B, Pent 4 Proper 8 - 2 Corinthians 8:7-9 "This Grace of Giving"
Text: 2 Corinthians 8:7-9
[J]ust as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 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. (2 Corinthians 8:7-9)
Sermon
Do you excel in the grace of giving? Nothing makes the ears of God’s children lock shut faster than the topic of giving. The question of giving to God is one that is always touchy. Our culture encourages us to reply to the question of giving, ‘It’s none of your business! I’ll give what I see fit!’
What’s your attitude to giving? Is your giving merely just another tax, done under compulsion or guilt, or do you give as a sacrifice of joy, love, and thanksgiving? Do you excel in the “grace” of giving?
On the question of giving, are you a person who side steps the issue by claiming others can afford to give more than you. As if this is a justification to give little, if anything. And as if one’s judgement on what one can afford is done with pure motives. Or perhaps you might think what you give isn’t as good as what others give because it’s seen as a lesser amount. Or vice-versa, you think that because you give much, it lifts your profile just a little bit further with your fellow church members and with God. Or maybe you hold back on giving because you think the church is wasting what you give. Perhaps they are wasting it, or perhaps we don’t always see the big picture! Do you give to get — a conditional giver? Do you excel in the “grace” of giving?
What am I talking about? Up to this point I’ve mentioned nothing on the content of what one might give. What is it that we give to others, which ultimately is what we give to God? If you assumed I was talking about giving money, you’re wrong. Money giving is important, but it’s only a small part of what one can give. So, what is giving? What is the “grace” of giving? What do you give and what’s your motive for giving it?
Gracious Father, we offer with joy and thanks what you have first given us – ourselves, our time, and our possessions – as signs of your goodness and symbols of our love. Accept them for the sake of Jesus Christ, who offered himself for us. Amen. This offering prayer explains giving graciously most clearly. As we address God in this prayer, we address him as Gracious Father. We acknowledge that grace comes from him; he is the supreme dispenser of grace. We give only as a result of the things he has given us – ourselves, our time, and our possessions.
But more importantly we can give of ourselves, our time, and our possessions, because God gives us the greatest gift —Jesus Christ, sacrificed on the cross for you and for me. God gave his greatest “possession” in his One and Only Son — Jesus Christ. The eternal Son of God offered “himself”, putting aside his rights as God, to give us his “time” — time which culminated in the supreme sacrifice on a cross outside
So God gives us grace, for free, there’s no hidden catch. But this grace he gives us comes to us at great cost to his Son, Jesus Christ. God calls us to excel in the same gracious spirit of giving now that he has given us “ourselves” — the identity we were always meant to have but lost as a result of sin. He calls us to excel in the grace of giving now that he gives us our “time” — the time we so often covert for ourselves. And he calls us to excel in the grace of giving now that he gives us our “possessions” — the possessions we need but so often worship in place of God. Do you excel in the “grace” of giving? In comparison to the grace of God giving us his Son, and the graciousness of God giving us our true selves, our time eternal, and possession of the keys of heaven, through Jesus Christ, every person fails in the grace of giving. Even our most gracious giving is done, with motives that are less than pure.
At this point we might think, “Well what is the point of trying to give graciously if we fail in comparison to Jesus Christ”? We might be tempted to give up, become steely cold, building up our walls of defence, as things look grim as we struggle to make sense of our lives, the weather, or the loss of life around us.
But now is the time to give of ourselves, our time, and our possessions. Now is the time to give out of our weakness, our poverty, and our brokenness. This is the time when God’s forgiveness flows to us and our faith excels, our testimony of Jesus excels, our speech, our knowledge, our earnestness, and our love excels, as we walk through the darkness with complete confidence — trusting in Jesus Christ alone. Trusting in him the ultimate gift of grace; trusting in the richness we truly have as a result of the poverty he took on himself as he gave up his life on the cross.
On encouraging other preachers, Charles Spurgeon, a Baptist preacher from the 19th century, has encouraged me with the following, and I ask you to be encouraged by these words too.
Continue with double earnestness to serve your Lord when no visible result is before you. Any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light; faith’s rare wisdom enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy, since she places her hand in that of her Great Guide. Between this and heaven there may be rougher weather yet, but it is all provided for by our Gracious Heavenly Father (my own emphasis added). In nothing let us be turned aside from the path which the divine call has urged us to pursue. [1]
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. You and I are rich, we are receiving the wealth of God’s forgiveness — we are receiving the grace of God, which surpasses all giving — we are receiving the salvation of our souls. Amen.
In memory of
Grandad Puk
Eugene Edward Pukallus
(02/06/1918 — 30/6/2006)
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,
becoming like him in his death,
and so, somehow,
to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
(Philippians 3:10-11)
[1] Quoted in Minister’s Prayer Book, Ed John Doberstein, Fortress Press,
