Going on in grace a powerful invitation 2 Cor.6:1-13
Intro: My last message to you was an appeal, an invitation to go on in Grace. Go on in letting God stoop and bend to you in your circumstances; Go on in allowing Christ to be your life; go on in the freedom that God set you free to enjoy; go on in grace and don’t let anyone put you back under law; It was Paul’s message first and last’; He began with the message of grace and when he was saying his good by’s he was commending them to the message of grace.
God’s grace is the most phenomenal story in the Bible. It is the central theme of Scripture, how God stoops and bends to man to bring him into a relationship with Himself, not based on works but on the grace of God.
Today we find another place where Paul invites a group of people to go on in Grace. He wrote two letters to this church and some even think he wrote them three. They had all kinds of problems. Relationship problems that would stagger us. And in this particular letter he is writing to people who have criticized him almost unmercifully. They question his authenticity and his sincerity. And in the midst of this he writes to them about grace. He knows that if they ever change it will be God’s grace that affected that change. See Titus 2:11. And his invitation to them is centered on grace. APPLICATION: Do you want to see change in someone’s life? Yours etc; Grace is the answer look at what Paul writes to them.
1. Don’t waste grace; 6:1-2; don’t receive the grace of God in vain; what does he mean when he says this? Lets look at the next verse and it should tell us. This verse is found in the book of Isa.49: 1-17; Context: Israel in captivity, in despair, abhorred one; a servant of rulers; and what does God do in that situation? He hears their cry and their plea, He listen to them and helped them in the day of trouble, Paul uses this verse to say the same thing to the Cor. He has heard you in your acceptable time, listen to Him today is your day of trouble; Listen to him. Don’t waste this grace. God is stooping and bending to you don’t let it be without purpose. Don’t let it be in vain. Don’t waste this opportunity to reconcile, to take someone back. The day of salvation, it could be the day your marriage was saved, or the kids are back on your team. Now is the acceptable time for Him to do for you what you cannot do. Allow grace to be applied to all of our relationships. Today DEPEND on him. LISTEN TO HIM. Don’t waste grace. What if Peter had wasted His grace at the sea of Tiberas? We have seen don’t waste grace in relationships, and I think in our everyday walk as well. Eph. 4:1 and following. Walk worthy of the calling by which you have been called. Phil, “let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus”; Romans 12:1; Therefore present your bodies a living sacrifice”; God wants to work out what he has worked in. Titus 2:11, the grace of God has appeared teaching us to deny ungodliness etc.” Another thing he says to them here in his invitation:
2. Don’t put off grace; v3-13; I like the Message Translation Here listen to what it says; 2 Cor. 6:3-10
Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing. [4] Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; [5] when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating; [6] with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love; [7] when we’re telling the truth, and when God’s showing his power; when we’re doing our best setting things right; [8] when we’re praised, and when we’re blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted; [9] ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die; [10] immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all. HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED HOW PEOPLE PUT OFF THE DAY THEIR “SALVATION” COULD BE DONE? I will resolve that tomorrow, or I have got to wait to get some other issues done. There is the procrastination. And Paul is saying here don’t put it off. The message of grace, and the power of God is validated by what we have gone through to get it to you, don’t frustrate it. Give God’s grace a chance. Let God bend and stoop to you, let him effect the change, surrender your pride and your will and humble yourself before the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? DON’T YOU THINK IT IS TIME TO LET GO OF YOUR SELF- LIFE AND ALLOW GOD’S GRACE TO TAKE AFFECT. TALK TO THE UNBELIVERS HERE AS WELL; ONE DAY YOU WILL NO LONGER HEAR AN INVITATION TO REPENT YOU WILL NO LONGER WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND TO GRACE AND GOD WILL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO EXCUTE HIS WRATH.
3. ENTER INTO THIS GRACE FILLED LIFE; V11-13; 2 Cor. 6:11-13
Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. [12] We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way [13] I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively! Why is it so difficult for someone to enter into such a wide-open spacious life? The freedom of living in a relationship with God that is not filled with fear and condemnation, that operates on friendship and fellowship is more than worth your pride. Your pride in wanting to do it yourself will take you down over a period of time. The closer the relationship the more traumatic will be the person. Pills will not solve your spiritual problems, problems such as unresolved anger, and unresolved guilt. ENTER INTO THE GRACE FILLED LIFE.
4. DON’T WALK AWAY FROM GRACE; His last appeal here in this section is pretty graphic. Don’t be yoked up with, get into the same harness with; leave the corruption and the compromise, God says He wants us all to ourselves. So many times people in pursuit of their own self-gratifying life have yoked up with unbelievers the results are not pretty. This scripture is as plain as it can get. I had someone say to me one time, “I’ll take my chances walking away from God’s will, and the end has not been pretty. They are living under grace but the consequences are about to destroy them. The unclean will make the clean unclean. Paul makes a practical argument here what fellowship does light and darkness have. Some people have gotten into harmful addictions because they yoked up with the unbelievers. There are also some unbelieving believers and sometimes we can get yoked up with them as well. Same end disaster waiting to happen. Grace is a powerful statement of God’s love and will for us, why would we waste it, why would we put off embracing it, why not enter it, and for your sake don’t walk away from it.
