"Not by works" is always a worthy discussion and should never be stop because it speaks to
the very heart of the gospel,
it needs to be always in focus
for those new in the walk,
those not so new in the walk and
those not yet convinced.
IMHO
Yes it is, because people get trapped in to the "am I doing enough, am I living properly, am I obeying enough, oh my I messed up, what an idiot I am..." the repent, obey, sin, repent, obey sin cycle, questioning themselves constantly, and that makes them think that God can't really love them as much as they originally were told.
Yet if we fully embrace His full forgiveness, and accept His Grace and Mercy, we can start to walk in His love.
We focus more on Him, and less on sin (us), and we all of a sudden understand the peace that comes from true rest.
We can then have a relationship based on love and trust. Because we know that He really does love us, so much, and does not hold our sin against us.
Not because of rules, or commandments, or laws, or church ordinances, or doctrine, or theology.
It is because of His love for us.
We start to listen more, we start to hear from Him more, we start to understand more. And before you know it we are sinning less, and doing the work (yes I said work) that He started in us.
Not because we think that if we don't we will go to hell, but because that is His desire for us.
That to me is what it means to live in the Spirit.