2 Corinthians 8:1-9 – How to Get Rich
This sermon may seem a bit out of sequence – a few weeks ago we looked at chapter 9, which was centered on giving money. And back then I told you that I realized that the #1 reason why folks say they don’t come to church is because the pastor talks about money too often.
But this text, and to be fair, even chapter 9, is not really just about money. Oh, this text is about being rich, but as someone once said, you can get rich and then someday you might have lots of money.
So rest easy - you don’t have to hide your wallet this morning. In this instruction to the Corinthians, Paul tells us how you can get rich. And the great thing is this: Unlike mere financial wealth, as you become rich towards God, so do the rest of us.
Three points:
Grace generates grace
Grace Generates Lordship
Grace Generates Riches
First point: Grace generates grace
Paul begins this section by mentioning that the Macedonian churches had received God’s grace. When you think of someone who has received grace, what do you think of? Someone who has been blessed in some way, right?
Someone who has financial resources, great gifts and abilities, whose life is working out very well. That’s what I think of. But consider the kind of grace that God had given the Macedonian churches.
They were impoverished and they were being persecuted. Does that sound like grace to you? It doesn’t to me. I thought it was interesting in my study of this text that the phrase that describes their poverty literally means, “their poverty down to the death of it.” That is not just being uncomfortable, that is being poor and destitute. Poverty and persecution would be right at the top of my list of things that I would want to avoid in my life. How about you?
Yet God has, in His providence, given the Macedonian churches just that. Severe trials and extreme poverty. Paul calls this “grace”! And what is the net result of that grace, according to Paul? Overflowing joy and rich generosity!
I wouldn’t think that there is a person here today who would not like to be joyful and generous. But the path that we think we need to follow to become joyful and generous is one of security and prosperity, not one of suffering. It’s logical – if God gives me a lot, I will share a lot. At least that’s the way I rationalize it. “Right now I can’t give a lot because I don’t have a lot. I’m waiting for God to bless me.”
I was at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington on Thursday. My daughter, Alison, was one of two students from her university that were invited to participate in a student leadership forum, so she was there and we got to spend the whole day together.
The prayer breakfast was an incredible event. There were probably 3000 people there and over 150 countries represented. Not all of the participants were Christians, but the majority certainly were. At lunch, Alison and I sat next to two men from Bangladesh. Their joy in Christ was so evident and they were delightful men. One of them was named Dennis, and he immediately invited us over to stay with in his home and to experience the Third World. His offer was absolutely sincere and I have no doubt that he is waiting for my call!
Our waiter was obviously not an American, and after my new friend exchanged some words with him in a language I’d never heard before, he reappeared with a plate of fresh fruit that nobody, not even the dignitaries, had been served. Dennis winked and said, “He is from my country,” and proceeded to pass the plate around the table. Nobody other than me realized what was happening and nobody appreciated the fact that this fruit was a gift to Dennis, not to our table. Everyone took several pieces and Dennis never got a single piece of fruit. But he was clearly delighted to share with the rest of us, even if he never got any of it at all. This man exuded generosity and the joy of Christ.
Then, while at the breakfast, someone told me a story about a pastor in China who begged Christians in America to stop praying that their church would not face persecution. He felt that the reason why the Believers in China are joyful and the church is thriving is precisely because they are being persecuted!
You and I might well ask, what do Christians in China and Bangladesh have to be joyful about? Why would they be generous? Well, for the same reason that the Macedonian churches were joyful and generous. They had received God’s grace. Their severe trials and extreme poverty overflowed in joy and generosity. They were truly rich!
And not only were they generous, v. 3 tells us that they even gave beyond their ability. What would that phrase look like to you and me – “beyond our ability?” If you’re anything like me, you calculate out what you are going to give based on your ability. I have a finite number of hours, limited gifts, and a financial base that I have figured out pretty precisely to provide for my family and for all of the little extravagances that I think I deserve. And then, I give what I can afford. You and I don’t often even consider giving beyond our ability, do we? We don’t even want to think about what that might look like!
But this example gets even more radical. Not only were these churches joyful and generous, not only did they give beyond their ability, but look at verse 4. They begged for the chance to help.
They were not asked, not prodded, not guilted or shamed into it. They “urgently pleaded for the privilege of sharing in service to the saints”.
What would motivate someone to do this? What would motivate US to do this? I think the answer is simple. It is an understanding and an acceptance of God’s grace. Grace generates grace. And if you and I are not gracious, it is only because we do not fully understand and accept God’s grace. If you and I had any appreciation for the depth of God’s love for us and the depths from which He has saved us, we could not help but to be joyful and generous. We would give of ourselves, not because God had need of our time, talent or treasure, but because we would want to be part of that incredible life-saving effort that saved you and me. Grace generates grace.
The next think I’d like us to consider this morning is that:
Grace generates lordship
Paul tells us that the Macedonians did not do as he expected, but gave themselves FIRST to the Lord and then to Paul and the apostles. Why would this be important to mention?
Because grace generates lordship. Lordship is the humble act of submitting to someone in authority to you. It is for most of us a discipline, because very few of us like to be told what we should do. Like it or not, lordship is a dynamic that is a huge part of our discipleship. You simply cannot be a Christian without understanding that you are under authority.
Now, we may understand the idea that we need to submit to Christ. We might not really like the fact that Jesus instructs us to be loving, patient, generous, and even forgiving of those who hurt or offend us. That’s what it means to give ourselves fully to the Lord as the Macedonians did. We submit to Jesus’ will and his lordship and allow Him to mold us and shape our behavior.
