Faith Without Works - It just ain't happenin'!

Let me start by saying that FAITH is what saves. Works has nothing to do with it. Sanctification is by FAITH. Works has nothing to do with that either. Yet, James says that faith without works is dead. What? Dead faith? I thought faith was life giving?
Well, of course faith is life giving! Faith comes from God! For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. But faith without works is dead? Really? What does this mean?

As a grace person, I have questioned this many times. I know that there is no work for me to do. I know that the only 'work' that Christ has for us is to believe unto salvation. I know that there are no 'shall's and 'shall not's for the Christian. So what are these works?

They are simply the simple outflows of Christ! It is the fruit! By your fruit you will know them. These works are not something that we do, but something that Christ does through us! These works are not something for us, but something for others to see Christ! These works are evidence to a lost world that Christ has made a difference in our lives.

James 2:18 "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."

So, a random 'good person' walks up to a random 'good Christian.' The Christian says, "Hey, you need to get saved!!" The good person says, "Nah, I have good works, I don't need anything else. I'm ok." (like the man who told Jesus that he had kept the 10 commandments from his youth) The Christian insists that salvation comes by faith alone, and the good person says, "Sure, prove it! I'm living a good life, but you are just talking a good life."

Hmmm... So James says, "I will show you my faith! I will give visible evidence to you of my faith. You will see it in my works. But were they 'James' works?? Did James then strive harder and harder to achieve a Christ-like life? No, of course not. In fact, James was a total grace freak!!! SWEET! :)

James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Can I just say I'm losing it right now!!!!!! I have heard vs. 22-24 so many times 'be a doer, be a doer, yada yada yada. But WOW! James says those who walk in liberty, those who live totally absorbed in the precious grace of God, those people who are FREE indeed, are doers of the work! These people have looked at Grace, and not turned away. These people have looked at Christ and chosen to surrender all and abide in Him, and works are a natural outflow of that! Christ in us, leading us to work for His Kingdom. Some of these things are works we are not even conscious of until after the fact, some of them are things we choose to do at the Spirit's prompting, but all of them are for one purpose: to show our faith to the lost, that people will be saved and that God will get the glory!

Let's back up a bit: Faith is life-giving. Faith gives life to me! Faith brings Christ's resurrected life to this dead spirit. Faith rocks! But, faith without works is dead because it doesn't give life to others. There is life in me, but not life for others. It's kinda like a married couple that are both perfectly fertile. They have everything they need to pass on their 'life' to a new generation. But they never have intercourse. They never consummate their relationship. Hmmm. Wonder where the children are?? What's wrong? They never 'did' anything! We have life. We are perfectly fertile Christians with the very life-Giver Himself dwelling within us... but where are our works? Where is the 'deed' that brings about New Life?

I'm not saying that we need to evangelize more, or soul-win more, or door-knock more, or start nagging all of our friends. NO!!! That is not the moral of the story!! Those are just works. I'm not talking about plain old works. I'm talking about works that spring up naturally out of love for Jesus. These aren't works you have to write down on a list so you don't forget them, or works that you need guilt-trip yourself over if you neglect them. These are works that the Spirit will guide you into and you will look back and giggle to yourself, and wonder with amazement that He allowed you to be his instrument!

But, you still have to take the initiative. We all have the option to look into the law of liberty, face that mirror, see what the Spirit wants to do in our lives to affect the lives of others, and only talk about it.

The wind bloweth where it listeth

So, what rules the life of grace?
I have been asked that before.
'If you aren't under the law, then what do you obey? How do you live? Sounds like you just float around doing whatever the wind does...'

Well, actually, that's a compliment! :)

In John 3:8 Jesus says, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

So, those who are born again of the Spirit of God are as mysterious as the wind! Now this verse does not necessarily say we should not follow the law, so I thought I would give another verse to go along with it.

Galatians 5:18 "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law."

And just to be clear that those who are led of the Spirit and who are born of the Spirit are one and the same group of people,

Romans 8:14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

Pretty plain to me! :) We're talking about saved people here.

So I am no longer under the law, I follow the Spirit of God and he is gonna blow me around like the wind. It's pretty cool, actually! So I guess the ones we should be worried about are those who think they are still under the law and who do not remind others of the wind. Hmmm......

Dial antibacterial body wash

Before I went shopping this past Thursday I made a list of the things that I needed, and one item on the list was Dial antibacterial body wash (spring clean scent). I love that stuff! I remember the day I went to the store and saw it on the shelf for the first time. I don't recall exactly why I chose to purchase it, but something drew me to take it off the shelf, read the label and decide to try it out. Well, on this day I walked down the body wash aisle, looked around and was puzzled for a moment. Where did my body wash go??? Aha! There it is! It's in new packaging! Kinda fancy looking... a little modern. I like it.

That evening I took a shower with my Dial antibacterial body wash, and I had the thought... the gospel is just like Dial antibacterial body wash!! I don't mean because it cleanses us from sin. I don't mean because it removes the stench of the world and replaces it with a fresh from heaven scent. It isn't because it kills the infectious habits that once held us captive, keeping us from living healthy Christian lives. It's not even because lathering in the gospel's richness is invigorating. All of those things are true, but what I learned from Dial soap is that the gospel is always being repackaged to reach a new market of people.

