The WOFOYO Podcast
The WOFOYO Podcast
Stewards of Grace
We explore the concept of being partakers of God's grace and the responsibilities that accompany receiving this gift. Our understanding of scripture requires careful examination as we distinguish between Paul's teachings on faith and James' perspective on works.
• Examining Philippians 1:7 where Paul describes believers as "partakers of grace"
• The relationship between Paul and the Philippian church demonstrates spiritual discernment
• Distinguishing between "works of the law" and the natural outflow of righteous living through faith
• How our view of God impacts our willingness to use the gifts He's given us
• Understanding that every believer receives grace "according to the measure of the gift of Christ"
• Fear and guilt as barriers that prevent us from being good stewards of grace
• The transformative nature of grace that changes us as we allow it to work
• Finding amazement in how the Creator of the universe desires personal relationship with us
Remember folks, if you're going to grow, you've got to get in the Word for yourself.
#wofoyo
This is Pastor Jim Daniels from the Antioch Baptist Church, reminding you to keep yourself sanctified and avoid the evils of smoking, drinking, dancing and gambling. They can rob you of your purpose, money and precious time. All brothers and sisters, listen to this preacher here, listen to him. I'm telling you firsthand. I've seen relationships ruined and lives wasted in those bars, honky-tonks and casinos. But there's good news you can be free and we'd love to tell you all about it at our all-you-can-eat potluck and bingo night down at the Fellowship Hall. And the good news is, after an FBI investigation, we've been given a clean slate. So have no fear and come on down. Old Deacon Greenteeth calls the main card and there's only a $5 cover. Fear and come on down. Old Deacon Green Teeth calls a mean card and there's only a $5 cover. Again, this is Pastor Jim Daniels for Antioch Baptist, reminding you to tip your hat to the ladies as you walk in. Amen, hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of the WoeFoYo podcast with C-Dub and Bones Wanted to give a special thank you to all those been reaching out, since we've kind of modified what we've been doing on YouTube and there's been a couple folks reach out and say, like the new format, like that.
Speaker 1:You're keeping it shorter. Thanks for letting us know Amen. So let me be a little bit honest here. I had this idea, which was about three ideas rolled into one. One of the reasons you get in the word for yourself is that sometimes the word corrects you and sometimes you think you have this definitive proof of this idea, and it's not necessarily that you're wrong. But the proof isn't as definitive and cut as dry as you thought. Such is the case with this podcast. So let me tell you what happened.
Speaker 1:I had this idea of being partakers of God's grace, which actually we are, but it is in reference to Philippians 1-7. And to give context to what he said earlier, paul's talking to the Philippians about everything I've been going through. You've been praying for me, you've been trying to help by sending stuff, by correspondence. So there's financial support, there's prayer support, there is encouragement. You know a conversation. So in Philippians 1.70 says this Even as it is, meet for me to think of this, of you all, because I have you in my heart inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye are all partakers of my grace.
Speaker 1:Esv said this it is right for me to feel this way about you, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and the defense and confirmation of the gospel, for God is my witness how I yearn for you all, with the affection of Christ, and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent and be so pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Speaker 1:So we do see that grace, paul saying that the Philippians were partakers of his grace. We do see that you can be partakers of the grace that God has put on someone, of the grace that God has put on someone, and what I had going in my mind, though, was being partakers of God's grace, but it is God's grace that the Philippians are partakers of. It's just specifically through Paul, right, but I had this question, and I thought this was like the thing that solidified it. If it wasn't for one word, it wasn't partakers of God's grace, it was partakers of my grace, and I, granted it went through Paul. But my question was this or if we are partakers of God's grace. So partakers of God's grace does that give us a responsibility to not frustrate that grace Interesting.
Speaker 2:And that is a rabbit trail and we probably don't want to go too far down that rabbit trail tonight, but we're going to have a little discussion. I think it's interesting to take a look at the church there at Philippi, the believers there, as we see Paul here in this letter. This is about 10 years after his first visit there, so he'd been gone for a little bit of time and now he's. He's writing to them. I believe he's in prison, he's imprisoned at Rome at this time when he's writing this letter. This is one of the several letters that he writes from prison, and so I think what Paul's kind of getting at is that he's basically saying hey, you guys have not given up on me, y'all haven't judged me, you haven't turned your back on me, y'all have stayed with me through all of this.
Speaker 2:And what does all of this mean? What does that mean? And what does all of this mean? What does that mean? Well, it means, through his trials, through his tribulation, through his imprisonment, through all these things that we might look at and see fellow believers go through and go.
Speaker 2:Hmm, what's he done to deserve this?
