The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
The Offering Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! God’s apostle Paul says an amazing thing in today’s Epistle, from 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Here Paul describes our Sunday morning offering as “*the grace of God*.” We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. Dear Christian friends, One of my fellow pastors likes to read his congregation’s offering report, so that he may know how much money was given by each person or family. This pastor claims that your offering measures your spirituality. If you give generously, then all is well. If you do not give generously, then there is something wrong with your faith or your life. This pastor sticks his nose in where it does not belong. I have no idea what you give. I do NOT look at the reports. Even if I should take a peek, I would have no idea what I am looking at. What does that dollar amount next to your name really mean? · Does your large offering indicate maturity, does it mean you are trying to impress someone, or does simply mean you have a lot of money and still only give spare change? · A small offering certainly could indicate your immaturity or lack of compassion toward your fellow Christians. A small offering could also indicate that you live on small pay, that you have many serious financial burdens, or that you simply do not know how much it takes to keep the congregation’s lights on. The Scriptures teach us to believe that our offering is one of the most intimate and private acts of the Christian faith. “*Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing*,” says the Lord, “*so that your giving may be in secret*” (Matthew 6:3). Secret giving · makes it impossible for you to boast, as if your giving might be about your honor or glory or prestige in the congregation. · means that, whether you are richer or poor than others, you can give freely and according to your means, as you heard in today’s Epistle,. · allows me to love you without partiality and without limitation. Stated another way, secret giving allows me to be your pastor and shepherd, bringing each of you the full riches of God’s gifts through Christ Jesus, without feeling tempted to show preference toward a large wallet or purse (James 2:1-13). In short, I DO NOT CARE how much you give. For the sake of your well-being, for the sake of your eternal life, I will content myself with declaring to you the great love and the overflowing compassion that your heavenly Father has for you in Christ Jesus. I will concern myself with making sure “*you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich*,” as you heard today. I will allow you to concern yourself with deciding how the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ might work itself out in your life, especially in your giving. Today’s Epistle allows me to think I am on pretty safe ground by NOT sticking my nose into your financial business. Throughout many places in His Scriptures, God makes it clear that · we each suffer a serious heart condition when it comes to trust in God and love for neighbor; · sin has so deeply imbedded its within us that we are each permanently bent inward upon ourselves, with the result that our first inclination is always to look out for number one; · even Christians suffer daily temptations and fall into all sorts of sin. Obviously, all of these things are major barriers to generosity in the offering plate. Nevertheless, today’s Epistle teaches us to place ALL our confidence, not in ourselves and not in one another, but in the grace of God alone: We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. This is a strange way of speaking, that God’s apostle Paul would call it the grace of God when the Christians “*a wealth of generosity on their part*.” This is a strange way of speaking because, most of the time, the grace of God refers to the heavenly Father’s loving and generous attitude toward us on account of Christ Jesus. · It was grace that moved God the Father to send “*His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons*” (Galatians 4:4-5). · “*You* [also] *know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.*” In what are you rich? You are rich o in the forgiveness of your sins, whereby the record of your past is completely removed and the security of your future is solidly ensured. o in the hope of eternal life, “*which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began*” (Titus 1:2). o in everything you need to support this body and life. I know this because, if you did not have everything you need to support this body and life, you would be dead. Plus, there is the promise of Jesus: Do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all (Matthew 6:31-32). Throughout the Scriptures, God usually speaks about His grace in terms of what He does for you. Not so at the beginning of today’s Epistle. Here God speaks about His grace in terms of what you do for your fellow Christians! We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. “*The grace of God… has overflowed in a wealth of generosity*.” Stated another way, the living Word of God promises to produce good things for you. In this Word you receive the gifts of certainty and assurance, so that you may never doubt or wonder about your forgiveness and life. In this Word you receive the gift of hope, so that you may remain steadfast and immovable, no matter where your daily life ends up taking you. In this Word you receive the gift of generosity, which today’s Epistle calls the grace of God that works through you toward others. But who can predict the way God’s Word will grow for you? Who can anticipate the shape if its result? This is why, for my part, I cannot muster any interest in knowing how much you give, offering plate or otherwise. For your part, you might be able to use your offering as a way of examining yourself—as Paul says in another place (2 Corinthians 13:5). Ask yourself: · Do you give God only your scrappy seconds, dug up from under the seat of your car? Then perhaps you want to ask yourself if you truly believe all the gifts that your God has given to you; whether those divine gifts mean anything for your life; whether you trust your Creator and Redeemer. The Scriptures call stingy offerings an insult to God (Malachi 1:6-8). If you lack love and thankfulness, then it would probably be safer for you not to give. You might also repent of your shallow greed. · Do you give God your best gift, be it large or small? Then rejoice and praise His name! Thank the Lord that His living Word has overcome your base inclinations. Feel proud that you have received “*the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints*,” as happened among the impoverished Christians of Macedonia in today’s Epistle. By calling the offering “*the grace of God*,” this Epistle wants us to know that our giving really is all about Jesus and the growing seed of His goodness within us. Thus it is written an another plce—and thus you may believe: “*He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness*” (2 Corinthians 9:10). Amen! Come quickly, Lord!
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