come and drink

The Horror of Hording God’s Grace

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1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
    and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

11 We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13 In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also. – 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 ESV

Paul ended the last section of his letter with the appeal, “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21 ESV).

Now Paul states that he and his fellow apostles and missionaries are working alongside the Lord as His ambassadors, appealing to the Corinthians “not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1b ESV). Throughout his letter, Paul has addressed the Corinthians as fellow believers, his brothers and sisters in Christ. So why would he mention receiving the grace of God in vain? Is he questioning their salvation or implying that they have abandoned the Lord? That seems unlikely, so he must be inferring that they are not taking full advantage of the grace bestowed upon them at their salvation. The New Living Translation of verse 1 seems to reflect Paul’s intent.

We beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. – 2 Corinthians 6:1b NLT

At salvation, God pours out His grace (unmerited favor) in abundance, but it doesn’t stop there. He has given every believer the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit, providing them with His power, guidance, and divine discernment. He adopts them into His family and places them within the body of Christ, surrounding them with the love and support of His people. He gives them His written Word, which provides them with insights into His character, access to truth and wisdom for living in this world, and hope for the future. All of this is an aspect of His grace. And yet, as believers, we can receive that grace in vain. We can under-appreciate it, under-utilize it, overlook it, and simply ignore it, to our own detriment.

The grace of God was essential to Paul, not only for salvation, but for life. It was a common thing for Paul to express his love for the church by extending his desire that they know the fullness of God’s grace. This often took the place of a salutation or benediction in his letters.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. – 2 Corinthians 13:14 NLT

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 1:3 ESV

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ… – Galatians 1:3 ESV

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. – Ephesians 1:2 ESV

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:2 ESV

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. – Philippians 4:23 ESV

To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. – Colossians 1:2 ESV

The grace of God is not to be seen as a once-in-a-lifetime gift that we receive at salvation, but a resource that lasts a lifetime. God is always extending His grace to His children. In fact, Paul quotes from Isaiah 49, a prophetic passage about the coming Messiah. In it, God promised His anointed one: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people” (Isaiah 49:8 ESV).

God’s grace is always timely and never late. His grace shows up in perfect alignment with His will. Even though Jesus suffered in His earthly ministry and was rejected by His own people, God showed Him favor and extended His grace by raising Jesus back to life after having suffered a gruesome death as payment for the sins of men.

Paul says that same kind of grace is available to the Corinthians and they are not to treat it contemptuously or take it for granted. He uses himself as an example of what grace looks like in everyday life:

…we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. – 2 Corinthians 6:4-7 NLT

Being ambassadors for Christ and sharing the good news of His death and resurrection was not easy. It required a constant dependence upon the grace (unmerited favor) of God. Paul and his companions regularly suffered for their efforts. They knew first-hand what it was like to face rejection and ridicule. Their ministry of reconciliation wasn’t always met with open arms or receptive hearts. But by the grace of God, they soldiered on. And Paul wants the Corinthians to understand that God has called them to live their lives in the same way: dependent upon God’s grace as they willingly submit to God’s will.

Paul’s desire was for the Corinthians to experience the full extent of God’s grace and to extend that grace to others, including to him. Which led him to say, “Oh, dear Corinthian friends! We have spoken honestly with you, and our hearts are open to you. There is no lack of love on our part, but you have withheld your love from us. I am asking you to respond as if you were my own children. Open your hearts to us!” (2 Corinthians 6:11-13 NLT).

Grace is meant to be received and shared; it is not intended to dead-end on us, but to flow through us to others. We need God’s grace to live the life He has called us to live. But that undeserved and unlimited grace needs to flow through our hearts and into the lives of those with whom we live and interact every day. We are to be the conduits of His grace, passing it on to all those who need to know the message of His love, mercy, and forgiveness found in Jesus.

As Paul states, “The ‘right time’ is now. Today is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT). God’s grace is always timely, and the time to share it is now.

