[ACuriousFellow]

Originally Posted by Jay

Are we listening to Christ today? Or are we trying to please God out of our works, which is just a modified version of following the law. Any person who reads the Bible carefully understands that attempting to please God by following the law results in spiritual death and really is an insult to God. Just read the book of Romans up until chapter 8 and you'll see how following the law in order to please God is an error

We cannot separate "good works" from "listening to Christ," nor is it sound to make the attempt. Christ commanded us to do good works. God commands us to do good works. These things please the Lord because he is pleased with obedience and pleased with what is good. To say that we should not try to do good works to please God is one of Witness Lee's most incredibly misleading phrases and teachings. This is due mainly to the fact that there is one major and important distinction that seems to be lost to Witness Lee: the difference between doing good works in order to be saved and doing good works because it pleases our God. I don't know about you, but I wish to make my Father happy, and because of this I will endeavor to do the good works he is training me to do.

Ephesians 2:1-10
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The law of the spirit which frees us that is mentioned in Romans 8 is very clearly outlined by James as well.

James 2:8-13
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. 12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Even the law of the spirit which gives freedom requires something of us. We are to love our neighbor, and this manifests itself as abstaining from murder and adultery. It manifests itself by the fruit we produce as Jesus warned, "you shall know them by their fruit." That fruit is also clearly shown to us in Galatians.

Galatians 5:13-26
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

That we are called to freedom does not mean we are exempt from good works. It means that we no longer need to do them for the sake of our salvation. Despite this, we are absolutely still called to do good works in order to show that we live by the spirit and in order to please our God. It is not to be saved, but because we are saved that we must do good works. Otherwise, we will bring shame to the name of the Lord by claiming to be his and yet abstaining from what is good.

A simple analogy is this: I am a teacher. I love my students. They have been given to me. They are mine. They misbehave at times, but they will not stop being my students. They have a measure of assurance that they will remain in my classroom despite their misbehavior, yet they should not adopt the mindset that they do not have to be obedient and good because of this assurance. They absolutely will be held to a higher standard and depending on the situation I will teach, rebuke, correct, or discipline them if they do not. Those who wish to please me thinking they may be kicked out at any moment are mistaken. Those who wish to please me because they know they are mine and they know this is what I want in my classroom have the correct idea. Those who love me and know me and wish to please me also know that they may be disciplined if they do not do what they are tasked with or if they act wickedly, yet they know they will still be my students. This assurance drives them to be better, not out of fear, but out of love and because they know they are secure even if they make a mistake.