Bentley Baptist Church Sermons
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Bentley Baptist Church Sermons
Cultivating a Heart of Generosity
2 Cor. 8.1-15 | Ps Alex Huggett
Faith Offering Sunday, 2024
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www.bentleybaptist.org
Well, we're going to turn for a few minutes to the Word of God. I'm going to be reading in a minute from 2 Corinthians 8. You know, one of the ways you can tell what's important to a person is the way they spend their money. Jesus said that where a person's treasure is there, their heart will be also. And people can get a bit antsy, can't they sometimes, when you start to talk about the way we've spent money, because spending money is so personal, but because spending money also reveals the state of a person's heart. That's actually one of the ways I know I married well because I've got to confess I'll tend to spend money on stuff. My wife will tend to spend money on people. So, yeah, you hired me. You got the bargain with her, I think. Let's read from 2 Corinthians 8, verse 1. Can we throw up that slide? Did you get that there, angelina? Okay, yep.
Speaker 1:And the next one is the passage we want you to know, brothers and sisters. So this is Paul writing to the church in Corinth. This is his second letter possibly his third letter, some scholars think and in his first letter you read a little bit about how he is organizing a collection for the Jerusalem church. The Jerusalem church was suffering Well, jerusalem Judea was suffering a famine. The Jerusalem church was suffering well, jerusalem, judea was suffering a famine and the Jerusalem church was suffering as a result. And so he wanted the Gentile churches, which were sort of daughter churches to what had come out of Jerusalem, to do something to help. So he's organizing an offering, and that's the background to that. We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches in Macedonia. During a severe trial brought about by affliction, possibly persecution or something, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part, in a wealth of generosity on their part. I can testify that, according to their ability and even beyond their ability of their own accord, they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints. What I love Paul is doing here is there's a bit of rivalry. So he's writing to Corinth, which is in Greece, and he's talking about these Macedonian churches, which was a neighbouring province, so you're talking about Thessalonia and Philippi, churches in those places, and what I think he's doing is setting up a little bit what we'd call state rivalry.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine Paul coming here and saying have you heard about those guys over in Sydney? And how generous they've been the people do this right how generous they've been. Can we outdo them, perth? That's what Paul's doing with the Corinthians here, I think. But it's like these Macedonians didn't have much.
Speaker 1:They said, paul, where does this sense of generosity come from? Well, he says they begged us earnestly in the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us. By God's will, they gave themselves first to the Lord, and so we urge Titus that, just as he had begun, so he should also complete among you this act of grace. Now, as you excel in everything, we have the next slide in faith, speech, knowledge and in all diligence, and in your love for us. Excel also in this act of grace as you excel in everything. So we're talking about spiritual excellence in this act.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying this is a command. Rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich for your sake, he became poor so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I am giving advice because it is profitable for you who began last year not only to do something, but also to want to do it Now. Also finish the task so that, just as there was an eager desire, there may also be a completion, according to what you have. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. It is not that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it's a question of equality. At the present time, your surplus is available for their needs, so that their abundance may, in turn, meet your need, in order that there may be equality.
Speaker 1:As it is written and Paul pulls a quote out of the Old Testament, where the Israelites were going through the wilderness and God supplies manna and each day people had to go out and collect a certain amount, depending on how many people were in the house and, as a result, the person who had much did not have too much and the person who had little did not have too little. So Paul is collecting this money and bringing up this state rivalry between these churches to try and provoke the Corinthians into finishing the work that they had started fulfilling the promise that they had made, the pledge that they had made. But it isn't interesting that when it comes to money because it's a state of the heart Paul doesn't start with amounts. In fact he's overflowing. He's gushing in his praise of the Macedonian church and I wonder what the figures we were talking about actually were that they gave. Is he sort of talking it down or were they actually more generous than that? We don't know. But Paul's making a very important point here that when we come to giving, it's not a matter of the size of our wallet, it's not the matter of the size of the amount. It's a matter of the size of our wallet, it's not the matter of the size of the amount, it's a matter of the size of our heart in giving. That and that's what Paul wants to cultivate in the Corinthians. It's this heart of generosity.
Speaker 1:Paul says that, as you excel in everything, and if you are familiar with the letters to Corinthians, you read back on 1 Corinthians and he talks about the spiritual gifts. And the Corinthians prided themselves in these spiritual gifts that they expressed. And there was a little bit of competition within the church among which spiritual gifts were most important and they prided themselves that they excelled in these gifts. And he says in faith, speech and knowledge, and in all diligence and in your love for us, they overflowed with these things spiritual gifts, spiritual gifts, spiritual practices, spiritual disciplines. These virtues, and he says now, excel also in this act of grace, an act of generosity, an act of love. But I'm not saying this is a command.
Speaker 1:It's really important, when we come to the matter of giving, to realize that it doesn't start with an act of compulsion, it doesn't start with an act of guilt from within. Paul is really inviting the Corinthians just to look within and check where their hearts are at. What's motivating them in this? Is it rivalry? You know, when a recipient's taking money, probably in one sense not too worried, where the motive comes from right. But the reality is when we're giving out of the wrong motives. It's not sustainable. If it's guilt that is motivating us to give, eventually we're going to burn out on guilt. If it's pride, that rivalry, eventually we're going to we've outdone them. We don't need to do this or something else will take our attention away.
