Poor for Our Sake

James Austin

2 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Christ had everything available to HIM because he created everything. Yet, He gave everything up for us, including HIS life. If we are made in HIS image and are trying to imitate HIM then we also must imitate HIS generosity. The church in Macedonia was one of the poorer churches, but because of their eagerness to imitate Christ they actually pleaded to give money to help other believers in need. The act of giving will not make God love us any more than HE already does, nor will it induce HIM to favor us above others. When we accept Jesus' sacrifice for our sin, we become rich with the Holy Spirit and we can't help but desire to share that overflowing abundance. (2 Corinthians 9:11) What is our "eagerness quotient" with regard to giving for the cause of Jesus Christ?

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How wealthy is Jesus?

Psalm 47:7 NIV84

For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.

Psalm 50:10 NIV84

for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

How Much was HE willing to give up for You and Me?

Philippians 2:1-11

Philippians 2:1–11 (NIV84)

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death—

even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

If God Gave Up Everything to become like us; doesn’t it stand to reason that we should imitate HIM? What would that look like?

2 Corinthians 8:1–15 (NIV84)

And 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. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. .... But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

.....

Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

JOY OF HELPING

The churches in Macedonia—Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea—had given money even though they were poor (8:1), and they had given more than Paul expected. This was sacrificial giving—they were poor themselves, but they wanted to help. The point of giving is not so much the amount given, but why and how it is given. God does not want gifts given grudgingly. Instead, he wants his people to give as these churches did—out of dedication to Christ, love for fellow believers, and the joy of helping those in need, as well as the fact that it was simply the good and right thing to do. How well does your giving measure up to the standards set by the Macedonian churches?

Giving should come from the heart not the pocketbook. How eager is our heart to give back to God a portion of what HE gave to us?

Ephesians 2:4–9 NIV84

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Pure

Come from Jesus