The Suffering No.8 Give Generously

We bring sacrifice and praise to the hands of the Lord. We bring sacrifice and praise to the hands of the Lord. Royal Sons of a Royal King.

I know this is usually thought of as a Christmas song, but there's no reason why we can't bring our gifts, our praises and our love to the Lord Jesus Christ anytime. 133 Royal Sons of a Royal King. Royal Sons of a Royal King.

Praise to worship, praise to praise. Kings and priests to the King of Kings. May to worship him.

In all his strength and love. We go in holiness. Lord, we worship you.

The first verse one more time, please. Royal Sons of a Royal King. Praise to worship, praise to praise.

Kings and priests to the King of Kings. May to worship him. Please be seated.

Good morning. We're reading from 2 Corinthians. Chapter eight.

2 Corinthians eight. And now my brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in the service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.

So we urge Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to the completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us, see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were first not only to give, but also to have the desire to do so.

Now finish the work so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched up by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard-pressed, but that there might be equality.

At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written, He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. I thank God who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you.

For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honour the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help.

We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift, for we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men. In addition we are sending with them our brother, who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you.

As for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honour to Christ. Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you so that the churches can see it. May God bless this word.

We have been making our way through this letter of Paul to the Corinthians week by week. In one sense that's a very good discipline for the preacher because it does mean that the topics that are tackled are not ones of his choice, but rather ones which the Holy Spirit, who is behind the whole of this library of books we call the Bible, is what the Holy Spirit has inspired and wishes to be studied and therefore considered. And so this morning we come to look at the whole subject of giving and the handling of money.

I want to lead off by telling you two things. First of all, God is a generous God. You can read a book on systematic theology and the opening chapters will, because they all cover the same ground, deal with the attributes of God.

That means the various aspects of God's character. I have not yet come across an adequate systematic theology because I haven't come across a theology that emphasizes sufficiently this aspect of the being of God, which actually is illustrated in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. God is a generous God.

And the fact of the matter is, as the Apostle Paul makes it clear in the ninth chapter of this letter, God loves a cheerful giver. The reason why God appreciates generosity in his children is because it is a reflection of him. And one of the reasons why we come together Sunday by Sunday, why we practice our spiritual disciplines Monday through to Saturday as well as on the Lord's Day, is because we want to be more like our beloved Lord Jesus.

He who at a wedding in Cana of Galilee gave such a magnificent gift to the people concerned He who fed 5,000 people, men plus women plus children, to the extent that there was so much, baskets full were taken up afterwards. He is the Lord of utter generosity. And it's the whole area of generosity and how we give that commands our attention for a while, taking us logically from the Word of God to the table of the Lord.

The gift of God in grace, he has granted his Word. The gift of God in superabundant grace, he has given his Son who bled and died on the cross of Calvary for you and for me. We have the Son.

We have God's Word. What more can God give to us for our benefit than what he already has? So here is the Apostle Paul as I just use my brush of words for a moment or two and paint in something of the background and I'll paint in a little bit more as the moments go by. He's in Macedonia.

You discover that in the first verse of the eighth chapter though we had every indication earlier on in these chapters. Macedonia is a sort of county like, say, Yorkshire is in England and it embraces various other divisions, various other places. For example, in Macedonia you find Thessalonica.

You also find Philippi. You also find Berea. Put those places together and those of you who know something of the New Testament are aware that they were centers of vibrant Christian communities.

So the Apostle is here in Macedonia and he is there at a time when there is great difficulty in the mother church of Christendom at Jerusalem. The difficulty is, well, hard times have fallen on that church as I shall enlarge in a moment or two. And there are Christians in need.

So here is the Apostle in Macedonia writing to the church in Corinth reminding them of the situation of brother and sister believers in the Holy Land. I want to say one or two things about a group of men who are often anonymous in the church. That is, their ministry is cloaked in anonymity because what they do the church benefits from but who they are often the church does not know.

Now before you can move any financial enterprise in terms of meeting the needs of a large number of people you need a staff to help you. So I want to take you to the end of this chapter just for a moment or two because there the Apostle Paul makes reference to three men one of whom is known, two are significantly anonymous they are unnamed. These are men who will leave the Apostle Paul and set sail ultimately for Jerusalem and they will have with them this large offering that Paul is trying to accumulate and send to the Christians in the Holy Land.

He makes reference in the first part of the last part of our chapter namely verse 16 to Titus. Titus is a man who has been a colleague of the Apostle and has actually been in Corinth and indeed as you will remember from last week's address has brought to the Apostle good news as to the response the Corinthians have to the letter that Paul had previously sent him, sent them. Well Titus is going to have another ministry.

