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The big idea for today is one of the Christian values seen frequently in the Bible – having a generous heart.
I wrestled with whether to preach on this today. – It’s a baptismal service and I would normally preach about baptism. Jesus spoke about money with amazing regularity
- lots of his stories or parables revolve around money – the parable of the talents for example or the story of the man who sold all he had to buy a field where he knew there was buried treasure.
- and underlying many of them is this value of generosity (or the danger of its opposites, miserliness and stinginess)
So today, as part of our series in 2 Corinthians, what the Bible says about generosity in a mean world.
Backstory <ppt>
In chapter 7 which Carl spoke on last week the fundamental point was this:
Paul had found it necessary to give them some tough messages about the way they were behaving, BUT his headline feeling about the church was positive and enthusiastic. He was thrilled with the church and it filled him with joy<ppt>
Look at 7:4
4 I have spoken to you with great frankness; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.
Again 7:16
I am glad I can have complete confidence in you.
Now he wants to encourage them to do something as a consequence and he’s going to do it by telling them about some other Christian who were doing it and making a comparison
… he wants them to give – and give excellently <ppt>
The situation is like this. Many of the new Christian believers in Jerusalem were is deep trouble.
- This could be because of a general financial downturn at the time
- more likely it’s because, having turned to Jesus Christ, having discovered God’s purpose in their lives, many of them were being rejected by their friends and family and found themselves struggling to live.
So Paul organised a collection for them and he wanted the Corinthian Christians to contribute to it.
8:1 … now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
The Macedonian Christians had already responded to Paul’s request to support the Jerusalem believers with a gift of money and valuables
- … and Paul spots one aspect of their giving that makes it impressive and unusual – These Christians in Macedonia were struggling themselves!
- They went beyond anyone’s expectation of their giving. They were poor, and yet they provided for others who were also in need.
So underneath this description is a powerful message – this is an example of intense and impressive sacrifice for the sake of God’s work and His kingdom – and this is so often a natural consequence of loving God and knowing him intimately.
This is a common theme in the scriptures and there are some shining examples of sacrificial giving in the Bible
Moses and the tent of meeting
Back in the time of Moses the people of Israel were asked by God to make a special place, called the tent of meeting, as a location where they could meet with God and enjoy fellowship with him.
So Moses asked people to contribute to this building
here’s what happened
Ex 35:21 Everyone who was willing … came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. 22 All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewellery of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord. 23 Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or the other durable leather brought them.
… and so it goes on!
IN fact, their generosity was so great that Moses had to give an order
Ex 36:6 “No-one is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary!” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
David
King David was getting ready to build the temple for the Lord (to invest in a building that would be used for worship) and asked people to contribute to it. Here’s what happened
1 Chronicles 29:6 Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. 7 They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. 8 Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.
Another example of people giving to construct and keep the building where they worshipped!
Woman in the temple
Another moving example – Jesus was in the temple one day observing all the people giving.
Some of the gave ostentatiously, some were more modest, But then a lady, clearly a very poor lady, came in and gave just 2 small coins (2p)
and Jesus makes a very telling point – this woman”, he said “has given more than the others because they gave out of their wealth, and she gave out of her poverty”
I remember talking to one man about his money. At this point in his life he was relying on state benefits (meagre!) What emerged was that he still wanted to tithe (give 1/10 to the church – this one, VBC) (as he had done in the past).
As he spun the story of his struggles I felt “we should be helping you, not you giving to us!”
He was definite about this. We came to an agreement that out of his perilously low income he would give something (however small) to make it clear to the Lord and to us that he didn’t regard his possessions as his own.
So these Macedonian Christian had given sacrificially so now Paul says to these Christians in Corinth
7 … since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
I want you to give – in fact I want you to excel in giving – because God’s work and God’s kingdom are worth it!
You do everything else with excellence, now give with excellence too! – And in case they misunderstand him he says:
8 I am not commanding you, I just want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.
Throughout history the Christians church has had a reputation for giving in order to benefit the people where it is placed.
Do you know who provides half of the parent and toddler support groups in the UK. Is it Surestart or netmums?
- Actually, it’s the church .
Do you know who provides the biggest network of debt counselling across the UK with 190 drop-in centres? Helping over 19 141 individuals last year alone? Is it Martin “Moneysavingexpert” Lewis?
- Actually, it’s the church (see here.)
Who is it that donated 72 million hours of volunteer work to social initiatives last year estimating a contribution of 1.5 billion pounds a year? Was it the National Trust?
- Actually, it was the church actually.
Do you know who will feed 100 000 hungry people this year in the UK is it the Redcross,
- Actually, it’s the church!
Do you know who created the first hospitals, schools, universities and fought for democracy into our country? Was it the Vikings?
- Actually, it was the church!
Who started up Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Queen’s Park Rangers, Southampton, and Tottenham Hotspur Football clubs, was it the Football association?
- Actually, it was the church!
When the doctors, the police and the social workers move out of an area and go and live somewhere else who is that moves in? Is it Richard dawkins and Militant Atheists?
- Actually, it’s the church!
So who is the hope for our society? Is it the labour party or the coalition?
- Actually, It’s the church.
If the nation, UK, PLC loses that level of generosity it will struggle to find anyone to replace it!
And this is the dangerous path on which our nation and many of its leaders appear to have set themselves, – it is to relegate Christian faith to the private arena.
You can be a Christian, so long as you do it in private – so long as you don’t talk about it at work – so long as you don’t practice it or apply it in your workplace.
When in fact many, many of the political freedoms and patterns of justice we benefit from today were initiated by Christians! They were fought for by the church (Catholic and Protestant) and even died for by committed, Bible-believing, Christ-honouring Christians.
Our country loses something deeply fundamental when it systematically rejects that Godly heritage – especially in the name of political correctness.
One more example:
We find the word ‘grace’ used in various different ways
- a gracious attitude (someone who is kindly and inoffensive)
- an ethereal quality (“she danced with such grace!”)
- In the Bible it consistently has the overtone of generosity – uninhibited, joy-filled and voluntary giving
9 For you know the grace (generosity) of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
The application is obvious – be like Jesus Christ! <ppt>
- Your generosity should be like his!
What Jesus Christ was spiritually, we should be financially.
An amazing act of generosity.
This is Patricia Machin who appeared on the BBC breakfast show this week. Last year her husband, Gerrard, was knocked down by a car, but instead of lashing out at the driver she took the unusual step of comforting him (Brian Williamson) at the roadside.
- Husband Gerrard died several weeks later and Patricia Machin urged Brian to “get on with his young life” when he was sentenced in court last Friday.
- Patricia also wrote a letter of forgiveness to Brian during the court case.
- She says that she felt that however bad the situation was for herself that it would be worse for Brian because he caused and that her forgiveness would allow him to get on with his life, free from the burden of having caused an accident.
That’s exactly what God has done for us – brought forgiveness. And that was an act of supreme generosity!
John 3:16 – God loved so much that he gave
his gifts was not a financial one, it was his son, to stand in the place where we should stand before Him
I want to ask you where you stand on this today >>>
Prayer >>>
