7-15 Giving of oneself and financially is proof of our love. pt 1

So those are the verses we're gonna talk about today. I've had these thoughts in the last 20 minutes that with half of the people in our congregation away today, it's a great time to talk about giving. So anyway, it's good though, because Paul sets the principles out as we started into last week.

And my first thought was to show you how the world does things. And the world does things, and I just put on the web, give me all the fundraising ideas you can. Well, there were page after page after page of them. So I looked these over and I thought, well, we could probably try some of this at Holly Hills.

How about nine-odd fundraising ideas? We could have a March Madness bracket. We could have a date night fundraiser. A Crockpot cook-off. What do you think, huh? Or the one in the middle, new ways to fund your ministry. A shoe drive fundraiser. I don't know how we'd do that. Or a talent search. Well, you've seen the talent. We'll have a walk-a-thon. Anyway, this is how the world would do it, and surprisingly or not surprisingly, when you look at some churches, they use all of these methods to try to raise money.

So what you find, though, is that in the New Testament church, there weren't any buildings to finance. There wasn't any curriculum that you had to support. Or programs that somebody came up with that we need money for But they did have needs And they needed money sometimes to be given to the apostles for their work so that they could concentrate on what God had called them to do. There were other missionaries that traveled and they needed to be supported. There were local elders that were supported by their local churches so that they could be free for full-time ministry. But in the New Testament, collection were not necessarily just to raise money. There was a purpose.

I'm gonna read a passage to you out of Acts 11.27 that says, quote, now at this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. And this they did, sending in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders. So what you find in the New Testament is money was raised when there was a need there. And it wasn't because somebody decided to build a big building, and so we need the money to do that.

So take a look at verse seven. It says, but just as you abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious task. So he's encouraging the Corinthians to be as excited about giving as they are about other things. We shouldn't be surprised, though, to find the term forgiving is really the term koinonia, which really means sharing. It doesn't mean giving necessarily from me to you. It means that we are going to share. It's like we all share the life of Christ. We're in a family relationship as members of the body of Christ. And so, We share financial responsibilities, too.

In these two chapters in 8 and 9, Paul writes the Corinthians to encourage them to share their material possessions with the needy brothers in Israel. You know, last week we had a map up there and showed you where Macedonia was, and Macedonia was an extremely poor area. And the Corinthians were relatively well off compared to them. And so Paul used the idea or the work of the Macedonians to show the Corinthians really how it should be done.

And he continues down that path. So we need to keep two things in mind. that giving is really sharing to meet the needs of the body of Christ, and it's critical to meet the needs of the body of Christ, not to meet the needs of the world, but the body of Christ. And the New Testament of giving always focuses on the member's needs. It's always there, and it'd be better able to understand what Paul teaches here. He's not trying to improve the world in any sense.

And then he went into, after showing the Macedonians and their incredible willingness not only to give, but to be a party to the whole giving process. They wanted to be involved in all the fundraising. They gave more than they should have, really. And there were principles in there.

But then we got the demonstration of the ultimate example of grace giving, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll see more of that today. Jesus demonstrated this grace, and though he was rich, he gave all, he became poor. That through his poverty, we might become rich.

So there's no appeal here for tithing or the gimmicks that I just showed. And there's no appeal for a standard that so-and-so gave so much, so you should give so much. Other believers, there's not a list here, or shouldn't be a list in the church on how this all ought to go together.

But it should be, and Paul's trying to show that it's God's grace seen in the Macedonian churches that can be found also in the church of Corinth. The Macedonians did what they did because they were the recipients of God's grace and they knew it. So to this end, Paul is hoping that Titus, who went to Corinth and had identified with them, and they had identified with him, he says in chapter eight, verse six, so we urge Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so that he would also complete in you the gracious work as well. So Paul's gonna solicit Titus to be the one to, pick up the help and bring it. And so he's saying to you, Corinthians, you have a role in this.

And God has enriched you in everything. And he focuses on what they should also abound in. Abound is an interesting term. If you were to put a contemporary word on it, it means super abound. in your abounding is beyond normal. You're way over the top enthusiastically. And they abounded in, as we found out as we look in this verse eight, that God was able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have in abundance, for every good deed.

Oh, that's a pretty complimentary statement and one that defined how the Corinthian church was. In everything, in every kind of variety in the body of Christ, they superabounded, they excelled. The most gifted church in the New Testament is the church at Corinth. But as we have found out over the months that we've been teaching this, they're also the most carnal. That's interesting.

