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Transforming Grace

Discussion Guide, Chapter 7d: The Sufficiency of Grace (God's Grace and the Ministry)

Central Idea: God’s grace enables us to persevere and grow despite any and all obstacles. God gives each of us the grace we need to fulfill the ministry and service He has given to us to bring glory to His Name.

• "Just-In-Time" Grace
• God only gives us the grace we need, at the very moment we need it. Why?
• It forces us to trust God continually. Not just believe, but place our securities in God.
• It forces us to trust God continually. Focus on the Provider, not the provision.
• It forces us to trust God continually. For daily needs, there is daily grace.
• It forces us to put our hope in the certain things, not the uncertain (Living Hope).
• This kind of grace tells us a lot about God’s character:
• God wants to take care of us.
• God is intimate and personal.
• God realizes our every need, and delights to meet them in a way that we realize Who is providing for us.
• This kind of grace affects my prayer life:
• The daily availability of God’s grace motivates me to pray daily.
• My prayers are focused on the Provider, not the provision.

• Contentment
• One of the ways God provides His grace is by giving us contentment.
• We are content when our perceived needs match our actual needs.
• We are content when our motivations are for God’s glory, and not our comfort
• Contentment does not mean complacency or laziness…. He has given us a job to do, and the Christian is content to strive with all his might to do it.

What kinds of things would you expect to see on a pastor’s resume? In other words, what kinds of things qualify a person for the pastoral ministry?

• What do you think Paul’s resume looked like?
• Descriptions of Paul (Saul) in Acts:
• Gave approval to the stoning of Stephen (Ac 8:1)
• Tried to destroy the church (Ac 8:3, Gal 1:13)
• Tried to destroy the Christian faith (Gal 1:23)
• Went from house to house, putting men and women in prison (Ac 8:3)
• Persecuted followers of the Way to their death (Ac 22:4)
• Did everything within his power to oppose the name of Jesus (Ac 26:9)
• Went from synagogue to synagogue to punish Christians (Ac 26:11)
• Tried to get Christians to blaspheme God (Ac 26:11)
• Was obsessed with being anti-Christian (Ac 26:11)
• Went to foreign cities to persecute Christians (Ac 26:11)
• Was a violent man (1 Tim 1:13)
• 1 Cor 15:9. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
• If you were the head of the Human Resources department for the early Church, would you hire this guy? Of course not! This man does not qualify for the ministry of Jesus Christ, because
• He not only lacks the character and competence of being a minister, but
• He hates Jesus and all His followers. Not only this, but
• He acted out, in every way possible, his hatred toward Jesus and his followers.

• Why do you think God chose Paul, of all people, to carry forth the Good News to the Gentiles, and to be the instrument through which He inspired most of the New Testament?
• Principle: God chooses the lowly, unworthy, and inadequate to do His work.
• It is a greater demonstration of God’s grace and power to convert a persecutor of Christ than to convert the average agnostic.
• 1 Cor 1:27-30. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
• 1 Cor 2:1-5. When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.
• Argument from the greater to the lesser: If God demonstrates His power in salvation by saving sinners, then will He not also demonstrate His power in giving us the ability and desire to obey and serve Him every day, even though we continue to sin?
• Rom 5:6-8. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• Rom 8:32. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

• When God gives me gifts to serve Him and fulfill the ministry, are they because of anything we have done, or even because of who we are?
• Grace and gifts are inseparably linked. We know that the gift of eternal life was given to us on the basis of God’s grace alone. Likewise, the spiritual gifts have been given to us on the basis of God’s grace alone.
• Rom 12:6a. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
• 1 Pet 4:10. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.
• The Greek root for "grace" and "gift" are the same:
• Charis means "grace"
• Charisma means "gift"
• So we can never earn the privilege of ministry based on our hard work, or faithfulness, or sacrifice, because the ministry itself is a gift from God. In short, we are unworthy to receive this great privilege.

• Read 1 Cor 15:9-10. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
• Who remembers the two definitions of grace that we’ve been studying in the "sufficiency of grace" series of studies? (1) God’s unmerited favor, (2) God’s power and desire
• How is Paul’s unworthiness met by God’s grace in this passage? How is Paul’s inadequacy met by God’s grace in this passage?
• Unworthiness is met by grace because it is God’s undeserved favor expressed toward us, and inadequacy is met by grace because it is God’s power and desire given to us.