Speaker 2:Surely this must be God's judgment befalling him, kind of like we talked about in the last podcast or two, you know, when the snake bit him, those folks immediately thought that this was judgment until they shook it off and nothing happened. So I think what we see here from the church at Philippi is folks who had discernment and they were able to judge rightly in the Spirit and know that Paul is right where God has called him to be and Paul is doing the ministry that God called him to do. And then God has been with Paul the whole time. And because God has been with Paul the whole time and Paul has been in God's will the whole time, probably they that's probably the motive, motivating factor they have not turned their back on Paul. They have supported him and prayed with him, prayed him and did not judge harshly against him when everything went against him. So I think that's kind of what Paul's getting at here saying hey, you guys have stuck with me through thick and thin and therefore you're partakers of my grace the counter argument.
Speaker 1:And before I get into that counter argument, one of the things that I've seen this used to do, much to my disdain, is the big money preachers like to be like to basically preach about being partakers of my grace, and if you donate your $25 love gift or your $777 Shinola seed, then you could be partakers of my grace. So now they're putting a price on it. Definitely not what this scripture is talking about, although Paul talks about it. You were supporting me in every way possible, and not only doing that, but you were also doing the work yourselves Amen, that's kind of what he's alluding to as well. Also doing the work yourselves, amen, it's kind of what he's alluding to as well. You know, we, we think that just cause and I'm telling you cause, I'm one who bought into this for years by some people who had some good teachings on some things and some caca teachings on others, you know, oh, they're good, minister. Why is it important to get to you in the word for yourself? Because c-dub and bone's been burned and that is how the holy spirit taught us the hard way about discernment. So here is the counter argument about do you have responsibility? Does that grace come with responsibility Paul's talking about in Galatians 2, in the New King James. He's talking about getting into it with Peter, because Peter was being hypocritical and he's going well, he'll eat with the Gentiles as long as the Jews weren't around, but as soon as the Jews and these are specifically the Jews that kind of answered to James and didn't like the fact that Peter would eat with the Jewish believer or the Gentile believers, he goes.
Speaker 1:Let's start at verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even as we have believed in Christ Jesus, we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law no flesh should be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves are also found sinners? Is Christ, therefore, a minister of sin? Certainly not, for if I build those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor, for I, through the law, died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, god who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of god, for if righteousness comes through the law, then christ died in vain. So he's saying by the works of the law, you're, you're not going to be justified.
Speaker 1:Um, that being said, since we mentioned james, he talked about the works of the law. What he never addresses is works by faith. Matter of fact, when he talks about faith by faith, you have been saved. You've been saved by grace, through faith. So, when you apply it in this dynamic, and and that faith, as we mentioned before, is that trusting God, that relationship with God, it's being willing to be obedient even though you don't understand, but that right there will produce the works, as James says. It's not for the works themselves, that's not the grace of God, but it's that faith which produces the works. That is the grace of God.
Speaker 2:I'll add to that, though, because what James gets to talking about when he mentions works, he uses the word works, but he's not talking about the same works that Paul's talking about. When he mentions works, he uses the word works, but he's not talking about the same works that Paul's talking about here. Paul's talking about the works of the law of Moses. James is not referring to the works of the law. He's talking about the works that come from graceful living, that comes from living out your faith, not necessarily the law, not living out the words or the works of the law. James is simply saying that if you live a life of faith, it will produce righteous living. That's what he's saying. Reduce righteous living. That's what he's saying.
Speaker 2:Now, where we run into problems and where I think some of the biggest problems we've run into and I think we don't see the error in this, because it contradicts the entire Bible when we do this, we have a tendency to use this go-between, this going back and forth between Paul and James, as if to say that they're talking about the same thing, where Paul is saying all you need is faith and James is saying well, I can show you the works of the law with my faith. But that's not what James is saying. James is saying by my faith, I'll show you the righteous living that's manifest from that. It's different. It's not the works of the law, it's not righteousness by works, because we've got a whole Old Testament that shows us that that don't work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it works. When Hebrews breaks this down, hebrews is the best place to go for this. You know, was Abraham justified by works? No, he was justified by faith. He wasn't justified by the works of the law, because when Abraham is acting, he's before the Torah is ever given Now it's written on the heart of men, but now you're acting through faith. So everything that Abraham did is being justified, noah's being justified, abel is justified, all pre-law. Even when you talk about Isaac and Jacob though they had their shortcomings when they especially you look at Jacob just a great example, it's kind of like David.
