Generosity in Community

0:00 You are listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author, and teacher David Platt. If you have a Bible, and I hope you do, let me invite you to open with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. I thank God for the privilege of being a part of this body of Christ. I thank God for you. I thank God for Christ in you and his generosity and his love that is expressed all over you all across this faith and that was just such a snapshot I mean you could see as fast as those screens were going there's too much information and that wasn't all but there are so many evidences of grace all across this faith family and demonstrations of the glory of God. So praise God for his work in this faith family. And tonight I want to encourage us as we give of ourselves to give more of ourselves. And I want to challenge us to give more of ourselves based on 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9. Coming up on three years for me as pastor here, and tonight is the first time where we have specifically addressed in the word giving to the church. We've talked about giving in different capacities, just being followers of Christ who are giving, but we've not talked about giving in the sense of tithing, which we'll talk about a little bit later on.

1:43 But that next sentence in our church covenant is an important one and it deals with giving. Scripturally, it's part of what it means to be the church. When it says at the bottom of the church covenant, you see there, it's bolded. We will give cheerfully and generously to the support of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations. 2 Corinthians 8-9 being the primary text there, which we're going to look at tonight. I'm a bit hesitant, though, even in diving into this, because I know that there are likely people across this room with some very serious hurts, some serious needs that maybe you bring into this gathering tonight. And you might be thinking, oh, great, we're going to talk about giving. Walking through this, we're going to talk about tithing or giving to the church.

2:39 I hope that what we've seen even tonight, this is why we give. Because of hurts, real hurts in the body. And not just in the body, but because. And this is what we keep in front of us all the time. There are four and a half, at least four and a half billion people in the world today who are without Christ. And if nothing changes, we'll spend an eternity without Christ. So how do we give for the glory of Christ among those masses and among those impoverished? Over a billion people in the world living in absolute poverty. 700 million in slums. 500 million on the verge of starvation today. 200 million children exploited for labor. And I want to encourage and challenge us when it comes to giving tonight.

3:33 I found a research project that had been done at Stanford. This is what they found. If church members in America gave at least 10% of their income to the church, so basically did what is commonly associated with the tithe, if church members in America gave a tithe a tenth of their income, in two years' time, the church could eliminate global starvation and malnutrition, provide education for every child on the earth, and provide universal access to clean water and sanitation in two years. Now, obviously tonight we don't have a lot of control over what all churches in the United States are doing or what members of churches are doing in other places, but we do have an opportunity to say tonight, God, God use us, and God, we're going to trust that when we give ourselves to giving cheerfully and generously according to what scripture teaches, that you can use us, will use us to make a significant dent in the lost and poor population in the world. We want our lives and we want this church to count for the glory of Christ in all nations. And so I want us to see how that affects our giving. What does it look like to be a generous church according to scripture? Now you've got at the top of your notes there, money and the Christian, I just want to remind you before we even dive in to the overarching principle that Jesus taught that is echoed throughout Scripture when it comes to money and the Christian. Just a reminder, when it comes to money and the Christian, our hearts follow our money. Our hearts follow our money. Matthew 6, 21. Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your what will be. Your heart will be also. Our money signals where our hearts are. The way we spend our money, our checkbooks are sure indicators of our spiritual condition. Just humbling truth. Humbling verse, Matthew 6 21.

5:48 You want to see where people's hearts are, look where they're spending. This is humbling for us in the immediate culture we live in. Right around this building. You look at where we spend our money on. Big houses, nice cars, nice clothes, and entertainment, stuff, inundated with stuff. And we are showing our spirituality. we are revealing a heart issue this is gripping for me individually and the family we've got so far to go even in the family I lead and then when it comes to this faith family probably the most humbling facet of pastoring for me if not the most humbling there's a few things that are humbling but one of the most humbling facets of pastoring for me is the church budget because we have so far to go as a faith family.

6:49 We are still spending so much on ourselves and just get changed that overnight. It's processing, chipping away year after year. I pray more and more and more and more. But this is, I think we're going to see in the Word tonight that if we really want to impact four and a half billion people in the world, 25,000 people today who will die of either starvation or preventable diseases, if our lives are going to count for what we're just saying about, that that means massive changes in our hearts that are reflected in the way we spend our money. So our hearts follow our money. What happens when our hearts are set on what God's heart is set on? That's where we come to 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. We're going to read two passages. We're not going to read the whole two chapters, two passages in just a second here.