• Quote: "Looking back to his acknowledgement of unworthiness in verse 9, his statement would appear to mean, ‘I am unworthy to be an apostle, but by God’s unmerited favor I am one.’ Looking forward to the remainder of verse 10, however, where Paul was speaking about the effects of God’s grace on his ministry, it would appear to mean, ‘By God’s enabling power I am an effective apostle.’ I believe both of these meanings of grace are incorporated in Paul’s statement…. When [Paul] said, ‘But by the grace of God, I am what I am,’ he was saying, ‘I am an apostle as a result of God’s unmerited favor shown to me and as a result of God’s enabling power at work in me’" (TG, pg 158-9).

• So, according to God, what are the qualifications to be a minister of His Gospel?
• The qualifications are to be unworthy and inadequate.
• Do you meet any of these qualifications?

• But God not only accepts people who are unworthy and inadequate to enter into His service, but He actually insists, and in fact, demands that His servants be unworthy and inadequate in and of themselves. Why?
• Our weakness clears the way for God’s power to operate. When there’s less of me, there’s more of God.
• Mt 5:3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Js 4:6,10. But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble…." Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
• 2 Cor 12:9-10. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
• Quote: "[God] glories in calling into His service people who are neither worthy nor adequate. He makes them worthy in Christ alone, never in themselves. Then He makes them adequate through the mighty working of His Spirit within them" (TG, 159).
• Quote: "Sometimes when I am introduced as a speaker, I cringe inwardly as the person introducing me waxes eloquent about my accomplishments. I sit there and think, What if they knew the other side of the story? Would they all get up and leave? Yet ironically, it is the other side of the story, the humiliations and the heartaches, the failures and frustrations—not the successes and accomplishments—that have qualified me to be there to speak. Those difficult times have driven me to the Lord. I’ll be honest. It wasn’t that I wanted to lean on God; I had no other choice. But I am finally learning that in weakness I find strength—His strength" (TG, pg 148).

• How serious should we be in carrying out the ministry of God to those in need?
• Think of it this way:
• We are tools of God through which He does eternal business.
• God allows us to participate in the very thing that the Bible says angels rejoice over: one repentant sinner.
• We are the ones whom God has commissioned to bring the Good News to the lost. Isa 52:7. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
• Think of the most amazingly beautiful place in this world. Would it be a sunset over the Grand Canyon? A helicopter flight through the Swiss Alps? It doesn’t compare with the beauty of setting a person free with the Gospel of salvation to a person who is enslaved to his own desires. In fact, all of creation is affected by man’s sin and redemption.
• Rom 8:19-22. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
• Our task is the ministry of reconciliation: Being agents through which God brings His children back to Him.
• 2 Cor 5:19b-20a. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
• Quote: "It is an awesome thing to attempt to speak on behalf of God. Yet that is exactly what we do when we teach, or preach, or write…. Anytime we say or write something that we hold out to be biblical truth, we are putting ourselves in the position of being God’s spokesman" (TG, pgs 156-157). 1 Pet 4:11a. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.
• With responsibility comes accountability. Paul spoke of God before the people, knowing that God was observing ("we speak before God"). 2 Cor 2:17. Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
• Bridge’s personal example: teaching Sunday School with the president of the seminary present as a student. How much more should we be aware of God’s gaze?
• How serious are we actually in carrying out the ministry of God to those in need?
• We let that which is visible and temporal command our attention and desires, thus quenching those things that are invisible and eternal.
• We acknowledge that evangelism and outreach is serious in our minds, but when it comes to action, we’re sorely lacking, and action is where the seriousness counts!
• Realizing the seriousness of the Gospel forces us to throw our hands up and say, "I’m unworthy! I’m inadequate!" Then, we’re finally in a position to gain God’s strength for the ministry.

