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Today's scripture reading is from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians,
chapter 8, verses 1 to 15, and chapter 9, verses 12 to 15.
A reading from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.
And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.
Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people.
And they exceeded our expectations.
They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God, also to us.
So we urge Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.
But since you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love that we have kindled in you,
see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,
so that you, through his poverty, might become rich.
And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter.
Last year, you were the first not only to give, but also to have the desire to do so.
Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it,
according to your means.
For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard-pressed, but that there might be equality.
At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn, their plenty will supply what you need.
The goal is equality.
As it is written, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people,
but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves,
others 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.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Thanks for that scripture reading, Maddie.
Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Our Father, we want to hear from you, and we thank you that when your word goes forth,
it does not return void or empty.
We thank you that your word is living and active,
and we ask that it would bring much conviction today,
that it would draw us near to you,
and fix our eyes upon the grace that you've poured out upon us in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
In his name we pray.
Amen.
All right, so I'm going to let you in on a little secret.
You know, back in the fall, me and Jonathan typically plan our full year preaching calendar,
and originally when we had planned this preaching calendar,
we planned for these past three weeks to be a miniseries on giving and generosity.
Because as many of you know, we are in the middle of a capital campaign.
We're trying to raise $250,000 more to meet our $600,000 goal to pay off this building
and to create more usable space for our growing church.
And so we originally planned to preach a miniseries on giving after Easter,
before everyone went on summer vacation.
Because honestly, we'd really like to hit our goal this summer
and just get this capital campaign behind us,
get into August, our new ministry year, looking forward debt-free.
All right, so that was our original strategic plan.
Three sermons on giving, just what you wanted, right?
To promote this capital campaign, to pay off our debt,
and glory to God, right?
Three sermons on giving.
Now, if that sounds like, if that sounded to you like a bad idea,
maybe even manipulative, like two pastors trying to maybe be more strategy-led than spirit-led,
honestly, you're probably right.
And that's why we haven't done that.
As we came toward the end of our last series in the Gospel of Mark,
upon further reflection, Jonathan and I were convicted that actually we need to cast a far
grander vision for our church.
A far grander vision than just some immediate vision of paying off our debt in three to seven months.
We need to cast God's vision.
Something so much grander than just $600,000 to own and upgrade this property.
So in the past two weeks, what you've heard Jonathan do is cast this wider vision of a church united under Christ,
together under one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Father, one Spirit, one body,
and yet at the same time, rich in diversity, right?
Many members, many gifts, many talents, many callings.
And we hope what you've heard so far isn't just a challenge to be more, give more, do more.
But we hope that you've also heard an invitation to have more.
To have more of an experience of the presence and power of God.
To have a deeper communion with Christ and His body, the church.
To have a firmer sense of meaning and purpose and a Spirit-led direction in your life
as you use all the gifts that God has given you to serve Him, to serve the church, and to serve the world.
And so today we're going to wrap up this series, yes, with a sermon on generosity and giving,
because that still is a part of God's vision for the church.
But listen, it's not for the sake of getting more out of this congregation.
It's like accomplish our church's strategic financial objectives.
It's not to alleviate our anxieties about debt and high interest rates, no.
Christ's church exists not to raise capital, but to raise followers and worshipers of Jesus Christ.
Christ's church exists to lead people into deeper relationships with Jesus and His church
through community and for the city.
So as we open up this ancient letter from Paul today,
what I hope to make clear is that God is far less interested in generosity from you
and far more interested in being generous toward you.
And I want you to hear that that's my heart for you this morning as well.
That's the heart behind this sermon.
It's not so much that we want generosity from you, but that we want generosity for you
as the people of God raised with Christ, heirs with Him,
awaiting an imperishable inheritance which we did not earn and which we cannot lose.
As we look at Paul's heart this morning for the church that he planted in Corinth,
we want you to know that this is our heart as well for Christ's church, Christ's church East Bay.
That we as a church might join in the joy of Jesus' generosity.
And that's the main point.
It's a challenge, it's an invitation as well to join in the joy of Jesus' generosity.
Now let's start by looking at Paul's heart for this church in Corinth as he writes what,
it's pretty much just like a fundraising letter.
That's what Maddie just read.
She read a fundraising letter from the Apostle Paul, an ancient one, all right?