7:42 The setup is Paul writes this letter, 2 Corinthians. He's on his third missionary journey. He's going to Corinth. What had happened is earlier, he had written the book of 1 Corinthians, a letter to the church at Corinth. And at the end of that book, 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse one through four, what he had done is he had told them that he wanted to take up a collection for the impoverished church in Jerusalem, impoverished saints in Jerusalem. And so he told them, I'm gonna take up an offering. And they expressed an eagerness about that. The only problem is time went by and they had not collected. They were not giving. And Paul was traveling to other places and was collecting money. We're going to see him reference how he had collected money from the churches in Macedonia, which were very poor churches. We'll look at that in a second. And so what he's doing here in these two chapters is he is reminding them to give. And these two chapters are so insightful because they show us how Scripture exhorts us to give.

8:41 and I think we see a much different picture here in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 than we see in the world how the world tells us to give and even how we think of giving in the church is radically different than from what than what Paul's going to show us here in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9 how does scripture teach us to give what we're going to do is we're going to read two passages one in chapter 8 and one in chapter 9 and basically the first one 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1 through 9 is an example. Paul points to these churches in Macedonia. We're going to see him kind of lift them up as an example. And the second passage we're going to look at is 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 6 through 15. And what this is over here is basically some truths based on this example. So we're going to be all over the place going back and forth, just turning between these two chapters. But to try to get this picture, let's camp out on these two passages. 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1. Paul writes,

10:03 service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, and knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in your love for us, Okay, go over to the next chapter. Chapter 9. That's the example. Macedonian church.

10:56 Go to 2 Corinthians 9, 6. Remember this, he says, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it's written, he has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. The service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people, but it's overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. Okay, so how does Scripture teach us to give? And how is that different from how we think of giving in the world or even in the church? First, we give out of an abundance of grace. Scripture teaches us to give out of an abundance of grace. Come back to 2 Corinthians 8. Paul uses nine different words to describe the gift the Macedonians gave. But by far the most central term there, and it's all over these two chapters, is grace. You might circle it. Look in verse 1, chapter 8. Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has

13:03 given the Macedonian churches. Down in verse 7, last part of verse 7, when he's saying, excel in all these things, he says, see that you also excel in the, circle it there, in the grace of giving. Giving itself is a grace, the grace of giving. Then you get down to verse 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that giving, according to Scripture, is not motivated by guilt. Giving is motivated by grace.

13:36 Paul is not trying to pour the guilt trip on them with this example. He is showing them a portrait of grace and true giving, according to the New Testament, is giving that flows from grace. I hesitate to even throw out some of those statistics, some of those numbers when it comes to lostness and poverty. These are realities. I think we need to see them. We need to see our lives in their light. But we are not motivated to give because we feel bad. If that's our motivation, that'll last a little while. And it'll go nowhere as deep as grace giving goes. Let me show you the difference grace makes in giving. These churches in Macedonia were, and you see them described up in verse two, severe trial, extreme poverty. Macedonia includes places like Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea.

14:29 These were impoverished places to begin with. They were ravaged by war, plundered by the Romans. They were, there was high taxation there, abject poverty. And that was just normally, You add on the fact that you're a follower of Christ in that area. We see in Acts when Paul would go to these areas in Macedonia. Severe persecution. And so basically, it's not just poverty. It's extreme poverty. These are people who are beggars. They have nothing. Maybe even partly due to the fact that they're following Christ. But where they live, living in total poverty. And look at what verse 2 says.

15:12 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in generosity. That is so confusing to me. Put those words together. Go back and forth. You see that? Severe trial, overflowing joy, extreme poverty, rich generosity. How does that work? Okay, let's do the math here. Macedonian churches. severe trial plus extreme poverty equals overflowing joy rich generosity that's weird severe trial extreme poverty you put those together that's a recipe for joy and generosity how do you get from those two elements to these two elements and the answer is grace It's grace.

