GraceWorks International exists to help people grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Life is found in Jesus. GWI also exists to stretch the thinking of those who haven’t carefully considered the biblical distinction between becoming a Christian and living as one. This coherent view of life with God not only solves many interpretive problems in the Bible, but also provides a practical perspective of how to live in a fully alive relationship with Jesus.
Finding Jesus and Following Jesus; there’s a difference
GWI helps people understand one of the most important distinctions in life: becoming a Christian and living as a Christian are not the same thing. When people find Jesus, they have believed in Him as the only one who can forgive them of sin, giving them eternal life. Having believed in Jesus, people are now urged to follow Jesus. The believer who follows Jesus becomes His apprentice ordering his or her life around Jesus as the most important person in life. Spiritual progress and growth come only through a life of following Jesus. When we choose to follow Jesus, we live out our purpose of pleasing God. Becoming a Christian (salvation/justification) is different from living as a Christian (discipleship/sanctification).
Finding Jesus
Find Jesus through the Bible.
The original manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments comprise the full, word-for-word, truthful, inspired, inerrant Word of God which is the supreme and final authority for our lives. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Isaiah 40:8, Romans 10:17, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12, 2 Peter 1:20-21)
Find Jesus because everyone has sinned and needs a Savior.
We are born alienated from God because of sin. Jesus became the sin-bearer for all and died as our personal substitute. His death for sin demonstrates His love for everyone, even though many will reject His sacrifice for them. (John 3:16, Acts 17:26-27, Romans 3:23, 1 Timothy 2:4-6, 4:10, 1 John 2:2, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21)
Find Jesus by faith alone.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful humanity. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all. A person receives the free gift of salvation by believing Jesus for it—nothing more is required. Faith is the persuasion or conviction that something is true. No act of obedience or the performing of good works—prior to or following faith in Christ—is required as a condition for receiving everlasting life. Once received, salvation can never be lost. The assurance of our salvation is found not in our good behavior but in the promises of God. Salvation is by God’s grace and not through human effort. (John 3:16-18, 5:24, 6:47, 12:32, Acts 16:31, Romans 4:5, 11:6, Ephesians 2:8-9, Revelation 22:17)
Find Jesus and live forever.
A one-time moment of belief results in Christ’s righteousness being imputed to the believer. Thus, the believer has right standing (justification) before God. And from that point on, a person has everlasting life (life that lasts forever). Salvation is permanent and can never be lost or forfeited. This gift of eternal life means that one can be assured of heaven the very moment of belief. This assurance can also create a confident anticipation of receiving a new body and residing on the future new earth forever as described in the Scriptures. (John 3:14-15, 6:40, 10:10, Romans 3:21-22, 11:29, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Timothy 1:16, 1 John 5:10-13, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1-4)
Find Jesus and receive a new nature and the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Real life begins when a person believes in Jesus. In that moment of faith, we are born again or born from above. The moment we believe in Jesus, we become judicially free from sin’s dominion over us although we still possess a sinful nature. Possessing a new nature from God, we now live with a new capacity to grow and change. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside of every believer. And as we abide in Christ and walk in the Spirit, He empowers us to live a godly life until Jesus returns as He promised (John 3:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 5:17, 1 Peter 1:23, John 14:2-3, 16-18, 15:1-8, Romans 6:5-7, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
Following Jesus
Follow Jesus and grow toward maturity.
Finding Jesus imparts new life and following Jesus develops that life. In order to follow Jesus, we must choose to pay the price of living as a disciple of Jesus. A disciple is a learner, pupil or apprentice. We follow Jesus through obedience to His word and by surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Only then will our character and behavior change to resemble Jesus. (1 Peter 2:2, Luke 14:25-33, Romans 6:12-23, 8:5, Hebrews 5:13-14, John 8:30-32, 1 John 2:6)
Follow Jesus by being led by the Holy Spirit not by keeping the Law.
The power of the Holy Spirit is the secret to living the Christian life. When Jesus introduced the new covenant, something changed. The Old Covenant has been set aside in favor of a new and better covenant. We are “not under law but under grace.” The law can never transform us. God has given us His Holy Spirit so that we can experience genuine life-change. (Romans 3:20, 6:14, 7:6, John 1:17, Hebrews 8:6, 8:13, Galatians 2:16, 3:1-3, 19, 5:16-18, 2 Corinthians 3:6-8)
Follow Jesus through the community called the church.
The church is the community of believers who are referred to as the body of Christ. God presents an example of community in the Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Trinity reminds us that God is one God but expresses Himself through three distinct personalities. Believers follow Jesus together when choosing mutual submission and love. Every believer has a part to play and a contribution to make in the body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:27-31, Ephesians 3:20-21, 4:16, Colossians 1:18)
Follow Jesus and invest your life for Him.
Faithful followers of Jesus invest their lives in things that matter for eternity. We are following Jesus when we sincerely love God and others. Furthermore, believers will give an account of that investment when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. This judgment is not to determine if a believer is allowed to enter heaven since that promise is assured at the moment of salvation. At the judgment seat of Christ, believers will answer to Jesus for the way they lived and the motives behind their actions. Standing before Jesus, faithful believers will be rewarded while unfaithful believers will experience a loss of reward (not a loss of salvation). Faithful believers will receive the Lord’s commendation of “Well done,” in addition to being given the privilege of co-reigning with Christ. Unbelievers appear before the Great White Throne Judgment and will experience eternal, conscious separation from God. (Matthew 25:14-30, Romans 8:16-17, 14:10-12, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 4:5, 9:24-27, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 22:12, 2 Timothy 3:12, Titus 3:8, 1 John 2:28, Revelation 20:11-15)
Follow Jesus or risk the failure of faithlessness.
While salvation can never be lost, the believer’s faithful fellowship with Jesus is in jeopardy. Spiritual maturity is not automatic. Growing as a believer requires the choice to diligently cooperate with the Spirit’s work in our lives. Without this attention to growth, a believer can grieve and quench the Spirit of God. Nowhere does the Bible guarantee that a believer will persevere in good works to the end of life. Instead, we find that our faith can be overthrown, suffer shipwreck and die.
Unfortunately, it’s possible for the believer to depart from the faith and drift away from God. God refers to this Christian as carnal and one whose behavior is indistinguishable from an unbeliever. Even though guaranteed salvation, a believer can fail to build wisely on the foundation of Christ. This believer’s failure to be faithful results in a wasted life and a loss of reward in the life to come. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15, 2 Peter 1:5-11, 3:17-18, 1 Thessalonians 5:19, Ephesians 4:30, 2 Timothy 2:18, 1 Timothy 1:19, James 2, 1 Timothy 4:1, Hebrews 2:1, 1 Corinthians 3:1-3)