Good deeds… good works… niceties… pleasantries… philanthropy… humanitarianism. There are all kinds of different levels, descriptions and ways of describing those words, actions or intentions that benefit someone or something other than our own selves. I think most people desire to engage in them to some degree or another. However, we don’t necessarily pay much attention to it.
Sure, when we read the headlines of a news feed or catch some bit of breaking news regarding this catastrophe or that tragedy, many of us wish that there was something we could do about it. Or when we hear of a grand philanthropy or another sacrificial endeavor toward social justice, we may feel compelled towards it. But for the most part, our attention toward good deeds is frequently passive and regards something grand. Sure, there are those little niceties along the way, but often we come across a story or occasion that is either so admirable or pitiable, that we feel a compulsion to participate in it.
Ultimately, in this scenario, the good deed becomes polluted. We haven’t been proactively paying attention to philanthropy; a compelling story or situation has come to us. Many of us want to join in, not out of careful consideration, but out of a knee-jerk desire to take the goodness and grandeur of what is being done and unite ourselves with it in order to make its goodness and grandeur our own. We are trying to make ourselves good and grand.
When it boils down to it, our good deeds and philanthropy are contingent. The contingency is over what it will accomplish for us, for our conscience, for our psyche, and for our self worth and self perception. They are contingent on how compelling the issue at hand is. This is why we don’t spend much time giving careful consideration to continually doing good deeds. Careful attention or consideration will reveal to us our true heart in the matter and our good deeds won’t feel so good anymore, because they aren’t as “good” as we’d like them to be due to our associated selfish intention.
This brings us to the Apostle Paul’s letter to Titus. In 3:8 Paul has just given Titus a “trustworthy saying” that he is to “insist on.” The purpose of this insistence is, “so that those who have placed their faith in God may be intent on engaging in good works.” (NET) Grammatically, the Greek word that gets translated in the NET as ‘intent’ is the verb in the clause, and lexically means, lexically means, “to give sustained thought to something, think of, be intent on, be careful/concerned about.” The word translated ‘engaged’ is an infinitive and means, “to have an interest in, show concern for, care for, give aid.” So there is something in this trustworthy saying that is going to equip and make it possible for God’s people to be intent on, and give sustained thought about a care and concern for good works.
What is it that liberates us from our own selfish ambition and our own pursuits of self-realized goodness and grandeur that corrupts our good works? This is the trustworthy saying to be insisted on that Paul reminds Titus of in verses 4-7.
It begins with the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind. It appeared in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and faith therein, saves us from sin, not our good deeds or good works. For one, our good deeds are infected with our insidious endeavor for self promotion. Second, even if our good deeds were not tarnished with our sin, they do not atone for our sin. The offense of our sin is infinite and eternal because God, the offended party, is infinite and eternal. None of our finite and temporal good deeds could possibly pay an eternal and infinite debt. So God has saved us, according to verse five, on the basis of His mercy, not our works. He, through Jesus Christ, washed us with a new birth, a birth with a new heart and new mind, renewed by the Holy Spirit. With this new heart and mind given us by the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the new covenant that God has made – that through faith in Christ we would receive the Holy Spirit and have our inner person renewed – we are able to give deep consideration to our continued participation in good works.
We are able to do this because what is able to be revealed now is not our own selfish ambition, but rather a worshipful act of love. Our good deeds may be done out of care and concern for others, regardless of what it accomplishes for us, because it is an outflow of God’s love, care and concern. It is from His Spirit dwelling and swelling within us. Our good deeds are no longer to atone for ourselves or aggrandize ourselves, but to participate with God in doing what brings Him and us joy.
Apart from the trustworthy truths of who God is and what He has accomplished for us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives because of our faith in Christ, good works will not withstand close scrutiny and it will be impossible to remain engaged in them. However, in – and resulting from – the gospel we are freed to give sustained thought toward concern for good works and worshipfully participate with God in what He’s doing and experience the freedom and joy therein.
Tags: care, concern, deeds, good, gospel, humanitarianism, intent, philanthropy, works