16:04 That's how you get from one to the next. And that's the picture. What Paul is doing is he is writing a letter to a church that is not impoverished like Macedonia, a church that is more well off. And what he is saying is, look at these brothers and sisters and how deeply, how sacrificially they gave. And it's a picture not to make you feel bad, but to make you look at the power of grace and to think about what the power of grace would look like in a church that is more well-off. So let me try to do, in a sense, what Paul is doing here in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, pastorally here. I remember, I remember the first time I was in a house church in Asia, underground house church setting, and it was two weeks spending time studying the Word together with these poor farmers with little to nothing. And even their studying 12 hours a day during those two weeks was economically killing them because they were not out in their fields, but they wanted the word.

17:06 And so we get to the end of that time and they start passing around an offering. They want to give an offering to me for teaching them the word. And I told the main leader, I said, no, you're not going to give an offering to me. I don't want, certainly don't need offering from these folks. And he said, no, we're going to give you an offering. It is the grace of God that causes us to give. And we teach our people to give. And they believe it's important, according to the gospel, to give. So they're going to give you an offering. And so I walk away with what in dollars was meager, but was a wealth in that context. Two months after Hurricane Katrina and our house going underwater in New Orleans, where Heather and I were living when I was teaching at the seminary there.

17:59 Go to Indonesia two months after the hurricane and I'm teaching at an Indonesian seminary and they find out about what had happened in New Orleans. They're sharing different things. They find out. Now this is a country that a couple of years prior, you know, had seen a quarter of a million people wiped off the face of the planet just like that. And if you've been to other countries, particularly those who have been hit by natural disasters. You know, there was all kinds of, obviously, all kinds of criticism about how the U.S. government handles Katrina. We have no clue what it is like to be left alone when it comes to natural disaster, as our brothers and sisters do, particularly in the two-thirds world. When a natural disaster hits, there's no support network for that. It's decades before anything begins to happen in some context. And so here in Indonesia, in a context with rural pastors from impoverished places in Indonesia, they come together and they hear about the need in New Orleans.

19:03 And they say, we're taking up an offering. They start giving. They start sacrificing. And I come back to New Orleans to the seminary with a gift. Even last week, check this out. Last week I was in, I was preaching at a student leadership conference. And some of these students heard about what we do with Secret Church and how we take biblical teaching, translate it into different languages in the world, and then have that recorded in audio in those languages, and then go into house churches or different places around the world and give basically free iPods, MP3 players, whatever they are, loaded with just biblical teaching to encourage the church there. And so they heard about that, and they heard that I was going to Cuba this next week. And so they started saying, well, let's take a collection together to send some iPods to Cuba. And so these teenagers started getting their money together, which is great because you know it's like mom and dad's money for the most part. So bingo, like mom and dad might not have given it, but these guys are eager.

20:02 So they're giving it and they collected $2,500. These students just start coming together. I mean, I come back with a money bag full of $1 bills and like quarters that total $2,500. And some, some didn't have money, cash to give. And so they just started coming up to me with iPods. And it was like we should have had an altar call and just had everybody come lay down your iPod on the stairs. Like, if you really love Jesus, this is what, but that's what they were doing. We never did that. But they were coming up. and even when I was leaving, God came up, hey, take this iPod and give it to him. They want a picture there. And so I want to say to you tonight in the same vein of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, if our brothers and sisters in house churches by the grace of God in Indonesia, by the grace of God, and students by the grace of God with very little resources are digging sacrificially to how they can give for the glory of Christ and his kingdom, then how can we in the wealthiest county in Alabama dig sacrificially by the same grace of Christ that is in us and let that overflow to the glory of God.

21:11 That's the picture. Let's give out of the abundance of grace. What if we did that? What if we gave in the same proportion at which they gave? what if we gave in the same proportion at which they gave? That leads into, okay, when we give out an abundance of grace, it means we give willingly. This is what grace does. Grace in our hearts causes us to give willingly. Listen to verse three and four. This is great. Paul says, For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. People with nothing giving beyond their ability, entirely on their own. Listen to verse four. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. They begged to give.

22:05 Ha, like, when do Christians, like, come together and say, we want the offering now. Now, like please, can we pass the baskets like multiple times in the service? We are pleading with you for the privilege of giving. Let's give like four or five times during the service. We want to give. That's the picture here. People in poverty saying we want to give. This is the effect of grace. Notice that all of these things, because it is driven by grace, grace in our hearts, this is not natural giving. This is a supernatural kind of giving that begs. Grace makes beggars out of the people of God, people who are begging to give.

