“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
This series began with a call for reflection among those of us who seek to come alongside China’s emerging mission movement. We asked whether the metrics often associated with the prevailing “unfinished task” paradigm adequately encompass what it means to be Christ’s witnesses to the nations. Have we prioritized certain Great Commission activities to the neglect of other less tangible yet no less essential aspects of what it means to glorify God in the world?
In Parts Two and Three of this series, we focused on the primacy of relationship in mission, beginning with the worker’s identity in Christ and extending to relationships with fellow believers. Christ’s followers manifest God’s glory when they abide in him and function harmoniously as his body. Out of this relational life comes the fruit of godly character and reconciled relationships, which are integral to the church’s witness in the world. But it doesn’t stop there.
Every Work of Faith
The love they’ve received and share in Christ is intended to overflow in service to others, so that the watching world will take notice and give glory to God. Peter echoes Christ’s exhortation in Matthew 5 when he encourages believers who are being unjustly accused to keep their conduct honorable so that their accusers may see their good deeds and glorify God (1 Peter 2:12). James writes, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom” (James 3:13). Paul likewise prayed for the Thessalonian believers that God “may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him…” (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12).
In the Old Testament, Isaiah declares,
Therefore, strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat… (Isaiah 25:3–4).
People who have experienced the protection and provision of God are drawn to him. Today, Christ’s witnesses confront the evil empires of this world, not by going head-to-head with the kingdoms of this earth, but by caring for the poor and needy in their midst, thus bringing glory to God.
A False Dichotomy
Tim Brookings writes of one Chinese worker serving overseas with a relief and development agency who was reflecting on whether what she was doing was really “missionary work.”
There’s so much to God’s kingdom, and I think we all play a different role. Paul said, ‘For me, to live is Christ.’ I think it’s in the daily things. Even if I’m not evangelizing on a very frequent basis, how can I feed people in a godly way?
For the past century, Western and Western-influenced Christians have disputed the role of good works within the context of mission. Those advocating for the practical outworking of the gospel argue that good works are valuable in and of themselves. For those who see the church’s primary task as gospel proclamation, good works play, at best, a supporting role to the central task of preaching the gospel and making disciples. This debate reemerged at the most recent Lausanne Congress in 2024, with Western theologians arguing for the primacy of gospel proclamation while delegates from other parts of the world expressed frustration at what they viewed as evangelical complacency in the face of pervasive human suffering and injustice.
If mission is characterized as a task to perform, then good works must be seen as directly contributing to the completion of that task. Otherwise, they become a costly distraction to the “real” work of mission. This linear, efficiency-oriented approach to triaging ministry feeds a scarcity mentality, fueling competition for limited people and funds. Rather than expressing the overflow of God’s infinite abundance, we are instead left to our own calculations of how to get the most done with the fewest resources. From this perspective, anything that does not directly support the proclamation of the gospel message is deemed secondary. The result is a very thin understanding of the gospel and how it is ultimately advanced.
Living Rooted
Xu, the Chinese worker cited above, talked about how God reminded her:
You are doing missionary work now, and your missionary work is not what you imagined. It’s not about how many people believe in the Lord, but rather by God allowing you to sprout like him, to live rooted, very rooted in this place, you set an example.
If mission is the outgrowth of a life of love lived in relationship to Christ and his body then good works are the natural fruit of that relationship. The same Jesus who commanded his followers to make disciples also commanded them to let their light shine by engaging in good works. The work (beginning with his work in us) belongs to him; we are merely his instruments. The primary question is not what we are to do, but what kind of instruments he wants us to be.
Many Gifts
Endless arguments over works versus evangelism unnaturally and unnecessarily flatten the church’s witness, diminishing the multidimensional character of Christ’s body and its multifaceted mission in the world. Members of Christ’s body are called to glorify God in different ways. The manifestation of the Spirit in one believer’s life is not more or less valuable than that in the life of another believer. Paul clearly warns against comparing gifts or dismissing others’ roles in the body as unnecessary. The danger is not one form of ministry detracting from another, but rather the division that results from elevating one as superior to everything else the body is involved in.
As Xu realized,
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
By viewing certain expressions of ministry as inherently more essential than others, we have lost sight of the beauty of the body as Christ intended it, with each part working in harmony with the others so that Christ is glorified in the overall effort, not merely in the labor of one member.
Brookings tells the story of another Chinese sister serving overseas as a teacher, whose patient care for her students played a role in some eventually becoming believers.
‘I don’t know what role I played in this process or who helped them,’ she said. ‘But at least we set an example. Even if I was distracted, we let them see that the lives of these Christians are different, and it is through this silent language that they understand.’
Works of mercy and joyful proclamation are the fruit of a redeemed relationship with God and with others. We do these things not for the purpose of finishing a task or somehow completing God’s program on earth, but because of our intimate relationship to Christ, who “does only what he sees the Father doing” (John 5:19). As we “do all that I have commanded” and become imitators of Christ in word and deed, our works will be to his glory. The question is not whether our work achieves a given goal. Christ himself is the goal. If we persevere in our primary pursuit, abiding in him, we can trust him to accomplish his work through our actions and our words.
