***So, it seems like works are an integral part of God’s plan as you’d call it, and not just “important,” but rather essential!.
Yes, they just aren’t used/performed to earn salvation.***
Then what are they essential for? What happens if the Reformed do no works at all?
That's easy! God doesn't want them to! Don't you get it? The rich are rich because God wants them to be rich. And the starving are starving because God wants them to starve. And the evil and cruel ones are doing their work because God uses evil,among other things, to fulfill His "plan." It's all part of the "plan."
FK: "Yes, they just aren’t used/performed to earn salvation."
Mark: "Then what are they essential for?"
Works are essential for fulfilling God's plan for His children:
Eph 2:10 : For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Barring the usual exceptions, this includes salvation. A true believer WILL bear fruit. A false believer will not. True believers will do good works naturally. The latter proceeds from the former every single time. In a sense, it's really one thing. I get the impression that the Latin view is that works and faith are two completely separate things, which must be independently chosen by any prospective or actual believer.
Ironically, this system, which I deny totally, is exactly the type of system that would be conducive to the "pecca fortier mentality" that my side is accused of on a daily basis! :) That is, I could ask why shouldn't Catholics feel they can sin all they want to during the week, and then simply clean it up with a confession and a couple of "Hail Mary's".
What happens if the Reformed do no works at all?
Normally, that would describe a person who claimed to be Reformed, but was actually of the "Lord, Lord" ilk. A true Reformed is a true believer, changed by God. That person will WANT to do works of his own "free will".