He is going to take the monies collected in Macedonia and elsewhere along with two other men and he will do so not just because the Apostle Paul wants him to but because he is so enthusiastic about this appeal. Look at verse 17. Titus not only welcomed our appeal but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative.

You see the monies that Paul has collected in Macedonia he wants supplemented by the church that bears the name of this letter, Corinth. Now the Apostle is very wise when he deals with the matter of money. He says in the 20th verse we want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift.

It's never right for those who are on the staff of the church the main leaders so to speak to handle finance they could be so misunderstood. The possibility of that is horrifying to the Apostle. So what he does is he entrusts Titus who is his friend and also because of the relationship that Paul has with Titus is so close it will be expedient it will be diplomatic to have other men involved in the administration of these gifts.

For says the Apostle, verse 21 we are taking pains to do what is right not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men. So what, Paul? Well, verse 18 we are sending along with him, Titus the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel and what's more he was chosen by the churches who have given towards this grand offering to accompany us. He's going to be one of the trustees of the fund.

And says Paul, in addition, verse 22 we're sending with these two brothers Titus and this unnamed man whose influence and whose esteem is so high in your churches we're sending another who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous and even more so because of his great confidence in you. You see what the Apostle is doing? He is releasing the administrative gifts of Christians in a very wise in a very sensible fashion entrusting them with this task of conveying monies large sums of monies from Macedonia from the area of Corinth to the Holy Land and ultimately to Jerusalem and it is their responsibility to administer these monies. Now, I want to thank God for the men and indeed women who behind the scenes handle the monies not only of this church but many similar local churches.

These folk who are perhaps not always in the spotlight in terms of upfront public ministry but whose hours of service is known by the Lord and should be recognized by sensible responsible church members. So here is the Apostle setting out at the beginning of church history the mode in which finances ought to be handled the trust that ought to be invested by local churches in men and women of integrity and responsibility. But I said I'd sketch in I'd use the brush a little more and bring out the context in greater fashion of these opening verses having dealt with in summary fashion the content from verses 16 to the end of the chapter.

Here at the beginning the Apostle is making reference to the churches in Macedonia where he now is and before you come to understand something of the problems of the Macedonian churches you also ought to know something of the difficulty that there was in the church in Jerusalem in the day that Paul is writing. You see when Christendom was birthed in this world its first anchor point after the death and resurrection of our beloved Lord was of course Jerusalem. There the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost 120 believers mightily baptized in the Holy Ghost and as a result of that prime preaching of the Apostle Paul as he makes his debut as an expounder of the Gospel as an evangelist thousands of people respond.

Now remember we're in Jerusalem the headquarters of Judaism an exclusive group of people if ever there was a remarkable group of people. Now for Jews who are largely Peter's audience to convert to Christianity would bring great economic problems. The exclusivity of the Jewish nation was such in those days that for a Jew to move out of Judaism and acknowledge Jesus committing therefore heresy was to cause him, her to be excommunicated not only from the religious scene in Jerusalem but the economic scene the social scene.

So when you read the Acts of the Apostles and you glory in the advance of the church think of the cost to the ordinary individual Christian. No wonder before long the Apostles are having to scratch their heads, what do they do with these women folk in particular who do not have any source of livelihood whatsoever. Time and time again you will discover when the Apostle Paul is in Jerusalem he is speaking to the leaders of the church and one of the things that stands out paramountly is the poverty of the Jerusalem church.

Now this is at the back of Paul's mind is thinking when he's out there in Macedonia these Macedonian Christians, they too are in difficulty but the difficulty in Jerusalem is ginormous. Now here is the Apostle, here are men and women in Worthing, we have a responsibility, the churches out there in China, in some parts of Africa they are without, we are part of the body. Here is the Apostle you see working through the doctrine of Christian responsibility I believe in the communion of the saints.

So when Paul is in Macedonia he tells the Macedonian Christians about the problems that there are in Jerusalem. Now it's not that the Macedonian churches were flush with money out of the most severe trial says Paul in verse 2 their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. It says the Apostle when I made reference to the needs in Jerusalem I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability.

You see far from Paul shaking the beggars bow verse 4 the Macedonians were begging Paul for the privilege of contributing towards this great philanthropic offering that Paul is behind. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And here's a little bit of theology which Paul drops in in terms of practical discipleship which is a gem.

Verse 5 They did not do it as we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. What's the theology that's tucked in there? Simply this every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above. I cannot be dogmatic on this but if they had a choice of a doxology to sing at the beginning of their meetings it could well have been praise God from whom all blessings flow.

