Recently, another very prominent Christian leader was discovered to be involved in a sex scandal. And it broke my heart, as this kind of thing always does, not only for the damage to his life, his family, and his reputation, but for the wider fallout that affects all those in the circle of his influence. There is no private sin. When what we do fails to match what we say, it always wounds others and discredits our testimony.
But none of us is perfect. So, I’m grateful that Ephesians 4:8-9 states emphatically that salvation is a gift from God received by faith and not based on our works. God’s grace to forgive can never be overwhelmed by our failures.
But James 2:17 says that faith without works is dead. In other words, true faith is always a claim confirmed by action. And that truth challenges us to freshly consider whether our deeds confirm our declarations.
The final dozen verses of the tenth chapter of John describe Jesus purposefully drawing attention to his works.
The Pharisees were in the act of picking up rocks to stone him to death when – with biting sarcasm – Jesus asked which of his good works they were about to kill him for. Was it feeding the hungry, freeing spiritual captives, embracing outcasts, healing the sick? But they said the issue wasn’t his works. It was his claim. By claiming to be the Son of God he was guilty of blasphemy and deserved to die according to their law.
In response, he reminded them of Psalm 82 where God rebuked those who’d received a commission to serve as judges. They’d betrayed that calling by favoring the wicked instead of defending the poor, the fatherless, the afflicted, and the needy. Still, God (with an upper case “G”) referred to them as gods (with a lower case “g”). So, Jesus asked why it should be considered blasphemy to refer to himself as the Son of God, when he was the one sent by the Father to redeem their failures?
When the Pharisees had no answer, he corrected the basis of their indictment by pointing out that it really was about his works. If his works didn’t back it up, his claim was meaningless.
This only fanned the flames of their fury, and they tried to arrest him. But he escaped to a place along the Jordan River where John the Baptist had conducted his ministry. And we’re told that many people came to him there and confessed their faith in him specifically because John’s claims about him had been confirmed by his works.
It’s clear from this passage that there’s an important connection between claims and works, words and deeds, rhetoric and action. The significance of this relationship is at the heart of sayings like, “practice what you preach,” “actions speak louder than words,” and “if you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk.”
Do our works align with our testimony? I believe this critical question needs to be asked and answered daily by all of us who claim to be Jesus-followers.
But I confess, most days, I’d rather avoid it. I don’t want to have to admit that I often don’t live my faith as fully as I’d like. Perhaps that’s true for you too. But if so, there’s good news for both of us.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus said the Holy Spirit would empower us to be his witnesses – to live as his representatives in this world. That means that when our works don’t match our claim, the story isn’t over and we’re not on our own to rewrite it. With humility and repentance, if we regularly and prayerfully welcome the Spirit’s transforming work in our lives, he has the power to enable us to “walk the talk.”