So he does recognize in how many ways the Corinthians were enriched as a body of believers. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 5, he said, and everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge. But just as you abound in everything in faith and utterance, let's talk about those things that he says you abound in.

You abound in faith. The word for faith is pistis, and it means that, it has a secondary meaning that not only did they believe the truth, but they were assured of it. They were assured of the guarantee. In other words, they were relying by faith on the Lord Jesus. And you Corinthians super abound in that. And then there was utterance, or it just means speech, that they could speak the word of God.

They knew it, heck, because Paul taught them. And not just one or two of them, but a lot of them. And then the word knowledge, which is the word gnosis, it simply means just to know things. In the verb form, though, it means to understand completely.

And what would the Corinthians understand? They would have a knowledge of the glory of Christ. 10, 12 years ago, Hal Malloy put together this chart about knowledge, and he went down the list pretty much in 1st and 2nd Corinthians, 1st Corinthians 1-5, after his salvation at Thanksgiving, that every one of you is enriched by him in all utterance and all knowledge.

And then in chapter 14, he says, but now brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation or by knowledge, by prophesying or by teaching? He recognized that the way to communicate is the simplest way possible. I'm going to tell you in the language you understand so that your knowledge will be complete. I'm not gonna tell you in a language you don't understand. 1 Corinthians 15, awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God, and I speak this to your shame.

Or 2 Corinthians 2.14, now thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ and make manifest the saver of his knowledge by us in every place. So it would seem like I'm overemphasizing the word knowledge, but it's so critical in the world we live in today that you know and understand the things that God's word has to say to us as a body of believers. So in verse seven, Abounding in everything again.

Earnestness and love are the last two things that they abounded in. In other words, they were diligent. This word, I don't know, spude, it just means speed or fast. And it means they were eager in all of knowledge and the other things, and they were noted for that. And then also love. Agape is defined very high favor in the object love. The Corinthians were lovers in spite of all of their problems. So Paul wanted to, he wanted the Corinthians to abound in the giving process to the same degree, the same earnestness to care for needy people like they did in these other things.

All right, verse eight, I'm not speaking to you as a command. So his whole approach is not a command. But he's laying out a proving process, but as proving through the earnestness of others, the sincerity of your love for others. Command just means he's not being really authoritative about this. You're gonna see in the next verse, he's gonna give his opinion. He's saying to them, commands don't belong with grace. I'm just showing you what is going on. So he's careful here that he should not be, that things should not be by command, but they should be of grace only.

I remember listening years ago to Chester McAuley's tapes on grace and he made a comment that you know how When you're listening to something a comment will hit your brain, and you just never forget it. This is one of those He said that grace is the strongest motivation there is. Way stronger than law, way stronger than discipline, way stronger than any other thing. If you understand the grace of God, the influence it will have on your life, couldn't be stronger than grace. And I think as we grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, we start to know what that's really about.

He, commanding one, If I were to command you, or anybody was to command you in regard, like we said, well, we're changing the program around here. Now we're gonna be tithers, and we command that you demonstrate by giving 10% of all your income. Well, it wouldn't be of grace, and it wouldn't be effective. Commanding is one of those words that's totally inconsistent with grace, totally.

And that's a quote from Hal Malloy. And we have seen already in the previous verses from last week how powerful grace of the Lord acted on the saints of Macedonia. These are really poor people, yet they understood the grace and they couldn't wait to give as much and even more. And deep poverty, the expectations of helping and getting involved in this fundraising for the Christians in Palestine, they wanted to be involved in that. But you know what's interesting? Ask yourself this question.

Can I give if I don't love? Answer, yeah, I can. but can I love without giving? I don't think so. So the statement is, this is why Paul doesn't make this a command, because he can say that, look, you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.

If I love you or love someone, not only do I care about them, but I'm willing to give them whatever they need. He wanted to maximize the opportunity to demonstrate their love. Hamilton Smith says of this verse, nevertheless and thus exhorting them, he was not in any sense commanding them to give but rather to use their liberality or their generosity of others to stir them up to act with the same grace and so to prove or demonstrate the sincerity of their love for the Lord's people.

And this word proving in this verse is the word dokimazo, which is the word that we see for proof of one's genuineness. In other words, probably the best way to describe it is that you take some mixture of chemicals, and you put them through a smelting process so that at the end of the process, the pure gold comes out. It's a proving for approval, and that's what this word is. And so he says to prove to all the world that your lover's giving will show that that's the way you are. And then he says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. Chester McCauley, in this verse, asks a question.

