Grace? Faith? Works? How does it all fit?

 Short video on this topic. All notes from the video are below.

How does Grace, Faith, and Works, Add up to Salvation?

The mystery and controversy. Grace, faith, and works. Some say faith plus works, some just grace. Jesus once told a story of two groups with works. One group was doomed, while the other group entered heaven. Is there some simple way of explaining it? Let's start in the book of James.

James 2:18 NKJV:  "But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

Suppose you were telling people about a brand new bicycle you had, and they asked to see it. So you bring them one wheel and say, "Here is my bicycle!" They would look at you funny and say that's not a bicycle.

Then suppose you go and get a pedal. Now you have a pedal and a wheel. "There," you say, "My bicycle."

Again, they would look at you funny, knowing that's not a bicycle. Then you bring a few more pieces. Still not a bicycle. Eventually you tire of this and bring out a shiny new bicycle. It is complete and all put together.

True faith can be looked upon as being made up of many things. You can have all the wheels in the world and still not have a bicycle. You can bring many works, but still not have true faith.

Jesus gave the most perfect, complete definition of faith when He answered what the greatest commandments are.

Mark 12:29–31 "Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” "

If you have one without the other, you do not have true Christian faith. Jesus preached His faith and showed it. After His mission of healing, helping, and encouraging was over, He sacrificed Himself for others. The Christ-like life is the epitome of faith.

If we in faith, accept the gift of grace from God's love, then we are commanded to demonstrate that faith with the fruits we bear. 

All of us are the individuals that God created. We are all required to have the faith that our abilities allow us to demonstrate.

Grace, faith, and works, are not separate concepts when describing Christianity. They work as one complete package.