Give as Much as You Are Able, Part Two
2 Corinthians 8:1-12
Ed Owens was a successful stockbroker who became a Christian in 1991 and he began tithing three years later. By 1999 he was giving away a full 25% of his income, but he also earned $10 million that same year. He attended conferences on giving and read several books on the subject, including Randy Alcorn’s Money, Possessions and Eternity. After much prayer and study, Ed and his wife developed these five action points for their life.
- We capped our income at $500,000 and resolved to cap our net worth at about $8 million. Everything else we would give away.
- We decided to give $2 million of our savings away as a sacrifice to the Lord.
- We decided to sell our $3 million house and move into a more modest/middle class home.
- We decided to sell a couple of our expensive luxury cars and to donate some of that money to famine relief in Africa.
- We put our two girls on a budget so that they would learn how to manage money.
Now to you and I, living off of $500,000 per year does not sound all that difficult, but if you compare it to the way he was living before he became a Christian, it is an enormous difference. Listen to his description of his pre-Christian life. “My creed was to work hard and play hard. By the time I was 27, I was on my fourth or fifth Porsche. It was fire engine red, gold BBS wheels, dark tinted windows and a license plate that read “Jet Lag.” I wore a fur coat, illegal turtle skin boots and, of course, the gold Rolex watch. I’m sure most people thought I dealt in drugs, not stocks and bonds.” His salary cap of half a million seems high to us, but remember he was giving away over $9 million. http://www.generousgiving.org/testimonies/display.asp?id=83
That is a great story, but where are the stories that more closely match our lives—just regular working people trying to get by in life. One such story is that of the Macedonian believers that we looked at last week. These Macedonians were poverty-stricken Christians who still managed to give with tremendous generosity. Let’s read that passage again. And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5 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. 6 So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 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. 8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 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. 10 And 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. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
First, let me remind you of our key principle from last week: Grace always precedes giving. If grace is not the driving force in your giving, then one of two things are likely to happen. Either you give very little or your giving is done with a poor heart attitude. As we recognize the grace poured into our lives, things like money can flow easily out of our lives.
There are several more principles about generous giving found in this passage.
5. Sacrificial giving is a service to the saints. (4)
Clearly the Macedonian believers were giving as a service to the saints in Jerusalem, but this is true with all generous giving. What is the most obvious way we can express our love for God? I John 4:20 says, “For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” Love for God is most tangibly seen by our love for other people. Giving is an act of service to the saints—that means all Christians by the way—and when we serve other people by giving, we are also showing our love for God. So guess what happens when you reverse that principle? A lack of giving means a lack of service to others and a lack of love for God.
6. Our giving muscles can be strengthened. (7)
7 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. Paul links the grace of giving with other markers of spiritual maturity. A person can have small faith or big faith, but the individual faith of any Christian can grow and be strengthened. The spiritual act of giving is many-faceted. According to Romans 12, giving is a spiritual gift. Some people are especially gifted in this grace of giving. Does that mean if you don’t have the spiritual gift of giving that you don’t have to give? The Bible does not let us off the hook that easy. If we don’t have the gift of mercy, we are still commanded to show mercy. If we don’t have the gift of evangelism, we are still commanded to share our faith. In the same way, even if we don’t have the gift of giving, we are still commanded to give. Generous giving is one of our many spiritual muscles—like faith, love, speech—all of which can be strengthened.
This is good news for every Christian. We don’t have to be stagnant in our giving because we can strengthen our spiritual muscles of giving. An Olympic powerlifter strengthens his muscles in order to lift huge amounts of weight into the air. An Olympic swimmer strengthens his or her muscles also, but do they do it the same as a powerlifter? No, each sport requires a different emphasis on strengthening muscles. But the Olympic decathlete is widely considered the best all-around athlete. The decathlete must work on all muscle groups in order to succeed. I suggest that Christians are more like a decathlete than a swimmer or powerlifter. We need to excel at all areas of our spiritual lives in order to grow to full maturity. If we ignore this area of giving, we will be imbalanced and miss out on God’s best for us. (SG Inventory??)
