The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: Many of God's people who have received grace don't want to offer it to anybody else. They have become Christian cul-de-sacs rather than Christian conduits.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans says if we really understand God's grace, it'll spill over to the people around us.

Dr. Tony Evans: Whenever you lose sight of grace, you lose sight of servant-hood.

Guest (Male): This is The Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Imagine a warehouse that only received deliveries and never shipped anything out. Well, Dr. Evans will talk to us today about the danger of becoming a blessing depository as he takes a look at what it means to serve by grace. Let's turn to First Peter chapter four as we join him.

Dr. Tony Evans: One of the TV shows I used to watch in the fifties, and those who are old enough will remember it, was simply called The Millionaire. In this particular television show, a nameless benefactor would hand out a million dollars a week to different people. I guess one of the reasons I loved the show was I loved the thought of somebody giving a million dollars.

And every week he would hand out a million dollars to another person. Now, you never saw his face. He had a representative named Michael Anthony. And Michael Anthony represented the invisible, never-to-be-seen benefactor as he went to the people and gave them a check for a million dollars.

The story weekly revolved around how people used the gift that was given them. Some people wasted it. Other people lost it. Other people dismissed it. But then there were other people who used it to benefit them and even beyond them to benefit others. So what kept the weekly program interesting was how people used the gift that they had been given.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have been given a gift from an invisible benefactor. You can't see God. God is a spirit. So you don't know what He looks like. You don't have a physical relationship with Him. But He does have a representative named Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ dispenses the grace of God to all who believe in Him and accept Him for it based on His substitutionary death on the cross.

We have defined grace as God's unmerited favor. It is the goodness of God that He makes available to people that they cannot earn, do not deserve, and would never be able to repay. Now, He says in verse 10, that you are to be stewards of the manifold grace of God. The word manifold means multi-colored. That means grace in its variety of expressions. Now He says you are stewards of grace.

A steward is one who protects and expands the assets of another. So here's what God has said. He said, in light of grace, in light of My favor, as each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another. It is unfortunate today that many of God's people who have received grace don't want to offer it to anybody else.

They have received the goodness of God, but they don't appreciate the goodness of God that they have received. They don't come to worship service; they come to worship selfish. They only come to get my blessing, they only come to get my benefit, they only come to get my favor. They have become Christian cul-de-sacs rather than Christian conduits, not knowing that what they're actually doing is stifling the favor of God flowing through their own life.

He says you are a steward of the grace of God. Employ it in serving one another. So the proof that you appreciate grace is demonstrated in how much you are willing to serve others in the family of God. Some of you have in your home teenagers who take their parents for granted. Any of you got kids like that? They take you for granted.

You're supposed to go to work. You're supposed to buy the food. You're supposed to drive me where I need to go. You are supposed to, you're supposed to, you're supposed to. But then when you ask them to wash the dishes, when you ask them to vacuum the floor, they're going to give you an attitude. And then they got the nerve to not contribute, but then ask you what's for dinner.

I ain't going to cook, I ain't going to set the table, I ain't going to clean up, but what you got for me? Because they don't appreciate the goodness that you are providing them day in and day out. Well, God's got some teenagers. People who want to live in God's house, benefit from God's house, get the goodness of God's house, but when they are asked to do a little something-something for God, they're tied up in their own room.

He says you are stewards of the grace of God. Therefore serve. Watch this, don't misunderstand me. You're not serving to get grace; that's law. You are serving because of grace. If you have paid for your child's education in college, that means you're putting out a lot of money. So their work in school doesn't earn your pay. You paid because they're your child.

But you want them to do their work and to do their studies because of the high cost you have put, investing in them, to cause them to want to give their best in school and not act a fool. God says because of My grace, I want you to give Me your best. My grace is free, but I just want to know how much you appreciate it. And you don't just appreciate it by coming to church. You appreciate it by being a servant.

That's why Ephesians 2:10 is so important. It says, "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He hath created beforehand that we should walk in them." He has spent verses eight and nine of Ephesians two saying you're saved by grace. But now that you're saved, He says in verse 10, "Now you are my workmanship."

The Greek word workmanship means masterpiece. You're special. He says in the passage we read, First Peter four, "Since you have received a special gift." See, you're special now. You have been elected by God for a special service for the kingdom of God as an expression of appreciation for His grace. You are no longer normal; you are unique. That's why as a Christian, you don't want to spend your time trying to be somebody else. You are His special masterpiece.

Watch, created for good works. So let me define good work. A good work is not the same as good things. Sinners can do good things. Atheists can do good things. People who hate God can do good things. They can build hospitals, orphanages, be philanthropists. You don't have to be a Christian to do a good thing. But that's not the same as a good work.

