The Grace of Giving and the Glory of Christ

that have been asked about tithing, about grace giving, about the pattern of the Bible in the New Testament, and so we've decided to look at probably the key passage in the New Testament today, and we'll spend maybe two or three weeks on this, and that is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9. This is really probably the heart of biblical theology of grace giving, giving under the New Covenant. It's in a context of the New Covenant. This follows a place in 2 Corinthians where Paul is speaking very specifically about being a minister of the New Covenant in contrast to the old Mosaic covenant. The Mosaic covenant was perfect for its time. It's perfect for its purpose. In the flow of God's program, God laid it right alongside of the Abrahamic covenant as he was dealing with his people, and it was a whole life law.

It covered everything because it was God's law or a nation that were the people of God. Now, Israel was never, at any time in their history, people made up of all people of faith. There never was a time in the history of Israel when all the people in the nation of Israel were all believers. That has never occurred. And so it was a law that was fit for a nation under a covenant with Almighty God but yet was made up of both believer and unbelievers for as their personal salvation was gone, goes. And Jesus came on this scene and the servant on the mount, for example, in Matthew chapter five through seven, Jesus makes the strong contrasts between what they had been taught and what he was now unveiling.

And what Jesus said was, I have come to fulfill the law, not to abolish it but to fulfill it. In other words, everything in the law was pointing to Christ. And Christ has come in fulfillment of the law. And so we would suspect that our giving would be patterned after this revelation of Christ. And what we discover in this passage today we're going to look at is the fact that at the heart and center of giving in the new covenant, giving in the new testament, giving in this day that we lived between the first and second coming of Christ is to manifest the glory of Jesus Christ. The way we give is to unveil and to manifest the ultimate giving that was given through Jesus Christ when he poured himself out for us.

And that's the message of this chapter. In fact, why don't we read it first of all just to set the scene, the first nine verses anyway. A second Corinthians chapter eight, beginning in verse one. Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given to the churches of Macedonia that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints. And this not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.

So we urged Titus, that as he had previously made a beginning so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. What's going on here is that Paul is coming from the North, he has passed through Macedonia, the churches in Macedonia. He's actually writing from probably Philippi or Thessalonica. The churches at Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea, the churches of Macedonia, and they have responded to the need of believers in Palestine, what we call the date Palestine, in Judea. And they were having great problems. There was great poverty there among them and they had great needs. And so he was taking an offering for them. And as he passed through the churches to the north of Corinth and he had talked to the people at Corinth a year before this about giving to meet this need of the saints in Judea.

And they had agreed to. And so now as he approaches Corinth, he sends Titus ahead of him to give him a report, about the giving of the Macedonians, who themselves were in great poverty. And he encourages them to be prepared when he comes, to be a part of this giving, to meet the needs of the saints in Jerusalem and that area. And then he says in verse seven, but just as you abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all earnestness, and in the love we inspire, and you see that you abound in this gracious work also. I am not speaking, this is a command, but it's proving through the earnestness of others, the sincerity of your love also. 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.

That's the heart of New Testament giving. If you will turn back for one moment, the first Corinthians, the previous book, the very last chapter of first Corinthians, and listen to one of the final words that Paul gives them in his first letter, he says in first Corinthians chapter 16, now concerning the collection for the saints. He's talking about this collection that he's now coming to receive in second Corinthians. I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry out your gift to Jerusalem, and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.

Here is a response to a need in the body of Christ, Christians who are suffering in a very serious way, and need financial help. And so the churches around outside of Judea give to meet those needs, and in this giving, as Paul gives them instruction in second Corinthians 8 and 9, he unveils to us the theology of giving in the New Testament. Now in the Old Testament, God used piting for a very specific purpose, as we'll see in just a moment, and we'll spend some more time on this, looking at the Old Testament next week. But what Paul is talking about here is not a tithe, but something that is uniquely a part of this new covenant living that we experience as followers of Jesus Christ. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

If you would contemplate that for 10 minutes, if you're over 30, you would say that's absolutely true. The most significant thing about you is what you have given, isn't it? All of us who are over 50 know that. That's the most significant thing about us, is what we have given in life. And of course, Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. Jesus wasn't beginning a building fund campaign. He wasn't trying to motivate people to give, when he said these words. He told these words, they're not even recorded in the Gospels. They were spoken to the Apostle Paul. The glorified Jesus Christ in his face-to-face teaching of the Apostle Paul said to Paul, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

