Manchester Lutheran Church

Can you have saving faith without works?

All of us have certain things we want to hang on to. Certain things that, even though God says they’re wrong, we want to keep in our lives.

That is the personal challenge and temptation facing everyone who hears the idea of salvation by faith, as we’re constantly tempted to ask the question: “Can I keep doing x, y, z while assuring myself of God’s love?”

It’s a particular challenge to us as Lutherans. Because we—rightly—emphasise that the whole Bible is about justification by faith. And we are—wrongly—misunderstood by many others as meaning that there is no place for good works in the Christian life.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has just finished the Sermon on the Mount. A sermon, three chapters long, about God’s perfect, unreachable, standard, meaning we can only be right with God, by trusting in Jesus’ Word and work. And, Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount by giving three warnings:

First, that false prophets will come, and we will recognise them by their fruits.

Second, that “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

And third, that “everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.”

And so, Jesus’ sermon in chapters 5-7 leaves Matthew’s reader with this same question: Can you have saving faith without works?

A question that Matthew starts to answer here, by showing us Jesus interacting with people saved by faith. And Matthew shows us two things:

Saving faith always bears fruit in good works…

Because Jesus can and wants to change lives.

The first of those: Saving faith always bears fruit in good works…

Matthew shows us this fruit in three different ways:

…the fruit of starting to fulfil God’s Law (vv. 1-4).

…the fruit of loving others by seeking their good (vv. 5-9).

…the fruit of humility, not entitlement (vv. 10-13).

Please look again at vv. 1-4:

When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

This leper has nothing to offer Christ. He is unclean—physically, ceremonially, and medically filthy. He has no works to offer, and so instead, by faith alone, just throws himself on Christ’s mercy.

In response to the leper’s faith, Jesus makes him clean, and tells him to fulfil God’s Law.

This is the first way Matthew shows us that our faith bears fruit: we fulfil God’s Law.

This is significant because there is a tendency by many Christians all around us to invent their own good works. And we are tempted to do this as well: to invent or generate ideas from our own heads about what will or will not please God, that are not commanded by God:

1. that we shouldn’t drink alcohol;
2. that we should dress a certain way on Sunday;
3. that we should reduce our carbon footprint;
4. that singleness is morally better than marriage;
5. that we should parent in a certain way or not;
6. that Christians shouldn’t have political opinions and act on them.

Things like these are not commanded by God, but are commandments we invent. But, God gives us his commandments, so that we are not uncertain about what the fruit of faith looks like.

In Luther’s Large Catechism, he explains it like this:

For what God commands must be much better and far nobler than everything that we may come up with ourselves. Since there is no higher or better teacher to be found than God, there can certainly be no better teaching than what He provides. Now, He teaches fully what we should do if we wish to perform truly good works. By commanding such works, He shows that they please Him. If, then, it is God who commands this and does not know how to appoint anything better, I will never improve upon it.

So Saving faith always bears fruit in good works… that means, first, …the fruit of starting to fulfil God’s Law.

But second, it means, …the fruit of loving others by seeking their good.

Please look again at verses 5-9:

When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralysed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

We have here a Centurion, who like the leper has no works to offer Jesus. He comes to Jesus with a problem he cannot solve himself. And he recognises that, as a Gentile, he is not worthy even for Jesus to come to his home.

All the Centurion can do is trust Jesus: place his faith in Jesus. And so this is what he does.

But, see how the Centurion’s faith comes to fruition in other person centred love. His concern is not for himself, his own needs, his own situation: it is for his servant, at home, who is suffering terribly.

This is the fruit of loving others by seeking their good.

So Saving faith alwAnd the third fruit is the fruit of humility, not entitlement.

Please look again at vv. 10-13:

When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Already in Matthew’s Gospel, the first century Jews have been shown to be presumptuous of God’s love.

Back in chapter 3 verse 9, John the Baptist challenged the religious leaders saying:

And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

So while it is the nature of faith is to have assurance that God does love us and is good to us: that assurance and confidence is only there because of what God promises in his Word.

But, the religious leaders had confidence because of their ethnic identity and legal practices. It is not faith, but presumption, to root your assurance in something about yourself.