22:57 God, do this kind of work in our hearts. We give based on God's blessing. This is the point because it's driven by grace. When chapter eight, verse one says, now brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. notice this. Macedonian churches are giving not because of anything they have manufactured, but because of what God has given to them. It is God who started this whole picture by pouring out his grace. So they're giving based on the grace, the blessing of God that was given to them. We give based on God's blessing and we give at least, we give at least according to our ability. verse 3 there we read just a second ago they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability you get over to verse 12 the reason i put that at least there in parentheses is because verse 12 says paul says if the willingness is there the gift is acceptable according to what one has not according to what he does not have so we give according to our abilities what verse 12 7, verse 12 is saying, and these Macedonian churches gave him beyond that. And this is the lesson of the widow's offering in Mark 12. You remember? Everybody's giving all sorts of money.

24:14 Widow comes and drops two copper coins in. And Jesus says, everyone else gave out of their wealth. She gave out of her poverty. She gave all that she has. This is where we realize that God measures the value, so to speak, of a gift in a very different way than we do. because God looks at what is given in proportion to that which can be given. And what 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is teaching is give as much as you can, willingly as much as you can.

24:56 I talked to a friend of mine, incredible brother who lives in North Africa this week, and I was reminded of an email he had sent to me. It sums this up. He's living in the middle of unreached people, many of whom, the people groups that he is working with, very few of them have heard the gospel. He said, how many people have not believed because they've not heard? What will it take for them to hear? And have they not heard because there's no one to tell them? What can we do in obedience to God to change a world in which there are millions and millions of people who cannot call on the name of the Lord because they haven't believed, and who haven't believed because there's no one to tell them. Most of us would say we know the answer to that question, and many of us would say we were even doing things to change the situation, but the truth is, and this is where it pierces me, the truth is there will continue to be millions and millions of people who do not hear as long as we continue to use spare time and spare money to reach them. Those are two radically different questions. What can we spare and what will it take?

26:03 when we ask what can we spare it leads to giving begrudgingly when we ask what will it take it leads to giving willingly want to give want to give begging to give because we see a need and we're responding to it it's what grace does in our hearts so are we are you are we as a faith family we're giving willingly like this second we give generously because of grace Grace welling up in us causes us to give generously. Rich generosity there it said in verse 2. And the principle here, the truth, is what Paul starts that second section that we read a minute ago. Chapter 9, verse 6, off with. 2 Corinthians 9, 6. Remember this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

26:59 So the picture is very simple. We reap what we sow. We know this. A farmer, if he harvests small seed, little seed, there'll be little harvest. If the farmer plants great seed, then there will be great harvest. And so this is the picture with giving. There's truths that begin to flow because what Paul does from verse 6 to 7 to 8 and 9 just builds and builds and builds and builds and really kind of circles around this truth in a variety of different ways. And the point is, here's the picture, Generous giving to God. I'll show this to you. Generous giving to God results in greater giving from God. Generous giving to God results in greater giving from God. Now I want to pause real quick before our minds even think through that process that, okay, what we don't mean, what 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is not teaching, is that if you give to God, you'll get rich.

28:01 that if you give to God, you'll be wealthy in this world and you'll have all the stuff that you want. Health and wealth, prosperity, not gospel. Not gospel. And the Macedonians debunk that whole idea because they're still impoverished even though they're given generously. Our brothers and sisters in house churches around the world debunk that idea because they're still impoverished but they give radically. This is not a measure. of their faith. If they had more faith, they wouldn't be in that condition. Blasphemy doesn't add up with the word.

28:40 Sorry, little side note there. But the picture here is that God gives generously to us as we are giving radically to others. That's the picture. We think, now this is totally different than the way we think, the way our economics works, so to speak. We think you keep more, you have more, right? Hoard more, store it in barns. Keep more and you'll have more. Scripture's teaching, give more and you'll have more. And the picture is the generosity of God constantly replenishing the people of God as we're giving. That's the picture all the way down to verse 11. Generous giving to God results in greater giving from God. God gives enough for us. Get this out there and then show this to you, especially in verse 8 and then verse 11. God gives enough for us and He gives abundance for others.

29:45 He gives enough for us and abundance for others. Enough for us. Verse 8. God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. God is generous to his children. He provides for his children. He is able to make all grace abound to you. He is making grace abound to the Macedonian Christians. They have all they need. That's the picture. God is able to do that. But oftentimes God gives more than we need. He gives more than we need. Why? Listen to 2 Corinthians 9 11. You will be made rich in every way so that, purpose clause, so that you can be generous on every occasion. And through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. So why? Well, God is able to give all that you need. Why does God sometimes give more than we need? Now, American answer to that question, even American Christian answer to that question, God gives us more so that we can have more.

