Good works... for the Lord, or for yourself?

I wrote this a while back, not for this blog but for another reason. I came across it in the last week and thought it'd go well on here and offer food for thought for some of you out there in cyberspace.

Matthew 5: 16 “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Well that sounds easy doesn’t it? Do something good. Help an old lady across the street, carry someone’s shopping, maybe even give some money to a charity? Let’s look at good works in the church also. Put a big cheque in the offering plate, run the Sunday school, work as a Deacon, preach even. Surely all good works? Guaranteed to let your light shine before men no doubt, they will see your good works and praise you for them too. But ‘glorify your Father in heaven’? Well maybe that’d have to be a ‘perhaps’, or a ‘possibly’.

The most important, the most vital words in that verse are “...glorify your Father...” Not “your light” or “your good works”. There is a trap here, into which we all fall, have fallen previously and will doubtless fall again and that trap is laid by our own foolish, sinful ego and consequent self righteous pride. Our motivations get muddled and cloudy without us even realising. Are we motivated to do what we term ‘The Lord’s work’ to purely, solely glorify God. Do we only ever aim to please Him with our contributions in church or our professions of faith in public? Or are we trying to win the approval of men?

Consider this analogy. A man professes to love his wife dearly and one day brings her flowers as a surprise present. He may even buy flowers and gifts for her regularly. He hands them over with the pronunciation that he “loves her dearly”. But what is his motivation? Outwardly it is an act of love. All who witness this or hear of it would say that he must surely love his wife to have done so. However if we look behind the act and the verbal profession of love was the ‘good work’ motivated by pure love? Was he offering the flowers as a peace offering following an argument perhaps? Was he giving the flowers because he enjoys the intrinsic sense of satisfaction from giving her the gift? Was he even carrying out the act of offering the gift and saying ‘I love you’ to counter or to cover some guilt of an indiscretion on his part?

The point is this. Unless those flowers were offered out of love and nothing more it is a self motivated act. In doing it in love the man must not expect anything in return, or else he is ‘working for a payoff’. True love is not self serving, but self-less. This is not to say he cannot enjoy and revel in the subsequent returned love, the satisfaction of the act or the reconciliation it may offer. But for it to be an act of love the motivation must be just that and that alone. Love and nothing else. No anticipation or expectation of a ‘payoff’. The motivation that prompted the act is so very important.

In context we must consider how our good works glorify God. Firstly all our good works must be done out of love for the Lord. They must then also be motivated to solely bring glory to His name, with no other purpose in mind. If our motivation is elsewhere the offering is sullied, dirtied and unacceptable. If the wife knew that the husband’s motivation was to win her over with a gift, or to cover an indiscretion, or to please himself, what value would she hold in the offering? None. She would most likely throw the flowers back at her husband and not speak to him for a week! Thankfully the Lord is more gracious and understanding of us as sinners and the ease in which we are influenced by our worldly, self serving natures.

Another aspect to consider of course is God’s will. It is perfect, it is right. We should never second guess his will. So all our good works should “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God “ (Romans 12:2) In our good works, our offerings, our teaching, administration and preaching we must exercise caution in carrying out God’s will and not replacing it with our own. He is right we are wrong. We are too swift too often to imply, suggest, influence or force our ideas and opinions as being right. This is not to say they cannot be right, but we must at all times endeavour to ensure we are performing our good works according to His perfect will.

Good works should start in the hearts and spring forth in obedient acts of love for our Saviour and loving, gracious, heavenly Father. To offer good works as a sacrifice of love to God in any other way is an affront.

“...love Him, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)