Anyone here remember … or have … a “Magic 8 Ball” when they were growing up? It looked like a giant, black number 8 pool ball only it was filled liquid and had a little window where the “8” would be. You could ask it the deep questions of life and it would give you the answer.
Does Cindy like me?
“Very doubtful”
Will I pass the French test on Friday?
“Ask again.”
Will I pass the French test on Friday?
“No”
Sorry I asked!
Inside the eight ball was a 20-sided cube called an “icosahedron” (eye-co-sah-hedren) … which meant that there were 20 possible answers. Then of the answers are in the affirmative. For example: “Yes, definitely” … “without a doubt” … “most likely.” There are 5 non-committal answers, such as: “Reply hazy” … “try again” … “cannot predict.” And five are negative: “Don’t count on it” … “very doubtful” … “outlook not so good” and “my reply is no.”
So, you have a 75% chance of getting a positive or vague answer to your question. If you don’t have a Magic 8 Ball, you can go to “8-ball-magic.com” to consult an electronic version of this once popular toy … and that’s all it is … a toy.
We have something … well, actually … Someone who’s so much better than a Magic 8 Ball. When you combine Jesus’ “yes” with our “amen” you can be absolutely assured that God will keep His promises.
Let me give you a little background before we get into today’s scripture lesson. There were some people in the church at Corinth who didn’t like Paul. Paul had promised the Corinthian congregation that he would visit them on his next trip. “I plan to visit you on my way to Macedonia,” he writes at the beginning of his letter, “and to come back from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea” (2nd Corinthians 1:16).
Something happened that caused Paul to have to change his travel plans. But his detractors used the incident to discredit Paul, saying that he didn’t keep his word … and if his word was no good, how could they trust anything else he had to say?
These were serious charges. So, if the beginning of Paul’s letter sounds defensive … it is! “When I planned this,” asks Paul, “did I do it lightly? Or do I make plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say ‘yes, yes,’ and ‘no, no’? But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not ‘yes’ and ‘no’ but in [Christ] it has always been ‘yes.’ Now here’s the part I really want you to listen to: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘yes’ in Christ … and so through Him the ‘amen’ is spoken by us for the glory of God” (2nd Corinthians 1:17-20).
What a statement of faith! Because God is faithful … because God keeps His promises … because Jesus is the “yes” to everyone of God’s promises … we don’t say, “I hope it’s so.” We don’t say, “Reply hazy … I’ll try again later.” We don’t say, “outlook not very good,” or “very doubtful.” When it comes to God’s promises, we say: “It is certain” … “without a doubt” … yes, definitely.” We say “Amen! Make it so!” God said it … I believe it … “Amen!” That’s it … period!
If you remember, Paul used the Macedonian church to inspire the Corinthians. Though they were “he kata bathos” … “rock bottom poor” … they gave what they could. In other words, they followed through on their commitment to provide financial aid to the Christians who were suffering poverty and persecution in Jerusalem. Their giving was a sign of their faith … that though they were “rock bottom” poor, God would somehow continue to provide for them … just as He had provided bread and meat and water for His wandering children in the desert … just as He provided oil and flour for the widow who fed the Prophet Elijah her and her son’s last meal … just as Jesus provided food for 5,000 men and their families in a solitary place near the Sea of Galilee.
Some of the Corinthians had accused Paul of breaking his promise to them. Paul now turns around and challenges them to keep their promise and literally put their money where their mouth was. A year earlier the good folks in the Corinth church had made a financial commitment to the Jerusalem church. Boy … it’s easy to make a promise or a commitment when the fulfillment of that commitment is a year away, isn’t it? But now the year is up and Paul is on his way … “so I thought it was necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance,“ writes Paul in Chapter 9, so they can finish “the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly singe” (2nd Corinthians 95). He then reminds them that whosoever “sows sparingly will also reap sparingly … and whosoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give … not reluctantly or under compulsion … for God loves a cheerful giver” (2nd Corinthians 9:6-7).
Let me ask you a question. Which feels better? When you sit down at the beginning of the month, figure out your bills, write out the checks, and drop them off in the mail? Or waiting until the landlord starts pounding on your door or your mailbox is full of “past due” notices and demand letters? This is what Paul is suggesting to the Corinthians. Have the money collected and ready when I get there and we can have a pleasant visit before I take these badly needed funds to Jerusalem … or wait until I get there and you have to listen to endless sermons about keeping our promises ... financial or otherwise.
According to the Apostle Paul, what does our financial promises and commitments truly represent? What are we saying when we make them and what should our motivation be in keeping them? If you have your Bible open, follow along with me … starting back at chapter 8, verse 8: “I am not commanding you,” says Paul, “but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it to the earnestness of others” (v. 8). We walked about that last week. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for” … who’s sake? … for their sakes … for our sakes … “He became poor, so that they” … so that we … “through His poverty might become rich” (v. 9).
