Faith that Works: On Why the Lazy Make Us Mad

Before we answer further why Christians work even though they’re saved by faith in Jesus and not works — even those who do not work, we have to consider why, oh why, we care.

Why do we care that a Christian is lazy if God saves the Christian who doesn’t work? And we do care — very much. And we should.

I think it’s because those who are more mature care about the things of God. Lazy Christians don’t convert the lost — and we love the lost. Lazy Christians don’t feed the poor — and we love the poor. Lazy Christians don’t care for their brothers and sisters as they should — and we love our brothers and sisters.

But it’s even deeper. You see, the mature have been reshaped enough into God’s image that we have a sense of what the world could be like if Christians were to be transformed into God’s image and truly live as followers of Jesus. It’s hard to imagine in detail — but the beauty of that possibility draws us and entices us. We just know that things would be so much better — if only we’d live what we’ve been called to.

And when we see Christians given so much do so little with what they’ve been given, we become frustrated — as God is as well — because we’ve seen transformation. We’ve seen hints of God’s ability to re-invent people, churches, and even neighborhoods. We can envision a much, much better world — and it kills us inside when we see so many of God’s children content with salvation but with no notion of what God really wants us to be.

Ponder — seriously meditate on — what drives you just nuts when you see Christians aim so low and achieve so little. You see, it really is about much, much more and deeper things than fear for their souls — not that you shouldn’t fear for their souls. But it’s more. It’s lost opportunities. It’s a lack of understanding of the real power and purposes of God.

I remember hearing a story of a newlywed couple who honeymooned in the Poconos. (This was many years ago.) They were kind of backwoods, you know. Over dinner they met some friends and enjoyed an evening together. Their new friends realized that the couple didn’t get the jokes they made about sex. The couple had never been taught by their parents or friends (remember “Coal Miner’s Daughter”?) — and they were on their honeymoon!

Of course, their new friends took them aside and taught them about the birds and the bees — because, having experienced the joys of sex, they felt compelled to share the good news!

And to me, for those who see Christianity through Skinnerian, legalistic eyes, it’s like they’re newlyweds who know nothing about sex. Yes, there is much to enjoy about marriage other than sex — but what a crying shame not to understand and get to experience life with a gracious God!

When someone asks me why I obey when I believe in salvation by faith, not works, I feel like I’m talking to someone who says “Why have sex with your wife when you know she won’t divorce you if you don’t?” Obviously, such a person has never had sex with his wife! And how do you answer that kind of a question?

Well, I try my best to explain the birds and bees of my marriage to God — the utter joys of living in grace and the motivation that creates.

But then I’m stuck with dealing with the very real reality of lazy Christians. They are hard to explain — and understand — but we’re getting there.

About Jay F Guin

My name is Jay Guin, and I’m a retired elder. I wrote The Holy Spirit and Revolutionary Grace about 18 years ago. I’ve spoken at the Pepperdine, Lipscomb, ACU, Harding, and Tulsa lectureships and at ElderLink. My wife’s name is Denise, and I have four sons, Chris, Jonathan, Tyler, and Philip. I have two grandchildren. And I practice law.
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20 Responses to Faith that Works: On Why the Lazy Make Us Mad

  1. Skip says:

    I believe the majority of Christians want all Christians to be on “fire” for the Lord because of the good we can accomplish. However, there is a class of Christian “Judaizers” who despise “lazy” Christians and want to bring everyone under their NT version of the law because this is the only motivation they understand.

  2. laymond says:

    Jay, you describe the church, of the Laodiceans, pretty much to a “T”yet you say they are not “spewed out”, how does this work?

    Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
    Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
    Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
    Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
    Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
    Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

  3. I think the vestigial works salvation which we find in the CoC is less a real developed doctrine than it is a control mechanism. As such, we are loath to relinquish it. We have grown up to believe that if we don’t MAKE people do the right thing, they simply won’t do it. And we point to so-called “lazy believers” as evidence.

    But the problem is really that we have no developed doctrine of the direct work of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives, no tradition of seeking it or expecting it, and in fact, a tradition of rejecting the reality of any such personal work. As a result, our behavior is not a function of who we are in Christ, and of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives, but a matter of continuing to try to escape hell. What we describe as a group of “lazy” people are simply folks who (a) don’t know who they really are, (b) don’t know what God is doing, and (c) aren’t afraid of the preacher anymore.

    The traditional CoC response of heating up the brimstone another thirty degrees and delivering another load is simply not working anymore. When the teacher does not know who he is in Christ, he cannot enlighten others into grasping the reality that does motivate the believer. And when the preacher tells us that God is no longer directly involved in accomplishing what He wants in our personal lives, we wonder why we then should be any more involved than God is…

  4. Jerry says:

    Charles wrote:

    But the problem is really that we have no developed doctrine of the direct work of the Holy Spirit in our personal lives, no tradition of seeking it or expecting it, and in fact, a tradition of rejecting the reality of any such personal work.

    I think he nailed it! We do not understand what God saves us for – or how He completes our salvation through His Spirit.