That's right. I'm speaking of relevancy here! I did not purchase Dial body wash because of the packaging, I purchased it because I ALREADY KNEW what was inside and I wanted MORE! How many other people had walked down that same aisle week after week looking at body wash and never seen Dial antibacterial body wash in spring clean scent? A slight tweak in the bottle design and POOF! DING! an entirely new group of people picked up the bottle, read the label and tried it out for themselves.

Now, did the contents of the bottle change? No! It is still the same body wash I have known and loved! Are these people being 'sold a lie' because they have a packaging different from the original packaging that I bought? NO! They are getting the EXACT SAME PRODUCT!

Here's a question: Did I get angry when I walked down the aisle of the grocery store and saw that the bottle had changed? "WHAT DID THEY DO TO MY BODY WASH!!! How dare they do such a thing! I will NEVER buy Dial body wash again!!" Of course not! I was actually impressed by their ingenuity and creativity in revamping the bottle. Again, I already was sold on the contents, so the bottle wasn't the most important thing to me. However, how awesome is it that the people who work in advertising are trying to find ways to have other people learn the wonders of such an amazing product! Why, it's so fantastic EVERYONE should use it! In fact, if I go into the store next week and see another new bottle for Dial antibacterial body wash, I will smile and think to myself how wonderful that another group of people will be trying out a product that I can't live without.

That folks is how we should treat the gospel! Tell me the old, old story! Tell it to me again and again and again! I love it! I'm sold on it! I know it by heart, but I must hear it again! Yet, feel free to 'repackage it' to reach others who have never heard, or who may have walked by it every day and never noticed. Draw their attention to this glorious gospel! Bring them in! Once they have tried it they too will say they can't live without it! They will beg to hear it over and over and over! Oh, don't change the contents. Don't mess with the death, burial and resurrection of my Saviour or the pureness of his grace! But please do put it out there in ingenious, creative ways so that more and more people/culture groups will hear it and be cleansed.

My sincerest apologies

I must apologize to all of you who do not yet comprehend the wonders of the grace walk, as there are some of you who are feeling judged. We of the grace community do not intend to make you feel this way at all, I promise you. None of the words we write are barbed with hatred, malice, bitterness, or any form of bashing against any individual or particular church group/organization for that matter. We are simply as blind men having received our sight who will stop at nothing to proclaim the good news to every blind person we see! Does that make us judgemental?

We all were once slaves serving the Pharoah of Egypt and God rescued us all and brought us over the Red Sea... We are all brothers in Christ having tasted of salvation! In that instance, those on both sides of this matter of grace understand the need to cry the gospel from the rooftops.

Yet... some of those who have entered into salvation wander in the wilderness never receiving the full abundant life that God has promised us. They believe there is victory in Christ.... some day. They believe that there is rest in Christ... someday. They are afraid at every moment to mess it up and offend the God who redeemed them. Their daily lives do not match up to the New Testament example, and they excuse it with, "Well, it will all be made right when we get to heaven." Or perhaps the daily struggles in their lives are so great that they actually would prefer to return to the chains of Egypt, because at least there they had a few pleasures in life.

Then there are some of us who reach the Jordan river, and perhaps with great trepidation or with anticipation we cross over in the arms of our Saviour. The victory, rest, and abundant life they find there is so fantastic that they feel the need to cry out to all the world, "There is FREEDOM in Christ!" We do not ever need to walk in defeat again! Why should we ever desire to return to Egypt when this land flows with milk and honey and the grapes are so HUGE! This is a land of plenty! A land of GRACE.

When we of the grace community come across to you as judgemental, please understand that we are trying to show you something WONDERFUL! We are in pain for you. We remember how it felt to be slaves in Egypt so we tell the lost man how to be saved. We remember what it is like to wander in defeat so we tell the Christian how to find freedom in Christ. We hurt for you and want to help you.
And on the other hand, we love our Saviour soooo much, that we cannot help but speak about what he has done for us! He is our everything!

-if though, you are still intent on finding hate speak in our writings, I will allow this one thing: We are bold proclaimers of hatred of religion in any form. So was Jesus, so this shouldn't be offensive to anyone. :)

Grace of God

March 15, 2007
Grace.... what a word! Everything about my Jesus can be found in that word somehow. It is the beginning of our faith, it is how we live our lives, and it is what allows us entrance into heaven. Grace! And so many Christians talk about it only as it applies to salvation... or only as it applies to getting them through a hard time in their lives. My goodness. Without grace we don't even have the faith to be Christians. Without grace we would live the Christian lives in utter failure. Without grace it would be a mindless existence. Without grace I could say with Paul that we would be of men most miserable, for salvation without grace?? Impossible. For it was the grace of God that even looked at despicable little me. Having a surrendered victorious Christian life full of joy and purpose without grace? Impossible, for only Christ Himself can live the Christian life and it is the grace of God that allows Him to live in us daily so that we can surrender to Him. Without grace there is no liberty in Christ in our daily lives... hence boredom. "Fitting the mold" Christianity. Could God allow individuality without grace? No. Grace allows us to be who we are before Him. To have our differences as long as we embrace the same truth. Eternity in heaven without the matchless grace of God? Just as impossible... for it was God's marvelous grace flowing from His justice that accepted the sacrifice of Christ's blood on the mercy seat of heaven that even allows Him to look at us much less to sit in Christ on His right hand for all eternity. Grace... Have you really thought about what life would be like without it? I'd rather not, for one moment of one day without grace would be an eternity to me. His grace and His love are so closely tied together with His mercy... (because really without any of those things we'd pretty much lose it all too) We are just so blessed beyond belief! I don't think we thank Him enough!