemporary twists on an old heresy, which Paul identified as works righteousness.... Even Lutheran young people who were active in the church could not define grace or justification, he (Sociologist Christian Smith) says, highlighting the disparity between what churches say they believe and what they are actually communicating week in and week out. Whatever churches say they believe, the incoherent answers offered by those entrusted to their ministry substantiate my argument that a moralistic religion of self-salvation is our default setting as fallen creatures. If we are not explicitly and regularly taught out of it, we will always turn the message of God's rescue operation into a message of self-help.' - Mike Horton, Christless Christianity, pg 40, 42.