On Faith and Good Works (Pt 2)

THE BOOK OF HOMILIES: SUMMER SERMON SERIES

THE 5th SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Faith Is Needed To Please God.

IN the last Sermon, it was declared to you what the lively and true faith of a Christian is- that it does not cause someone to be idle but to be occupied in bringing forth good works, as occasion serves. Now by God's grace, we shall declare the second thing to be noted about faith- that without it, no good work can be done that is accepted and pleasant to God. For our Savior, Christ says, "As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in them, they are the ones who bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:4-5). And St. Paul proves that Enoch had faith because he pleased God, for without faith (he says), "it is not possible to please God" (Heb 11:5-6). nd again to the Romans he says that "whatever work is done without faith, it is sin" (Rom 14:23).

Faith gives life to the soul. Those who lack faith are dead to God, just as those whose bodies lack souls are dead to the world. Without faith, everything we do is dead in God's eyes, however great and glorious it may seem to other people. In the same way as an engraving or a painting is only a dead representation of a thing itself, and is without life or any sort of movement, so also in God's eyes are the works of all those who do not have faith. They appear to be lively works, but they are, in fact, dead and do not lead to everlasting life. They are but shadows and shows of lively and good things, and not good and living things in reality. For true faith gives life to the works, and out of such faith comes good works that are very good works indeed. But without faith, no work is good before God.

THE ONE THING NECESSARY

As St Augustine says: "We must set no good works before faith, nor think that before faith a person may do any good works: for such works, although they seem to people to be praiseworthy, yet they are in fact only vain," and not allowed before God. "They are like the course of a horse that runs out of the track, which makes a great effort, but to no purpose. Let no one, therefore," says he, "reckon on their good works begore their faith. Where faith is not, good works are not. The intent," he says, "makes the good works, but faith must guide and order the intent of a person." And Christ says, "if your eye is bad, your whole body is full of darkness" (Mt 6:23). "The eye signifies the intent," says St Augustine, "with which someone does a thing." So that the one who does not do their good works with a godly intent and a true faith that works by love, their whole body, that is to say, the whole number of their works, is dark, and there is no light in them.

For good deeds are not measured by the facts themselves and so distinguished from vices, but by the ends and intents for which they were done. An unbelieving person could clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and do other such works, yet because they do not do them in faith, for the honor and love of God, they are but dead, in vain, and fruitless works to him. It is faith which commends the work to God: for (as St Augustine says), "whether you will or not, 'that work which does not come from faith, is nothing.'" Where faith in Christ is not the foundation, there is no good work, whatever building we make.

There is one work, in which are all good works- that is, faith, which expresses itself by love. If you have it, you have the ground of all good works. For the virtues of strength, wisdom, temperance, and justice are all referred to this same faith. Without this faith, we do not have them, but only the names and shadows of them; as St Augustine said: "All life of those who lack true faith is sin, and nothing is good, without him who is the author of goodness. Where he is not, there is only false virtue, even in the best works." And St Augustine, expounding this verse of the Psalm- "The swallow has found a nest where she may keep her young birds" (Ps 84:3)- says that Jews, heretics, and pagans do good works (they clothe the naked, feed the poor, and do other good works of mercy), but because they are not done in the true faith, the birds are lost. But if they remain in faith, then faith is the next and safeguard of their birds, that is to say, the safeguard of their good works, that the reward of them is not utterly lost.

And this matter (which St Augustine disputes about at length in many books), St Ambrose concludes in a few words saying, "the one who would withstand vice by nature, either by natural will or reason, garnishes the time of this life in vain and does not attain the very true virtues. For without the worshipping of the true God, that which seems to be virtue is vice.

FAITH ALONE SAVES

And yet most plainly to this purpose, St John Chrysostom writes in this way: "You shall find many which have not the true faith and are not of the flock of Christ, and yet (it appears) they flourish in good works of mercy. You shall find them full of pity, compassion, and given to justice, and yet for all that they have not fruit of their works because the chief work is lacking. For when the Jews asked of Christ what they should do to do good works, he answered, 'This is the work of God, to believe in him whom he sent (Jn 6:28-29). He called faith the work of God. And as soon as someone has faith, they shall flourish in good works, for faith of itself is full of good works, and nothing is good without faith." And he says, by way of a comparison, that "those who glisten and shine in good works, without faith in God, are like dead people, who have large and precious tombs, and yet it does not benefit them all." He continues:

"Faith should not be naked, without good works, for then it would not be true faith. And when it is joined to works, it is yet above the works. For as people first have life, and after that are nourished: so mush our faith in Christ go before, and afterwards be nourished with good works. Life may be without nourishment, but nourishment cannot be without life. A person needs to be nourished by good works, but first, they must have faith. The one who does good deeds, yet without faith, has no life. I can show a man who lived and came to heaven by faith without works, but without faith, no one ever had life. The thief who was hanged, when Christ suffered, did believe only, and the most merciful God justified him (Lk 23:40-43). It is true, and I will not contend about it, that he lacked time to do good works, or else he would have done them. But this I will surely affirm, that faith alone saved him. If he had lived and not regarded faith and the works of faith, he would have lost his salvation again. But this is what I am seeking to drive at: that faith by itself saved him, but works by themselves never justified anyone." Here you have heard the mind of St. Chrysostom, from you may perceive that faith is not without works (when it has the opportunity to do them) and that works cannot get us to everlasting life without faith.