When we keep our financial promises, we are demonstrating the sincerity of our love. Did the Corinthians truly care about the plight of their famine-stricken and persecuted brothers and sisters in Jerusalem? Would their love translate into concrete action? Because of their genuine love and concern for their fellow Christians in Jerusalem, would they follow through on their promise and put their money where their hearts were?
Paul then evokes the example of Jesus Christ. Most people try to climb the ladder of success and chase after upward mobility. We seek raises and a continual increase in our standard of living. Jesus did the exact opposite … for our sake. He willingly descended the ladder of success from immense wealth and power to poverty. He voluntarily decreased His standard of living … an understatement to put it mildly. From the incomparable riches of Heaven, He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but emptied Himself, poured Himself out, becoming a human being and coming to earth in the form of a bond -servant. Then He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cruel, degrading cross (Philippines 2:6-9). Jesus did more than verbally express His love for us, He gave up His life for us. Why? He did it out of love.
Here are some creative suggestions on how we can increase our giving … some of which not only involves a deliberate decision to curtail our spending so that we can give more to the Lord but may lower our standard of living just a little bit.
1. Skip meal a week and devote that time to prayer and fasting. Missing a meal a week at $20 per family would raise $1,040 over the course of a year.
2. Give up a habit … easier said than done, I know, but not impossible. For example, a garment triple mocha latte coffee plus tax costs over a thousand dollars a year … and all you have to show for it are a thousand cups in your car, a latte moustache, and coffee-breath. But there’s no telling what God can do with that $1,000.
3. Give your income tax a refund check to the Lord. I mean, the IRS didn’t ask you before they just took it from you. At least the Lord asks … amen?
4. Make a commitment drink only water at a restaurant. One person can save $5 a week or more. That’s over $250 a year.
5. Wait for a movie to come on video or Netflix instead of seeing it at the theater. One trip to the movie theater can easily cost over $25 for two people … and that’s without the popcorn and a drink. Skipping one movie a month adds up to $300 a year.
6. Switch to basic cable instead of preferred cable … like Cinemax or HBO. On average, basic cable cost about $50 a month while preferred cable cost $60 or more a month. Cutting out Showtime, HBO, or other premium channels can save another $15 per month … over $300 a year.
Why would anyone take any of these steps? Why would anyone skip a meal … drink only water … give up cable TV … or gourmet coffee if they didn’t have to? For the same basic reason that Jesus Christ gave up Heaven, glory, and equality with God to go slumming down here with us. Love! A financial commitment is a “love promise.” It’s a tangible demonstration of the same love that motivated Jesus. As the Apostle John teaches us: “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1st John 3:18). Good advice for the Corinthians … and good advice for us today, amen?
Our motivation makes a difference. We’ll do things, give things, give up things, for love that we would never give up or give away for any other reason. The proper motivation for making a financial commitment to the Kingdom of God is what? Love! When we make our commitments, God doesn’t want us to do so out of guilt, compulsion, or fear. He wants us to give because we love Him … we love His people … we love His church. One of our most tangible expressions of love is found in our attitude towards our possessions. Can we say: “Test me in this area, O Lord, and see how much I love You.”
“And here is my advice about that is best in this matter,” writes Paul. “Last year you were the first not only to give but to also have the desire to do.” It’s a year later … do you still feel the same way? “Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means” (V. 10-11).
Paul is reminding them that they made a promise … a “faith promise.” First of all, their commitment is a “faith” promise because it prioritizes their faith. It’s a demonstration of who or what is first in your life. A woman gave her son two quarters. One was for the Sunday school offering and the other was for candy on the way home. As he was walking to church … flipping one of the quarters up in the air … he missed and it rolled down into a storm drain and disappeared. The boy looked skyward and prayed: “Sorry, God.” Give me a person’s cancelled checks and I’ll show you what they truly put their faith in.
Second, the Corinthians’ pledge was demonstration of their faith and trust in God. They were committing future resources. They had pledged a certain amount to help their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem a whole year before Paul was able to come and collect it. Anytime we commit future resources, we do so with the understanding that God … who provides for us NOW … will not only provide us with the gift that we’re about to give but will continue to provide for all our needs as He has always done in the past. For us Christians, the implicit understanding of any financial commitment … be it a mortgage payment or a car payment or credit cards or a church pledge … any financial commitment is an act of faith … trusting that God will provide.
Jesus said that before a man build a tower, he firsts sits down to estimate the cost and see if he has enough money to complete it. That’s reasonable. “For if the willingness is there,” says Paul, “the gift is acceptable according to what one has … not according tow hat one does not have” (v.12). Faith always involves a risk but it’s reasonable and based upon good evidence.
