Good Works vs. Discipleship

Many people, and even entire denominations, have chosen “works” over “discipleship” to Christ. Oh, sure they consider themselves disciples, but are they? What is the difference and why the disconnect? The Bible tells us that Jesus “went about doing good.” Some have equated this to doing “good works” alone. Yes, it is that, but there is an additional component to what Jesus did. The works He did demonstrated that “today, the Kingdom has come near you.” (Luke 10:9,11) What did He mean by that? I’m glad you asked. In Isaiah 61:1-4, He says,

            “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

            Because the Lord has anointed Me, 

            To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 

            To proclaim liberty to the captives

            And the opening of the prison to those who   are bound

                  ² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, 

             And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 

                 ³ To console those who mourn in Zion, 

             To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning,

             The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

             That they may be called trees of righteousness,

             The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

⁴ And they shall rebuild the old ruins, 

            They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair 

            the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

That sounds like a pretty tall order, doesn't it? Yes, it is, but entirely possible in the anointing Jesus mentions in verse 1, due to the Holy Spirit coming “upon” Him. And just in case someone wants to say, “Well that’s the Old Testament.” Well, number one it’s in the Bible; and number two, Jesus not only read this in the temple when He took up the scroll, He had the audacity to say, “today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, “The One Isaiah is talking about, I’m Him.” Can you imagine being in the temple that day? I’m sure everyone was saying. Who is this Guy, and Who does think He is? Isn't He the carpenter’s Son? He just one of us." "The nerve!”  Here is the direct Scripture from Luke 4:16-20. It’s so good; I have to include it here. Remember Jesus had returned to Nazareth, where He had grown up. So the people knew Him and His earthly family.

¹⁶ So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom 

was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 

¹⁷ And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened 

the book, He found the place where it was written:

                ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

             Because He has anointed Me

            To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty  those who are oppressed; ¹⁹To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

²⁰ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Did you notice that He was handed the book of Isaiah? He did not choose it or orchestrate this particular reading because He never had anything to prove to anyone. His only concern was in doing the will of the Father. He was the Fulfillment of God's Promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his seed. Genesis 26:4. God’s plan had not changed. He made a promise in the Old and fulfilled in the New. Jesus was the Promised One in the Old Testament and was manifested in the New Testament. He did not “do away” with the Old but accomplished what was promised in the Old in the New. I know that's a bit repetitive but we need to get it down deep. He is our Fulfillment. The point is, He needed the anointing “upon” Him so that He could do the will of the Father in fulfilling His assignment and so do we. That's not so mysterious.

Remember that very fact for the discussion which follows. Stay with me, we’re going somewhere wonderful.

So we know that He did all of these acts listed by Isaiah and more. But the Bible tells us, if all the acts of Jesus Christ were written, the world would not be able to contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25). Imagine that! He only ministered for about 3 to 3.5 of his 33 years on earth. We know that He healed the sick and lame, cleansed the leper, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, raised the dead, cast demons out of people, and preached the Gospel to the poor. He even re-attached a man’s ear after Peter angrily chopped it off with His sword. That was the good He went about doing. In other words, Jesus did “good works” that demonstrated the power of Almighty God. Anybody can feed and clothe the poor. Lots of non-believers do this and call it charity; and for the very wealthy, it’s called philanthropy. But what we are mandated to do is supposed to differentiate believers and non-believers because we follow our Leader. We operate in under the Kingdom of heaven with the requisite amount of authority and power. It does not take the power of God to do “good works” and does not necessarily bring Him glory. As a matter of fact, it often brings “glory” to the one doing the act. I am sure you've heard remarks like, “Did you hear what such-and-such did? She gave brand new cars to her entire audience!” or “He paid off that family’s house mortgage!” or “They’re paying for all of those children to go to college!” The list goes on, but you get my point. It’s all “good work” but not necessarily “Kingdom work”. 

