Ever Wonder: Q&A on Grace #1

We asked Joe Duke some questions about grace and GraceWorks.

GraceWorks: Maybe we should start with an obvious question: What is grace?

Joe Duke: Grace is God’s favor on us that is undeserved. It’s God’s kindness and attention toward us. One author defines grace as one way love. I like that.

GW: Why did you start GraceWorks International?

JD: If I have a life’s message or passion it would be grace. After 35 years of pastoral ministry, I knew my next adventure had to be related to helping people understand and experience God’s grace.

GW: What is it you believe people need to understand about grace?

JD: There’s so much in that question. I think many people, church people included, are confused about grace. We use the word, even sing about amazing grace, but much thinking about grace is fuzzy and filled with inconsistencies. Grace is not limited to an experience. It’s bigger than that. Grace gives us a perspective on how life works.

GW: How is grace fuzzy for people?

JD: Grace is blatantly generous and requires no pay-back from us to God. But many people add works to salvation and muddy the grace stream. They think they can contribute to their salvation—although many wouldn’t say it that way. Many people look to personal works to earn, keep, or prove their salvation. But that’s not grace. And that’s not the role of works in our relationship with God.

GW: What would you say is the role of works?

JD: I’ve heard people say if we promote grace then people will be motivated to sin. It’s true, grace can be abused just like God’s love can be abused. But if we truly understand grace, I think we’ll be motivated to live for God. Good works come out of our lives when we abide in Christ and are in fellowship with Him. Not every believer pursues their relationship with Jesus, so they don’t bear fruit or at least visible fruit.

GW: So, some Christians will follow Jesus and others may not?

JD: Unfortunately, that’s true. I believe one of the most important distinctions in life is the difference between salvation and discipleship—believing in Jesus, then following Him. If you don’t distinguish between those two realities, you will always migrate toward a works-based salvation. Or you may refuse to pay the price of wholehearted devotion to Jesus after becoming a Christian.

GW: Is it true then, that some Christians may not look like Christians?

JD: Absolutely. Paul addresses the Christians in the church in Corinth, a sinful bunch of believers, and accuses them of looking like unbelievers—behaving like mere men, he says. Yet they are still Christians. That’s why I’m fond of saying, “You can’t really understand grace until you create room in your theology for a Christian who fails and fails miserably.”

GW: So, what’s the motivation for living like God wants us to live?

JD: Although a believer can never do enough sinful things to forfeit heaven, we can live in a way that displeases God. Once we get a glimpse of how great God is, we’ll want to please Him by the way we live. And once we see how vital our connection is with Jesus, we will not want to sabotage that relationship by offending Him. And of course, one day, when we stand before Jesus, our lives will be evaluated by Him—not to determine if we go to heaven, since that was decided when we believed in Jesus—but to determine a level of reward given to us by Jesus. That future reality of standing before Jesus surfaces in the New Testament as one of the greatest motivators for living like Jesus wants us to live.

Got a question? Email us at info@graceworks.international. Maybe we can address it in a future Q&A.