Good Works Are Fueled by Abundant Grace

The Preaching Text and the Reading of 2 Corinthians 9

Please turn your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 9. Preaching text for today is 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 8. I will read verses 6 through 11. I'm in preparation for the preaching of the word. Please stand when you have that.

1 Corinthians chapter 9 beginning in verse 6. These are the words of the Lord. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.

For God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work. As it is written, he is distributed freely.

He is given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Amen.

Abundant Grace to Fuel Good Works

You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the rich promises you give us. And here you have promised abundant grace to fuel good works. We pray that you would indeed encourage us to good works through this great promise of abundant grace.

In Jesus' name, amen. So last week, we opened up this sermon series, Titus 2 .14, about your purpose being for good works. That Christ Jesus has redeemed you from all lawlessness to make a people for his own possession purified for good works.

Now here we have this promise. There's abundant grace for good works. Many people are scared to put their hands to difficult things. Remember, good works are not just those works that are outward works of charity that God has not called all people to.

It also includes those things that he has called all people to, simple obedience and resisting temptation. A lot of people find it difficult either in resisting temptation or doing good works that he has called them in particular to because they do not feel that they have everything necessary in order to do that.

I think these good works, this endurance of this trial rather than caving in might be something for someone else, but that is not what God has called me to because he has not supplied me enough for it.

He has not given me enough. This is not a sufficient reason to not pursue good works because God has promised abundant grace to those who pursue good works. This is the case here in 2 Corinthians. We have a people, the Corinthians, who have pledged to give to the Jerusalem collection.

Paul, collecting much money to give to the poor in Jerusalem, and he has spoken to various churches, encouraged them to pledge to give to this collection, and now they have, the Corinthians have, but the Corinthians have not yet given.

And so he's encouraging them that when he comes, when his associates come to receive funds, that they be ready, not simply based on their current level of anxiety and fear, not based on that at all, but rather based on what God is able to do for them, that he will supply everything that is needed so that they do not need to approach this collection with trepidation, with an overabundance of caution, with great fearfulness, but can give abundantly, knowing that God gives abundantly, knowing that he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

God has promised this to the Corinthians, and he has not only promised it to the Corinthians, he has promised it to us, and he has not just promised this for material collections of wealth, he has promised this for us in every good work.

All, All, All: The Rhetoric of Verse 8

You may notice that this passage has quite the rhetorical character to it. I'll read it again. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things, at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Now, there is a slight disadvantage in reading this in English. If you were reading this in Greek, you would notice that all these descriptions begin with pan. You know, this is the prefix that you see a lot of times in English to mean everything or all, right?

What is a pandemic? It's a disease that's everywhere. What is a panacea? It's something that cures all things. What is a panorama? It's a view of everything, right? And so that is happening every single time here.

Now, in English, if you talk about plural things, you say all, right, all things. When you speak about singular things, you say every, and all and every don't necessarily sound as similar as pan and pon, right?

So if I were to translate this not for accuracy of meaning-keeping singular and plurals, but rather for preservation of rhetoric, I might translate this verse this way. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things, at all times, you may abound in all good works.

All, all, all, all, all.

We've just got a bunch of alls here. Let me count them. All grace, all sufficiency, all things, all times, all good works. Five of them. And so consider each of these. He's able to make all grace abound to you.

This is all kinds of blessings. This includes material blessings. In fact, that is exactly what's in mind here in 2 Corinthians. It is financial blessings. He is able to make financial blessings supply you with what you need for good works.

This is also the case for spiritual blessings. Through the Spirit, someone feels like they don't have enough patience, they don't have enough joy, they don't have enough endurance. These are things that God can and has promised to give.

It also speaks of all sufficiency. So it is not just that He will give these categories of blessings, but rather that He will give it in the appropriate measure. He will give enough of it. This word for sufficient is a word that's translated elsewhere as content.

You know, it is having enough to be happy with your condition. First Timothy 6 .6 says, but godliness with contentment is great gain. Right, this is the same word that's being used here. Godliness with sufficiency is great gain.

