Finish What You've Started!
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Finish What You Started!
Text:
And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
Church
Self
Themes: Giving, Ambition, Renewal, Repentance, Follow-Thru
I. Paul petitions for help for the church at Macedonia (2 Cor 8:1-5).
God blessed the church at Macedonia tremendously.
They were tested by many troubles (spiritual attacks, attacks from without, attacks from within) and they were very poor.
But even though they were very poor they were filled with abundant joy and their joy caused them to be overflowed with rich generosity. They didn’t have a lot of money, but because God had been good to them, because Jesus had given them joy unspeakable joy, they joyfully gave what they could give. Didn’t have much, but they wanted to be a blessing to their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. They gave what they could afford and they did up and above what was asked of them. See when you have joy, you’ll do what you can do......Deacon Board use to say.....It’s more blessed to give than to receive. Now we need to know and understand that there’s more to giving than just money....this is not what we are focusing on today.
II. Paul sends Titus back to Corinth to encourage and oversee the ministry of giving (2 Cor 8:6).
Paul tells the Corinth church that I’m sending Titus back to encourage your giving in the first place and to encourage you to finish this ministry of giving.
III. Paul admonition to excel in giving (2 Cor 8:7-9).
From this point, Paul highlights some of the good things that the church at Corinth excelled in. They excelled in their faith, they had gifted orators, they were very knowledgeable of the things of God, they were very enthusiastic, and they had unfeigned love for the Apostle Paul.
But Paul wanted them to excel also in this gracious act of giving.
Paul said “I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.” Because understand that if we love God, if we love our brothers and sisters, if we love our church, if we love souls, then we should be motivated to give. We have a back to school drive that we are doing and if we love souls like we say we do, if we want to reach out into the community and be a blessing then we should be motivated to give. This is just one small aspect of giving.....i’ll go deeper in a minute.
IV. The church’s admonition to finish what you’ve started (2 Cor 8:9-12).
Now I want to give you some things for your spiritual man for you to really hone in on.
Verse 10 says “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich.” In other-words Jesus gave his best for us....he gave until he was broke.....literally. He gave until he couldn’t give anymore......He sacrificed his best for us!
Paul now says “And herein I give my advice” Let me give you my advice. The advice that Paul gave is that “It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago.
When it comes to the things of God and working for the kingdom of God what is needed is zeal and ambition. In order for you to finish what you’ve started it’s going to take zeal and ambition.
Zeal-
Ambition- a powerful personal drive towards achieving goals which are regarded as of importance to the individual. Ambition is viewed negatively when these goals are selfish or evil, and positively when they are directed towards building up the church or furthering the kingdom of God.
So now we should understand that there is negative ambition and then there is positive ambition.
Negative Ambition is the pursuit of personal status and fortune, which is contrary to the purposes of God as expressed in scripture. Negative Ambition is always a drive to please self and to receive self-glory (pride). This drive is so intense that we start doing things that are contrary to God. We begin to cut God out of the picture, we start sacrificing our time with God and begin focusing on our own daily pursuits and self-interests.
But then there is positive ambition:
Positive ambition is a personal desire for spiritual progress or achievement. In other-words yeah it’s good to have money, cars, houses, and the material stuff.....but the spiritual stuff is better. You can’t carry material stuff with you when you leave this world.....but the spiritual stuff is built up and stored in glory for you. When you come to the close of your life, you think about all the money you spent, all the nice things you’ve bought, but then you don’t have nothing spiritual to give an account for. But when you strive for spiritual progress and achievement, you can close your eyes in peace knowing.....God I lived for you, I honored you, I praised you, I witnessed for you, you changed my life, you made me a better person, you delivered me from sin, you set me free from bad things, and now I can rest in you.
Sometimes we can have the ambition (positive/spiritual that is), we can have the drive, but we lack the follow-thru. We start, but we can’t finish it!
