In Sorrow and In Rejoicing

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1, 448 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Peyton Garland: Hey, I'm Peyton Garland. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to find the grace to forgive yourself and others is key.

[00:00:24] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Maderer.

[00:00:39] Scott Maderer: And living in relationship with neighbors and strangers and those that are judged and those that are kicked out and those that are mistreated and loving them anyway. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live out our grace and our life by opening ourselves up to [00:01:00] relationship Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:07] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others,

[00:01:35] In today's Spiritual Foundation episode, I talk about 2 Corinthians 6, verses 1 13. I share how grace isn't meant to be a meaningless thing, and I also share how grace should lead to action and change. 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verses 1 through 13 says as we work together with him we urge you [00:02:00] also not to accept the grace of God in vain for he says at an acceptable time I've listened to you and on a day of salvation I have helped you see now is the acceptable time see now is the day of salvation we are putting no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry But as servants of God, we have commended ourselves in every way, through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonment, riots, labor, sleepless nights, hunger, by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left, in honor and dishonor, Amen.

[00:02:48] In ill repute and in good repute, We are treated as imposters and yet are true, As unknown and yet are well known, As dying and see we are alive, [00:03:00] As punished and yet not killed, As sorrowful yet always rejoicing, As poor yet making many rich, As having nothing and yet possessing everything. We have spoken frankly to you, Corinthians.

[00:03:15] Our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return, I speak as to children, open wide your hearts also. This passage is one of those from Paul in a letter that he was writing to the church in Cornuth. There's a lot of different things in these letters to the Corinthians that I think are challenging to our way of thinking about the church and are very timely in a way as well.

[00:03:48] So Paul begins with, How do you accept the grace of God? And he talks about not doing it in vain. But it seems odd to ask that question. How can you accept the grace of God in [00:04:00] vain? We talk about the grace of God. Grace is grace. Grace comes from God. God has the working. God has the power. It's in God's hand, not ours.

[00:04:12] At least, that's often how we understand it. Our job is to receive this grace. We put up our hands, we accept it, we say yes, and grace pours in. Paul, at least, is challenging a little bit of that understanding, at least when it comes to this church and Cornuth. And we have to admit that the church in Cornuth if you study this church it's certainly nothing like the church today.

[00:04:41] He calls out the fact that they're struggling to get along with one another. There's feelings of superiority, that my theology is right and yours is wrong. Don't do the things that the world wants to do. Oh, you are. There's questionable relationships. There's, All sorts of challenging theology going [00:05:00] on and arguments about what does this mean or what does that mean?

[00:05:05] After all, nothing like the church today. Yeah, it's exactly like the church today. We have that going on in many of the churches today. And that's what he's writing about when he says, Don't accept the grace of God in vain. that word that he uses in vain, he uses in other places. He talks about his own ministry in this way.

[00:05:31] He talks about other things in this way. It can be translated as meaning vain or meaning empty. So we could also read this as don't let your faith be empty. Don't let the grace that you have received be a gift that you get that doesn't bear fruit. Don't do it And just accept it and sit passively back.

[00:05:54] Let there be some evidence of your faith in how you live, in what you do, in [00:06:00] how you engage with the world around you. This isn't him saying that you earn faith. This isn't him saying go out and do good works and through those works you'll gain faith. Instead he's saying if you've truly received grace, there will be evidence, there will be signs, there will be fruit.

[00:06:19] Because that faith will not be empty. that faith will not be accepted in vain. Accepting the gift of grace in vain means nothing is done with it. Nothing changes. There's no change internally. There's no change externally. There's no action. There's nothing. Emptiness. True grace is transforming. Grace is fruit producing.

[00:06:49] It's not really a partnership, though. This is the tricky part of the relationship. God, the giver of grace, chooses to work with you rather than in [00:07:00] spite of you. God chooses to invite us and give us a choice rather than overwhelm us. Whether you think God is the pilot or the co pilot, it doesn't matter.

[00:07:12] There's still a seat for you. It's a relationship, not a dictatorship. Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation. There's no need to wait. That's what Paul is saying. That it isn't about what happens in the afterlife, it's about what we do in the world today. Effort can be expended now. Hope can be lived in grace.

[00:07:37] Grace can be full and fulfilled now. And then Paul offers up his own life, not as a boast, but as a sign that grace is at work in him and through him. That's that long litany of all of the ways that his life has not been easy. See, that's what I think. A lot of times we think that grace, [00:08:00] once we've received it, is supposed to make our life simple or comfortable, and yet actually it makes it more complicated and more difficult.

[00:08:07] Where grace is made full, where life is embraced, where love is embraced. That's where difficulties and heartaches and anger and fear and sorrow. That's where all of that happens. When we rally around one another, when we enter into relationship and hardship with each other, when we endure, even when others tell us that we're wrong or that hate is there or call out messages of judgment and pain, that's still a moment that we are meant to show the fruit of grace.

[00:08:46] How then do we activate grace? How then do we make sure that we're not accepting grace in vain? Paul's advice is simple. and nearly impossible all at the same time. He says, [00:09:00] open your hearts. Open your heart. Risk loving. Risk being vulnerable. Risk the possibility of being hurt, so that we can approach the possibility of knowing joy.

[00:09:17] Reach out. Connect with others. Risk being rejected. Risk that so you can have the possibility of relationship. Share Christ, maybe with words, maybe with our own story, but often first with action. By living in relationship with neighbors and strangers and those that are judged and those that are kicked out and those that are mistreated and loving them anyway.

[00:09:44] Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live out our grace and our life by opening ourselves up to relationship and open our hearts and trust in the abundance of [00:10:00] God's good grace. Thanks for listening.

[00:10:08] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, go over to facebook. com slash inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market.

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