Abound In Every Good Work ("Prepare" Day 6)

Let's not kid ourselves. Sometimes the walk of a disciple can feel overwhelming or even impossible. The Bible is filled with stories of faithful servants of God who still manage to get discouraged. It all seems like so much. Can I do it? Can it even BE done? In today's episode Matt and Rachael have good news for the discouraged: It CAN be done, but not by you. God promises to do this thorough work in us - to make all grace abound in us. By HIS character and faithfulness, HE will provide you with everything you need to abound in every good work. All you need is a surrendered heart.

Click Here for Week 1 Homework Sheet

BEFORE this episode: Complete DAY SIX Homework (2 Corinthians 9:8)

CONGRATULATIONS! You've taken your first steps toward deeper intimacy with God through personally engaging with His word. Tomorrow's episode has no homework, but it will introduce us to our first bible study method: "Two questions and a statement."

Transcript

Promise Of A Fruitful Life

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Do you ever feel like your life just isn't as productive or effective as it should be? As followers of Jesus, we want our short time on earth to have eternal impact, but often we feel like we're falling short. The good news is that Scripture gives us a promise, a life that's never ineffective or unproductive in knowing Jesus Christ. In 2 Peter 1, we're told to build on our faith, adding goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, mutual affection, and love. As these qualities grow, they keep us fruitful and effective for God's kingdom. I'm Matt Morrow, and my wife Rachel and I have spent nearly 20 years teaching God's word and walking with people in every stage of faith. Our passion is to see lives permanently and radically transformed by Scripture applied. Adding to your faith is here to help you understand biblical truth, practice it daily, and grow to look more like Jesus. We're glad you're here. Let's walk this journey together.

Welcome And Study Context

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Hi, I'm Rachel, and we are here with my husband Matt, and we wanted to welcome you to our podcast, Adding to Your Faith, where we are on day six of the first week of how to study the Bible. And this day in particular is one I think that is personally important to me. I remember when when the Lord really started to get a hold of my heart and really started to draw him kind of into himself, it became very apparent to me how ill-equipped I was to really do a lot of the things that I was being called to. I didn't feel like I knew enough. I saw constantly things that I was doing that were not in step with the spirit. And I became really discouraged. And so if you are not discouraged, I would say earmark

Discouragement And God’s Provision

SPEAKER_01 2:10

today because the truths of 2 Corinthians 9, 8 and in other places in the Word are so important as places to come back to, as reminders when you're discouraged that this work does not belong to us. It belongs to the Lord, and He has equipped us with everything that we need to do what He has called us to do. And so if you are discouraged or if you get discouraged later, come back here and be encouraged because this is a work of the Lord, and He is delighted to complete this work in you.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

So there are times when I know you feel you must feel a little bit overwhelmed by the whole thing. I mean, it's it's it's a for for a new believer, or even for someone who's been a believer for a number of years but has never really been discipled or been able to really work those spiritual disciplines out in their lives, it's a radical change. It's a radical transformation. And so it can seem pretty overwhelming naturally to look at that, but I always find it to be a great help, a great reminder for my own state of mind that none of this depends on me. Like I don't I don't feel up to it, and that's probably okay. That's actually probably a good thing. I don't feel up to it, but the reminder is none of this depends on me. The Lord is faithful, he is the one who

Unpacking 2 Corinthians 9:8

SPEAKER_00 3:32

will do it. And that's what we're given in in 2 Corinthians 9 8. I'm just gonna read it and let us just pause and meditate on that for just a minute. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work. That's one verse, one sentence, and it is straight up loaded with lots of important truth for us, right? I I mean I I like I always think it's notable when you're in God's word and there's a phrase or a word that's repeated. And in this case, the word abound is repeated in one sentence, used twice in the same sentence. And the first is where it says to make all grace abound to you, and then later that you may abound in every good work. Abound is just a is just a verb form of abundant. So it's think of think overflowing. It's more than enough. Like if if you fill a cup and it and it it overfills, it overflows, that's what you should think of when you think of abound or abundant. And so when when when we're told first, above all else, the to invest in the character of God, the very first, the very first phrase in this, in this one sentence is God is able. What does it mean to you, Rachel, that God is able? Before we even get to what he's able to do, what does it mean about his character that he is able?

