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Series: Grace
20 January 2013 – Kobus Swart
(Ps. 34:8); Eph. 2:4-9 (Msg); 2 Cor. 12:1-10; 2 Cor. 9:8; Matt. 4:4; Matt. 6:25-30; Gal. 6:6-10
O taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8). There is something hidden in that statement. Taste and then see. When you taste something, you will get the vision. If we major only on the vision and the people do not taste, then they are not going to see. It is not just about the vision, but about the people having tasted it and connecting with it.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:4-9). We have not been saved by our own doing. Works and grace do not work together. Grace is not just about being saved; grace is an endowment from God. For example, the five-fold ministry gifts are there because of graces assigned to them. Each one of the five-fold ministries carries a different configuration of grace. It is something God gives with a purpose, i.e. to take the believer further than just being saved! Grace is a gift from God; in fact, grace is the highest quality of good.
The scriptures only highlight different aspects of God. God is light, God is love, God is spirit, and a fourth characteristic of God is that He is good (Ps. 34:8). If God is good, then God is grace; and if God is grace then He is supply. People only see supply as money. I want this to form the basis for the major transitions we will embark on in this year.
Paul was a seeker and a serious student of the word. There was a revelation communicated to him which transformed his whole life (2 Cor. 12:1-6). Paul was given a thorn in the flesh to keep him from exalting himself (2 Cor. 12:7). God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12: 9). Every grace carrier in this season will have a “thorn” in the flesh, to keep him/her from boasting. Weakness is our introduction to God’s grace (2 Cor. 12: 10). (Don’t ever confuse your condition with your position!). Grace is an empowerment that we need. It has nothing to do with works, but everything to do with His supply, His goodness in our lives. When I am weak, then I am strong. Paul did not say, “When I am weak, then He is strong in me.” He does not confess two-ness, but one-ness.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed (2 Cor. 9:8). This is not talking about things in the spirit but about abundance and supply, by grace. man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god (Matt. 4:4). That which is visible comes from that which is invisible. Nothing that is formed has not been there from the beginning, it came from that which was not visible and it became matter. In Christ matter becomes spirit. Jesus in His resurrection body demonstrated that, He was physical but then He could walk through walls. He represents a way of life that awaits you and me, where matter and spirit are no longer divided; it represents another realm. It is physical yet it is spiritual. It is the materialising of spirit.
We have to become a walking demonstration of a people of grace. For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! (Matt. 6:25-30). It may help if we go into nature and just look, and think and meditate.
It is through grace, through the goodness of the God who loves us that supply will come to you and me. By grace, that which is spirit will materialise into clothes, food and whatever we need to live a decent life. It is the good God by His grace who brought supply into our lives. When I am weak, then I am strong, and I operate not through works, but through grace. God transmits to me what I need from the invisible, spiritual realm into my life; and that includes money when needed.
Every believer in this household should make a commitment with me from this time forward; a commitment to move from being a spectator to becoming a participant; to move from glaring at the vision to tasting the goodness of God. To taste means to participate. You have to take a bite, you have to chew it. I am looking for participants who will say, “Count me in. I will look at my neighbour and help where needed.” Do not be so vision oriented that you forget you are running the race with somebody else. Only one will cross the finishing line, and that one is the corporate man.