When Sue and I got married, we traveled to Gothenburg, Sweden to continue the work I had started a few years previously. During part of our ministry time there, we lived in one of the worlds largest shipyards, right in the harbor.
We saw massive ships in dry dock being repaired so they could continue their purpose of transporting oil around the world. No matter how well these ships had been built, they had to have regular maintenance to continue and live a long life of productivity.
For the last few days I have been asking myself the thought of “how am I handling” the abundance of God’s grace given to me. This question was provoked as I started with the book of Ephesians 3 were the apostle Paul unwraps the whole concept of what grace is and how believers should manage it. This scripture brought me back to those days in Sweden and the magnificent ship I saw first hand. As they carried valuable oil around the world, we as believers should be about the business of carrying the valuable grace of God where ever we go.
Ephesians 3:1-2 (NASB)For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.
[2] if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you;
Now for some this seems like a strange concept of “managing” or stewarding grace, but let me assure you it is both biblical and sound. Grace, in my opinion has been so misunderstood because of much of the focus in the body of Christ for the last 50-100 years. That may sound like a long time, but in Biblical terms, it is fairly short.
Here is the main problem I have with this “new” idea of grace. For hundreds of year, grace was thought of more in the line with God’s empowerment than just His kindness towards us who believe. When grace is viewed primarily as God giving us what we don’t deserve, we often if not always think of it in terms of either accepting it or reject it, but our actions don’t really change the nature of that grace. On the other hand, if grace is something that empowers us to live as God intended, not by our own strength, but by His “infusion” of power to be transformed and changed than grace becomes an importation with our cooperation.
In the whole of Ephesians 3, Paul lays out this concept that grace – “God’s Empowering Presence” – is available to all believers so they can be over-comers and not overcome in their daily lives. How they manage it determines how successful that grace is in their lives and the life of those they share with.
Ephesians 3:16 (NASB)That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.
So here the main point – God designed us to be like these super tankers. To be filled with His power to provide “grace” to those without such power.
But what if all we are is “super tankers” traveling around empty? Never being filled for the purpose of sharing God’s gift to a lost and dying world?
Questions:
1) Ask yourself or rather ask the Holy Spirit if you have been filled regularly or just once in a while?
2) Ask yourself if you have been managing grace as God intended?
3) Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you full for the journey ahead today. Someone, as well as yourself, will need that power from the Holy Spirit.
Here are some facts about the enormous ability of these super tankers. Convert this info to what we could do if the Holy Spirit filled us with the equivalent resources for others.
The largest tankers trading today are comparable in size and can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil. That’s equivalent to 84 million gallons, or enough petroleum to fill over 5 million average sized automobile gas tanks.
Pastor Dale
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