Speaker 1:Paul's inviting the Corinthians and he invites us to look within and check our hearts. Where's my heart in relation to God. The Macedonians gave themselves first to the Lord, before they gave themselves to the Lord's apostles and to the church and to this act of giving. And he invites the Corinthians to do the same. And he invites the Corinthians to do the same by means of the diligence of others. I'm provoking you, corinthians, to test the genuineness of your love.
Speaker 1:How do we cultivate a heart of love, a heart that gives out of a sense of gratitude and generosity? Well, he says in the next line, for you know the grace of our Lord, jesus Christ. Though he was rich, for your sake, he became poor so that by his poverty you might become rich. So what we have here in Jesus is both a model of the Christian life, and Jesus took on although he was by very nature, god, paul writes to the Philippians he took on the nature of a servant so that he could lift us up. That's a model for Christian living to become a servant. But it's also a motive for us. A motive for us that, as we meditate and reflect on who we are before Christ and what he's done for us, it starts to cultivate this heart of gratitude, this desire to give ourselves to the Lord. As I've gone on in my Christian life, more and more I realize just that this is the core of it. I need to be living and I find myself living out of a sense of gratitude. But there's also a little bit of something here. It says I'm giving advice because it is profitable for you.
Speaker 1:There's something good that happens for us when this sense of generosity and gratitude is provoked and cultivated in us and wells up in something. Because you know what, when we come into life with a grateful heart and a heart of generosity, there's something liberating about that. Money is something that can so bind us up. It can bind us up in fear because we're afraid we're not going to have enough. It can bind us up in slavery because we just have this incessant pursuit to get more and more and more and more and ultimately it just crumbles down around us. We come into situations where inflation is rising, cost of living squeezing and suddenly it's shown it's this funny paradox of being both powerful. But the power it has over us is that we desire it and we put our trust in it, but then we find that actually it's quite powerless. I don't have enough and it can't help me and it's not fulfilling me in the ways that matter the most, in the matters of the heart. It doesn't actually give me peace, it doesn't give me joy, it doesn't increase my love. And so when we have a heart of generosity, we actually benefit from that, because it's liberating for us as well and we are formed more into the image of Jesus. And so he says now finish the task so that where there was the eager desire, there may be completion according to what you have.
Speaker 1:Here's an important element when we come to giving and of course this is in the context of our faith offering today, paul says to give what you have, for if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what they do not have. We might call to mind. Jesus is sitting at the temple and all these rich people are coming and throwing bags of money into the temple treasury, and historians tell us that there was actually a big trumpet shaped receptacles and they were made of metal, and so people would put their coins in there and it'd make a lot of racket. So you want to sort of tip your bag of money in there and listen to that as it goes in, and then this little widow comes up with two pennies. She just puts them in there and you barely hear it. And Jesus said she gave more than everyone else. And in her case he says she's given all she has.
Speaker 1:Giving is according to what we have, what we do not have. It's not that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it's a question of equality. Now, when I was growing up, there was this idea called Christian communism, which is complete oxymoron because communism is completely atheist. But the idea was we should be living in this ideal society where there is equality and sort of under communist principles, but with a Christian basis. But that's not what Paul's talking about here. You know the problem with something like communism or even socialism which relies on a lot of taxation. And look, I'm for the welfare state, but you're taking money from someone by compulsion, right? That's what taxation is and I believe in taxation. So I'm not being a radical libertarian or something here. But that's not the principle Paul is talking about. If you take the money from me, then it hasn't come from a generous heart. I may be happy for you to take that, but there's no virtue in me. I'm just giving according to the law.
Speaker 1:What Paul's talking about is a generosity of spirit that overflows and sees equality. It's more a family dynamic that Paul is talking about here, because the church is family, right, we're the family of God and the way we love one another is to make sure in a family that, as much as possible, everyone has what they need. And it's not like there's perfect equality financially in a family. But on the other hand, there shouldn't be any need. My kids, when they were growing up and still to an extent, didn't have, well, any money really. I mean, they were kids. They didn't have jobs. On the other hand, they had all the money that was in my bank account, which may have been pretty meagre, but they were my kids, and so there's that sense of what's mine is yours. My brother's are richer than me, but if there was a need there, I would be making sure that, in as far as I can, they had what they want.
Speaker 1:So we're not talking about a sort of Christian communism. We're not talking about a sort of Christian. You know the idea of a universal basic income. The idea is, if everyone is paid a basic wage, that's a UBI, and so those who you don't have to worry about money anymore. You're not going to be rich off a UBI universal basic income but everyone has enough to live. Paul's not really talking about that either, because elsewhere he says you know, if someone's been stealing, they should steal no more, but should work with their own hands so that they have something to share. He says somewhere that if you don't work, you don't eat. So the idea of the welfare state isn't the welfare state isn't. It comes out of Christian values. But that's not what Paul is talking about here.
Speaker 1:In Christian equality it is more this idea of family, and sometimes, when we're giving and loving family, we do so in different ways. Some of you have had sick relatives who don't have anything, and what you have to do in that moment is pour yourself into their life. That's what love looks like in that context. In other contexts you might have a kid who's not getting off the couch and helping around the home and not getting out and getting a job. Loving them is not giving them more money, it's kicking them off the couch and telling them to get a job right.
Speaker 1:That's the way family works. What we give is guided by love and by wisdom, and that's what Paul is talking about here. And again, out of what we have, not what we don't have, so that there can be equality the person who had much did not have too much, and the person who had much did not have too much, and the person who had little did not have too little. As we come to our faith offering today, it's not about making you poor so that others can be rich. It's about sharing out of what you have. It's about helping lift them up out of a heart of gratitude.