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Pentecost 4b
2 Cor. 8:1-9, 13-15
Godly Charity
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also." In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus told us
to lay up our treasures in heaven, not on earth. Heavenly treasures
are eternal; earthly ones have wings and fly away. I guess we've
seen that first hand over the last year. But Jesus told this
to us not just as a word of wisdom, but also as a loving invitation
to enter more deeply into knowing, loving, and trusting God.
In short, God wants your money because He wants your heart.
Some people feel it is unreasonable and inappropriate for
the Church to talk about how Christians manage their private
finances. People even use this as their excuse not to come to
church. I've heard it said that some think that the Church asks
for money too much, but really it is God who is asking so very
much of us. The God we worship is the same one who demanded that
Abraham offer up his son on the altar. As he was about to go
through with it, Abraham's willingness was sufficient to prove
him and confirm him in his faith. He didn't have to actually
slit his boy's throat after all, for in the trial Abraham revealed
his heart. Abraham too discovered the strength of his own faith
and his absolute commitment to follow God no matter what. When
he was binding his son, when he was raising the blade, when by
force of will he chose to make that final unthinkable choice,
just before the Voice told him to stop, it was enough; Abraham
had, for all intents and purposes offered up his son and his
very self fully to God.
In our Epistle lesson today, we find that the Macedonian Christians
did something similar, but their whole-hearted sacrifice was
not accomplished gritting their teeth in faith and tense determination.
St. Paul had told them about the need of the Christians in Palestine.
A collection was being raised, relief would be sent to the brothers
and sisters in Christ. Now these Palestinian Christians were
people the Macedonians didn't even know, but they knew them to
be part of the family of God and an honored part, too. They were
the Jewish Christians, many of them had known Jesus, some 500
of them had even seen the risen Lord. All of them had been among
the first believers, they were the Church which passed on the
faith to the rest of the world; and all of them were suffering
persecution from their Jewish countrymen. The wider church was
grateful for that Gospel message and feeling how the Spirit had
knit them all together in the fellowship of God's love, they
wanted to help.
When the appeal for the collection came their way, the Macedonians
could have made excuses. There were needs closer to home. There
was no direct and mysterious command of God like Abraham had
heard, no order to offer up their firstborn. It was only an opportunity
to provide some support, to give some relief to help those less
fortunate than themselves. For the Macedonians, it was an opportunity
they just didn't want to miss. They practically begged Paul to
take their offerings, and they made them large and generous,
far beyond what Paul himself had expected.
This is recorded in Sacred Scripture as a model for us today.
In their response and in Paul's description of it, we discover
the chief characteristics of Christian stewardship and Christian
charity, the kind of giving which our Lord calls us all to.
Paul describes their generous response as "the grace
of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia."
When we speak of grace, we usually mean the saving grace of God
- His divine favor freely lavished upon us for the sake of Jesus
Christ. Because of grace, the Son of God came down from heaven
and became our brother. Because of grace, He went to the cross
for us. It is by this grace, then, that we have the full forgiveness
of sins and eternal life with God, according to His own Word
of promise. But the Macedonian's charity was grace too, because
it also was a gift of God, a transformation of the heart
worked by God. Christian charity grows out of God's own gracious
gift of His Son. We who know God's favor in Christ live in grace,
and by the Spirit of God we can show the same kind of gracious
and giving love which we have received from the Father.
Paul continues: "In a severe test of affliction, their
abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in
a wealth of generosity." Let's say that again slowly: Their
generosity obviously didn't come from their material surplus
but from their heart's abundance. You see what I meant before
about the kinds of excuses the Macedonians could have made? But
the godly practice of charity is not hindered by circumstances
- neither trials nor poverty would keep these Christians from
finding some way to be giving. In the great love chapter of 1
Cor. 13, Paul says that love is not "self-seeking."
It seeks the good of others. Although we could come up with reasons
why we need all of our resources for ourselves, love sees that
we have been given enough to share, we can live on less, and
others need some of what we have more than we do - whether that's
to provide clothes for the naked, food for the hungry, or the
light of the Gospel for those lost in darkness. The Macedonians
had great poverty, but more than that, they had great joy, great
joy in Jesus and in the gift of His salvation. That joy made
it easy for them to sacrifice from their basic necessities. Jesus
had already answered their greatest need. He had given them such
joy that it was easy to recognize how they could supply what
others needed.
"They gave according to their means." The Biblical
expectation of charity is proportionate giving. Those who have
much should give much, those who have little can give little
- but the portion of their income can be the same. There are
no "dues" in the church, no fixed rate for everyone.
I've seen a church body that runs that way and it does no spiritual
good. In Brazil there's a denomination where everyone is expected
to pay a few dollars to the church every year. It is all carefully
recorded, so the church knows if you fall behind and they know
how far. Then, if you come to the church wanting a marriage ceremony
for yourself and your fiancé or a baptism for your child,
you can't have it, not until you've paid up. Now, those people
who found it hard to give, say, $25 a year find it impossible
when they're told they now owe $250 because they haven't contributed
for 10 years. In terms of godly charity, the amounts of money
involved in pitifully small, but the system so focuses on those
little numbers, everything so depends on them, that those small
amounts get magnified and become huge barriers between people
and the Church and - for many - these little amounts become barriers
between them and God. The Spirit of the New Testament allows
no fixed dues in church. Jesus sent his disciples out with the
admonition: Freely you have received, freely give. We have received
God's grace and mercy freely and so we continue to give it away
for free to all who will but receive it. There is no charge for
a Baptism or an absolution or a funeral.