Now just a little bit about who Paul is addressing.
Corinth was a city not unlike the Bay Area.
It's a bustling entrepreneurial hub that was being rebuilt by lots and lots of new money flowing in.
This was a place where fortunes could be made, wealth could be created,
even if you weren't necessarily born into the old money Roman aristocracy,
you still had a chance to make it and gain the status and the influence that come with money.
At the same time, what was going on, Paul was writing to the church in Corinth
during a particularly severe famine in the Roman world, one that lasted over 15 years.
Maybe you remember Jesus, he predicted it, and so did the early church prophet Agabus,
he predicted it as well.
And this is verified by historical records.
We know that Egypt had had some very significant crop failures
and that the Middle East was hit with a series of severe droughts.
And so by the time Paul was writing this letter,
the Roman world was in the middle of this like over 15-year famine.
This is around year 10 when Paul's writing this.
And at this time, grain in Corinth was so scarce
that even in wealthy places like Corinth, inflation was hitting so hard.
According to one historical record, the price of grain was about eight times the normal price.
But even as Corinth was being hit, the ones who were being hit the worst were the people in Jerusalem.
The church in Jerusalem is the church that Paul is trying to raise money for.
The mother church, the first church, the church in Jerusalem.
So Paul, you know, what he's doing is, you know, in addition to preaching and teaching
and developing leaders and governing and church planting and really just trying to stay alive, right,
he's now on his third missionary journey and he's become a fundraiser as well,
trying to raise money for the struggling church in Jerusalem.
All right, so that's the context for our passage today.
Now, as an apostle, there are all kinds of moves that he could have made, right,
to raise this money, all kinds of levers he could have pulled, all kinds of favors he could have asked for.
He could have gone, hey, I'm an apostle.
I'm an authoritative apostle.
Give your money to where I say you should give it to.
Or he could have gone that, you know, sappy, sad, guilt-inducing, sad, infomercial route
and said, oh, look at those poor Jerusalem Christians.
Oh, we've got to give something to them.
You should feel guilty that you're living so well, right?
No, he doesn't do that either.
He might have gone the televangelist route, like, hey, give your money
and God's going to give you even more.
Health and wealth, right?
Prosperity gospel, he doesn't do that.
And he doesn't even play the comparison card.
Like, look how much the Macedonian churches have given
and they are way poorer than you,
so shouldn't you give more?
No.
Even while bringing up the example of the Macedonian churches,
notice how he phrases it in verse 1.
And now, brothers and sisters,
we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.
Did you catch that?
He's calling their generosity a grace, a charis,
a gift given to them by God.
Paul's not even highlighting them, like, oh, how great the Macedonian churches are.
No, Paul, for Paul, what he sees and what he is eager to point out
is not the Macedonian churches,
but the gracious hand of God within the Macedonian churches.
See, for Paul, giving generously was not just some, like, righteous act to endorse,
but a gift from God in and of itself.
Look how he describes it in verse 2.
In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty
welled up in rich generosity.
Like, God had so gifted these churches.
His favor and grace were so powerfully at work in them
that even with their own trials, even in extreme poverty,
they were somehow endowed by God with the privilege and honor of overflowing joyful generosity.
When Paul says in verse 1,
I want you to know about the grace that God has given,
he's saying that God has gifted them pretty much with a miracle.
The miracle of generous giving.
Verse 3,
For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability.
Think about that.
How do you give as much as you're able and then even beyond your ability?
Think about that.
How does someone give beyond?
Isn't that the very definition of a miracle?
Like water from a rock, like manna from heaven kind of stuff.
God worked a miracle out of these poverty-stricken churches in Macedonia.
And look, this gift, it wasn't just a gracious gift of God that was financial in character,
but it was a miracle of the heart.
Look at verses 3 and 4.
Paul says,
Entirely on their own,
they urgently pleaded with us
for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people.
Well, the gift here,
the miracle here,
is not simply money unexpectedly flowing from one church account to another church account.
No, the miracle here is a transformation of hearts.
Hearts once only inclined towards self-service,
now poured out in exceeding love for others.
That's a miracle.
I want you to think about that for a second.
What is the tougher, greater, more surprising miracle?