The centurion, by contrast, says

“I am not worthy to have you come under my roof,”

This is Matthew’s first point: Saving faith always bears fruit in good works…

…the fruit of starting to fulfil God’s Law.
…the fruit of loving others by seeking their good.
and …the fruit of humility, not entitlement.

The doctrine of justification by faith alone always produces these fruits.

And if you think about the opposite of these fruits—spiritual thorns—they naturally flow from a denial of justification by faith alone.

The reason we ignore, bypass, or go beyond God’s Law and invent commands and ethics ourselves, is so that we can feel righteous by doing something achievable—something more reachable than God’s perfect standard of love.

Many of us may be able to see a clear self-righteousness by those who make climate change the new all encompassing ethic.

The reason we as Christians often invent new religious rules for ourselves is to make ourselves feel like good people, even when we are doing other things we know to be wrong.

Similarly, the opposite of other-person centred love—self-love—is a spiritual thorn that flows from works righteousness. If my sense of feeling assured, of feeling good, of feeling justified is rooted in my own achievement, my own works, then I will make those works easier by making them self-serving: If I want something for myself that is against God’s Word, then I simply pretend it is a virtue or good thing.

And finally, of course, while justification by faith alone results in humble assurance, any kind of works righteousness results in arrogant entitlement or despair.

This is why I spend so much time in many sermons, knocking down different works that we may be tempted to trust in.

• God does not love you because of your prayer life: your prayers are at best a fruit of faith.
• God does not love you because of your faith: your faith is simply trust in the fact that he already loves you, and none of us created faith in ourselves: God’s Spirit gives you that faith through his Word.
• God does not love you because you grew up in a certain church or denomination.
• God does not love you because you have good doctrine.
• God does not love you because you help others.
• God does not love you because you do things to help on a Sunday.
• God does not love you because you are sincere.

No, instead: God loves you because he decided to love you in Jesus.

Simply trusting Him will bear fruit in us: starting to fulfil God’s law, increasingly loving others, growing in true humility.

But, any other basis for assurance is to add works to faith, to confuse Law and Gospel, and will not bear fruit in these ways, instead: we will invent new commands for ourselves, we will be concerned about ourselves, not others, we will be arrogant and entitled, or despair.

But, the reason we can have true assurance, justifying and saving faith, that bears fruit in good works: is because Jesus can and wants to change lives.

Just look at Jesus again throughout this story:

vv. 2-3:

“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Jesus does “will” to love us. Jesus does want to help us. Jesus is willing to touch us when we are a disgusting leper. Jesus can and wants to make us clean.

Vv. 6-7:

“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

Jesus cares about this servant and the suffering he is going through. Jesus knows your situation. He sees your past. He intimately knows what you’ve been through. He knows your present. He knows your concerns, your fears, the things you care about.

You matter to him. He loves you. You don’t need to persuade him to care about you. You don’t need to win him over to your side. He is good to you and wants to be good to you.

v. 13:

And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

Jesus is responsive to those who trust Him. This centurion trusts Jesus, and that’s not just good for the centurion—it benefits his servant!

Jesus is so kind, so wonderful, so loving… …that our faith can even result in benefit for others.

Jesus is not trying to catch people out, to find things wrong with our faith.

Jesus is actively looking to create and find faith near and far,

vv. 10-11:

“Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,

Jesus can change your life. Jesus wants to change your life. Jesus is on your side.

So, Can you have saving faith without works?

Saving faith always bears fruit in good works…
…the fruit of starting to fulfil God’s Law
…the fruit of loving others by seeking their good
…the fruit of humility, not entitlement.

So, don’t invent your own Good works:
read God’s Law to guide how you should live;
don’t love yourself by seeking your own good: love others by seeking their good;
and don’t be entitled or despair: be humble.

Be assured that God loves you unconditionally, a love that he set on you before you even heard the word “faith” or knew what it meant to love.

Know that this assurance, this confidence, this faith in God’s goodness will bear fruit in your life in fulfilling God’s Law, loving others and humility

Because Jesus can and wants to change lives

And he can and wants to change your life.

Because he is the one who says these things:

“I will; be clean”

“I will come and heal him.”

“Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.”