Discipleship and giving
2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Money is a touchy subject for Christians – Luther said there were three stages to conversion, our hearts, our heads and finally our wallets. It can be a dangerous subject for ministers to preach on! But what we do with our goods is vital part of discipleship as Paul spells out here:
1) Grace
four times Paul uses the word in 8 verses: discipleship is impossible without grace. Grace is God's unmerited favour and saving power at work in us. And Paul stresses that it's at the root of our lives as disciples.
i) transformed by grace: v7 because of v8; 1 Corinthians 1:4-6; we see it in the sweep of Ephesians 2:4-10 where Paul talks about us being lifted from the gutter to the throne, from death to life and despair to hope by the grace of God embodied in Jesus. We see it in the sweep of John's gospel: 1:14, 17b describes Jesus as full of grace. The narrative proper opens with the miracle of multiplication at Cana (2:1-11) and closes with the miracle of the great catch of fish (21:1-14). Jesus is full of grace and we are invited to put our trust in him in the context of this lavish generosity (see 1 John 3:1)
If we're not swept up in this the inevitably we'll keep our goods for ourselves because they're all we've got, all we can hope in:
Have we been touched by God's grace? Have we been forgiven? filled with Holy Spirit? fired by his Kingdom and love?
What effect has this had on my attitude to money?
ii) taken up by God: when we experience grace, we gain a new perspective on life; the world not same; we have new priorities because Jesus is Lord and he calls shots in our lives: Galatians 2:20. We see the effect of this in the response of the Macedonians (people of Philippi) – poor and persecuted but pressing Paul to be part of his ministry: Why? Because of grace (1) that led to action (not talk) outlined in v2-4
2) Giving
This grace turns us inside out – turning us from grabbers to givers; from having a 'what's in it for me' mentality to one that asks 'what can I do to make it happen?' But note the order in which things happen.
i) to God (5): the Macedonians first gave themselves to God. Christian living and work is about the Kingdom of God, not empire-building apostles and ministers. When touched by God, we give ourselves totally to him, we want to see things he wants to see – justice, equality (13-15 – dangerous word but it's there!), hope where there's only despair, a shot at John 10:10 life for everyone.
ii) to us (5b): having given themselves to God, they saw that Paul's project was right and gave themselves to that. The collection that Paul speaks of here was an offering he took up among the Gentile churches he planted around the Eastern Mediterranean to give to the poor Jewish churches in Palestine who'd be badly hit by famine. It was a service to the saints (4). We can read about it in Acts 24:17; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8-9, Romans 15:27 and elsewhere. It ws part of Paul's ministry for twenty years or so because discipleship is not a solo venture; it's something we do it together – same here & now as there & then:
at Park Road we are committed to mission and pastoral care (hence Simon and Brian leading in those areas); we are seeking to bring the good news of Jesus to people in Bromley. We're hoping to add a youth specialist to ensure the rising generation hear and are discipled in this good news. And because we are a baptist church, the only source of funding for all this work is those who come each week
in the wider world – the support of missionaries at home and overseas: bringing John 10:10 to as many as possible; a little of 2 Corinthians 8:13-14 to poorest of poor.
The Macedonians gave themselves to Paul – a solid praying and playing their part in making things happen and paying their way sort of giving.
What about us and Park Road: have we caught the vision of what could be achieved by our working together? Are we on-board with that vision, committed to supporting it with our prayers, playing what part we can in it and helping to pay for it? What needs to happen to help us aboard?
iii) our money: cash comes a poor third in Paul's thinking even though it was essential to his collection. After all, without hard cash, Paul would have nothing to take to Jerusalem. So money does enter picture because it matters for 2 reasons:
our giving shows that we've really met the generous Jesus (8) and been changed by him. But it's important to see that size not really the issue (12). Paul does not tell people how much to give, doesn't mention tithing (not taught in the New testament), doesn't tell the church how to organise its finances. The issue for Paul is 'are we serious about Jesus? ' If we are, then our wallets will be put at his disposal for the work he wants to see happen in the world.
Our giving signals our desire to show our commitment to gospel in tangible way
When grace invades our lives, nothing's left untouched – not even our wallet! So when we're thinking about this issue of giving and our discipleship we need to ask ourselves: have we been invaded by grace? Are we giving ourselves to God? Are we giving to his work here? How?