Good works are our response to what Christ has done to rehab, renew and restart creation. More than that, they are a reflection of what kingdom living in the new heaven and the new earth will be like.
Good works do not add to Christ's finished work - His life, death and resurrection, but they finish God's (not Christ's) new creation in and through us, by the power of the Spirit and not of ourselves.
"For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
"For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he "has put everything under his feet."
"Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all." - 1 Corinthians 15:22-28 (NIV)
Finish then, Thy new creation
Pure and spotless let us be
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee
Changed from glory into glory
Till in heaven* we take our place
Till we cast our crowns before Thee
Lost in wonder, love and praise
*the new heaven and the new earth
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