Let's
take a walk down memory lane for a moment. Some of you, especially the older
members of this congregation, may remember a famous comedian named Flip Wilson.
He had a weekly TV comedy show back in the 70s, and one of his favorite
characters was a preacher named Brother Leroy.
In
one skit, Brother Leroy was leading services one Sunday morning. It wasn't
going very well. People weren't very responsive. It came time to receive the
offering and so Brother Leroy passed the collection plates. They came back
empty. So he passed them again. Same thing. Empty. Brother Leroy then went
before the people and said, "Now, I know that you all want this church to
progress. This church must progress." No response from the congregation.
Brother Leroy shouted a bit louder: "Now, before this church can progress
it has to crawl, this church has got to crawl." And the congregation
started getting excited and they yelled back, "Make it crawl, Reverend.
Make it crawl!" Brother Leroy continued, "After this church has
crawled, it's got to pick itself up and start to walk, this church has got to
walk!" And the people yelled back at him, "Make it walk, Reverend.
Make it walk!" "And after this church has walked, this church has got
to get up and run, this church has got to run." And the people were worked
up into a terrible frenzy, and they hollered back: "Make it run, Reverend.
Make it run!" And then Brother Leroy said, "Now, brothers and
sisters, in order for this church to run, it’s gonna need money, it’s gonna take
money for this church to run!" And the people yelled back, "Let it
crawl, Reverend. Let it crawl!"
The reading we heard from 2
Corinthians 8:7-15 a few minutes ago does talk about giving. Most ministers
have to walk a fine line when talking about this subject, especially if they
don’t want to give the impression that they are asking for money for the
church. I’m also walking a fine line because even though this is summer and the
time of the year when offerings decline because people are away, I don’t want
to talk about giving in that sense. I want to talk about the spiritual benefits
of giving, so I’m definitely not going to be like one minister who was having
trouble with the collections. One Sunday
he announced, “Now, before we pass the collection plate, I would like to
request that the person who stole the chickens from Brother Martin’s henhouse
please refrain from giving any money to the Lord. The Lord doesn’t want money
from a thief!”
The
collection plate was passed around, and for the first time in months everybody
gave.
The
church in Jerusalem had fallen on hard times financially. It started off great,
with believers sharing everything they had in the belief that Christ would
return soon. When he didn’t, things became bleak very quickly. To help the
church in Jerusalem, Paul appealed to all of the churches he started to give to
a collection he was taking up. At first, the church in Corinth gave generously,
but in time the giving slowed to a trickle in part because some people accused
Paul of taking the collection for personal gain.
In
order to counter this claim and to encourage the believers in Corinth to
increase their generosity, Paul used the church in Macedonia as an example of
how to give. The people of Macedonia were poor, mainly because the occupying
Roman forces took all of the resources for themselves. Nevertheless, the
believers in Macedonia were more than willing to give generously to support
other believers who were less fortunate.
There
are several aspects of grace giving. First, grace giving is systematic. Paul
told the Corinthians to abound in this grace. He implied that this is a
framework in which they and we can grow in faith as Christians. Giving can be
spontaneous, but it can and should be planned. There are several examples in
the New Testament of planned giving by the church and by individuals. A
commitment to give is the start of the system of giving.
Grace giving is sincere. It reflects a believer’s
love for God and a sincere desire to expand the ministry of the church. God
does not need our gifts to expand his ministry because he owns everything. He
does allow our gifts to be used to expand his ministry.
Grace giving is steadfast. It continues regardless
of our circumstances. It doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor. Closely
connected to this is the concept that grace giving involves sharing with
others. The purpose of giving must be to meet equally the needs of both the
world and the church. The one who has much is able to share much, and the one
who has little is able to share little. As God’s people share in proportion to
what God has entrusted them with, the needs of the whole body of Christ are met.
Giving to God and his work must be voluntary, not
compelled. When it is voluntary, it brings much blessing. A good example is
Christ. He gave up the riches of heaven to be born into a humble, earthly
family. He gave himself humbly to service here on earth, and he humbled himself
to death on the cross. He did all of this voluntarily so that he could give us
the greatest gift of all-eternal life with God in heaven. What he did for us is
an example of what we are to do for others-give of ourselves and serve others
with humility.
Not all gifts have to be financial. They can be
spiritual as well. In the time that Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, the Gentile
believers could contribute financially, while Jewish believers could contribute
spiritually and with ministry of the Gospel. We can do the same thing today.
For example, when I was with you one Sunday in August of last year, I was
surprised to see that you had given so much food for the local food bank that
it had to be brought to the altar in a wheelbarrow! While I was preparing this message
I looked at your church’s web site and was pleased to see that you share your
facilities with other local groups such as the Wee Wisdom Nursery School. I was
also pleased to learn that this church takes an active role within the wider
community through its involvement with the Bridgewater Inter-Church Council.
All of these are examples of how we can give to others and share the love of
Christ.
When we see generosity acted out in another person,
it is easier for us to understand it, identify with it, and follow their
example. Giving is more a matter of the heart than of circumstances. Paul used
the example of the church in Macedonia which I mentioned a few minutes ago.