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Right. Able is a strong word, isn't it? It's a word that means that he is more than capable of doing everything that he has said to do. And, you know, in Colossians 1 and 2, it talks about the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ, and that the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form in Christ, and then goes on to say, and then you are in Christ.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Right, which means that in Christ you have the fullness of the Godhead available to you to do this work. What possibly could you need that you do not have? And that is really encouraging. I mean, I remember kind of walking through this process when I was being discipled and really starting to grow and seeing those gaps and really having the conscious thought, like, what am I doing? I never had these problems before. I felt pretty good about my life and my walk with the Lord before before the Lord started growing me. Yeah. And having the conscious thought, like, what are you doing to yourself? Like, you never had these problems before, and now you're worried about all of these things. And, you know, and and this passage just being such such an encouragement to me that that what I am doing is seeing grace abound to me in a way that I never saw grace abound to me before. When I'm

Able, Abundance, And Identity In Christ

SPEAKER_01 6:45

not when I was blind to the sinfulness of my own nature and the ways that I was walking in the flesh, I also did not appreciate the grace that was abounding to me. And and it could be kind of harsh and legalistic in a lot of ways. And as God really opened my eyes to how his grace abinds, like is abounding to me, then it allowed me to be much more gracious to the people around me. And then seeing, right in Colossians, that that yeah, this is hard and it's discouraging, and the enemy attacks and tells me that I can't do it, and he's absolutely right. But what I have available to me is Christ, because I am in Christ, and in Christ dwells the deity, like the Godhead, the fullness of the deity of God dwells in Christ, and that is available to me to accomplish all that he's asked me to do. And so then what would stand in my way?

SPEAKER_00 7:48

So I I love that we that we start with God as able because, and then I want to get to grace abounding. We start with God as able because if if you feel overwhelmed or you feel burdened or you feel like you can't you can't measure up or do these things, all that's fine, but God is never any of those things. God is never overwhelmed, God is never, never caught by surprise. He is always able and able to do what? Able to abound in grace, to make all grace abound to you. That's, I mean, that that's what you were just talking about, Rachel. And and let's just let's not take anything for granted here. What is grace? When we say grace, what are we talking about?

SPEAKER_01 8:32

We're talking about undeserved merit and favor, right? God, God's riches at Christ's expense.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Favor from the Lord that you could do nothing to earn or deserve, right? So that is what when we say grace, that's what we're talking about, and he is able to make that, all of that, abound where? To you. To you. Unmerited favor abound to you. He's able to do that. So come so again, when you feel overwhelmed, you feel discouraged, any of those things, God has none of that. He is not overwhelmed, he is not discouraged, and he is able to make all grace abound to you for a certain purpose as well. And that's what the rest of the passage says. So that, why having all sufficiency in all things at all times? So let's pause there. That's pretty complete, right? So what's it what's it mean to have all sufficiency? What are we talking about?

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Everything that you need.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

So there's nothing, nothing you're gonna need. There's no part, not no just nothing. Everything you need is provided, and it's in

Grace That Transforms Our Works

SPEAKER_00 9:40

all things at all times. There's literally no place you can hide from his grace. It's just it's there for everything. It ex it's for every corner of your life, every part of it, everything that's there. And that has a purpose too, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may now abound in every good work. So grace abounds in you, unmerited favor abounds in you, more than you could need, more than you could ever want. It overflows, it's abundant, it abounds in you, so that in every possible way, you can similarly abound, overflow in every good work. So your your works matter, but your works, the good works that uh God has prepared for you ahead of time, that He's called you into, that you are that you are guaranteed to flourish in because of because of how He has equipped you, that's a product of His grace in you. So even our works are a product of His grace in us. And there's a lot of theology in that one.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Right? That it starts with God and then it flows through us to others, and that's that's the story of the gospel, right? That God saved us so that his glory would be made known. And and that's a picture of what you see here is that that he's doing that work in you so that you can abound in every good work. And when when God declared his creation good, you know, in in the beginning, when he declared it good, it was because everything was operating the way that he created it to be. That is good. When everything is the way that God created it to be, and so our works are those those things that that when we are doing what God created us to do, and God is giving us everything that we need, even because we don't deserve it, right? It's his goodness and his grace in us. We don't deserve it, but he's giving it to us anyway, in abundant measure to make us sufficient so that we can do everything that he has created us to do.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