A good work in the Bible is something that God has ordained that benefits other people for which He gets the credit. A good work is only a good work if God is connected to it. Because according to Matthew 5:16, "Let men see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." God must be attached to it before God recognizes it as a good work.

You're just a good thing, you're just another nice neighbor if God is not attached to it. So He says I want you serving one another as an expression of the grace of God that I have given to you. Unfortunately, far too many Christians are living a life in falsetto. Falsetto means living outside of your range. You are not allowing what God has given you to be used for the advancement of His kingdom, the building up of His body, and the impact in the world.

But you want your blessing. Everybody's showing up for their blessing, but how many people show up to find out, God, how do You want me to be a blessing? Because that is the proof that you recognize you are what you are by grace.

Guest (Male): But is it possible for that grace to be wasted? Dr. Evans will talk to us about a passage that answers that question when he continues our message in a moment. First, though, don't miss your chance to get a copy of Tony's devotional book that'll help you get more out of our current series. It's called Anchored by Grace.

And as you go through the individual devotions in it, you'll find yourself leaning into God's grace instead of working harder to measure up on your own. Dr. Evans says we sometimes wind up being our own worst enemy when it comes to this important area. So it's vital that we learn to let the Lord change us from the inside out. That's why we want you to have a copy of Anchored by Grace as our gift.

Just visit TonyEvans.org to make a donation and we'll say thanks by sending it your way. And if you contact us right away, we'll also include all 12 full-length messages in both volumes of the Magnificent Grace of God audio collection on CD, USB, or digital download. Again, that's TonyEvans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our resource team members help you. I'll repeat that contact information for you after part two of today's lesson and this.

Chronic illness, long hospital stays, questions with no clear answers. On the Unbound podcast, Dr. Tony Evans talks with New Testament scholar Dan Wallace about faith when suffering doesn't have a timeline.

Dan Wallace: I ended up going to hospital after hospital and for the next five years, I kept coming back to the hospital.

Guest (Male): Real pain, real perspective.

Dan Wallace: Trials produce perseverance, perseverance produces character, character produces hope.

Guest (Male): Unbound with Dr. Tony Evans. Listen now. You can hear the Unbound podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Right now, let's get back to Dr. Evans talking about the magnificent grace of God.

Dr. Tony Evans: Let me show you a passage. It is in First Corinthians chapter 15. Now listen to what Paul the apostle said. He says in First Corinthians 15, verse nine, these words. "For I am the least of the apostles and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain. But I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me."

Let me tell you why Paul says he labored more than everybody else. Because he used to kill Christians. He used to be a murderer. He says, "I persecuted the church." But then on the Damascus Road in Acts nine, a light shone from heaven. Jesus Christ spoke, and Jesus Christ reached down and found this pagan Jewish leader and brought him to salvation.

Then not only did God save him, but then God took him to the desert of Arabia and used all of his Jewish education to make him the leader in the church. Then God reached down and used him to write 13 books of the New Testament. Then God reached down and let him start churches all over Asia Minor. Then God reached down and let him advance the kingdom of God.

He says when I saw what I used to be and when I saw where God has brought me down, God doesn't have to ask me twice to serve. God doesn't have to ask me twice to minister to the body of Christ. He doesn't have to ask because I know where I used to be and I know where I was and I know where God has brought me and I know even though I got the title of apostle, I'm not Mr. Big Stuff because if it wasn't for the grace of God, I wouldn't be where I am because I am what I am by the grace of God.

And if some of us here today would remember and look back far enough, if we really look back, some of us should be in the grave today. Some of us should be in jail today. Some of us should be in poverty today. Some of us should be miserable in a psychiatric ward today. But God in His grace reached down and grabbed you and brought you up out the miry clay. And you should be saying I am what I am by the grace of God.

And so what God is saying is, I want you to be a conduit of grace because watch this, the more servant-hood you express, the freer grace can flow. You have the grace, but you don't want to block the flow of grace. And nothing blocks the flow of grace like selfishness. Nothing blocks the flow of grace like self-centeredness and pride and lack of humility.

You are servants. I am a servant. And He says we've been elected for this purpose in Second Peter chapter one, verses eight through 11. He says I want you to be useful and fruitful. And then He says the ones who I can't use and the ones who aren't producing anything for My glory and My kingdom and building up the body of Christ, He says is because they have forgotten the purification from their former sins.

They have forgotten My forgiveness, they've forgotten My goodness, and they have taken My goodness for granted. And that's why they don't serve. That's why God created the church. You don't need the church for preaching, you don't need the church for singing, you can get that a lot of ways. The reason why God created the church is so that you would have a serving environment within the family of God.

That's why He says one another, one another, one another, one another, and then the overflow to the broader world. If you are not a servant, you are stifling the flow of grace. You have it, but you're blocking it because God cannot flow in the context of selfishness. And so, look at what Paul tells Timothy. First Timothy chapter six, he says in verse 17, "Instruct those who are rich in this present world."

