God's Formula for Great Giving
Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
There have been a few times that the offerings at religious services were so great that the leaders found it necessary to ask that no more be given. I have never witnessed such an event … nor is it likely that anyone in my lifetime has witnessed such an event. However, we read of such times in the Bible. Such rich times are distinguished by their rarity. In the Scripture reading for this morning Moses was forced to issue a request that no further offerings be brought for the Tabernacle [Exodus 36:2-7]. On another occasion Hezekiah, one of the later kings of Judah, witnessed exceptional blessing as revival swept the land. Because of the revival the people gave generously and the priests were recorded as confessing in their joy, Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the LORD, we have had enough and plenty to spare, because the LORD has blessed his people and this great amount is left over [2 Chronicles 31:10].
Such times as these when God’s people are inordinately generous toward the work of God were but a presaging of the promise of the Lord given through His prophet: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it” [Malachi 3:10].
What is not apparent as we read of such times of spontaneous and exaggerated giving is that the ones doing the giving in either instance were not necessarily wealthy. In fact, on one occasion in the New Testament a church distinguished by its generosity was noted for its poverty! Surely God could not commend a small church in tough circumstances for generosity… or could He? The size of the gift is far less important than the size of the heart. Consider the text for this day—2 Corinthians 8:1, 2—to discover God’s Formula For Great Giving.
The First Component – A Severe Trial — Paul states of the Macedonian saints that they gave out of the most severe trial. That statement draws back the veil to permit a glimpse of the vitality and vigour of New Testament Christianity which will encourage the most jaded saints of this late date. Perhaps we can explore the pages of the New Testament to discover what sort of severe trial these saints might have been experiencing. In order to discover the source of their discomfort let’s turn to the history of the church as recorded in Acts for a brief review of their situation.
The Macedonian churches included Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. In each of these cities persecution which was at first focused on the apostles ultimately spread until it engulfed the saints within the churches of these cities. In Philippi Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned, and though God intervened to deliver them they still found it expedient to leave the city soon after being set at liberty. Thessalonica threatened to be a repeat in that only after certain recognised believers were compelled to post bond did the uproar subside. Paul and Silas were forced to continue on their journey to avoid bringing injury upon the nascent church. In Berea the pursuing Jews, like hounds of hell, agitated the crowds until the brothers were forced to send Paul to the coast. Three cities … three riots. In each instance the Apostle were forced to flee for the safety of the infant saints. Yet not even flight would bring the young churches rest!
As you recall the Thessalonian letters you will undoubtedly realise that these saints experienced severe persecution. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit… You, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to all men in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last [1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2:14-16].
Again, and in a later letter, the Apostle observed that God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well [2 Thessalonians 1:6, 7]. The history of this Thessalonian church was written in the blood of the members of the assembly. Theirs was the story of the sorrow and the suffering of saints called of God to undergo persecution and punishment. Hated and hounded by religious fanatics inflamed with the vilest form of hatred these saints knew the meaning of pressure.
What sort of little trial could you imagine in our day and in our nation would qualify as a severe trial in light of the torments and testing these saints experienced? On one occasion I phoned a man, a professed Christian, to encourage him in a time of disappointment. He immediately launched into a tirade of cursing and swearing and blasphemy against Holy God, accusing the Lord for his difficulties. The following day he phoned me to apologise and to acknowledge that he needed help. We set a time to meet and on the day I was to meet with him I hastened home from an appointment to discover a message on my personal answering service.
When I retrieved the message I was once more treated to the vilest sort of language and the bitterest rage as that man cursed God and cursed me as a representative of God because he had received a bill he could not pay. In his mind God was the source of his torment and so he cursed God and cursed the church and cursed me as a minister of God. I did not bother to attend the meeting we had set; it would be futile to sup with a fool in his rage. Instead, I came in to the office and worked through the afternoon. Ere’ I returned home following work that afternoon he had phoned my home again and left a vile message of cursing and bitterest vituperation which my wife was forced to endure when she retrieved the message after her workday.
May I say God was not the source of this man’s grief. The man was a fool—and an angry one at that. Without going into detail, he was the root cause of his multiplied problems and in the main his woes could be cured quickly with a little resolve and a measure of patience. Above all else, the ability to rule over his own anger would have resolved the great majority of his woes. His anger was the source of his own sorrow. He would have done well, and we will do well, to remember these words:
Better a patient man than a warrior,
a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city
[Proverbs 16:32].
and
Like a city whose walls are broken down
is a man who lacks self-control
[Proverbs 25:28].