Why did Paul repeat, for you know? Why did he use that term? To know experientially in your heart. Did they know this doctrine? His answer is yes, but he repeats it so that it is one thing to know a doctrine, it's another thing to link it to the details of your life. He uses a doctrine and then links it to the details of their life, and that's why he repeated it.

In this verse, this verse is a parenthesis, by the way, in this whole paragraph, and it's instructive not only for what would act powerfully on the Corinthians as on all believers who appreciate the grace of the Lord, but as a sample of the ways of the Spirit of God turns to what is in Christ to every need of the individual or of the body of Christ. Again, Hamilton Smith says, to awaken this love, the apostle reminds them that in Christ they have the most perfect example of giving. And as I was studying these verses, I thought, boy, I could do a whole sermon on this one verse to expand on what the Lord Jesus left and what he became. And he did it for us. We could go on for 45 minutes just on that one idea.

The rich may give from the abundance of their riches. Others, like the Macedonian believers, may out of abundance of their joy give to others when they themselves are in deep poverty. But in Christ we see one who was rich, for your sakes became poor in order to give to others the true riches. Think for a minute in your mind, how rich is the second person of the Trinity? And how poor did he become for me?

He left nothing unturned. So some notes from Chafer's systematic theology about this. In the preceding context, Paul has urged upon the Corinthian believers the personal sacrifice for Christ. Now Christ is held before them as a supreme example of sacrifice.

What his riches were and to what depth of poverty he descended cannot be comprehended by men. I can't imagine leaving my position as God to become a man. Nor can the riches which he thus provides for all who are saved be estimated. Have you ever run into a Christian that says, boy, I understand all the riches. All eternity will still be growing and understanding the riches of Christ.

As before indicated, John writes of the same truth and in this connection with the same theme of generosity in 1 John 3.16, he says, we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Quite the question.

The argument here is that Jesus became a man, in all reference to his pre-incarnate position in heaven, All this has to do with before he became a man, how rich he was, who he is, the God of the universe. But then he becomes poor by setting aside his deity to become a man on the earth. It's not that Jesus walked around in rags as a believer, but he did become poor to emphasize he did it volitionally, he did it on purpose.

You do not see the Lord Jesus in any sense attached to the world's riches. As we can see, there is a much higher standard than the human benchmark of the Macedonians. Love and generosity, it is far surpassed by the divine benchmark of love and sacrifice to those in need. So Paul uses the Lord Jesus as the ultimate example of his sacrifice, not only becoming a man, but also dying on a cross and atoning for the sins of the world.

He was infinitely rich in his presence with the Father, but he was willing to become poor in his incarnation. My reference is 2 Philippians 5 through 8. He was born in a very humble setting, having a cattle trough as a bed, and being born to parents who were far from rich. He left the wealth of heaven and took on the poverty of this earth. He who was rich became poor for the sake of those who were spiritually bankrupt in their sins. Through faith, His sacrificial work on the cross of Calvary, He made all those who trust in Him exceedingly rich.

Whatever we might do for those who are poor can never compare with the work of Christ on the cross. Our material wealth can never compare to His heavenly glory. And our sacrificial poverty can never compare to the poverty he endured in becoming a man. So the person and work of Christ is the basis for our motivation to give, and it's a standard for any ministry.

The cross of Christ, that message which seems foolish to the unbelieving world, And certainly to the unbelieving false prophets, as in 2 Corinthians 11, is the unending theme of all of Paul's teaching. Just as he can never speak enough of the cross, he could never hear enough of the cross of Christ.

And then he says in verse 10, I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who first begun a year ago, not only to do this, but also to desire it. So he's using them as an example. The Corinthians had begun the opportunity to gather the funds they needed from this verse a year earlier. So he's making it clear to them that he's gonna give us advice about what they had started a year ago. They started to gather money for the Christian Jews in Palestine, and they hadn't finished the job yet.

And so he wanted them to do it based on the correct principles. He wanted them to do it based on God's grace, which produces and gives the desire. And God's grace produces the giving of ourselves and financially, not grudgingly or of necessity. The Corinthian saints themselves had begun before not only to do, but also they were willing. It's God who makes us willing, it's his grace.

He could now urge the completing of their purpose out of what they had, And it's interesting, when you think about grace and associate it with giving, it rejects limitation. I don't think about how much I have to spare. I think about how much can I give. I think about is the gift acceptable by the person I'm giving it to? Is it acceptable to me as the giver?

