Where Grace Abounds Generosity Overabounds | Pastor Raph

Where Grace abounds, generosity over abounds

The Bible is full of expressions with people who clearly experienced farce; the immediate consequence was generosity. 

Forgiveness of sins generates faith

The forgiveness of sins is not only the beginning; it is the foundation and the source, the origin of all blessings. Think about that for a moment. What prevents you from being healed? It’s because you think there is an unforgivable sin in your life. You still think that illness is a divine punishment. Why don’t you receive an answer to that prayer request? You feel unworthy of receiving it because you still think there is sin in your life. However, when you are aware of forgiveness, you become unshakable.

Jesus sent His disciples out into the world, preaching repentance for the remission of sins. When people believe that their sins are forgiven, they gain faith to be healed, set free, restored, enriched, and receive everything else they need. This is the source of your faith: the forgiveness of sins.

The Gospel of Mark tells us that, on one occasion, Jesus was in Capernaum, and a group of friends decided to take a paralyzed man to be healed by Him. They couldn’t get in when they arrived because of the large crowd of people there to hear Him in the house. So they had an idea: they decided to pull the paralyzed man up to the roof, break the slab, and lower him down in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw the paralyzed man lowered by ropes before Him, He said,

“Son, your sins are forgiven”

(Mark2:5).

It wasn’t exactly what the paralyzed man was expecting to hear that day. He wanted to be healed. So why did the Lord decide to forgive his sins before healing him? The answer lies in the curse of the law.

“if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2).

The blessing was the result of obedience. If they didn’t listen to God’s voice, then a long list of curses would befall them. The curses could be summed up as poverty, sickness, and death.

The paralyzed man was experiencing the curse of the law. He was sick, and because of his sickness, he had to be a beggar. Sickness and misery were signs that he was too sinful to be so cursed. That was certainly his thinking.

When Jesus said his sins were forgiven, he understood that he no longer needed to be under a curse. If he hadn’t sinned, then he could enjoy the blessing.

Jesus saw that the Pharisees were thinking to themselves.

“Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — He said to the paralyzed man, “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home”

(Mark 2:8-11).

Jesus' logic was very simple: The curse came because of sin. If the paralyzed man's sins were not forgiven, then he could not walk. However, if the paralyzed man had really been forgiven, Jesus would tell him to walk, and he would have to walk because there was no longer a curse of sin in his life. The proof that the paralyzed man was truly forgiven was his instantaneous healing.

That man had the faith to be healed because he first believed he had no more sin. The forgiveness of sins was what brought him faith. The same principle applies today. As long as you think you still have sin before God, you have no faith to receive anything. As long as you think your sin has not been forgiven, you don’t have the faith to ask for great things. The moment you believe in forgiveness, faith and boldness invade your heart.

The forgiveness of sins will always generate faith in you. Never think of it as a small matter; rather, consider it the most important point of the New Covenant.

What message will transform the world? Is it the small group vision? Is it about discipleship? These Christian elements are important, but the message that will change the world is the one that the Lord told the disciples to preach.

“And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

(Luke 24:47)

That’s the good news. Your sins have already been forgiven. Jesus has already taken them all on the Cross. If you believe you are forgiven, you will be healed, set free, sanctified, and receive every blessing.

Forgiveness resultsgenerosity

It’s not just your faith that depends on the forgiveness of sins. The Lord Jesus also said that those who are forgiven more love more. Your love for the Lord also depends on how much you understand that you have been forgiven.

One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to dine with him. Jesus entered the Pharisee’s house and took His seat at the table. A woman of the city, a sinner, knowing that He was at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. Standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she watered them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

She kissed His feet and anointed them with the ointment. When he saw this, the Pharisee who had invited Him said to himself,

Luke 7:36-50 (ESV) 36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Jesus says that your love depends on how much you have been forgiven. We’ve all been forgiven a lot; the problem is that some people aren’t aware of the extent of the forgiveness they’ve received. Jesus said that those who are forgiven love more.

Simon the Pharisee thought he had no sin, so he treated Jesus indifferently, but that woman was a sinner. Jesus said she had a lot of sin but knew she was forgiven. The Lord had already forgiven her. She wasn’t there to be forgiven but because she had been forgiven. We don’t know who she was; she could have been Mary Magdalene or the woman caught in adultery in John 8. The fact is that she loved the Lord because she had tasted forgiveness. She was there to worship the Lord.

In her worship, she had no limits for the Lord. She bought an alabaster vase filled with perfume. We know that such a vase cost three hundred denarii. A denarius was a day’s wage for a worker, so three hundred was almost a year’s wages. She didn’t think that investment was too much because she was greatly forgiven. She washed the Lord’s feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair—those who are forgiven a lot become extravagant in their relationship with the Lord.

