#every good work

[wiirocku]

2 Corinthians 9:8 (EHV) - God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will overflow in every good work.

[wiirocku]

Colossians 1:10 (ESV) - so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

[faithsnippets]

..the continuous present calls to mind the ongoing work of the Father as our spiritual vine keeper.. He is constantly at work to take us from no fruit, to fruit, to more fruit, to much fruit as He seeks to cause us to abide in the Vine, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Life (John 15:1-7). This is not always pleasant and often requires severe cutting back of the branches; it may require suffering and pain, but if our lives are to have fruit that abounds for all eternity, and if we are going to mature, various trials are a necessary part of life (Jam. 1:2-4, 1 Pet. 1:6).

“In every good work” marks out the sphere of fruitfulness. Fruitfulness in the Christian life certainly includes the following three areas: 1) The cultivation of our own spiritual lives in such Christian virtues as self-control, meekness, patience, and faithfulness. 2) The cultivation of worship—confession, praise, prayer, thanksgiving, and the adoration of God in song, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. 3) The cultivation of loving ministry or service for others—witnessing, teaching, encouraging one another, helping through deeds of kindness and compassion, giving, weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice, hospitality, etc.

Being fruitful in every good work is not only a call for us to be balanced and productive in several areas of good works, but it should also be seen as a reminder that we can be engaged in good works, but without genuine fruitfulness. It is sad but true that our good works can be dead works—the works of the flesh—works done in our own energy and from wrong motives. Works that are the products of wrong motives (to please self, to impress others, to outdo others, etc.) do not please God because He is neither the source nor the energy behind the works produced. The following passages speak strongly to this issue (see 1 Cor. 13:1-8a; Ps. 50:7ff; Isa. 29:13).

Of course, if we are to continue to be productive, we must never stand still, but continue to grow or we will become stagnant. So, the apostle addresses the issue of growth. “Growing” is the Greek auxano, “to grow, cause to grow, increase.” It was used of plants, of infants, of increasing numbers as in a multitude, of the increase of the gospel, and of Christian character or spiritual growth.

Knowing our human tendency to lean on our own resources, the apostle now describes the third aspect of the worthy walk that pleases the Lord, “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness.” To stress the power available to us, the apostle uses three Greek words for power in 1:11. This serves to stress at least two things: (1) that God’s power is supreme and more than sufficient for anything we might face, and (2) that our human strength is not only insignificant by comparison, but totally insufficient in the spiritual and moral conflict we face in this life.