For if you recognize that all that you have is as a result of the grace of God then you give yourself and you distinguish between ownership and stewardship and you come to a realization as a Christian in Macedonia and also God willing in Corinth and also God be pleased in Worthing that you do not own, you steward. The very health that you have, the very body that is yours and all the external things that you control are within the compass of your responsibility because of the munificence of the Heavenly Father. Now the Christians in Macedonia recognize this and the apostle is delighted.

Now look, says Paul if this is what has happened in Macedonia and they've got their own economic difficulties as a result of converting to Christ, not quite as pronounced as they are in Jerusalem but nonetheless they have their own poverty yet within that poverty they still found it possible to contribute towards this offering for Jerusalem. If they have done that how much more should you people in Corinth do the same? Do you know one of the reasons that contributed to the premature death of Charles Spurgeon? Let me put the question the same one but targeting someone else. Do you know one of the reasons that contributed to the premature death of George Whitefield? You see Whitefield and Spurgeon were great men.

They had in common with the apostle Paul a desire and ability to proclaim the gospel and they did so magnificently. But Whitefield well he'd been to America and he'd established an orphanage in America because of the problems of the early settlers. Sometimes they would die and they'd leave their offspring and there was no one to look after these boys and girls.

Constantly Whitefield would come back to this country and he had magnificent meetings in which he preached the gospel but at every meeting he would have an offering. For what? Well for the mission in Georgia. For the orphans in Georgia.

He had this crushing responsibility this crushing burden. He needed money to keep the orphanage going. And it was exactly the same with the apostle Charles Spurgeon.

There in London at the turn of the century this man with this magnificent congregation of five or six thousand people he had so many other responsibilities and one was at Stockwell there was an orphanage. These boys and girls from the streets in London. Spurgeon could not sleep at night as a preacher without recognizing the responsibility of the church to these children.

They grew not dozens but hundreds and from hundreds to several hundreds and they needed to be fed. He needed money. Sometimes he would preach the most remarkable sermons.

And at the end he'd plead for money for the boys, for the girls at the orphanage. Well the apostle Paul you see he's the same. He has a responsibility as a Jew to the Christian people particularly in Jerusalem.

In fact in Galatians chapter two he tells us that on one occasion the apostle was back in Jerusalem speaking to James and Peter who he calls the pillars of the church. They laid hands upon the apostle. They said yes it is right for you to go to the Gentiles.

You go and tell them the gospel. They agreed. Verse nine Galatians two.

They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they go to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor. The very thing I was eager to do.

Have you never read how when Paul goes back to Jerusalem on the four or five occasions that it's recorded in the Acts of the Apostles he never goes back empty handed? When he stands before the Roman procurator Felix and Felix says why are you in Jerusalem? Why is there so much difficulty? Paul says in the twentieth or twenty-first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, I came to Jerusalem most noble Felix with an offering for the Jewish people. You see he has a concern a concern for the souls of people. A concern for the bodies of people.

Now he writes to the Corinthians he's very he's equally concerned that they share his two pronged conviction taking the gospel and meeting the needs of other people. So to the Corinthians he says in the seventh verse of this eighth chapter just as you excel in everything just as you are charismatically engifted with wonder-working speech with wonder-working faith with inspired speech and knowledge in complete earnestness and in your love for us see that you also excel in the charisma of giving. It's magnificent you know I preach from this man inspired he inspired by the spirit so many years and I tell you my friends the more I preach the more I marvel at the utter balance that there is in the teaching of this great often misunderstood mighty apostle.