On the other hand, Jesus said that Simon didn’t even give Him water to wash His feet when He got there, which was part of the etiquette in Israel. The host would give him water to wash his feet and hands whenever a visitor arrived. Simon didn’t do this or welcome Jesus with a kiss, which was also customary in Israel. But the woman never tired of doing much more.

Jesus’ explanation was very simple: she had been forgiven a lot, and those who are forgiven a lot love more and are more committed.

Your level of commitment depends on your perception of forgiveness. Those who are very forgiving don’t argue about tithing because they love it so much that they don’t set limits on their relationship with the Lord. Those who aren’t aware of how much they’ve been forgiven find everything too difficult. They think, "The church is too demanding, the service is always late, and the church practices are very heavy."

However, those who know how much they have been forgiven don’t mind serving. They want to find more occasions to express their love and gratitude. For them, the church never asks for too much because they always go above and beyond.

Those who think they haven’t sinned much aren’t willing to serve. Why? Because they think they don’t need so much forgiveness. They’re not willing to help much, and they’re not willing to contribute. For them, everything is seen as too much commitment. The Pharisee didn't know his sin, so he didn’t value forgiveness. Unfortunately, many are like this.

There’s no point in demanding commitment from people who don’t even know they’ve been forgiven, people who have never seen their own sin. If you knew the size of your sin, you would appreciate the size of the love that has been shown to you.

Someone who has been forgiven a lot is not afraid to talk about the good news of forgiveness. For them, evangelizing is not a burden imposed by the church. They want others to be as blessed as they were.

After many years in church life, you can forget who you were and where you were. You can forget the price you paid and the forgiveness you received. But it is this forgiveness that generates commitment and love. Without a sense of forgiveness, you do everything out of religious obligation.

Generosity changes the course of grace.

Jesus interacted with two rich men—one in Luke 18 and the other in Luke 19. The first has no name. He is known only as a "rich young ruler." I like to paraphrase his story like this:

Luke 18:18-27 (ESV) 18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

A young man approached Jesus with a religious question: "What can I do to save myself? What good am I supposed to do to have eternal life?" Jesus tried to explain to the young man, "First of all, there is no one that is good enough to do good enough to achieve eternal life. But since you can't see that, let me remind you of the Ten Commandments. Maybe you can understand what I mean." The young man arrogantly replied, "All the commandments I have kept. What do I still lack?"

Can you notice his blindness? How could that young man not see himself as a wicked sinner? Religion makes that. It closes our eyes to the grace of God because it creates a false sense of merit where, in reality, there is none. Have you ever tried to rate your own righteousness based on obedience to the Ten Commandments? If you are honest, you will realize how powerless we are to keep them ourselves.

Back to the story. Jesus, with His particular loving and compassionate look, said to the young man, "Only perfect people enter heaven. You think you are one. But you are not perfect. You lack one thing." If we are honest with ourselves, we will confess we lack everything, not "one thing." But Jesus was trying to make a point here. To show that religiosity is never enough. Only His grace can save us.

The greedy young man wondered, "What do I lack?" Jesus said, "Go, sell all you have and give to the poor." Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful. The religious man left, choosing to keep trying to be perfect without clearly listening to the whole invitation that Jesus said, "Instead of you trying, you can always come and follow me." You can also read this story in Mark 10:17-30.

I like that story because it is so clear that the intentions of Jesus were not to make the young man more religious than he thought he was. From all the ten commandments, Jesus chose only the one that could open the young man's eyes. He mentioned the commandments that are related to relationships. If there is a matter of life that we all fall short, it has to do with our relationships, isn't it? Jesus quoted five of the six relational commandments.

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

"You shall not murder.

"You shall not commit adultery.

"You shall not steal.

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:12-16)

In quoting those commandments, Jesus expected the young man to come to his senses and realize he was short of those requirements. It seems it did not work. He still did not see how faulty he was. He said, "All these I have kept from my youth." So Jesus used the ultimate pressure point. Coveteness. On the list of the Ten Commandments, that is the last one.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house [...] or anything that is your neighbor's. (Exodus 20:17)

Paul says that no one escapes from the condemning aspect of that commandment. Jesus appealed to man's covetousness because every human being will fail on covetousness. There is no way out. It is intrinsic to our fallen nature. He writes,

[...] in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. [...] What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. (Romans 7:5; 7-8)

The commandments were meant to reveal our sins as transgressions. God never intended to give us the Law to make us self-righteous and religious. The law was meant to reveal how bad our condition was, and it revealed. And it was actually awful.

