Sunday 11/22/15
Series: Living in the Kingdom IV
Message – The Economy of the Kingdom IV
In this message on Kingdom giving, I felt compelled to jump way ahead and cover a passage concerning giving that has been brutalized, misinterpreted and misrepresented by the church at large in recent years. We covered II Corinthians chapters 8-9!
It is VERY important to realize that the bible highlights several types of giving and that they are all treated differently. The HUGE mistake the Grace movement makes is to lump all giving under one big, all encompassing mass which couldn’t be more unscriptural! These passages are dealing with two things…
- Alms giving – this is a type of non-obligatory giving to the poor. In this case it was a collection Paul was taking up from among the Gentile believers for the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem who were in a famine! Paul had visited the Corinthian church a year prior to this letter, during which the Corinthian church made certain pledges to give. This letter was sent ahead of Paul to encourage the Corinthians to make good on their promise to give to the Jewish saints in Jerusalem.
- This gift WAS a debt the Gentiles owed to the Jews, which is seen in Romans 15:27, which was speaking of this very same collection.
Rom. 15:25-27,
“But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. (26) For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. (27) It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.”
The key verse that is most often misrepresented is found in chapter 9 verse 7…
2Cor. 9:7,
“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”
This verse is cherry picked and taken so entirely out of context that its only resemblance to what Paul ACTUALLY said is that it serves as a polar opposite to his entire teaching on giving in this letter…but I digress. We will get to that verse AFTER we have viewed the context in which it was written.
Paul on New Testament Giving
To aid understanding I have underlined those words and phrases which I will expand on following the passage.
II Cor. 8:1-6,
“(1) Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: (2) that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
(3) For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, (4) imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. (5) And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. (6) So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. (7) But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also. (8) I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.”
In this passage Paul is deliberately using the generosity of the poverty stricken churches of the region of Macedonia and their liberal response to the grace (influence God had upon their hearts) given to Titus to stir them up to encourage the same response in the wealthy Corinthians. Notice the following words and phrases…
- Giving is a grace – not an emotional response! We make known to you the grace of God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia.
- That this grace came through the ministry of Titus among them is evident by the last phrase in verse 6, “So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well.”
- The Macedonians gave out of their deep poverty and during a time of great affliction.
- They gave according to their ability – which was important to Paul since it is a scriptural mandate. In fact this phrase is taken both from the ministry of Christ (Luke 11:41-43) and Christ Himself quoted it from the Old Testament. So here we have Jesus and Paul BOTH quoting the Old Covenant as a basis for how giving should be done under the New Covenant, but we will address that later.
- They also gave beyond what they could spare.
- They were FREELY WILLING.
- They considered it a gift.
- They gave themselves to the Lord FIRST then to Paul according to God’s will.
- “see that you abound in this grace also.” This was injunction to give was not a command even though scripturally it is a command, which is what Paul pointed them too by revealing it as a test of their love for theri brothers which IS a command! Paul knew their stingy hearts and so he put it to them straight – “I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.”. Paul was a crafty man and knew his churches well. Paul put the giving of an entire region of poverty stricken churches up as a standard of what kind of giving love compels from a Christian’s heart. This church abounded in many graces, but Paul desired them to abound in the grace of God concerning giving as well.
Already this sounds NOTHING like, “give the way you want to” which is essentially to say, “let your emotions guide your giving”.
2Cor. 8:9-11,
“(9) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. (10) And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; (11) but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have.”
These 3 verses are powerful as you can tell since I underlined the whole of them. Paul knew that they had pledged to give a sizable amount the year prior and now he was leaning on them to fulfill their word and give as they promised. It is safe to say that if these tactics were followed in a church in today’s world, it would be rejected as pushy and money hungry!
- Jesus was rich and gave tot he point of poverty for our sakes.
- My advice – don’t just promise to give – actually DO IT, for that would be to your advantage – you MUST do it!
- Give from what you have…
2Cor. 8:12-15,
“For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. (13) For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; (14) but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality. (15) As it is written, “HE WHO GATHERED MUCH HAD NOTHING LEFT OVER, AND HE WHO GATHERED LITTLE HAD NO LACK.”
- Paul quotes from Jesus and the Old Testament again in these verses. First by saying that their gift is accepted, “accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.”
Luke 11:41-42, “But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you. (42) “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”
Secondly by quoting from Exodus 16:16-18, “HE WHO GATHERED MUCH HAD NOTHING LEFT OVER, AND HE WHO GATHERED LITTLE HAD NO LACK.”
- Paul taught that equality was to goal in financial blessings. When one abounded in wealth, the purpose of the increase was NOT to spend it on themselves, but to give so that HE WHO GATHERED MUCH HAD NOTHING LEFT OVER, AND HE WHO GATHERED LITTLE HAD NO LACK!
There is MUCH more to this teaching including…
- Paul compares the giving and willingness of the poverty stricken Macedonians to the giving of the wealthy Corinthians.
- Paul presses on them, that they are under the obligation of LOVE to give and that their gift would be used as a proof of their fidelity to Christ.
- Paul sent Titus ahead to prepare the hearts of the Corinthians to make SURE they WERE ready with the gift when he arrived.
- Paul tells them that he has praised their willingness to give bountifully to all of Macedonia, so that they were actually part of what stirred up the churches there to give.
- Paul then sent some of the Macedonians with Titus to encourage the Corinthians to fulfill what they promised since Paul had informed them all of what the Corinthians had promised, so if they failed to deliver – ALL WOULD KNOW and the Corinthian church would be embarrassed!
- Paul warns them that if they give grudgingly they will reap the same way.
- Paul encourages them to give liberally with a view to blessing the Jewish people.
- Paul tells them that God is able to give them bread to eat while multiplying the seed they sow into others.
- Notice the multiplication was NOT to the Corinthians, but to those they were giving to!
To get the full impact of this amazing teaching from Paul PLEASE listen to the message in its entirety.
That is all for today, but we will pick up here on Wednesday – studying to show ourselves as approved in regards to money, possessions and giving in the Kingdom.
Blessings!
I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
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Blessings!
