Month 6 - Evangelism | Week 2: Story of Grace
A Collaboration with Pastor Byron Wickers - RiverLife Fellowship Church
Anchor Scripture
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved.”- Ephesians 2:4–5
The Crisis of Grace in the Modern Church
Grace is one of the most celebrated words in Christian vocabulary.
It is sung.
It is quoted.
It is defended.
Yet it is rarely understood in its full apostolic weight.
In many circles, grace has been reduced to emotional comfort.In others, grace has been weaponized, attacked, and seen as theological permission.In some, grace is acknowledged but functionally replaced by striving.
But the New Testament doesn’t present grace as background doctrine.
It presents grace as reigning power.
Romans 5:21 declares:
“so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
That is governmental language.
Sin once reigned.Now grace reigns.
The question for disciples, especially those stepping into evangelistic witness, is this:
Are we proclaiming reigning grace, or diluted grace?
Grace and Faith: The Pattern of the Kingdom
Ephesians 2:8 establishes the order:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
Grace is the provision of God in Christ.Faith is the response that receives it.
Grace does not originate in us.Faith does not generate salvation.Faith receives what grace has already accomplished.
This pattern continues throughout the Christian life.
We do not move from grace to self-effort after conversion.We remain in grace, accessed by faith.
Romans 5:2 says we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
We stand in grace.We access it by faith.
The Christian life is not sustained by white-knuckled self-dependence.It is sustained by participation in and submission to what Christ has already finished.
The Law Exposes. Grace Empowers.
To understand grace, we must understand what it replaced.
Paul writes that the Law entered so that transgression might increase. Not because God desired sin, but because He desired revelation.
The Law exposes weakness.It commands but doesn’t empower.It reveals the disease but doesn’t cure it.
And here lies one of the most important truths for disciples:
You can’t defeat sin by returning to Law principles.
Trying harder will never produce holiness. That doesn’t mean we don’t lean into His ways; it doesn’t mean we don’t desire to become more like Jesus or learn more of what pleases God.
What we are talking about is the how.
Grace is the how.
The Law says: Do.Grace says: Done.
But grace doesn’t say “Done” so that we may relax into sin.
Grace says, “Done”, so that we may live from a new identity.
The Dangerous Question of Romans 6.
Paul anticipates the distortion of this idea of Grace immediately. If grace abounds where sin increases, why not continue in sin?
His answer is abrupt: Certainly not.
The Apostle Paul doesn’t argue from morality.He argues from identity.
“How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
Notice what he doesn’t say:
He doesn’t say sin is less serious.
He doesn’t say grace makes sin irrelevant.
He says the believer’s relationship to sin has fundamentally changed.
The old man was crucified. The sinner by nature died.
This isn’t metaphorical encouragement.It’s an ontological transformation.
In Christ, something definitive happened to your nature.
You are not a sinner trying to become righteous.
You are righteous in Christ, learning to walk consistently with who you now are.
The Ongoing Battle & the Misdiagnosis
Something that can be confusing to many believers is that disciples still experience temptation.
Why?
Because while sin’s authority has been broken, its presence still attempts influence through the body and the patterns of the soul.
Romans 6 makes this distinction carefully.
Sin shall not have dominion over you.
Dominion speaks of rule. Of governing authority.
Temptation may knock.Habits may linger.Thought patterns may resist renewal.
But authority has shifted.
Grace reigns now.
This is why Titus 2:11–12 says grace teaches us to deny ungodliness.
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,”
Grace is not passive tolerance.Grace is instructive power.
It reshapes desire from the inside out.
Righteousness: The Channel Through Which Grace Reigns
Romans 5:17 reveals the mechanism:
“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”
Grace reigns through righteousness.
Righteousness is not moral achievement.It is positional reality.
It is being rightly aligned before God because of Christ’s obedience, not ours.
Philippians 3:9 makes this explicit.
“and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
The enemy constantly attempts to shift believers back to performance metrics.
Measure yourself.
Evaluate your standing.
