Living in grace is not only lip service, but living in grace is doing what God has commanded. Man is justified by doing what is right in the eyes of God, and not only in the eyes of man. The journey of grace is hard and narrow, and it is up stream. It is living in a kingdom, which is foreign to the world. It is like living in a “ghetto” fenced in for protection by God’s Laws. Grace, itself, is such a Law. Jesus compared living in grace to the workings of a vineyard.

The monumental task of the disciples and their followers was to leave a source behind that would keep the believers, in the future, in touch with Christ and in touch with God. On that day of Pentecost, there were one hundred and twenty people who had encounters and opinions of Jesus the Christ (Acts 1:15). Now, the Holy Spirit was to guide them through the maze. The disciples had to form a body of literature that could be passed on to the common people from the lips of teachers, who had little learning. We are talking of a work --- that would simplify and summarize the Law of Moses and the Prophets. The Hebrew Law required that at least two or three witnesses had to agree and collaborate to ratify the truth (Deuteronomy 19:15). The Christians, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, ended up with four Gospels, the Book of Acts, the overwhelming Apostle Paul’s letters and Epistles, the Epistle of James, brother to Jesus, the Letters of Peter, the Gospel of John, of John Zebedee (also Revelation), and of the writer to the Hebrews. All agree on who Jesus was and what Jesus had come to do for humanity. In addition, there were five hundred men (without women and children), who were ready to testify that Jesus was alive. These works contain the Words of Jesus, to whom the Father gave His Words to keep the believers in touch with Christ and and in touch with God. John Zebedee appears to have had help in compiling his Gospel, especially with the “Word” and “Logos” concept. Jesus Christ was God’s Word Himself and so were His Words, the Word of God. The Person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God is the content of the of the Gospels and the "Promise" and the "Covenant" of the Old Testament that contains the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. For my reference on the New Testament, I prefer the Revised Standard Version (RSV).

Moses’ sister Miriam and his brother Aaron tried to disqualify their brother, Moses. God set them straight and said to them, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is entrusted with all of my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” That is why the Law of Moses is final and cannot be altered (Numbers 12:6-8). God chose Moses to be the mediator between Himself and the People to restore or to reawaken His Image in them with Laws, statutes and ordinances.

Samuel had the unpleasant task to inform king Saul that David, his armor bearer, was replacing Saul, by God’s choice. “But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord appointed him to be the prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you” (I Samuel 13:14). David’s analysis of himself was revealed in his prayer in Psalms:

Bread alone cannot sustain life. The human body alone consists of sixty percent of water. The planet earth is surrounded by water and ice. The blood, in the human body, turns into water when the soul and the spirit depart. We do not just drink water, but we use water to clean and to wash everything, including ourselves. One of our Lord’s last Words on the cross were, “I thirst.” The beloved John Zebedee with Jesus’ mother watched the crucifixion and recalled the incident:

Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was a Jew. And Paul died as a Jew. He proclaimed a Gospel based on "faith alone." Yet Paul, himself, did the work of a Jew. Paul was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem before the day of Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks when the first fruits of rededication to God were presented (Acts 20:16). Before Paul and his Jewish companions could participate in the offering in the temple, they had to undergo purify themselves. The Jewish Christians were still practicing the Jewish traditions and Paul did the same.

Samuel ranks second to Moses as a leader in the history of Israel as a nation (Jeremiah 15:1). Samuel represented the end of Moses' Theocracy and the beginning of Israel’s Monarchy. Samuel was the most flawless person in the Old Testament. Unlike Samson, who occasionally was endowed with God’s Spirit, Samuel constantly lived in the Spirit of the Lord. Samuel, too, had to learn that God did not go against the will of the people. The people, too, had to learn by trial and by error. Without God’s Spirit and without God's Laws, man has to depend on his trials and his errors. Hence, "many are called, but few are chosen," who realize that their trials and their errors are endless, and they lead nowhere. Man needs more than an occasional "Presence" of God’s Spirit.

Gideon had left the people hanging between God, Baal and his Ephod. The next two judges, Tola from the tribe of Issachar and Jair from the tribe of Manasseh let things slide into the direction of Baal. Immorality and idolatry became bad enough so that the people began to repent, broke up idols and cried out to the God of their fathers. They turned to Jephthah, of the tribe of Manasseh for help. Jephthah was known for his ability to lead and also his ability to handle the sword. He was an outcast and his half-brothers banished him to live in exile. The elders called him back and pledged that they would not turn him over to his half-brothers. Jephthah tried to settle peacefully with the Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites, but to no avail. It was at that point that, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah.” And he began to move his army to face the Ammonites. The task to defeat the Ammonites appeared overwhelming. And Jephthah made a vow, which he should not have made. God already had disarmed his enemies, and all Jephthah had to do was thrust in the promise of God. Instead Jephthah vowed: “If thou wilt give the Ammonites into my hand, then whoever comes forth from the door of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, and I will offer him up for a burnt offering” (Judges 11:30-31).

Grace embraces the gifts of the Spirit of God, who is the source of all life. The Apostle Paul listed some of the fruits that man can harvest and use. It is man’s task to keep the weeds out, which can hamper the growth of grace, and the use of it. Living in the Spirit is living in grace and vise versa.

Living in Christ means to “live a ransomed life from sin and fleshly entanglements from the world.” The Apostle Paul put it thus, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in it” (Ephesians 2:10).