I think Christ applauds good works but that dividing line is what really defines apostate modern Christianity.
many...if not most...today believe good works trumps all including little bothersome details like salvation, acceptance of the trinity and even the old covenant’s 10 commandments
it feeds directly to liberalism and messianic humanism and not God...it is not his work but someone else’s
the equivalent in Catholicism to Protestant foolhardy good works only would be liberation theology and Marxist priests
realize please I offer these observations as a non pious often lapsed sinner who believes and comes from a long tradition of believers
I think that intellectual assent to the idea that every good thing that happens in me or through me is a gift from God is easy. On the rare occasions when I do not grotesquely pervert and divert God's good, I am usually astonished and grateful.
But day to day, I keep slipping into thinking that I not only can but MUST be the source of at least SOME good. When I'm too busy to commit some lesser sin, I can always commit pride.
I haven't had the (gag) pleasure of amy converfsation with a full-blown Marxist or liberation theology type priest but my guess is that somewhere along in there they forgot that God is king of all the earth, and that He is very good at bringing good out of evil -- and so they lost their way and started thinking only about what humans should do.