He says, tell those folk, just because you can drive this car, wear those clothes, and live in this neighborhood, you ain't all that. He says tell them not to be conceited, not to think they're better than the homeless guy, better than the poor guy, better than the person who may not have what you have. He says you tell them, "Don't be conceited." He says tell them something else.

He says you tell them don't fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches. There will come a time in your life and my life, no matter how much money you have, no matter how many people you know, no matter how much clout you exercise, that you will face something money can't fix. You will face something money can't buy. You will face something that all the money in the world you would give away for if you could get this problem solved.

He says so you tell them it's okay to have it, but they better not fix their hope on it. What else you want me to tell them? He says you tell them to fix their hope on God who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. So wait a minute, that's good news. He says if God gave it, it's okay to enjoy it. You don't have to apologize for having what God gave as long as you don't have the wrong attitude for it.

So what do you want me to tell them, Paul, about how to have the right attitude about the grace that you have given us all? He says instruct them to do good and to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. He says you instruct them to have a servant mentality and to be ready at a dime's notice if I call on them.

Okay, God, what are you telling Paul to tell them to motivate them to do this? Verse 19, "Storing up for themselves treasures for a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed." Okay, here it is. When you stand before God and I stand before God and He reviews your life from salvation to death, one of the things that the tape will show is your servant-hood.

He will want to know how His blessings to you became a benefit to others. How His favor to you made you favorable to others. Or did you only live for me, myself, and I? He says you are storing up for the future. And when you and I stand before God and He runs over those clips of the tape that aren't pretty, He runs over those clips of the tape that we're ashamed of, He runs over those clips of the tape where we failed Him and we're embarrassed and we want to hide our face.

He says I'm going to put alongside the clips where you were a servant and where you showed mercy and where you helped people who couldn't help themselves. I'm going to put that against the tape of your failure and I will let mercy over here override failure over there. So He says you store up treasure for the future, James 2:13 says. So what I am telling you is that if you really appreciate grace, and if you don't appreciate it, you need to go back to the cross.

Because the cross is the foundation of grace. And if you will learn to appreciate and enjoy the grace of God but be a vehicle through which God can flow, then His grace can just flow through you and it says and guess what He'll give you. He will give you the last verse says, "Life indeed." You know what life indeed is? Real life, the stuff money can't buy. See, that's life indeed.

Because you can have a new home and be miserable in it. You can have a new car and have nowhere to go. You can have good health and wish you were dead because you don't have life indeed. But He says to those who have a servant's heart, I will give them life and I will give it to them more abundantly. I will give them life indeed.

Guest (Male): That abundant life the Bible talks about begins when you realize that God's grace is the only way to get to heaven and you make the decision to receive it by trusting Jesus alone. There's more to that story and Dr. Evans has posted a short video that lays it out for you. Just visit TonyEvans.org and follow the link at the top of the page that simply says "Jesus". You'll learn what it means to be a real Christian and find some free downloadable resources to get you started.

Today's message was called Serving by Grace, and you can request that title on its own or get it as a part of Tony's complete series on the Magnificent Grace of God. A look at how something we don't deserve can give us everything we need. This set of full-length messages contains material we won't have time to bring you on the air. And as I mentioned earlier, it's yours as our gift when you visit TonyEvans.org and make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station.

And remember, it'll come to you bundled with Tony's companion devotional book for this series, Anchored by Grace. Again, that's TonyEvans.org or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222 where team members are available around the clock to help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. No matter how much we wish it weren't true, it remains a fact: real growth doesn't come easy. It's a struggle and often a painful one.

But tomorrow Dr. Evans explains how to lean on God's grace to carry us through the process and what awaits us when we do. Right now though, he's back with this final story about the similarity of serving your mother and serving your maker.

Dr. Tony Evans: A mother gave her son some jobs to do. The son left a note for his mother to see just before he left for school the next morning. The note read this way: For cleaning my room, $2. For washing the dishes, $2. For putting away my clothes, $2. For mowing the lawn, $2. Total mama, you owe me $10. The mother saw the note. She took out $10 and put it by the note.

But then she wrote her own note. She said, for carrying you nine months, no charge. For staying up all night when you were sick, no charge. For ironing your clothes so that you looked decent when you go to school, no charge. Total, no charge. It was just because I loved you.

When the little boy saw the note of his mama, he gave back the $10 because he understood that to serve what she asked him to do was only the right thing to do when there was that much love that had been displayed from her to him. And when I see how much grace of God has come to me, then serving as I have opportunity and as I have ability should be no problem. I ought to look for opportunities to serve because I am what I am by the grace of God.