2 Corinthians - Lesson 8D

• Welcome back guys and turn with me if you will to the 8th Chapter of the Book of 2 Corinthians.

  • We took a pause over the last two weeks in order to debunk some misunderstandings about the church, but more specifically about the topic of “tithing” or “giving”. And we did this by backing up (as always) and asking the question “why”.

  • When you study scripture and you don’t understand something, many times the best way to arrive at the answer is to start by asking why? And this would certainly be the case when trying to figure out why God created the Church, because when you discover the why of the Church, as it relates to its intent and purpose, you will then understand why God requires us to give. 

    • You see, God created the church, the body, the ecclesia, and He gifted it to us, and through it He provided us (the believer) the means by which to take care of each other, build each other up, support each other (which also includes financial support at times), and then last but not least, He created the church for our edification.

    • To mature us, grow us spiritually, all through the teaching of God’s Word, which would then be administered through a Pastor/Teacher, a man who was gifted to teach God’s Holy Manuscript. A man who (according to Timothy) “coincidentally” would be an overseer or elder in the church as well.

    • And so, He created this magnificent institution, and it becomes our family, and honestly, when it’s right, there is nothing better in the life of the believer. And so, what’s its ultimate purpose or reason? Another way to say it is, what’s the church’s goal?

• Its goal is to support and equip the saints for the work of ministry, so that as we live our lives inside this dark and dying world, we will make an impact for the Kingdom. So, with all that said, the church:

  • Provides a support system for believers - for one another - and as I said last week - it takes care of its own first (which includes financial at times).

  • It also matures the believer though teaching an absorption of God’s Word.

  • And all for the purpose of the believer’s spiritual strength, so that he or she can enter the world and become a proxy or facilitator, or an extension of God, themselves.

    • And when this is right, or when it takes hold in the life of a Christian, the result is an unbeliever will come to know God, because it’s all facilitated through God’s children. And then once that happens, that newly saved person begins that same process and the entire thing starts all over again. Which means it’s cyclical.

    • And so that’s one of the primary reasons we give, to support our church, which in return supports us. But that isn’t the only reason we give, we also give because when we do it’s a form of sacrifice, which is simply a test of our faith, obedience, and appreciation. Appreciation for all that God has done for us.

• Now before moving forward this morning, I want to point something out, and that is the most awesome feeling in the world is to give when you don’t have it to give, because it’s such a leap of faith and it requires courage, because you’re scared and afraid.

  • It’s an awesome feeling because it’s such a sacrifice. It brings such gratification. But what makes it even more amazing is the feeling you get when you see God show up and take care of your needs in what will always be the most unimaginable of ways, which let me say has happened for Daffeny and myself many, many times.

    • Just remember this, God never leaves His children hanging. He always provides, because He knows what we need before we need it, and He is always prepared to meet our needs. And remember, you can really never appreciate His Grace until you experience it firsthand.

• Now, as we move forward this morning, I am going to back up and re-read once again 2 Corinthians 8:1-9. I know we have read it two or three times over the last several weeks so be patient with me here, because this week we are going to do what we do, which is to rightly divide God’s word of truth. I haven’t been doing that over the past few weeks, so I want to do that before we move forward.

  • And I want to share something with you as I have reread these verses this week. I noticed something, something that for a lack of better words, sent cold chills up and down my spine. And when I show it to you, hopefully the same will happen for you as well. Let me read it to you one more time, and here’s what Paul wrote:

2 Cor. 8:1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia,
2 Cor. 8:2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
2 Cor. 8:3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord,
2 Cor. 8:4 begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints,
2 Cor. 8:5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.
2 Cor. 8:6 So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.
2 Cor. 8:7 But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.
2 Cor. 8:8 I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.
2 Cor. 8:9 For you know the grace 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. 

• Guys, I know I say this all the time, but I really can’t help it. These verses are some of the richest, most educational and insightful verses in all of scripture, at least as it relates to giving. They are also very insightful as it relates to understanding the attitude that we should all have when it comes to tithing or giving.

  • And let me expound on what I mean here for just a moment, because this is so powerful and liberating. Let’s start with verse 1, where Paul begins by letting the people of Corinth in on what I would call “a little secret”. He says,

2 Cor. 8:1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 

• Okay, let’s pause here for just a minute. Paul says, now, brethren. He was speaking to the church and by extension that includes you and I as well. Now brethren, he says, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia.

  • So, here’s the interpretation along with the real-life application. He says, “Let me tell you about the Grace that God has given to the churches in Macedonia”. Now at first read, this may seem insignificant, but I assure you it’s not.