There were three things which were in a previous Sermon especially noted of lively faith. Two of these have been declared unto you. The first was, that faith is never idle, without good works when occasion serves. The second, that good works, acceptable to GOD, cannot be done without faith. Now to go forward to the third part, that is, What kind of works they are which spring out of true faith, and lead faithful men unto everlasting life.

This can be best learned from our Savior Christ himself who was asked by a certain great man the same question; “What works shall I do (said a prince) to come to everlasting life?” Jesus answered, “if you want to come to everlasting life, keep the Commandments” (Matthew 19.16-17). But the prince not satisfied with this, asked farther, Which commandments? The Scribes and Pharisees had made so many of their own laws and traditions, to bring people to heaven, besides GOD'S commandments, that this man was in doubt whether he should come to heaven by those laws and traditions or by the law of God, and therefore he asked Christ which commandments he meant.

Christ answered him plainly, rehearsing the commandments of God, saying, “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother, and love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 19.18-19). By which words Christ declared that the laws of GOD are the very way that leads to everlasting life, and not the traditions and laws of men. So that this is to be taken for a most true lesson taught by Christ's own mouth, that the works of the moral commandments of GOD are the very true works of faith, which lead to the blessed life to come.

But people’s blindness and malice, even from the beginning, has always been ready to fall from GOD'S Commandments. Adam, the first Man, had but one commandment, that he should not eat from the forbidden fruit. Despite GOD'S Commandment, he gave credit to the woman, seduced by the subtle persuasion of the Serpent, and so followed his own will, and left GOD'S commandments. And ever since that time everyone who has come from him, has been so blinded through original sin, that they have always been ready to fall from GOD and his law, and to invent a new way to salvation by works of their own devising.

Indeed, almost the whole world, forsaking the true honor of the only eternal living GOD, wandered about in their own phantasies, some worshipping the sun, the moon, the stars, some Jupiter, Juno, Diana, Saturnus, Apollo, Neptune, Ceres, Bacchus, and other dead men and women. Some were not satisfied with this, and worshipped diverse kinds of beasts, birds, fish, fowl, and serpents, with every country, town, and house in a way being divided, setting up images of such things as they liked, and worshipping them.

Such was the roughness of the people, after they fell to their own fantasies, and left the eternal living GOD and his commandments, that they devised innumerable Images and gods. In which error and blindness they remained, until such time as Almighty GOD, pitying their blindness, sent his true Prophet Moses into the world, to reprove and rebuke this extreme madness, and to teach the people to know the only living GOD and his true honor and worship.

But the corrupt inclination of mankind, was so much given to follow his own fantasies, and (as we might say) to favor its own bird, that all the admonitions, exhortations, benefits, and threatening’s of GOD, could not keep him from such his inventions. For despite all the benefits of GOD shown to the people of Israel, when Moses went up to the mountain to speak with Almighty GOD, he had been there only a few days, when the people began to invent new Gods. And as it came into their heads, they made a calf of gold, and knelt down, and worshipped it (Exodus 32.1-6). And after that, they followed the Moabites, and worshipped Baal-peor the Moabites’ God.

Read the book of Judges, the book of the Kings, and the Prophets, and there you shall find how unsteadfast the people were, how full of inventions, and more ready to run after their own fantasies than GOD'S most holy commandments. There shall you read of Baal, Molech, Chamos, Melchor, Baal-peor, Ashtaroth, Bel, the Dragon, Priapus, the brazen Serpent, the twelve signs, and many others to whose images the people with great devotion invented Pilgrimages, preciously adorning and censing them, kneeling down, and offering to them, thinking this a high merit before God, and to be esteemed above the precepts and commandments of GOD.

Although at that time GOD commanded no Sacrifice to be made except only in Jerusalem, they did the exact opposite, and made Altars and sacrifices everywhere, in hills, in woods, and in houses, not regarding GOD'S commandments, but esteeming their own fantasies, and devotions to be better than them. And these errors were so spread abroad, that not only the uneducated people, but also the Priests, and teachers of the people were corrupted, partly by glory and covetousness, and partly by ignorance blindly deceived with the same abominations.

