Abounding In Grace
Steve W. Reeves
INTRODUCTION:
A. In
his book, Tell Me All About It, Jeffrey Zaslow tells the story of his
father coaching a “Pee Wee” baseball team of seven through nine year old boys. One of the boys had a
hard time understanding the fundamentals of the game. The team struggled all
season and never won a game. Finally, during the last inning of the last game there
was a ray of hope. With only one out left the team was behind by one run. On deck
was their best hitter. Before him, however, was the young boy who struggled. He had
never hit the ball and never made a catch. If, somehow, he could get on base there
was a decent chance they could tie or even win. Remarkably the boy hit the ball for a
single. He was grinning ear to ear. The next boy hit a pop up fly toward second base.
The boy who was on first began running toward second but when he saw the ball in
the air he stopped and caught it. His team lost. Everyone was devastated. The coach
ran to the boy, picked him up, hugged him and said, “Great job – you hit the ball and
caught it too.” One by one the other players came up to the boy and congratulated
him. They had every reason to be angry but they displayed an abundance of grace.
B. There are four verses in the New Testament where the words “grace” and
“abundance” appear together.
1. In Romans 5:15 Paul wrote, “For if by the transgression of the one the many died,
much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus
Christ, abound to the many.”
2. In Romans 5:20 we read, “But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
3. In 2 Corinthians 4:15 Paul wrote, “For all things are for your sakes, so that the
grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks
to abound to the glory of God.”
4. In 2 Corinthians 9:8 the apostle Paul wrote, “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.”
C. God does not “skimp” when it comes to grace. He pours it out freely and lavishly
upon us. Just as God’s grace abounds to us He expects us to abound in grace
towards others.
1. When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians he provided an example of Christians who
abounded in grace towards others. These Christians resided in a region of
northern Greece known as Macedonia.
2. In Acts 16:9, when Paul, Silas and Timothy were at Troas, Paul had a vision of a
man of Macedonia standing and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
3. Among the churches established by Paul in this region were Philippi and
Thessalonica.
4. In 2 Corinthians 8-9 Paul urged the Corinthians to abound in grace just as their
countrymen to the north had abounded.
D. In our ongoing discussions on grace it would serve us well to ask, “What does it
mean to “abound in grace?”
I. WE APPRECIATE THE BLESSINGS WE HAVE RECEIVED
A. According to 2 Corinthians 4:15 Paul’s hope was that the “giving of thanks might
abound to the glory of God.”
1. Every person must make a choice.
2. You will abound in appreciation or abound in adversity. You will abound in grace
or you will abound in gloom and doom. You cannot do both.
B. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he asked for their help in meeting the needs of
destitute Christians in Judea. In 1 Corinthians 16:2 he had instructed them, “On the
first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may
prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.”
1. In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 he continued his appeal but urging the Corinthians to
follow the example of their countrymen in the north (Macedonia).
B. Notice Paul’s use of the word “grace” in 2 Corinthians 8.
1. In verse 1 he wrote, “We want to make known to you the grace of God which
has been made known to the churches of Macedonia.”
2. In verse 9 Paul reminded the Corinthians that they, too, have been recipients of
God’s grace. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He
was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty
might become rich.”
C. The Macedonians were suffering.
1. Their land had been ravaged by civil uprising and natural disasters.
2. Their economy had been decimated to the point that they were exempt from
paying Roman taxes.
3. In the midst of their suffering grace abounded in them. Verse 3 says, “That in a
great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty
overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.”
D. They had so very little but they abounded in a grace filled attitude. Today, we have
so very much but display very little grace towards others.
E, Twenty years ago I spent several weeks preaching in Donetsk, Ukraine. One
evening our mission group was invited into the home of an elderly woman for a
meal. It was a small house. Obviously, she was very poor. We ate “borsch,” (broth
with cabbage) and homemade bread. After the meal the woman went to a cabinet
and removed a box of chocolates to serve. Her daughter, one of our interpreters,
told us she had been saving that box of chocolates for years to serve at a special
occasion. She was appreciative of what she had and abounding in grace.
II. WE ADVANCE THE WELL BEING OF OTHERS
A. In 2 Corinthians 8:3-5 Paul said, “For I testify that according to their ability, and
beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much urging
for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, 5 and this, not as we had
expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.”
1. Had they not abounded in grace it would have been easy for them to avoid
helping others (“We are too poor).
2. Have you noticed how, when we do not want to do something, we always find a
reason for not doing it. That is not grace. Grace always looks for opportunities,
not excuses.
B. It is interesting to notice the trends of Americans regarding charitable gifts.
A CNBC article in 2014 reveals insight.
1. New York and California are two of our most prosperous states and yet both of
them rank in the lower half of charitable giving.
2. Utah led the list of greatest giving per capita followed by Mississippi, Alabama,
Tennessee and Georgia. Arkansas was 9th on the list.
3. It is not that the people of these states have a greater ability to give. They have
a greater will to give.
III. WE AVOID THE WAYS OF THE WORLD
A. Grace should affect everything we do.
1. It affects our attitude. In 2 Corinthians 8:6 Paul wrote, “But just as you abound in
everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in
the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.”
2. Grace affects the way we serve others.
a. 1 Peter 4:10 – “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving
one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
b. Do people see God’s grace in your actions?
3. It affects our marriages and families. Do you try to extend to your spouse, your
children, your siblings or your parents the grace that you long for God to extend
to you? Do you say, “They don’t deserve it?” Do you?
4. Grace affects our speech.
a. Colossians 4:6 – “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned
with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”
b. It is not only what you say but what you text and write on social media. This
past week the University of Arkansas Razorbacks were one out away from a
National Championship in Baseball. On a fly ball three fielders
miscommunicated and the ball dropped between them enabling the other
team to score and go on to win the championship. Do you think anyone feels
worse than those young men? I have read comments calling them all sorts
of names. If sports are involved should we check our graciousness
at the door as we yell, “Kill the umpire” or shout other derogatory comments?
IV. WE ATTAIN THE ATTITUDE OF CHRIST
A. To abound in grace means that we seek to attain the attitude of Christ.
1. John said, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His
glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John
1:14).
2. The Macedonians had this attitude. In verse 5 Paul wrote, “And this, not as we
had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of
God.”
3. They “gave of themselves.” Doesn’t that sound like Jesus?
B. Consider the grace Jesus extended to others. To the guests at the wedding feast
in Cana – John 2. To the Samaritan woman – John 4. To the woman caught in
adultery – John 8. To the blind man in the temple – John 9. To Lazarus and his
sisters – John 11.
C. Only when Jesus abounds in us can we abound in grace!
CONCLUSION:
A. What would you do if you saw someone drowning? Immediately you would throw
a life preserver. You might even jump in the water to pull them to safety.
Each day we encounter people drowning in the sea of life. Grace is the means by
which we can rescue them.
B. In our lives and relationships may we make sure we are also “Abounding In
Grace.”
