Audio Recording
If I told you that you could really participate
in God’s extension of real grace to others through which you would grow richer
in grace, would you want to know how?
Would it change anything if I told you it involves what you do with
wealth? Well, brace yourselves. I think what Paul is saying here is that how
we handle the wealth at our disposal can indeed be a real participation in
God’s real extension of grace to others.
When we who are rich in abundance give to others who are “rich in need”
(who have poverty) we are really participating in God’s real extension of grace
not only to others but also to ourselves.
Well, that all seems pretty
straightforward. Right? Giving has its benefits. Right? It makes us feel good and all that. Right?
Yeah, but, Paul isn’t talking about the benefits of altruism for healthy
self-esteem. He’s actually talking about
our growing richer in our actually knowing and experiencing God, not healthy
self-esteem. And, he’s saying that
giving away the wealth we have at our disposal so that we take to ourselves the
poverty of others can help us to know the very nature of God. When we give from our abundance to those who
are in need we grow through experience in knowing who God is in his very self.
Let me build my case. In verse nine Paul makes an astute
observation about the nature of God as self-revealed to us by Jesus. Paul writes: “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 by his poverty might become rich.”
Paul fills this out a bit in Philippians 2:6-11.
He writes: “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 emptied himself, 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!” Basically, if we are
going to say that Jesus reveals the nature of God fully to us, then we must set
everything we think about God, all our ideas about God aside, and accept the
fact that God in his very nature is self-emptying love. Jesus who is in very nature God emptied
himself to become a human who in self-emptying humility serves the true needs
of humanity by emptying himself of his human life on the cross an act which in
the end defeats sin and death in God’s good creation and it sets in motion
resurrection.
God’s empties himself in love for us and
the entire Creation. The big
theological word for this is kenosis
which is the Greek word for emptying. If
I had waited another day to send the bulletin to Willa for printing the title
for this sermon would read “Abundance, Need, and Kenotic Giving”. What is kenotic giving? Well, it is giving according to the nature of
God as revealed in Jesus Christ, giving that participates in the self-emptying
life of God.
Looking at our passage, Paul says the
Macedonians were doing this kenotic giving in the way the gave to his
collection for Judean Christians who were suffering famine. 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). 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 or a grace to them to
help them grow in Christ-likeness. Their
sacrificial self-emptying of their money resulted in their growing rich in
generosity.
Paul has accolades for the Macedonians
and the example they’ve set, but when he looks at the Corinthians he has a
challenge for them, a challenge that I think is very relevant for us because we
have a lot in common with the Corinthians.
When Paul offers the Corinthians this challenge he starts by noting
their abundance. The Corinthians were
well off. Corinth was a port city and the
churches there weren’t suffering like the Macedonians to their north. Yet, material abundance isn’t what Paul notes. He points out that they were rich in faith, rich
in being able to proclaim the word, rich in their knowledge of the faith, and
rich in Paul’s love for them. They were
also rich in willingness. A year prior
when they heard of the need of the Judean Christians they were the first to say
“we’re in.” But a year later they’re
having a little problem in following through.
So Paul offers the challenge that he would like to test the genuineness
of their Christian love against the Macedonian’s. He want’s to know will they put their money
not just where their mouth is but where their love and willingness is. Will they give kenotically? Will they take to themselves the blessing of
knowing Jesus more fully by taking to themselves the poverty of the Judean
Christians and eliminating it with the material wealth that they have at their
disposal?
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 into our lifestyle regular kenotic
giving as a means of growing in Christ.
This looks like 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). The amount of disposable income that we have
in comparison to at least 80% of the rest of the human population is pert nigh
vulgar. Affluence and the opportunities
it presents has had a dramatic affect on community in our culture. It’s made us more isolated. It is 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 is the number one reason why congregations
struggle financially.
In the face of that of I would suggest that the
local church is a good place for us to discipline ourselves to support financially
through kenotic giving. 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 our income that
we can afford to give and each year increase that percentage so that all the
while we are disciplining ourselves 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 confess Jesus Christ as Lord. We can
afford to give and to give kenotically.
But will we put our money where our Christian love and willingness is? As
Paul says there is a blessing in it.
When we take the poverty of others to ourselves through emptying our
pockets to help others simply live, we come to know Jesus as he in his very
self is. Our choice is quite obvious:
more crap in the corner of the garage or knowing Jesus? Or worse continuing to
excessively stockpile money in bank accounts or knowing Jesus? 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/
