At the church where I serve, we
have been spending our time together looking at what the Bible has to say about
the subject of money and finances. We discovered
that the Bible teaches that how we handle our money and finances is a big deal.
We have discovered that Jesus talked so much about treasure because how we
handle our treasure reveals what we treasure. We have discovered that when it comes to treasure, God is the
owner and we are the manager.
We have discovered that when it comes to treasure, the
measure for how we manage God’s treasure is faithfulness. We have discovered that when it comes to treasure, debt reveals an arrogance that
enslaves us. Last week, we discovered that when it comes to treasure, those who
fail to plan for the future financially plan to fail financially in the future.
This week, I would like for us
to spend our time together talking about a very common perception and objection
that many people have when it comes to the church and the issue of money. And
that perception and one or the major objections to the
church and to Christianity in general, is the belief that the church just wants
your money.
Maybe I have just described the
perception and objection that you have had with Christianity and the church.
Maybe you keep Christianity and the church at arm’s length because you believe
that the church is all about the money. Maybe you have encountered Christians
or churches that give that perception. Maybe you are thinking to yourself “I
know we are only doing this series because the church wants to build a new
building, so they are trying to get us to give money for the building.”
And even if you do not believe
that the church just wants your money, then why is it we can tend to get so
uncomfortable when the issue of money and giving is brought up in church? And
why do churches pass the plate and take an offering? Do they take the offering
because God needs the money? Or is it just because the pastor needs the money? Why
does the church ask Christians to give every week?
So this week, I would like us to focus on this issue
of giving and specifically answer the questions “why should I give? and
"how should I give?” And to answer these question, I would like for us to
spend our time together looking at a
section of a letter that a man named Paul wrote to a church that was located in
Corinth, Greece called 2nd Corinthians. And it is in this section of
this letter that we will discover the timeless answer to these questions. So
let’s jump into this section of this letter together, beginning in 2
Corinthians 8:1-2:
Now,
brethren, we wish to make known
to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that
in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty
overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
Paul begins this section of his letter to the church in
Corinth by sharing with them the evidence of God’s activity in and through
several churches that were located in Macedonia. These were churches that Paul
had previously planted in the cities of Philippi and Thessalonica, which were
located in the northern region of Greece. And in our Bibles today, we have
several letters that were written to these churches. The book of Philippians
and the books of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians were written
to these very churches at around the same time that this letter was written to
the church at Corinth.
Paul explained to the church at Corinth, which was
located in southern Greece, that in spite of the trouble and distress that
these churches were experiencing as a result of persecution and exploitation by
the Roman government, that these churches were marked by an unexpected joy. In
spite of their outward circumstances, these churches demonstrated an attitude
and mindset of gratitude and gladness.
But not only did this church demonstrate unexpected joy
in the midst of their persecution. Paul also reveals for us the reality that
these churches experienced deep poverty. What is so interesting is that this
phrase, in the language that this letter was written in, literally means that
their poverty was so significant and extreme that is was difficult to measure.
The apostle Paul had a hard time wrapping his mind around how poor these
followers of Jesus were.
Yet, in spite of their extreme poverty and the intense
persecution they were facing, these churches were extremely rich when it came
to their generosity. The phrase the wealth of their liberality, if communicated
in the language of our culture today, would sound something like this: “these
churches had a ‘no strings attached’ approach when it came to their goodness
and generosity.
You see, Paul was surprised, and even that he experienced
at these churches that were immersed in a culture of poverty and persecution.
And as this letter continues, we see Paul unpack how these churches
demonstrated their gratitude and generosity, beginning in verse 3-5:
For I
testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord,
begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of
the saints, and this, not as we
had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will
of God.
Here we see Paul sharing with the church at Corinth how
he experienced the unexpected joyous gratitude and generosity of the churches.
Now to fully understand how Paul experienced the gratitude and generosity of
these churches, we first need to understand what Paul is referring to with the
phrase “participation in the support of the saints”.
When Paul talks about the support of the saints, he is
referring to churches involvement in a special offering that was being taken
for the church of Jerusalem, whose members were suffering as a result of a
famine in the region. In a previous letter to this church that is recorded for
us in the Bible, called the book of 1 Corinthians, we discover that while other
churches were following Paul’s instructions to invest their treasure to meet
the needs of the church in Jerusalem, the church at Corinth was failing to
follow through on their commitment.
In verse three, Paul explains that, unlike the church at
Corinth, these poor and persecuted churches were willingly investing their
treasure to meet the needs of the church at Jerusalem. Paul did not have to
make a sales pitch or a guilt trip to these churches. Instead, these churches
heard of the need and were motivated to respond. As a matter a fact, they were
so motivated to respond that they gave beyond their ability. In other words,
they gave sacrificially. They responded to the need that they saw by pleading
and appealing to Paul to be a part of God’s activity by meeting the pressing
and practical needs of the church in Jerusalem.
What makes this act by these poor churches so significant
as compared to the inaction of the church at Corinth was the difference in the
socio-economic condition of these churches. You see, Corinth
was a wealthy port city and commercial center and was a key player in the world
economy. Unlike the churches of Philippi and Thessalonica, the members of the
church at Corinth had the resources that they could easily invest to be a part
of what God was doing to help the church at Jerusalem.
So,
while the wealthy church at Corinth was dragging their feet when it came to
following through on their commitment, the persecuted and poor churches of
northern Greece dove in head first in order to be a part of God’s activity in
the world. That is why, in verse 5, Paul makes the statement that he did not
expect such gratitude and generosity. When Paul uses the phrase “gave
themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God”, he is revealing for us
the reality that these churches were first and foremost dedicated to God’s
desires for their life and their investment and involvement in what He was
doing in the world. And as a result of his experience with these churches in
Northern Greece, Paul was provoked to respond. We see his response revealed for
us in verses 6-7:
So we urged
Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in
you this gracious work as well. But just as you abound in everything, in faith
and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired
in you, see that you abound in
this gracious work also.
After experiencing God’s activity in the lives of these
northern churches, Paul responded by sending Titus, who was partner of Paul’s
who also planted a church on the island of Crete to Corinth in order to
encourage the church to finish and follow through on the commitment that they
had previously made when it came to participating in the famine relief fund for
the church at Jerusalem.
Paul explained to the church that just as they have
excelled in their confident trust in God; just as they excelled in what they
comprehended and grasped about the claims of Christ and the message of the
gospel; just as they excelled in what they said when it came to doctrine and
theology; they were to excel when it came to being a part of God’s activity
through this famine relief fund.
You see, while the church at Corinth seemed to have their
head, their mouth, and their heart engaged when it came to following Jesus,
their hands were disengaged. While they excelled in many areas of what it means
to follow Jesus, they were not excelling when it came to their generosity.
Now a natural question that may arise for some of you
this morning here is “why is generosity important when it comes to following
Jesus? And does God really expect us to be generous? I mean, so I do not
normally give; does that really matter? And why should I be generous and give
when it comes to the church? I mean, this is why I feel like churches are just
interested in my money.”
If these are questions or objections that you have or that
you have heard others have when it comes to the subject of giving and
generosity, I just want to let you know that these are fair questions to be
asking. And as Paul continues in this letter, we see Paul answer these
questions and reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to generosity and
giving.
Tomorrow we will discover that timeless truth...
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