Sermon Tone Analysis

/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.