31:05 If I've got more, well, let's start looking for a bigger house. let's start looking for a nicer car. If I've got more, then let's get some nicer clothes. And if the income goes up, then the standard of living automatically must go up. The reality is standard of living is probably higher than living above our means in most contexts, like Birmingham. and so we think we have more so what God gives more so we can have more stuff and scripture says no God gives more so that you can be generous on every occasion so that you can give more when God gives more when God adds to the enough when he gives abundance it's not that not so that our standard of living will increase, but so that our standard of giving will increase. That's the picture that Scripture's giving us here. It's the whole picture. And we talked about this last fall when we were walking through the rich young man. We talked about John Wesley. 1731 realizes, comes to the conviction that he needs to define what is enough for him. So that, so that when God entrust anything more to him, he has got to define enough, so to speak. This is what I'm going to live on, and I'll be able to give away anything that goes above that. And so he defines his enough, his 28 pounds, that's his enough. That's what he can live on in 1731. And that year he makes 30 pounds for his salary, so he gives two pounds away. Next year doubled his income, and so he gave 32 pounds away. Next year, income's up to 90 pounds. Fourth year, 120 pounds. It kept going up and up and up and up, all the way to the point where one year his income was slightly over 1,400 pounds.

33:08 He gave away all but 28. That's the equivalent, today's wages, of making $160,000 in the year and living on $20,000. When he died in 1791, 60 years later, the only money mentioned in his will was the miscellaneous coins that he found in his pockets and dresser drawers. Most of the 30,000 pounds he had earned in his lifetime, he had given away. So what happens? What happens when you and I in the wealthiest county in Alabama, and I know there are different incomes represented all across this room, but we know that all of us are incredibly wealthy compared to the rest of the world.

33:59 And so what happens when you and I in this culture, go totally against the grain of what this culture says to do, and define enough. As best as we can, biblically, practically, to define enough, and then to say anything above enough, I'm not going to store away in barns, and I'm not going to spend on greater luxuries, I'm not going to spend it on myself. I want anything above enough that God entrusts, It's going to be given for the sake of the lost and the poor and the church around the world. What happens when that begins to take over our thinking? Grace in our hearts causes us. Now, you know what is so exciting at that point?

34:48 Now we're free to, like, ask God for lots of money. and my encouragement to you as a pastor at that point is make lots of money like tons of money for the sake of the kingdom of God like work hard and give it away and let the generosity of God that is given to you enable you to now be generous on every occasion and it will result in great thanksgiving to God. That's the picture here. God help us to define our enough. Now this is a process. This hasn't changed overnight, just like I mentioned with the church and with our lives.

35:38 Heather and I are just vulnerable and continually in this process, especially since last fall and continuing in a variety of different ways to try to define what that is. I want to encourage us for the sake of the glory of Christ, Let's not waste our lives on getting more stuff. What happens when we decide that a $75,000 income does not necessitate a $75,000 standard of living or 100 or 125 or anything else, whatever it may be? What's the enough? God gives enough for us and he gives abundance for others. We give generously. We give willingly, generously. This is grace. Only grace does this. It makes no sense. This is not money management 101 tonight in American culture. That's not the picture. This is 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

36:32 We give willingly, generously, and we give cheerfully. This is almost funny. Verse 7. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. The word literally means a hilarious giver, one who gives. Like, as the offering baskets pass, I mean, you just picture, yes, love, giving. That's the picture. You see how God looks at giving so differently than us. we've already talked about the ability to give now the attitude and giving these things are important to God God loves a cheerful giver and what's really interesting go back to to chapter 8 real quickly and look at verse 8 I want you to listen what Paul says here it's extremely important Paul says chapter 8 verse 8 I am not commanding you but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

37:52 And this is where we hear Paul say that and we take a step back and we realize in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, there's not a command to give. there's not a command to give. There's a pattern of giving. There's a precedent kind of set by the Mass. There's not a command here to give. Then you begin to broaden the search a bit. You don't see it in the New Testament either. You don't see a requirement to give.

38:22 Now, you do see Romans chapter 13 and in Matthew, you see a requirement to give to government authorities, to pay taxes, Romans 13 says. We're required to give in that way. But the picture here is we are not forced by God to give. We're not forced by God to give. It's not even a command here. I mean, you'd think if Paul really wanted to raise some money, he'd say, I'm writing Scripture here, do it. But he doesn't. Why not? this is where we come to and this is going to be way too brief of an overview admittedly from the start but it's important here because the tithe is not addressed here in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and for that matter it's mentioned in the context of the Old Testament law in a couple of different places in the Gospels but when we look back at the Old Testament tithe the picture is Leviticus chapter 27 One of a variety of places where it was told to the people of God to give a tithe, a tenth, to the Levites who would do the administration, the whole priestly system, sacrificial system.

39:43 But even more than that, what you find is in Deuteronomy. They're also told to give a tithe to support the festivals that go on. and then another place in Deuteronomy they're told to give a tithe to support the poor and so there is required giving a required tithe in the Old Testament law what we need to realize is Old Testament this was a theocracy the Levites were literally like civil government leaders so to speak and what you had was a picture where there was required giving for the maintenance of the nation more like taxes. And when you put those two, those different tithes together, it was really more than 10%, totaled up to, some say close to 30, most say between 20 and 25, but somewhere between 20 and 30%.

40:37 More like taxes. Even taxes that we would pay today are a similar percentage in many contexts. So intertwined, another place in the Old Testament, you had free will gifts. You had Exodus, I think Exodus 25, When take up an offering and take up whatever a man's heart moves him to give. And so the picture is Old Testament required tithe for the maintenance of the nation. New Testament requirement, command to give taxes for the maintenance of the civil government. That's the picture here. But you don't see giving to the church forced, required, so to speak. And this is where we need to realize that we don't give to the church like we give to the IRS.

41:30 We don't give because we're forced to give. We give because of grace in us. God is not forcing us to give. God has freed us to give. That's the point of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. He has not forced us to give. He has freed us to give. Now, here's the problem. When we come to the tithe and we say, well, are we supposed to tithe? And what we're looking for is some kind of mathematical formula that we can say, okay, what do I need to give in order to make sure I'm okay? And that misses the whole point of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. And therefore, the question should not be asked. People even ask, well, what do I tithe on? My gross income or my net income?

42:15 This is a question that does not come to our minds and our hearts when we are giving generously and willingly and sacrificially and cheerfully. We want to give all that we can. And we're not looking for an arbitrary level to say, okay, this is the requirement for me, so I'm just going to do that, and I'll be okay. I'll have that box checked off. Not New Testament teaching at all. At all. Yet it is prevalent when we think about giving. My encouragement would be, and this is the way I look at it in my life, life, like my encouragement would be, yes, I think there's obviously an Old Testament principle of a tithe here and there are truths that are revealed about God and his relationship with his people, Malachi 3.10, other texts like that, yes, that there's an Old Testament principle, so to speak, that we honor in a sense, but I would say only to the extent that if it would be helpful for the tithe to be a starting point, a starting point at best, but grace giving is so radically different than a tithe. And tithe undercuts, undercuts the picture that 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is painting here. Paul says, I am not commanding you to give.

43:30 Old Testament tithe is not your standard of giving anymore. What's your standard of giving, New Testament church. Look at verse 9. 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. This leads us, we give out of an abundance of grace, willingly, generously, cheerfully, not because we're forced to give, because we're free to give, and we want to give all that we can. That's the New Testament picture. It leads us to we give as a demonstration of the gospel. Our standard of giving is not the Old Testament tithe. Our standard of giving is the Son of God on a cross. And we look at giving in light of the cross, in light of the gospel, and giving is a demonstration of the gospel. Paul goes from talking about these Macedonian Christians to elevating it to a whole other level. And he says, look at Christ. You want to see how to give? Here's how we give. We sacrifice our rights for others. Doubtless, doubtless Christians in Corinth were making excuses for why they could not give, why they were not able to give.

44:48 Now, and I know, I know that around this room, there are all kinds of financial situations represented. So I want to tread lightly here, so to speak, because I know there's so many different scenarios in this room. But the whole point of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is, look at the people who have nothing, absolutely nothing. They're begging on the streets, and they gave deeply.