Please don’t get me wrong. We should do those wonderful things, but they are not the ends in themselves, they are acts of compassion and therefore bi-products of our being “in” Christ. James said that "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:14-26). So I am not speaking against "works," but the "works" are not faith in themselves. So why do so many stop short of demonstrating the Kingdom of God when it’s available to all who are “in” Christ. Well, my friend, it’s the “In” Christ part that’s the “challenge”. We know that at salvation, He mysteriously “enters” us. In other words, after salvation, Christ is “in” us. Obviously, He does not physically enter us but by the Spirit. So then we can have “Christ in me, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27). Christ in us transforms us to become more Christ-like. But being in Christ requires yet another spiritual “transaction” so that we can actually do the good works of Jesus Christ the way He did it. There need not be a long time between both, Jesus was baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit all on the same day around the same time. Sometimes because of lack of teaching or bad teaching, it take weeks, months, and even years to realize this need. Suffice it to say, they are both needed to be true followers, a.k.a., disciples of Jesus Christ.

Of course, the acts to which I am referring here are those Jesus did, such as healing the sick and the lame, giving hearing to the deaf, giving sight to the blind, cleansing the leper, raising the dead, setting free the captives of Satan, and preaching the Gospel to the poor, as Jesus did in Luke 7:22, and we are commanded to in Matthew 10:8. Another set of fruit that results from being "in Jesus, is the fruit of the Spirit in demonstrating “love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22.  However, these wonderful demonstrations of God’s power and love were not the most important mandates. We are first of all, as disciples of Jesus Christ,  to obey what Jesus called the Greatest and the Second Greatest Commandments of the law: 

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 

with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as 

yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

 He was saying that’s the whole kit and caboodle, folks. The First and Greatest Commandments gives the enabling to do the Second Greatest Commandment. In the Gospels Jesus tells us we demonstrate our love for God by obeying His Word. In John 14:21, Jesus says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he   who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

The key to everything is to do the First Commandment by lovingly submit to God, and He will lead us with the accompanying enabling of heaven’s power as we go. Then and only then, will heaven come near in demonstration that we are His and have spoken His words. Jesus' desire was that we would not just do what He did but exceed what He did. And it is only possible because He is right now at the right hand of the Father making constant intercession for us as we go and do.  As our Mediator and Facilitator, He said it Himself in John 14:12, 

¹² “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he 

will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

No matter how you look at it, “We can do nothing without [Him]” John 15:5. If we attempt to, it’s not supported by heaven. But with and through Him we can do “all” things. (Philippians 4:13).

The difference, my friend, is power which comes out of our intimate love relationship with God. Without that submission we would see the need to be baptized "in Jesus Christ". Paul tells us that the words of the Gospel he preached “⁴ were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”  The Gospel is never mere eloquence and persuasion giving glory to men, but demonstration of Kingdom power for which only God can receive the glory. The reason some refuse the full counsel of the Gospel is because they want God’s glory, to be seen as wise, eloquent, and full of persuasive power. Sometimes, it’s fear, while at other times bad teaching, really bad teaching. But they can do no acts of Kingdom power because their pride, lack of humility, and independence from God, has robbed them of the ability to access what they and the world needs most. We do not need any more talking heads, what we do need is Jesus and all that He has to offer.

Yet, so many have the authority because of the Cross of Christ. Jesus gave us that; but they lack the power to carry out what has been given to them to do. This is summed when Jesus’ gave us The Great Commission. And, yes, you can have authority without power. For example, let's say you've been given permission to do something but you have no means of accomplishing it, or the ability to do it. This is the sad state of the Church, or rather, some members and whole sectors of it. She has been given the mandate and therefore, the authority, to “go and make disciples of all …” But without the power to do so it will not be done. Here is the full Scripture, Jesus said

