https://www.bible.com/events/49351445
Church of the Nazarene East Rockingham Campus
ThanksGIVING Part 2 East Rock
“Generosity flows from a heart of compassion.”
Today we are concluding our 2-part teaching series on ThanksGIVING.
This series is not about a percentage to give, or a guilt trip into doing something. This is about coming to see God’s compassionate heart lived out through our generous actions in the world.
Today we are going to look at a story in the bible of people giving beyond their means.
Before we can dive into unpacking the teaching text of 2 Corinthians 8, we need to get a running start at what’s happening.
During this time the believers in Jerusalem were really struggling.
Scholars aren’t sure what exactly was happening in Jerusalem that led to such dire circumstances. Whatever the reason, the bible tells us people in Jerusalem were in need.
While all this is going on in Jerusalem, the Apostle Paul was traveling around the Roman empire preaching and teaching the gospel and he wanted to help.
As he was going to different cities to preach, he was collecting money to give to the church in Jerusalem to relieve their suffering.
As we come to our teaching text in 2 Corinthians 8, Paul is highlighting the generosity of one specific group of believers from the region of Macedonia.
2 Corinthians 8:1-2
And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
As the Christians in Jerusalem were struggling, the Christians in Macedonia were having a hard time as well.
Here again, we aren’t exactly sure what was to blame for their plight. It’s believed that persecution of Christians was severe in this region effecting their ability to provide for basic needs.
Whatever the cause was, the language Paul uses to describe their condition is stark. He said they were under a “severe trial”. And it was so severe was the situation left them in extreme poverty.
The word here literally translated means “down to the depths poverty” or we might say- they were at rock bottom or dirt poor.
For all that their circumstances had taken from them, it did not take their joy. It didn’t stop them from taking action to love others.
But notice that as Paul holds up the example of the Macedonians, he says “Let me tell you about the grace God has given them”
This whole conversation about generosity is because the grace of God. It was his divine enablement, his favor at work in their lives.
2 Corinthians 5:3-4
because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
We don’t know how much they gave because Paul never tells us. And that’s probably because the amount doesn’t matter at all. Generosity is not about an amount.
Paul says they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond. I think what he is trying to say here is that they gave more than what was comfortable.
It was sacrificial giving, it stretched them, and they wanted to do it.
2 Corinthians 8:5
And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.
For the Christians of Macedonia, their generosity was an outflow of their relationship to the Lord. They saw their generosity as and expression of love and devotion to the Lord.
They realized it was part of their service to him as their Lord and savior. Even in the midst of their own extreme trial and poverty, giving wasn’t an optional part of their lives. It was a priority.
That’s the Macedonian generosity.
For the remainder of Chapter 8 and all of Chapter 9 Paul talks and teaches about generosity following the Macedonian example.
I want to share some things that really stood out to me about the Macedonians story.
Here’s the question I have been asking: How do I take a step of faith in that direction?
The answer would be different for each of us, of course, but a few things have really stood out to me in this story.
They gave themselves to the Lord, they received his grace.
The kind of generosity the bible calls for, the kind that the Macedonians show us- It won’t happen on our own. If we are going to experience the kind of generosity we read about here- we have to start by giving ourselves to the Lord. We have to give our lives to him. We need to be experiencing new life in Christ, his transforming grace at work in our lives.
The Macedonians joyfully refused to miss out on what God was doing in their world.
They caught the passion and the vision of how God was moving to meet the tangible needs of people around them, and they weren’t going to miss it for anything. They believed in the mission of the church and they were willing to leverage their lives to see the mission happen. And friends, we too have to see the connection between our generosity and the movement of God’s kingdom in our world.
Finally, they acted on the call to generous living.
True generosity wont stay hidden inside our hearts or our minds, it MUST be expressed through actions in our world. We can talk about giving and generosity every Sunday of the year and not be any closer to what God really desires for our lives. We have to act. We have to give. Just do it.
That’s what the Macedonians did. That’s why we are talking about them 2000 years later.
Will you live into the grace of giving and see your world changed?