Glad Generosity Series

When organized baseball was in its infancy a man by the name of Farrar

was first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. He was a fine player, and he

had a little girl who was his best rooter. She sat in the grandstand clapping

and cheering every time he made a good play. She would shout "atta boy

daddy, you show em." The team came to love this faithful fan, and had much

fun joking about this most loyal rooter. There came a period when the father

went into t slump and was not playing well at all. The manager approached

him and asked if anything was wrong. He explained his anxiety about his

daughter. She had a good voice, and he wanted to give her the chance to take

voice lessons, but he could not afford it.

This was in a day when professional ball players did not make much. The

manager talked to the rest of the team. They wanted to help, but they could not

afford it either. Then one of them got an idea. After every game there is plenty

of tin foil scattered all over. He suggested that they collect it and sell it. I

remember doing this as a young boy by pealing off the foil from cigarette

packages and gum wrappers. That is what the Phillies did after every game

until the end of the season. They had a large collection by then. The girl was

able to take her voice lessons, and eventually went on to join the Metropolitan

Opera Company in New York City. It was the highest honor in the musical

world, and Geraldine Farrar became the idol of opera goers for many years.

It all began with a ball team collecting tin foil. It is a story of sacrificial

collecting which bore much fruit.

That is what our text is all about. Chapter 8 and 9 of II Cor. is the only

place in all the Bible where there is an extended discussion of the principles of

Christian charity, or the collecting of money to invest in other people's needs.

Even this is only part of the material in the New Testament dealing with Paul's

noble plan to unite all of the Gentile churches in the ministry of meeting the

needs of the poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. Paul, as the Apostle to the

Gentiles, wanted to prove to the Jewish Christians, who were skeptical about

Gentile Christians, that the grace of God had truly changed them. How was he

going to do this? It was by means of a collection from all the Gentile churches

to put the Jewish believers back on their feet.

Paul knew the power of wealth to serve a great spiritual purpose. When

the believers in Jerusalem would see gifts, which Gentiles had given to help

Jews, they would know then, beyond a doubt, that the light of grace had

penetrated the darkness of Gentile hearts by their fruits they would be known.

We cannot imagine what a radical project this was. After centuries of

prejudice and hate between Jews and Gentiles this collection idea as an

expression of love, and as the symbol of unity in Christ, was without precedent.

It is an historical monument to the power of Christ in breaking down walls that

separate people. It is a testimony also to the value of money in fulfilling the

purposes of God. Money rightly given is the biblical way of getting rich. We

see here that it can also be a means of enriching the whole church. It is my

purpose in the message to examine the principles for giving that Paul lays down

here so we can be assured that we know what kind of giving it is that lays up

treasure in heaven. The value of Paul's teaching is that it is not abstract and

separate from life, but it grows right out of an actual historical situation. He

explains the method, the manner, the measure and the motive of giving. We

want to look at the first two. First-

I. THE METHOD OF GIVING.

Paul knows that nothing is done well that is done haphazardly. There must

be a plan, and the goal of the plan must be reached by a systematic method.

Paul, therefore, insists on systematic giving. He states this clearly in I Cor.

16:1-2 where he writes, "Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I

told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of

you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so

that when I come no collections will have to be made."

Paul is not into the special appeal type giving in which a need is explained

with great eloquence and deep emotion, and then people respond to it on the