Speaker 2:You might mess up, but when you get it back into God's alignment and start doing it in my own mind is in our own marriage relationships today. If I don't cheat on my wife, I don't want to cheat on my wife, I want to remain faithful to my wife. But why Am I remaining faithful? Because I love her, which I am and which really there's no effort to remain faithful because of the love that I have for my wife, that I have for my wife? Or am I remaining faithful to my wife because I know the consequence of infidelity and that consequence is going to be divorce and separation and all those other bad things and negative things that come with it? Now, that kind of faithfulness does require effort because there's no love in it.
Speaker 2:And I think that's kind of where where James is is that he's saying, man, when, when your heart's right and hearing in in Philippians he mentions I pray that your love may abound. That's the key, that abundance of love. When that love abounds, man, there's no effort, hardly in trying to keep God's word in acts of obedience and all these things. You just do, it just happens, it just comes. It just comes naturally because that's what love does, because God is love. Love chases after God when love abounds in us and whatnot.
Speaker 2:So I think that's probably the key there, as Paul's trying to point out. I pray that your love abounds yet even more, more in knowledge, and I think that word knowledge there does mean knowledge as in the brain, in the mind, but also it can refer to in experiential knowledge, in experiencing love and then also in all judgment. That word judgment refers to discernment, and the Amplified Bible brings that point out really good. Having that discernment and the Amplified Bible brings that point out really good. Having that discernment, and I think the church there at Philippi had really good discernment in understanding what Paul's going through and that's why they never left his side.
Speaker 1:But one of the things that I saw that really supported the idea, though, of you're to be faithful with the grace that God gives you Ephesians 4, 7. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. So everybody has grace that is being given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Who decides that? Jesus Christ decides that he ministers it through the Holy Spirit. Now, if we've been given a gift, then I would argue that every parable where somebody receives something in the new Testament these are Jesus parables. There is a charge to take responsibility and be a good steward of it, and even those that go well, I got the gift. That's not being a good steward of it.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 4.29 says this Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers. So one of the things you could do is Jesus talks about. There were some that lent it out and were able to multiply that grace, and, let's say, a lot of people want to equate that to salvation. I think it means a lot more than just salvation, although we are saved by grace through faith, as Paul says, want to equate that to salvation. I think it means a lot more than just salvation, although we are saved by grace, through faith, as Paul says, and even that it's oh.
Speaker 1:If you never got anybody else saved, then you're just messing up. You know, if you never led somebody to the Lord and said a sinner's prayer, I'm not even saying that you never led somebody to the Lord and said a sinner's prayer, I'm not even saying that. But if all you did was answer an altar call and you hunkered down, that's just bad stewardship. Waiting on your flight out of here to glory before the Lord returns, waiting for that trumpet no, you got to be a steward of what he gives you.
Speaker 1:And I would say this that if you have gifts, the master when he returns, in a lot of those parables he goes, you could have, especially the one with the parable of talents and the parable of minus. You could have put it in the bank. You could have caused it to grow, even without taking a risk. So what does that look like? Well, at least start to operate in your gifting. At least start to mature in your salvation, your salvation. At least start to mature and get some depth to understand what your relationship with the Lord is like, and I would argue that the one who hides it in the ground is the one that makes an altar call because they want the salvation and doesn't even bother to actually develop a relationship with the Lord.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would ask myself why am I not doing anything? I would ask myself why am I not doing anything? If I had the feeling that this is me, that all I did was I answered the altar call, that I'm a believer, but I don't feel like I'm doing much with this gift of grace I would probably ask myself why is that? What's the deal? What's hindering me? What's stopping me? I think I could probably come up with the answer is fear. Um, at least at least it could be part of it. Um, now in the in the parables, though, um, we see that the one who did nothing, who who buried it and just waited for the master to come back. Really there was fear there, but that fear was born out of an incorrect perception of his master. He thought his master to be a harsh and horrible master, but that's not who God is. No, god is not that harsh and horrible master that's waiting to play whack-a-mole with us. But I can see how people come to that, Because I think at one point I probably had those very similar feelings that the God of the Old Testament looks a little bit different than the Jesus of the New Testament, until God opened my eyes and showed me where you know. Jesus said if you see me, you've seen the Father. If you know me, you know the Father, because our natures are the same. So it's important to ask yourself you know why? You know why am I? Why am I burying my talent? Why am I hiding it underground? Is it fear? Do I have a misconception about who my father really is? And, if so, you know? Address it. Ask the Lord to show you because he will and he'll show you a very loving and tender side of himself, because he wants to see us succeed. He wants to see you kingdom oriented. He wants to see you do all these things. He wants to see those talents multiply. He wants to see his kingdom multiply. He wants to see all those things, and I think what's glorious about it is he wants to see all those things happen and occur through you, through us. Yeah, I think that's phenomenal Out of old sinful man, he wants those things to occur through us. So, yeah, you know. Ask that first question why?