Knowing that God has given enough, because He has given enough. A couple chapters later, in 2 Corinthians 12 .9, it says, my grace is sufficient for you. This is the same root, just an adjective instead of a noun.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. So here He talks about His grace being sufficient again a few chapters later. God doesn't just give every category of blessing, He gives it in the appropriate measure.

He gives it abundantly. He makes that grace abound to you. And then beyond all sufficiency, it speaks here of all things. So this is every kind of need that you may have, every kind of situation. Doesn't matter if it's a situation with yourself and your own sin, doesn't matter if it's a situation in your church, doesn't matter if it's a situation with your children, doesn't matter if it's a situation with your parents, or with your siblings, or whatever the case is, in all things, and at all times.

So this is not just sometimes, but all times. You know the, just like the wedding vows, you know, say in sickness and in health, et cetera, et cetera, right? Like this is the promise that God is making at all times.

He's not gonna withhold His hand in the hard times. He is going to give you abundant grace even in the hard times. You may abound in every good work. So all good works that ought to be done are things that He will give you abundance for.

All good deeds. On the back of the bulletin, I've gone ahead and described that out there for you. And not intentionally, it sort of rhymes. It says blessing, quantity, needs, seasons, and deeds. So if you wanted more syllables to really make it rhyme, you could say blessings, quantity, needs, and every season, and deeds, something like that.

The Lord has promised with rhetorical power in this verse that He will give all grace with all sufficiency in all things at all times for all good works. This is what He has promised. Now think about all the excuses that people tend to make when they are called to something difficult.

Doesn't matter whether they're dealing with a current trial that they can't avoid, but ought to engage in without complaining. Doesn't matter if it's a temptation that they need to resist. Doesn't matter if it is something that is some extraordinary good work that God has called them to that He wouldn't call someone else to in similar circumstances.

For example, missions work or something like that. Think about the different excuses people make. They might say that they lack the spiritual qualities. They lack the patience for this. Well, God has promised patience.

He gives the fruit of the Spirit. This is something that is available in the Christian life. This is not something where you can say, oh, God has just not given me this. Maybe you don't have it at this moment, but He has promised it if it is needed, and so this is not a sufficient excuse.

Might say, oh, I am too broken for this. That's a common way of phrasing things. A lot of times this is a euphemism for sinful. I am too sinful for that. Well, God has promised for you to give you everything you need to resist temptation, so don't just appeal to brokenness as some euphemism for sinfulness.

God will give you the strength to resist temptation. He has made you a new man. You're a new man in Christ Jesus. Might say, oh, I'm too emotional to handle this. Once again, this is a euphemism for lack of self-control a lot of times, that people will use these words that could mean something good, but often are euphemisms for something bad.

A lot of times emotional means a lack of self-control, and so people say, well, I can't do this good work because God has not, I'm too emotional of a person. Well, God will grow you in self-control.

God will grow you in self-control. Might say, He's not giving me enough wisdom. God gives generously to all who ask without reproach, according to James 1 .5. He will give you the wisdom you need. Think about the way people box themselves into these spiritual categories, putting labels on themselves.

A lot of people will do those spiritual gift inventories to find out what their spiritual gift is, not understanding this first, because how is this working? It's as you do the good work, God gives you what you need.

He gives you the gift for it. People imagine, okay, He gives me the gift for it first, and then I know what I'm supposed to do. No, this is putting it backwards, and so people will do the little spiritual gift inventory, they'll fill out the checklist, and they'll say, ah, I am gifted for this thing, and so when you encourage me to do that thing, or there's this big hole in the church, this need that needs to be filled, I know that I can't possibly be the one to fill that because I've already filled out my spiritual gift inventory, and that's not my spiritual gifting, right?

That puts these backwards. God gives you the thing to fill the need, not beforehand so that you would know what needs you want to fulfill. People do this also not just with spiritual gift inventories tend to be a little more innocent, there's also something called the Enneagram, which has roots in witchcraft and stuff, but these are promoted by churches.

