Faith And Works Are Necessary

Faith And Works Are Necessary

If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

John 15:10

Jesus is saying, “You are in me and remain in me, so make sure you keep my commandments. For I must give each of you a task as a sign to others that you are my true branches. That task is to love each other. I keep this command myself so that I can be an example and model to you. And I remain in my Father’s love because I keep this command. Therefore, if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.” Earlier in this book, Christ also says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

So there are two parts of Christian teaching that we must emphasize daily. Neither faith nor works can be ignored. For when faith isn’t preached—when no one explains how we are joined to Christ and become branches in him—then everyone resorts to their own works. On the other hand, when we teach only about faith, this lopsidedness leads to false Christians. These people praise faith, are baptized, and even call themselves Christians, but they don’t show any fruit or power.

That’s why it’s so difficult to preach. No matter how I preach, something goes wrong. Someone always goes off on a tangent. If I don’t preach about faith, the result will be useless and hypocritical works. If I only emphasize faith, no one does any good works. The result is either useless, faithless do-gooders or believers who don’t do any good works. So we must preach the message to those who accept both faith and works. We must preach to those who want to remain in the vine, put their trust in Christ, and put their faith into action in their everyday lives.