2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things… Christianity does not come to men, saying, "This is pleasant," or "This is expedient," or "This is what society expects from you, and therefore do it." It comes saying, "This is what God does, and what God requires you to do." It lays the basis for human duty in Divine acts. So with liberality, as in this passage. I. THE ABUNDANT RESOURCES GOD PUTS AT THE DISPOSAL OF THE CHRISTIAN. 1. Men are at their best estate altogether dependent, having in themselves nothing, but want, weakness, and sin. 2. All grace is in God; he has both the power and the disposition to supply every want. It is his nature to bestow; he is the God of grace. 3. His grace not only gives, it abounds to us. The gift of his Son is the proof of inexhaustible love. So with the gift of his Spirit. In fact, in the gospel there is a generosity of bestowment; no withholding and no grudging. 4. Christians, as his people, are thus partakers of Divine sufficiency. "All things are yours;" such is the deed of gift in which the heavenly Father places at the disposal of his family all the resources of his nature and liberality. 5. The liberality of God extends through every stage of individual life, and through every period of the Church's history. His bounties and favours are as the leaves of the forest, the waves of the sea, the stars of the sky - unnumbered and innumerable. II. THE CORRESPONDING REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS OF GOD FROM HIS PEOPLE. Religion consists of two parts - what God does for us, and what God demands from us. 1. It is taken for granted that the Christian life consists in "good works;" that the disciple of Christ is naturally a worker, whose energies and possessions are to be consecrated to God in his Son. Gifts, services, sympathy, speech, aid, - such are the manifestations of the spiritual life which the Lord of all desires and beholds. 2. Here is implied a relation between God's works and those of his people. His abounding gifts are to be regarded as (1) the example of ours; (2) the means of ours, for we can only give others what he has given us; (3) the measure of ours, as liberal and generous; and (4) the motive to ours, inasmuch as we are constrained by the love of God and by the cross of Christ. - T. Parallel Verses KJV: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: |
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