Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:9
The minister in a church of a particular denomination (the name doesn’t matter) raised an objection when he heard a Christian explaining the simplicity of the Gospel message. He told the Christian: ‘You can’t tell me that someone who doesn’t go to church faithfully is really saved’. So the Christian asked him, ‘How often does a person need to attend church in order to be saved? Is once a week enough, or do I also need to attend midweek services? How often can I safely miss a service without being in danger of losing my salvation? And what if somebody has a different opinion from yours?’ Good questions! They point out how silly are the arguments for anything that anybody tries to do to earn or maintain their salvation. When you get to Heaven, nobody will ask you how you got there. Everybody there will know, just as you will know how they got there. And yet, there will be opportunity for boasting there, just as there are opportunities for boasting here.. just not about anything we have done ourselves.
We have plenty of Scripture to rely on when we declare that we can do nothing to save ourselves. Paul explains it in Romans 3:27-28: ‘Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.’ But Paul was also quick to remind us that he did have something to boast about: ‘But God forbid that I should glory (boast), save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world’ – Galatians 6:14. Boasting about our Saviour gives Him the glory He deserves, and it keeps us properly humble. And it is something we can do today, and for all eternity.
Our witness in the world should never be about ourselves, and should be all about the work and person of the Lord Jesus. With His blood at Calvary, He and He alone purchased our redemption. That is the Gospel. And that is our worship. And that will not change when we are in the Glory. Revelation 5:9 tells us what we will be boasting about there: ‘And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation’.
Your works are nothing to boast about. Neither are mine. But Jesus our Saviour has completed works that we can boast today and will boast about forever. –Jim MacIntosh