Money Matters: Part 2

If we live at the same level of affluence as other people who have our level of income, 

we are probably giving away too little.

(C.S. Lewis)

When we give to God we are taking the gift out of one of his hands and putting it into the other.

(John Blanchard)

By practising the grace of sharing, a person is storing up treasure for himself.  

Gifts are investments. (William Hendriksen)

In PART 1 (Click HERE) we saw that Paul told the Corinthians God loves 'hilarious' givers.

In PART 2 we will see from 2 Corinthians 8-9 the FIRST of THREE REASONS why God loves these sorts of givers...

God loves hilarious givers because...

1. Joyful Generosity... is a Mark of God’s Grace

The Macedonian churches were going through a time of intense persecution that had left them financially destitute. However, despite having so little, they developed a remarkable attitude towards giving:

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most 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 saints. (2 Cor 8:1-4)

The Macedonian churches were models of cheerful giving:

·         They gave generously:

despite being on the breadline themselves.

·         They gave sacrificially:

even beyond what they could afford!

·         They gave eagerly:

they didn’t need to be lobbied by Paul: ‘entirely on their own they urgently pleaded’ for the ‘privilege’ of giving to God’s work.

However Paul also makes it clear where the Macedonian’s heart of generosity came from. They were cheerful givers because the grace of God had gripped their hearts.

For Paul, joyful generosity was one of the signs of growth in grace. As God’s grace gets more of a grip on our hearts, so the grip money has on our hearts us is loosened and we grow in generosity!

Which is why Paul goes on to use the example of the Macedonian Christians to challenge the wealthier Corinthian Christians:

Just as you excel in everything - in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us - see that you also excel in this grace of giving. (2 Cor 8:7)

And 2,000 years later, we should be challenged by their example as well.

Joyful generosity is one of the signs that God’s grace has gripped our hearts.

God has given to us generously, sacrificially and eagerly in so many ways: both materially and spiritually. And as his grace grips our hearts, we should reflect his heart by giving to his work generously, sacrificially and eagerly. 

Read PART 1 HERE

Go to PART 3 HERE

Money Matters: Part 1

We ask how much a man gives; Christ asks how much he keeps.  

(Andrew Murray)

Not how much we give, but how much we do not give, is the test of our Christianity. 

(Oswald Chambers)

A giving Saviour should have giving disciples. 

(J.C.Ryle)

This is the FIRST of a FIVE-PART blog on giving. It's a subject Christians don't like talking about very much, but as we're going to see it's an essential part of our discipleship and a good test of our spiritual health...

The story is told of a bank who hired a private investigator to track down a bank robber to retrieve money he’d stolen from them. The search led the investigator to Mexico. However because he couldn’t speak Spanish, the investigator realized he would need an interpreter and so he hired a local man.

After many days, he finally captured the bank robber and through the interpreter asked him, ‘So, where did you hide the money?’

In Spanish, the thief responded, ‘What money? I have no idea what you're talking about.’

With that the investigator drew his pistol, pointed it at the suspect and said to the interpreter, ‘Tell him that if he doesn't tell me where the money is, I will shoot him where he stands!’

Upon receiving this message, the bank robber said to the interpreter: ‘Señor, I have hidden the money in a coffee can, under the fourth floorboard, in the second-floor men's room of the Palacio Hotel on Via Del Rio in La Paz.’

‘What did he say?’ the investigator asked the interpreter.

‘Señor,’ said the interpreter after a moment’s hesitation, ‘he says he is prepared to die like a man!’

Isn’t it’s amazing how money can bring out the worst in people?

However the Bible says that money should bring the best out of a true Christian!

Writing to Christians living in the wealthy city of Corinth, the apostle Paul encouraged them to be joyful givers:

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor 9:7)

The Greek word translated ‘cheerful’ there is the word ‘hilaros’ from which we get or English word ‘hilarious’.  It’s the only time in the Bible it’s used and it’s in connection with giving! Paul challenges us as Christians to be hilarious givers!

The Situation in Corinth

Corinth was a city well known for it’s prosperity and affluence. It was located on the busiest trade route into mainland Greece and so was a commercial hub where fortunes were made. However while the Corinthian Christians were probably fairly well off when it came to giving to God’s work, they were being outdone by their poorer brothers and sisters in the Macedonian churches.

The background to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8-9 is the plight of the Christians in Jerusalem who were under great financial pressure because of a famine sweeping throughout the region. Paul had highlighted this need during an earlier visit to Corinth and the Christians had been keen to contribute to the fund then. However for some reason their desire to give had cooled off.

And so Paul challenges them again:

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. (2 Cor 8:10-11)

Paul devotes two chapters in 2 Corinthians to the subject of giving. He attempts to rekindle the Corinthian’s desire to give generously, by reminding them that God loves cheerful givers.

And God hasn’t changed – he still loves it when his people are ‘hilarious’ givers! 

Go to PART 2 by clicking HERE

12 Days of Christmas Quotes: Day 12

Christ is the kind of person who is not ashamed of sinners - in fact, he even puts them in his family tree! Now if the Lord does that here, so ought we to despise no one… but put ourselves right in the middle of the fight for sinners and help them. 

(Martin Luther)

12 Days of Christmas Quotes: Day 11

The early Christians did not say in dismay, 'Look what the world has come to,' but in delight, 'Look what has come to the world.' 

(Carl F.H.Henry)

12 Days of Christmas Quotes: Day 10

There is no way to have a real relationship without becoming vulnerable to hurt. Christmas tells us that God became breakable and fragile. God became someone we could hurt. Why? To get us back … . No other religion - whether secularism, Greco-Roman paganism, Eastern religion, Judaism, or Islam - believes God became breakable or suffered or had a body. 

(Tim Keller)

12 Days of Christmas Quotes: Day 9

I think a defining question for a Christian is: Who was Christ? And I don't think you're let off easily by saying a great thinker or a great philosopher, because actually he went around saying he was the Messiah. That's why he was crucified. He was crucified because he said he was the Son of God. So, he either, in my view, was the Son of God, or he was … nuts. Forget rock 'n roll messianic complexes, this is like Charlie Manson type delirium. And, I find it hard to accept that a whole millions and millions of lives, half the earth, for two thousand years have been touched, have felt their lives touched and inspired by some nutter. 

(Bono, U2)

12 Days of Christmas Quotes: Day 8

Not really a quote, but hopefully just as thought-provoking at the start of a new year.

Make your life count in 2015... Happy New Year!

Direct Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWFKDFtcDsM