Gratitude Overflowing -
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God." --II Cor. 4:15
It
is said that the word "thanksgiving," in one or another of its forms,
flows from the heart and pen of Paul more than 50 times, while in all
the rest of the New Testament Scriptures it is found only 21 times.
Since the size of the rest of the New Testament is about two and a half
times that of Paul's epistles, this makes the ratio 6 to 1. That is,
for every time some other New Testament writer uses the word, Paul uses
it six times. This is probably correct, for Paul's epistles are indeed
filled with thanksgiving.
DISRESPECT AND INGRATITUTE
What
a contrast this was to the pagan world about him! Long centuries
before, the Gentiles who "knew God…glorified Him not as God, neither
were thankful" (Rom. 1:21). Their attitude was that of disrespect and
ingratitude. The result:
"…[they] became vain in their imaginations [or reasonings], and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image make like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things" (Vers. 21-23).
How
superstitious and stupid intellectual man can be! Five hundred years
of paganism showed its results in the great moral and spiritual
depravity of the Egyptian dynasties. The Egyptians were intellectual
people (Acts 7:22). They knew secrets that we moderns know nothing of.
We do not know how they built their great pyramids and it is said that
no engineer today would know how to build one. They knew also how to
embalm their dead so that the mummies of many of their dead are still,
after 3500 years, in existence in museums in Chicago, New York, London
and elsewhere.
The
Great Pyramid at Gizeh is a marvel of geometry, astronomy, and
engineering, a permanent record of geometric facts, and a living proof
that the ancients had an amazing knowledge of astronomy. Joseph A.
Seiss calls the Great Pyramid "the oldest and greatest existing monument
of intellectual man."1
But
think of the superstition and fear involved in their worship of the
hawk, the bull, the cow, the cat, the frog, the baboon, the jackal, the
crocodile, and other beasts and reptiles! To these the Egyptians
prostrated themselves, bringing them sacrifices to placate them when
angry or ill-tempered. And to this we must add religious rites so vile
that they are deeply repulsive to the Christian mind and heart. Little
wonder, for five centuries before this,
"God…gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves" (Rom. 1:24).
God did not instill unclean desires; He simply gave them up to "the lusts of their own hearts."
The record further states:
"[They] changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator…" (Ver. 25).
Again, the results:
"For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly [Lit., shameful], and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet" (Vers. 26,27).
Ah,
but surely all this had changed a great deal by the time of Paul, for
it was then that the great Greek philosophers stepped forth, those men
after whose wisdom modern western culture is said to be patterned. But
was it so different in Paul's day? Listen to his not-very-complimentary
description of the wise of his day, as they gathered at Ephesus, that
seat of learning where the goddess Diana was worshipped. To the
Christians who lived there, he wrote:
"This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles [i.e., the unsaved Gentiles] walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Eph. 4:17,18).
Again, the moral result:
"Who being past feeling [Lit., calloused], have given themselves over to lasciviousness, TO WORK ALL UNCLEANNESS WITH GREEDINESS" (Ver. 19).
Had
the pagan world changed so much by the time Paul arrived on the scene?
Indeed, has it changed even since then? Have not pagan philosophies
gained amazing headway even in "Christian" America? And have they not
brought their sex-madness with them? Are there not millions here in
America who "work all uncleanness with greediness"?
EARTHEN VESSELS
But
how did Paul combat heathenism in his day? And how should we combat it
in ours? First, we should recognize, as Paul did, that we are nothing
in ourselves and that the power to bring light and salvation must come
from God. Referring in the passage we are considering to "our gospel"
(II Cor. 4:3), he says:
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (Ver. 7).
We
do not put diamonds and rubies and other precious items in "earthen
vessels." They are too fragile. They are too easily broken and
crushed. Yet God has deposited "this treasure," the riches of His
grace, in "earthen vessels"--us! Why? So that when hearts and lives
and homes are changed by the gospel, it may be evident that the power
was "of God, and not of us."
Some people think that Paul was "the strong, bold type," but not so. To these same Corinthians he wrote:
"And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling" (I Cor. 2:3).