45:12 And so grace transforms, the gospel transforms our hearts so that we're not looking for excuses as much as we're looking for opportunities. How can I sacrifice more. There are times when we think, give according to our ability. Well, I'm just not able to give that much. I'm just not able to. When it comes down to the bottom line at the end of the month, I'm not able to give that much. And this is where I'm humbled, convicted, and convinced. I'm convinced the majority of us, including myself, in this context, we are not giving according to our ability, including myself.

45:51 And a very small percentage of us are really giving beyond our ability. Now, it's not to say that it's not tough at the end of the month, but the reality is we have so filled our lives with so many things we do not need that leave us with a little bit at the end. but that's where we got to unpack the rest of this picture and do the hard work of saying what do we need? What is our enough? We sacrifice our rights for others. We serve a Savior who left his throne in glory and took on a robe of human flesh and lived as a homeless man. Luke 9, 57 and 58.

46:39 He is our example in giving. and sacrifice our rights for others and we spend our resources on others. Consider the richness of Christ here and what he did. And when we spend our resources on others, we demonstrate the gospel. This is the whole point. When you get over to verse 13, he says, You have proved yourselves. Men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ. I love that phrase in verse 13 of chapter 9. Your obedience accompanies your confession of the gospel. They didn't just believe the gospel or talk about the gospel in Macedonia. They showed what the gospel looks like. In abject poverty, giving and rich generosity. That's gospel. And it's the picture. We demonstrate the gospel when we give radically. But what do we say? What do we demonstrate when we acquire and get more and more stuff just like everybody else in the world?

47:35 Are we showing the gospel? No. No, we're showing the world that we like all the same stuff they do. And they look at us and they say, you've got the same stuff I do. You just tack on Jesus on Sundays. the reality is we're pursuing the same stuff we're running after the same stuff God help us God take this church and help us to show a picture of the gospel take my life and my family God help us to show a picture of the gospel with radical giving demonstration of the gospel such that people would look at our faith family and say they don't just talk about the gospel do you see the way they give You give until it hurts.

48:29 There's something different there. It's a picture of Christ in the gospel. We give as a demonstration of the gospel out of an abundance of grace to promote thanksgiving to God. And this is the whole point. Verse 11, through us your generosity, chapter 9, verse 11, through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people, but it's also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Here's the picture. God gives grace. His people give generously, and God gets glory. You catch that? God gives grace to give. His people give out of the abundance of grace, and he gets glory. The one who gives the grace always gets the glory. That's the whole point of the church in Macedonia. It's not to lift them up. It's to lift up the grace of God in them to the glory of God because their giving overflows in many expressions of thanks to God. It's why we can celebrate, why we must, we should celebrate like we did earlier. Look at what God is doing by His grace all across this faith family, and it overflows in thanksgiving to God. That's the picture. When we, two facets here, promote thanksgiving to God because giving unites the people of God. It unites the people of God. I'm going to fly through this part right here, but at the end of verse 14, it says, in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you. Their hearts will go out to you. Check this out. When the people in Jerusalem get this offering from impoverished churches in Macedonia, what do you think that is going to do in the relationship between these saints in Jerusalem and saints in Macedonia.

50:13 Warm hearts, unity among the people of God. In the same way that when I go to Cuba this week and say to house church pastors there, here is a gift from brothers and sisters in Georgia and Alabama. Here's a gift and you're not alone. There are brothers and sisters who are praying for you and want this to be an expression of the grace of God to you from them. That's unity among the people of God. giving creates community. It's why it's a part of our church covenant because if we do not give, if we are hoarders that are holding on to our stuff and not generously giving, then that radically affects community. Then we're a bunch of people in here that want to keep to ourselves and keep everything to ourselves. Instead of coming with open hands into community, that radically changes community. We give regularly to the church. This is not specifically addressed in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

51:07 but I wanted to hit on it real briefly here, and you might write down some of these passages because this is important as we talk about giving in the church. We give regularly to the church. 1 Corinthians 16, verse one and two. 1 Corinthians 16, one and two is the picture where we see when the New Testament church gathered together in the Lord's day, they made it a practice to regularly, systematically give as they gather together. It's the precedent by which we do what we do, and we gather together in the Lord's day, and we give, we give systematically, intentionally. We give regularly to the church. And you saw in the church covenant, we give cheerfully and generously to the support of the church. 1 Timothy 5, verse 17 through 19, coupled with Ephesians 4, a biblical picture of giving to support of the church, support of equipping ministry in the church, to the relief of the poor, obviously here in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Romans 15, Galatians 2, verse 10.

