Sermon on 2 Corinthians 1-15, Motivation for Giving

Introduction

We’re studying this letter from the apostle Paul to the church he founded years before he wrote this letter. I love this letter. It is a brilliant, Spirit-directed, long-distance attempt to win over this church to loving, faithful relationship with him again. You see, there have been false teachers who have swayed the Corinthian believers with an alteration of the gospel. You may remember from 1 Corinthians that Paul summarized the gospel this way:

1) Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

2) was buried, and

3) was raised to life again according to the Scriptures.

But these teachers, whom Paul calls “super-apostles,” because that is how they describe themselves, are teaching that there is no resurrection. Our bodies, they are saying, are not needed in eternity.  In fact, they teach, the resurrection is spiritual, and it is not future.  You can experience it now.  The fact that they speak in tongues and have all knowledge is proof that they are already resurrected and reigning as kings in God’s creation.  That’s some heady stuff, isn’t it?  It is so heady that they are criticizing Paul for being so ignorant and saying they’re better apostles than he is.  Paul, to them, is a Debbie Downer, raining on their reigning.

But Paul sees through their alternate gospel.

• Their gospel has led to teacher worship (I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, etc.) and division.
• Their gospel has led to immorality (the body is not important so it’s okay if I go to the prostitutes).
• Their gospel has led to a worship of knowledge over love.
• Their gospel has led to the abandonment of the essentials of the faith, like the resurrection of Jesus.

Paul sees that if the church buys into these false teachers and reject Paul’s leadership and teaching, they will have departed from the truth and be outside the pale of God’s kingdom.  He has to try to persuade them that this gospel is false, that these impressive super-apostles are not that super after all, and that he is the true representative of Jesus and Jesus’ gospel.  Wow!  What a task!

Now in addition to this, Paul has been raising a monetary gift for the starving believers in Jerusalem and Judea.

• He’s been going to the churches he founded, Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, Ephesus, Colossae, Laodicea, Lystra, Derbe, Iconium, Paphos, and Crete, to name a few.
• The Corinthians had made a big promise to donate a big chunk of dough for this purpose but are now, under the influence of these super-apostles, they are talking about backing out.
• Their rejection of Paul and of this relief attempt is a symptom of their departure from the true gospel.  Paul sees their following through on their promise as a way of affirming their faith in the true gospel.  So that is why in chapter eight and chapter nine Paul is dealing with the matter of their giving for the relief fund.

And here is what Paul is saying in this chapter:  The reasons you Corinthians ought to make good on your promise to give to the Jerusalem relief fund are:

1. you would embarrass me and yourselves if the Macedonians saw you fail in this matter, and
2. you will reap God’s blessings

How’s that for some motivation?  So we’re going to learn something about the proper use of shame as a motivator and what the blessing of giving is all about.  Are you good for that?  Let’s dive in.

2 Corinthians 9

[1] Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, [2] for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. [3] But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. [4] Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. [5] So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

Paul says, I don’t really need to say more about this ministry.

• If you didn’t know before, you know now, that I have boasted to the Macedonian churches about your desire to make a big contribution to this matter.  They’ve gotten all excited about it, by your example, and they also want to make a big donation, even though, as I said in chapter 8, they are experiencing a huge economic downturn of their own.  But how would it look if you guys don’t come through on this?
• I would be greatly embarrassed for having bragged on you and you would be embarrassed, too. You can imagine the talk.  Man, I thought Corinth was going to come through big, and now they aren’t even participating.  Was Paul just pulling our chain when he told us about them.  Or are they just such big losers that they don’t care about our starving brothers and sisters in Judea? We’re a poor region struggling to make ends meet and we’re giving, but this rich region can’t spare a dime?  Are they even saved?
• The sad thing is, they may not be.  We’re going to see Paul challenge them on this in chapter 13.  “Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith” Paul is going to say.  True Christians don’t alter the gospel and they don’t close their hearts to fellow believers.

Now here is the question.  Is this an appropriate motivation for the apostle to use?

• I experienced something interesting as this covid-19 crisis developed.  There were people out wearing masks before I did and when I went out I began to feel embarrassed that I wasn’t wearing a mask.  Did the mask-wearers think I didn’t care about their health or my own?  Did they see me as a threat to society?  I started wearing a mask.  Shame and embarrassment moved me to do the right thing.  Now I can look down on those who don’t wear masks.  You know, not that I would.
• Shame moves us to do a lot of things that are essential to the well-functioning of our society.  Shame, as someone has put it, is a signal to us that an important connection we have has been interrupted.  I’m no longer in sync with my community, or with someone important to me.  It serves a good purpose of moving me to determine if that connection is really important, healthy or worth repairing.  It lets us know we’ve maybe lost something that matters, and points us to consider a move in the direction of reconnection.
• If Paul had been shaming one person in particular, that might have been harder to explain.  But he is shaming the whole congregation and admitting his own shame if the Corinthians don’t follow through.  And that is a chance for them to decide whether this relationship to Paul and to the community of believers is really important, healthy or worth repairing.  He is hoping, of course, that they will decide it does matter and is worth repairing.  He wants them to identify with the gospel of Christ and with Christ’s people, and value that connection.

