Let me illustrate the importance of grace:
Grace is God's unmerited love toward man, the free gift of salvation by nailing Jesus to the cross in our stead, as a penalty for our sins.
We are saved by grace. When mankind first sinned, God closed and locked the door to salvation. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the Door that the Father opened for us.....we didn't deserve it....that was grace. The penalty of sin is death...but Jesus was raised from the dead so that sin lost its power! We are saved by grace in that if grace did not exist, salvation would be impossible.
Faith is trusting in God's love....His grace. We are saved by faith, in that faith expresses itself though love (Galatians 5:6). We love because God first loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice (1st John 4:10). Love fulfils the two great commandments of the Law, to love God and our neighbor (Luke 10:25-28).
To fully appreciate faith and love, and our salvation, you must fully appreciate grace.
Romans 12 proves my point: I will use the New Living Translation because its paraphrase of the verse is an accurate description of the shade of meaning of the Greek in this verse.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice�the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask?
1) I can empathize works over grace - Weakness: God does not approve of those works...that is humanism....man's way...not God's way. God's way: We are saved by a faith that expresses itself in love as a result of trusting God's loving grace...NO OTHER WAY WORKS! We can't work our way into heaven....just ask the builders of the Tower of Babel.
2) I can give you a list of do's and don'ts - Weakness: God wants to transform us by his grace into faith into love into service, not just follow some checklist...that reeks of humanism.....see option #1
3) I can leave no room for gray areas - Weakness: Lack of fellowship, everything is black or white, right or wrong. Fellowship is based on 100% agreement...here lies the tragedy. Read Romans 14.
4) A very judgmental attitude toward others who may disagree with me: I check out how a neighbor feels on an issue before deciding to love them. Read Romans 14.
All congregations, even those already teaching grace, can do better, just like they can do better teaching faith, love, etc. There's always room for improvement with humanity. But I empathize the teaching and learning of grace because it is the heart of the Gospel.
The door of grace is open, but it is up to us to enter in. The cost of entrance is free, no death for the sins that you committed, just a sincere change of heart about them. Trust in God's love. Confess that Jesus is the Son of God. Then be immersed in water and the Holy Spirit, letting the old man of sin die and allowing the Trinity to live in you for the rest of your earthly pilgrimage as you grow in grace, faith, and love.