Grace: It is no gamble.

I take it by your presence here today, and not on a yacht somewhere on the Mediterranean, that you weren’t the one—the one holder of the winning ticket in the $1.34 billion Mega Million lotto. The odds of winning were one in 300 million. But millions took the gamble despite the odds and trusted their luck. Why not. With that kind of money, you could buy a neighborhood of mansions, a fleet of Lamborghinis and even a sports team. But many see the lotto as simply a way to bail themselves out of financial dire straits, like this guy Joe I heard about. His business had gone bust. His home was in foreclosure; his wife threatened to leave him. Out of desperation, he not only trusted the lotto, but the Lord—sort of. He prayed, "God, please help me win the lotto. You know my situation." Lotto night came and went and no one won. Joe again prayed, "God, please let me win the lotto this week. Again, the lotto night came and went, no one won. Once again, he prayed, "God, why have you forgotten me? I've lost all. Please let me win this one time so I can get my life back in order." Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and a booming voice that could only be God, "Joe, meet me halfway. Buy a ticket.”

The problem with Joe’s strategy to get out of his dire straits was this: First, the lottery is a gamble with no guarantees. Second, he failed to realize that God has a better program than the lottery as an answer to dire straits; and third, Joe failed to do his part. God’s program to meet dire straits is grace. It requires no ticket but faith. Why rely on God’s grace when you are in dire straits?

2 Corinthians 12:9 and 1 Kings 17 offers insight into God’s sure thing for troubled times—grace. We will see an apostle in with a “thorny” past and a widow with a dire future, who trusted God’s grace. First, we’ll see that God’s grace is sufficient. Second, we’ll see that God’s grace is reciprocal. That’s why Grace is no gamble. You don’t need a ticket to win. All you need is humility to listen and faith to obey.

First, God’s grace is no gamble because His grace is sufficient. It can be trusted to meet your needs in tough times. Paul trusted God’s grace and urged the Corinthian Church to do the same. Look at II Cor 12:9:

9But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. II Cor. 12:9

Paul spoke these words out of weakness. God had given him a thorn in his side. We don’t know what this predicament was, but we do know that it put him in such dire straits that he asked God three times to remove it. Instead, God said His power, not your power. Paul, will get you through your “thorny” times. It would require humility. Humility did not come easy to Paul. He had a righteous resume, a perfect pedigree and a pure passion as a Jew. Plus, God hand given him a rare vision of heaven. This would be enough to give Paul a cause to brag. But the God-given thorn served as a buffer for pride and a reason for humility. The point of verse 9 is this:

A person should not find his identity in individual achievements and relief in personal possessions alone, but in God’s sufficient grace that kicks in when we are at our weakest.

Just ask the widow of Zarephath. You know her story in 1 Kings 17. She was in dire straits. The land was in a drought. She had only a little flour and oil to make one small cake for her and her son. This would be their last meal, then they would eventually die of starvation. But the Prophet Elijah asked her to bake him a cake, then one for her and her son with God’s assurance that the flour and oil will not be exhausted. It’s important to note, she was a gentile. God was not her God, yet she believed. We see her faith in verse 15:

15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah. " 1 Kings 17:15,16

God’s grace was sufficient. Out of her humble faith despite her dire straits, they ate, lived and did not die. Her grace served the prophet of God as well.

Church, you may be in dire straits right now—no pastor, few in the pews—a perfect place for sufficient grace. By way of personal reflection, recall a time when you were at your weakest, and ready to give up—to quit a job, a relationship, to quit on life, even your church. What did God require of you to reverse your situation? You obeyed and God saw you through. The same God of sufficient grace yesterday is the same God today.

Church, by way of application, listen humbly and obey faithfully what God is asking you to with the little you have. When you are at your weakness, God’s grace is sufficiently powerful. Don’t trust your past accomplishments and possessions alone. Like flour and oil to make bread that did not run out, His grace never runs out. Remember his inexhaustible grace-bread as you break bread at the Lord’s table. His grace is no a gamble.

Second, God’s grace is no gamble because His grace is reciprocal. It returns to the giver. We see this in the second part of the widow of Zarephath’s story. Some time later after the feeding of the Prophet with inexhaustible bread, her son took gravely ill to the point of death. She was understandably upset, critical of Elijah and his God—all the more because she was a gentile. But God’s grace is not contingent on our momentary lapses of faith. He reciprocated the grace she showed Elijah by using the prophet as an instrument of grace to revive her son. Look what happen in verses 19-23:

19He said to her, "Give me your son." Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed. 20He called to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?" 21Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, I pray You, let this child's life return to him." 22The LORD heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him and he revived. 23Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, "See, your son is alive."

Elijah handed over her son and said, “Your son is alive. Grace is reciprocal. You need to know: the grace you extend to others will find its way back to you in your time of dire straits. And you should continue to return that grace to others as well.

Bo knew grace—Bo Jackson, that is. He is famous for his athletic prowess, made a household word in the advertising campaign “Bo knows ...”: Bo knows football. Bo knows baseball. Bo knows tennis. Bo knows anything he wants to play. He also knows grace. How else do you explain why the heralded athlete of two sports handed over a check for $170,000 to cover the funeral costs for all 19 victims of the Uvalde school shooting.

“It’s just not right for parents to bury their kids,” he said. “It’s just not right. … The last thing they needed was to shell out thousands of dollars for something that never should have happened.”

Bo Jackson couldn’t hand over alive, the children of the Uvalde shooting. But he found the “grace-thing” he could do. He didn’t know anyone in Uvalde, but he did know a grace opportunity when he saw it. Perhaps it was because he experienced grace in his life, the eighth of ten children, no father at home. When he got into some trouble, vandalizing the property of a farmer to the tune of $3,000, that farmer—a local minister—allowed Bo to work off the debt rather than go to jail. The rest—they say—is history. He took this grace opportunity and God’s gift of athleticism and ruled the football and baseball world. And when Uvalde needed some grace, Bo knew what he could to do.

We all can be more grace-full in ways big and small. It’s doing nothing, saying nothing--that is disgraceful. By way of reflection, recall a time when God answered your prayer in a dire situation and, in turn, you graced someone. Is grace any different, now, than in the past? The answer is no. Grace returns grace. By way of application, church, with the little you have—no pastor, few in the pews, keep being a grace church, open and affirming. Keep extending grace to those who have lost a love one. Keep extending grace to those in your midst who have love ones who are ill. Keep extending grace to the homeless. Watch and see if God doesn’t hand over your church like Elijah handed over the widow’s son, and hear God say, “Here is your church, alive.

Conclusion

God’s grace is not a gamble. His grace is sufficient to cover you when you are at our lowest. First, be humble to listen and faithful to obey when God ask you to use the little that you have for the greater good of the kingdom. Second, God’s grace is not a gamble because it is reciprocal. You can’t beat its return of investment. You may not have won the Mega-million, but you are never a loser when you cast your lot on Amazing Grace:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now am found,

was blind but now I see.