Now it is true that sometimes, we can suffer from burnout, and most of the time when burnout happens it is because we have too much on our plate. The simple solution to this is that when you are overwhelmed you need to focus on what is important. Just because you suffer from burnout doesn’t mean that you break-down and stop working. It means you need to regroup and regain your focus and line up your priorities and do what you can. The reason why some of us have experienced burnout, the reason why some of us lack in follow through, especially when it comes to the things of God is because the truth of the matter is that God is no longer our top priority. It is a possiblity that some of us are suffering from church burnout or spiritual burnout (not everyone now). Our jobs have become our top priority, our families have become our top priority, our health has become our top priority, our homes have become our top priority, our social status have become our top priority, we have other things that have out trumped God and now when it comes to the kingdom of God we have put ourselves in a place of stagnation!
We have it wrong, God has to be the center of our lives, God has to be our top priority, the Kingdom of God has to be number one. I got scripture for you:
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
If you seek the Kingdom of God above all else, if you live righteously, Jesus said “all these things shall be added unto you”. Whatever.......WHATEVER YOU NEED.......WHATEVER YOU NEED.......I’ll give you whatever you need!
You need a job!? Put God first! You want things right with family......PUT GOD FIRST! You tired and need rest......Jesus said come unto me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.....PUT GOD FIRST! You want your home blessed.....PUT GOD FIRST! You need a raise......PUT GOD FIRST! You need healing in your body.....PUT GOD FIRST! WE WANT GOD TO DO FOR US BUT WE DON’T WANT TO DO FOR GOD......Holla at your neighbor and tell your neighbor “Hey neighbor.....LET’S PUT GOD FIRST.....LET’S PUT THE KINGDOM FIRST......AND THEN WATCH GOD BLESS US!
You want a financial blessing but you don’t give in the offering. You want the windows of heaven open but you won’t pay your tithes. Then there are some who give very little.....giving the same amount you gave 20 and 30 years ago......and here it is you got a cost of living raise and it isn’t that you can’t give.....no.....it’s you won’t give.
Then some of us, have backslidden so much that we have an opportunity to make every service and still won’t make it. Here it is THE VERY ONES WHO WERE COMPLAINING ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO GO TO CHURCH......AND NOW THE CHURCH DOORS ARE OPEN AND YOU’RE NO WHERE TO BE FOUND! Then there some that won’t even put forth the effort to make online services. The fact of the matter is that we won’t give God our time......but I gotta scripture for that.
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
If you want to be blessed......you have to put something in to get something out. You can’t receive a harvest if you don’t put a seed in the ground. Somebody say give! Paul says these words to let the Corinthians know that what you put in, you’ll get back. So if you put a little bit in, you’re only going to get back a little bit. If you sow sparingly, you’ll reap sparingly, but if you sow bountifully you’ll reap bountifully! Paul’s words were so powerful that I know in context He’s referring to the Corinth church giving a monetary blessing. But the law of sowing and reaping applies to every area of your life. So if you want to be blessed.....start giving! Jesus gave his best.....and the lest that we can do is to give God our best! We’ve got to give God, the best of us, we’ve got to give God our time, we’ve God to give God our money, we’ve got to give God our families, we’ve got to give God our life, we’ve got to give God our praise! If God enabled you to have a right mind.....then use that mind to serve him, if God gave you good health......don’t you sit down on God.....don’t you hold back on God......use your health to give Him glory! If you got one good leg and one bad leg....you GIVE HIM GLORY ON THE BAD LEG! If God gave you a mouth, if you can talk, if you can shout.....use that mouth to glorify Him.....tell people about the goodness of the Lord. If God gave you a good job, if God put food on your table, if God put clothes on your back.....then stop robbing God in tithes and offerings!
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
We’ve Got To Finish What We Started! Paul said.....let me give you some good advice. You started out a year ago, you were motivated to give, you were motivated to work, but you ran out of gas. So now it’s time to go back and finish what you’ve started! You were the first who wanted to give, you were the first to begin doing it. Make this personal, you were the first to get to the church doors, you were the first in your family to be saved, you were the first to witness on your job, you were the first to give freely in the offering, you were the first to go down to the altar.....but somewhere along the way......you lost your fire! Somewhere along the way......you lost your zeal.......somewhere along the way......you got burned out.......BUT NOW IT’S TIME TO FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED! Don’t let Him catch you with your works undone! Don’t let Him catch you in a luke-warm state! Don’t let the Lord catch you in a backslidden state! It’s time to finish what you started!