Nor
was his moral background such as would inspire respectful attention.
True, he had been conscientious and religious but, in his unsaved state,
also ruthless and cruel, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1).
Thus he says,
Thus he says,
"…I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious…" (I Tim. 1:12,13).
Paul
had been anything but faithful to God, to his Messiah, or to his
people, but he was divinely enabled and counted worthy, as God entrusted
him with the dispensing of the riches of His grace to a doomed and lost
world. Thus, when these riches yielded great dividends, it was evident
that the results were not due to Paul's oratory or his persuasive
powers; they were of God, for the instrumentality employed in defending
and dispensing this treasure was altogether disproportionate to the
amazing effect produced.
SATAN’S ATTEMPTS TO CRUSH THE EARTHEN VESSEL
And
now let us see how Satan, in the case of Paul, sought to crush the
"earthen vessel." In II Corinthians 4:8-14 we have the story of the
Apostle's struggles--and his victory in Christ. It is replete with
metaphors, some taken from the Corinthian games, with which his readers
were so familiar.
Verse
8: "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed." The words "on
every side," or "all around," are expressive. The Apostle was
hard-pressed, as by a wrestler seeking to suffocate his opponent with
his hold--yes, hard-pressed, but not crushed!
"We
are perplexed, but not in despair." He himself testified that "we know
not what we should pray for as we ought" (Rom. 8:26). But he was "not
in despair," for he knew that the Holy Spirit does know what is good for
us and pleasing to God (Rom. 8:26,27). What an encouragement the
Spirit's intercession should be to us who likewise, so often, find
ourselves not knowing how to pray! We need not "despair" that our
adversary will succeed in crushing these earthen vessels if we simply
trust God for the outcome.
Verse
9: "Persecuted, but not forsaken." The metaphor seems to be that of
one pursued, harassed, by wild beasts. Constantly pursued by Satan's
henchmen, plotted against, waylaid, hunted down, surrounded by enemies
(I Cor. 15:32 cf. II Cor. 1:8), he was not abandoned or left to perish,
for in life or in death, deliverance and victory were his (II Tim. 4:17;
Phil. 1:20,21), so that spiritually he could say what Daniel said of
his physical circumstances after a night in the lions' den: "My God
hath…shut the lions' mouths" (Dan. 6:22).
"Cast
down, but not destroyed." Evidently a metaphor from the boxing ring.
In fight after fight, the count had seemed to pronounce the
end--6,7,8,9! but God had again raised him up to go on fighting the good
fight of the faith. The above phrase has been rendered, "knocked down,
but not out"!
By this time the Apostle had already suffered almost constant persecution, as II Corinthians 11 tells us.
Five
times he had received "forty stripes save one" (II Cor. 11:24). Why
does not the record simply say "thirty-nine stripes"? Because the
Romans had a law on their books which said in effect: "Don't give a man
forty stripes; you will kill him." So they gave him "forty save one."
Three
times he had been "beaten with rods" (Ver. 25), those terrible clubs
that could break a man's spine or leave him terribly disfigured.
Once
he was stoned (Ver. 25)--and left for dead, and who cannot see, as they
read II Corinthians 11, that repeatedly his very life stood in
jeopardy.
AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST
It
should be noted in Verses 10,11 that the Apostle bore in his body "the
dying of the Lord Jesus…alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake."
Why? Because, as an ambassador for Christ, he appeared before men "in
Christ's stead," i.e., instead of the rejected Christ. Men would not
have Christ, so the Lord sent Paul--and us--as His ambassadors.
In
Colossians 1:24, he declares that he suffers to "fill up that which is
behind [or still remains] of the suffering of Christ," for His Body's
sake. He, of course, refers not to our Lord's vicarious sufferings, for
these are complete and all-sufficient to save the sinner, but rather to
the fact that our Lord, now glorified in heaven, is still despised and
blasphemed and hated on earth. But who suffers this hatred? Paul did;
we do! We stand before men "in Christ's stead." One of the greatest
evidences that the present dispensation is "the dispensation of the
grace of God" is the fact that the Book of Acts closes with the Apostle
of grace in prison.
