Giving of Oneself and Financially is out from Gods Grace
2 Corinthians 8:1-6 · Mike Doyle · Jul 10, 2022
Letters to the Corinthians, No. 115
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926192743785

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So today we're going to talk about, in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, he starts out with a new topic. And the topic is giving. That's really interesting because in the verses that we'll go through, and it's going to be about the next, probably the next month and a half, He teaches on the subject of giving all the way through chapter 9.

So we start out with the premise. I put this map up here and I've got a pointer thing. We're going to be talking about Macedonia. Macedonia is right up in here. And you can see Corinth down here. Ephesus is over here. And so Paul, Paul and his journey went here, down to here, back up to there, and back this way. Okay? So hopefully that'll help us understand what the, where he's going and what he's doing. The purpose of giving and the whole idea here is that the saints in Jerusalem and Judea, there was a drought there and they were starving to death.

And one of the things I read that was kind of interesting is that they tried initially to do the socialist number by bringing all their stuff together and then piecemealing it out. Well, that didn't work. And so now they need help. And they're not getting any help from the nation of Israel because they're considered heretics. Because they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They really understand what Paul has been saying. So, one thing I want you to realize about this collection that Paul is taking up at this time, and that is, it totally changed the course of his ministry.

He's on this journey, he's on this trip, and his third missionary journey, and he never travels after this. When he goes back to Jerusalem, he's arrested, he's put in house arrest in Caesarea, and then from there he goes to Rome. Well, it's interesting. This represents the end of what we would call his traveling ministry.

It also probably means that he never really got to Spain or any place else because he was incarcerated a lot. But it also, on the other hand, gave us some real positive things for us as believers, and that is, in jail, he writes Ephesians, he writes Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and probably Hebrews, if you believe that he wrote Hebrews. If he was still traveling, he would have not ever done that. He would not have written those books.

So, it's interesting how that plays into our life in terms of the circumstances that we enter into. The Lord leads us into things that we don't necessarily see very much about, but here we are in them. And we can't tell the end from the beginning, but He can and He knows. And so here we are in these circumstances, and we learn in that circumstance that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. So whatever the circumstances might be, you can trust the Lord in what He has said to us.

It's like we're studying John on Wednesday night. And we're in the chapter where Jesus walks on water. Well, you have to go to some of the other Gospels to figure out that Jesus purposely put the disciples in a boat and told them to go. And I'm not going with you. Big storm comes up. He's not with them. They're really nervous. But then He comes to them walking on the water and He comforts them.

And what did He do that for? Why did He leave the disciples all by themselves out on the lake and knowing a storm was coming because he wanted to teach them greater dependence on himself. Do you say that Jesus set them up? No, he didn't set them up, but he had a plan for them to teach them something and I think that kind of planning the Lord does in our lives all the time.

John Darby said, the goal here in the collection was not to burden the Corinthians and ease those of Judea, but that the rich should provide for the needs of the poor brethren, in order that none should be in want." So, and then the other person that comes into this equation is Titus. Titus has had gone down to Corinth to check on them to see how they were responding to the first letter that Paul wrote them, which was a real stinger. And he has developed an affection for the Corinthians and they for him. And so he's ready to go down there again to help out with the collection of this money. Paul doesn't want to take and will not take charge of this money or this donation himself.

He's going to have lots of other companions with the responsibility to take up the collection and to keep it so that it all finds its way back to Jerusalem where it's intended to go. Because he doesn't want to put any sort of reproach on his ministry because he was raising money for the Judeans. So he's going to use a very interesting, as we'll see in the verses, he doesn't command the people in Corinth to give. He doesn't tell them, he doesn't intimidate them. What he's going to do is he's going to demonstrate the giving capacity of other churches to show to them this is how it should be done. So John Darby, another quote from him, Darby says, I think Paul was ill at ease in getting money from them. He would not take any for himself, but he would do it for others.

He told them about the Macedonians and takes occasion of the forwardness of others. He knows the forwardness of their mind. had boasted in Achia was ready a year ago. In other words, the people in Achia, which is down around Corinth in Greece, were ready a year ago to donate this money for the Judeans. But he kind of beats around the bush, Darby says.

He says that he goes all around about the bush with it, and as it were, But though it thought it better to send somebody lest his boasting should be in vain, and he be ashamed of it in the presence of the Macedonians who were coming with him, the man Paul as an instrument comes out in these two chapters. So, in 1 Corinthians 16, which we covered a year and a half ago, Paul says to the Corinthians, now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so also you.

