EXAMINE YOUR OFFERINGS
2 Corinthians 8:8--12 November 17, 2002
2 CORINTHIANS 8:8-12
8I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9For 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.
10And 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. 11Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
All of us would agree that the times have changed. Sometimes the changes over the years are drastic and dramatic and it’s easy to see those things that have changed. At other times the changing of the times is almost imperceptible. I would venture to say, from Old Testament times to our times today, the attitude of mankind has changed from one of selflessness to selfishness. That has taken time. Generation after generation has become more and more concerned about themselves instead of people around them. This is the world in which we live.
A good example—when Moses was leading the children of Israel through the wilderness, he realized that they needed a place to worship. He asked for donations to build the tabernacle. As they took the tabernacle with them on their journeys, they could come there and better focus their attention on worship. Moses asked the leaders who were heading this project how it was going. The leaders said to Moses, ‘you know, we have too much. The people have brought too much, more than enough, for the work that we needs to be done.’ Then Moses said, ‘We can’t ask them for any more.’ "And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work"(EXODUS 36:6b, 7). Imagine that!! A church leader saying, ‘No more money! No more gifts! We have too much!’ We see how that attitude of selflessness has shifted to quite a bit of selfishness in our times.
This morning as we look at these words of 2 Corinthians, the Lord reminds us to
EXAMINE YOUR OFFERINGS
I. Jesus’ gospel motivates
II. Believers react generously
I. Jesus’ gospel motivates
The letter here that Paul wrote was one to encourage the Christians because they had taken up a special collection. Remember, the Apostle Paul made missionary journeys—one was shaped like a fishhook. He was visiting those churches again. Since the last time he had visited them, these believers had heard about a famine in Jerusalem. They took it upon themselves to help the believers in Jerusalem by taking up a special offering. Paul hadn’t asked for it, the believers in Jerusalem hadn’t asked for it; they did it on their own because of their generous, selfless spirit.
Paul says to them in the beginning of our text: 8I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. As you read that and hear that, you might think that Paul is putting them to the test. He wants to compare them. As we look at it more closely, Paul is not saying he is going to send Titus over there to make sure all the collection is made; he isn’t going to make them feel guilty if they haven’t met their goal. The key phrase here is ‘sincerity of love.’ In other words, he is asking how the offering is going. Was the collection coming to an end, were they gathering enough money for their goal or not? Paul says that all of this happens because of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Then come the familiar words of verse nine…9For 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. As he spells that out for these believers, they were reminded again in their hearts, why they were so generous. They were reminded again in their hearts why they were taking up this collection for people they did not even know, people they had never met. It was because Christ gave up everything for them.
If we want to take one thing home today, we should take this verse home with us, work on it during the week, and learn it for ourselves. This is our motivation in all the things we do, all the things that we say. Christ Jesus who was rich became poor, so that you and I might become rich. That is God’s grace to us. We don’t deserve to be rich, we don’t deserve to be blessed with the gifts of eternal life, but we are. God has given them to us (these gifts) through His Son—forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. Paul says in Romans: "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus"(ROMANS 3:23,24). We need to hear that—we are sinners.
Then we read that we are justified freely; it did not cost us a thing. On the other hand, we realize it cost Jesus His life. It cost Jesus giving up His heavenly throne to live here on earth, to be made fun of, to be spit upon and to be put to death. Certainly as we look at that and remind ourselves of those facts, we realize how indebted we are to the Lord, the Lord who has saved us.
It’s worth reminding ourselves again: "But made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness"(PHILIPPIANS 2:7). This reminds us how He came down to earth for one purpose—so that you and I could get into heaven.
It’s easy to make the law motivate people, but the fruits from the law are not good fruits at all. We cannot scare anyone into heaven; that is what the law would try to do. Instead, we’re reminded of the gospel, which welcomes us into heaven, the gospel, which reminds us, how much Christ has done for us.
In Corinthians, Paul says: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body"(1 CORINTHIANS 6:20) He talks about our time and talents, he talks about our gifts of love. Paul talks about honoring Christ because of the price that was paid. When we look at our offerings and examine our contributions, we may not often think that we are doing this because Christ died for our sins, but we are. If we don’t, we ought to remind ourselves of that as we write out our check to put our money in the envelopes and think, ‘You know, this barely covers one drop of blood that Jesus shed for us.’
The Apostle Paul reminds us to examine our offerings, reminding ourselves that the gospel of Jesus Christ motivates us. It compels us. Because it motivates us, encourages us and compels us as believers, we react generously.
