Proposed Statement of Faith Article 8

We believe that God's justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, living out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor, and justice for the oppressed. With God's Word, the Spirit's power, and fervent prayer in Christ's name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ's commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed..

God's gospel calls us to Christ-like living and witness to the world.

The Bible's message about faith and life in Jesus has been commonly misunderstood in two equally dangerous directions. On the one hand, some believe that following Jesus is largely a matter of our own works, of our obeying rules and living well enough to earn God's acceptance. But the gospel message assumes that we have all fallen short of God's expectations and have broken his laws. It is only in union with Christ that our sins are forgiven and the righteousness of Christ is made ours. This all happens apart from our good works (cf. Eph. 2:8–9). On the other hand, some, seeing that our salvation is not a matter of how we live, conclude that how we live does not matter. The attitude is that we should simply believe the message and then live as we want."

In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul addresses this issue. After setting forth the depth and breadth of human sin and the even greater power of God's grace, Paul raises a logical question: "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" (6:1). In other words, can we be indifferent to the moral character of our lives? The Bible's emphatic answer is clear:

By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:2–4).

Paul is pointing us to the secure path that avoids the pitfalls on both sides. For the Jesus-follower, grace and godliness coexist. This weekend, we will think about this new life we are to live because of God's grace. And, this week I urge you to check out the commentary on Article 8 of our proposed Statement of Faith HERE. It is filled with biblical instruction about how we are to live when we follow Jesus.

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor