Generous Beggars

Today I heard this passage from John Piper's sermon on Romans 1:8-15 about how the grace of God makes us debtors to each other. I am so grateful for God's way of knitting his people together, by giving us gifts -- and shortcomings -- so that we need our brothers and sisters and they need us. This is a reminder to me that though I am a debtor to God, I detract from His name by trying to "pay back" the debt with my service. Trying to "pay back" actually nullifies Grace. To glorify and magnify His name, to show appreciation for the Grace He has extended, means becoming a debtor to everyone. When we serve others -- whoever comes along! -- with the whatever gifts He has chosen to give, always saying, "Look, look, what I have -- here, take some -- He gave it to me!" His Gospel is displayed and His grace at giving gifts to beggars is showcased.


Here is the sermon excerpt:
Peter put it like this in 1 Peter 4:10, "As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." The grace of God comes to the church in manifold forms and ways - as many forms as there are people. And the use of that grace to bring about the obedience of faith is what spiritual gifts are.

So it isn't surprising that at the very beginning of this greatest of all letters - this great theological masterpiece - Paul would call us to think and pray about spiritual gifts and how all of us are debtors to the wise and to the foolish because of God's grace, not just outside the church toward unbelievers, but inside the church to each other. "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another" (Romans 13 :8).

So here is the sum of the matter: grace came to us absolutely free and unconditional from God when he called us to himself and loved us as his own (1:6-7). This grace makes us debtors to everyone who, like us, needs grace, because not to share the grace we received would imply that we qualified for it and they don't; and that would nullify grace. And what we share is the gospel of this great free grace. This is how we pay our debt to others: freely we received, freely we give. And one of the ways we share the good news of God's grace is through spiritual gifts. O, how important is the body life of the church in small groups where people understand that every member is a steward of grace to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of the Name.