Sufficient Grace for Our Unworthiness and Inadequacy

• What, then, will give us the courage to undertake or continue to teach the Scriptures or, for that matter to exercise any other spiritual gift?
• 2 Cor 4:1. Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
• Ex 3:10-12a. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." 11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12 And God said, "I will be with you."
• Isa 43:2-3a. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
• Isa 45:2-3. I will go before you and will level the mountains ; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
• Quote: "When we discover we are weak in ourselves, we find we are strong in Christ. When we regard ourselves as the less than the least of all God’s people, we are given some immense privilege of serving in the Kingdom. When we almost despair over our inadequacy, we find the Holy Spirit giving us unusual ability. We shake our heads in amazement and say with Isaiah, ‘Lord, … all that we have accomplished you have done for us’" (Isa 26:12).
• Quote: "Yet the duties God requires of us are not in proportion to the strength we possess in ourselves. Rather, they are proportional to the resources available to us in Christ. We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God’s tasks" (TG, John Owen, 164).
• 2 Cor 3:5-6a. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant
• God has the hard job! We have the easy job!
• The easy job is taking the message to the uttermost ends of the earth, and scattering the seed of the Word of God. Every Christian has the capacity to do this.
• The hard job is to "level the mountain" of rebellion and resistance in an unbeliever’s heart. God is the One who convicts and saves!

• Our sense of unworthiness and inadequacy need to continue to deepen as we walk with God. Why do you suppose that’s true?
• Share the Wedge illustration ("He must become greater; I must become less")
• What happens when we lose the balance of unworthiness and responsibility?
• Quote: "To lose sight of our unworthiness is to risk exercising our gifts and fulfilling our ministries in a spirit of presumptuous pride, as if God were fortunate to have us on His team" (TG, 158).
• We usually lose sight of our responsibility because we are too focussed on our own unworthiness or inadequacy.
• Quote: "To focus too much on our unworthiness, to the neglect of God’s grace, will effectively immobilize us for His service" (TG, 158).

• Quote: "This is the amazing story of God’s grace. God saves us by His grace and transforms us more and more into the likeness of His Son by His grace. In all our trials and afflictions, He sustains and strengthens us by His grace. He calls us by grace to perform our own unique function within the Body of Christ. Then, again by grace, He gives to each of us the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill our calling. As we serve Him, He makes that service acceptable to Himself by grace, and then rewards us a hundredfold by grace" (TG, pg 170).

Conclusion

• The qualifications of carrying out God’s ministry is unworthiness and inadequacy.
• God demands that we be unworthy and inadequate, so that He can demonstrate His own power in our lives and the lives of others through us.
• The ministry is an awesome responsibility. All of creation hangs off of ministry.
• God gives us the grace to meet this awesome responsibility every day.
• The Wedge illustration demonstrates at least two things:
• As we grow in our knowledge of God, and as we grow in our knowledge of our own unworthiness, Christ is exalted, because He gives us our worth.
• It also demonstrates that as we increase our understanding of the awesome responsibility of the ministry, and as we grow in our knowledge of our own inability to do the ministry, Christ is exalted, because He gives us our strength.

Applications. How do these truths affect your understanding of evangelism and discipleship?

Appropriating God’s Grace (Bridge to next Study)

• Quote (TG, pg 151): "God said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you." God, who is "the God of all grace" (1 Pet 5:10), is the giver of grace, but that does not mean we Christians are passive recipients of it. Rather, we are to appropriate His grace…. Just as the Israelites had to gather day-by-day the manna God graciously provided, so we must appropriate day-by-day the grace that is always sufficient for every need.
• We’ve established that God’s grace is something to be gained, because it provides for our needs. So how do we use it? What are some ways that we can appropriate, or apply, God’s grace to our lives?

• [Put this near the end of this section] Quote (TG, pgs 151-2): "Timothy needed moral strength because he was prone to timidity. So Paul wrote, "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. What is your greatest need just now? Is it contentment in a very difficult situation? Paul would say to you, "Be content in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Is it patience or forbearance in very trying circumstances? Then be patient in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Is it moral purity in a romantic relationship? Then be pure in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Whatever your need at the time, you too can experience the reality of God’s words to Paul: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ God’s grace is sufficient. It is sufficient for all your needs; it is sufficient regardless of the severity of any one need. The Israelites never exhausted God’s supply of manna. It was always there to be gathered every day for forty years. And you will never exhaust the supply of God’s grace. It will always be there every day for you to appropriate as much as you need for whatever your need is."
•  
• Jn 15:5b. …apart from me you can do nothing.
• Read Rom 8:32. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
• Read 2 Pet 1:3. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

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This page was last edited on 19 Dec 1999.