What an amazing truth. And every believer who is given out of the motivation that Paul's speaking about in this text has experienced that. It is truly more blessed to give than receive. Now, last week, we saw a couple of things about stewardship. We saw, first of all, that in creation, God appointed us as stewards of his creation. He created us to oversee his creation and to be stewards of it. And then we saw after the fall, and at the coming of Jesus Christ, that he made us who believed on Christ, stewards of the manifold grace of God. He has put the gospel in our hands and in our hearts. And as we take the gospel out, we are dispensing the manifold grace of God as we live it, live according to its implications, proclaim it, teach it, lead others to Christ, disciple people, we are dispensing the grace of God, the manifold grace of God.

As we exercise spirits of gifts, specifically, Peter says, we dispense the manifold grace of God. And then we saw that on the last day, we're gonna be held accountable for our stewardship. Only the believers of dispenser a steward of the manifold grace of God, but even the unbelievers gonna be held accountable for his stewardship as stewards of God's creation and God's rule in this creation. Today, we wanna look at this stewardship and relationship to giving specifically. How does it relate to giving? Under the old covenant giving, God operated, had the people operate according to a system that was characterized by tidying and offerings, free will offerings. Under the new covenant, new covenant giving is called here in verse seven, the grace of giving.

If you have a new international version, NIV, Bible, if you look at that verse in verse seven, at the end of that verse, that's exactly how it's translated, this grace of giving. You see, giving is a grace. It's a gift from God. The God gives us this gift that we can give, this grace of giving. Now, Paul is on his way to Corinth to pick up this offering that these people freely and voluntarily have offered to give to the saints in Jerusalem and thereabouts. And so as he comes down from the north to Corinth, he sends Titus ahead with this message so that they would be prepared, so he would not be taking up an offering. I don't think preachers should take up offerings. I don't think apostles like to take up offerings.

They wanted people to give from their heart voluntarily out of motives that were based upon their understanding what Christ had given to them and to give it freely and without coercion. And so he says, have it all done before I get there because I'm not gonna play 14 courses of a song and take up four different offerings during the service. If you've never been in a church where they take up four offerings in one service, you've really missing something. Next time you go to Hawaii, I'll give you the name of a church you can go over there, and it's an amazing phenomenon. How you can cram four offerings into one service. It's amazing. And I don't think that's what Paul wanted to do. What Paul wanted to do was when he got there, he wanted to receive this gift and give them instructions and send them on their way to do this work.

Paul was an unusual man, you know, he had the right to receive offerings from people and at times he did, but most of the time in his suspension as earlier ministry, Paul supported himself and his staff. That's an amazing thing, isn't it? St. Paul ministerial evangelistic association. And as he goes out, he has these people with him and he works in order to pay their wages, to buy them food and clothing. Now that's really unique. That wouldn't work in America with it. The Apostle Paul wanted to do one thing and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason he wanted people to give was because he wanted them to glorify Jesus Christ. I am not doing this series of sermons to get you to give more. So you're gonna relax.

That's not my purpose at all. If God motivates the hearts of people to give, that's some wonderful thing because it's a great indication they're getting a handle on the great gift that God has given to us. But if you ever stoop to giving out of obligation, coercion, guilt, then you're not giving in a new covenant way. You're not even giving in an old covenant way. You're giving in an unbiblical and non-Christian way. God wants you to get out of a heart that's full. A heart that's full of joy. That's exactly what he shows us here. We see two things in this passage. First, an example of grace giving in the first five verses. And this example that he gives are the churches in Macedonia, Thessalonica, Philippi, Berea, these churches.

Notice in verse one, he begins with an example of this kind of generosity that he is calling them to. He's just taken the collection in Macedonian and he's on his way to Corinth. And these Macedonians have been unbelievably generous. The main point of the verse is this generosity that they have manifested in giving to this cause is a demonstration of God's grace. It's a demonstration of God giving his unmerited favor that these people are giving out of their poverty and with such great joy. Paul never praises anyone's virtue without giving the ultimate praise to God because it's God who produces this in the heart. The only way that any church will ever have giving that glorifies God is if God gives us this grace.

