Dead Works
A lot of people are
involve in a lot of works for God; many are very busy in churches and places of
worship; many have dedicated their whole life to the service of the things of
God. This is very good and rewarding but unfortunately many are not getting uttermost
blessings from this services for the lord because most of the works are dead
works; Though the service is meant for the lord because of some conditions they
have become dead works.
Dead Works
The
New Testament speaks of the works of the
flesh (Gal. 5:19) as well as of dead
works (Heb. 6:1).
Those
who indulge in the works of the flesh such as immorality, strife, jealousy,
outbursts of anger, etc., will certainly not inherit the kingdom of God. These
works are so obviously sinful that it would be difficult for a believer to
practice any of them without being convicted in his conscience.
Dead works, however, are
more deceitful. They are externally good works, but they spring from a corrupt
source (for nothing good dwells in our flesh) and are therefore like a filthy
garment in God's eyes (Rom. 7:18; Isa. 64:6).
We
are therefore commanded to repent not only from sin but from dead works too. It
is only after we have laid such a foundation, that we can press on to
perfection (Heb. 6:1).
It
is well known among believers that the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from all
sin. What is not so well known is the fact that the blood of Christ must
cleanse our conscience from dead works too before we can serve the living God
aright (Heb. 9:14).
It
is essential therefore that we have a clear understanding of what dead works
really are.
1. Works Done Without Joy
God
loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7). He also loves a cheerful doer of His will.
He meets those who rejoice in doing righteousness (Isa. 64:5). When the Israelites
did not serve the Lord with joy, they were punished by being made to serve
their enemies (Deut. 28:47, 48). The kingdom of God consists of righteousness
accompanied by the joy of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Only those who delight
to do His will can bring joy to the heart of God.
Consider
the matter of tithing, for example. This was a law under the old covenant. But
it is never commanded by Jesus or the apostles to those under the new covenant.
Yet multitudes of covetous pastors compel their congregations to tithe
compulsorily either through promises of divine reward or through threats of
divine judgment. The people pay up, but without joy. It is not spontaneous
giving, but grudging, reluctant giving. The pastors are happy when the offering
boxes are full, but God is not. Pastors love large givers, but God loves only
cheerful givers!
The
new covenant principle is NOT, "Give as much as you can give", but,
"Give as much as you can give cheerfully". God does not want any more
than that. Of course you will receive in the same proportion as you give (2
Cor. 9:7; Lk. 6:38) - but that is another matter. God does not, however, desire
any labour or gifts that are unwillingly given. What we do without joy is a
dead work.
2. Works Done Without Love
To
love God and man are the two pegs on which every other commandment hangs (Matt.
22:40). Remove these pegs and everything falls to the ground. This was why the
leader of the Ephesian church was rebuked. His works were no longer motivated
by love for God and man (Rev. 2:2, 4). If we obey the commandments of God
without keeping their spirit, our works become dead works. If we are to be
appointed by the Lord as shepherds of His flock, He will first test us (as He
did Peter) to see whether we love Him supremely (Jn. 21:15-17). Otherwise our
service would be worthless. Likewise, it is not enough just to bless those who
curse us. We are to love them from our hearts too. Otherwise we keep the letter
of the Word but not its spirit. Similarly, if we serve the brothers and sisters
in the church, because we are taught to do so, but still criticize them
(perhaps for not being thankful to us), then our service becomes a pile of dead
works. All our sacrifice for the Lord's work are worthless dead works if they
do not spring out of love for Him.
3. Works Done Without Zeal
"I
know your works ... you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot ... be zealous
therefore" (Rev. 3:15-19). Half-hearted works are dead works. We are to
love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all
our strength (Mk. 12:30). Our worship and praise must be wholehearted, not
lifeless and dead. Our praying must be with burden and our prophesying with
zeal. We are to be "aglow with the Spirit" at all times (Rom. 12:11).
The fire must burn on the altar perpetually (Lev. 6:13). We are to constantly
fan to a flame the gifts of the Spirit that God has endued us with - not
despise them or scorn them just because many have abused them (2 Tim. 1:7).
Most Christian assemblies are today in a lifeless condition lacking the burning
fire of the Holy Spirit. They are ready for being rejected by the Lord (Rev.
3:16) for their lack of zeal. We need to repent of such dead works in our own
life.
4.
Works Done Without Faith
As
faith without works is dead (Jas. 2:26), even so works without faith are dead
works. Many prayer meetings are dead because of the lack of faith. Five minutes
of faith filled prayer is more living and powerful for the accomplishment of
God's purposes than an all night prayer meeting that has been gone through as a
feat of endurance. Jesus prayed all night and so must we, when there is a need
for this - but certainly not as a dead work. Faith also means personal
conviction (Rom. 14:22). What we do without personal conviction, is a dead
work. Merely because some great man of God believes and teaches some particular
doctrine, it does not mean that we are to imitate him. Yet Christendom is full
of believers who blindly follow other men, without any personal conviction.
