Aiming to Be Honorable

Good Morning

Before we do anything, let us pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send workers:

Our Father in Heaven, you are the Lord of the harvest, send workers into your harvest. You have granted us mercy and grace through Jesus Christ. Help us to abide in him and in his love; grant us the pleasure of the harvest, that we would be filled to bursting with faith and joy to plant seeds of the gospel, and according to your will participate in the harvest.

Father be with our community, begin to move hearts toward Christ in faith. Be especially with the teachers of our schools. This week I want to pray for:

Katelyn Schmitt

Mary Schulz

Madalyn Schott

Angela Sturges

Mary Jane Symens

Be with these teachers, comfort, support, and bless them. Convict them of their sin, and lead them in faith to you. Help us to see them and be there when they are in need. I pray all of these things in the name of our Lord Jesus, AMEN.

If you will turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 8. We will be looking at verses 6-24 this morning. If you don’t have a Bible, we have some at our welcome desk in the lobby, please feel free to grab one at any time, it is our gift to you.

While you are turning to 2 Corinthians 8. I put the passage, title and main points in the Bulletin for your convenience.

For those using sermon notebooks:

Title: “Aiming to be Honorable”

Big Idea: Aim to be honorable

Last week we talked about Macedonia. The church there surprised Paul by giving sacrificially out of their rock-bottom poverty and tremendous affliction, the grace they showed came as an overflow of their joy in Christ. This joy came because they gave themselves first and foremost to the Lord Jesus, then by his will to their brothers in Christ. They gave sacrificially to support the church in Jerusalem. Paul mentions this to the Corinthian church who had yet to send the amount they had originally committed to giving to support the church which had been enduring persecution since the very inception of the church.

A couple of things I want to point out before we jump in. First, pay attention to how many times the word or some form of the word earnest occurs. Second, on the surface, this section of our passage can seem like Paul is shaming the Corinthians to get them to send more money. However, as I hope to show you, he isn’t trying to shame them, but to remind them of their honor. They had earnestly desired to support the effort, and began setting aside money for it, they just needed to fulfill their word. Their honor now needed to match their earnestness when they began to reach out and bear their brother’s burdens.

2 Corinthians 8:6–24 6 Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. 7 But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. 8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. 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 by his poverty might become rich. 10 And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. 11 So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. 12 For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness 14 your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. 15 As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.” 16 But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. 17 For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord. 18 With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. 19 And not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us, for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will. 20 We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us, 21 for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man. 22 And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. 24 So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.

Our Father, in Heaven, thank you for your word. I pray you Spirit move in us and teach us. Renew our faith and help us to aim to be honorable in your sight and the sight of our community. Shape us that we might be earnest in our faith and genuine in our love, that we might bear one another’s burdens and walk with integrity in your sight. Help us to abide in Jesus Christ our savior and to be filled to overflowing with joy to the glory, honor, and praise of Jesus Christ our savior, Amen

Aim to be Honorable

I have 3 points: first, …by being Earnest; second, …by bearing one another’s burdens; third, …by walking in integrity

First Point: Aim to be honorable by being earnest

6 Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. 7 But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. 8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. 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 by his poverty might become rich.

Looking at our passage. It seems Titus will be sent back to Corinth with this letter. He apparently had started preparing this act of grace among the churches in Achaia. The collection is a grace, an unmerited gift from Achaia to Jerusalem. It is based solely upon the fact that they are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Titus was being urged by Paul to collect this grace when he went back. Paul then appeals to the strengths of the Corinthians. They were not afflicted as the Macedonians were, they had been blessed in many ways. They excelled in faith, speech, knowledge, earnestness, and love.

Based upon their strengths, which are gifts from God, Paul appeals to them to excel in this grace too. That is they fulfill what they had spoken in faith and in all earnestness with all knowledge and love. He is calling on them to act according to their character and strengths, to fulfill their word, spoken out of a sincere conviction. Paul is appealing to them, not commanding. He is asking them to honor their own earnest sincerity, and so show their love to be genuine.

This grace, is a reflection of the grace of God expressed in Jesus Christ, (looking at verse 9) who though he was rich became poor, so that they by his poverty might become rich. Jesus was rich, holding equality with God. When the time was right, he set that aside taking on human form, being born in the likeness of men. He lived a truly, fully human life as a carpenter, then when he turned 30 started preaching and living wherever he was offered a place to stay. Then he, in his poverty, lay his life down to pay our penalty for sin. With the weight of our sin upon his shoulders, he bore the perfect, righteous, infinite wrath of God for our sin and died. When he died in our place, he satisfied God’s justice because of our offenses.

On the third day after his death, by the power of God on display, Jesus rose from the dead. When he did, he showed us he succeeded at satisfying our sin-debt, he showed us he defeated the accuser, he defeated sin, death, and the grave. He conquered the world and all of our true enemies, and he offered us forgiveness, a future, a hope, and an eternal inheritance.