If God graces us with this mentality, this heart for giving, it will be a great gift from the living God. And he has gifted many churches in this way. I have friends who pass the churches where God has given him this grace. And I'm just, I stand in amazement at the kind of money that people give to the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ in some of these churches. I'm just flabbergasted that they can support the work of the gospel around the country and have such an impact because God has given him this grace. And notice in verse two, that in a great ordeal of affliction, they're abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. What an amazing thing. And notice it's like a formula or like an ingredient to a recipe.

This recipe for the wealth of liberality. He says there are three things. First, great, a great ordeal of affliction. They were going through great persecution. If you remember at Thessalonica, they were being persecuted when Paul left there. And that's the reason Paul left because they drove him out of town. And these people have been under persecution and the persecution has actually increased. So they're in a great ordeal of affliction. It is costing them something to be followers of Jesus Christ. Secondly, he says they are in deep poverty. And that expression in the Greek is very, very emphatic. Balthus means death. Balthus, we get a word baffling. It means way down deep. And so he's saying there, rock bottom poverty, crouching poverty.

These people are going through a very difficult time financially. The economy is bad for them especially. And the third thing is an abundance of joy. It's like a chemical reaction. When you get affliction and poverty and an abundance of joy in God, you get liberality in giving. Isn't that amazing? Now, that isn't the way we would do it at all. We'd think, well, the way it should work is God should make all Christian rich and then they could give a lot of money. And he says, here is the God's formula of what he let these people go through deep affliction, be in deep, rock bottom poverty, and then fill their hearts with such joy they just couldn't help but give beyond what they ought to have given.

That's what he says. In fact, notice in verse three, for I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord. Isn't that amazing? I mean, this is supernatural stuff. This is the work of the Spirit of God. When joy in God is overflowing and the needs of Christian ministry here or anywhere else arises, two things are affected. The amount that people give and the eagerness of their giving. They be, it's a, he says they gave beyond their ability. In other words, they looked at their budgets. They looked at their needs and they said, we know we can give this much, but we want to give more. I think people should always have savings and you should always have an emergency fund.

Those kind of things. Paul seems to be saying, you know what? They gave beyond what they were actually able to give. They gave far beyond. And they did it with unbelievable eagerness. They begged us for the privilege of giving to the collection. Have you ever thought about this? The joy of God makes beggars out of people. They're begging him to let him be a part of this work in this ministry, this grace. And then in verse five, he says, and this, not as we had expected, not as we had expected, Paul says, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us as well, according to the will of God. You know, it is possible to give gifts to God into people and be a loof from God and people. A lot of people use money to keep themselves at harm's distance from people and from God.

I used to, in the church I grew up in, I remember finding out one time, I don't know, I even know how I found out, but I found out there was this guy who would come maybe once, twice a year, but he was one of the biggest givers in the church because he made a lot of money and he ties. And so he would send 10% every month of his income. And he didn't serve God. He didn't worship God. I doubt that he was a believer. But he was like, I don't know if you heard that on the radio the other day. Somebody was saying that Elvis Presley used to wear around his neck several different religious symbols. He wore a Jewish star, the star of David across and several other symbols. And somebody wants to ask him about it.

He says, well, I just feel you better cover all the bases. That's how this guy was. He said, and in 10%, don't have to worry about anything else. I mean, isn't it true that all religious leaders are simply up to your money? So sure God must be up to your money. So you just give him 10%. Now I'm gonna tell you, that is the most natural mindset there is. I don't know if you're aware of it, but Israel was not the originator of the tide. The tide was practiced by the pagan nations. It wasn't uniquely Israeli as Jewish. It was the practice of the pagan nations. This is why Abraham paid ties to Melchizedek. That was a normal pattern that people gave 10% of their increase to the priest of their God.

