Throughout His teaching Jesus indicated His intent was for His followers to be fruitful. (John 15:5) Paul built upon this theme in his correspondence with a number of churches. “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) Even in the passage on the unity of the church he stressed how the parts of the body work together to “prepare God’s people for works of service.” (Ephesians 4:12) When Paul addressed the matter of giving to the Corinthian believers, he wrote, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (II Corinthians 9:8) To have a life abounding in good works several areas have to be examined.
To abound in every good work we have to know God is able. The main assumption of the Bible is the fact God is. We know God is love, light, truth, wisdom, and comfort, but we also know He is able. He is able to keep His promises, to provide the power necessary to accomplish His will, to do more than we ask, to keep us from falling prey to sin and temptation, and to guard our lives. We have to entrust ourselves to the One who is able to produce good works in our lives. To abound in every good work we have to experience God’s abounding grace. God’s grace is greater than all our sins. (Romans 5:20) God’s grace is amazing as He provides everything we need. Second hand grace does us no good in the realm of producing good works. What we need is a close, personal relationship with God. Paul used God’s generosity as a motivational tool to encourage others to give generously. Good works can only abound in our life as we are experiencing God’s grace.
To abound in every good work we have to trust God’s sufficiency in every situation. Paul put it this way: “so that in all things at all times, having all that you need.” The key word is ‘all,’ and this means every circumstance, time, and need before us can be handled by God. Paul found his competency in God. (II Corinthians 3:5) Paul knew the “all surpassing power from God, not us.” (II Corinthians 4:7) Paul realized the sufficiency of God’s grace. (II Corinthians 12:9-10) God’s sufficiency means there is always enough for whatever we need to accomplish or whatever we encounter. God never calls us without equipping, enabling, and empowering us to accomplish His will. To abound in good works we have to realize God’s work in us will never stop. Paul told the church at Philippi God was always at work in us according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13) and that He always finished what He started. (Philippians 1:6) This is why good works can abound in our lives. We may be ready to give up and call it quits, but this is not the case for God. He has diligence, staying power, and a spirit that does not become discouraged. By relying upon Him and what He provides, our lives can be fruitful, and good works can abound.