    We do not appreciate what Paul meant when he wrote:

    But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Cor 15:10, ESV)

    There is a vast difference between working in order to be saved (which is a works based, law salvation) and God’s grace working in us (which is a faith based, salvation by grace). Both “work.” Yet, one works out of fear and the compulsion of fear while the other works out of love and the compulsion of love.

    For the love of Christ controls us [compels us, KJV], because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Cor 5:14-15, ESV)

    Who do we work for? Do we work to benefit ourselves or for the glory of God? If we work out of fear of hell if we do not, ultimately we are working for ourselves. If we work because of the love of God and for His glory, we are truly His servants whose greatest joy is that God be glorified.

  5. hank says:

    Romans 4:4 ESV

    Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

    Does this not plainly say that to the one “who works”, his wages are due him? The one “who works” is owed his reward – it is not a gift via grace. It is his due. He has it coming.

    The only one who is owed his reward is the one who never sins. The one who never sins does not need grace, forgiveness, or any “gifts”, he is owed his reward.

    When Paul speaks of “works” in much of Romans, he means sinless perfection. The rest of us need mercy and to receive our reward as a gift by grace through faith. Not by works.

    Robertson whiteside explains this well in his Romans commentary.

    Try to think of one other than the sinless person, who is OWED his wages by God.

  6. Doug says:

    All these works I keep reading about… do they really exist or are they just inventions of someone’s mind? I am certainly not well versed in CofC ways, I’ve been here for about 7 years and and really have only sat in 4 different congregations. But, what I see is mostly CofC people serving other CofC people. I’ll give you that some of that probably qualifies as works but is teaching a class on evangelism to a bunch of 50-70 year olds who have been Christians for for 40- 60 years really a quality work? They ought to be teaching the class themselves or better yet out doing the work of evangelizing. Makes me wonder how many classes on evangelism they have already sat in…

    I think part of the problem with doing quality work in the CofC has to do with the average size of the congregation. The average congregation is so small that it might be very hard to concentrate effort on anything other than the needs of the congregation itself. That’s one reason why people are attracted to the mega-churches, they can actually see and take part in those quality works of feeding and clothing the needy and evangelizing those who really need evangelizing. Man, how hard is it to understand that singing 20 verses of “Just as I am” isn’t going to accomplish anything when everyone sitting in the Church is already a baptised believer? Even when I was a little kid, I could understand that. If the CofC want to do something, do some works, they need to combine some of these little churches and get their churches to a size where they can look outward.

  7. laymond says:

    Doug, said; “That’s one reason why people are attracted to the mega-churches, they can actually see and take part in those quality works ”

    That could be the reason, I guess, but I always thought it was just an easier place to hide. harder to find, inconspicuous.

  8. Skip says:

    I would classify the first church in Acts 2 as a megachurch and I think the Lord did great things with that first group. It has been suggested that the Church in Ephesus consisted of 30,000 members. Hopefully we don’t wish for small churches so that no one can hide. People hide when they don’t understand grace.

  9. laymond says:

    I didn’t know Cowboy Stadium existed back then. Skip

  10. Skip says:

    Laymond, Apparently the large church did exist or Paul would have written his letter to the “churches” in Ephesus. Revelation 2 also would have to be rewritten to specify which group Jesus meant. 🙂

  11. Doug says:

    Laymond, I attend a fairly large church (800-900 avg. Sunday attendance) during one part of the year. It’s not a mega-church (yet) but it’s a pretty big group. I certainly wouldn’t classify the people in that church as in hiding. One thing they do that requires a lot of people is a ministry to homeless people. They open their church up to the homeless and feed them, clothe them, let them get a hot bath, cut their hair. There are 4 churches that take turns doing this ministry so about once a month this church is actively involved doing this. This is the kind of ministry that the CofC people need to immerse themselves in… and the really neat thing is despite a persons best efffort, they’ll probably find that they get more out of a ministry like this than the people they help. The only catch is that they may have to partner with non-CofC people in order to help those that Jesus said we need to assist.

  12. Skip says:

    Whether the church is small or large people hide out because they are motivated by fear and not love and grace. It was fear that caused the one man to hide his talent (Matthew 25:25). Love and grace would have set him free to use his talent.

  13. Price says:

    Jay. I like the illustration of having a relationship with your wife and how that translates to having a relationship with God…The problem is that most people only have a relationship with a book. They don’t even believe in an active Holy Spirit or if they do he is neutered to the point of irrelevance. Comparatively speaking it’s like having a relationship with a picture of your wife…not the same thing. Until the Holy Spirit is allowed to be a controlling part of the church once again, we can work all we want and nothing much good is going to come of it..

    Hank, you’re the only person that believes the passage that you quoted from Romans 4 is authorization to work for your wages. It’s clearly a contrast between the righteousness of God which is by faith and NOT by works. It’s a contrast to explain the difference. You really should let that go. It’s not accurate at all.. What “work” do you believe that you can do on your own without God’s help that’s going to merit you anything with Him? The passage goes on to say that if there is anything to brag about it’s not before God !! Seriously, man, let it go. Otherwise, you’re just running around doing things that God isn’t going to give a hoot about… it’s a theological tower of Babel.

