Saved Unto Good Works
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
One of the greatest areas of disagreement in religion is in the area of whether works has any part of salvation. There are many people who believe that a person must be good to get saved. There are others who believe that a person must be good and accept Christ to be saved. Then, there are others who believe that you must accept Christ and live a good life in order to keep your salvation. Finally, there are those who believe that salvation comes from accepting Christ as Saviour, plus nothing and minus nothing, and that works have no part in salvation because all the work needed for salvation was done by Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.
According to the Scriptures, the last belief is right. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." You will notice that God specifically notes that works have nothing to do with salvation. In other words, you can't be good enough to get saved, and you can't be good enough or bad enough to keep or lose your salvation. Salvation is given to us by God's grace. All a person must do to get it is to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour.
However, you were saved to do good works. The verse above states that when you got saved, your salvation was the work of Christ and that the reason He saved you was to do good works. You will notice that you were not saved by works, but you were saved to do good works. Works has nothing to do with obtaining or keeping salvation, but they have everything to do with having good fellowship with Jesus Christ.
Let me explain this thought more clearly. When I was born into this world, I had nothing to do with my birth. My birth happened because of my parents. When I was born, my relationship with my parents was established. In other words, my relationship with my parents was established because of them. I could do nothing to establish a relationship with them; however, whether I have good fellowship with them is totally dependent upon how I live. If I obey them and do what they tell me to do, then our fellowship with each other will be great. On the other hand, if I rebel against their rules and do what I want to do, my lifestyle will strain my fellowship with them. Notice, though my fellowship is strained, my relationship can never be severed. My works only deal with the quality of fellowship I have with my parents.
This is exactly what works has to do with salvation. Your relationship with Jesus Christ was established because of Him. You could do nothing to save yourself, only Christ could do that by dying on the cross and rising again from the dead. Your relationship with Christ was established when you accepted Him as your Saviour; however, if you want your fellowship with Christ to be unrestrained, then you need to do the good works that He saved you to do. Your works determine the quality of fellowship you have with Christ, they have nothing to do with you getting saved or staying saved.
Christian, you were saved to serve Christ. Don't hurt your fellowship by not doing good works. The reason you should be actively involved in serving Christ is so that you can have good fellowship with Him. Don't let works of unrighteousness prevail in your life, for they will strain your fellowship with Christ. Instead, every day your life should be filled with the good works of righteousness. If you do this, you will find that your fellowship with Christ will be sweet and enjoyable. If you will daily do the works that you were saved to do, then you will have the fellowship with Christ that He wants to have with you.