However, even were it true that the angry man I dealt with on that occasion had been persecuted for the sake of his faith, it would only reveal his essential character. An old saw sagely observes: the same sun which hardens clay softens wax. The Thessalonians experienced real pressure and the pressure they experienced revealed that they were Christians moulded in the image of the Master. The pressure only drove them nearer the heart of the Lord they loved. The raging fool under relatively mild pressure reveals that he has the unchanged heart of a brute beast. Pressure drives him further from the Master.
The point of this digression is significant and worthy of our most careful consideration: trials serve only to reveal the essential character of the one tested. It is for this reason that James counsels believers to consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds [James 1:2]. The testing a child of God may be called to endure provides opportunity to glorify the Father through demonstration of His presence with His child. God has not promised to deliver us from trial, but He has promised to deliver us through trial.
The Second Component – Extreme Poverty — Paul took careful note of the extreme poverty of these hard-pressed saints. As though enduring the most severe trial was insufficient to cause these saints deepest distress, they were further characterised by extreme poverty. Within the congregation there were probably none who could be said to be wealthy. There was not a member of the congregation who sat on the board of directors of any corporation. There was not a single member of this church whose name was known to the great financial institutions of that day and of that region. There was not a member of the assembly who earned a great income. Not one member had a name recognised in the corridors of power. They were impoverished …poor beyond measure.
Would you expect much from an impoverished people such as these Macedonians? Would you anticipate commendation for generosity of those who had no money? As Lynda and I listened to the news one Thursday morning we were disappointed, as were many Canadians, to hear that the Supreme Court of Canada had ruled that any restrictions on tobacco advertising by tobacco companies is an infringement of their constitutional rights. As we soberly weighed the news Lynda commented: Money talks. Money is considered the summum bonum of contemporary life, just as it was in that day long past when Paul wrote this Corinthian letter.
I never cease to be amazed that church leaders—deacons and elders—are often, perhaps even usually, chosen on the unspoken basis of personal wealth, the silent rationale being that an individual with worldly goods is successful and success may be equated with spirituality. It is assumed that an individual capable of managing worldly wealth will bring the same expertise to management of the church. I am not speaking against wealth nor am I suggesting that wealthy people are unspiritual, but I am cautioning that wealth is not commensurate with spirituality. Likewise, there is no merit in poverty. There is merit only in contentment to the cause of Christ.
I remind you of several concerns of vital importance, which arise out of this notation. The first issue is that money is neutral. Money is a medium of exchange, a means of facilitating barter. Money is amoral, neither good nor evil, though it has the power to control any of us should we permit it to do so. Money may bless or money may curse, the outcome is determined by our attitude toward money. Money has eternal value only as it is employed to honour God. Either we determine that we will serve the Living God or we surrender control of our life to money, as Jesus said: you cannot serve both God and Money [Matthew 6:24].
A second theme to hold in mind is that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil [1 Timothy 6:10]. Because money is neutral it is the love of money which blasts and blights and blots our lives. Another way of saying this same thing is to state that greed is the sin which contaminates and curses life. Greed lies at the root of so many forms of sin, and the poor can be as greedy as the wealthy. Greed… covetousness… contaminates every socio-economic class alike and without pity and none of us are exempt from the ravages of a covetous heart.
A third issue is that you and I know little of extreme poverty. Paul’s comment concerning the economic status of the Macedonians is foreign to our experience. Some among us may recall the dirty thirties. Bad as they were, few Canadians knew extreme poverty during those trying years. Perhaps some among us have witnessed others living in extreme poverty in a distant country … and we silently give thanks that God has spared us such experience.
In graduate school my family lived frugally although we were not actually impoverished. On one occasion I invited a post-doctoral fellow and a fellow graduate student to share our Thanksgiving meal. These two young men were from a distant land and since they had no relatives in the United States and no place to go they planned to work in their respective laboratories on Thanksgiving Day. I happened to see them when I ventured into my lab to care for my experimental subjects and to insure that ongoing experiments continued unimpeded.
The meal we served that Thanksgiving Day was simple, but the food was plentiful and the conversation stimulating. Our family shared with these two men a rather humble meal by western standards—a small canned ham, sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping, potatoes and gravy and vegetables. Viewing the table the two men spoke of their amazement at the wealth of the country. The older of the two stated that he would not even throw away a rice sack since he remembered real poverty and one could not tell when it would be necessary to “cover one’s shame” with such a humble item as the cloth used to sack the rice. They spoke of the diversity of foods and the volumes available to Americans contrasted to the average meal in their homeland. It was a sobering experience for our family.
