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GRACE FOR SEASONABLE HELP

I have been impressed with this scripture in Peter’s epistle since Lord’s day, especially by this expression, “good stewards of the various grace of God”. I was thinking about what that would mean and how it would apply. First of all, we can think of what stewards are. They are persons who have been given something to look after, but not only that, but also to use it wisely and use it properly. How much can every believer say that we have been recipients of divine grace! Think of the many different ways in which grace has been shown us. Not only mercy, saving us from judgment and giving us relief, but grace brings us into wonderful blessing. It brings us into association with Christ and the knowledge of Him as the Son of God, then into the joy of sonship, the liberty of being in the Father’s presence as worshippers, knowing Christian fellowship. What boundless grace has been shown to us! In this passage, grace would come down to what is very practical indeed, knowing that we have been given the means whereby we can help one another, ministering to one another, being hospitable. How practical grace is and that is what this scripture made me think of. Our brother has spoken of love, and grace really shows the workability of love, the adaptability of it. It applies in every circumstance, every situation. I do not think there is any situation in which the believer might be where grace does not apply. What a wonderful gift it is! So we are to be good stewards of it, “the various grace of God”. I was interested in that expression. It would suggest that grace applies in so many different ways, it applies in every department of the believer’s life. Whether in difficult circumstances or whether in happy circumstances, grace applies.

I read about these examples in the Acts of the Apostles. We might look at them as examples where the various grace of God was being distributed by persons. Aquila and Priscilla first of all came into contact with this man, Apollos, “an eloquent man, who was mighty in the scriptures” and “instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in his spirit, he spoke and taught exactly the things concerning Jesus”. What a person he would have been, but there was some limitation with him in “knowing only the baptism of John”. There was something further that he could learn, something more that he could understand, not only to know the baptism of John but to know more about the person of the Lord Jesus. In the way Aquila and Priscilla acted, they were really being stewards of the grace of God. They chose in love how they were going to approach this situation. There was exactly what was needed and provided in grace to be able to deal with this situation. They did not correct Apollos publicly in the synagogue. Perhaps if they had done that, they might have offended the brother, they might have caused him to be lost to the testimony. Think of the skill they used; it has been said that love is the most skilful of all things¹. These believers took Apollos to them and “unfolded to him the way of God more exactly”. Grace would love to operate in nearness; it would not operate at a distance. In our relations with one another, it is good to get alongside someone in love, to get near to the person. I feel the test of that; they “took him to them and unfolded to him the way of God more exactly”. So righteousness was upheld. We may sometimes think of grace as being compromise, but that is never so. Grace and truth was perfectly seen in the Lord Jesus, subsisting in that One. Think of Him being “full of grace and truth”, John 1:14. Aquilla and Priscilla knew that there was adjustment needed by this brother, but they did it in a way that dignified him, it lifted him up, it helped him. How valuable Apollos was; it says that he “with great force convinced the Jews publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ”. How effective grace is; it lifts persons up, it secures persons. It has been said that if we take care of the principles, God will take care of the people², but in that same address, Mr Taylor also said ‘Holding the truth in love is the great thing. If you do that you will not let the people go’³. Think of the love that Aquila and Priscilla had not only for the truth, but for this man Apollos, a believer. They saw how precious he was, how useful he was going to be in the testimony. Beloved, let us be like that.

Paul too, in Acts 20, acted in grace. Grace does more than is required, grace goes above and beyond that. It does not just meet righteousness, it goes further than that because love is behind it. So this youth, sitting at the window, was overpowered by sleep. You might say it was not wilfulness; perhaps it was weakness, perhaps there was something that had distracted him. Perhaps his affections were not so tightly bound to the Lord Jesus or to what Paul was speaking of as they should have been, and in weakness he was overpowered. How like that we often are, I certainly know that myself. “But Paul descending fell upon him, and enfolding him in his arms”. There it was, grace moving to act in nearness; Paul “enfolding him in his arms, said, Be not troubled, for his life is in him”. Grace would always preserve life. Think of the valuation which Paul had of this youth. You might wonder why he should have been interested; someone else could have been sent down to look after Eutychus while Paul continued to discourse. No, Paul valued the person and he went down and recovered him; he did it personally. “And they brought away the boy alive, and were no little comforted”. When grace acts, not only is the situation recovered or adjustment brought in but there is something added for the glory of God. They were “no little comforted”; what joy there is in seeing the results of grace because grace is an active matter. Sometimes we might think we are showing grace just by being passive about a situation and letting something go. This example of Eutychus shows that that is not the case. How active and how ready Paul was to move.

I wondered about this scripture in Galatians when Peter came to Antioch, and Paul withstood him to the face. I think it was love that was behind Paul doing this. It was not because he had something against Peter, it was not because he wanted to expose him. It was because he loved him and he wanted to secure him. Perhaps we think of grace as being tolerance, but that is not true. As we have said, there is no compromise, but it is done in such a way that Peter is indeed secured. How Peter could write in his epistle of “our beloved brother Paul”, 2 Pet.3:15. What a result there must have been. Think of the respect that Paul would have had for Peter. Earlier on it says “and I remained with him fifteen days”, Gal.1:18. What matters they would have spoken of, what they would have conversed over as to the person of the Lord Jesus. Paul would have respected Peter, an older brother as I suppose Peter would have been. Yet Paul was faithful. There is a proverb “Open rebuke is better than hidden love” (Prov.27:5) which has been linked with this scripture⁴. The matter of faithfulness is important, like the “wounds of a friend”, Prov.27:6. Paul loved Peter and valued him, and knew what he was able to do in ministry, but Paul acted in this way. I think that we can see grace in the way in which Paul did it, so that Peter was secured.

If we are to be stewards of grace and if we are to apply it in the various circumstances in which we find ourselves, we first need to receive it. That is why I thought of the “throne of grace” in Hebrews, because that is where we find it. We receive mercy there, and we find “grace for seasonable help”. I linked that in my mind with the “various grace of God”. There is variety associated with the different seasons; there are the cold seasons and there are the warm seasons. There are times of joy but also times of difficulty; there is not exactly the same requirement in each circumstance. In Christianity, there is not always an exact prescription. In the Old Testament and under the law, there was something particular prescribed for almost every situation. I think grace is what we look to use in Christianity, grace reigning through righteousness so that the Spirit would help us to discern how to act and when, in different circumstances. Grace will always apply, and I thought of the importance of how, if we are to act in grace, we must first know what it is to approach the throne of grace and know the One who is on it, the One who would always have an attitude of grace towards us. Think of the Lord Jesus in His perfect grace always. So let us frequent the throne of grace, let us go there and find this “grace for seasonable help”, not only for ourselves but if a situation arises where grace is needed, let us find the answer at the throne of grace so that we can apply this various grace of God.

May we be helped in it and may the Lord bless the word.

Word in meeting for ministry, Grangemouth

7 July 2015

J. Speirs

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