But this idea of submitting to others’ authority? No, that one is a tougher pill to swallow, isn’t it? Two of the three days I spent in Washington this week were at a meeting of our YL divisional team. I now have a new boss. And for two months as I anticipated the fact that I was going to be getting a new boss, I’ve had to wrestle with what it would mean for me to submit to this candidate or that. Frankly, there were a couple of candidates mentioned who, had they gotten the job, I would have had an extremely difficult time submitting to. But in the end, that would not be my choice to make. Following Christ means that we need to submit not only to him, but to those whom the Lord places in authority over us, even if we don’t like them or their style.
I love the NLT’s translation of verse 5: “Best of all, they went beyond our highest hopes, for their first action was to dedicate themselves to the Lord and to us for whatever directions God might give them.” According to Paul, we submit to others to find out what directions GOD might give us!
In 1st John, John asks the rhetorical question, “How can you love God who you cannot see if you don’t love your brother who you have seen?” I think the same question holds true with authority. How can you submit to God who you have not seen if you cannot submit to the authorities who He has placed in your life? Show me someone who resists authority and I will show you someone who struggles with the Lordship of Christ.
I would say, parenthetically, that this is going to be an issue for this church and for the individuals in it. We are going to call a pastor at some point, and like it or not, you will be asked to submit not only to the Session’s wisdom in calling him, but to him as your spiritual shepherd and leader. It is my hope and prayer that you will be delighted with the man who is called. But if not, your lordship is going to be tested. In that case, the good news is that with respect to this sermon, you’re going to get an excellent chance to be not only a hearer of the Word but a doer as well! Isn’t it fun to apply what the preacher preaches?
You might notice in verses 6-8 that it is at this point that Paul now begins to address the Corinthians’ own lordship. He is sending Titus to go and encourage them to keep their promise of sending a gift. He commends them for their gifts – their faith, their speech, their knowledge, their earnestness and their love. But he urges them to also be sure to give of themselves and their resources.
My friends, giving is where the rubber meets the road. Your day-planner and your checkbook tell a lot about your commitment and your lordship. That’s why Paul says in verse 8 that he wants to test their sincerity by comparing it with the earnestness of others. Giving proves your love is real. Giving is where we work out what we believe.
Blue like Jazz- Donald Miller. A great critique of modernist Christianity. We Presbyterians tend to describe the Christian life as something to be believed. Ascent to the right propositions. Is this all about believing or living? Is it a head trip or an adventure? Can this church handle an adventure? Can a PCA church be an authentic community? If it can, the world will notice!
Grace generates lordship. And if you and I do not submit to the lordship of Christ and the authority of those whom he has put in authority over us it is only because we do not fully understand and accept God’s grace.
The third thing I would like us to consider this morning is this:
Grace generates riches
Let’s read verse 9 again. “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.”
Notice this: Jesus did not give out of his riches. Jesus gave out of his poverty! Paul remind us in Philippians that Jesus emptied himself and took the nature of a slave. He became poor and he submitted to death. And it was only because of this poverty that you and I are made rich.
Grace does generate riches. Lots of preachers err on one side or the other here. Some promise that if you follow Christ, you will become financially rich. I told you what I thought of that view a couple weeks ago. It is heresy, it comes from the pit of hell, and it smells like smoke.
Other preachers err on the other side. They say that we cannot expect riches at all in this life. It’s pie in the sky, by and by. Grit your teeth and bear this life, because someday you will be rewarded and some day you will be rich. But that’s in the afterlife when all things are made whole.
I think that both of these views are in error. God does want you to be rich. There are dozens of times in the Scriptures where we are promised God’s riches. Jesus said that God wants his kids to have good gifts, just like you want yours to have good gifts. But the trick is to figure out what that gift is. It may or not be security and financial wealth. If you are secure and financially wealthy, you’d better believe that it is a gift from God. But the Macedonians’ gift was nothing like that. Their gift was trials and poverty. And they were richer than you and me, for sure.
I once heard Charles Stanley on the radio talking about prosperity and suffering. He observed that the time when we grow the most is when we are suffering. Because that’s when we turn to God and don’t depend on our own resources. We really encounter God in the midst of trouble. And when things are going well, when we are prosperous, we tend to ignore God and drift down the wrong path. So which do we pray for, suffering or prosperity? Prosperity! We tend to pray for the very thing that will drive us away from dependence on Christ and growth in our Christian walk. What’s up with that?
“How to get rich” – sounded like a good sermon going in, didn’t it? If you were really looking for a financial plan here, you’re disappointed right about now. And if you really are disappointed, you really are poor. Because you’re looking for the wrong thing. Jim Elliot said, “A man is no fool to give up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” As you know from the movie that is out right now, The End of the Spear, Jim Elliot gave up his life. But in doing that, hundreds of thousands were made rich. God wants you to be rich like that too. And it starts with giving your life to him. Whether you have been a Christian for 30 years or whether this is all new to you today, being rich starts with giving your life to Christ. If you do not do that, you are destined to a life of spiritual poverty. But the great news is that God’s riches were given at Christ’s expense, not yours. In fact, remember that. God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. G-R-A-C-E. That’s a good definition of grace, isn’t it?
God has no need of your time. He created time. God has no need of your talent. He is talented enough to accomplish anything He chooses without your gifts. God has no need of your money. He created the cattle on a thousand hills, and he can sell the herd anytime He wants.
No, God wants you to be generous with your time, your talent and your treasure - not so the church can become rich and not so that God can become rich, but so that you can become rich!
My friends, if you are withholding anything from the Lord this morning, you are in grave danger of becoming poor. Understand and accept God’s grace. Be generous and get involved in what God is doing in this church, this community and the world. You will become rich beyond all measure, just as the Macedonians did.
My prayer for you and for me is that today and every day we might accept God’s grace and learn what it is to be rich. Amen.