52:00 Paul says to Peter, remember the poor. Remember to give to the poor. Galatians 2.10. And then the spread of the gospel through all nations. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 6 through 14. We give. It's biblical. We need to give so that people will proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. And so when we commission a couple from our faith family in a few weeks that's going to another country to make the gospel known, it's biblical to give to help that become a reality. That's what's depicted there. We give regularly to the church for those purposes, and then the church deals responsibly with our gift. This is the second half of 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians 8, 16 through 24. Paul goes out of his way to make sure it's clear that when the church gives this gift, it will be handled responsibly and wisely. When you get to verse 21, he says, we will take pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men. And I wanted to take a moment to point out, and some of you may know, may not know, even how it works in this faith family, but we have. We have elders, which we'll talk about next week, and then we have a stewardship team. A finance team, an elder provides a spiritual oversight for that team, but the stewardship team is men and women in this faith family, a group of men and women who make sure that we are wisely, responsibly handling the money that is given to this church.

53:24 to make sure that it's not being used inappropriately in any way. And they work with staff, Donnie Arendt, Gene Adams, who work with administration and other folks working together on this. And just if I could brag on them for a moment, every year auditors come in, look at the picture, every year come back. Extremely well done. Above reproach. Just seemingly faultless. I mean, all the way down to the T. It's just they do an incredible job. So I praise God for their diligence to making sure we deal responsibly with gifts. So giving unites the people of God and then giving exalts the goodness of God. Giving unites the people of God and giving exalts the goodness of God. I love the way Paul ends. 2 Corinthians 9, 15, he says, thanks be after all this. This is what he says. Thanks be to God for his gift, his indescribable gift. Giving overflows and thanksgiving to God for the way he gives.

54:23 So, so dream with me for a minute. Just indulge a bit of dreaming for a minute. Most recent statistic study that I came across that I could find said between a third and a half of church members in America today give to their churches. Give anything. I'm not talking 10% tithe anything. Just give anything between a third and a half. So maybe 40%, somewhere in the middle there. Actually give anything of church members. And this to me just reinforces, we need to re-understand, look at Scripture and what it means to be a member of the body of Christ because that is, it's biblically ludicrous. the idea that you can be committed to a local body of believers and yet give nothing to a local body of believers.

55:21 That flies right in the face of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. And it's not that we are required to give X amount. If you don't give this amount, you're not a member. That's not the picture. That's not what 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is saying. But if you have the grace of Christ in you, if the grace of Christ and the gospel of Christ is overflowing from your heart, then we give, period. And if that has not been a practice in your life, my encouragement would be to you, not here's the number, make sure to start giving that next week, but my encouragement would be to you to go to God and ask Him to change your heart because grace is the foundation for our giving and only God can do that kind of work. So ask for grace to give generously and willingly, cheerfully, all these things we've talked about. but what if we did?

56:11 What if 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 were actually a reality, not just among the Macedonian church, but among the church at Brook Hills? And what if, what if tithe, instead of being this, okay, let me make sure I check this off, and so I'm okay. Maybe, what if it was a starting point for men and women, brothers and sisters across this faith family? What if every member of this church had that as a starting point? you do the math dream with me what would happen watch this with me dream with me if we did that in a year in one year if we said okay this year we're going to use that as a starting point and we're going to be grace givers and that's our starting point watch this with me If you are a member of this faith family, if you are visiting with us tonight and attender, we certainly welcome you and we hope that you have been blessed with studying the Word, but particularly for those of you who are members of this faith family.

57:17 I want to encourage and to challenge you tonight to let this time tonight in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 be a spiritual marker for you in your journey. And let this time tonight in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, some of you may, old news, new all of this, grace giving, reality, it's flowing, begging to give. if that's the case, praise the Lord. Continue. I hope you're encouraged. But, if this picture of grace giving has not been a reality in your Christian life, to say tonight, God, I need you to do a work in my heart, in my family's heart. And again, it's not necessarily even an overnight thing. There's all kinds of stuff that we fill our lives with.

58:14 It takes time. But to say tonight, I want to be a grace giver. Not, okay, here's the number, now do it.