[Col 1:6 NIV] In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world–just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.
I am convinced that much of the Church in America doesn’t truly understand God’s grace. The fruit Paul is referring to within this passage is the fruit of the Spirit he wrote about to the church in Galatia (Gal 5:2-23). The main theme of the letter to the Galatians is faith righteousness vs. works righteousness. According to the new covenant Jesus put into place in the New Testament, justification by our works is sin. (Gal 2:16-21)
A few years back I worked as a personal trainer. One day I was training a “successful” man we’ll call Karl. As a child, Karl was adopted by a wonderful Christian family. He was saved by grace and then got lost in works righteousness as he got older. His family asked me to help him because he was struggling. Karl had gotten deceived.
God helped me better understand grace vs. works righteousness through a conversation I had with Karl. One day he shared his success story with me along with his disgust towards poor people as he felt they were lazy. He believed if individuals would work harder and have more self control they could be successful like him. What Karl failed to take into account was the grace he was given by being adopted into a good home environment.
The same day I had this conversation with Karl I took Tyrone, a poor high-school student, home. Correction, I took Tyrone to a friend’s house because he didn’t know his father and his mother lived in a crack house. What if Karl had been adopted into this family instead?
Grace is established before we are born. Karl was given a good environment and resources that Tyrone may never see. The minute we act on the subtle thought, “I deserve this,” we enter into the spirit of works righteousness (aka pride) and sin. Sadly Karl has lots of material things yet lacks grace, peace, joy, and health. Peace and joy are fruits of God’s Spirit which only come through grace and humility. (Gal 5:22-23 & Ja 4:6). Often Christians start off receiving grace then fall into works righteousness. They realize that they are not good enough to receive eternal salvation but fail to understand that grace is for this life as well. (Gal 1:3-4) Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age.
Notice how it says grace is given for “the present evil age.” Many Christians receive God’s grace for eternal salvation but when it comes to aspects of their present life like prosperity, health, and security, they attribute it mainly to their efforts. This is works righteousness and sin. We need to be very careful we don’t try to mix works righteousness and grace. They are like oil and water. They weren’t created to blend smoothly together. (Rom 6:14 & Heb 8:6-13) They were created with distinct characteristics and should be seen for their different roles. We need to spread this wonderful Gospel of grace and help those who are deceived through works righteousness. Be the light of the world. Grace and peace to you all!
Blessings in Christ, Andy Anderson