Jesus tried the law to open the eyes of the young man, but he was so blind with pride and self-righteousness that he could not admit his incapacity to save himself. Isn't that the problem of so many people? They persistently try to be good by themselves without God and, because of that, don't receive the saving grace.

Initially, Jesus recited the commandments. However, at the last attempt, Jesus changed the expression of the tenth commandment. Instead of simply quoting it, Jesus explained its true meaning. Usually, the commandments are negative in expression, such as, "You shall not [...]". While the commandment is usually negative, Jesus shows us the actual implication of law by turning the commandment into an affirmative order. Let's compare this.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; [...] or anything that is your neighbor's." (Exodus 20:17)

Jesus, however, said,

Jesus [...] said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor [your neighbor], and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." (Luke 18:22)

Instead of a negative statement, "You shall not covet," Jesus emphasized what the commandment should inspire if one could fully live by it. But who can live the reality of the commandments without God's grace? If the law of Moses is not sufficient to open one's eyes to see his own inability to perfect obedience, then Jesus, out of love, will show what the law really meant—all in order to humble our hearts and bring us to the grace of God. Only the humble can receive grace.

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

The power over covetousness

In the matter of covetousness, instead of "Do not touch." Jesus says, "Do not desire." You may wonder, "How can I control it? It is in my very nature the craving for it." To get even more intense, Jesus says, "Not only you can not covet you neighbor's belongings, but I tell you, 'Share what is yours with him. Give it away.' " One will say, "But if I were not even able to control my covetous heart, even less, I would be able to be generous." That was the conclusion Jesus intended for the young man and for all of us. Humility opens the doors for His grace. Jesus wanted to reveal our complete incapacity to save ourselves, redeem ourselves, and fix ourselves. Paul says that the law was given to reveal our total powerless condition. And that should lead us to Christ.

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:23-27)

Humbleness and trust are the appropriate responses for receiving God's grace. Faith makes us to be born again, and those who are born of God have another nature. We are not only free from the dominion of rebellious covetousness, but now, God has clothed us with a new spirit of generosity.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:7-10)

Why can we be generous instead of covetous? We are born of God. God is not charging us for what He did not give us already. Propitiation means "the price paid."

God gave it first. So, the new commandment is not about "You shall not covet." It is "You must love, give, share, care." However, the source of selflessness and love is not in yourself. It is in the love He first loved us.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:18-19)

It makes us wonder if the power of God's grace is really truly transformative like that. That is why, as we said at the beginning of this chapter, in the following story of the greedy young ruler, Luke tells us another story.

Luke 19:1-10 (ESV) 1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The two stories together highlight amazing parallels between the young rich man and the rich small-stature tax collector. While the young man sadly left Jesus, Zacchaeus "received him joyfully." For grace is not a matter of performing religious, but joyfully receiving.

The young man was not willing to leave his self-dignity to accept the invitation of Jesus, "[...] come, follow me." On the other hand, when Jesus said, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down [...]", "[...] he hurried and came down.

The path to grace is always one that goes downhill. The flow of grace is similar to a waterfall; it begins at the top and works its way down. If you want more grace, step down from the pedestal of self-awareness.

Jesus tried to reveal the young man's heart using the law of commandments. But his callousness could not be broken. Zacheous experienced what it means: 

"[...] grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17).

Grace entered Zacchaeus' house. When that happened, he responded with transformation. For those who receive Christ, there is no need for commandments of law. The Lord never asked Zacchaeus for an offering or demonstration of conversion. He received the love of Christ, and he responded with generosity.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

At the end of the two stories, we find strong parallels in contrast. In the story of the rich young ruler, the Bible says,

Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, "How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! [...] "What is impossible with man is possible with God." (Luke 18:24-27)

There was no unwillingness on the part of God to save that young man. Today, Jesus still wants to bring whoever humbly receives and believes into the kingdom of God. It is time to let go of that ego. Whatever you hold as more precious than Jesus' invitation, surrender it today and experience the joy of His freedom. 

In the Zacchaeus' story, we read,

Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:9-10)

Jesus is still on a mission to find the lost. Like Zacchaeus, we also can respond with faith, like a "son of Abraham," to Jesus' invitation. Let Him come into your house today. Let Him make your possessions and riches be instruments of salvation for others. Like Zacchaeus, let's respond with generosity and liberality. Around the world, billions of people need to hear of Jesus' love. God is giving us the privilege to partner with those who are on the front lines of the mission field.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:5-6)