Compare your obedience.
The moment righteousness becomes performance-based, grace loses its channel. Grace cannot reign where self-effort dominates. But when righteousness is received as a gift, grace flows freely. And when grace flows freely, believers reign in life.
Evangelism and the Integrity of Grace
This matters profoundly for evangelism.
If we preach grace without righteousness, we create moral ambiguity.
If we preach righteousness without grace, we create religious burden.
But when grace reigns through righteousness:
Sin is neither minimized nor sensationalized.
Repentance is neither coerced nor diluted.
Holiness is neither optional nor oppressive.
It becomes natural overflow.
Jesus was full of grace and truth.
Not alternating between them.Not balancing them as opposites.
Full of both.
Grace without truth becomes indulgence.Truth without grace becomes cruelty.
But reigning grace produces transformed people.
And transformed people are the most compelling evangelistic witness on earth.
The Hard Question for Envoys
As representatives of Christ, we must wrestle honestly:
Have we treated grace as emotional reassurance rather than governing power?
Have we attempted to conquer sin through discipline while neglecting identity?
Have we quietly drifted back into self-righteous performance?
Do we believe we are righteous in Christ, or do we secretly measure ourselves by behavior?
Evangelism is not merely proclamation.
It is embodiment.
The world doesn’t need softer Christians.It needs sons and daughters who know who they are, and live it out.
Grace that tolerates sin has no authority.
Grace that reigns produces holiness.
Pastoral Vantage Point
Sin reigned in death.
Grace now reigns through righteousness.
Receive grace.Receive righteousness.Reign in life.
This is not triumphalism.It is alignment with reality.
Grace is not permission. Grace is power.
And when power is rightly understood, sin loses its throne.
Read | Listen | Watch
📖 Read
The Discipline of Grace – Jerry Bridges - LINK
A deeply practical work on how grace fuels holiness rather than replacing it. Bridges dismantles performance-based Christianity while refusing to soften the call to obedience. A helpful corrective for both legalism and license.
The Whole Christ – Sinclair Ferguson - LINK
A masterful theological exploration of the relationship between grace, law, assurance, and sanctification. Ferguson shows how separating grace from transformation leads to distortion.
Romans 5-8 (Slow Reading) - LINK
Not a skim. Sit in it. Trace the language of reign, righteousness, death, life, flesh, Spirit. This is the apostolic architecture of grace.
Listen
Grave Greater Than Our Sin - Billy Graham
Romans 5-8: The Secret To Living Free in Christ
📅 This Week’s 30-Min Rally Point
We’ll meet for our first 30-minute rally point this Thursday with Pastor Byron Wickers at 7:00 PM EST via Zoom.This is a space for reflection, encouragement, and activation, a rhythm of checking in, praying together, and pressing forward.
🕖 Zoom Time: Thursday @ 7:00 PM EST🔗 Click to join the Zoom call - Zoom URL
Bring a Bible, a journal, and any wins or wrestles you want to share. This is a safe space to grow.
Sneak Peek at Month 6 | Evangelism - Week 2: Story of Grace
Anchor Scripture
“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”John 20:21
This week we leaned into grace remembered and grace spoken. Next week we widen the lens. You are not simply someone who has a testimony. You are someone who is sent. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” John 20:21. Evangelism is not an event or a personality type. It is identity lived outward in ordinary places. Boardrooms, dinner tables, job sites, neighborhoods. You are already on assignment. Next week we learn how to live like it.
You are not waiting for mission.You are already in it.
God is with us!
Father,
Thank You for grace that found us when we were dead and made us alive in Christ. Keep our hearts tender toward what You have rescued us from, and humble in how You are still shaping us.
Guard us from performance and pressure. Let our testimony flow from gratitude, not striving. Give us courage to speak simply and truthfully about what You have done.
May our story always point to Your mercy, not our strength.
In Jesus’ name,Amen.
I’m glad you’re here.
Let’s run the race - Eyes Up, Chin Up!
Grace and peace,
Sam Johnston