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and 

make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of

the Son and of the Holy Spirit,²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that  I have 

commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Did Jesus say to make “converts” or “members” to a local church? No, He was adding “disciples” to His Church. There's nothing wrong with belonging to a local assembly, that’s expected but it’s not the mandate. Disciples follow and depend on their Leader in every way including the “difficult,” especially, the difficult. But is easy, to the humble, submitted, and dependent soul. We have to give up on doing things our way and depend on Him to do them His way. Jesus said the size of the faith we need to do His work, is as “big” as a mustard seed.  In Matthew 17:20, He said,

“So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, 

if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from 

here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It’s tiny. I carry around a little bottle of them. So, what is Jesus saying? He’s saying it doesn't take very much faith! But we are so fearful of believing, in the One in Whom we claim we believe. If, as a united Church, we only walked in total faith and belief in the words He uttered alone, the Great Commission would have been history, done, over, and hastening His return. But so many so-called believers are still arguing and trying to figure out if what He said is true, then or today. Well if we don’t believe what He said is true, it’s really time to close up the shop. Continuing on is pointless otherwise.  But, what He said is truth, what the Holy Spirit breath through the efforts of willing men is truth. And Jesus Christ is Truth revealed.

Too many try to determine what is applicable for what period of history. Truth is Truth, it does not change according to man's traditions and schedules. The time doesn't matter because God is not constrained by it, and so He changes not.  The Word tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). No dispensations of when this or that is applicable or no longer applicable. Excuse me! Either Hebrews 13:8 is truth or it’s not. But I digress, yet not really.

It all comes down to this; we need to get the power to carry out our mandate. Please understand also that power and love go hand in hand. We submit in love and humility and receive the power of God to do His work. How do we get it? By being “in Christ.” In Acts 2, Jesus tells us, the same thing He told the disciples, “Go and wait until you receive the power to do the work I have called you to do.” A paraphrase of Acts 1:4, 8, which tells us,

“⁴ And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; ⁵ for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” ⁸ But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me^[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

 Then on the Day of Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit came upon all who had obeyed and waited as Jesus commanded them before He was taking up into heaven. In Acts 2:1-4,

"When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord^[a] in one place. ² And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. ³ Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

The difference is this; we don’t have to wait anymore, because those 120 went into that upper room, prayed and were in “one accord” and WHOOSH! The Holy Spirit came to earth in as a mighty rushing wind and sat upon each one's head with tongues of fire. All of this happened at the Father’s command to empower us to change the world as we expand His Kingdom. The key is they waited; we don’t have to wait anymore because Holy Spirit has been here on earth ever since that faithful day. Now we can walk “in Jesus” as witnesses to the Kingdom of God. John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:11, and Jesus repeated above in Acts 1:5, that although John baptized in water, only Jesus Christ can baptize men with “the Holy Spirit and with fire.” That is the baptism of Jesus in order for us to walk “in Jesus.”  Friend, baptism in water is not the same as baptism by Jesus Christ to be “in Jesus”.  Many call this the baptism of the Holy Spirit but it's really the baptism of Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Both are necessary components of our faith.

Remember, to do what He did, we must follow in His footsteps in preparation for ministry. We can’t do it our way as Frank Sinatra suggested in the song, "I did it my way". There is no “doing it our way”. After all, the student is no greater than the Master. Remember after John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the water, the Holy Spirit descended “upon” Him in the form of a dove. The Holy Spirit came upon Him. Then, and only then, was Jesus ready, as a man, though He was God incarnate, to do the “good works” He did, thereby, bringing the Kingdom of God near to those here on earth who needed it.  If even Jesus needed preparation, intimacy with the Father, and the anointing or baptism of the Holy Spirit, how much more is it necessary for those who follow Him. I mean, if it’s not a baptism why didn't it happen at another point in His ministry. If it’s not necessary to prepare for ministry and being witnesses to the Kingdom, why did Jesus need it? We don’t see because we do not have eyes to see or a willingness to do as we are commanded. Kingdom work requires Kingdom power. End of story. There is no way around that. So you get to decide. Will you be a “worker,” baptized on by man only, or will you be a “disciple,” also baptized by Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit and with fire to be able to walk “in Jesus”?  I, for one, choose to be His disciple.