What does Tribe teach about grace vs works?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on grace versus works starts with a simple observation: every religion humans have invented asks people to climb their way up to God, and Jesus says that climb is impossible. Brian Hunter, working through Ephesians 2 and Romans 10, keeps returning to the word that surprises people most in that context: inclusive. The offer of grace is not reserved for the people who have achieved enough or earned the right standing. The hard work, Brian says, is already finished. That is precisely what makes it wide open.
Brian draws the line between pride and humility as the place where this becomes personal. Quoting James 4, he puts it plainly: Brian says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." And then he draws out what that means practically: Brian says, "Humility is the key that unlocks the doors of God's grace." Pride keeps a person on the outside, convinced they either do not need what is being offered or can manufacture it on their own. Humility is what lets a person receive it.
The same thread runs through Brian's Fourth of July message in Galatians 5, where he described the law using the image of an x-ray machine. The law was never meant to fix anything; it was given to reveal the condition of the human heart, the way an x-ray shows a break without healing it. Jesus fulfilled the law completely. Brian's picture for what that means is this: Jesus ran the race, then placed his first-place medal around our necks. Living in that reality, Brian says, means no longer trying to earn what Jesus has already given, and learning to recognize the pull back toward performance for what it is.
Taught from Ephesians 2:4-10 · Romans 10:9-13 · Galatians 5:1-6 · James 4:6 · 1 John 1:9
“Humility is the key that unlocks the doors of God's grace.”
From You're Not Being Inclusive, Jesus.
The passage taught · Ephesians 2:4-10
4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- August 17, 2026 You're Not Being Inclusive, Jesus. Brian Hunter preaches on John 14:6 at an outdoor service, exploring why Jesus gets canceled for claiming to be the only way to God, and what that means for everyone.
- July 5, 2026 Land of The Free, Home of The Brave A July 4th sermon from Jackson Hole on Galatians 5, exploring what it really means to live free in Christ rather than striving to earn what Jesus already gave.