Father, Your grace is a gift, but for some reason, as Christians, we tend to horde it like it belongs to us. But grace was never meant to stop with us; it was always intended to flow from us to others. The beauty of grace is that it is the gift that keeps on giving. The more I receive, the more I have to give away to those around me. If I fail to do so, I become like the Dead Sea, a body of water that has no outlet. Fresh water flows in, but neverr flows out. The result is a stagnant and salt-infused sea that cannot quench thirst or sustain life. I don’t want my life to be that way. I want to serve as a PVC pipe in your mission of redemption, delivering Your life-giving grace to all those who thirst after righteousness. This world is full of people who are literally dying of spiritual thirst. That is why Your Son offered the gracious invitation: “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart’” (John 7:37-38 NLT). I have drunk from the fountain of Your grace, now help me to share it with others. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Double Iniquity.

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Samaria’s king shall perish like a twig on the face of the waters. The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,” and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel; there they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah? When I please, I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their double iniquity.

Ephraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will put Ephraim to the yoke; Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself. Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. – Hosea 10:7-12 ESV

Over in the book of Jeremiah, God accused the nations of Judah of having done something even the pagan nations would have never considered. “Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit” (Jeremiah 2:11 ESV). Even the idol-worshiping pagan nations would have never dreamed of abandoning their false god for another one. And yet, the people of Judah had forsaken the one true God for a plethora of false gods. And God went on to say, “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13 ESV). They had turned their backs on God, the source of all life, hope, blessing and fruitfulness. Like a source of clear water in the desert, God was to have been vital to their very existence. But instead of relying on His life-giving sustenance, they turned to man-made sources of help and hope that could never deliver. Like cracked cisterns that could not hold water, their idols would prove to be incapable of meeting the expectations of the people of Judah. They had left God and replaced Him with false gods.

The people of northern nation of Israel were guilty of the very same thing. Which is why God warned them that they would be “bound up for their double iniquity” (Hosea 10:10 ESV). Their destruction was coming at the hands of the Assyrians. Their guilt was long-standing, going all the way back to the events surrounding Gibeah. It was there that the concubine of a visiting Levite was brutally raped and murdered by the men of the town who were actually desirous of having sexual relationships with the Levite. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, this town had become highly immoral and completely corrupt. And God accused the entire nation of having followed the example of Gibeah. Immorality, corruption, idolatry, and moral decay had spread throughout the nation. Now God was going to discipline them for their unfaithfulness.

The king and his capital city of Samaria would be destroyed. The high places where the Israelites worshiped their false gods would be abandoned and overgrown with weeds. The city of Bethel, which meant “house of God” would become known as Beth-aven (house of wickedness or vanity). They had abandoned God and now they would discover what it was like to have God abandon them. They would find out what it was like to no longer have His hand protecting them or providing for them.

God compared Israel to a young heifer used for threshing grain. In the early days of His relationship with the nation of Israel, they had enjoyed a unique and relatively easy relationship with Him. Threshing involved a cow or ox walking over the recently harvested wheat in order to separate the edible grain from the chaff. The cow was unmuzzled and free to eat the grain as it worked. It was rewarded for its labor. But now Israel was going to learn what it was like to be under the yoke of oppression, laboring under the hand of its new master, the Assyrians. Rather than threshing grain for God, they would plow for their oppressors. But God told them it was not too late. Even in their captivity, they could seek Him. So He encouraged them, “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12 NLT). While living in exile in Assyria, they could seek God. They could choose to do His will. As they endured God’s loving discipline, they could respond in repentance, turning from their idolatry and renewing their commitment to and dependence upon Him.

They had committed two sins: They had forsaken God and then tried to replace Him with gods of their own making. And while God, because of His holiness and justice, was required to punish them for their sins, He was also willing to forgive and restore them. But they must willingly return to Him. They must forsake their false gods and return to the fountain of living water. It was Jesus who said, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart’” (John 7:37 NLT). He told the woman at the well, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (John 4:13-14 NLT). God is all about restoration and renewal. He wants to redeem the lost and restore the wandering. So He calls. He invites. 

“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food. Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.” – Isaiah 55:1-3 NLT