God has been so gracious to us in the western world, and especially has God been gracious to us in Canada. We need not go to bed hungry at night. We fall asleep with a roof over our heads and the certainty that we need not be naked when we arise. I have witnessed people pawing through dumpsters looking for food thrown away; but I have known of few instances after investigation when people were compelled to so live. I have known of people who slept in cardboard boxes and under bridges; but I discover upon examination that few people are actually compelled to sleep in such conditions. Perhaps some actually are forced to live thusly, but it is an anomaly, an aberration in contemporary society. Consequently, I hold to my observation that you and I know little of extreme poverty.
Surprisingly, hardship often becomes the impetus for generous giving among Christians. I recall an elderly woman who gave what I thought to be an exceptionally generous gift to a missionary cause. I commented to her that perhaps she might wish to reconsider her gift in light of her penury and her own personal needs. I was thoroughly, though gently, rebuked by this dear lady as she chided me for daring to think to take away her opportunity to give. Giving was her joy! No young preacher would steal that joy from her!
Years ago the president of a well-known Christian school in the southern United States commented that the school was built on the nickels and dimes of God’s common people. Common people, rather than wealthy donors, built that school. It was through regular and generous giving out of the small cache of earthly goods held by poor saints which built that school. Likewise, the great missionary advances of years past were underwritten in the main by combined contributions of common people without great resources. The impoverished widow whom Jesus saw giving out of her need and whom He commended to His disciples, gave not out of a sense of resignation, but out of a sense of joy at the opportunity to give [Mark 12:41-44].
Focus on the knowledge that these Macedonian Christians were experiencing conditions so extreme that today we cannot even begin to imagine the pressures they experienced. Under such austere and straitened conditions we might be tempted to think these hard-pressed saints incapable of serving God. We might even be tempted to excuse them from serving God because of their poverty. Certainly we would excuse them from contributing to the needs of the saints! We would not be condemned for suggesting that they had no need to participate in the worship of God through giving. We might even recommend that they needed to be cheered up since it must surely be impossible to think that people living under such conditions might rejoice.
The Third Component – Overflowing Joy — In the midst of a severe trial with pressure multiplied by extreme poverty these beleaguered saints were characterised by overflowing joy. Too many professed Christians have confused joy with happiness and are consequently miserable. There is a brand of Christian found too frequently among the churches of our Lord who seems convinced that a frown is the mark of a mature believer. Scowls, grimaces and glowering reveal a heart which knows more of bondage than of freedom. Consequently, the joyless life is one which is anything but mature and complete in Christ. Joy is that state of contentment which arises out of confidence. Secure in the knowledge that they are loved eternally, forgiven every sin and acceptable to the Living God, Christians are promised joy.
Paul was astonished by the Galatian Christians because they had lost their joy. He asked: What has happened to all your joy? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me [Galatians 4:15]? It was these same wayward, joyless saints who were first informed in writing that the second fruit of the Spirit is joy [Galatians 5:22, 23]. Writing Christians in Rome, the Apostle informed them that the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit [Romans 14:17]. However, Paul’s warmest words of commendation were reserved for Macedonian Christians when, in his first Thessalonian letter, he stated: you became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit [1 Thessalonians 1:6].
We Christians rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and consequently we same joyful believers are able to rejoice in our sufferings [Romans 5:2,3]. We who belong to Christ rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ knowing that we have received reconciliation [Romans 5:11]. No wonder, then, that the Apostle commands: Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! …And again: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice [Philippians 3:1; 4:4]! Joy characterises the growing saint; it is a hallmark of the mature child of God. There is joy where the Spirit of God dwells just as is defined in Hebrews 12:22: you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.
In astonishing confusion evangelical Christians throughout the western world have today been infected with the wording of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States and so substituted happiness for joy. Framers of the American Constitution recognised man as being endowed with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Around the world, multiplied people who cannot recite the principles of the American Constitution know these inalienable rights. Consequently, saints have come to the conclusion that they have the right to happiness. I believe it vital that I burst that bubble for you! As Christians you have no right to happiness as the word is usually understood. Joy, however, is the promise of God to every Christian; and joy is independent of circumstances.
Christian joy can be infectious … each believer enriching all alike with overflowing, outrageous joy, despite experiencing severe trial. Joy is dependent neither upon possessions nor upon position in the world. Joy arises out of a heart content with God. In the Philippian letter, joy is the central theme. In that missive Paul shares the secret which always results in scintillating joy despite every opposition. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength [Philippians 4:12,13]. Christian joy—that settled sense of well being and completeness—arises out of our intimate relationship with Christ as Master of life. Consequently, it is impossible to discover joy until one knows Christ as Master of life.