The collection for the churches and the brethren, Paul was instructed to remember the poor back in Acts 11.27 and in Galatians 2.10.

And there were a lot of churches in the Mediterranean Basin that were involved in this collection. But notice from last week, the verse that said, they first gave themselves to God And then they gave themselves to the ministry of collecting this money. What I find interesting is that in all of our lives as Christians, all that we do, the very first thing that's critical is that we give ourselves to the Lord.

And I don't mean just receiving Christ as my savior. I'm talking about a sellout to him, that he bought me at the cross, he owns me, I belong to him, and I'm giving myself to him no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what the hurdles are, no matter what the blessings are, I belong to him. And when that is in place, then the whole idea of ministry or giving is not a big problem. because you belong to the one who gave himself for you.

So then he says in verse 11, but now finish the doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may also be the completion of it by your ability. So he's saying not only should you do it, but you had the desire to do it, and that came from God's grace. They didn't start it a year ago grudgingly, but they did it willingly, and they needed to finish it the same way. So I wrote down here what I got actually from Hal Malloy, five principles of giving that he stated, and if you look at your handout, they're on the back.

God's grace produces the desire to give. It's His grace that produces that desire. Giving of ourselves and financially, not grudgingly or of necessity. Three, God's grace produces the readiness of mind to give. Four, the amount of giving is in proportion to what God has given us. And lastly, the purpose. of grace giving is that there might be equality, and we'll talk about that in a second, supplying each other's needs.

So verse 12 tells us, for if the readiness is present, it's acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. Pretty simple here, that God's grace produces the readiness of mind to give, principle three, and God's grace also is the amount of the giving is in proportion of what God has given us.

You ever think about that, that everything that you have, you're a steward of, it's not yours, it's his, and you're in charge of it. for this is not for the ease of others to your affliction, but by way of equality. What he's trying to say here, when he's talking about equality, he's talking about fairness, but not as we define it in today's world. He's talking about the fact that believers share what they have, so that it's not intended to give one person to the degree that they're really hurt financially so that the other person that they're giving to can live a life of ease. He's stating that.

He says, if you give yourself to the Lord and then give yourself to the ministry, then what happens is we are to evaluate our ability to give financially as stewards and do so as the Lord leads. In chapter eight, verse five, it said, and this, not as we expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God.

The goal of Christianity and the body of Christ is equality as best you can do it. that everybody's about the same in terms of dependence on the Lord, but also dependence on worldly goods. And I think that some members of the body of Christ are wealthy because they can handle spiritually what they have and they can distribute it in a manner that equals. And others, most of us aren't though. There aren't a whole lot of rich people in the body of Christ.

And he says, at this present time, your abundance being a supply for their need, Corinthians supplying the needs of those in Palestine, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need so that there may be equality. This is principle number five. The purpose of giving is that there might be equality, and equality really means we're supplying each other's needs. At this point, the Corinthians are supplying the needs for the Christians in Judea. There may come a time when the roles will be reversed. So at the present time, your abundance is for their lack, and there may come a time where their abundance is for your lack.

And then he finishes it up by saying, as it is written, He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack. He's talking about the manna from Exodus 16-18. It's interesting when you look at that that you find that God This is strengthened by God's way of doing things in his word as to the gathering of the man in the Old Testament.

God adjusted the supply. Go back in Exodus and see what he did. The supply to the demand with the wisdom and power which excluded extravagance, but it also avoided deficiency. They always had enough. He that gave the manna from heaven measured it exactly whatever the differing measure was in man's hands.

So from Exodus to 2022, we're still dealing with the same God who does things the same way. He who regulates all in the church with the unquestionableness of there's no less care for anybody and no less love for anybody. And nor does any other motive act with equal power in the holiness of the church and God. And it couldn't be otherwise because for one, for one and what can compare with what Christ did, we will never be as generous as he was. here, for who and what can be compared to the grace, though it really is immeasurable?

Two measures now are applied to giving. One is the infinite glory of the person of Christ himself, and two, the depth of the humiliation in which he submitted to for us. So when you come down to a definition, We can say the definition of wealth consists of the fullness of means and resources. The definition of poverty is the utter lack of means and resources. So the body of Christ functions on a principle of equity, equality, so that if I have, I can give you. If you have, you can give me. So that none of us lack. and none of us are overabundant, so let's close.

Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace. We desire to continue to grow in your grace and in the knowledge of your dear son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you for what he did, that though he was rich, he became poor for all of us. And we pray in his precious name, amen.