In smalltown Mississippi, part of the fabric of our culture is a blue-collar, no-nonsense, work ethic. My youngest son, Asa, takes taekwondo and his academy’s slogan is “Earned, never Given.” This could be the Slogan of the Deep South. When I was a young boy, whether it had to do with my schoolwork, my household chores, or playing baseball, I was raised to work hard and give my best effort. As a former baseball player, I believe the greatest complement a player can receive is to be called a ‘dirtbag’. In baseball lingo, a dirtbag is a player who competes in such a way that he holds nothing back and leaves everything on the field. He takes the extra base at every opportunity. He dives for every ball. No one outhustles or outworks or outcompetes a dirtbag. As a result, the dirtbag’s uniform is characteristically filthy from top to bottom following every game, thus the moniker. The values of working hard and giving my best effort have served me well throughout my life. Melanie and I have tried our best to instill these same values to our four children. This is how most in smalltown Mississippi are raised. We take pride in our work and give our best effort in whatever we do.
When we think of spiritual things, specifically how we relate to God, our natural tendency is to try to earn favor with Him by our good works or holy living. While our work ethic is a trademark of our local culture, this tendency to try to earn favor with God by our works is not limited to Americans in the Deep South. In fact, this is a worldwide tendency and is part of most every religion or set of spiritual beliefs in the world. The specifics may look different from religion to religion, belief to belief, but the common thread is that a person must do A, B, & C in order to earn favor with God and have an opportunity to achieve whatever post-life reward is desired. In some cases, it is believed that there is a figurative scale and therefore, our good works or holy living must outweigh our sin in order to be made right with God.
While most belief systems include some practice of a works-based salvation, the Bible actually communicates a much different message. The Gospel (or Good News) is that Jesus did all of the work necessary for sinful people like you and me to have the opportunity to be saved and live eternally with God in Heaven when this life is over. That ultimate work of Jesus was living a perfect and sinless life, willingly submitting to the cross, shedding His blood, taking on the wrath of God, dying a sinner’s death, all so that you and I can escape the just punishment we deserve for our embedded rebellion against God. Paul writes in Ephesians 2 that we are dead in our sin. In other words, before we can even have the conscious thought that would lead us in some attempt to earn favor with God, we’re already dead in our sin. This means that no matter how much good we do, no matter if our ‘good’ far outweighs our ‘bad’ on that figurative scale, we are still guilty and dead in our sin. So, if the Bible is true (and I fully believe that it is), how can we be saved if our works can’t earn it? How can we receive a salvation that depends on Jesus’ work and not ours? Paul goes on to write in Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Salvation is literally a gift received by faith. Instead of “Earned, never Given”, the Gospel flips it on its head. By God’s grace, it is: “Given, never Earned.” Only by believing in faith can a person be saved. Therefore, would you dare to believe on the work of Jesus and receive this priceless gift of love today?
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