The Measure of Sacrifice
2 Corinthians 8:1-9
2 Corinthians 8:7 "Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also."
Introduction: Today I want to share some thoughts with you about the theme of "Building a Life of Sacrifice." I can't think of any subject that is timelier as we observe this Memorial Day weekend. Many of you will visit cemeteries today or tomorrow and place memorials (usually flowers or flags) on the graves of loved ones or friends. Many that we will be honoring this weekend will have served our country in the military and some have paid the ultimate sacrifice. I have always been awed and inspired by stories of the sacrifices that have been made.
READING THEIR NAMES
Jeff Greenfield is a news correspondent for ABC News. He lives in Salisbury, Connecticut and has attended the same Memorial Day observance in his community for the last 15 years. He writes:
"At 10 a.m., the parade begins moving down Main Street. It is a small parade: two vintage cars, bearing the region's oldest war veterans; the men and women who served in the military; the Salisbury Town Band; the Scouts; the Housatonic Day Care Center; the fire trucks from the volunteer fire departments in and around the Northwest Corner. We fall in line behind the fire trucks, and follow the parade to the cemetery. There's a hymn, and a prayer, followed by a Scout who reads the Gettysburg Address, haltingly, shyly. Then come the names of the men who died in the World Wars, in Korea, in Vietnam. A minister recites the 23rd Psalm, a bugler plays taps (with another bugler far away playing the echo), the flag is raised from half-staff, and we all walk the few steps back to the Village Center. It is as artless, as unaffected a ceremony as can be imagined. There are no speech writers, no advance men measuring the best angles for TV (there is no TV) and by the end of it, I--along with many other allegedly sophisticated urban types, are in tears. The men whose names have been read indeed gave what Lincoln called "the last, full measure of devotion"--some in wars whose purpose no one could doubt--some in wars whose purpose will never be clear, some for the folly and arrogance of the men in charge. When they fell, their deaths were a small part of a bigger story. But every Memorial Day, the lives they never got to live, and the people they left behind, are the only story that matters. That is why it matters that their names are uttered aloud before people who never knew any of them. That is why it matters that we were there this year--and will be there the next and the next and the next.
SOURCE: Jeff Greenfield. ABC News InFocus, May 28, 1997.
We honor our dead on Memorial Day because they gave something, they gave something precious, and they gave it all. I believe that giving, giving sacrificially is the keep to fulfillment and happiness in life. I think that it is interesting to note that in the Bible the word "faith" or its variations is used 246 times in the Bible. The word "hope" which is another important word in our Christian life, is used 185 times. The word "love" which is obviously an important word to those of us who are believers is used 733 times. The word "give" or "giving" is used 2,285 times in the Bible. The Bible talks more about give and giving than all of those other issues combined. Why? Because giving is the expression of faith, hope, and love. Karl Menninger the distinguished psychiatrist who founded the world renown Menninger clinic says, "Giving is an important criteria of mental health. Generous people are rarely mentally ill."
Now, the majority of us will never be called to give "the last, full measure of devotion" physically, but we are all called to do this spiritually! If you do want to have God's best in your life then you must build a life of sacrifice. How? By looking at what God Himself has done.
I. THE GIFT OF THE SOVEREIGN
a. The presentation of this grace
"Moreover, brethren we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed...." v 1
ILL - Bob McKuen took his young son to McDonald's recently, ordered him an order of large french fries. You know how good McDonald's french fries smell. He says as he sat down and was watching his son eat them, he instinctively reached over and grabbed one to eat. His son slapped his hand and said, "Dad, you can't have one. Those aren't your fries."
Bob said three thoughts immediately went through his mind. One, "I realized my child has forgotten that I'm the source of his fries. I'm the one who brought him to McDonalds. I'm the one who walked up to the counter. I paid for the fries with my own money. He doesn't realize that without me he would have no fries. I am the source of fries." He said the second thing he thought was, "My son has forgotten that I control the fries. I could take them away from him instantly and say, `All right, that's it! No more fries for you.' On the other hand, if I wanted to, I could buy him a truck load of fries. I could bury him in fries if I wanted to because I have the means to do that.' He said, number three, "I realized I don't really need his fries. I could buy my own. I could just as easily walk back up to the counter and buy myself some more fries. What I really want is for my son to learn to be unselfish." Those are the three reasons God wants us to learn to be generous. Did you know generosity is the most talked about value in the entire Bible?
b. The paradox of this grace
"How in great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy...." v 2a
It's a paradox because we have a tendency to become inwardly focused when we are in any kind of trouble. Self-preservation kicks in and we can get very selfish but that's not what happened in this case. These believers did just the opposite!
c. The practice of this grace
"....and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." v 2b
The Rich Family in Church
by Eddie Ogan
I'll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy was 12 and my older sister Darlene was 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. My dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise and no money.