So much, that king Ahab having but only Elijah as a true teacher and minister of God, but eight hundred and fifty Priests, that persuaded him to honor Baal and Asherah, and to sacrifice to them in the woods or groves. And so continued that horrible error, until the three noble Kings— Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah— GOD'S chosen Ministers, clearly destroyed them, and brought the people back from such false inventions to the very commandments of GOD: for this their immortal reward and glory, remains, and shall remain with GOD for ever.

Besides these inventions already mentioned, people’s inclination to have their own holy devotions, devised new sects, and religious groups called Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes. They had many holy and godly traditions and ordinances (as it seemed by the outward appearance, and the great glistening of their works) but in fact they all tended to to idolatry, superstition, and hypocrisy. Their hearts within were full of malice, pride, covetousness, and all wickedness. Against these sects, and their pretended holiness Christ cried out more strongly, then he did against any other people, saying, and often rehearsing these words, “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you clean the vessel on the outside, but within you are full of greed and filthiness. You blind Pharisee, and hypocrite, first make the inward part clean” (Matthew 23.25-26).

For despite all their great traditions and outward shows of good works, devised by their own imagination, by which they appeared to the world most religious and holy people, Christ (who saw their hearts) knew that they were inwardly in the sight of GOD, most unholy, most abominable, and farthest from GOD of all people. Therefore, he said to them, “Hypocrites, the Prophet Isaiah truly spoke of you, when he said, “This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Those who teach merely human doctrines and commandments, worship me in vain.’ For you leave the commandments of GOD, to keep your own traditions” (Matthew 15.7-9, Isaiah 29.13-14).

Although Christ said, “They worship GOD in vain, who teach merely human doctrines and commandments,” he did not mean by this to overthrow all men’s commandments, for he himself was always obedient to rulers and their laws, which are made for good order and governance of the people. But he reproved the laws and traditions made by the Scribes and Pharisees: which were not made only for good order of the people, (as the Civil laws were) but were (set up so high, that they were made out to be for the right and pure worshipping of GOD, as if they were equal with GOD'S Laws, or above them: for many of Gods Laws could not be kept, but were compelled to give way to their rules.

This arrogance GOD detested, that people should so advance their laws, to make them equal with GOD'S Laws, in which the true honoring and right worshipping of GOD consists, and to make his Laws for them to be left aside. GOD has appointed his Laws, so we can honor what pleases him. His pleasure is also, that all human laws, which are not contrary to his Laws, shall be obeyed and kept, as good and necessary for every Commonwealth, but not as things in which his honor principally rests: and all Civil and human laws, either are, or should be made to help people better keep God’s Laws. They called them hoy and godly traditions and would have them esteemed not only for a right and true worshipping of God (as God’s laws indeed are), but also for the most high honoring of God, to which the commandments of God should give place. And for this reason, Christ so strongly spoke against them, saying “Your traditions which people think of so highly are an abomination before God” (Luke 16:15).

It is common with such traditions, that they lead to the transgression or breaking of GOD'S commandments, and to more devotion in keeping the traditions, and a greater conscience about breaking them, than for the commandments of GOD. The Scribes and Pharisees so superstitiously, and scrupulously kept the Sabbath, that they were offended with Christ , because he healed sick people on it, and with his Apostles, because they being very hungry, gathered the ears of corn to eat on that day, and because his disciples did not wash their hands as often as the traditions required: the Scribes and Pharisees quarreled with Christ, saying, “Why do your disciples break the traditions of the elders (Matthew 12.1-14)? But Christ objected that in order to keep their own traditions, they taught people to break the very commandments of GOD (Matthew 15.2). For they taught the people such a devotion, that they offered their goods into the treasure house of the Temple, under the pretense of GOD'S honor, leading their fathers and mothers (to whom they were chiefly bound) unhelped, and so they break the commandments of GOD, to keep their own traditions. They esteemed an oath made by the gold or offering in the Temple, more than the oath made in the Name of GOD himself, or of the Temple.

They were more studious to pay their tithes of small things, then to do the greater things commanded of GOD, such as works of mercy, or to do justice, or to deal sincerely, uprightly, and faithfully with GOD and people. These (saith Christ) ought to be done, and the other not left undone. And in short, they were of so blind judgment, that they stumbled at a straw, and leaped over a block. They would (as it were) carefully take a fly out of their cup but drink down a whole Camel (Matthew 23.16-24). And therefore, Christ called them blind guides, warning his disciples from time to time to avoid their doctrine. For although they seemed to the world to be most perfect people, both in living and teaching, yet their life was but hypocrisy, and their doctrine sour yeast, mingled with superstition, idolatry, and preposterous judgment, setting up human traditions and ordinances, instead of GOD'S commandments. Amen+