On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collection be made when I come. In other words, I don't want the collection to be taken up when I get there. I want it already in place so that there's no misunderstanding about where this money is going and how it was raised.

When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letter to carry out the gift to Jerusalem. And if it is fitting for me to go also, I'll go with them. But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia.

He contemplates that this money is only for the poor people in Judea. And notice how he sets it out. He said every man should put aside or lay aside some money so that the gift might be ready and he wouldn't collect the money out of greedy motives. As you perceive, every week put some money aside for this purpose. because the reason he gives is that God loves a cheerful giver. So he's now free, so far as the Corinthian saints are concerned, to introduce, and that's really what his message is, this is an opportunity for you as a believer to remember the poor. He puts it on the hearts of the Corinthians, as he sought after not his own things, but he's there to plead for others. And he would draw out the affections of the children at Corinth, his children at Corinth, for the saints who were suffering poverty in Judea.

Now, I want you to notice a couple of things. He did not like the task of appealing to others for financial help, even though it was for others. He didn't like doing that. This is the one reason that the directness of the language in the first epistle, where he really was after them, is in strong contrast with the indirectness of the second epistle. The need was intensely on his heart and he doesn't have any more doubt of the generous feelings of the Corinthians And he doesn't have any doubt about their ability, as far as the circumstances were concerned, to respond to his request. But he does it delicately, so that he deals, obviously, very careful with them. He doesn't want to use personal influence. He says, that has no place in what I'm doing.

Faith and love are called out as the activity that would motivate. So he uses the reassuring example of the devotedness of the Macedonians, which opens the way for him. And Christ is brought in, carrying it home with irresistible power that those that he knew him. So as a setup for the verses. First verse is, Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God, which has been given to the churches of Macedonia. So, he wants to make something known to them. He wants to tell them about the Macedonians.

Have you ever noticed how when the grace of God is active, it changes things? You might ask yourself, is there anything that the grace of God can't reach? It's kind of like an all-inclusive hug. Is there a demand too hard for us to consider under the grace of God? Or is there an evil that's so deep that it can't be comprehended by God's grace? Is there sin beyond forgiveness in the grace of God? whose misery or of what kind of grace not turned into an occasion for an all-overcoming goodness of God. God's grace overcomes every hurdle. So we first find out here the mighty influence of the Macedonian believers on the saints at Corinth because of the grace of God which had been given to them.

So it isn't surprising then to ask a question. Are the Corinthians not one family with the rest of the church? Are they not one body in fellowship, undivided, and are they not important? Yes. Granted that the Corinthians' wants are mostly in carnal things.

A quote from A Hungry Heart from this last week From Miles Stanford, he said, in the present day, 1867, the truth is lowered to the measure of man's need. Hence, if the need is met, which grace does, the convert makes little or no advance. He rests in the satisfaction of his need instead of being directed to the scope of God's thought, which only begins with his need. So, granted that it's not a question of pleading rights or claims, saying something like, well, you deserve this, or you see that in all the ads on television. It's your right to have this, or you deserve it, or you've earned it.

It's one thing to give when you have a lot, but it's another thing to give when you don't have very much. One of the ways you can understand the grace of God that the Corinthians, he wanted them to understand, was the willingness of the people of Macedonia who had very little, the willingness for them to give. But a relationship in the Spirit is a very real and far more meaningful than one in the flesh, especially if there's suffering involved. And love identifies with suffering accordingly.

The Macedonians were poor because, of all guys I got this from Ron Merriman, the reason that this whole region up there was poor was in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, there were a lot of wars fought there and they were wars that the Roman emperors or the powerful men in Rome were fighting to see who could become the next Caesar. And so you have a country that's devastated by wars for decades and it's poverty-ridden. If you take a look at what's going on in the Ukraine today, it's the breadbasket of Europe but if they keep fighting a war there, They're going to be impoverished.

And so that's what happened to these. And they found out even that Cleopatra, the famous Egyptian, was really a Macedonian. And her family had married into the Egyptian royal family. And so she was part of this involvement in the second and third century B.C., struggling these fights between different powerful men to become Caesar.

So you find that the grace of God with the Macedonians didn't relieve them from out of their poverty. What it did was they learned to rest under the pressure of their poverty. So he says in verse 2, that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their generosity. So God took care that the first to respond should be saints, not in the wealthy church. The first people that responded to his appeal for money for the Christians in Judea was these three churches up in Macedonia who were very poor, dirt poor we would say. But in doing so, He disassociated an impoverished district of Macedonia. He did that so that the work of God's grace would be very apparent. These people didn't have anything. So he used them in such a way that God's grace was apparent and not worldly circumstances. And notice how he says, in their poverty they had overflowing joy in giving these people.

