Audio Recording
The Apostle Paul was a gutsy guy. I don’t think I would bring up the subject of
giving money quite the way he did with the Corinthians. But here we have it. Paul points to the generosity of other “poorer”
Christians. He reminds the Corinthians
that they know how Jesus gave of himself.
He compliments them on how rich they are in other areas of faithfulness,
but have yet to prove themselves in giving.
He also reminds them of how eager they were a year prior to give to the
churches in Judea who were suffering famine, but have yet to follow
through. Paul’s technique of encouraging giving here just smacks with shame and guilt. Nevertheless, this passage is very rich in why
Christians should not just give, nor just be generous, but exceedingly generous
in giving. The reason in short is that
opportunities to give towards the needs of others is a gift of God’s grace to
us that if we follow through on will cause us to grow in Christ. So let’s unpack Paul a bit here and try to
understand what he’s saying.
Paul begins chapter 8 by telling the
Corinthians how those poor, persecuted Macedonian churches were exceedingly generous
and indeed sacrificial in their giving towards this collection he was gathering
up among the Gentile churches to help the Judean churches to bide a famine. If you look in the Book of Acts everywhere
Paul went and preached in Macedonia some sort of persecution broke out against him
and the fledgling churches. Paul got
stoned a lot in Macedonia. But, when he
came to Corinth the Lord told him in a dream to stay there and not to fear
speaking out for the believers would be many and no one would dare threaten
him. So Paul stayed there longer than
anywhere else.
So, free of persecution the Corinthians had it
much better due to having Paul much longer. Paul compliments the Corinthians on how
exceedingly rich they were in faith and learning, and being able to teach the
faith to others, and their eager readiness to serve, and also in agape that self-denying self-giving love
modeled by the apostles. They were rich
in these things and now they were being given the opportunity to be rich in
charity.
Paul goes on to say that he is not commanding
them to do anything, but rather he wants to test the genuineness and quality of
their agape love. You have heard the phrase, “Put your money
where your mouth is.” Paul wasn’t exactly
saying that but he does remind the Corinthians how a year prior they were the
first churches to pledge to give to the Judean churches. Indeed, they were moved with a strong desire
to do so. Yet, here it was a year later
and we find Paul rather “politely” encouraging them to complete what they
started. He not so much wants them to
“put their money where their mouth is.”
He wants them to put their money where there agape love is for they had certainly been moved with a desire, a
compassion to help. They were eager to
give but would they actually follow in a way comparable to the Macedonians’
Christ-like giving.
In verse 9 Paul drops a line that I think is to remind
the Corinthians of a very popular hymn in the early churches of how Jesus was
rich and became poor so that we may become rich. Paul includes the whole hymn Philippians 2:6-11. You’ve heard it: “Let the
same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus ‘Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being
made in human likeness. And
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to
death—even death on a cross! Therefore
God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth
and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father’” (NIV).
This hymn reflects Jesus ultimate emptying himself of
his divine wealth as God the Son to become human and than as a man giving
himself utterly to the point of death to defeat sin and death for us and is
therefore exalted now above every thing. 2 Peter 1:3-4 states that by his divine power we
are now partakers of his divine nature and live godly lives because Jesus has
granted this to us. It reads: “His divine
power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of
him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very
great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the
divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil
desires” (NIV).
Basically, we are able to live godly lives because we
are partakers of God’s very life. The
image of God in us is now animated by the life of God in us by the work of the
Holy Spirit bonding us to Jesus. Do we
think of ourselves as partakers of God’s very life? Well, we are and that changes everything
about how we live our lives including what we do with our money, oops, rather
the money God has entrusted to us. The
money, the wealth we, the disciples of Jesus have is not our own. It’s 100% his. We need to know that.
Getting back on track, the Macedonians gave according
to the image of Christ that was in them by the work of the Holy Spirit. In the midst of persecution they gave
according to their means and beyond because they knew that this act of
sacrificial giving would be a blessing to them to help them grow to be more
like Christ Jesus. Paul says in verse 2:
“In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme
poverty welled up in rich generosity” (NIV).
It reminds me of Jesus one day in the temple with his
disciples telling them to beware of being like the Scribes and Pharisees who pretended
faithfulness in their long robes and prayers of pretence and yet were devourers
of widow’s houses. He then directs his
attention to the treasury noting that the rich were putting in huge offerings
out of pretence, but there was this widow who put in two small copper coins
worth only a penny. She put in
infinitely more than did the wealthy because it was all she had. Unfortunately, her last two cents went not to
support herself but into maintaining a lavish temple and fattening the Scribes
and Pharisees. It should go the other
way around. In fact that’s what the
earliest Christians did. Instead of
supporting an institution those who had plenty gave to those who did not have
enough, such as widows and orphans.
Equality was the standard.
Paul tells the Corinthians that they should give
according to what they have. They were
rich in willingness, in desire to help and so should give accordingly (as did
the Macedonians). By following this implanted
desire of compassion, this desire of Agape
love, to be charitable they would become more Christ-like. The same is true of the converse. If we do not follow through on our
God-implanted desires to be compassionate, we will not become more Christ-like. In fact, we wind up closing our ears to
moments of when the Holy Spirit is speaking and prompting us to serve or to
give. Finally, Paul advises them not to
go over board. We are not to go into debt
by overgiving.
So, how does this apply to us? Well, the opportunity to give to others in
need is a gift from God for us to grow in Christ-likeness. I would push the extent of this and give the
advice, not the command that we need to incorporate regular giving as a means
of growing in Christ, and giving to the extent that we have to simplify our
lifestyles to be able to afford it.
Let’s face it folks. On a global
standard, we Canadians are materially wealthy or at least appear that way. It’s a pattern in our culture for people to
go into excessive debt in order to appear wealthy. Affluence and the opportunities it presents
are at the top of the list as to why even long-time committed Christians are
attending church less than they did not long ago.[1] I would even go as for as saying affluence
and the opportunities it presents are the number one reason why congregations
struggle financially. I would suggest
that the local church is a good place to which to discipline yourself to give. A rule of thumb is that the more a person
gives the more active they will be.
Giving to your local church provides face-to-face opportunities for
growth in Christ through worship, fellowship, outreach, service, and
study—opportunities that would not be there if the local church ceased to
exist. I would suggest starting with a
reasonable percentage of your income that you can afford to give and each year increase
that percentage so that all the while you are disciplining yourself to live on
less. We have a lot of disposable income
in comparison to the rest of the world.
It amazes me that we will spend that income on shit we wind up throwing
into the corner of the garage, when there are hungry, ill-clothed, ill-fed
children in our communities just around the corner…and we call ourselves
Christians. We can afford to give. We just would rather do something else with the money Jesus entrusts us with. There’s our guilt and shame
for the day. Amen.
[1] See Carey Nieuwhof, “10 Reasons Why
Even Committed Church Attenders Are Attending Church Less Often”, http://careynieuwhof.com/2015/02/10-reasons-even-committed-church-attenders-attending-less-often/