Churches will promote the Enneagram, right? If you've never heard of the Enneagram before, it's like a personality test like Myers-Briggs, right? And people will really box themself into a corner. You know, there's, I forget how many personality types, maybe nine or something like that.

I think it goes up at least to nine. Okay, so yeah, and they'll say, well, I'm a nine, and so therefore, you know, I can't do this kind of thing, or, you know, I have to have the office, it's all the way at the corner, or else, you know, if I have too many interruptions, or if people need me too much, then this will not be good for me.

Now, certainly, God has made different people with different kind of personalities, and there are things that are, that certain people are better equipped for, but if you box yourself in so hard to a certain kind of personality type, such that God couldn't grow you to deal with different kinds of trials, then you're really telling God, you haven't promised all grace for all situations, for all needs, you know?

And think about the person who, very frequently, labels himself an introvert. Oh, I can't be called to this particular action because I'm too much of an introvert. Proverbs 18, one says, he who seeks isolation, whoever seeks isolation seeks his own desire.

He breaks out against all sound judgment. Okay, a lot of people justify all kinds of sinful isolation because they have put themselves in the little box of, I'm an introvert, right? I'm a nine, I'm an ENTP, that's a Myers-Briggs one, right?

Or my spiritual gifting is singing, and so you can't really call me to much else. Those excuses, insufficient excuses. Think about people appeal to their physical assets, right? They say, I don't have enough in order to be able to give, right?

I heard someone recently say, this was just yesterday, friend of mine online, I saw him say that I didn't have enough to give until I started to give, right? And I thought, man, that's exactly what this verse is talking about.

That's exactly what this verse is talking about. God will supply. Don't appeal to an overabundance of caution. Think about the selfish excuses people make, right? I need to take care of myself first, right?

And ignore the things that God has actually called them to. Someone else will do it. I've done my part, all kinds of ways people justify these things. People talk about their seasons of life, right? Like, oh, God can't call me to this.

This just isn't the season of life. Now, there might be some validity to this. There are certain times where you're incapacitated for certain things, but God has promised this in all times, and so you should be willing to step out in faith on the occasions that call for it, knowing that he has promised this in all times, right?

Some people might say, I'm too young, I'm too old. A lot of people will make excuses for things based on having young kids. Because we live in a culture where people typically don't have many kids, the idea is that having young kids is a very short stage of their life, right?

If you have many kids, as people did through most of history, having young kids is like a pretty long season of life, so it's not something where you can just say, oh, well, I'm going to step out, I'm gonna be on the sidelines for this season because it's just a short season, right?

If what's been normal through all of human history is this is actually a long season, kids needing naps, et cetera, are not really reasons to be on the sidelines. So, all times, right, all times, not just, oh, those times when you don't have a young child, all times, God has promised us.

Think about the excuses that come from cowardice, right? Like, oh, I'll fail, I'll burn out, this won't accomplish any good. God, God has promised. Matthew 6, 33 says, seek first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, all these things will be added to you.

Seek first the kingdom of God, all these things will be added to you. Seek that first. A lot of people are trying to seek the gifting, the abundance first, and then they will seek the kingdom. Seek the kingdom first, and then the abundance will be given.

This is very different than the gods of this world. You know, the gods of this world do not have any meaningful promise of grace. They all call you to difficult things, right? You think of the religions, you know, Islam will call you to pilgrimage, right?

You've gotta do the hajj, that's one of the pillars of Islam, right? You're not a real Muslim if you haven't done the hajj, right? And even atheistic religion, right, secular moralism calls you to difficult things, it calls you to care for the poor.

But are there promises of grace in these things? Atheism has no promise of grace. Maybe some religions do, but they never make good on that promise. They can't, because they do not have the true God that is able to give you abundant grace.

But God is able to give you abundant grace. And why is he able to do so? Because Jesus Christ on the cross has purchased abundant grace. He has not only died for our sins so that we would not have to look at good works as some kind of way of paying down a debt.