  • It would be like me saying to you, “Hey Mark, Scott, Richard, Stacy, or hey Dave, let me tell you about the amazing work and gift that God has bestowed on the brothers and sisters over at First Baptist Church, or over at the First United Methodist or The United Pentecostal Church. A gift that is so amazing and a gift that is also available to you.

    • That’s the sense here. Paul is saying, guys let me tell you about the grace, the “unmerited favor”, that God has shown to the churches of Macedonia. It is truly unreal, and God wants to give it to you as well.

    • Another way to say it might be, paraphrasing, guys, God is doing amazing things in these churches, and we want you to get in on the deal as well. That’s what he is trying to convey here. So, we got that, now let’s move on to verse 2.

2 Cor. 8:2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. 

• Paul says that in a great deal of affliction, in the middle of all of their trial and tribulation, something has happened to them and there is a reason it’s happened.

  • And so, what’s happened? They are experiencing an abundance of joy, which by the way makes no sense at all. As a matter a fact it seems impossible and totally backwards. I mean how could they be under “a great deal of affliction” and at the same time be experiencing such an “abundance of joy”? Something doesn’t make sense, and so what is the deal?

  • Well, whatever it is, I can guarantee you it’s supernatural, because obviously these two things don’t go together. And oh yeah, one more thing, not only are they experiencing a great deal of affliction, but they are also broke.

    • But not just any ole’ broke (as in the way we think of someone being broke). No, they are experiencing deep poverty, which is much different than just being broke. This is a whole different level of broke. As a matter a fact, when you study these two words in the Greek, deep and poverty, and then tie them together, you get a real sense of just how bad things were for these churches, because deep in the Greek means depth, as in deep water, met: fullness, immensity, and extreme degree, profundities, deep-laid plans.

    • And then the word poverty in the Greek means beggary and destitution. So, combining these two words together, we get the real picture, which is a depth of extreme poverty that hinges on that of begging and destitution. And so, you get it, it’s real bad for these people.

    • And yet, at the same time they are experiencing an abundance of joy. And when you combine those two words, abundance and joy, you get the opposite end of the extreme. Which is what? To experience above-normal gladness and joy.

  • But the question is why, or an even better question might be How? How could it be? What in the world is going on? What could be causing these two opposite extremes and emotions to take place at the same time? It’s hard to believe when you stop to think about it, Because I don’t think this would be our reaction.

  • So, what gives? What is causing this? Well, it shows up in the last part of verse 2, let me read it again.

2 Cor. 8:2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty (overflowed in the wealth of their liberality). 

• The key phrase in this verse lies in the words “overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.” The Greek actually gives us a better sense of what’s really being said here, so let me read it to you.

  • “Of the deep poverty of them abounded into the riches the generosity of them”

    • Paraphrasing, because of how generous they were, God offset their great deal of affliction and poverty with an abundance of joy. If this was a mathematical equation you would say it this way, the more they gave the more their joy increased.

    • Even though they were experiencing a great deal of affliction, and even though they were living in deep poverty (So poor, and destitute they were to the point of begging).

  • In spite of all that, they overflowed with an abundance of joy because they gave. Guys, this is amazing, and it begs the question, how in the world could this be? I mean, how did they give when they were broke? The answer is - it was supernatural.

  • They gave what they had even though they didn’t have it to give, and God obviously continued to replace it. Which is interesting because when you think about it, God knows they are broke, that they don’t have any money. Yet He told them to give anyway. Which tells you something.

• It tells you He had a plan to cover them and to bless them financially all over again. That’s the way it had to be if He wanted to keep it all going! Right?

  • By the way, it didn’t say how much they gave because giving is not about the quantity of the sacrifice, it’ all about the quality of the sacrifice. Which couldn’t be highlighted any better than in the story of the “Widow’s mite”. Let me read it as backup context and commentary to what Paul is saying here today in 2 Corinthians.

    • And to do that we will go read Luke’s words in Luke 21:1-4. You can also read it in Mark 12, but we will read from Luke, and here’s what it says:

Luke 21:1 Now He looked up and saw the wealthy putting their gifts into the temple treasury.
Luke 21:2 And He saw a poor widow putting in two lepta coins.
Luke 21:3 And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; 
Luke 21:4 for they all contributed to the offering from their surplus; but she, from her poverty, put in all that she had to live on.”

• Now, in this story we see the New Testament teaching on giving being lived out, and that is, giving is not about the quantity it’s about the quality of the sacrifice. Listen to me one more time. Giving is not about the amount, it’s about the magnitude of the sacrifice. Which as I said lines up with what I taught you last week as it pertains to the concept of giving in the New Testament.

  • In the Old Testament, 10% was the standard (well kind of, sort of), but that’s not the standard in the New Testament. The New Testament teaches we are to give as we have been blessed or prospered.

