Here are some notes I took at my church’s women’s teaching night last month, the talk was on The Sufficiency of Grace, focusing on 2 Corinthians 12:9 with Amy Townsend as the guest speaker.
Sufficient means more than just enough, abundance and overflowing.
4 ways in which God’s grace is sufficient:
- Save – God saved humanity from sin and death Ephesians 2:1, dead things can’t do anything, we can’t rescue ourselves Ephesians 2:4-5 because of God’s great love for us who is rich in mercy made us alive in Christ. Salvation and life is given freely in Christ. GRACE= God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, it is not the reward for what we’ve done but reward from what God has done. We are saved from guilt and shame over sin, including the need to be “good enough”, we need to preach to ourselves daily the point of grace, that we need Christ and Jesus has done everything necessary for salvation.
- Sustain – Life is full of ups and downs, as we live in a sinful world, following Jesus is not easy, Jesus said those who follow him will suffer too.
Paul was given a thorn in his flesh (v7b) the thorn torments and weakens him, what is even more challenging is that Paul is convinced that God gave him this thorn. Paul pleaded with God to take it away from him v.8. In response to Paul’s suffering, God said to him “my grace is sufficient for you”. God gave Paul a thorn to keep him dependant on Christ. Just because God says no to removing the thorn, it doesn’t mean God is absent, but it means it’s the most gracious response at the time, it doesn’t mean we should stop praying, we should keep praying over thorns but pray knowing God’s sufficiency of grace. - Strengthen – 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 the gospel is radically countercultural because it is not of this world. Our weakness is where God’s power is most on display. No weakness is an obstacle to God’s power, the cross of Christ looked like weakness, a man suffering, scorned, despised, held in low esteem, Isaiah 53. We are all weak and experience weakness, when we do experience weakness, we don’t need to despair as God is strong. We can use this as an opportunity for God’s power be seen. When we share our weakness with others, we get to share God’s strength. We can be mutually encouraged when sharing our weakness as Christ’s power can be displayed.
- Satisfy – Grace is the means by which we are united with God, God is the giver of grace, by whom we are satisfied. Jesus is the best thing! Life with God is sufficient in any and every way.
This talk gave me a different perspective on my own circumstances, particularly my chronic illness. This is my current thorn, God may choose to remove it in the future or may not, but regardless, I should keep praying and trusting that God’s grace is sufficient and I can walk through life’s challenges with Jesus who gives me strength and sustains me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 is one of my favourite verses, I had already made a few drafts for the Scripture art prior to the talk and have now finalised it.
Here it is, and you can download it for free at Free Scripture Art.