Even in the writing to the Corinthians, Paul had reminded them, as all experience shows, several things that are really important for us to know. That the believers in Christ, for the most part, come from poor, obscure and unwise group of people. Look around. You'll see it.

We know that the Macedonian churches at this time, the believers, were not exceptions to the rule of poverty. They were not exceptions to the generally distressed conditions of their country. On the contrary, we are specifically told here that their poverty was deep down in the depths. They did not give gifts of overabundance.

What was it? It was faith, working by love, while they were showing themselves to be in great trials of afflictions themselves. The circumstances when you look at the saints in Macedonia seem extremely unfavorable. The reality of their generosity was more evident that it came from a divine source, for the face of the hardship of their joy overflowed. And their deep poverty, instead of appealing for the aid to others, I mean they were so poor they should be asking for the aid, bound it unto the riches of their open-hearted generosity to somebody else.

So at this point I've got to think, do we really understand what grace is all about in these kinds of circumstances? Do we know the grace of God? And to be ungracious is a paradox. If you know what God's grace is, to be ungracious is a paradox. It doesn't fit.

In Philippians 4.10, Paul tells the Philippians, who was, Philippi was a Macedonian church, that I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me.

Indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. And then down to verse 14 through 19, he says, nevertheless, you have done well to share with me and my affliction. You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the manner of giving and receiving but you alone. You're the only ones that did it.

For even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches.

So, what's the source of this attitude? Why did the Macedonians understand the grace? What's the source of how they viewed things? It was God who gave them grace that shaped their attitudes. God has given us grace. For what reason? To shape our attitudes. It was unselfish devotedness. It was loving others more than they loved themselves.

As a result, Paul described in Love to the Saints at Corinth, and truly we may say to us all that our hearts too should go forth in no less love. For love is an energetic and fruitful as it is holy and free, and God would have none of the grace seed lost." In other words, grace has an effect, and he wants the full effect meant. Ron Merriman said, the barometer of our reception of the grace of God is our giving, not only money, but of ourselves.

Verse 3, Paul says, For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord. Love and grace don't calculate what it can spare or what it can impart. The heart stimulated by the love of God does not think of its own trials, its own deep poverty, but those it hears to be suffering in any special degree and that's what causes it to act. Paul testifies of the Macedonian saints that according to ability and beyond their ability, They gave of their own accord.

No earthly incentives here. No pressure from agents. No rivalry of donations. In other words, we've got $100,000, and every dollar you give, they'll give. No appeals by the multitude to move. No calculated list to shame you into giving. Every church in the world has the list of donors and how much they gave. You know what that's all about? It's to shame you into giving. That's not what Paul's doing here. There's no personal or favorite party aims of any kind. None of that is part of his prescription. It is God's grace, according to William Kelly, given from the beginning to the end.

And as God treasures it, So his servants testify of it so much the more because those in whom it worked thought nothing of it in the love that understood only the need of its object." Well, this isn't all. In verse 4 he says, Begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints. You have to note here, the Macedonian saints might have grace and fellowship of the service which was to be done for the poor saints. But it wasn't merely that Paul was to receive a collection from them, and they gave more than they should. The Macedonian saints, far from being solicited, were themselves wooing Paul and his companions with a request where they begged Paul and his companions the grace and fellowship of ministering to other saints themselves.

They wanted to be involved in the fundraising. They want to be involved in the transportation of the funds. They wanted to be involved in the whole process that Paul was involved in. in. They wanted to be allowed to share. Here's what they really wanted. They wanted to share in the grace or favor of caring for the suffering of the saints in Judea. That's what they really wanted. They begged Paul to let them do it. Begged him. Now, one note as an aside.

There's no specific instructions that I can find in God's Word on how to fund a church other than grace. Other than grace. That's the only way that God does it. It is how you raise money, how you support is all based on the influence of God's grace in every person's heart. That's the only prescription there is. Now, I think this is the most important verse we're going to study today.

And this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. Is not this a reflection or a reproduction, as far as it goes, of Christ's love in giving himself to us? Doubtless, directly, and necessarily, there is a perfection in Christ's offering which is completely unique. He gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. It was all this and more to God and for us as nothing else could be. That's where you start.