With all of that as the backdrop, Paul is encouraging the Corinthians in their earnestness. To be earnest is to be sincere, or genuine, or zealous, excited in their faith. When the Corinthians heard about the collection for Jerusalem, they were excited and committed to preparing an amount to send. This was a good thing, but they can only show their earnestness represents a true and genuine love if they follow through. This reflects how Jesus didn’t just become a man for us, but lay down his life for us.

With these two things in mind, I have a couple of points.

First, it is good to be earnest, that is genuine, as a Christian, but it is not easy. This is something we talked about in our Small Group this week. We have been reading Life in Community together. Chapter 5, tells us life in community means no masks are allowed. To be earnest means we are sincere, that do not hide who we are from one another. This is hard, we build walls and put on masks because we are afraid if we are seen, we might be rejected. It is worse if you have been seen and have been rejected. To be truly earnest or zealous toward one another means we have to remove the masks and let people see us for who we truly are. I don’t think anyone realizes, when we wear a facade with one another, what we are doing is closing and hardening our hearts toward one another. Do you think we can do that and it not affect the other parts of who we are? It shuts the doors of our hearts, so as a result, we harden our hearts to the working of the Spirit who so often works through our brothers and sisters.

Second, the Corinthians and the Macedonians, out of an earnest love for Christ, wanted to help bear the burdens of their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. This earnestness came from their zealous faith in Jesus Christ and their love for the Lord their God. If you recall it is the kind of faith you probably had when you first believed, or perhaps when you came to a point of renewal in your faith, a time when you used words like “on fire” to describe it. You were earnest, you were zealous, and full of passion. You didn’t walk in fear, but faith, hope, love, and joy.

Listen, if you have not put your faith in Jesus Christ, consider doing so today. He will most assuredly change your life. I cannot promise he will make everything easier, but you won’t have to face it alone, he will be with you and will never forsake you. He will forgive you for everything you’ve ever done and teach you how to live free of guilt and shame; how instead to live in honor, hope, joy, faith, and love. Then when all is said and done, you will be granted eternal life with him in glory.

For those who have been Christians a long time, remember the faith you had at first, when you were fresh and alive; when you believed like a child believes, when you trusted Jesus and weren’t afraid, and weren’t so burdened by scars and worries. Pray to our Lord to help you to abide in him and to grant you this sort of zealous faith again.

Aim to be honorable by being earnest

Second, Aim to be Honorable by Bearing one another’s burdens

10 And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. 11 So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. 12 For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness 14 your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. 15 As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

Paul reminds them the collection was something the Corinthians had wanted to undertake. Now, they just needed to finish it. By doing so, their actions would match their zealous desire to meet the needs in Jerusalem. Paul also makes the point that for the moment it is the Corinthians giving in support for brothers in need, but a time may come when they are the ones in need. The ones with abundance supply for the need of others. In a similar way, others can compensate for the Corinthian’s lack when the time comes. He then quotes from Exodus 16 when Israel was gathering Manna from the wilderness. Each gathered for themselves, some more, some less, but in the end no one had anything left over, and no one lacked what they needed.

Paul is applying this as a principle to the church and the churches’ care for one another. It sounds a little bit like communism. However, Paul is making a spiritual argument for voluntary intentional community. In contrast, Communism is pure materialism, driven by government. Paul is appealing to the Corinthians, saying, “yes, you are sacrificing for the church over here. You are giving to support people you have never met, but remember there will be a time when you are the one who lacks and will need support from your brothers and sisters.” He isn’t spreading out the wealth, he is shepherding them toward mutual honor and care.

This is the kind of care that comes from genuine mutual love. It is hard to receive help from people, this is especially true for us as Americans. We have an independent spirit, we are proud and self-determined. We often feel like we should be able to just pick ourselves up. However, there are times when we just need help. Paul is telling us, by the grace of God we help from one another, then when we need it we are served by grace of God. God, by his Spirit uses what we each have in abundance to support our brothers and sisters. This is why we are one body with many parts. We compensate for one another in various ways.

Our big idea is “Aim to be honorable.” To honor someone else is to express value for them. So what then? Simple, Aim to be honorable by bearing one another’s burdens. Out do one another in showing honor as Romans 9 tells us. This means you need to be willing to drop the mask, be earnest, let people in enough for them to help you. It is humiliating, it hurts our pride to admit we need help. We all ought to clothe ourselves, all of us, with humility. It also means we need to be willing to bear with someone as they let us in and to treat him or her with care and compassion. We humbly bear other’s burdens knowing they may be bearing ours in due time.

I want to go ahead and pause to cautiously say this. I think everyone in here would say they want this, but most of us actually don’t. I don’t say this to cause offense. I say this because for us to remove our masks is deeply uncomfortable. It is awkward. It shows weakness. It means you have to check the logs in your eyes. It means you have to be gracious and merciful, you have brothers and sisters who struggle with things you have never even been tempted by. Taking off our masks means we all have to humble ourselves and realize we all have shadows, sins, and brokenness; we all needed Jesus to become poor that through his poverty we might be made rich.