God used that pattern in the Old Testament in a modified way. And so people that day assume, and it seems reasonable because our whole counting system is based upon the fact that we've got 10 fingers, right? So the smallest portion that you could imagine that you could figure out very easily is 10%. You make 100,000, that's $10,000. That's pretty easy to figure out. You don't even have to think about it. You probably could have automatic deposit set up so that you could just send your money to your church or religious institution never have to show up, and that'd be glad. Somebody reminded me of a day about a time at Valley Bible Church. 25 years ago, we were raising money to buy a piece of property and an unbeliever in the church, a husband who was now, by the way, a deacon in this church, but he was an unbeliever at this time, and he was the husband of a guy who came to church there, a believer, and he personally gave money.

And the pastor, Phil Howard, at that time, being a young, innocent, not very wise guy, took the money back and gave it back to him, and said, we're not going to take your money. Because until you receive God's gift to you, we don't want you to be giving any gifts to God because we don't want you to get confused. See, giving is something that pours out of the heart of a person who has received the gift that's so big he can't contain it. And it just boils up within him this joy and so out of his own free will, he gives in response to this great gift of the great living God, the person of his son. And notice this, he says, you did this by the will of God. That's how they were enabled to make that personal commitment to God and to Paul as God worked in their lives.

I don't have any fears at all that people, the people of God, will give because I know they have the Holy Spirit living in them and I know the Holy Spirit is at work in their hearts. This is a grace of God. Now, I think you have to twist unbeliever's arms if we want unbelievers to give to our church or to our cause or to something else, we've got to twist their arms. We've got to figure out a way to motivate them because they don't have the Holy Spirit living in them. But it's not a good choice to twist the arms of believers in whom the Holy Spirit reigns and resides and who is impressing upon their hearts according to Romans 5, the love of God, and who are being constrained by the love of Christ according to 2 Corinthians 5, it would be foolish for us to twist the arms of believers who have the Holy Spirit residing in them and assuring their hearts of God's love for them and Christ Jesus to try to manipulate them into giving on a fleshly level.

That would be foolish, wouldn't it? To bring them back down to that level, we're going to tax you. I used to ride dirt bikes with a guy when I was a kid and he was a Mormon, really good friend of mine. We had a great relationship. We used to go riding all the time. I remember one time he told me about the Mormon church sending him a bill for his yearly tide. And he said, the most mysterious thing is I never go. I would brought up a Mormon and he said, I never go to church, but somehow they know my income. And he said, I don't know how they do it. But when they send me a bill, it is exactly 10% of what I make every year. Well, that's a great method for taxing. You know, and when God gave Israel the land and they were in the land, and he said to them, you were to tide the produce from the land, and they put it in storehouses, and this is how I took the poor and the priests and the government.

That was a great plan. And both believer and unbeliever had to abide by that plan. And God put a curse on them when they didn't obey that plan. If you don't pay your income tax, somebody's going to come after you, right? Isn't that right? No, you don't know that. But you may not know that, but it's true if you don't pay your taxes, they're coming after you. And if you didn't pay your tie, out of the mosaic covenant, if you were in that nation, on that land that God gave them, and God had the right to receive from them a tenth of their produce, a tenth of their increase. He certainly had a right to do that. But I want to tell you, you're under a different system. You're not on the land. You're not in a nation of a physical nation on this earth that is in covenant with God, but you are a holy nation.

And God doesn't demand ten percent from you. What He demands from you is a hundred percent. I want you to give yourself to Him first. And then, as He fills your hearts with joy, give all you want. Just give all you want. I've always suggested to people, when people come and ask me, now should I tie? And I say, well, if you want to, there's nothing wrong with that. But I would just suggest that you start with 11 percent, so you know it's not a tie. Or you're 10.5, if you prefer. Just so you know it's not a tie. There's a response of gratitude and love to God who's given you more than a land. He's given you that to which the land pointed this blessing in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now, let's look at it right here in this passage.

Notice in verse 6, now He begins to talk about the heart of giving. Oh, let me quote, quote, Christ's system for you, church father, who said, greater is this gift. That is the gift of giving. He's talking about the gift of giving, giving to the needs of saints who are in need. He says, greater is this gift than to raise the dead. Think of that. He says, this is a greater gift than raising the dead. This is more supernatural. When you give out of your faith to meet the needs of your fellow believers, he says, this is a greater gift than to raise the dead. For it is far greater to feed Christ when in hunger. In other words, when he's hungry, than to raise the dead by the name of Jesus. You know what he's saying?

