In the Economy of Grace

Introduction

Intro Zeal

This is our second to last sermon in this series

As we grow in zeal for the Lord, ideally, our zeal for those He loves should increase as well

If we love Jesus, and he tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, there’s an extent to where our zeal should extend to loving our neighbor as ourselves

But while loving our neighbor is easy when our neighbor is somebody that we generally like, loving our neighbor becomes much more difficult when we deem them as someone unworthy of our love, or when they themselves don’t accept our love

This is the problem we see Paul running into in our passage today

Read 2 Cor 12:11-13:10

Intro

In the 90’s, there was this idea that was popularized amongst sociologists that gave a framework for give and take in social interaction

This idea was coined as “Relational Capital” - capital meaning money

The idea of relational capital basically boils down to this: when you do something good for someone, you invest relational capital into that relationship. When you do something bad, or when you ask them for a favor, you withdraw relational capital from your account

And the more relational capital you invest in someone, the more you can withdraw

If I asked Sam for a ride home, he would readily do it

If I asked one of your parents, they would probably say yes, but it would be a little weird. And there’s probably only a certain number of times I can do that before they just say no

If I asked a complete stranger, they most likely wouldn’t do it

The reason I bring this up is because I think this idea of relational capital speaks to why we’re so hesitant to do what Jesus asks us to do when it comes to our relationships

And I think it’s because conversations that have to do with religion and Christianity feel so heavy to us, that any conversation of this nature feels like it’s drawing a lot of relational capital

You can be friends with a person for 1 month, but one conversation with them about religion that goes sideways can drain all of the relational capital from your account, and now they don’t even want to talk to you

You can be friends with someone who is a Christian, and you call them out in love one time for a sin they’re living in, and maybe you’re working to try to mend that relationship for months afterward

Now, obviously, relational capital is not a real thing, but a lot of us feel it, don’t we?

We’re scared to fulfill the great commission, we’re scared to say what we need to say because we’re afraid of losing relationship

And this isn’t a bad thing by the way! We as image bearers of God were made to be in right relationship with people. We were not made to be in conflict, and we were not made to be alone

So what do we do about this?

Intro Passage

Well, we see Paul dealing with this very issue in our passage today

He begins by taking a little bit of a jab at them, basically saying: Oh, I didn’t know you respected people more when they ask you for money. Sorry I didn’t ask you for money because I cared more about my message getting across

But we should not mistake Paul’s snakiness for flipantness

We can see halfway through ch 13 that Paul is calling into question their faith

Spent For the Soul

But then we see him say this in 2 Corinthians 12:15 “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?”

Do many of you feel like you’ve been “spent for the soul” of a friend, peer, or family member? This is the effect of spent relational capital

Paul is saying here that he has made withdrawals every time he has called out their sin, but he’s also being honest in telling them that they have withdrawn from his account with their continued disobedience

That’s something else we have to recognize about this, it’s not just what we take from them, it’s what they take from us

My roommate

Every time I have a conversation with him, I feel like I’m withdrawing, but I also feel withdrawn from afterward. I feel spent and emotionally exhausted

But at the end of the day, it’s all worth it. Why?

Because I love Jesus and I love the Gospel, and I think it’s a genuine travesty when someone isn’t willing and able to live in the same love I experience every day

But keep in mind, this isn’t just talking about non-believers, it’s also talking about believers as well

Ben calling me out

Did he withdraw a lot of relational capital by having that conversation with me? Yes

Was I particularly happy that he did it in the moment? Not really, I was embarrassed, and I admittedly reacted with an air of defensiveness and dismissiveness

But am I glad he was faithful to the teachings of Jesus and called me out for my sin even though he knew it was going to withdraw a lot of relational capital? Absolutely

Let me offer a quick word of warning though: check your heart posture when you call out sin in somebody

If you are eager to do it, you probably don’t have the correct heart posture

Paul was spent, he did not want to call out the Corinthians

So we can be confident that his words of correction were not out of spite, but out of love.