For our church to somehow hit its goal, like tomorrow,
through some mystery donor or some like crazy tax refund or something,
250K, boom, it's done, right?
Is that the most amazing miracle that you can fathom for our church?
Or would it not be a greater miracle for God to so move the hearts of Christ Church East Bay
that every member, 100% of us, might give beyond our ability,
even pleading to do so,
because we've counted such a great privilege to share in what this church is all about,
leading people into deeper relationships with Christ.
And as your pastor, I pray for this second miracle.
I'll take this second miracle any day, over a quarter million dollars,
the miracle of changed hearts,
hearts inclined, desperately pleading to participate in the overflowing joy of generosity
toward the work and the purposes of God.
Regardless of what poverty we may face or experience,
that's the miracle that I want.
That's the gift that I want for us.
And I'm curious if you want that too.
But the question for us this morning, Christ Church, is do we want this miracle?
Do we want this grace that God gave to the Macedonian churches?
Or are we even able to see that as a gracious gift from God?
Like, do we see the generosity that God calls us to as just an edict to obey
or an actual divine gift for us to enjoy?
And do we really believe the words of Jesus who said it is more blessed to give than to receive?
Can we believe him?
Will we take him at his word?
Is it truly more blessed to give?
I want to take you, I want us to consider for a moment,
I want to take a moment to really consider that question this morning.
I want to ask you to do a quick inventory of all the most joyful people that you've ever met in your life.
An inventory of all the people who you most aspire to live like,
of all the people you consider to have lived the fullest and most meaningful lives.
Get a picture in your head of that person or those people.
Now, is it not true that the most joyful people we know,
the people who live the fullest and most fulfilled lives,
isn't it true that the people we most want to emulate
are not the tight-fisted, self-protective, financially savvy penny pinchers,
but the most generous people we know?
Is that not true?
Now, why do you think that is?
Why do you think that Jesus was right?
And not just because of some biochemical link,
maybe between generosity and endorphins or dopamine and pleasure in your brain,
but isn't it true that the most generous person,
the most generous people we know,
are also the most committed and purposeful people we know as well?
The people who know exactly what they are living for, right?
The people who've committed their lives to something far bigger than their own individual selves.
People who've discovered something worth living for,
perhaps even worth dying for.
And in his book, The Second Mountain,
New York Times cultural commentator David Brooks, he writes,
the people who radiates a permanent joy
have given themselves over to lives of deep and loving commitment.
Giving has become their nature,
and little by little they have made their souls incandescent.
If you closely look at joyful people,
you notice that very often the people who have the most incandescent souls
have taken on the heaviest burdens.
Do you not find that to be true in your life?
I certainly find it to be true in the people that I know.
And I think Apostle Paul would agree.
There's something joyful about giving oneself,
even when it's costly and burdensome,
to something, to someone that's still absolutely worth it.
And for these Macedonian churches,
what they gave themselves to,
what was most worth it to them,
was to give themselves, what does it say in verse 5?
To the Lord.
Verse 5, Paul says,
Do you see that?
Deep and transcendent commitments to God
and His work that led to joyful generosity.
They gave themselves to the Lord and to His will.
They recognized that they were not their own,
but that they belonged to another.
So how could any of them withhold whatever they had,
even in their poverty,
everything that they had belonged to the Lord in the first place?
And what did they have that they did not receive from Him?
This is absolutely essential to a rightful understanding
and practice of generosity.
The Christian view of property and economics
is radically different than the views on the right and on the left.
Those on the right say that everything an individual possesses
belongs to him or her,
and he or she may use it however they want.
And then those on the left say that everything an individual possesses
belongs not just to him or her,
but to their whole community,
and the community may determine how to use it.
But Christians know that everything an individual possesses
neither belongs to him or her,
nor even solely or primarily to our community,
but first and foremost,
it all belongs to the Lord.
It all belongs to the Lord,
who doesn't just command obligatory generosity,
but models joyful generosity
and invites us into his joy.
You know, when we talk about generosity,
it can be so easy for us to think of ourselves
as benevolent, charitable benefactors,
you know, graciously donating to others at our own expense.
Oh, how gracious of us, right?
But what if a more accurate picture
is to see ourselves as money managers
or as trustees?
We were chatting about this
in our Alameda community group last week.
Shout out to Miriam Kim for this really good example.
