GRACE GIVING
Matt. 10:7-8
Morning Meditation 3/1/17
Verse 7-8 says, “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”
The disciples are being given what is called the limited commission. Here the Lord is sending His disciples to the nation of Israel. The Great Commission is for the whole world. But this commission is limited in that respect. He is instructing them in the use of the gifts that He has given them. He said, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” The word “freely” translates “dorean” and means, “freely, undeservedly.” Jesus is saying, “I am giving you power to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils. I am not giving you the power to do these things because you are worthy. You have this power as a free unmerited gift. You did nothing to earn it.” This is what grace is. Jesus is saying, “If you run into a situation when you think that the use of these gifts is not merited, just remember you received the power to do them freely without merit. So, they are to be given by you without merit”
Jesus is sending these apostles out to represent Him. They are to be His image wherever they go. It is hard for the natural man to imagine the concept of grace when it comes to giving. It is not nearly as hard to accept it when it comes to receiving, i.e., receiving salvation free and without merit. But when we are asked, as His children, to represent Him in the matter of giving, this is almost too difficult.
Let’s look at John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” There is nothing in this verse that even faintly implies that man merits this love. The one condition to receiving eternal life that comes at God’s expense is to believe. Faith is non meritorious. Faith honors not itself but the One in whom it is placed. Paul says in 2 Cor. 8:9, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” Both of these verses are talking about the same thing. It is “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” that caused Him to leave heaven and come to earth to die on the cross for our sins. He did not come because mankind merited this salvation. He came because of “grace.” Grace is the unmerited favor of God, of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit.
When I speak of the grace of giving, I am not just talking about giving money. I am talking about giving our lives to reflect His image in all that we say or do. When we do this we must do it in His name with no strings attached.
Have you ever helped some needy person with a special gift and did it in a way that they could not find out where the gift came from? When you do this, this person can’t thank you because he does not know where the gift came from. You are not earning points with him so that he might return a favor to you at some future time. Jesus didn’t work a miracle because the person on whom the miracle was wrought deserved it. That was never the motive in what Jesus did. Jesus is the embodiment of grace. He is the definition of grace wrapped in human skin. He forgave and restored the woman caught in the act of adultery as recorded in John 8:11. This woman did not have time to make amends. When Jesus forgave her, the sin no longer existed. He told her to “go, and sin no more.” This was not a meritorious condition being added but an admonition to live holy now that you are set free from the sin and its penalty.
2 Cor. 8:9, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” The words “ye know” means that the Corinthians already knew what Paul was telling them in this verse. They knew that the grace concept is married to Jesus and His condescension from heaven’s glory to the cruel treachery of the cross. He had to sacrifice His riches to redeem us and give us a home with Him forever. This is grace. God freely gave and Jesus died for us without a moments hesitation. When He saves a sinner today, He does not examine the sinners record (and He does have a record of every sin committed in thought or deed) to see if that sinner has gone too far. He does not check to see if he merits forgiveness. This is grace. The words “through His poverty might be rich” describes the action of grace. The merit described in this statement is “through His poverty.” Nothing is said of the sinners merit. We are saved because of what He did for us. Amen!
Grace giving takes place at the point where we are willing to be His mind to think and communicate His thoughts, His heart of compassion toward those in need, His hands to help the fallen get back on his feet, His feet to carry the gospel to others. What God’s grace has freely given us, we are to freely give to others.
This means that what we give is not to be done on the basis of merit. Does this man deserve my gift? The question should be resolved in the follow way: First, is there a need here that needs to be met. Second, has God given me the ability to meet that need? Third, is He leading me to meet that need? You will know if you ask yourself these three questions. The Holy Spirit will definitely let you know what to do.
Now if you start asking questions that come from the old sin nature, you will immediately run into trouble. This will so confuse you that you will probably not be able settle the issue properly in your mind. For instance you may ask yourself, “If I give to this person, do I have a guarantee that my gift will be used correctly? If I help this person buy groceries, will he use some of the money to buy something that I don’t approve of?” If one has to decide the merit of the gift, IT IS NOT A GRACE GIFT AND IT DOES NOT IMAGE JESUS CHRIST. You are on you own. You reflect the old sin nature not Jesus.
