Grace Unmasked

By John Bailey

Pastor Wayne recently did a sermon series on grace and how we should be a grace driven church. There is no question that each of the five sermons he did was well thought out and his message about grace was filled with passion. There was much information given about grace but it also raised some questions to which each person must answer for themselves, based on Scripture, not just what they have been told.

I was not raised in the church like Vonnie was and each of us have our own ideas and thoughts about subjects like grace. I have no argument that being raised in the church is a good thing but even going to church all their life doesn’t mean that a person’s way of thinking can’t be confused when what they have been taught may or may not be based on Scripture, but man made interpretations and beliefs and I’m not saying it is, my opinions are just different than hers.

There are those that will say if you want to receive God’s grace you have to follow the church’s rules and regulations and even follow the churches way of thinking and believing. There are even churches that will tell you if you don’t do this or don’t do that you can never receive God’s grace. You must act a certain way, you must give a certain amount of your money to the church and before long you are trying to live up to a list of conditions that you must fulfill to merit God’s grace.

My belief is that God’s grace in completely unconditional and nothing we can do will ever make us be able to save ourselves. If you don’t believe this statement ask yourself these questions:

Do you believe that faith is trusting in God’s work and not your obedience? Do you understand that holiness is the work of the Spirit and not the work of the believer? If you don’t believe these two statements then you must believe that God’s grace is insufficient to make you righteous. Do you believe that you are saved because of what you have done or what God has done? If it is what you have done you may find yourself emphasizing what people have to do to be right with God. “I do not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nought.” Gal 2:21 ASV

Do you believe in eternal salvation or continuing salvation? If salvation is based on your performance, then you make salvation the result of debt. This means that God is obligated to save you because you “earned” salvation. Romans 4:4-5 points out: Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.

Do you believe that you are saved by the keeping of a code of “dos and don’ts? If so then you believe in self-justification and not Christ-justification for salvation.

There are those that say you will do works because of faith and I have no argument with that but I do have a problem when you have to do works because of faith. If so then again your faith or grace becomes conditional. When we receive Christ into our hearts, we change what we do. We change our way of thinking and our awareness between right and wrong is so much greater. We do things and help people and so much more because we want to, not because we have to. The free gift of God’s grace interacts with the gift of faith for salvation and righteous works. “for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10 ASV

Vonnie can attest to the fact that I have changed in many ways since I received God’s grace but she will also tell you that I am not perfect. As humans we will continue to sin and God knows we will sin but He doesn’t love us any less nor does he remove or take away the grace that was given to us. I personally will never believe that God’s grace is anything but free, no strings attached but I am sure there are some people that have a hard time believing God’s grace is free and they are skeptical but they don’t need to be. There are no strings attached except maybe for one. God’s never ending love for us.