I would not belabour the point, but I must stress that joy is a characteristic of the mature Christian—joy which is manifest in conviction, confidence, contentment, calmness. If there is no joy in your life, can it be that you have yet to enjoy that relationship with the Father which is the heritage of all saints? If you enjoy that relationship of child to Father, can it be that you have failed to grow in grace? Each of us who know the Father and who have the Spirit of God have the promise of Christ that we shall rejoice.
The Formula – (Severe Trial 5 Extreme Poverty) / Overflowing Joy = Rich Generosity — When we combine the components in an appropriate formula we derive the equation that a severe trial multiplied by extreme poverty divided by overflowing joy results in rich generosity. Would you like to be someone known for rich generosity? The formula depends upon an unseen element. The Macedonians, as is true for anyone who is generous out of a sense of stewardship, had set their hearts on honouring Christ above all else. Their eyes were focused and their minds were fixed on how they may glorify Him. People who live for this life are unable to be truly generous.
In the years of my ministry I have known some people considered wealthy by anyone’s standards. Mary Crowley received an income in excess of fifteen million dollars per year when I knew her more than twenty years ago. She gave away over one-third of her income to assist women’s education in a number of small women’s colleges, to advance her church and to underwrite associated Christian ministries during that same period of time. Perhaps you are thinking to yourself that you would gladly give away one-third of your income if you had an income of that magnitude. Mary Crowley was known as generous before she became wealthy, giving generously out of her poverty while she was selling Watkins Home Products door-to-door and barely eking out a living. The priority was set and the pattern was established before ever she enjoyed wealth. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also [Matthew 6:21].
Another wealthy individual in a former congregation was H. L. Hunt. Mr. Hunt was rich beyond imagination from his work in the Black Giant—the East Texas oil field. Though H. L. Hunt was a Christian and though he was a Baptist, a member of the same congregation as Mary Crowley, he seldom gave anything of great significance to the work of the Lord. Although his wife was a gracious and generous Christian woman and although his daughter was a gracious and generous Christian woman, H. L. Hunt was not known for his generosity. The pattern was set early and the priority was set early on. Consequently, when he became a Christian he still had scant time for generosity. His treasure was transient and temporal.
Underscore in your mind the principle that the pattern for our giving is evident when we have little and the priority of our life is revealed as we give. Are Christ and His work a priority for you? The evidence is seen in your giving. Where you place your goods reveals your priority. Trials are certain in the life of any Christian, and even poverty is an ever-present spectre. Remember the admonition of Proverbs 23:5 and show humility before God.
Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone,
for they will surely sprout wings
and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
Generosity begins with a proper priority. Whatever your earthly goods, you hold them as one administering the grace of God. As a Christian you are responsible to wisely administer that which God has entrusted to your care. If you have greater wealth, your responsibility is greater. If you have fewer goods, your responsibility is less. Nevertheless, whether great wealth or scant goods, you are responsible to understand that you are an administrator distributing your goods to the glory of God and investing them to bring honour to His Name.
If you would become one known as great because of your rich generosity, you must begin to insure that your priority is the priority of God Himself. In subsequent messages on this theme of giving I will carefully present the teaching of Paul contained in these several chapters of the Second Corinthian letter. Together, we will learn the great principles to guide our giving. However, one thing of which you may be certain, all the messages will find their origin and ultimately conclude in this one great concept that Christ must be the priority for our lives. His will must reign supreme in our lives and we must understand that we are responsible to serve Him and to honour Him in the administration of that which He entrusts to us.
Are you a Christian? Have you yet realised that your skills, your abilities, your energies, are to be offered to Christ to serve Him? Have you yet discovered that you are responsible to always set your focus on Him and set your mind to seek His will? When we begin with God and conclude with Him, we will have discovered God’s formula for great giving.
Perhaps you are not a Christian. Talk about giving offends you and you cannot understand why anyone would wish to give away what is earned to honour a God no one has seen. In fact, the whole scenario makes no sense to you. That is one great reason for our insistence that we do not seek donations from anyone who does not know Christ as Lord or who cannot worship Him in Spirit and in truth. That is the reason we place the issue of our giving in the appropriate context of worship. We worship through giving and you cannot worship One to whom you refuse to submit. First submit yourself to Christ the Master of life. Then you will have a reason to worship and in worship you will discover the desire to give.
Jesus Christ is the proper Lord of life. The Word of God is very clear in stating this truth. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly … But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Again the Word of God states: if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved … for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." [Romans 5:6,8; 10:9,10,13]. Our prayer is for your salvation today. Amen.