2 Corinthians 9 (5)

Pray Psalm 132.8-10.
Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your strength.
Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,
And let Your saints shout for joy.
For Your servant David’s sake,
Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.

Sing Psalm 132.8-10.
(Finlandia: Be Still, My Soul)
Arise, O LORD, come to Your resting place;
Your holy Presence meet with us in might.
Clothe us with righteousness in Jesus’ grace,
and we will shout to Your divine delight!
For David’s sake, turn not away Your face,
but look upon us in Your holy light.

Read 2 Corinthians 9.1-11; meditate on verses 10, 11.

Preparation
1. What should be the fruit of the “seeds” we “sow”?

2. Why does God “enrich” us?

Meditation
In the Kingdom of God, the coin of the realm is grace. God is the Banker, and He holds for each of us who believes an infinite account to draw on in lavishing His grace on the people in our Personal Mission Field. We look to Him to “enrich” us from His grace vault “for all liberality” as we invest God’s grace in others unto righteousness. We are called, like Paul, to spend and be spent for the souls of others (2 Cor. 12.15).

To put it rather more crassly, and in more familiar terms, grace in all its forms is the “getting and spending” in which we are daily employed. Grace comes to us via prayer, the Word of God, His “with-you-always” Presence, and by every act of obediently emptying ourselves for others. We draw on grace by faith, but we will never draw it down; for trusting in His promises, we will always have a “sufficiency” (v. 8) for every need.

And we “spend” grace in varying amounts, depending on the opportunity and the need before us. Not our needs: God Himself is attending to those continuously. But the needs of those around us, to whom we are sent as grace-spreaders. We do not store up grace; it has already been stored up for us so that we may abound in it. We spend grace and, having spent, we are renewed in grace unto more grace abounding in more righteousness, like a river of living water flowing from our soul.

And thus the Kingdom of God comes and makes progress on earth as it is in heaven.

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162.
God supplies seed to the sower.
God supplies bread for food. (2 Cor. 9.10)
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (Jms. 1.17).

“For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also.
The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand” (Ps. 95.3-7).

He made everything. And He made us.
And He gives us grace to sustain us.
But not just us, His grace covers everyone and everything.

And everything God does and gives is in abundance.
He says that when we obediently give, His grace makes our obedience flourish: “Try Me now in this…if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it” (Mal. 3.10); and we are “abundantly satisfied” (Ps. 36.8).

Most of all, we are satisfied and gratified because His grace covers our sins. As Paul wrote about his own salvation: “And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 1.14).

And why is it that we have been abundantly enriched by Him?
So that we can, with liberality, be grace-spreaders in our Personal Mission Field (2 Cor. 9.11).

And who gets the “blame” (2 Cor. 8.20) for all these good grace works? Jesus, only, Jesus.

“Now unto Him Who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3.20, 21).

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder on Calvary’s mount out-poured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe;
All who are longing to see His face, will you this moment His grace receive?

Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.
(Julia H. Johnston, 1911)

For reflection
1. How will you “spend” the grace of God for His glory today?

2. Has anyone spent His grace on you lately? How? Have you thanked them? Thanked the Lord?

3. How would you explain how the grace of God works through our good works to a new believer?

Let us endeavor to copy the example of Christ, being unwearied in doing good, and deeming it more blessed to give than to receive. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on 2 Corinthians 9.6-15

Pray Psalm 132.13-18.
Thank the Lord for choosing you, saving you, giving you His Spirit, and sending you into your world as His righteous ambassador and witness.

Sing Psalm 132.13-18.
(Finlandia: Be Still, My Soul)
God dwells among us, and He will forever,
to meet our needs and clothe us with His grace.
He has to us sent Jesus Christ, our Savior—
Beloved, eternal light and resting place.
His foes are banished from His Presence ever,
but we shall reign with Him before His face.

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available by clicking here.