We couldn't pay down a debt through good works. Rather, he has given us his righteousness so that good works are not something that's happening from this eternal place of deficit where you're just further buried under the despair of impossibility, but rather, he has given us his righteousness in order that we have the freedom to pursue these things without a possibility of failure.

There's no way we could lose righteousness because it's not our righteousness, it's his righteousness. The good works that we do are not for the sake of righteousness. They are for the sake of his name, for his glory.

And so, through Jesus Christ, paying that penalty, he has given us the freedom to pursue good works, but then on top of that, he has by his great merit, so this is in addition to paying the sacrifice, paying the penalty, he has merited abundant grace, the work of the spirit within us in order that we would have every blessing that is needed.

Christ the Mediator and the Easy Yoke

I'd like you to consider some of the words from Matthew 11. Matthew 11, verse 25, excuse me, I'll start at verse 27, it says the following. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Okay, so he says, God, the Father, has given me all things, and then how does that relate to knowing the Father except the Son, and the one that the Son chooses to reveal him to? Well, how do you have access to all those things, to all grace that has been given to the Son?

You have it by knowing the Son. It is through the Son that we have access to abundant grace. Apart from him as our mediator, we would have none of this. He says, come to me, all you who labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Have you ever wondered how he can say that sort of thing when Christian life calls you to very difficult things, calls you to endure persecutions, it calls you to, it doesn't call you to mediocrity, it calls you to great acts of charity and kindness, calls you to resisting temptation with a willingness to chop off your own hand and poke out your own eye?

The way of Jesus Christ, he has called us to difficult things, and he has made it clear that if you are not willing to leave it all behind and do the difficult thing, that you are not fit to be a disciple.

How is it that he can then say, my yoke is easy, and my burden is light? Are not those at odds with one another? The answer was found in that previous verse. All things have been given him by the Father, and he has revealed these things to those whom he has chosen to.

In other words, his yoke is easy, and his burden is light, because he has given everything that is needed in order to do it, right? If you had a journey that you had to travel 1 ,000 miles or something like that, right, you would say, oh, that's too difficult, that's way too difficult.

But if you're given a fast vehicle or an airplane, suddenly this is not a difficult thing. So it's not that the task is small that Christ has called us to, it's not that it's not in some ways inherently difficult, it is that he supplies abundant grace because he is the good mediator who gives us all grace from the Father.

So he is a kind master, unlike other masters that the world has to offer that still call you to difficult things, but do not give abundant grace. He has promised to give us whatever is needed to endure in every temptation.

First Corinthians 10, 13 says that he will always provide the way of escape in order that we may be able to endure it, that there is no temptation that you will undergo that is not common to man, that he will not give you sufficient grace for.

God is not a miser. He is not Pharaoh telling you, make bricks, and then not giving you straw. Okay, he's not Ebenezer Scrooge giving you a little piece of coal so that your hands don't freeze up and you can't write with your pen, right?

And so you barely have enough to do the task. He has given abundantly. He is the same God who gave enough manna so that those who gathered more, those who gathered less, all had enough. That is the God we serve.

And so think about how he has called people to do this. Maybe you know people in your own life who have found abundant grace as they have trusted God in pursuing good works. Hebrews 11, eight says, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.

And he went out not knowing where he was going. Abraham didn't know where he was going. He didn't know what he had, whether or not he had enough for the journey. He knew that the God who called him had enough for the journey.

I was speaking with a friend of mine recently who is very, very gifted in understanding scripture. Also a very, very meek soul. Very, very self-controlled in a lot of ways. A lot of people look up to him.

A lot of people know him well. If I mentioned his name, some of you might know him. But he has not pursued eldership at his church for a long time because of fear of what that would mean for his circumstances, whether or not he'd be able to balance it with family, everything else, right?

And his business, because he runs his own business, he was telling me, was going worse and worse and worse. And in all of this, he decided to step out in faith and start pursuing eldership at his church.

And suddenly his business has turned around and God has supplied him with everything that is needed. This is not, it's not guaranteed that it will happen the exact same way every time, but talk to believer after believer after believer.