From
Psalm 2 and Acts 2, it is evident that at Pentecost the stage was set,
as it were, for the outpouring of God's wrath upon the nations--and the
nation Israel. This was the next number of the prophetic program.
But
God, so "rich in mercy," in "His great love wherewith He loved us"
said, "Not yet!" and saved His chief enemy on earth, making him both the
herald and the living example of His love and grace. And--mark
well--when man declared war on God and threw His ambassador into prison,
God did not make a counter-declaration of war, but left Paul in prison,
to be beheaded by the enemy. Thus our Lord waits in grace, as a Royal
Exile--waits to judge this world, meanwhile letting us, His ambassadors,
take part in "the fellowship of His sufferings" (Phil. 3:10) as we
plead with men to be reconciled to God.
“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake, Having the same conflict which ye saw in me [at Philippi] and now hear to be in me" (Phil. 1:29,30).
But
there is more: In II Corinthians 4:10, the Apostle declares that he
bears about in his body "the dying of the Lord Jesus," that "the life
also of Jesus" might be made manifest in his body. Remember, the Lord
Jesus died and rose again, and, as Paul ministered for Christ, he did
not only share "the fellowship of His sufferings" but also "the power of
His resurrection." As men saw him preach the gospel, they did not see a
whipped, defeated man before them, but one who was animated by the
glory of the message of life which he proclaimed. Paul did not cower
before death; he trusted in "God, who raiseth the dead" (II Cor. 1:9).
He had been "in deaths oft" (II Cor. 11:23); he had to face it almost
constantly, "always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in [his] mortal flesh" (II Cor.
4:11).
"So then, death worketh in us, but life in you" (Ver. 12).
The
idea is that his having been constantly delivered to death for Christ
had borne its fruit in them. Death working in him had wrought life in
them!
And
he meant, by God's grace, to go right on proclaiming Christ and His
grace, for he had "the same spirit of faith" as the Psalmist, who said
(in Psa. 116:10), "I believed, therefore have I spoken" (Ver. 13).
Unlike so many men of God today, who are dominated by "the spirit of
fear," Paul declared: "We having the same spirit of faith…we also
believe, and therefore speak" (Ver. 13). Paul had placed his trust, not
merely in one who would keep him physically safe, but in the One who
raises the dead! (Ver. 14). Long ago he had answered the college
professors and their senior students who had come running up, all out of
breath, scoffing that according to biology and half a dozen other
sciences, resurrection from the dead is impossible! His devastating
reply to them was simply:
"Thou fool! That which thou sowest is not quickened [brought to life] except it die" (I Cor. 15:36).
"Look about you," he said: "Resurrection impossible? You are surrounded by it!"
Our Lord had said the same thing during His earthly ministry:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn [grain] of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24).
GRATITUDE OVERFLOWING
Back now to our original text:
"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God" (II Cor. 4:15).
Paul's
heart often sang with thanksgiving for those whose hearts and lives had
been changed through his ministry, but this thanksgiving was
being--certainly was meant to be--multiplied in them: "that the abundant
grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of
God." "Redound," here, means to greatly exceed. God's abundant grace
is enhanced by our thanksgiving! In Romans 5:20, "where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound," or "exceedingly overflow," but here
"abundant grace" is made to abound still more, or shine still more
brightly, "through the thanksgiving of many." Indeed, the joy of heaven
will be the gratitude of the redeemed for the infinite grace of God in
saving and glorifying them!
It
is God's eternal purpose "that in the ages to come He might show the
exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ
Jesus" (Eph. 2:7) and it will be our joy to praise Him for His grace
through all eternity.
There is only way to be SAVED 1. Corinthian 15;1 - 4 Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again the third day. Believe this from you heart and you will have eternal life.
SO GREAT SALVATION!{Click}
There is only way to be SAVED 1. Corinthian 15;1 - 4 Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again the third day. Believe this from you heart and you will have eternal life.
SO GREAT SALVATION!{Click}
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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