The good works of service that we do for God and other people are the fruit of our lives. Any real Christian wants to bear good fruit for God. But the part of the fruit that is alive is the seed: the fruit will decay away, while the seed grows new life. Jesus said that the seed is the Word of God (Luke 8:11). If we do not actually include the Gospel, the Word of God, in our good works, then we are only producing seedless fruit. Christian good works cannot reproduce eternal life in others. Only the seed of the Gospel can sprout that life in a person's heart.