Having Nothing, Yet Possessing Everything

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ² For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you,
    and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

³ We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. ⁴ Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; ⁵ in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; ⁶ in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; ⁷ in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; ⁸ through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; ⁹ known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (2 Corinthians 6:1-10 NIV)

We have a lot of children’s books at our house. They come from all different places: From family members. From rummage sales. From Goodwill. Sometimes an odd thing happens. I’ll open a book and find a message written inside for someone else. Like: “To: So-and-so. Love Forever: Grandma and Grandpa.” It’s always a little awkward, because now we have the book. Someone meant this book to be a special present, but the person who received it gave it away.

Today in the Bible, Paul says, “Don’t do that!” Not with books. With God’s grace. Like a loving grandma or grandpa picks out a special book to give to a grandchild, God has given you a special gift: His grace. Remember what grace is? God’s undeserved love. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus lived a perfect life in our place. Then, in grace, he gave us his perfect life and took all our sins on him, so that we could be the forgiven, saved, loved children of God. That’s grace!

Don’t give that away. Paul writes, “As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain…. I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” Like a child getting a book, it’s easy to receive God’s grace in vain. To treat God’s grace like it’s nothing. We all do that sometimes. We live for ourselves instead of living for Jesus who died for us. We trust in our goodness instead of in Jesus’ sacrifice. We chose to sin rather than to repent and trust in God’s grace. Don’t do that! Don’t receive God’s grace in vain. Don’t give it away.

Even when life is hard. The devil wants nothing more than for you to give up on God’s grace. For you to take God’s grace to Goodwill and drop it off there. Here’s what he loves to use: Struggles and trials and difficulties. “Look at how sick you’ve been, God doesn’t love you.” “Look at how poor you are, God doesn’t love you.” “Look at how lonely you feel, God doesn’t love you.” “Just forget about grace! It’s all an illusion.” Is the devil whispering that in your ear?

Don’t think that it’s only you. In our lesson, Paul speaks honestly about his own troubles. People were questioning whether Paul was a true follower of Jesus. So he said, “Just look at my life! As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger.” That’s a lot of bad stuff! Paul listed nine trials that all required great endurance:  “Troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger.” Does that sound like your life? Endless chances for the devil to whisper: “Give up on grace…”

Or endless chances for God’s grace to strengthen you. Your muscles get stronger when you work them. Your faith gets stronger through the trials of life. How did Paul face all that? By grace. “In purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left.” The devil uses trials to drive you away from God. God uses trials to pull you close to him.

That means that the truth is not always what you see on the outside. Have you learned that? What you see and feel isn’t always true. Here was Paul’s life: “Through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed.” This constant back and forth. This constant up and down. This constant struggle between what you see and what is really true through Christ.

Here’s how he finishes: “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” Being a Christian doesn’t mean you’re always happy. It often means you’re “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Tears come to your eyes—often! But deep down you know there’s joy in Jesus. That’s grace! Being a Christian doesn’t mean you’ll be wealthy and successful. It often means you’re “poor, yet making many rich.” Paul didn’t own anything, yet the message of Jesus that he shared made others rich in God’s grace.

It’s the last one that sticks out to me: “Having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” Do you know what you need for God to love you? Nothing. Do you know what you need to bring to the table for God to save you? Nothing. In fact, it’s often only when a person has nothing that they finally see Jesus. Like the lost son had to lose everything before he realized how much his father loved him. God wants you to know his grace. So sometimes God takes everything else away, so that you stop trusting in your health or your money or your relationships. So that you have nothing. Why? So that you can see his grace to you in Jesus. God loves you, right now!

When you look up to God and say, “But I’ve got nothing,” God doesn’t get angry. He smiles and says, “Finally, my child, finally you get it.” A couple weeks ago, we heard what God said to Paul about his “thorn in the flesh”. Remember? “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul learned to say, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things” (Philippians 3:8). If you feel like you have nothing today, nothing is all you really need.

