We must do good works like Jesus

I quote what Jesus said in John 8:48-53 and John 8:54-58

The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”

“I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

I quote what Jesus said in John 8:54-58

Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

Jesus did good works

See, Jesus never sought glory for himself in fact he did good works every day of his life. Remember how he healed the sick, cured the blind and the deaf, the lame walked, the bedridden got out of bed. He even brought the dead back to life. Jesus cast demons out of the possessed. He calmed the storm when his disciples were in the boat and were very afraid that they would be shipwrecked. He spent his life teaching, teaching the poor, teaching the rich, teaching sinners. All these were good works and that is the example he set for us. If we believe in Jesus that we must follow his example and do good works.

Cannot be saved by good works

It is true that Jesus said that we cannot be saved by doing good works alone. Please read my article on Sin suffering sacrifice and judgement if you want to know more about good works. As believers in Christ we must do good works because that was his legacy. He set the example, of doing numerous good works, for us to follow.

We evolved to learn by example so we need to do good works

People learn by example and not by telling. This the natural behaviour of man. Actually, we evolved this type of learning over millions of years of evolution. I tell you an incident that highlighted this to me. Whenever I went back to my mom’s place I noticed that my dog would not go out of the house at night. I used to wonder why was it so afraid to go out, into the fenced garden, at night. Then I decide to go out every night into the garden and bring my dog with me. After a few days of doing this my dog was not afraid of going out at night.

Do you know why the turn of events? My dog had learned from my mom to be fearful about going out at night as my mom being an old lady in her mid 70’s was afraid to be out at night. When I began to bring my dog out at night I showed no fear and my dog learned from my behaviour that there was nothing to fear. That is how animals evolved since they did not have the power of speech, they learned by example. Hence man too learns quickly by example but we have the ability to learn from the spoken and written word as we have the faculty of speech, unlike animals.

Other situations where we learn by example

I have also seen this ‘learn by example’ process when we were trying to teach new sales staff. All the new staff under training picked up what we were doing, subconsciously. In fact they tended to follow what we did, instead of what we told them to do. If we made a mistake in our sales techniques they picked it up and unconsciously copied the same mistakes. It was with great difficulty that we ‘unteach’ those mistakes with the spoken and written word.

Jesus set an example of doing good works

I guess, now you would understand why Jesus set a example of doing good works. He was not violent, he did not lie or cheat, he did not take up arms against another. He was always patient, kind, compassionate and helpful. And most of all he was always doing good works. That was the example he set and we, as believers in Christ, must set a good example by doing good works.

If someone tells you that there is no need to do good works, then he is a false prophet and do not listen to anything he says. Run, run as fast and as far away from him as you possibly can or else you will end up copying his bad thinking and not following the Lord Jesus way of doing good works.

How can you claim to be a follower of Christ if you do not follow his example? Please read the bible to know all the good works done by Jesus.

This article “We must do good works like Jesus” was written by Peter Achutha