Continuing with our series, we last learnt that the Qurbana Qadisha (Holy Eucharist) is an essential element in the quest of salvation. We will now discuss the importance of faith and deeds and how one of these attributes, in and of themselves, cannot please God but that they must be coupled together by the grace of God.
Prior to the reformation the dichotomy of faith alone vs faith and deeds was a non sequitur, it required no discussion as all Apostolic Churches were in concurrence. However, an obscure German monk by the name of Martin Luther rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church (which incidentally opened the door to modern and post modern thinking) and unbeknown to him, started an avalanche of heretical sects, churches and doctrines that continue to splinter due to the rebellious nature of such individuals. Martin Luther went so far as to add the word 'alone' after the words 'by faith', he also labelled the book of James (an Apostle of the Lord) "a book of straw" as its message contradicted Martin Luther's theological innovation.
All salvation is made possible only through the grace of God, without God's grace our faith and deeds would be futile, without God's grace Jesus Christ would have not offered Himself up on the altar (cross) for our salvation, without God's grace we would be dead in our sin.
It is true that in order to please the Lord we must have faith in Him, from this statement the question arises, what is faith? As always, sacred scripture provides the answer, in Hebrews 11 we read -
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval.
Faith, as the Apostle Paul states is the "conviction of things not seen" and although we have not seen God face to face, we have faith in His existence and we feel a conviction through the Holy Spirit given to us through baptism regarding the existence of our Lord and the hope of things to come. It is through this faith that we confess His name and offer up our worship to Him, it is through this faith that we love God with all our being and our neighbour as ourselves and it is through this faith that we pick up our crosses and follow our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our faith must be pure and child-like as stated by our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 18:3 -
3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
A simple wholehearted faith is what God desires, we see that those who are considered of low stature in society come to Church and portray this faith, they have no questions, they have no doubts but display pure reverence and sincerity that is akin to the trust a child shows to his or her parents. We must strive to attain this faith, which is simplistic in nature. Our faith must be grounded upon the 'rock' of salvation and should our faith be built upon Him through His Holy Church and the "winds and waves" batter against us, we shall remain standing. The question arises, what is the faith that is grounded upon the rock? We read in Matthew 7:24 -
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock"
Jesus states unequivocally that in order to build our faith upon Him (the rock) we must act on His words, not just hear them, not simply believe or agree with them, but to actually act on them. Jesus Christ our Lord is basically conveying a message that the Holy Church has accepted for 2000 years, faith and deeds go hand-in-hand and faith without works is futile. Let us examine how important our faith and deeds are in order to attain salvation and enter the kingdom of heaven, we read in Matthew 25 -
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This passage is profound and it would be wise to try to ascertain what is being said, Jesus separates the sheep (believers) from the goats (non believers) based on the deeds they commit to Christ. When we feed or clothe or give someone a drink who is in need, we are actually inadvertently feeding or clothing or giving drink to Christ! The stranger we give assistance to is akin to assisting Christ, and let us not forget that the poor and the foolish of the world are those who will inherit the kingdom. Thus it will be on the basis of our deeds that we will be judged, in fact there is no where written that states you will be judged based on faith alone. Another example of judgement based on deeds is found in Matthew 25 -
14 “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. 16 Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. 17 In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. 18 But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them. 20 The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
22 “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’
26 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27 Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. 28 Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
29 “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 30Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The Lord provides us with spiritual gifts and we must make use of them, lest we find ourselves to be a wicked and lazy servant. We must be put to work for the glory of God, faith on its own is a sign of fruitlessness! Works without faith in God is useless, but coupled together we are ensuring that we continue walking upon the narrow path that leads to salvation. Do you have a talent? Can you teach, show mercy, kindness, love, humility or exhortation? Are you able to cook, clean or lend any professional assistance to the Church? If so, then put the blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon you to good use and work as one body and be of one mind with one love, always striving to do what is right in the eyes of our Lord.
As there is much more to cover with the topic of faith and works, another post will be dedicated to the letters of St.Paul and St. James with further discourse on the matter of faith and works.
God Bless.
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