II. Believers react generously
That’s what was exciting for the Apostle Paul and the believers in Jerusalem. They didn’t expect to get any gifts from those churches in the Gentile world. Those Gentiles were concerned because Christ was concerned about them first, so they were concerned about their fellow man.
Paul gives them advice…10And 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. These new believers were excited to be able to help someone. They were anxious to help. He says, did you give first, but you had the willingness, the desire was there. No one had to compel them, no one had to come and say, ‘You must give.’ They were anxious to help because they could help. Paul goes on: 11Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. We get the picture that this collection was winding down. He says, ‘Finish up! Finish up that collection so that they too can rejoice with you in your precious, special gifts.’ Then he says, ‘that project is done. There’s many more to do.’
The last verse of our text tells us: 12For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. Again, it refers back to that willingness of a Christian heart to give, not in compulsion, but out of loving kindness toward God first, and then toward their fellow man. That’s where they were directing their offering to go.
What do we learn from the congregation at Corinth this morning? We’ve learned about generosity. Before generosity can take place, we learn about willingness; a willingness of our heart to provide for the work of the Lord. We grow in our Christian faith day by day. We realize that it sometimes takes years upon years upon years before the Christian understands fully the willingness and the joy of giving. Martin Luther said the last thing to be converted in a Christian is his pocketbook. He could be right. Our sinful nature always drags us back in saying, ‘We need more for ourselves.’ How do we overcome this idea of selfishness rather than selflessness?
The psalm-writer says: "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me"(PSALM 51:12). He says we need to pray. We examine our options saying, ‘Lord, give me a willing spirit. Give me a joyful spirit in giving, providing for the work of God’s kingdom.’
We learn willingness, and then we learn generosity. As our heart of stone becomes a heart of flesh we learn it is more willing to give than to receive (as we sang in our hymn), then we find generosity. Paul wrote to Timothy. In the sixth chapter, he talks about all of those things—the love of money is the root of all evil, and he goes on and on talking about how that can trap people. He says to those who are rich: "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share"(1 TIMOTHY 6:18). Again, that generosity and willingness is connected together. It is important; it is vital as we look at our Christian giving in our lives. We need to learn to be more selfless. We need to put more confidence in how the Lord has provided for us, continues to provide for us and will provide for us.
We know how it feels when we help someone out that’s in dire need or needs our help. There is a sense of satisfaction. The Lord reminds us that it’s the same way in giving our gifts to Him. When we bring them, there’s a sense of satisfaction in knowing that we can bring them. Sometimes I think you and I forget how blessed we are! You and I have so much in America. We forget how much. We can come (and are able to) offer gifts to God. There are people in this world who just barely get by wondering if they’re going to have enough to eat. They wonder how they can scrimp and save enough for the next month. For us, that is not a problem at all, is it? The Lord reminds us then, to be generous in carrying out the Lord’s work.
Paul wraps it all up by saying to be thankful. We do these things, not because we’re compelled to do them, but because of Christ’s love for us and our thankfulness to Him for our salvation. From the book of Colossians it says: "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness"(COLOSSIANS 2:6,7). Do you see how this thankfulness comes? First of all, we have faith. We’re rooted and built up in Christ, our Savior. Then, we are strengthened to know what is good and right, to have a cheerful, willing, giving heart so that we would overflow with thankfulness. Be thankful! Be thankful that you have the means to provide for God’s kingdom work here on earth. Be thankful that the Lord has blessed you so abundantly. Let that be reflected in your contributions to the work of the church.
Yes, times have changed from generation to generation. Sometimes those changes are drastic and dramatic and we can see it very clearly. Sometimes changes are ever so slight that they catch us unaware. The change from selflessness in Old Testament times to New Testament times to our time of selfishness has been one that has been hard to pinpoint when it started. It is certainly something that can easily affect us all because we live in a world that is so selfish.
The Lord reminds us this morning in these words to examine our offerings. He reminds us that it is Jesus, and Jesus alone, that can motivate us. Jesus’ love compels us to do everything for his glory. As we look at His love for us, we react generously. In the gospel of Luke we’re also told there are blessings with generosity: "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you"(LUKE 6:38). I’m sure there are a few of you here who have already learned that you can’t out-give God; the more that you give, the more He returns back to you. Jesus’ gospel is our motivation so that you and I as believers in this world would react generously to those who are in need. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