A faith promise prioritizes my faith … what I believe in … and where I put my trust. Second, we commit our future resources as a sign of our trust and faith. And finally, it decreases our faith in money and increases our faith in God. When the Corinthians handed over their generous gift to Paul, they had that much less money to fall back on in an emergency. Their financial safety net was that much weaker. Their nest egg was that much smaller. Their security blanket was that much thinner. Or was it?
As Paul advises His disciple, Timothy: “Warn the rich people of this world not to be proud or to trust in wealth that is easily lost … tell them to have faith in God, who is rich and blesses us with everything we need to enjoy life. Instruct them to do as many such deeds as they can to help everyone. Remind the rich to be generous and share what they have. This will lay a solid foundation for the future, so that they will know what true life is like” (1st Timothy 6:17-19).
There is only one way to relax your grip on money and that is to tighten your grip on God. We’ve all heard of the clever way they catch monkeys in some parts of the world, haven’t we? You secure a large jar to the ground so that the monkey can’t lift it or carry it away. Then you put an orange or an apple or some other large piece of fruit in the bottom of the jar. Once the monkey reaches in and grabs the fruit, their hand is too big to fit through the mouth of the jar and they are trapped … unless they do what? Yeah … let go of the fruit. Alas, most monkey don’t let go and end up getting thunked on the head.
And now, verses 13-15 is where it all comes together for us this morning. “Our desire,” says Paul, “is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed but that there might be equity. “At the present time your plenty will supply that they need” … the Jerusalem Christians … “so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need.” Then Paul refers to Exodus 16:18: “… as it is written: ‘He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little’” … which refers to the manna that God provided for the Israelites during their wilderness journey. Instead of manna from Heaven, however, Paul is suggesting that God is using them … the Corinthians … to provide manna or daily bread, daily sustenance, to the Christians in Jerusalem. And just as the manna in the wilderness came from God, the “manna” or wealth that the Corinthians have pledged to share also came from God. And the thing about manna is everyone, as Paul points out, had enough.
“… your plenty will supply what they need so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need” (v. 14). When the good folks from Hartselle, Alabama, came here, they were so generous … generous with their time … and generous with their resources … and they were a great help and a blessing for a number of people in our community who are … and still are … in dire need. And it was while they were here that Toby, their youth leader, Jermel, and I came up with the idea of us going up to Hartselle to worship and do mission work there. Their plenty supplied what we needed here and now our plenty will supply their need in March … and it will be our turn to be generous with our time and our talents and our God-given resources. In fact, God is already at work. The First United Methodist Church of the Palm Beaches is helping supply our needs by providing us with transportation so that we can meet the needs of those needing help in Hartselle, Alabama.
When we first came up with the idea, we totally began acting and moving in faith. We had no idea what to do or even how to begin, but we knew that this was an inspiration from God and that if we acted in faith that God’s plan would somehow come together … and that’s exactly what’s happening. You all have eagerly volunteered and are anxious to go and serve. They are looking forward to our coming and are making all the necessary plans on their end. As I said, God has already provided us with some transportation … and He will supply whatever else we will need to make this trip happen … amen?
Say it again!
Amen!
Yes, God … make it so!
“For no matter how many promises God had made they are ‘yes’ in Christ … and so through [Christ] the ‘amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2nd Corinthians 1:20). You see, we are going to be the answer to someone’s prayer in Hartselle, just as they were the answer to someone’s prayer here in the Glades. Right now, they are putting their faith in our promise … just as the Christians in Jerusalem put their faith in the Corinthian’s promise. And we are putting our faith in Hartselle’s promise. We promise to show up and serve. They promise to take care of us and help us to serve those who are in need. And we know that we will keep our promise because our promise to them is not our promise but God’s promise to them. And they will keep their promise because their promise to us is not their promise but God’s promise to us and, in truth, not to us but to those whom we are going to serve. Our promise to Hartselle is “yes” because it is God’s promise and all of God’s promises are “yes”! All we have to do to make it so is to say “amen” and we can say “amen” because we know that when we ask, God will make it so … amen? And Hartselle’s promise is a “yes” for the same reason … because all of God’s promises are “yes” and they have asked God “amen” … “to make it so” with the same faith as we can because they know that God can and will make it so!
Jesus is what makes it all possible. So many times, we want to look to the left and to the right or we find ourselves looking inward, when we should always be looking to Jesus. Keep our focus on Him. Jesus bought lost souls with His blood. There’s a very real sense in which the money we promise and contribute to the Lord’s work is funding the hope of our community and the hope of the world.
I’m going to close with Paul’s final words to the Corinthians on this issue. “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2nd Corinthians 9:11-15).
Amen.
Let us pray …
