Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. As the City of Light song proclaims, what gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer?
It's lavish and life-changing. Yet Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 6, 1, not to receive the grace of God in vain. What does he mean by the grace of God, and how do we receive that grace as God intended us to? Today, Pastor Rich answers these questions from 2 Corinthians 6, 1-4. This is the second part of a message first preached on April 27, 2014. We are, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, we are new creations. There exists within me a newness and a principle of life that did not exist before.
Wow! Do I understand that? Have I come to grips with that?
Am I growing in that? I am a new creation. Peter says we are His own special people.
Do I understand that? That God takes particular delight in me because I belong to Him. I am in Christ, and when He looks at me, He sees Jesus Christ. He has lavished His privileges upon me.
Secondly, not only His privileges, but His power. Part of the grace that God has given to us as His chosen ones is His power. That is the Holy Spirit in us. Have you thought of that? That the infinite and holy sovereign God of the universe has taken up residence in your life, Christian.
Have you come to grips with that? Acts 1-8, you can finish this verse for me. You shall receive power after what? The Holy Spirit comes upon you. And that word power is my favorite word in the New Testament. It's the word dunamis, a dynamic, active force. You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Why? Because of the power, the grace that He has lavished upon us. Do not receive this grace in vain, Paul says. Ephesians 3-20, when I discovered it many years ago, it became immediately my favorite verse. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that is at work in us. Dunamis, a direct reference to the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Why? Because I am a child of God. I am born of God. I am in Christ, and His Spirit is in me. I am a partaker of the divine nature, according to the Scriptures. Not only do I have the presence of the Holy Spirit in me, but I have His gifts. Christians, listen to me. Every Christian in this room has at least one spiritual gift. Do you know what it is?
Do you know what to do with it? Or have you received the grace of God in vain? Paul calls us this morning, do not receive the grace of God in vain. Thirdly, not only does God lavish upon us His grace in His privileges, His power, but also His protection. We who are in Christ, we have His protection.
Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? That's me. What does that mean for me? I do not care what others might think of me because of my faith. It matters not what they think or what they might do to me. Why?
Because there is one opinion that counts. And therefore, I know and I can proceed, I can persevere in confidence that I have God's protection to do the purpose that He has for me. I have His privileges, I have His power, and I have His protection.
For what? Number four, to accomplish His purpose. That's why, His purpose. That's what it means to be one of God's chosen. It's what it means to be the elect. And what is God's purpose? We are, as we found out in the paragraph prior, ministers of reconciliation. Wouldn't it make sense that once I am in Christ and I surrender myself in faith to Jesus Christ, wouldn't it make sense that it would be far better for me, for the Lord to just take me home so that I can enjoy Him in absolute goodness and delight?
Wouldn't that make more sense? But see, God has a purpose for us here. That's why we are His elect ones. That's why we are His chosen ones, because we have a purpose.
And to accomplish that purpose, He lavishes upon us His privileges, His power, and His protection so that we can accomplish that. And Christians, you can persevere and move ahead in your daily walk in this confidence that God has given you this grace. And the Apostle Paul says, do not receive the grace of God in vain.
Do not receive the grace of God in vain. Because we are, as the Apostle Paul says, pheudiacunoi. Pheudiacunoi, ministers of God. Do you recognize the term, it's the Greek term, do you recognize diaconoi? You remember what, you know what, English word comes from that?
Pop quiz. Listen now, carefully. Raise your hand if you're a deacon. Those of you who are in the first service and current elected deacons of the church, raise their hands. Diaconoi, ministers of God. Pheudiacunoi, we are pheudiacunoi. Let me ask you again, raise your hand if you're a deacon.
Ah, it's catching on. If you are in Christ, you are pheudiacunoi. You are ministers of Christ, servants of Christ.
It's what a deacon is, one who serves. Pheudiacunoi. And it's not just pheudiacunoi when you're with this group of people or in this building. What does he say in verse four?
First four words of verse four, if you're in the New King James, it might be different in a, but in what? All things, everything. We are pheudiacunoi. Whether I am at home, if I'm at home with my family, I am pheudiacunoi. Does it make sense for me to be watching this on TV, understanding that I am pheudiacunoi? Am I being a pheudiacunoi to my children if we're sitting here watching this together, whatever this might be?
How about in the workplace, whether it's a cubicle or out in the field working in somebody's, whatever. You are pheudiacunoi. You are a servant of God in all things.
A servant of God. All right, now some of you put your hard hard-toed shoes on. Those of you who are athletes, we love the verse, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, which has nothing to do with sports. I just thought I'd get that out there, okay. But on the ball field, on the basketball court, whatever, Christian, you are first, pheudiacunoi. Are we going with this?
Okay. Unless you would rather receive the grace of God in vain. And that doesn't make any sense, does it?
Doesn't make any sense at all. I would like to tie this into another prophecy in Old Testament scripture. And that is Micah 6-8, a statement of resolve. Micah 6-8 says, he has shown you, O man, what is good.
What does that mean? God has demonstrated to us his goodness. Why do I say his goodness? Because God himself is the one who defines what is good. What is good is good in so far as it relates to God's character and purpose. Anything apart from that is not good.
Okay. God has demonstrated his goodness to us. And what does he seek from us?
You could paraphrase that this way. You have received the grace of God. And because of that, what does he seek from us? Well, what does Micah 6-8 say?
Three things. But to do justly. To do justly. We will do justly because we do not want to receive the grace of God in vain. What does doing justly mean? It means we will live out God's character and purpose.
Justly. I want to be very careful here that we understand this right. The Lord is not necessarily calling us to go out on a mission, on a personal mission of creating social justice in the world. I'm not saying that's bad, but it's not our mission. Okay.
What are you saying here? He's speaking to you and me as individuals. You do justly. You do justly. Whatever you do, make sure that what you do is just. Make sure that whatever you do, you are doing what is in line with and an outflow of the character and the purpose of God. So what that does is that takes my focus on other people and what they're doing.
And it places it right here. I do justly. Because of the grace that God has given me.
You do what is right. You walk in the steps of Jesus. And how can you do that when you follow him? You follow Jesus and walk in his steps and you will do justly. What's the second point in Micah 6-8? Love mercy.
Love mercy. We need to understand something. We live in a broken world. There's a lot of broken people out there and you know what? I'm one of them. But I am called to do justly and by God's grace I will do justly as I'm following Jesus Christ.
But you know what? I am going to be surrounded day after day with people who are broken. You've been listening to Rich Powell the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him. The one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
