{"id":1210,"date":"2011-04-27T14:43:36","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T18:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielgoepfrich.com\/?p=1210"},"modified":"2022-09-11T18:22:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T22:22:17","slug":"where-and-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/where-and-how\/","title":{"rendered":"Where and how"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhere<\/em> you place<\/span> your faith determines where<\/em> you\u2019ll spend eternity.
How<\/em> you live<\/span> your faith determines how<\/em> you\u2019ll spend eternity.
Don\u2019t confuse where<\/strong> and how<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

I\u2019m thinking a lot about Christian discipleship these days. I\u2019m defining genuine<\/em> or biblical<\/em> discipleship (as opposed to what many people assume<\/em> is discipleship) as \u201cThe process of learning to live like Christ, then actually doing it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>

I\u2019ve never seen the above quote or definition anywhere else, so I suppose you could say that they\u2019re mine. However, the principles that they reflect are certainly not original. This is the teaching of Scripture.<\/p>

There is not a single thing we can do to earn forgiveness and salvation from God; that is his gift to mankind for all who believe (Romans 6:23). Our works \/ deeds \/ actions don\u2019t play into it at all. Paul is clear on this:<\/p>

\u201cWhen the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy<\/strong>, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior.\u201d (Titus 3:4-6)<\/p>

\u201cBy grace you are saved through faith<\/strong>, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works<\/strong>, so that no one can boast.\u201d (Ephesians 2:8-9)<\/p><\/blockquote>

However, he is also clear \u2014 in the very next verse \u2014 that works \/ deeds \/ actions play a huge role after<\/strong> salvation.<\/p>

\u201cFor we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works<\/strong> that God prepared beforehand so we may do them<\/strong>.\u201d (Ephesians 2:10)<\/p><\/blockquote>

Contrary to what some may teach, good works are not useless; they are only useless for salvation<\/span>. After salvation, God has a great list of works which he wants his people to engage and accomplish during this life. There are certainly several reasons for this, but here are just two:<\/p>

  1. It is our actions that point people to God the Father<\/strong> (Matthew 5:16) and to Jesus Christ<\/strong> (John 13:35)<\/li>
  2. It is for our actions that God will judge us in eternity<\/strong> (2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 2:23)<\/li><\/ol>

    You may be clear on the where<\/em> \u2014 your faith is in Christ alone for salvation. But are you clear on how<\/em>? How you live out your faith will certainly affect how you spend your eternity. Are you living your faith in a way that completely pleases and honors God <\/strong>\u2014 genuine, biblical discipleship<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>

    More on this aspect to come\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cWhere you place your faith determines where you\u2019ll spend eternity.How you live your faith determines how you\u2019ll spend eternity.Don\u2019t confuse where and how.\u201d I\u2019m thinking a lot about Christian discipleship these days. I\u2019m defining genuine or biblical discipleship (as opposed to what many people assume is discipleship) as \u201cThe process of learning to live like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[32,31,37,40,13,35,23],"class_list":["post-1210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discipleship","tag-2corinthians","tag-ephesians","tag-john","tag-matthew","tag-revelation","tag-romans","tag-titus"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"gutentor_comment":4,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"widget-thumbnail":false,"rpwe-thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Daniel Goepfrich","author_link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/author\/dgoepfrich\/"},"uagb_comment_info":4,"uagb_excerpt":"\u201cWhere you place your faith determines where you\u2019ll spend eternity.How you live your faith determines how you\u2019ll spend eternity.Don\u2019t confuse where and how.\u201d I\u2019m thinking a lot about Christian discipleship these days. I\u2019m defining genuine or biblical discipleship (as opposed to what many people assume is discipleship) as \u201cThe process of learning to live like…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}