Effectual Working Of God's Grace

Linda Rock
20 hours ago
4 min read

On the closing two days of this first full week of our graciously given 2026, we are being showered with evidence of faithfulness. Brought to us will be the faithfulness of disciples of God, in Christ Jesus, to live their covenant to Him, in arduously trying situations. We are also seeing the ever faithfulness of God to lavishly pour out His grace upon them all.

Here is the Scripture text that has been placed before us. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Acts 11: 23.

What has the grace of God done? Who was given privilege to see what the grace of God has done? Where is this all taking place? Among whom is the grace of God being lavished? I’m sure that these and many more curiously flowing questions are tumbling through your minds. Whatever the questions and however they are formulated, one thing is certain. They all deal with the grace of God. The verse before us really has us curious, and even a bit mystified, as we are held fast to learn more about the grace of God.

Let me hasten to add that we have not come to this in total blindness and ignorance, for we all know about the grace of God in our lives. We do not hesitate in the least, to daily attribute much of what we have received, who we are and where we are, to God’s unmerited grace. However, in this verse, we are being reminded of both Covenant and Epiphany as we have been receiving these during this first week of 2026.

We are brought to this through the eyes of Barnabas, who is experiencing the grace of God in response to believers, ordinary followers and disciples of Jesus like you and me. Perhaps the only difference between these covenant making servants and with many of us, is in the keeping of the covenant. All that was pledged, promised and recited by these servant-disciples to God, in Christ Jesus, was not just spoken words, but living and lived words. The solemn words, sacred to them, would not let them be anything but covenant keepers of their covenant making and keeping Lord.

Let’s return to Barnabas, who is described to us in this way. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Acts 11: 24a. It is through his eyes that we are receiving treasures of irresistible joy and irreplaceable hope and assurance. The text informs us of this good, Spirit-filled man arriving somewhere. The place to which he arrived is Antioch. Here is a story of covenant keeping, in the midst of grave persecution, and deep darkness, which have caused the early Church to be scattered all over the world, as it then was.

It was a dark time in the history of believers, converts to Christianity. People, converted by the preaching of the Spirit-filled disciples of Jesus, after Pentecost, had not only received the covenant making God, but they also shared in a covenant relationship with Him. They too, though in different words perhaps, lived the covenant we also made as believers in Christ Jesus.

One of the shining, stellar responses to their persecutions, was to remain faithful to their covenant. Faith allows us to know that they too would have said to God, put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing. These converts, these believers, who made up the Church, became a scattered Church due to the evil of harassment, devilish jealousy and life-demanding hardships. Believers, disciples of Jesus, literally had to flee for their lives. They were put to suffering, as they had never known, before giving their lives to Jesus. They were made empty, as they had to leave their homes and flee, going into strange lands with no worldly riches. In this time of testing and trial, some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling the good news about the Lord Jesus. Acts 11: 20.

Think about it! Was it not through those faithful servants of Jesus Christ, who had freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to His pleasure and disposal, who made the spirit and truth of the Epiphany live? If our focus on Epiphany, is with God divinely revealing Jesus to Gentiles, non-Jews, then here we have it most gloriously shown to us. Through His covenant keeping servants, even in their time of severe testing and trial, we are warmed by this continuation of the Epiphany. Only as our faith will allow us, can we have the spiritual sight and heart to see these displaced servants of Jesus, being guided by the Divine Holy Spirit to take the Gospel Message to Greeks. What Marvel! What Wonder! What Grace! What Glory!