Begging to Be a Blessing

On Sunday we kicked off our 2011 Advent Sermon Series, WE ARE GIVERS! Because the Lord has given unto us, we give to others out of the gift that we have received. We dealt with II Corinthians 8:1-9 although we only made it to verse 6 and entitled it Begging to Be a Blessing. It is our goal during this advent season to share more in this forum, the reason why we are givers, the requirements of a giver and the rewards of giving.

At our church we have a slogan that the Lord gave me from the first Sermon I preached at Macedonia from Acts 16, where I challenged the church by asking them "Do you Know who you are? The answer from that sermon formed our phrase, WE ARE MACEDONIA AND WE ARE CALLED TO HELP SOMEBODY. Many "city" theologians and "cross-town" pastors immediately took our church to task saying your Pastor has wrongly interpreted this Scripture. You are the place that needed help.

As I explained in teaching to the church, all of us have a beginning, a middle and an end. The Macedonia vision was the beginning, Paul sees a man, crying and calling for Paul to Come over and help us. This is the beginning but this is not the end of Macedonia. The churches birthed from Paul's obedience to the call from this Macedonia region become known as some of the greatest churches in the New Testament.

The Macedonians (mainly the churches from Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea) become our example of people who beg Paul and Titus to allow them the chance to be a blessing in someone else's life. They remind us it is impossible to be a Christian without being a giver. The apostle is about to cover the matter of raising funds for the Christians in the city of Jerusalem.

The Corinthians were not in the dark about this issue, so the apostle reminds them of his earlier instructions and gives them further details. This issue was not only addressed with Corinth, but also with the other churches in Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece. This concern was brought up with the churches in Galatia (1 Corinthians 16:1) and Rome (Romans 15:25-26).


Why was Paul raising funds for the Jerusalem church? As the church continued to grow, it became overwhelmed by all the needs and was not able to keep up. Paul recognized the needs of the Jerusalem believers and determined to take up a collection for this church from the churches of Asia Minor and Europe. He also sought by raising these funds, to strengthen the spiritual bond between those largely Gentile congregations and the Jewish church in Jerusalem. The apostle knew that the love offering would serve to ease the suspicion, bitterness, and hostility with which Jews and Gentiles generally regarded each other.

The financial support would demonstrate the unity and oneness of Christians, the relationship we have as brothers and sisters in Christ, and that the Lord did break down the wall between Jews and Gentiles.

Paul needed the Corinthians to know how the Macedonian Christians were such a great blessing and how God's grace had transformed their lives. He used their example to challenge and be a model to the Corinthian church. He was trying to show this church at Corinth what God could do through them and how they could be a blessing to the Lord and others.

To ensure that one church doesn't get jealous of another church, Paul is quick to point out to the Corinthian church how the Macedonia church was able to do this giving. IT WAS GRACE. The riches of God's grace had been poured out on them, and then they in turn poured out what they had on others.

The grace of giving is what this section is all about. The word charis ("grace") occurs eight times in chapters 8-9. In fact, charis occurs five times in 8:1-9: in verse 1, "the grace," ten charin; verse 4, "the favor," ten charin; verse 6, "this act of grace," ten charin; verse 7, "this act of grace," ten chariti; and verse 9, "the grace," ten charin. Paul's teaching on giving is a sermon on grace from beginning to end.

Concerning the grace among the Macedonians, "We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part" (vv. 1, 2).

The Macedonian churches that Paul was using as an example had experienced severe difficulties, and yet they had given generously. They had not simply gone through "affliction"; they had experienced a "great trial of affliction" (2 Cor. 8:2). They were in deep poverty, which means "rock-bottom destitution." The word describes a beggar who has absolutely nothing and has no hope of getting anything.

But their circumstances did not hinder them from giving. In fact, they gave joyfully and liberally! No computer could analyze this amazing formula: great affliction and deep poverty plus grace = abundant joy and abounding liberality!

That was Heaven's stewardship program—the genesis of the grace of giving—and it is the pattern for us. Giving is a matter of grace from beginning to end. Christ gave himself for us. We receive his grace, and then we give ourselves to him and to others in his name. This response to grace includes giving what we have. That is how the Macedonians gave out of their poverty with great liberality. And that is how we give out of our affluence. It is the same.

First sermon out the chute, lots to cover, hopefully the blog this week will help me condense.

Owens