Grace giving is hard on the flesh. You will have to die to your own personal rationalism. Your gift is first of all to the Lord. He will make a record and reward you for it in His own time. You are not to become a secret service agent after you have followed His prompting to give to make sure that the gift is used properly. If the Lord leads you to reflect Him in giving, your stewardship responsibility for the gift ended when you gave it. You gave it in His stead and He is able take care of it from now on.
He may lead you to give to someone who is to your knowledge totally unworthy of the gift. I ask you, are you committed to the Lord to the extent that you will follow his prompting to give to someone you know is not worthy of the gift? God gives to people He knows is not worthy of the gift. If you are not that committed, you need to be. First of all, you would never get anything from the Lord yourself if the Lord waited until you merited it. Now I don’t mean to be mean. But it is a fact. We receive grace from the Lord every day we live. We are so used to it, we fail many times to even thank Him for it. If we receive His unmerited favor on a daily basis, how can we turn and demand merit on the part of those to whom we give? That is, unless we actually think that we deserve what we get from the Lord, and the other one does not. If that is how we think, then our understanding of grace is faulty.
Paul said to Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:1, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” The words “be strong” translates “endunamoo” and means, “to be strong or endued with strength.” It is a present passive imperative verb. The present tense means that Timothy needs to be continuously endued with grace. The passive voice means that this will come to Timothy from the Lord. It is not something that one can work up. The imperative mood is a command that expresses urgency. If we are going to be Christ’s ambassadors to represent Him, grace must always be in control of our lives. Paul urges Timothy to be strong is the grace that is in Christ Jesus. If grace is in Christ and we are in Christ, then it can be imparted to us. What I am saying is that grace does not come naturally. It is impossible for the natural man to give without expecting something in return. God originated grace and He gives grace most of the time through His yielded saints.
We have two missionary homes and an apartment that we use to help our own missionaries who are home on furlough. We also use them to help missionaries who are traveling though our area on deputation. The homes were built by our church as a means to help God’s men. We operate them on the basis of grace. There are no charges. Over the past several years we have had things happen that helped us discover if we really had the grace concept in this ministry. We have had pillows disappear, sheets disappear, equipment damaged without anyone saying a thing. These things would be discovered by those who cleaned up the homes and apartment after the missionary and family would leave. Now the rationalism of the world is, “You would think if we are giving this to the missionaries free of charge, they would not take our sheets with them when they leave!!! Or, they would tell us that equipment is damaged.” When this was brought to my attention, and it usually came to my attention through my wife, I said, “Go to Walmart, buy replacements and don’t say a word. There are no strings attached to the use of these homes and apartment.” What I have just said is against what my flesh wants to say. But I refuse to allow the flesh to control how I act or react to any situation. Now that does not mean that it is right for people to take advantage of a grace situation. But that is their problem. It is my responsibility to act in Jesus’ behalf and to do this there must be no strings attached to the gifts.
Grace giving is giving without strings. If I give you something, you are not under any obligation to me for the gift. Some of you may have a problem with this concept of grace. If you do, just pick up your Bible and study it for yourself. It is there. Why isn’t this taught more? Because it is so contrary to the flesh. It is a concept that makes one vulnerable to abuse. But listen closely to what I am about to say. If you are not willing to get hurt, you will never never never be used to reflect Christ’s image to the world around you. You must be willing to die to self and be hurt by many. The following is the only protection we have: First, is there a need to be met? Second, has God given me the ability to meet that need? Third, is He leading me to meet that need? You will know if you ask yourself these three questions. The Holy Spirit will definitely let you know what to do.. If He leads you to give, then this stops all the questions that the flesh can come up with.
Grace giving is giving that is free with no-strings-attached. If you decide to give with no strings attached, you will have the opportunity to see what your flesh is really like, and then on the other hand, to represent Jesus in a way that will demonstrate practically the greatness of grace and the very nature of God. This will only happen through the filling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in our text, “freely ye have received, freely give.”
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts..
In Christ
Bro. White