And she was saying
that giving and generosity
don't seem so burdensome
when we realize that it's less about us
trying to part ways with our own money
and more like us realizing
that our Father in Heaven
has written a trust.
And he's already written out
and directed exactly
how we should distribute his estate
and invest his assets.
And she gave this example
of how some of us
have had to step into this role
for our ailing parents
who are unable to maybe make decisions
for themselves
and care for themselves.
So sure, their trust may designate us
as the ones in control
and having responsibility
over all their assets now.
But it's not like it's just all ours
to spend on ourselves
or however we want.
There is a right way
and there is a wrong way.
A responsible way
and an irresponsible way
to manage their estate.
There's a way that honors them
and their wishes
and there's a way of dishonor as well.
And to not use the money
to help provide and care for them
or if they pass,
to not distribute it
as they intended
to maybe their chosen non-profits
or to their grandchildren
or whatever it is,
to disregard their will
for what to do
with all that they've entrusted to us.
It would dishonor our parents.
See, generosity isn't just about
charity and benevolence.
It's about a job
that we've been given
by our Father in Heaven.
It's stewardship.
Our calling to generosity
echoes out from God's original command
to us in creation.
Just as He generously shared
life and existence with us
when He didn't have to,
He has called us to be fruitful
and to multiply
and to fill the earth
not just for our own individual sakes
but for His good and the good,
His glory and the good of our neighbors.
God has created a world
full of abundance.
A world sustained by His presence
with daily provisions
for every need and desire.
And the simple work
that He gave us
from the beginning
to complete
was to just generously
and selflessly
exercise
our God-given authority
and to share
the plentiful bounty
of our possessions
as we all together
bear tons and tons of fruit
as we are faithful to the Lord.
This was God's intention for us.
Generosity was meant to be natural.
But you see,
the reason we find generosity
so hard and unnatural today
is because of sin's entrance
into the world.
And all the scarcity
and the selfishness
and all the sweat and tears
and blood and thorns
and thistles
that came into the ground
and all the enmity
and hostility
and violent competition
that sin created
between us
and everyone else.
People made in the image of God
yet because of sin
turned enemies
and threats to one another.
And this is why Cain
and his descendants
built those cities
as they did.
Not as dwelling places
and temples
where people might excel
at worshiping God
with one another
and loving one another
as themselves
but as self-protective fortresses.
That's what Cain's descendants built.
Self-protective fortresses
built up against one another.
Places where people
sought to excel
in the use of power
and control
and violence
and oppression.
Whereas God's ideal
for the city
was always abundance
and sharing
and harmony.
People excelling
in generosity
toward one another.
Our cities,
even with all the great things
that our cities have done,
all our triumphs,
all our merits,
our cities have always
still been plagued
by what?
Violence
and inequality
and scarcity
and people just trying
to excel
in whatever it is
that will get them ahead.
Maybe it's software engineering today.
Hundreds of years ago,
it was being good
with the sword.
Whatever it is,
try to excel
to try to get ahead,
right?
No matter how bad
that is for them
or their environment
or for their neighbors.
All right,
so I kind of got us
a little bit away
from the text
but let's bring it back
to verse six.
Okay?
Generosity.
This is why Paul
sends Titus, okay?
Because of sin
in this world,
because of our,
because of the way
that generosity
has become unnatural
in this world,
Paul goes
and he sends Titus
in verse six.
Apparently,
he's asking
for a second gift.
If you look
at verses 10 and 11,
you'll see that
this church in Corinth
actually had already
given a gift.
So Paul's asking again.
It's a double dip
right here
and Paul is sending
Titus again
to come and collect
another donation
because they need
accountability.
In their fallen existence,
generosity is no longer
natural.
So Paul sends Titus
to point them back
to the joyful task
of completing the good work
of generosity
that they started.
And he reasons like this.
Paul reasons that
what good would it be
for this church in Corinth
to excel
in a whole bunch of ways
but not also in giving.
Look at what he says
in verse seven.
But since you excel
in everything,
in faith,
in speech,
in knowledge,
in complete earnestness,
and in the love
we have kindled in you,
see that you also excel
in this grace
of giving.
And I want us
to think about that.
Try to imagine a church.
