• Works: Bad or Good or Both? 
• (And what exactly has Jesus finished?)

by Bill Brady

There is currently a question about works in the Ecclesia.  

• It comes once we enter the Age of Rest.
• Are we supposed to be working or not?
• What are we supposed to be working at?

Consider this scripture:

“And on the seventh day God ended His work that He had done, and He rested on  the seventh day from all His work which He had done.”

God worked at creating for 6 days.

• He rested on the 7th day.
• What did He do on the 8th day?
• He got back to work.

Consider this scripture:

“But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

Jesus said this on a Sabbath.

• Both He and Father had been working on Sabbath.
• Neither He nor Father broke Sabbath by their work.

Father and Jesus rest from their work while working.

• They rested from the work of creating on Sabbath.
• They continued to work at saving man on Sabbath.
• Jesus finished His work of dying for our salvation.
• He now works at saving us.

From this we learn that we are to rest from some works and not from others.

Consider this scripture:

‘Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”’

From this we learn that the work that God wants us to do is done by exercising our faith.  Believing is a work.

Consider this scripture:

 ^“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

From this we are reminded that we can’t work our way to salvation. 

• It’s by faith.
• It’s not by works.

Consider this scripture:

‘What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?  If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,  and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’

From this we learn that when we have faith then we will work.

Consider this scripture:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

The works that we are to do come from our union with Jesus.   

God’s works and our works.

• God has finished the work of creation of the earth and its inhabitants.
• God is still creating new galaxies.
• Jesus has finished His work of dying for our salvation.
• For this reason there isn’t any work that we can do to save ourselves.
• When we try to work our way to salvation that is a dead work.
• It is dead works that we are to rest from.
• Jesus is still working to bring some to full salvation after they have died
• We are to work to save others, bring the dead back to have a body.
• This is a living work.
• As lords and kings we do the work of ruling.
• As Manifest Sons we do the work of creating.
• This is bliss and done in rich time so new rules for our work
• As Manifest Sons we co-work with Jesus to bring creation into oneness with Him.

Creation is groaning waiting for us as Manifest Sons to get to work!  

• We will do that work in new earth.
• Everything we have seen in new earth is constant morphing.
• We have a say in what new earth will be.
• We have a say in the timing of its manifestation.