The Twelve Steps are a Dead Work

"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9: 14)

What is a "dead work"?

First of all, a "dead work" refers to the animal sacrifices which the Israelites offered to the Lord under the Old Covenant.

These dead works are replaced by the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whose blood keeps on cleansing us from all sin (1 John 1:7)

This constant cleansing enforces the New Covenant in our lives:

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)

Today, "dead works" refer to any efforts which men and women engage in order to pacify the unrest of the sin conscience which resides in every one of us.

One man has dedicated his life to rebuilding the airplane cabins for now-defunct airlines.

Other people collect stamps, coins, or engage in other hobbies, trying to find fulfillment in activities which cannot satisfy the eternity in men's hearts.

For those who find themselves frustrated with all that life has to offer, they engage in heavy drinking or drug us, trying to find something that ends the painful tedium of a meaningless life.

These dead works not only fail to convey rest and life to those who seek it, but the enhance the sense of death in people's lives, or they contribute to the untimely deaths of many.

Such is the case with alcoholism or illicit drug use, as well.

Even Christians engage in dead works, to the extent that they do, say, or have things so that they can earn respect, favor, or anything else from God.

God cannot be bought, and the debt that we owed Him, because we are dead in our trespasses, not just sinners who do bad things, could not be paid or covered with anything that we do:

"4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2: 4-10)

Only the shedding of blood, the life of the animal, can save a  man from his fallen state. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin forever, thus permitting God to place His Son in everyone of us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This wonderful gift is shed forth (Acts 2: 33) for all of us to receive because Jesus Christ died once for all. He cannot die again, because He now lives an endless life (Hebrews 7: 16) as the first born from the dead.

Instead of trying to work for our salvation, God wants us to work out our salvation (Philippians 2: 12-13).

We cannot work for our righteousness, because this gift had to be paid for us by a price that is beyond esteem or calculation: the death of God's Beloved Son (John 3:16).

Either we believe that the debt has been paid, that God has provided a 'propitiation" for our sins, or we do not. Either we rest in His Finished Work (John 19: 30), or we will find ourselves on the never-ending treadmill of trying and failing, and finding not rest or satisfaction for our troubles.

With this understanding of "dead work" alive in our minds, there is no excuse or reason for churches to tolerate, let alone welcome, any kind of Twelve Step program, which invites members to rehash and rehearse their "hurts, habits, and hang-ups", when God Himself has declared to us:

"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103: 12)

and

"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 12)

Jesus Christ took care of everything. Not only that, but since God has given us His own Son, He also promises to deliver to us all things with Him (Romans 8: 31-32)

The Twelve Steps are a dead work, one which profits us nothing, because Jesus only can pay, and has already paid, for all our needs:

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)

Let Jesus do the work in you:

"But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." (John 5: 17)

and

"27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" (Colossians 1: 27)

and

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."  (Philippians 2: 13)

and

"10But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1 Corinthians 15: 10)

The Twelve Steps are a dead work, compelling people to finish what Jesus Christ has already finished.

Let Him now work through you, that with His gifts or righteousness and grace you may reign in life (Romans 5:17).