By the grace of God, in whom is commended to the Corinthians. The Macedonians did not merely go beyond their means, but they went beyond Paul's hopes, who did not wish to be burdened with the saints of others, those who themselves were in deep poverty. So it's no wonder that they exceeded. Seeing that, as he adds, I was overwhelmed. But they first gave themselves to the Lord.

That's first. And then, to us by the will of God. I spent some time in Strong's dictionary. The word here, to give, in giving oneself into a place of Paul's thoughts of going into the midst of the mob in the theater at Ephesus. A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act.

Had they not caught a vivid impression of the Savior's love? Yes, they had. where God always had the first place, whatever His infinite compassion for man. Notice that the primary motive was to first give themselves to the Lord, and because of that, they gave themselves to us. And for those of you who, like me, love the hungry hearts, the one this morning, fit this to a T. The writer said, I must not only see my position in the Lord Jesus, but I must come near to him, near to the one who set me there.

Many are disappointed after hearing with delight and receiving the truth of their passion. They are not more affected by it. The reason is that they rest too much in the position and have not occupied themselves increasingly with their risen Lord, have not drawn near to Him, and recognized Him as the only one who can make it all experiential to them. Quote from J.B. Stoney.

Is the living person now in heavenly glory really the object of your hearts? After I knew the Savior, I used to think of Him as one who had lived and died on earth long years ago. I well remember the day when I knelt down with a dear brother who prayed that we might know the Lord Jesus as a living person in heavenly glory. It dawned upon me that there was a present object for my heart in heaven. Our hearts will never be satisfied until that glorified Lord Jesus becomes our object bright and clear.

And that's from Charles Coates. I think that's what these Macedonians did and that's what caused them to respond the way they did. And that's the message that Paul was trying to get across to the Corinthians. that they would know the Lord Jesus as their object bright and clear in the heavenlies.

When love for the saints follows, in their case, it qualified by which was the consent motive of Christ which is always by the will of God. So, in verse 5 he says, and this not as we had expected but first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God." It's not only consistent with his will, though this of course was true, but God's will is the spring of all self-sacrifice.

It's beyond your power, it's beyond their power. It causes you to do it, though, of your own volition. It's requesting to be allowed to take part in helping far beyond money. They gave to Paul way beyond his expectations. Hamilton Smith wrote this, Moreover, behind their gift to the saints there was a blessed fact that they had already given themselves to the Lord. This made it simply to carry out the will of God by putting themselves into the hands of the apostle to minister their gift. Joy in the Lord led them to give themselves wholly to the Lord for His will, and thus give to those that are the Lord's. Their service in material things had strictly spiritual motives.

So we urge Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. These Macedonians and Corinthians acted on the heart of Paul to the point of urging Titus to go back to the Corinthians and get involved in the collection of the money that they wanted. And he started because Titus had been there and he had a relationship with him. Paul had a love for the Corinthians that was really jealous. and their love should not slacken off and that any early promise should have its fruition. Because they had promised to be involved in this and Titus was the perfect person to send back there because he developed a personal intimacy with them. So to sum up here, it's interesting When we find ourselves in financial need, the first people we think of are the wealthy ones. That's the one we're going to go to for help.

What Paul insists on here is the act of the poor is the great thing. That's the important thing. It's often said that, but I'm so poor, I'm so small, I can't do anything. Then what you give will be the real thing. The example of the poor widow who put her two mites in the treasury casts more than all the rest of them. If I'm so poor that I have only a couple of pennies, that is a big thing to God.

It is not a man's giving what he can spare, but it is a giving when he can say, this is self-lessening. Let me explain what I mean then. Not that I am to be deprived of food and clothing and shelter for myself, but my actions should be selfless. Whether it is service or whatever it might be, it is always in the line of reduction of self, crucifixion of self.

And that's how Paul felt. You say, well, I want to be made strong. No, I want to be made weak. so that the power of Christ might dwell in me. I'm really able to do nothing as a man. The most impressive language will never bring truth home to a soul unless it's by the power of God. It's the same way with giving. It's the same way with everything we do in our Christian life.

So, the last thing I would say, if you want power, if you want help, if you want to be used by God, Think about yourself in a small scale, not a big one. Let's close. Father, how we thank you. How we thank you for your grace. Your grace is overwhelming to us. We are so taken back sometimes by how gracious you are that we may continue to grow in the knowledge and grace of your dear Son, the Lord Jesus, who we pray in his name. Amen.