Poverty does not automatically create unselfishness, nor does persecution
automatically produce giving. Those who claim that they were much happier when
they had less must remember that it isn’t what we have or don’t have that
promotes happiness or generosity. What does matter is the grace of God within
us. That grace creates an open and generous heart.
Giving
becomes a joy when it comes out of sacrifice, and a good example of sacrificial
giving is mentioned in the story of the widow’s offering, which is found in
Mark 12:38-44. Jesus and the disciples were sitting in the area of the temple
treasury. The treasury contained thirteen trumpet-shaped chests where people
could deposit their gifts and the temple tax. Jesus could see how much money
people gave. He could see the large sums of money that the scribes and the
wealthy gave, and he could also see how much the widow gave. He used a
comparison of the gifts to illustrate their significance.
The
wealthy gave out of their abundance. That is, they gave out of what they had
left after they paid their bills and purchased the necessities of life,
including food. In contrast, the poor widow gave all that she had. By putting
all of her money into the temple treasury, the widow probably had to go without
food for at least one meal. In Jesus’ eyes, she gave more than all the rich
people simply because she gave everything to God. Whatever a person has is the
resource out of which he/she should give. That’s why there are no references to
tithes of any set amounts or percentages for giving stated anywhere in the New
Testament.
Setting
an example of humility is a way of loving others. Being humble means making
sacrifices, but when we remember that all good things are gifts from God, we
are free to give them up for the good of others.
When
people give generously out of love for God and his church and they grow and
mature in their faith, they don’t count the cost. Joy and Christian growth come
to those who do the Lord’s work gladly. Joyful giving flows from the gift of
self. When we give from the heart we give one of the greatest gifts we can
give. God is most concerned with the heart of the giver, and not the amount
he/she gives.
Our
giving reflects our attitude toward money. Money can control us or hurt us or
we can control money and bless others. Giving to our church shows our love for
God. Giving also shows that we want to help the less fortunate and that we want
to share the costs of having church. Giving can be fun, especially if we treat
it as a competition to out-give God. We must remember though that this is a
competition that we can’t win, because no matter how much we give, we can’t
out-give God. We can still be winners though just for giving from the heart.
The
blood of Christ unites all of us, so we can’t ignore the needs of our Christian
brothers and sisters, just like we can’t ignore the needs of our biological
family members. If we have been made rich by Christ and his poverty, how can we
not be generous toward the needs of others? Giving is not a one-way street,
because the poor have an abundance to share-an abundance that includes hospitality,
family values, hard work, self-sacrifice and faith in God. The grace of giving
is an equalizing force in the body of Christ. Everyone has something to give,
and everyone has some need to be met. For example, Acts 4:34 talks about the
early church and reads, “Nor was there anyone among them who lacked.”
Giving
sacrificially now for the sake of a future goal is a mark of spiritual
maturity. An even better mark of spiritual maturity is the willingness to put
off earthly reward for the sake of eternal reward. If we want to follow Jesus
closely, we must come to terms with self-denial, and this self-denial must be
practiced daily.
If
we hold back our commitment to give, especially our commitment to give to the
church, it means that we trust more in ourselves than we trust in God. When we
give to God, he will use our gift and return it to us many times over. My own
spiritual journey is a good example of this. I have been a regular giver in my
own Anglican Parish of South Queens and its predecessor parishes for a number
of years, and that giving has included being a Lay Minister for over ten years.
God has taken my gifts and talents and used them to provide opportunities for
me to continue to do the work he has called me to do. I post my sermons on my
blog, which is at www.sermonsfrommyheart.blogspot.ca. These sermons have been viewed over 100,000 times so
far.
I
have also had the opportunity to preach and lead worship in churches other than
in my own parish. I have preached and led worship on several occasions within
the last year at Zion United Church in Liverpool and the Milton and Summerville
Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ). As I mentioned earlier I preached and
led worship here at Bridgewater United Church one Sunday last August. Today
marks another opportunity that God has given me because for the very first time,
I am preaching to a radio audience, and I thank God, Joanne Ferrier, Rev. David
Campbell and all of you for this opportunity.
Faith
means that God will provide for us in unexpected ways and through unexpected
sources. God promises spiritual blessings, but he does not promise material
blessings. This is contrary to what the prosperity gospel teaches. God will
provide material blessings if it is his will and if it is part of his plan for
our lives, so it is no good to go to him and say (in the words of an old song),
“O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz.”
What
we give to God and how we give it shows just how much we really love him, and
it shows how grateful we are for the love and blessings we receive from him. We
are accountable to God for how we use the gifts he has given us, and that
accountability is illustrated in the Parable of the Talents, which is found in
Matthew 25:14-30. We need to use those gifts for God’s work and glory so that
when we reach the end of our earthly lives, we can hear God tell us, “Well
done, good and faithful servant.”
Bibliography
1.
Jeremiah, Dr.
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing, 2013)
2.
ESV Study
Bible. Part of Wordsearch 10 Bible software package.
3.
Chafin, K.L.
& Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 30: 1,2 Corinthians (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson
Inc.; 1985)
4.
MacArthur,
J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible, New
American Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
9.
Edward
Inabinet, “Great Reasons for Great Giving.” Retrieved from www.esermons.com