We also have to be conscious of our correction not being out of spite, but out of love.

Transition

But I also want to encourage you with this, when you find yourself in a place where you have to choose between boldness for the truth of the Gospel or protecting your relational capital, you should always choose to be bold for the Gospel

Now, this doesn’t mean we go around starting fights...

But when you feel the Spirit urging you to be bold for His sake, when you listen to Him and take the hits you’re going to take from it, He will always bless the work of your hands

Go ahead and look down at 2 Corinthians 13:10 “For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.”

Paul basically says here: I have apostolic authority that has been granted to me by Jesus himself. Don’t make me use this authority when I come to visit you next

We can see here that men have been given authority by God to speak apostolic truth

Jesus says to the Apostles in Matthew 18:18 “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

It’s important that we stay rooted to what the Apostles taught, and that was the conviction of Athanasius, one of my favorite church fathers

Athanasius

Background

Christianity was going from a small, persecuted religion where believers were fighting for their lives, to a wider socially accepted religion

This led to debates about the structure of Christianity and what it is they believed

Arius

In 318 AD, he started pushing his views on Jesus called Arianism

Jesus was a created being who was created before all other beings, but was created nonetheless

Therefore, he is not equal with the Father

Claimed that since God is so much greater than humanity, there is no way that God could become fully man and remain fully God

“There was a time when he was not”

Council of Nicea

Constantine didn’t like the in-fighting of the Christians in his empire, and he wanted to get it solved, so he convened a meeting of as many Christian leaders who would come to hash out their differences and come to an agreement of what it was they actually believed as Christians

Over 300 Christian leaders gathered in AD 325

Athanasius prevailed with a vote of 315-3 in favor of Athanasius

“Athanasius against the world”

Athanasius would later be promoted to be the Bishop of Alexandria, but it was short lived as, not long after, Arius was able to gain more influence and get in the ear of Constantine amongst other powerful Roman leaders

Although Athanasius had won the day at Nicea, Arius was able to gain a substantial amount of support and was able to spread false rumors about Athanasius

He was exiled 5 times

He died in 373 AD. 8 years later at the Council of Constantinople, Arianism was dealt the final death blow when what was declared at the council of Nicea was officially declared by the Roman Government as well

Takeaway

Remember what I said earlier: when you find yourself in a place where you have to choose between boldness for the truth of the Gospel or protecting your relational capital, you should always choose to be bold for the Gospel

Athanasius literally chose boldness for the truth of the Gospel over most of the relationships in his life, and look where we’re sitting now because of it

Jesus

Can I offer you one final word of encouragement? Go ahead and look at 2 Corinthians 13:3–4 “since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.”

Although Paul is using this as a warning to the unfaithful by saying that even though Jesus was crucified in weakness, he corrects with strength, I think the faithful can use this as encouragement by focusing on the fact that Jesus was crucified in weakness

Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

While we think about how others have drained our relational capital, consider how much God’s chosen people drained their relational capital with him

They worshiped idols, they broke the covenant countless times, they sacrificed their children, they were constantly drawing large sums of relational capital with the Lord

And if you want to get an idea of how much relational capital they were drawing, think of the parable of the unmerciful servant

Servant owes king 10,000 talents ($12 billion)

Servant owes servant 100 denarii ($20,000)

Someone might have taken $20,000 worth of relational capital from you, but look at how much we’ve withdrawn from Jesus

And what is our takeaway from this? Should we feel guilty? Should we allow our guilt to drive us? No! It’s the opposite

See the compassion of the Lord in this passage from the book of Isaiah: Isaiah 55:1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”

Jesus know that you don’t have anything left to give him, and that’s ok

Jesus doesn’t operate in an economy of grace. You don’t have to worry about this $12 billion dollar price tag that the unmerciful servant owed the king because the king is not going to come to collect from you

He has bound himself to you with a covenant promise where he says in Jeremiah 31:34 “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Jesus died in weakness so that you don’t have to worry about the debt of relational capital you owe him, and he calls us to do the same with those we love