That’s hard to believe, isn’t it? I know what it’s like to feel like nothing. When I have moments of discouragement, an image often pops in my mind. Maybe you can relate. I feel like a pop can. Not a full can. An empty can. But not just an empty can. A crushed can. Let me show you: Crush! Do you ever feel like this? The worst part is that it can’t be undone. You can’t uncrush a can, right? It’s crushed. Forever. Do you feel like that sometimes? Do you feel like that today?

What I have to tell myself is that that’s not the right picture. When you feel crushed, do you know what you should think of yourself as? An accordion. Do you know what an accordion is? The person playing an accordion often presses it all together, right? Like it’s crushed. But not forever. Soon the musician stretches it out again. There’s this back and forth of pressing and pulling. Life is like being an accordion. Does that make sense? Even in the most pressing times, God can lengthen things back out. Even when you feel crushed, God can let you breathe again.

Because as a musician plays his accordion, when he presses it all together, is it a mistake? No. Did he mess up? No. It’s just part of playing all the notes that need to be played. God is really good at the accordion. He knows just the right notes for every season of your life. Sometimes he plays low notes in your life, and sometimes he plays high notes, and sometimes it seems like he goes back and forth a lot. That’s actually what all the best songs do, isn’t it? You are never a crushed, hopeless pop can. Instead, you are God’s instrument. “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

God’s grace is meant to change your view on life. It certainly did for Paul. God’s grace is meant to change how you look at troubles. Has Jesus died for you? Yes! Has Jesus already defeated the devil for you? Yes! Has Jesus removed all your guilt and punishment at the cross? Yes! So do you need to lose heart? No. Do you need to despair? No. Do you need to live with guilt? No. You know God’s grace to you in Jesus! When you have nothing, you still possess everything.

We’ve been watching the Olympics at our house. A big event this week was when a skier named Mikaela Shiffrin was skiing her last race. She had had a whole bunch of disappointments. Even though she’s called the best skier in the world, she hadn’t won any Olympic medals for eight years. She was down to her last race, and she was the last skier. There was so much pressure. Was she going to do it? Could she finally win another medal? It was hard to watch…

Actually, for me it wasn’t hard to watch. Know why? Because I had accidently checked the news earlier in the day and already seen that she had won. It wasn’t a live race on TV. It had happened hours before. I already knew that she had won. That changes things, doesn’t it? The announcers were all tense and anxious. Mikaela Shiffrin must have been so nervous. But for me watching at home? It was great! I didn’t know exactly how it was going to go, but I knew how it would finish. I knew that no matter what happened, she was going to win the gold medal. Guaranteed.

That’s how you can look at your life. Do you realize that? Life is hard. Life is like skiing 70 miles an hour down a mountain with little sticks all over that you’re supposed to weave your way through. So many things can go terribly wrong. But you know how it finishes. You win, because Jesus won for you. He won the victory over Satan in the desert. He won the victory over sin and hell on the cross. He won the victory over death on Easter morning. You don’t know exactly how life is going to go, but you know the finish. You will receive the crown of life in heaven by faith.

This is what Jesus’ grace does for you. It makes your life a now and a not yet at the same time. Right now, you can know that God loves you. Even though you don’t feel that perfectly yet. Right now, you can know that God has a place prepared for you in heaven. Even though you don’t see it yet. Right now, you can know that God has a perfect plan for every day of your life. Even though you don’t understand it yet. Grace opens our eyes to see: “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

Don’t throw that grace away. Satan tempts you to. Satan whispers that God can’t love you. That God is done with you. Remember this: Satan is a loser! Jesus already defeated him for us in the wilderness. Jesus already defeated him at the cross. Don’t give away God’s grace like some book your grandma gave you as a kid: “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

If it feels like you have nothing, you’re right where you need to be to see Jesus. Don’t look away from him. Look to him! Don’t be surprised if your eyes so easily get filled with tears. Just remember that the joy of heaven is going to be so great! Don’t fear when it feels like death is near. That means you’re about to have true life. You know the end of the story! You know how the race ends! You know how the battle finishes! If it seems like you’re being crushed, it’s just the middle of the song. Don’t receive God’s grace in vain. “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” This is life as a Christian: “Having nothing, yet possessing everything.”

(To listen to this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior podcast, please click HERE. To watch this sermon on my Upside-Down Savior YouTube channel, please click on the link below.)