Sufficient grace

Paul sought the Lord three times for the removal of a ‘thorn’ in his flesh but was told, ‘My power is perfected in your weakness. My grace is sufficient for you.’ 2 Cor 12:9. Because of the greatness of his revelation, we are told that Paul needed the ‘thorn’ to prevent him from becoming puffed up with pride. 2 Cor 12:7. He was given this particular style of grace so that he would not become a castaway. The ‘thorn’ kept him measured to a certain reality. But it is not helpful for you or me to say, ‘His grace is sufficient’ in the same way that Paul did, because ‘sufficient’ grace will mean something different for each one of us.

In seasons of total despair, we may staunchly declare, ‘His grace is sufficient’. But others may look on and say, ‘No it’s not.’ You have limited His grace because you are not appropriating the grace that He wants to give you. You have the wrong shoes on. You’re in the wrong place. You are doing the wrong thing. You’re thinking the wrong way!’ There are cycles of growth in which God wants to commend grace to us for a particular work in His body. But when our work finishes, that particular style of grace may no longer be available to us. We will need to find ‘more grace’. James 4:6.

In the book of Acts, we find that Paul and Barnabas commended elders to the Lord. We read, ‘When they had appointed elders in every place they prayed for them with fasting and commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed’. Acts 14:23. To the Ephesian elders, Paul wrote, ‘I commend you to God and to the word of His grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified’. Acts 20:32. Paul used the word paratithemi which means ‘to place beside’. When he commended elders to the grace of Christ, he placed them beside the Lord who gave them the capacity to do the work. This action superseded any human intervention which could disqualify them, but only if those men walked in the particular grace that had been given to them.

Many churches don’t grow because the key people are not operating according to the grace that is theirs. It is evident that one man can lead about seventy people but once the church grows bigger than this, it must diversify. If a leader does not have the grace to put the necessary structure in place, that group of people will only grow to a certain number. A similar dynamic exists in a business or any grouping of people where the director can be a CEO or a micro-manager who has to have his hands on everything. If he chooses to be a CEO he will not have time to be a micro-manager. And by definition, if he is a micro-manager the business will not need a CEO because it cannot grow past him. A true leader must know how to trust people, how to train people, how to open doors for them and how to live with the mess they make while they grow.

David Falk

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Feature Articles
November 2009

The word of His grace

Where is wisdom?
-Part 2

Believe and be established

Poured out

Yes and no

The gates of righteousness

Sufficient grace

A living sacrifice

Where your
treasure is

Strong in the Lord