By 1946 my older sisters were married and my brothers had left home. A month before Easter the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and give sacrificially.
When we got home we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow us to save $20 of our grocery money for the offering. When we thought that if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn't listen to the radio, we'd save money on that month's electric bill. Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning jobs as possible, and both of us babysat for everyone we could. For 15 cents we could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot holders to sell for $1. We made $20 on pot holders.
That month was one of the best of our lives. Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night we'd sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them. We had about 80 people in church, so we figured that whatever amount of money we had to give, the offering would surely be 20 times that much. After all, every Sunday the pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering.
The day before Easter, Ocy and I walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all our change. We ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never had so much money before. That night we were so excited we could hardly sleep.
We didn't care that we wouldn't have new clothes for Easter; we had $70 for the sacrificial offering. We could hardly wait to get to church! On Sunday morning, rain was pouring. We didn't own an umbrella, and the church was over a mile from our home, but it didn't seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got wet. But we sat in church proudly. I heard some teenagers talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. I looked at them in their new clothes, and I felt rich.
When the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting on the second row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill, and each of us kids put in a $20 bill. As we walked home after church, we sang all the way. At lunch Mom had a surprise for us. She had bought a dozen eggs, and we had boiled Easter eggs with our fried potatoes! Late that afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked what it was, but she didn't say a word. She opened the envelope and out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10 and seventeen $1 bills. Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn't talk, just sat and stared at the floor.
We had gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash. We kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn't have our mom and dad for parents and a house full of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it was fun to share silverware and see whether we got the spoon or the fork that night. We had two knifes that we passed around to whoever needed them. I knew we didn't have a lot of things that other people had, but I'd never thought we were poor. That Easter day I found out we were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family, so we must be poor.
I didn't like being poor. I looked at my dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed, I didn't even want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor! I thought about school. I was in the ninth grade and at the top of my class of over 100 students. I wondered if the kids at school knew that we were poor. I decided that I could quit school since I had finished the eighth grade. That was all the law required at that time. We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and we went to bed.
All that week we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked much. Finally on Saturday Mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money.
What did poor people do with money? We didn't know. We'd never known we were poor. We didn't want to go to church on Sunday but Mom said we had to. Although it was a sunny day we didn't talk on the way. Mom started to sing but no one joined in and she only sang one verse. At church we had a missionary speaker. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun-dried bricks, but they needed money to buy roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister said, "Can't we all sacrifice to help these poor people?" We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week. Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope.
She passed it to Darlene. Darlene gave it to me, and I handed it to Coy and Coy put it in the offering. When the offering was counted, the minister announced that it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn't expected such a large offering from our small church. He said, "You must have some rich people in this church." Suddenly it struck us! We had given $87 of that "little over $100." We were the rich family in the church! Hadn't the missionary said so? From that day on I've never been poor again.
I've always remembered how rich I am because I have Jesus!
II. THE GROWTH OF THE SERVANTS
Sooner or later you've got to decide, "Can I trust God with all of my life?"
One translation of 2 Corinthians 9:13 says "Your giving proves the reality of your faith." Giving, the Bible says, proves how much faith you really have. In the Bible, it says there is only one way you can prove God. The Bible says, "Prove Me sayeth the Lord." It's the only way you can prove that God exists.
Giving sacrificially grows my faith.
2 Corinthians 9:7-9 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. (gladly, excitedly)
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:"
Giving sacrificially is an opportunity to stretch my faith. You need to understand this if you're going to be a Christian. Many times in your life for the rest of your life, there's going to be special significant times when God calls you, challenges you, to give sacrificially over and above anything you've ever done before. It will happen many, many times if you're a dedicated Christian. When those times come up, when you're challenged to give more than you ever have before, get ready for an adventure.
What can we learn from these believers?
a. The example of their sacrifice
"For to their power, I bear record...." v 3a
b. The enhancement of other graces
"Therefore, as ye abound in everything...." v 7a
c. The exhortation to increase
"....see that ye abound in this grace also." v 7b
Life is a test. One of the things that God tests here on earth is your willingness to make sacrifices. This has been true throughout Biblical history. Perhaps the greatest example of this testing is found in Genesis 22 in the life of Abraham especially in verse 16...