Speaker 2:I think, now that I've gone through this rabbit hole, part of that comes down to we're taught that too. We're taught that you don't do much. You don't do anything unless you verify it, unless you check first, unless you go talk to the pastor first, go talk to the Sunday school teacher first, there's not much independency in today's church. Everything has to be sanctioned by the four-walled church, everything has to be approved. You've got to have this covering, you have to have all this stuff. There's really no place in Scripture for that. That really says all that stuff. If we're all called into the priesthood, then all of us should be acting like priests and doing those priestly things, which is ministering unto mankind and unto God. So you don't need the church to sanction off on you doing the right thing, because the right thing is already approved.
Speaker 1:But I think one of the things, as you're talking about that, as you begin to operate in it you know you talked about that God would use sinful man. But as we allow the grace of God to be that leaven that works throughout us, it leavens the whole lump and it changes us, for lack of a better word, it just changes us for the better. And that's the miracle of it that if you will be willing to let God's grace work, you know Paul said in one of the things that we read I don't lay aside the grace of God, but in King James, I do not frustrate the grace of God. If you will let the grace of God work, the grace of God will work. Also, you mentioned fear being the number one reason why somebody wouldn't develop.
Speaker 1:I can think of one other, and this is actually scriptural and you can see man Paul is just a great example of it. Every now and then a seed does need to germinate, yeah, so paul wants to go immediately preach and he gets in some hot water. And you're going, you're going back, and so he's. I believe he went back to Tarsus for a minute before they come and get him over in Antioch, and he was there for a minute. But while he's there, guess what's maturing that relationship?
Speaker 1:That relationship is maturing. He's having visions, he's getting taken into the third heaven, he's seeing those things which aren't lawful for man to see and at the same time he's also realizing that humility lest he be exalted. So don't be surprised if, when God's grace starts to work through you, as we mentioned, it'll work through sinful man. But it makes you better. But one of the ways it does is it increases your relationship. But especially if that comes with some giftings, don't be surprised if there is that thorn in the flesh whatever that might be that which also lets you know that if I get into this on my own, that I have my own shortcomings, that I need to be aware of, that if I don't stay in the grace of God, my flesh is going to raise up and I could be as wrong as two boys kissing.
Speaker 2:Excellent point and I probably should correct myself. Excellent point, and I probably should correct myself when I say sinful man. That's who we were Once. We're saved. Now we're saint. We're righteous in the eyes of Jesus. We're righteous in the eyes of God, we're righteous in the eyes of the Holy Spirit. So it's important to have a correct view of not only God, but correct view of yourself as well.
Speaker 2:So one thing I like about John he always referred to himself in the third person, talked about the disciple whom Jesus loved. So he was constantly reminding himself that he's loved by Jesus. He's loved by Jesus, you know, constantly reminding himself of that. When we look at it like that, we start to see and start to recognize that I am loved, I am born again, I am saved, I'm no longer that person. I am this new creature, this new creation. I've been born anew. This is who I am now. Then that helps. That helps too. And there's this thing with Paul. That's why he was given a new name. He was Saul and then he became Paul.
Speaker 2:His thorn in the flesh. And I think his thorn in the flesh is just the same as our thorn in the flesh today. I think his thorn in the flesh is just the same as our thorn in the flesh today. I think his thorn in the flesh was guilt, Even though the scripture doesn't explicitly say that, and because it doesn't say that, no one can explicitly say what his thorn was. But it was a messenger of Satan that buffeted him or smacked him upside the head again and again, and again. But think about it.
Speaker 2:Guilt is that constant accusation in the back of your head saying look at you, you know, look what you did, You've done this and that you know. Remember this. Remember when you used to do this. Remember when you used to smoke dope. Remember when you used to smoke, drink and chew and go to girls to do. Remember when you used to do this. Remember when you used to smoke dope. Remember when you used to smoke, drink and chew and go to girls to do. Remember when you used to do all that For Paul it was. Remember when you killed Stephen. Remember when you tried to kill all the other brothers. Yeah, that one standing beside you tried to kill him. Do you remember all those things? Now, that can create a lot of guilt in a person if you're not firmly rooted in Jesus and understand his forgiveness and understand what grace is so, man. If we're not careful, we can let that guilt trip us into not fulfilling God's will. It'll make us bury our talents.