Imitation always brings death. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea by faith. The
Egyptians imitated them and were drowned (Heb. 11:29). This has been written
for our warning. Do not imitate the actions or the ministries of others. We are
not to imitate the emphasis that another man has in his ministry either. That
too would be a dead work. We are to prophesy according to the proportion of our
own faith (Rom. 12:6). God wants each of us to be ourselves, for He has a
unique contribution to make through our own distinct personality to the body of
Christ.
5. Works Done For Personal Gain And
Honour
"I
know your works that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead" (Rev. 3:1).
Here
was a man who was spiritually dead, but who was still satisfied because he had
a name that he was alive. He sought the praise of man more than the praise of
God (Jn. 5:44; 12:43); and as a result all his works were dead works. Anything
we do to impress man is a dead work. Anything that we do, which we want others
to know about, is also a dead work (Matt. 6:1-18). Living works are done in
secret before God's face alone, with every possible attempt made to conceal it
from the eyes of men. Whenever we glory in our accomplishments for God, we have
begun to "worship the works of our hands" (Acts 7:41), and our works
immediately become dead works. This is how Babylon is built, as Dan. 4:30 makes
plain.
As
soon as we are tempted to think about the opinion of others concerning
ourselves or our work, we must throw those thoughts into the sewage system,
where they belong. Even the opinions that great men of God have about us must
be thrown out of our minds and sent into the sewage pipes. "Our
righteousness in human eyes is an abomination (fit only for the sewage) in the
sight of God" (Lk. 16:15).
Only
one who is radical like this can hope to escape dead works. In the same way,
work done for the Lord, for a salary, is a dead work. Work done for a salary is
not Christian work. It is secular work - even if it takes the name 'Christian'.
It is impossible to serve God and money.
6. Works Done Merely To Ease One's
Conscience
The
heathen are prompted to certain works such as fasting, praying and giving alms
because of the accusations of their conscience (Rom. 2:15).
It
is possible for Christians also to do such works merely to ease their
conscience. Many read the Bible and pray daily, simply to relieve the
accusations of their conscience. For the same reason, they go to meetings, pay
their tithe, give alms to beggars, etc. All such works are dead works. There
are preachers who capitalise on this weakness in believers and urge them to do
something for the perishing millions 'without Christ'. "Either give or
go", people are told. As a result, some give money, and others leave their
jobs and go for Christian work. But both groups having acted without the
leading of the Lord, but only on the emotion of the moment to relieve a guilty
conscience, wind up in an endless round of dead works.
7. Works Done Out Of Fear Of Divine
Judgment
To
avoid sin because we fear the judgment of God is good, but that is certainly
not the motive with which Jesus avoided sin. Jesus avoided sin because He
wanted to please the Father. This is to be our motive too. Supposing there were
to be no punishment for lusting after women, or for telling lies, or retaining
a bitterness against another, would we indulge in those sins? Or would we still
avoid them because our basic desire was to please God? Let each person answer
that question for himself, and work out his own salvation from dead works with
fear and trembling. To forgive others merely because we do not want to get some
sickness as a judgment from God, or because we want God to forgive us, is a
dead work - for it is motivated by a selfish fear of judgment. What shall we
say then about those who read the Bible and pray in the mornings merely to
avoid having any accidents during the day! That falls into the same class as
the worst heathen superstition!
8. Works Done For The Sake Of
Obtaining A Reward
While
it is true that Jesus will reward the faithful ones (Rev. 22:12) and while it
is also true that the ultimate desire of our life should be to please the Lord
(2 Cor. 5:9) so that we can hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful
servant" from Him one day, yet Jesus Himself warned us against the self-centered
desire for even a heavenly reward, motivating us in our sacrifices and our
service for Him.
When
Peter compared himself favorably with the rich young ruler (who had just turned
away from Jesus) and asked the question, "What shall we get for all that
we have given up for you?" (Matt. 19:27), Jesus replied with the parable
of the laborers (Matt. 20:1-16). There we find that those who worked for pay
(reward) ended up last, while those who worked without any thought of reward
ended up first (even though they had done only a small percentage of the work
that the former had done).
Quantity versus
quality - there we see the
difference between dead works and living works. Works done with the hope of our
ultimately being promoted above other believers and finding a place in the
bride of Christ, will be exposed as dead works in the final day.
If
you purify your thought-life, do good to others, and love your wife or submit
to your husband, all with the thought of being exalted in some future day, then
`Self' is still at the center of your life, and all your self-centered `good'
works are dead works!