Try to imagine
even just an individual person
who excels
in all kinds of gifts
in faith,
speech,
knowledge,
earnestness,
and even love
and yet doesn't excel
in giving.
Is that the kind
of excellence
that this world
really needs?
Paul is saying
to this church
in Corinth
and perhaps God
is saying to us today,
Christ Church,
hey,
you're great
and you excel
in so many things.
You are a church
full of talent
and gifts
and so many things
to admire.
But see that you also
excel in giving.
And don't you dare
be content
that you excel
at everything else
if you do not also
excel in giving.
Because see for Paul,
as it says in verse 8,
generosity,
generosity is a true test
of the sincerity
of our faith
and our love.
A true test
of whether
excellent faith
and speech
and knowledge
and love
and earnestness
are really real.
And this is a test
for all of us as well.
Now just to be clear,
this is not Paul
trying to set them up
to fail.
He's not saying
that they have to
prove themselves
to him
as a church
that's just as generous
as the Macedonian churches.
He's not saying
that we have to
prove ourselves
to God
by giving generously
or else we're doomed.
No,
he's not commanding them
to give
with this test,
but he's inviting them
to give.
He's saying,
I want you to prove
me right
about what I believe
God's up to
in your church,
just as he did
amongst the churches
in Macedonia.
I want you to prove
the power of the gospel
and the power
of the Holy Spirit
is at work
within your church too.
I want to give you
an opportunity
to make your love
and to make your faith
evident
to your brothers
and sisters
in Jerusalem.
And this is so key
to understanding
Paul's fundraising letter
and really to understanding
the whole of the Christian life
and how we're to live
before God.
This little non-coercive
comment here
from Paul in verse 8
where he says,
I'm not commanding you,
but I want to test
the sincerity
of your love.
Now,
at first,
if you think about that,
if generosity
is what Christians
are supposed to do,
then why would Paul
say this,
I am not commanding you?
Like,
would he say that
about maybe
other kinds of things?
I'm not commanding you
to not murder.
I'm not commanding you
to not steal,
to not commit adultery.
Why is he saying
that he's not commanding
generosity?
Well,
you know,
as Paul is writing
this fundraising letter
trying to persuade
the church in Corinth
to give generously
once again
to the church
in Jerusalem,
he also knows
that the law
and mere commandments,
they have no power
to change our hearts.
Like,
think about it.
The laws are good
at legislating
and showing us
the right behaviors,
demarcating what is right
and what's wrong.
Like,
oh,
yeah,
I murdered that guy.
That was definitely bad,
right?
It's a clear line
when you have a law.
Laws make that clear.
It's clear when you murder.
It's clear when you steal,
when you lie.
No one ever says,
oh my gosh,
I didn't know
I was committing adultery.
No one says that.
Laws are good
at pointing stuff out,
but again,
they cannot change
our hearts.
Whoever read
thou shalt not steal
or thou shalt not murder
and thought to themselves,
oh wow,
this changed my life.
And not only am I not going
to steal and murder,
but because of these commandments,
I'm gonna devote myself
to giving more
to other people
and to helping them
live their lives
to the fullest.
No one ever says that.
We hear the command,
thou shalt not murder,
and we say,
okay,
good,
I got it.
I'm good,
right?
But you see,
the thing about generosity
and its opposite greed
is that these aren't
just simple behaviors
like murdering
versus not murdering,
right?
You can't just hear
the command,
don't be greedy
and be like,
okay,
good,
got it,
right?
Because greed
and generosity
are dispositions
and inclinations
in our hearts
and that makes them
much,
much harder
to recognize,
right?
Like,
tell me,
how much does someone
have to give
before they are considered
as generous enough,
right?
We know when someone
is murdered or not murdered,
but how much does someone
have to give
to know if they're
generous or greedy,
right?
Is it like 0% is greedy,
5% is kind of generous,
10% is like satisfactory,
generous?
How do we determine that?
It doesn't work like that,
right?
Generosity and greed
are matters of the heart.
And so again,
a command to just
stop being greedy,
we all know
that that won't do
a thing.
We cannot merely
be commanded
into generosity.
Generosity.
Because think about it,
right?
Generosity that's
merely given
out of obligatory
obedience and duty
and out of a fear
of a threat
or a punishment,
it isn't true
generosity.
