The West Side church of Christ

Many people are in a constant dance with the Scriptures. These dancers twist here, turn there and generally maneuver all around in an attempt to see in the Bible what they themselves want rather than looking for what God wants (cf. 2 Peter 3:16). This has been done with the teachings on God’s grace. People have taken the fact that we are saved by grace and not by works (Ephesians 2:5, 8-9; 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:4-7) and twisted it to excuse themselves from any spiritual responsibility. They nimbly dance around the Scriptures requiring obedience, the necessity of church discipline, and standing on sound doctrine and instead tell us that God’s grace is all we need. To understand the Bible’s teachings on grace, we need to recognize a few more facts.

First, we need to recognize God’s grace has been given to all men (Titus 2:11). It is only by God’s grace that salvation has been made available to mankind in the first place (cf. Romans 3:21-24, 6:23). All men, however, do not accept this gift. Writing to the Colossians, Paul equates grace to the word of truth and the gospel and refers to their conversion as the time they heard and understood grace (Colossians 1:3-6). In addition, Paul told the church in Corinth if they failed to reconcile themselves with God they would have received God’s grace in vain (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:1). Only by understanding and obeying the will of God do we accept God’s grace (cf. Matthew 7:21).

Second, we need to recognize we can fall from God’s grace (Galatians 5:4). The churches of Galatia were turning aside to a false doctrine (i.e., justification by law keeping). If we turn aside to doctrines other than Christ’s, we can fall from grace. The Hebrew writer also exhorts us not to fall short of the grace of God (Hebrews 12:15). The whole book is an exhortation not to drift away from the teachings of Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2, 2:1-4) and to be obedient to His voice (Hebrews 3:14-4:1). Peter encourages us not only to stand in grace (1 Peter 5:12) but to grow in grace as well (2 Peter 3:18). Imagine the grace of God like a room: as long as we are in that room we are saved but when we choose to leave that room by disobedience we forfeit grace and salvation. We must continue to obey the will of God to remain in grace.

Sadly, many today have turned God’s grace into a license to sin and will be condemned for it (Jude 4). If we want God’s grace in our lives we must be obedient to the will of God. Our obedience does not merit or earn our salvation; it is an act of faith in God, belief in His grace, and gratitude for His love.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 10:18 am and is filed under Bulletin Articles.