III. THE GRIP OF SELFISHNESS
a. The attitude of selfishness
Would you agree that we live in a culture that's pretty selfish? The goal for a lot of people is to get more and more but we need to remember that the one with the most toys, still dies. The idea is, "I've got to have it all, I've got to want it all, spend it all, get it all." You think, "How did I ever live without this?" We live in a very selfish culture.
John G. Wendel and his sisters were some of the most miserly people of all time. Although they had received a huge inheritance from their parents, they spent very little of it and did all they could to keep their wealth for themselves. John was able to influence five of his six sisters never to marry, and they lived in the same house in New York City for 50 years. When the last sister died in 1931, her estate was valued at more than $100 million. Her only dress was one that she had made herself, and she had worn it for 25 years. The Wendels had such a compulsion to hold on to their possessions that they lived like paupers. Even worse, they were like the kind of person Jesus referred to "who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12:21).
b. The antidote to selfishness
There's only one antidote to selfishness. Give sacrificially. It's the only antidote to selfishness. The essence of selfishness is get -- get, get more. "Get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the can!" So every time I give sacrificially, I am breaking the grip of selfishness on my life. It is a spiritual victory. It is a counter cultural move. It says, "No, I do not buy into the myth that life consists in what you accumulate. I don't buy into that, that you're net worth and self-worth are the same thing." You break through to that victory every time you give sacrificially.
You say, "But can I just not spend and then I won't be selfish?" Even savers can be selfish. You've heard about people who would never spend anything. They live in a little tiny shack but they have two million piled up in some bank account that they were hoarding away. That's selfishness too. It's the same thing.
The only antidote to selfishness is to give sacrificially. And every time I give, I break the grip of selfishness. I get paid once per month but I give weekly. Why don't you just write a check once per month preacher? First, I want to remind myself that all that I have comes from God and second to break the grip of selfishness each and every week. Paul tells Timothy to remind those who have the resources to be generous.
1 Timothy 6:17-18 "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; (generous and willing to share)."
ILL - A. W. Tozer wrote: "Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done but by how much I could have done!... In God's sight, my giving is measured not by how much I have given but how much I have left after I made my gift... Not by its size is my gift judged, but by how much of me there is in it. No man gives at all until he has given all! No man gives anything acceptable to God until he has first given himself in love and sacrifice."
IV. THE GRACE OF THE SAVIOR
a. His great prosperity
"....though he was rich...." v 9a
b. His grinding poverty
"....for your sakes he became poor..." v 9b
ILL - Meaning no disrespect to the religious convictions of others, I still can't help wondering how we can explain away what to me is the greatest miracle of all and which is recorded in history. No one denies there was such a man, that he lived and that he was put to death by crucifixion. Where...is the miracle I spoke of? Well consider this and let your imagination translate the story into our own time -- possibly to your own home town. A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside, walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is not an ordained minister. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal, so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place for him so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story? No, this uneducated, property less young man who...left no written word has, for 2000 years, had a greater effect on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors; all the conquerors, generals and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived -- all of them put together. How do we explain that...unless he really was who he said he was."
Ronald Reagan
c. His gracious provision
"....that ye through his poverty ye might be rich." v 9c
In Christ We Have:
A love that can never be fathomed
A life that can never die
A righteousness that can never be tarnished
A peace that can never be understood
A rest that can never be disturbed
A joy that can never be diminished
A hope that can never be disappointed
A glory that can never be clouded
A light that can never be darkened
A purity that can never be defiled
A beauty that can never be marred
A wisdom that can never be baffled
Resources that can never be exhausted.
Conclusion: Lieutenants George Fox, Alexander Goode, John Washington, and Clark Poling were chaplains of varying faiths stationed aboard troop transport ship The Dorchester.
When the ship was struck by a submarine's torpedo, the chaplains quickly rallied together and began handing out life jackets, and directing people to safety.
When the life jackets ran out, they selflessly gave away their own. When the ship went down, the four men linked arms and began singing. It's hard to say how many lives the men actually saved, suffice it to say it was enough to get into heaven and then some.
Invitation: In just a moment I'm going to ask our musicians and worship leader to come and we will sing an invitation hymn and you will have the opportunity to make a public response to the claims of Christ on your life. You must respond publically because according to what Jesus taught if you are ashamed to confess Him (publically) before men then He would be ashamed to confess you before His Father. You may need to come for some other