I mean, a couple of days ago we were in 1 Thessalonians 5, and 1 Thessalonians 5, 24 says, He who calls you is faithful, he will surely do it. So just like this passage that we're reading today in 2 Corinthians,

Faithful God, Light Yoke

SPEAKER_00 12:30

in 1 Thessalonians, the same truth is reiterated, which is to say, our confident, we should walk very confidently when we are when we're entering into this into this work. We should we should not be afraid of it, we should not be overwhelmed, and it's not because of anything in us, it's because he of the character of God that He is faithful, He will surely do it. God is able, that He has made all grace abound in us. And knowing that to me puts a whole new light in a in a famous passage in Matthew 11 that I just want to I want to talk about for just a second. Matthew 11, 28 to 30. This is Jesus talking to his disciples, and this is a familiar passage probably to a lot of believers that it says, Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. This is a hard passage a lot of times for people to wrestle with, because the very nature of a of a yoke, of taking up a yoke, is something that's big and heavy and cumbersome and everything else. That's a whole I mean it's what it is. And yet what's described here is a yoke that's easy, a burden that's light. I mean, those are those are contrasting statements. How is it possible for those things to be true? And I think the key is in what we're studying today, 2 Corinthians 9 8, which is to say he is able. And just like 1 Thessalonians 5, he is faithful and he will surely do it. And if we are abiding in him, as we talked about yesterday, if we're doing that, then all of a sudden the world gets a lot more complicated. The whole everything, everything in life gets a lot, I'm sorry, a lot less complicated. It gets a lot less complicated because all we have to do is be a branch that clings to the vine. That's it. And as we do, we watch this fruit flow through us. And this yoke that should be heavy is actually easy. This burden that should be this great burden on weight is actually really light. He what's crazy about this is that again, we know he will surely do it. He will do the work of sanctifying us, but we are assured through this passage that God is able, that he's sufficient, that he has purpose in making grace abound to us, this unmerited favor so that we may abound in every

Practicing Surrender And Scripture

SPEAKER_00 15:05

good work. And he really asks very, very little of us. If you think about it, Rachel, what's he ask of us in all of this? So little.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Yeah. Submission. That's it. I mean, he wants to fill us.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

So just a surrendered heart. It's all he wants. He doesn't ask us to split the load with him. He doesn't ask us to carry our end to the couch, none of it. It's just surrender. Just surrender. Trust me, let me do the things, and then marvel at what the Lord will do in your life. And and we can rest there. That's what Jesus says in in Matthew 11. He says, I will give you rest that we can rest in that place. So how do we come to him? How do we how do we experience that for ourselves?

SPEAKER_01 16:00

It's being in his word, it's keeping your eye on him so that you walk in step with him. And you know, I think that this study is a is a really good place to start, that as you read his word to see his heart, his character, his nature, his glory, as you read his word to say, if that is true, then what does that mean for how I live? If if you're serious about walking in step with the Spirit and meditating on his word and what he would have you do, and testing those things, do they do they look like the heart, nature, and character of God? Do they look like the things that I was reading in the scripture this morning? Or do they look more like the things that come from the flesh? And then asking the Lord to say, How do I lay this down and how do I pick this up? And doing that knowing that you are in Christ, and in Christ, the fullness of the deity, the fullness of the Godhead dwells. So there is not anything that you are going to need to walk in step with him that he has not already given you. And so you can do that in confidence and in power and in rest.

Prepare For Tomorrow’s Study

SPEAKER_00 17:21

So I I want to just encourage you to pray today, tonight, because tomorrow, tomorrow we start with our first, our first very simple method of personally engaging with God's word. And that's and that's where we start. That's where we start. You have an appointment with the the creator of the universe, with the almighty God of all, to meet him in his word. And we're gonna start in the Gospel of John. We're gonna start there tomorrow with a method that that is very simple. It's two questions and a statement. And we're gonna talk more about that in just a little bit, but uh um, but as you prepare your heart, you continue to prepare your heart for what's ahead. I want you to take just a moment and uh and do that to meet the Lord, to meet him in prayer, to meet him in his word tomorrow. Rachel, anything that you would add before we wrap up this session?

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Ask the Lord for this. Ask the Lord to show you great things in his word, and he will do it.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Because he is able and he is faithful. We know that about his character. Well, we'll talk again tomorrow, and we'll start with that first method on tomorrow's episode.