They have stories about this. I know multiple people who, when they first heard the call from scripture to give, gave not knowing where the money would come from to pay the bills and had the exact amount or close to the exact amount come in some miraculous way, either through their tax return.

I've heard multiple people, that's not a story I've just heard from one firm. I've heard multiple people get a surprising number in their tax return such that they had everything that was needed. This has been, this is something that many believers have experienced.

Think about just the common situation. If you have been in the Christian faith for a while, then hopefully you've been obedient to God in telling others about the gospel. And if you have, you know that first time you do it, it might be with a lot of fear and trepidation, then once you do it, you start developing more courage.

And so God gives the courage that is necessary and he grows you in that. So even if you haven't experienced any kind of more miraculous abundant grace, you've probably experienced, as you have obeyed God in the ways that he has called you, that he has given you enough to be able to do it.

He gives abundant grace. And consider what happens when we are, when we choose not to pursue those good works that God has called us to. What are we saying about God? Consider the parable of the talents.

What did the man say when the master showed up and he hadn't invested like he was supposed to have invested? He said, you are a hard man wanting to reap where you did not sow, wanting to gather where you scattered no seed, right?

And so he was saying, I didn't invest because I didn't think I would have enough to be able to do this because you are a hard master. You are not a good master. God is a good master. What happens to the one who calls God an evil master?

He is cast out into outer darkness. That's what happens at the end of the parable. Suddenly the metaphor is lost and it's no longer a story about a servant and a master. And suddenly it's about a man being cast into outer darkness because he has called the master an evil master by refusing to pursue the good works that he has been called to.

This is what happens when you do not pursue those good works that you have been called to, whether they be the things he's called everyone to, resisting temptation, avoiding sin, whether it be extraordinary good works that he may be calling you to.

These are things where if you do not obey, if you say that you have not given me enough, you will not give me enough, you are calling God a hard master. You are making yourself someone fit for outer darkness.

Let us not do that. Let us trust that God is a good God who will give abundantly. Consider also what this means for preachers as they preach. You know, a lot of preachers hate talking about this passage.

I mean, most of the time when this passage comes up, people are talking about financial giving, right? They're not necessarily applying it as broadly as I am right now, which is good. I mean, that's usually what you would, yeah, that's a very reasonable thing to do.

I'm not suggesting that's not reasonable. But a lot of people don't want to preach about giving because they either feel that it's too selfish or they think I don't want to saddle these people with heavy burdens because God may not give them enough.

So it's not just a matter of you trusting God, right? It's also a matter of the preacher trusting God. And so if I call you to hard things, it's not because I want to lay heavy burdens on you. It's because I trust the Lord to provide abundantly to you.

Now, if people understand the situation as this is just something I either have enough for right now or I do not, then they would see the preacher who calls them to greater things as laying heavy burdens on them.

But if they understand the way this verse works is that he gives you what is needed for the thing, in the thing, in all things, then you understand that that preacher is just encouraging you to good works.

He is not trying to lay heavy burdens on you. He's trying to encourage you in faithfulness that you might be able to, yeah, just enjoy the rich rewards that the Lord gives when we step out in obedience.

Good Works Must Be Truly Good Works

Now, when it says here, God is able to make all grace abound to you, notice that able is expressing a qualified willingness. God is willing to make all grace abound to you, but it is not something that happens apart from the work.

This is in every good work, so there has to be a pursuit of good works. And it is not just in every work. It is in particular good works. So this is where most people have trouble with this, where a lot of people have experienced failure and they wonder, is God not true to his promise?

Because they do not understand the difference between what is a good work and what is just a work. So it is important to be pursuing good works. Good works are not things that are just done out of any kind of sense of sincerity.

Good works are the things that God has called us to in his word. They are warranted by his word. You consider all kinds of works that people do to prop themselves up with self-righteousness. You can think about someone like Martha, who's missing the main point, right, and doing a lot of quote-unquote good works, but really she's missing the one thing that is required, is to sit at the feet of Jesus.