Jesus also said that those to whom God has given much, from
them much is expected. In the Old Testament, the proportion was
established as a tithe: 10%. If Christians practiced that much,
then a full-time pastor's salary could be afforded whenever 10
families gathered together. Each of them giving a 10th of their
income would provide a full income for the pastor and his family.
Good Mormons are expected to tithe in order to remain in good
standing - and the Mormon Religion is one of the wealthiest,
with resources for monumental temples and worldwide missions.
They even own whole companies like Marriott and huge stock portfolios.
Now if Mormons can give so much due to the compulsion of the
law and the requirements and the obligations of their religion,
shouldn't Christians easily give that much because we have the
Gospel? They have to pay up or they'll lose their good standing
in the church. We've been given our standing before God freely
by the message of God's undeserved love lavished upon us sinners
in Jesus Christ. It is sad that Mormons appear to accomplish
more out of fear than Christians do out of the joy of their salvation.
The New Testament does not require the tithe anywhere. That
would be too little to ask. In the New Testament the standard
is not 10% but 100%, because our Lord gave Himself wholly to
us, 100%; He held nothing back. So we are wholly His, 100%, and
we would offer our all to Him. This doesn't mean that we sell
our homes and cars, empty our bank accounts into the offering
plate and become barefoot beggars, living under bridges or out
in open fields. It does mean that even when we spend money on
our family or on ourselves we do so in the Lord's Name, as the
Lord's managers of our God-given responsibilities. In His Name
we endeavor to use godly wisdom and godly priorities in providing
for our loved ones and for ourselves, looking for ways in which
we can bring God's blessings into ever-widening circles beyond
ourselves. With the proclamation of the gift of Christ, we suddenly
find we no longer have rights to our money. It all comes from
God; it's all His. The Christian life isn't about rights, anyway,
but privileges - our privilege to serve our loving Lord with
all we are and all we have.
The Macedonians knew this, because, as Paul reports, "they
gave beyond their means." Godly givers give sacrificially,
just as God gave His Son, not sparing the treasure dearest to
His heart. Remember how Jesus praised the widow who threw her
last coin into the temple treasury? "She gave more than
all the others," He said. In throwing in that coin she was
throwing herself in, throwing herself completely upon the mercies
of God, trusting Him to provide for her. Christians have such
freedom to give sacrificially, wantonly, with care-free abandon
because they know the Father, who sacrificially offered up His
Son cares for us, providing us with life and salvation.
The Macedonians gave "of their own free will." Godly
givers give from the inner motivations granted by the Spirit
of God. Compulsion or requirements in giving do not please God.
A required gift is not truly a gift, but an obligation fulfilled,
a duty completed, a kind of debt paid to guilt to get it off
your back. True gifts build relationships with concrete ties
of love between the giver and the receiver. But once a debt is
paid, the obligation is over and the relationship at an end.
We don't really have tender feelings toward the banks which lent
us money and charged us interest. But we may well remember when
we gave charity to the tsunami victims - our heart went out to
them and, to a degree, we still feel a connection to their plight
and trials. When you give of your own free will, you give your
heart too.
Paul next reports that the Macedonians "were begging
us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the
saints." Godly givers count it is an honor and delight to
take part in God's work of helping others. It gives them enormous
satisfaction to deny themselves so that others may have what
they need. This is the way of Christ, who did not begrudge offering
up His own life, in order to rescue us from sin, death, and eternal
damnation.
Paul further praises the Macedonians, saying, "they gave
themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us."
Godly giving is a self-giving. It flows from the recognition
of the relationships we have with God and with others. If we
only consider who we are before God without any awareness of
how this connects us to others, if our Christianity is just "me
and Jesus" with no room for the people God has given us
as brothers and sisters in Christ, then our giving will be stunted
or non-existent. What does God need with our money? As he said,
the cattle on a thousand hills are His. But if we recognize that
He has given us Himself and His people - and not only His people,
but He has entrusted to us all people as the object of His compassion
and the scope of His saving mission, then we give ourselves not
only fully to God but fully to others as well. He has given to
us every human being we encounter to be recipients of our love
and care.
Finally, in all this reporting about the Macedonians, Paul
was aiming to stimulate the Corinthians not to fall short in
this opportunity for charity. He urges them, "As you excel
in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness,
and in our love for you - see that you excel in this act of grace
also." Growing in godly giving is just one aspect of growth
into the full maturity of Christ, but it is an important aspect.
It is not the only measure of our faith, but it is a measure
of our faith, of how far we have matured in our understanding
of the God's gift to us in Jesus, in our trust of God's sure
care and provision for us, and in our love for others. May the
example of the Macedonians lead us to prayerfully examine our
own patterns of giving. More than that, may the great gift of
Christ, which has enriched us with all the treasures of the kingdom
of heaven, fill us with such gratitude, such joy, that we count
it our privilege and delight to give deeply and sacrificially
from what the Lord has entrusted to us.
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