Those
who do get crowns in glory are quick to cast them down at the feet of the Lord,
saying, "Thou alone art worthy" (Rev. 4:10). It is only when we have
purged ourselves from motives other than the desire to glorify God, that we can
be freed from dead works. If we keep a record in our memory of all the good
works that we have done, those good works become dead works.
Jesus
gave us two pictures of the final judgment day - one where people listed before
the Lord all the good things that they had done in their earthly lives,
"Lord, we prophesied in Your name, we healed the sick in Your name,
etc." (Matt. 7:22,23). These people were rejected by the Lord. In the
other picture we find the righteous surprised when they are reminded by the
Lord of the good that they had done in their earthly lives. "Lord, when
did we do that?” is their surprised cry (Matt. 25:34-40). They had forgotten
about the good that they had done - for they had not done those works for
reward. There we see a clear contrast between dead works and living works.
Which category do we fit into?
9. Works Done Without Bearing The
Dying Of Jesus
Living
works are only those which flow from the life of Jesus within us. It is
impossible to have this life of Jesus without first bearing the dying of Jesus
- the daily cross (2 Cor. 4:10). If we merely control our tongues from speaking
angrily or our faces from scowling, but are still boiling with anger and
irritation inside, that is not victory – it is suppression. That is the
teaching of yoga and not of Jesus Christ. Jesus told us to take up our cross
daily. That means to put the flesh to death daily (Gal. 5:24). Death by
crucifixion is a long process - unlike shooting or hanging. The flesh cannot be
shot or hung in a moment; it can only be crucified. But if we are faithful to
keep this criminal on the cross, death will set in, in due course - and we
shall one day cease from sin - even inwardly (1 Pet. 4:1). Then the living
works of the Spirit will flow as rivers of living water from our innermost
being (Jn. 7:38). Our inner attitudes will then correspond with our external
appearance and works. There will then be no more need for artificial smiles or
for any other form of external piety.
10. Works That Originate From Our Own
Human Reason
Martha's
unselfish and sacrificial work for the Lord and His people, is a good example
of good works that are dead works (Lk. 10:38-42). She did that work merely
because she felt that it was a good work to do. But "the most important
thing about a servant is that he does what his master tells him to do" -
not what he feels like doing himself (1 Cor 4:2 LB). Thus, Mary was wiser, in
that she first sat at Jesus' feet to hear what He wanted her to do. Heb. 4:10,
12 says that God's word divides between the soulish and the spiritual; and just
as we are to cease from sin, we are to cease from doing our own works too.
Soulish works are dead works. Jesus never did anything on His own initiative
(Jn. 5:30). Even today God is looking not for those who have bright ideas about
how to do His work (for such can only produce 'Ishmaels'), but for those who
are humble enough to acknowledge their lack of wisdom and strength, and who
will make themselves available for God to use, as it pleases Him. God looks,
not for ability but availability.
Having
heard about dead works now, the great danger for some of us may be that of
backing away from the cliff of 'dead works', and falling over the cliff on the
other side of the narrow way - the cliff of 'doing nothing'. That would be
worse. The living works of the Spirit can be produced through us only as we
cooperate with the Spirit in living a disciplined life - not law, but
discipline.
Let us then cleanse ourselves not only
from all defilement of the flesh, but also from that of the spirit (2 Cor.
7:1), so that our righteous
deeds may become our wedding dress on the day of the marriage of the Lamb (Rev.
19:8).
Zac Poonen
Prayer Points
1. O lord my father; have mercy on me in the name of Jesus.
2. I shall not work for the lord in vain in the name of Jesus.
3. Lord Jesus; help me, that my service not become dead works in
the name of Jesus.
4. The works of my hands shall not take me to hell fire in the name
of Jesus.
5. Every elements of dead works in my life; Die! in the name of
Jesus.
6. Father lord; Grant me the grace to serve you in spirit and in
truth in the name of Jesus.
7. Every blessing that I have lost as a result of dead works; I
recover them back by the mercies of the lord, in the name of Jesus.
Declare these Confessions to yourself:
8. By the Gracious mercies of the lord; my miracle is manifesting
in the name of Jesus.
9. This month; God shall execute his divine promise for my life in
the name of Jesus.
10.
The enemy shall find it difficult
to understand the manner of God’s blessings in my lord.
11.
Throughout the year, I shall be a
mysterious wonder, by the power in the blood of Jesus.
12.
I shall not be used as Sacrifice;
my family shall not be used as sacrificed by the power in the power of Jesus.
Seven Fold Amen
with Faith!!!
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
2015 is your Year of multiple restoration and
unparalleled Favor in the name of Jesus
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IF THE ENEMY HAS STOLEN FROM YOU;
RECOVERY IS BY FORCE.
STOP THEM BEFORE THEY STOP YOU,
GOD BLESS YOU.
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