You see he's a diplomatist he's diplomatic he does not extort, he does not terrify, he does not try to blast his congregation into doing things that otherwise they may not do. He advises, he leads he shows by example, verse eight I am not commanding you, I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. Here I am in Macedonia, you know what it's like there you've seen what they've done can you not do the same? But then says the beloved apostle in the greatest argument that there will ever be that stops any preacher from blushing, preaching on this subject blushing too much he takes you to Jesus for you know verse nine a verse which should be as etched on your memory as John 3, 16 for you know let's say it together from the NIV for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich you want some advice as the apostle you want an example, here it is the beloved Lord so rich and yet so poor in the divesting himself of his riches he makes it possible for others to be improved spiritually he makes it possible for paupers to become princes, for beggars to be the sons of God now if this is what the Lord Jesus has done for you within your spirit if he is the one behind all the material blessings then says the apostle, you will discipline yourself in the handling of your finances you see what Paul is really doing is taking up on and expanding the teaching that he has already given, go back to 1 Corinthians 16, all this is interlocked there is the first reference I believe to this offering which is now spanned one year in being collected and Paul gives intimation not only about the offering but he gives you principles in terms of how you handle your finances as Christians now he says about the collection for God's people do what I told the Galatian churches to do on the first day of every week each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income saving it up so that when I come no collections will have to be made you see he has immediately the task in mind of this offering to the churches in Jerusalem but he is also laying down principles if you like as to why and as to how we should handle our finances week by week the apostle here is putting down the principle of the way that you and I should handle our finances week by week the first day in a regular fashion each one of us in a systematic manner relative to the amounts of money that we control should put aside our finance and have it ready to bring into the Lord's house I wonder if that's what you do with your finances you know we live in days when we have such things as covenants and and so forth in one sense it's getting a little bit impersonal the offering goes round and we don't make a big deal of it here at the tab generally we lose it amongst the singing of the children's choruses and at night it has been known that both Tim and I have forgotten it completely but in one sense that's unfortunate because the giving to the work of the Lord is a very honourable and a very privileged thing for you and I to engage in so the Corinthian Christians are asked by the Lord if they will contribute as the Macedonians have towards this offering that's going to Jerusalem how are they to go about making their contribution well look at verse 10 here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so now finish the work so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it according to your means so the apostle wants these people to complete what they have commenced to bring it to finality he also gives us a principle that they can give in proportion to what they have in their control our desire is not that others may be relieved while you're hard pressed but that there might be equality now says the apostle as he brings a conclusion to this part of his argument at the moment you have more than you need the church at Jerusalem does not have all it requires may your superabundance be transferred to their account and the day might well come when they will be more well situated than yourselves and able to minister to your need so let's bring this to final conclusions and try to gather the concentration for those who lost it a few moments ago here is one of the great ministries in which you and I can engage the ministry of handling our finances in such a fashion that we show that we do not look upon ourselves as owners of what we have but of stewards of our possessions how do you give regularly to the work of the Lord in the Old Testament people would give one-tenth some here perhaps could not afford to give one-tenth within the New Testament economy however, no figure is ever actually underlined what is underlined is the word proportion give as God has given to you transfer to the church account, to charity account to mission accounts in the way that you feel you can because God has so blessed you there will come times in your life if you are a mature Christian when you will give sacrificially when you will give beyond what you can really afford, simply because of your love for God and your commitment to the particular cause to which you are directing your finances, that is what the Macedonians were doing says the Apostle Paul in the final illustration, when the Israelites were in need in the Exodus God sent them manna and every day they went out and they gathered as much as they required and the older people were sometimes helped by the younger people then not having sufficient strength presumably, I'm now expounding what I believe Moses was trying to teach to gather sufficiently for themselves, so even there, there was a transfer, there was a sharing, there was a concern for one another in the distribution of the manna so it should be with us today one last practical point I can say unblushingly that it's always been my discipline since I was knee high to a grasshopper from my pocket money days to my student days to my salary earning days to tithe my money but we are in a system now where you've got bankers drafts and covenants and goodness knows what in one sense I don't mind that because it's good to be efficient but there is a sense in which it's causing us to back off from the sheer delight of bringing to the Lord what is his week by week so to ensure that I've always got something when the plate comes round not because I'm concerned that 400, 500 eyes may be watching me as to what I'm doing I like at least to take in addition to what I've given a mission envelope and maybe one or two things that I could have had but didn't have during the week the money from that goes in the envelope and then as the monies are presented to the front of the church I can join in with the rest of the people as we thank God for his goodness to us and ask God to bless the anonymous men to most of us who handle this finance the grace of our Lord Jesus, the way that he has given to us the way that other Christian churches have given down the ages, the examples of other individuals, that should be a stimulus for us as to how we are to give let's sing a hymn which speaks about the gift of our Lord Jesus to us what kind of love is this that gave itself for me, I am the guilty one yet I go free what kind of love is this that gave itself for me, I am the guilty one go free what kind of love is this that gave itself for me, I am the guilty one what kind of love is this that gave itself for me, I am the guilty one what kind of love is this that gave itself for me, I am the guilty one what kind of love is this ♪ By your love we stay ♪ ♪ As the rain on earth falls ♪ ♪ The hills shall ring of glory evermore ♪ ♪ With angelic hymns that joyfully close ♪ ♪ Thy sacrifice and truth is love ♪ ♪ Stretching from His head, His hands, His feet ♪ ♪ Soar over the world, glowing from heav'n ♪ ♪ Be as the sun of ease ♪ ♪ The Lord's promise to each man ♪ ♪ Amen ♪