Beyond the free gift: What happens after you become a Christian?

This is part of a series giving an overview of theology and Neighborhood Church’s doctrinal statement. (Introduction, The One True God, The Lord Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, The Bible, Humanity, Salvation, Church, Christian Life, Angels, Satan, Demons, Future Life)

Picture this: everything in the world is suddenly free. Gas, food, houses, vacations, healthcare—all of it. Your gut reaction is probably positive, right? No more worrying about grocery prices or gas costs. You could have lobster and barbecue every meal if you wanted.

But now imagine it's been 10 years of everything being free. Does that lobster still taste the same? After doing your "supermarket sweep" shopping sprees for the first week, what happens when the novelty wears off?

This thought experiment helps us think about something incredible that happens when we become Christians: we receive the free gift of salvation. But what happens next? What does the Christian life look like when that incredible FREEDOM starts to feel routine?

The Temptation to Start Earning What's Already Free

At Neighborhood Church, we've been exploring what we believe through our doctrinal statement. When it comes to the Christian life, here's what we hold to:

"The believer is saved by faith alone. The faith that saves is expected to produce obedience and good works, which are the products of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The dimensions of biblical ethics are both individual and social, and extend to every facet of life. God faithfully continues to finish the work of sanctification, which He initiated in the life of each believer with the goal of Christlikeness.”

That sounds pretty straightforward in theory. But here's what often happens in practice: we receive God's free gift of salvation, and then we immediately start trying to earn it.

You know how this works. When someone buys you lunch, what's the first thing you say? "I'll get you next time." We can't just accept free gifts. That's why birthdays make us so uncomfortable—suddenly we feel like we owe everyone cards and thoughtful presents.

The same thing happens with our faith. We think, "Okay, God covered me for the first one, but now I've got to step it up. I've got to work hard to make sure I don't lose what I got for free."

What the Bible Says About Earning Grace

The apostle Paul dealt with this exact problem when he wrote to the churches in Galatia. In fact, he was so frustrated with their thinking that he called them "foolish" (Galatians 3:1).

Here's what Paul said about his own experience: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).

Paul's point is powerful: when we trust Jesus for salvation, something spiritual happens that we're not even aware of. We actually die with Christ and are brought back to life. The way we come to Christ—by faith through hearing—is the same way we continue in Christ.

Paul asks the Galatians: "Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:2-3).

Translation: If you didn't have the self-control to be a good Christian before you were a Christian, you're not going to be perfected by that same “dead flesh” now.

More Than Just Debt Cancellation

Here's something that might surprise you: when Jesus saves us, he doesn't just cancel our debt and get us back to zero. We often think the miracle of Jesus is that our massive sin debt gets paid off and we get a clean slate to start over.

But Paul says something even more amazing is happening. It's not just that Jesus gets us back to zero—he gives us his own righteousness account. We start our relationship with God with a bank account full of righteousness. Not our own righteousness, but the righteousness that Jesus had with God before the world began.

You probably don't feel that holy most of the time. That's normal. Even people who have had massive life changes after meeting Christ still have to put their pants on one leg at a time, and their knees are still aching. Christians are pretty normal for the most part. Many of our neighbors would never guess that the righteousness of the Creator who sang everything into existence has been applied to our soul.

But that's exactly what has happened if you've trusted Jesus.

Freedom That Leads to Love

So what does this mean for how we live? Paul addresses this in Galatians 5:13}: "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another."

Remember our "everything is free" scenario? If everything was free, we'd probably lean into all our favorite appetites. Paul is saying don't do that with spiritual freedom. Instead, use your freedom to serve others at your own cost.

Paul then gives us two lists. First, the works of the flesh: "sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these" (Galatians 5:19-21).

But then he gives us the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).

Notice he calls it "fruit"—singular. It's one fruit with multiple expressions. And here's the key: all of these characteristics are only visible in how we relate to other people. You can't be a loving person if you only love yourself. You can't exercise patience if you're alone.

The Gospel Balance

When we follow Jesus, he transforms us completely for a fruitful life. But how does this transformation happen? The chart below, adapted from Tim Keller's work, shows how the gospel keeps us balanced between two extremes:

We have a temptation to swing toward legalism (trying to earn everything God has freely given us) or toward liberalism (thinking we were never that bad to begin with). The gospel keeps us in the center, recognizing that God is both holy and loving, that we receive his perfect righteousness while still being fallen people who need wisdom.

Practical Questions for Your Life

As you think about your own Christian journey, consider these questions:

What works of the flesh are you still practicing? What version of idolatry—maybe treating yourself and what you want as god—are you still embracing?

What fruit of the Spirit have others seen grown in you over the last year? This might feel uncomfortable to ask, but here's the thing: you'll be more generous to yourself than you deserve, and also harsher than you deserve. Jesus has placed us in community so that other people can identify the work the Spirit is doing in you when you can't see it yourself.

Maybe someone can look you in the eye and say, "I can't believe how much more gentle you are today than when I met you," or "Look at the self-control you demonstrated when things got really hard and you wanted to run back to that old habit."

The Beauty of Dependence

Here's our big idea: when we follow Jesus, he transforms us completely for a fruitful life. This transformation doesn't happen because we work harder or try to earn God's approval. It happens because we depend on God fully for salvation every step of the way—the same way we came to him in the first place.

Jesus said his yoke was easy and his burden was light (Matthew 11:30). If following Jesus is crushing your soul, you might be hitched to someone other than Jesus. When you work together with him, he's doing the heavy lifting.

Your Next Step

If you've never asked Jesus to change places with you—to take your sin and give you his righteousness—that exchange can happen today. You don't have the ability to make yourself right with God, but Jesus makes it possible.

If you've already surrendered your life to Jesus but find yourself trying to earn what you've already been given for free, remember this: the refining process happens the same way salvation happened—by faith in what Jesus has declared about you. Trust what he has said, and he makes you what he has said.

That's the Christian life. Not earning God's love, but living from the secure place of already having it. Not working to become worthy, but serving others because Christ's love has made us free.

This is part of a series giving an overview of theology and Neighborhood Church’s doctrinal statement. (Introduction, The One True God, The Lord Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, The Bible, Humanity, Salvation, Church, Christian Life, Angels, Satan, Demons, Future Life)