7. Generosity cannot be forced. (8)
Even though generosity is vitally important to the Christian life and maturity, it is not something than can be forced. Even though Paul was presenting a very strong case to the Corinthians to give generously, he wanted them to know that he was not commanding them to give. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. Giving is a deeply heart issue and must be decided from within and not coerced from without. As a pastor, my job is similar to Paul’s. Paul taught very clearly on the importance of giving, but did not command them to give. My job is to also teach very clearly on the importance of generous giving, but I cannot command you to give a certain amount.
8. Giving is a direct measure of your love. (8)
Although
I cannot, nor would I ever try, to command you to give, the second half of verse
eight reminds us that our giving is a direct measure of our love. Thermometers
measure what?— Temperature. A barometer measures atmospheric pressure. In the
same way, our giving is a direct measurement of our love—a love-o-meter, if you
will. If you want to know how your love is growing, look to your level of
generosity.
9. Jesus is the supreme example of grace giving. (9)
Verse nine is perhaps the key verse in this section of Scripture, but it is particularly interesting if you remove it from its context. . 9 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. Jesus became poor so that we could become rich. Taken out of its context, this is the perfect verse to teach prosperity theology. Kenneth Hagin, one of the fathers of the health and wealth gospel said this, "[God] wants His children to eat the best, He wants them to wear the best clothing, He wants them to drive the best cars, and He wants them to have the best of everything." I hope it is abundantly clear to everyone here that when Paul said we would become rich, he was talking about spiritual riches, not financial riches.
Churches and Christians sometimes talk about sacrificial giving, but Jesus is the ultimate example of sacrificial giving. Jesus was spiritually rich. He had eternal fellowship with his Father and the Holy Spirit. He was fully God in all of his magnificent glory. When you talk of spiritual riches, know that Jesus had the perfect complete of spiritual riches and could not have gained any more. But he gave it all up. For our sakes, he became poor. Let’s be consistent here. If Paul is talking about spiritual riches, when he says “Jesus became poor” he means Jesus because spiritually poor. Jesus exchanged his spiritual riches for spiritual poverty. Obviously he did not give up his divine status as God, but when he gave up the perfect glory of being God and took on human limitations, and surrendered his life for us, it was as if he became spiritually poor.
Paul used the amazing example of the Macedonian believers to spur us to generous giving and Paul also used Jesus’ example to motivate us toward generous giving. This is precisely what Paul does in Philippians 2 when he urged humility on his fellow Christians by using the example of Christ’s ultimate humility in the cross. Imitate Jesus—be humble. Imitate Jesus—give generously. The cross is not just the end of our salvation, but it is the beginning of our Christian maturity. Giving because Jesus gave is the gospel lived out. Recently someone said to me, “If our church just preached the gospel everything else would fall into place.” In other words, if we just talk about hell and the blood of Christ, we don’t have to worry about money or anything else. Let me state this very clearly—generous grace-giving is the gospel! When Paul said “Jesus became poor so that we could become rich” he was preaching the gospel. Jesus gave up everything, and if you believe in Jesus, you should do the same. This is not something extra or optional for a believer, but this is the gospel lived out in the life of every Christian.
10. Good intentions count for nothing. (10-11)
Have you ever made a pledge to give and then did not follow through on your pledge? This is what Paul warns against in the next two verses. And 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. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it. Apparently, the Corinthians had expressed a willingness to donate to famine relief for their fellow Christians in Jerusalem. We all have good intentions about things like giving, don’t we? Maybe you plan to start giving one day, but you keep putting that day off into the future. Maybe you plan to increase your giving from 5% to 10% but you think you won’t be able pay your bills. Maybe you want to start giving sacrificially, but you can’t seem to get started. These are all good intentions—and such good intentions count for nothing. When God prompts us to give, then we must respond to his leading.
11. Give in proportion to your personal blessing (12)
Ed Owens gave away over $9 million in one year. God does not expect you and I to give away $9 million, but he does expect us to give generously “according to what one has, not according to what he does not have”, as Paul said in v.12. It’s the big donors who can make big projects happen, but it is the small donor which makes all churches and Christian ministries truly flourish. Whether your bank account is large or small is not important to God. God does not need your money, but God does want your heart—and a generous spirit is a sure indication of a heart increasingly dedicated to God.
Latourneau DVD
Rich Maurer
November 21, 2004