Speaker 1:I really think you're on to something with that, because, after all, if it's a messenger of Satan, satan is the accuser of the brethren he is. So that's the very nature of what an accuser of the brethren would be. It would be a messenger of Satan you were talking about. We're no longer sinners, but we're saints, which is true, and this is one of the things that gets with Paul. He says I labored more abundantly than they all, but at the same time he goes I whom? The least of all the saints? Because I persecuted, or the least of all the apostles, I persecuted the church of God. So that context is always there.
Speaker 1:But you mentioned something about being changed, though, and you know you mentioned marriage before, and I thought that was awesome, because you want to learn. If you're in love, you want to learn what makes your wife tick. If you're a woman, you want to learn what makes your wife tick. If you're a woman, you want to learn what makes your husband tick, and without going overboard. I always say that in context because, as somebody who has seen the result of going overboard, where, yes, you want to shower this affection, and I remember there was this book called the Five Love Languages by Garyman. It was a good book. Can it be um over consulted? Uh, I did, yeah, and it can be what.
Speaker 1:What's going to happen is, you know, hey, a gift is so much appreciated and all this that. Well, I remember going, huh, you know, I ran up some credit card debt trying to buy gifts for somebody who their primary love language was quality time, yeah, you know. So, that being said, I say, within balance, and there has to be Eventually, there has to be some reciprocity too. You got to see that that's giving something back, and reciprocity would be one of the ways that you can see if you're speaking the proper love language, if you're ministering, uh, to your spouse, and then, like I said, there's limits. Don't go out and spend $10,000 that you don't have trying to prove how much you really love the Lord or how much you really love your spouse.
Speaker 2:You know, if you got $10,000 to blow and it ain't nothing, man, whatever Some people do, One of the things probably the biggest takeaway I got from that book was understanding that, since we're in it, understanding that, uh, it was so easy to mistake your, your spouse's love language for your own. Very much so. And it's so easy to do that because you know this, I like this, so they must like that too. And you do that without even thinking about it, like that, it's just. It just it happens so naturally. Yeah, it's so natural. That book helped me to understand that. There was a lot of times. That's why, you know, my wife didn't, my wife didn't care for flowers. It just wasn't her thing, you know didn't care for flowers. I'd buy roses on mother's day or something like that, and they would just go over like a lead balloon. You know what the hell. I bought you roses. You know what truth is. It just wasn't our thing, you know. But for me, I like getting gifts, you know. So that book really helped me to understand some things like that.
Speaker 1:It's a good book but, like you said, if you over-consult it and you get out of balance, yeah, what I really mean by that is if you're not paying attention and you're doing like what we were just talking about, where you're thinking about what you like versus what they like. Oh yeah, you, you can. You can steer into a dish that way, but, but one of the things that's related to marriage, too, though, is and I began to think about this this idea of saints and sinners and we can close out on this is there are studies been done that when a woman becomes pregnant, it changes the DNA of the woman and the man Slightly, and a of the woman and the man, wow, slightly. The physical changes are a lot more obvious in the woman, a lot more obvious in the mother, but there are still some small changes to the father as well, and so you think about that.
Speaker 1:When God starts to work his grace through us, through his spirit, through the blood of Jesus, through living in and through us, that affects change in us, so he can work through sinful man, and he no longer becomes sinful man. He's, he becomes that saint and Just. In the same way, when you consider this, you think that for every heart that God touches, we, now we have a piece of him, but now he has A veritable interest, a vested interest in us. That's a that's a pretty mind blowing thing when you consider this creator in the universe.
Speaker 2:Oh, man, when you sit down for just a moment and try to contemplate all that's required and our finite mind cannot do this, but try to consider all that's required to maintain the workings of the universe, all the planets in orbit, our ecosystem, our solar system, all those things. And yet he still wants to have a conversation with each individual person. He wants to have a conversation with little old me. Man, you talk about crazy. That is just crazy. That just blows my mind.
Speaker 2:I think that in all of his workings and all of his doings, it's like he laid out for Job. You know, where were you when I drew a line in the sand and told the seas not to come beyond this point? Where were you when I laid the foundations? I did all these things. Yeah, still doing all these things. Hey, I want to talk to you as a matter of fact, as he was laying out all those things for Job. He was talking to Job. You know, a man who was very much frustrated with the creator God, just like we get. So it's just phenomenal to think there's no other, there's no religion in the world that has that kind of access or gives that kind of access to that kind of power. So, man, no wonder we are you know, no wonder we're winners, no wonder we have victory in Jesus, because he gives us that kind of access to that kind of power.
Speaker 1:Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you, gives you some things about and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at Wofoyoorg and find out how to contact us there, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, spotify or even check us out on YouTube. Remember folks, if you're going to grow, you've got to woefoyo. Get in the word for yourself.