That said, true fellowship in the Spirit is built upon a common faith, upon truth, mercy, grace, and love. When we all let down our masks, we truly begin to see how much we need one another. We start to see that when we come in and say we are “fine,” when we paste on a smile and don’t let anyone see our tears, we cannot truly be known. It means your brothers and sisters will become a burden to you and you to them, because you will feel responsible for one another and begin to bear one another’s burdens. This is not easy, but it is beautiful. When we drop the pretense and walk with integrity, we are aiming at being honorable toward one another.

I believe, while it is difficult, awkward, and burdensome; it is when the Spirit moves the most among the body of Christ. If honor one another, drop the masks, and bear one another’s burdens, we will begin to see him move among us in a truly unique way.

Aim to be honorable by being earnest and By Bearing one another’s burdens.

Third, Aim to be Honorable by walking in integrity

16 But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. 17 For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord. 18 With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. 19 And not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us, for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will. 20 We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us, 21 for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man. 22 And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. 24 So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.

In this section Paul thanks God, who put into Titus’ heart the same earnest care he had for the Corinthians. When Titus heard their appeal to communicate to Corinth, of his own accord, he decided to go back to them. Along with him, they sent a brother known for his gift in preaching the gospel, he was also tasked by the churches to carry out the collection they were gathering. This was to make sure they communicated to everyone they were being honorable in their mission of bringing their generous gift to those in need in Jerusalem. Paul is sending with them another who matches the Corinthians in earnestness. They are all going to encourage Corinth to honor their word. This will give proof before the churches of their genuine love and would confirm the things the apostle claimed about Corinth.

All of this is to encourage the Corinthians to be honorable by fulfilling what they claimed in their earnestness, to walk in integrity. At the same time, Paul is building safeguards to reassure those who doubt his honor. He is aiming at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man, again an example of integrity. This means his words are matching his actions. His yes means yes, his no means no.

This passage had me looking at honor all week. It is one of those small words which contains tremendous amounts of meaning. As I have looked at it, it has occured to me, this entire passage is about honor. The Corinthians were earnest, but their earnest words mattered little if they were not fulfilled. So I asked, what is honor? Simple, right. Not so much.

If I were to boil it down, I i have said already it is about value. If I honor someone, I am expressing his or her value through my words or actions. So, I might honor my wife through my gratitude for the things she does, or by giving her a gift. We might honor our president by praying for him. We are expressing his value. We, internally, are honorable when we value ourselves and our word enough to walk with integrity, by doing so we display an inner sense and confidence in our personal worth or value. We see this in a person who carries himself with earnestness and integrity, who can be trusted. Now, we don’t use this language much anymore. It is a bit old fashioned, yet there is something about it that makes my soul sing, it calls me toward something greater than I am tempted to live in this world.

Our passage speaks of it in terms of being honorable before God and before man. You might think they were the same, or that we should only care about what God thinks, however, integrity takes into account what others perceive (though, it can’t only be perception). Paul, while he was still organizing the collection, brought in trustworthy brothers, chosen by the churches to do the actual collecting, so there was no question about whether or not the money is going to where it belongs. Paul was calling the Corinthians toward honor and displaying it. To be earnest is good, but to be earnest and not follow through with your word is not good. Better to do both, that is integrity. Integrity honors others with the same value you sense in yourself. This is why bearing one another’s burdens is a piece of this.

Do your words match your action? I have been convicted to consider this. I don’t like to say, “no” to things, which makes it hard to follow through. That is not integrity. Do you wear a mask when you gather with your brothers and sisters? If you present yourself as different than you are, it is not integrity, it is not honorable. I understand that not every situation is appropriate for everything we are experiencing or struggling through, there is a time for laughter and a time for tears. However, if you never let people in, you are fooling yourself as much as anyone else. No one can ever help bear your burdens if you don’t let them. We were never meant to walk the Christian life alone.

In Conclusion

All of this comes together to teach us something about the balance of honor. In many cultures and societies, people are controlled by honor and shame. This includes 1st Century Israel. However, Jesus takes our shame. Now, when Christians speak of honor, it is about truth. We aim to be who we appear to be, to be earnest. When we speak we aim to be sincere and follow through with what we say, to walk with integrity. This takes us back to where we began, we cannot do this with masks.

When we put on a facade, we cannot walk with honor or integrity, we are only pretending. When we pretend, we are not truly honorable, we are simply fooling people into thinking we are. The problem then is we build bigger and bigger walls until we fall and, like humpty dumpty, have a great fall. When that happens, there is no rebuilding the broken shards of our honor. It is better to do the slow work of building a true sense of honor, by dropping the masks, and earnestly seeking true fellowship where we clothe ourselves in humility and bear one another’s burdens.

Our Father, help us to abide in Jesus Christ our savior. Shape and guide us according to your will. Help us to aim toward being honorable. Help us to see where we have built up walls and callouses, where we have put on masks to hide who we are and our struggles. Help us to let our guard down with one another. Help us also to treat one another with great care and compassion and to bear one another’s burdens with humility. Help us to set our pride and independence aside to love one another not just in word, but also in deed. Help us to talk with integrity before you and our fellow man, and may you be glorified in every step we take along the way. It is in the name of Jesus I pray these things, AMEN.