The Example Of Giving Is Christ

2 Corinthians 8

Verses 1-5.........Churches @ Macedonia

Philippi

Thessalonica

Berea

These churches’ giving transcended their very difficult circumstances! Their giving was:

With Joy

Out of poverty

Even though they had little, they gave much

Generous

In harmony’

Sacrificial

Voluntary

To them it was a privilege, not an obligation

They were eager and even asked if they could give.

verses 6–8 ...........Direction: Bring to completion this act of grace (excel in this grace of giving)

Verse 9.........A wonderful story was told many years ago about a Persian monarch. We would call him a king, and they would call him a shah. This particular shah reigned in Persia in a time of great splendor and magnificence, and lived in the midst of all of that wealth and prosperity. But he had a heart for people who were poor and common.

And so, he decided that he would dress himself as a poor man and that he would descend from the lofty heights of his splendor down to the commonest man that he could find, and try to make a friend out of him. And such a man was a man whose job it was to stoke fires and prepare fires that could then be put into little containers and taken around the palace to keep people warm. He worked all the time in ashes and soot and smoke and filth way, way down in a basement.

The king then put on the garments of a poor man, descended the dark, damp cellar stairs and came down to where the man was seated in a pile of ashes. He was called a fire man, appropriately, and he was tending to his fires. The king sat down beside him, dressed in rags himself, and began to talk. At meal time, the fire man produced some coarse, black bread, and a little bit of water, and they ate together and drank together.

And then the shah went away. But he came back day after day after day after day, again and again, because his heart was filled with sympathy that eventually was demonstrated to that man in this longing just to be there to share a little bit of his common and difficult life. He gave the man sweet counsel from his wisdom and experience, and this poor man opened his whole heart and loved his friend, so kind and so wise and, he thought, so poor like himself.

At last the emperor thought, “I can’t keep this up; I have to tell him who I really am. And so, I’ll tell him, and then I’ll ask him what gift he would like from me, now that we’re friends. So, he said, “You think I’m poor, but I’m not. I am the shah, your emperor. What would you like?” He expected the man to petition him for some great thing, but he sat, simply gazing in wonder and love. The king said, “Have you understood what I’ve told you? I can make you rich; I can make you noble; I can give you a city; I can give you anything. What do you want?”

The man replied, according to the story, “Yes, my lord, I understand, but what is this you have done, to leave your palace and your glory, to sit with me in this dark place, to partake of my coarse bread, to care whether my heart is glad or sorry? Even you can give nothing more precious than that. On others you may bestow rich presents, but to me you have given yourself. It only remains to ask one thing, and that is that you never withdraw your friendship.”

Well, that lovely story is analogous, is parabolic to the gospel. It is just what Jesus did, a King who came down to dwell among common men, to give them His life and his friendship. That very thing is stated in verse 9 in most simple and profound words, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, het for your sake He became poor, that you, through His poverty might become rich.”

Christ is the example....1 Peter 2:21–24 “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Philippians 2:1-11.......Humbled Himself and became a servant.......

1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:”

John 13:12-17............Jesus has given us an example......

Matthew 6:1-4.......Do not let your left hand know what the right hand is doing.......

Verses...............10–12 Direction: Finish the work (willingness sanctifies the gift)

1 Corinthians 16:2 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” .....Paul laid out a plan for them to take up their collection....

Willingness/Readiness to give.....Paul spoke of an eagerness and readiness to give. God is most concerned with the heart attitude of the giver, not the amount He gives......Mark 12:41-44........The widow gave all that she had and that was not much in comparison to the rich Pharisees, but she gave more because of her devotion to God!

There are no percentages or set amounts given in the NT, the New Covenant, why? Because, if we are given an amount we will do it out of obligation!

Galatians 4:9 “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?”

Why is the Old Covenant considered here as weak and beggarly? Because it was more about the system, the ritual, the obligation.....there was no heart in it.

Isaiah 29:13 “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, And with their lips do honour me, But have removed their heart far from me, And their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:”

No heart in given when it is done under compulsion!

Nobody should go into debt with your giving, nor lower yourselves to poverty.

Verses........13–15 Divine principle: Equity (Scripture citation)

Equality....Those that are in a time of abundance are to help those in severe need.

This is not, however, a scheme of Paul’s to redistribute wealth within the church, but rather to meet basic needs.

Exodus 16:18 “And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.”

Nobody was in need, the ones that gathered more shared with the ones that could not gather much.

Verses......16–24 Commendation of Titus and the brothers