  14. aBasnar says:

    Side Remark: All Megachurches in NT times (and for generations beyond) were a network of housechurches. So don’t imagine them to have their church life all in one big hall. A 30.000 member church had between 500 and 1000 meeting places.

    Question: What makes Christians lazy?

    My answer: A Gospel presentation that hammers into their heads: You can’t do anything anyway, and nothing is expected of you. A Salvation that free a gift confuses them as soon as they are confronted with commands of our Lord. They understand that “the church” expects this or that from them, and they call such a church terribly legalistic.

    What’s the remedy?

    Present Jesus correctly and fully! Not only as a lamb slain for sinners, but as a King with the authority to rule! Converting to Christ means total surrender to a real and most powerful King with the highest expectations from all of us. And we must teach the awful truth that HE will not suffer lazy servants:

    Mat 25:26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?
    Mat 25:27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

    Mat 25:30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

    So, the titel of this thread is a bit misleading. It should read:
    Why the Lazy make the LORD mad.

    I am not speaking about motivation here, but about work, Skip. I am with you that we should be fueled with love and gratitude. But the fear of the Lord is no less a valid motivation, being the beginning or source of wisdom. Knowing that Christ is Lord and has the right to command and expect from us “work” is sufficient to go and work.

    I don’t expect from my subordinate colleagues that they love our company. I expect a certain amount of loyalty and a willingness to sweat and “suffer” for the common cause of our print shop. If they love the work, the boss even, then all the better for the outcome. But be it as it may: The work must be done; and those who are lazy won’t make it for long.

    Do we expect the same from our brothers and sisters in church? Or are we content when they sit straight and can handle a hymn book?

    Alexander

  15. hank says:

    Romans 4:4 ESV

    Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

    Price, who is the one who’s wages are not a gift, but are actually his due? Sure looks as though it is the one “who works”. Your beef is with Romans 4:4 bro.

    Now, don’t accuse me of believing that God owes me ANYTHING based on my “works” because I do not.

    The only one God owes a reward to is the one who never sins. Ever. And that is what Paul meant by “works” in this passage.

    For, the ONLY person who’s reward is not a gift of grace but his due, is the hypothetical guy who never sins and never needs forgiveness.

    But quit ignoring what the text actually says and then making stuff up about me.

  16. Alabama John says:

    Each one of us individually must decide whether we want to be active in good works or not.
    The fear of doing something wrong has tied our hands from doing something for far too long.
    Had we rather face God at judgment saying we did nothing wrong or that we did all we could?
    I trust God to make the right call on judgment day so press on doing good works with other denominations or whatever and have confidence in Gods judgment.

  17. Alexander wrote:
    Question: What makes Christians lazy?
    My answer: A Gospel presentation that hammers into their heads: You can’t do anything anyway, and nothing is expected of you.
    >>>>
    So, only Christians in strongly Calvinist churches are lazy? Alexander, this is just silly. The message you describe isn’t even preached in those circles. Even those who believe firmly in Calvin’s view of predeterminism teach believers that God requires them to walk as disciples of Jesus. One may as well opine that Christians are lazy because they watch too many Disney films and know “it’ll all work out fine before the final credits roll”. There may be many contributing factors to us being “lazy”, but what you describe is not on the list.

    Alexander, your post seems to suggest that unless we as believers are held under constant veiled threat of hellfire, we may well become lazy and fail to do what God expects of us. Somehow, this seems incongruous with “take my yoke upon you and learn of me” for “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. I think someone may have mistaken the whip for the yoke.

  18. aBasnar says:

    That’s not what I said, Charles. I said (or meant) that a teaching that is like this is very likely to produce such results. In fact modern Evangelicalism is based on this Calvinistic paradigms, but lacks one essential thing: Calvinism vigorously stands for a church state based on OT-covenantal principles. That’s how the Puritans “worked”.

    I’m sure you wouldn’t go for that, Charles. But Calvinism without such strict standards leads to easy believism.

    Alexander

  19. Price says:

    Hank…let’s try again… Paul says Abram was rewarded for his faith not his works. Paul contrasts the event by comparing it to an employee/employer relationship. An employee does the work and the employer owes him a wage. The employee is due that wage because he did the work. Paul explains in clear enough language that this is NOT the relationship that exists between us and Him. There will never be anything that you or I will ever do that we can then go to God and say “pay up.” Nothing. You might get a certificate from the Rotary Club but you haven’t earned, nor will you ever earn anything which God is obligated to pay you for.. If you don’t understand that, then you have an issue with the passage…bro.

  20. hank says:

    Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

    Price, who is the one who’s wages are not a gift, but are actually his due? Sure looks as though it is the one “who works”. Your beef is with Romans 4:4 bro.

    Now, don’t accuse me of believing that God owes me ANYTHING based on my “works” because I do not.

    The only one God owes a reward to is the one who never sins. Ever. And that is what Paul meant by “works” in this passage.

    For, the ONLY person who’s reward is not a gift of grace but his due, is the hypothetical guy who never sins and never needs forgiveness.

    But quit ignoring what the text actually says and then making stuff up about me.

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