You can imagine people with zeal and no knowledge who are pursuing something, thinking that it's good when it is not good at all. You know, giving to false teachers. How many people have given to false teachers thinking that God will supply everything that is needed?

And then, you know, this is one thing that irks me a little. I know that there are a lot of people in evangelical circles who recognize the errors of prosperity preachers, and they hate the fact that prosperity preachers call people to give to them, to get rich off them, and promise that God will supply everything needed if they do give.

Well, the problem isn't the promise that God will supply everything needed. I mean, sometimes, you know, they're giving specific numbers and that's a problem, right? They're saying, oh, if you give me this much money, you will get this much money from God.

Okay, God's not guaranteeing anything like that, but he has guaranteed that in every good work, he will supply everything that is needed. And so, if it is an appropriate amount, God will supply it. There's nothing wrong with promising that God will give enough.

That is what this verse is saying. And so, those who would, out of a concern for the poor and a hatred of false teaching, simply reject this promise is knee-jerking too far in the wrong direction. It's missing the promise of God.

He will abundantly supply for every good work, but it has to be a good work. Okay, this is not something that is promised as you give to false teachers. God has called us not to participate in their wicked works by giving to them, by shaking their hand, by hosting them with hospitality so that we're promoting them as good teachers.

Those are references to the second John, by the way, if you wanna look that up later. You know, those people who also think that they're doing some good work by doing some kind of pilgrimage. You know, I'm always struck by stories I've heard about people going to monasteries with a lot of stairs and then crawling up the stairs on their knees and thinking that this good work is something that God will bless.

No, God has not promised abundant grace for just works. It is for good works, right? You consider there's the common parable about the, or the stereotype of the woman who's at the church that has the special music.

You know, churches that have special music, that's where it's not congregational singing, but one person singing to everybody else, and she comes every week to the pastor and says, pastor, God has called me to sing this song.

You know, and it's not a good song. She's not good at singing it, right? There can be like a totally out there sense of what God has called you to. It's not every kind of subjective sense of calling that we're talking about here.

There is a place for a sober consideration of what God is calling you to. Consider this, Romans 12, 30. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

All right, each with the measure of faith that God has assigned. And this is talking particularly in the context of teaching. Now, there are some things that God has promised in a more certain way than he has promised other things, right, the fruit of the spirit, right?

If you lack patience, pray to God for patience. If you lack self-control, pray to God for self-control. These things are guaranteed in a very certain way to the one who really seeks them, right? Greater ability to teach, greater ability to, certain kind of levels of being gifted for certain kind of ministry is not something that God has abundantly guaranteed in the same way.

Now, if he is calling you to something and there are gaps, he will fill them in, but keep in mind this verse. This is not saying, you know, throw caution to the wind, no sober consideration of what God has gifted you for.

Consider those things that he has guaranteed to supply with certainty, and those things that he has not guaranteed to supply with certainty, but he will give if the need arises for them. So Romans 12, three again.

Everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of the faith that God has assigned. So consider what God has called you to in light of who he has made you, but not in light of your lacks that he can fill, okay?

He can fill what is needed. If you look to a situation and you see that something's needed and you have some deficiencies that God could fill, you know, and there's no one else that God has called to this, step out in faith.

But that doesn't mean, you know, consider yourself higher than you ought because of this verse and falsely understanding this to mean that God will give you everything you want. It's not everything you want.

It is everything you need for good works. Consider also 1 Peter 4, 10. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace, right? Gift is, God's grace is varied.

It is not the same for every person. When we're talking about that kind of gifting. Now he will make all grace abound, right? Grace is a gift. He'll make all categories of things abound, but it will be for what is needed in this time.

You don't get to decide what is needed. God decides what is needed. And there's a sobriety of judgment and a wisdom that you can employ in order to determine that. So let me give you some examples. And a lot of this does really, a lot of the best examples are in ministry because that is the kind of work that God has not called everyone to.

Some of these things we're talking about are things that God has called everyone to, you know, resisting temptation, et cetera. Some things are things that God has not called everyone to, and ministry is a good example of that.