If I'm only giving
because I'm afraid
of what God's
going to do to me
if I don't,
or if I only give
because I want others
to think well of me,
or if I only give
because I want to think
well of myself
as a generous person,
don't you see
what that is?
That's not generosity.
That's called
a transaction.
We're purchasing
goodwill from God
or our neighbors
or from ourselves.
So if the Apostle Paul
could not and would
not command them
into generosity
in his fundraising letter,
then this was going
to fail, wasn't it?
What hope did he have
that their hearts
might actually be
moved to give?
You know,
later on we find
that this church
does give.
And the church
in Jerusalem rejoices
and they're held
together by this gift.
gift.
So my question is,
what was it
about this letter?
If he wasn't even
willing to command
them to give,
how did certain people
in Corinth
with sinful hearts
inclined only
towards serving
themselves,
how are they
motivated once again
to give a second
offering to this
church in Jerusalem?
What power could
possibly change
any of our hearts?
These hearts of ours
that are so inclined
towards selfishness
and greed,
these hearts
that have defaulted
to self-interest
and self-protection
and self-preservation
at all costs
in this broken
and violent world
where money is power
and control
and safety
and security
and influence,
what could possibly
get us to loosen
our grips
upon all we possess
and share it
with others?
Well, this is where
we're going to end
in verse 9.
For you know,
he says to them,
the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich,
yet for your sake
he became poor
so that you,
through his poverty,
might become rich.
What can change
our hearts?
What can free us
from greed
and unto generosity?
Only the gospel.
Only the grace
of the Lord Jesus
who showed us
the ultimate act
of generosity
at great expense
to himself,
the prince of heaven
who became poor
and was laid
in a manger
who emptied himself,
who divested himself
of everything
unto nakedness
upon a cross,
all to share
his rich inheritance
with greedy,
undeserving people
like us.
Jesus,
crucified,
risen,
and coming again
to share
his imperishable
new creation
inheritance with us.
He is the only
antidote
to our greedy hearts,
the only way
to a generous life.
So the question is,
will we walk
in his way,
trust in his truth,
and live his life?
I want to close
with this excerpt
from this old
Scottish preacher,
Robert Murray Shane.
Jonathan and I
are both reading
his Bible reading
plan this year.
He was also
a well-known preacher.
And he preached
a sermon
on this passage,
2 Corinthians chapter 8,
just on verse 9.
And he wrote this,
Oh, my dear friends,
if you would be
like Christ,
and you pray
that you will be,
become like him
in giving.
Though he was rich,
yet for our sakes
he became poor.
But you might object,
my money is my own.
Well,
Christ might have said,
my blood is my own,
my life is my own,
and then where would you be?
But then you may object,
but many people in need
are undeserving.
Well,
Christ might have
looked at you and said,
look at these wicked rebels,
should I lay down
my life for these?
No,
I will give to the good angels
and the deserving poor.
But no,
he left the 99 sheep
and came after the lost.
He gave his blood
to the undeserving.
And yet you might object
yet again,
but people who I give
my money to
might abuse it.
Well,
Christ might have said
the same thing
with far greater truth.
Christ knew thousands
would trample his blood
under their feet,
that most would despise it,
that many would make
his blood an excuse
for sinning more,
yet he gave his own blood.
My dear Christians,
if you want to be like Christ,
give much,
give often,
give freely,
even to the vile
and the undeserving.
Christ is glorious
and happy
and so shall you be.
It's not your money I want,
it's your happiness.
Remember his own word.
It's more blessed to give
than to receive.
Let's pray.
Father,
if we have been united
with your son,
Jesus Christ,
who for our sake
became poor
so that we might become rich,
what reason do we have
to clench all that we possess
as if it is ours
and ours alone?
O Lord,
by the power
of your Holy Spirit,
in accordance
with the grace
of the gospel
and your generosity
toward us,
would you loosen
our grips
on all that we believe
to be our own
and would we remember
what do we have
that we have not received?
And don't we also
have an inheritance
that we did not earn
and cannot lose
because of the work
of Christ?
Oh God,
would you transform us?
Would you work a miracle
in this church?
Change our hearts
to make us
the generous people
that you want us to be,
giving even beyond
our ability
in the name of Jesus
and for the good
of this world,
we pray.
Amen.