But here’s the next question:  Is this motivation consistent with what Paul says next?

[6] The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. [7] Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. [8] And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. [9] As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”

Let’s make sure we understand what Paul is saying. 

• Sow sparingly, reap sparingly; sow generously, reap generously..  The less seed you put in the ground, the less crop you get.  But is that a fair analogy for giving?  The widow who gave her mite at the temple would therefore not be reaping much either here or in eternity?  That doesn’t make sense.  But that is because when Paul talks about bountiful sowing he is not talking about the bald amount you give but about the sacrifice you make, about the amount of generosity you are sowing, not the dollar figure.  Remember what Jesus said about the widow: “She has given more than all.”

And remember what Paul had just told the Corinthians in chapter 8:

2 Corinthians 8:12–14, [12] For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. [13] For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness [14] your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. (ESV)

• God wants cheerful giving, not compulsory giving.  But if I’m giving from shame or so as not to be embarrassed, isn’t that giving under compulsion?  And I would say YES. But that is why Paul is sending “the brothers” ahead to make sure that shame is not the only reason the Corinthians are going to give, but rather that they have a willingness to give, a cheerfulness in giving, that befits their love for the Judean believers.  Think about it.  I felt shame not wearing a mask, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t see the good reason to wear a mask.  Shame wasn’t the only reason I wear a mask.  I do care about the health of others, and my own health.  So I am glad to wear a mask.  I can have more than one motivation for wearing a mask.  And the Corinthians could have more than one motivation for giving.  Besides, how much they each individually gave was still a matter of their own generosity, and would not be motivated by fear of embarrassment before the Macedonians.  The Macedonians would not know how much each individual gave.  Paul was collecting the offering in advance of the delivery team’s arrival.
• The payoff for their generous sowing of money was not more money, necessarily.  It was what Paul termed “grace” from God.  That grace could be entirely spiritual in the form of a strengthened soul, a heart overflowing with joy, an increase of gratitude, and so on.  It could be monetary, because Paul says the goal of this grace is so that we would have a sufficiency to abound in every good work.  One of the good works God might want to use us for is giving. But Paul is not guaranteeing a monetary windfall when you give, as the televangelists are so prone to promise.
• The big payoff is “righteousness”.  Paul quotes Psalm 112:9 which describes the characteristics of the righteous man or woman, and one of those characteristics is he or she distributes to the poor and as a result their righteousness endures forever.  They are, as Jesus said, laying up their treasures in heaven.  We can think of this as rewards in heaven.  Salvation isn’t bought with our giving, but such giving is rewarded forever.

  

[10] He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. [11] You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

[12] For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. [13] By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, [14] while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.

[15] Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! (ESV)

 

• God will provide for our needs.  Paul told the Philippians, one of those Macedonian congregations, that they need not fear giving to the Lord’s work because God would supply all their needs in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19).
• Another big payoff would be the gratitude of the recipients of the relief funds and their praise to God, as well as their prayers on behalf of the Corinthians.
• The motive for all our generosity is that God gave first and met our greatest need with His inexpressible gift, Jesus.

 

What are the reasons you and I ought to give?

• It is an embarrassment for us not to display trust in God and concern for His work
• we will reap God’s blessings

Would you feel embarrassed if your fellow church members knew you weren’t tithing?  I would.  We should feel embarrassed.  This is our spiritual community that we are supporting.  Aren’t we committed to its thriving?  But maybe you’re embarrassed that you can’t give very much.  I get it, but sowing generously has nothing to do with the amount we give, but with the sacrifice of our gift.  Give as the Macedonians did, out of their poverty.

Mary Ann and I learned the blessing of giving when we were in our most impoverished condition, going to seminary.  You may never have heard of Haddon Robinson.  He was leading chapel at the seminary and had the audacity to speak to us poor seminary students about tithing.  We were pierced to the heart.  We didn’t have much to give, but we started giving on a regular basis.  It changed our lives.  We have experienced God’s grace abound toward us all these years.

I mentioned giving regularly.  That is the most powerful way to give.  I am part of a ministry called The Forsaken Children.  We seek to reach children of poverty in Ethiopia who have been forsaken by their families and the community.  Poverty has resulted in many of them living on the street, a very dangerous place for children.  We raise money to fund this ministry.  The most powerful gift we get is the monthly donor.  Even if what they give each month is not large, it becomes large because of its consistency, adding up month after month.  Commit to an amount to give each month and watch that grow and bless your church.  Make that the first thing that comes out of your paycheck.  Your righteousness will endure forever.