  • Which means if I work at McDonalds, and make $10 per hour, and I give $2 of that to God, but I really can’t afford that (at least on paper), but I give it anyway because I have examined my life and have determined that I have been blessed, and prospered to that degree, and I do this when all I really could afford was 50 cents.

    • Then based on Paul’s observation, as well as Luke and Mark, something supernatural will take place in my life. Not when I give out of my surplus, but when I give based on how I have been blessed. And that’s why the New Testament teaches giving in a much different way than the Old Testament.

• You see after Jesus, the dispensation changed. It was no longer about the rules I followed but about my commitment and obedience and gratitude toward God for the ultimate sacrifice He made on my behalf through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

  • You see, prior to Jesus, God’s sacrifice for us was minimal. Minimal in that it could not deliver us to heaven. But after Jesus it was maximized, and now, through the death of His Son, we are all afforded the opportunity to enter Heaven’s Gate.

    • In other words, His commitment to you as a believer was the greatest, because He gave it all! As a matter of fact, there could have been no greater sacrifice that He could have given us, which then begs the question, what’s the sacrifice that we will give Him in return? Will we dig deep and go beyond? Go deep and beyond what we think we can afford? Or will we give from our surplus, which, according to Jesus, isn’t really a sacrifice at all.

• Now this concept is so important to understand, because as I said, it’s not about the amount. It’s about the pain of the sacrifice. It’s about the trepidation of the sacrifice, the insecurity of the sacrifice.

  • You know, I always find it humorous when I hear someone talk about another person who is very wealthy, and they say, “You know, he is rich but he’s generous. He gives large sums of money away to all kinds of organizations or foundations”.

  • When someone says that I always think about the widow’s mite. She gave the least according to Jesus, but she gave the most because she gave all she had. But for those who had a lot, yes, they gave a lot, but not in comparison to what they had. They didn’t give much at all because they gave from their surplus.

    • This means, someone may give 5% and another give 30%, but the 5% be looked upon (by God) as the one being the more excellent or better sacrifice, all because it’s proportional to what they had. And this, once again, lines up with the next verse, verse 3, which says:

2 Cor. 8:3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, 

• That according to their ability, and (here’s the key), beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord. Three things to note here really quick. First of all, notice they gave according to their ability, which would be from their surplus (no matter how large or small it was).

  • But then, they gave beyond their ability from what they didn’t have, and they did so of their own accord. Meaning, no one pushed them or prompted them to do so. No preacher or Apostle pushed them into it or talked them into it. It was all based on their own self - examination of how they had been blessed, coupled with their outlook and perspective on ministry.

  • Follow me here for just a moment, because I told you at the beginning of today’s lesson there was something that gave me cold chills when I studied it again this week. Well, here it is - verses 4-5. Listen one more time,

2 Cor. 8:4 begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, 
2 Cor. 8:5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. 

• Paul said, even though they were experiencing a great deal of affliction, coupled with the fact that they were deeply poor, they were broke - bad broke. They were begging them, urging them for the favor of participation! Another way to say it is, they were begging them for the opportunity to participate in supporting the saints (to participate in the work of the ministry).

  • Folks, this is where the natural meets the supernatural, and before I explain what I mean, I would like to point out who it is that they are begging to support. Is it the outside world? No, it’s the saints. And the saints are who? Just Paul and the other disciples. It’s speaking of taking care of all their brothers and sisters. Taking care of one another.

  • But what about this supernatural move of God, where the natural meets the supernatural? What causes this to happen? Or a better way to say it is, what activates it? It happened when they blindly trusted God. When they trusted God so much that they threw caution to the wind and gave beyond what they could afford.

    • And, once again, not because someone prompted them to do so. That is what is causing this unexplainable abundance of joy to come over them in the midst of such affliction, and I will submit to you that this all happens as a result of their understanding and attitude, paired of course with their action.

  • That’s what has brought about this “supernatural abundance of joy”. Paraphrasing once again, Paul is saying, these folks are looking for an opportunity to minister through their giving. As a matter of fact, Paul says they are begging to participate.

    • And this gives us a different perspective, one that most of us would never even consider if we were in the same boat. These words paint for us such an insightful picture, “for the favor of participation in supporting the saints”. You want to talk about perspective, outlook, and attitude? This is it.

    • The sense you get here is this, hey Paul, would you please allow us the opportunity to participate in supporting the saints. Another way to say it would be, hey, I know we are broke, but we have scraped together a little bit of money. Can we please find favor in your eyes so that we too might get in the game?

  • You almost get the feeling they are saying, here’s all we have, can we please participate in what God’s doing, even if it’s just with this small amount? You can almost hear them saying, here Paul, will this help?

  • I said this gave me cold chills, and that was the case because when you process and think about their situation, and then look at how God blesses them with an abundance of joy in the midst of such turmoil, when you put it all together, you realize it’s the strength of their faith and trust in God that’s making all this happen.

• God is blessing them because they trust Him. And so, the lesson is clear. If you want to see God move - trust Him. And I am not just talking about financially, I’m talking about in all areas of your life. If your child has strayed - Trust Him. If your marriage is falling apart - Trust Him. If the doctor says it doesn’t look good - Trust Him. If you are let go at your job - Trust Him.

  • And I get it. You might say, “Well that’s easier said than done. Preacher.” I would agree. But do it anyway if you want to see God move supernaturally. Know that nothing moves Him more than when we trust Him with blind faith, which is when trusting Him requires us to throw caution to the wind in the face of insurmountable odds. When it makes no sense. When we are certain it will not work out in our favor.

    • This is what’s happening with the churches in Macedonia. They are experiencing great hardship, and they are dead broke. Yet all they want to do is give away all that they have. But there’s even more to it than that. Look at verses 5 and 6:

2 Cor. 8:5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. 

• Paul is saying, these people were so poor that we never expected them to give the way they gave. But having said that, they didn’t give to us first. They first gave themselves to the Lord. The sense here is they made themselves available. Their minds were right. Essentially, they were ready, willing, and able to do whatever God required.

  • Once again, we get a snapshot picture of their heart, or their attitude, which was what? “Lord we are ready for whatever it is that you would have us do.” That by the way is the first step in pleasing God. You must get your mind right, and if you do that the rest will follow, and that’s exactly what these churches had done. Next in verse 6, Paul writes:

2 Cor. 8:6 So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.

• In his earlier journey to Corinth, Titus had asked the church to be prepared with an offering when he or Paul returned. This offering was not for the benefit of Paul or Titus, but rather for the benefit of the poor church in Jerusalem. And so, Paul reminds the church at Corinth to remember the work that Titus had previously begun in them, and how he wanted them to experience what the churches of Macedonia had experienced.

  • Which was what? They received God’s grace through a great abundance of joy, brought on by their giving. A giving that was above and beyond what they normally might have given. Essentially, Paul was saying they should test God with their giving - stretch the limits and see what happens.

    • Finally, and we will close with verses 7-9, Paul says:

2 Cor. 8:7 But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.
2 Cor. 8:8 I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. 

• Real simple and straightforward words are being spoken here and let me explain them to you. Paul writes to the church at Corinth, you have done well, you have abounded in everything, in faith and utterance (which is speech), and knowledge, and in all earnestness, and in the love we inspired in you. See that you abound in this gracious work also.

  • I will paraphrase it for you, guys, you have done great in all things, and I am proud of you. But make sure you don’t miss out on this one thing, which is what? To receive the same blessing that God has shown to the churches of Macedonia because of their deep sacrificial giving.

  • In other words, you have done good but don’t miss out on this one thing, which is the opportunity to see God show up because you stretched the limits of your giving. He’s saying guys there is something there, something that we’ve witnessed, and we don’t want you to miss out on it.

    • And then he says, we are not speaking this as a command, which means it is not a command. It’s up to you. And let me say, that is exactly the way giving must be. If someone pushes you to give; the church, a fellow believer or whomever, don’t do it.

  • Do it because you want to put into practice what the churches in Macedonia were doing. Do it because you want to experience the blessing of the Grace that God has bestowed on those churches, not because someone guilts you into it.

    • And lastly, remember, the blessing that comes from deep and uninhibited sacrifice is something that activates God’s grace and blessing. And why? Well, because of our final verse of the day. Look at what it says:

2 Cor. 8:9 For you know the grace 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. 

• Verse 9 is speaking specifically to one thing and one thing alone. And what is it? It’s the magnitude of the sacrifice that God made on our behalf. And so, the concept is this to the best of our ability is we should strive to match His sacrifice in our own life. It sounds impossible I know. But it’s not.

  • God doesn’t expect us to give our only begotten Son, He expects us to sacrifice to the deepest level that we can. He expects us to test Him and push our own personal limits beyond what we think we can sacrifice.

  • Once again, this is back to the widow’s mite. She gave little in comparison to those who gave a lot, yet she gave more than they did. And why? Because she gave from what she did not have, whereas those who gave a lot gave out of their surplus. It’s all about percentages of proportionality.

    • That’s what Paul is asking the church of Corinth to consider, and that’s what we are being asked to consider as well. It’s not a command, it’s a challenge. And when we obey in this area of our life, I assure you something supernatural will happen!