Jesus said, when you give a piece of bread to a hungry brother or sister, you've done it to me. It's greater to feed Christ when he's hungry, than it is to raise the dead in his name. Almsgiving, that is giving out of a heart that's full in order to meet the needs of someone. When it is done with willingness and with bountifulness, when you deem yourself not to give, but to receive. When done as if you were benefitted. Wow, I get to give. God's brought a need in my life. I have these things on my desk. I have three needs right now on my desk. One is a guy named Dale Knitson. He's a medical doctor of Atlanta, Georgia, who in the middle of his life, he's got two grown kids and a 17 or 18-year-old girl who's a junior in high school.

And he is leaving his practice in the United States to go to the Philippines to do medical ministry to street kids in order to plant churches. He's leaving a medical practice to become a missionary. And I heard about him, and so I wrote and asked, and he sent me this back, and told me what he was doing. He didn't beg me for any money, but still raised in support. I think, it would be a privilege to give that guy, wouldn't it? And I got another one. Man, I met in the Philippines that I told you about. I married one of his fellow, one of the girls that grew up in this orphanage. They oversaw an orphanage for years, and I can't remember the number of people that were raised in that orphanage who were in full-time ministry today.

And for the last few years, he went into the mountains to preach the gospel to tribal people, down in Mindanao, and they began to come to faith in Christ. But one of the problems was that their families, the kids couldn't go to school. They were totally uneducated, and they couldn't go to school, it was too far. So he gets this idea, and he builds a house, a dormitory. Well, he's still building it. He's been building it for years. I have to show you the pictures of it. And he houses these kids, girls on the top floor, the boys on the bottom floor, and some house parents. And the kids come down, and all week long, and sometimes, to meet their needs during that week. And sometimes they can't, so they can't come down for that week.

And so he wrote me this letter, three-page letter, and was telling him about where he's at at this stage, and what they need to do now, some things they have to finish. Now, when I say it's a two-story building, it's not quite like a typical two-story building in Brentwood. I mean, they still have to put some windows in the big holes, you know, for windows, and they have to, they don't have plumbing and those kinds of things. There are 100 kids there. How would you like to take 100 kids in those kind of conditions? It's a wonderful ministry. And I think, man, wouldn't it be great to be able to give this guy? Would that be a grace? Would that be a gift from God if he allowed us to give to something like that?

Absolutely. That is the grace of giving. The giving of grace. See, it's a privilege that God has given us. And he puts resources in our hands. He says, I am admonishing you to work with your hands so that you'll have enough to meet your own needs and give to others. Yes, great to meet your own needs. But God wants you to enjoy the privilege of the grace of giving to others. Now, notice this. He says, in verses six through nine, the heart of giving is this picture of Jesus Christ. The rest of chapters eight and nine reveal what Titus was going to do when he got there. The sovereign grace of God does not rule out the use of human means. And so Titus is coming in order to collect it and to make sure that it's brought back to its intended destination and reaches its goal and accomplishes its purpose.

And then notice in verse seven and eight. But just as you abound in everything in faith, in utterance, and knowledge, and in all earnestness, and in the love we inspired in you, this work too, this work of grace, of giving. In other words, it's as important as faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and earnestness, and love. I am not speaking this as a command. What? This is the Apostle Paul, your everhood Paul's commands. In 1 Corinthians five, he commands them to turn the sinning brother over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so the spirit won't be saved the day of law. This guy can give command. And he says, I am not giving you. I'm not speaking this as a command. But as proving through the earnestness of others, the sincerity of your love also, Paul's very conscious to avoid commanding people to give.

I think that's amazing. There's a pastor in Davis, P.G. Matthew from India. His father was a pastor in India. He came to the United States to be an engineer, because he didn't want to be a pastor, and he thought God was going to call him to be a pastor, and that's one thing he didn't want. He said, the reason he didn't want it is he saw his father have to beg for money, his whole life, and he said, I don't want the beg for money. So he got his engineering degree. And then he said, God, begin to work at his heart, and he thought, well, I'll go to seminary, but I'm not going to be a preacher. I'm not going to be a pastor. I'm not going to beg for money. I'm not going into finishing up a Westminster seminary.

Graduated from seminary, church called him. And he said, well, the problem is, I cannot ask for money. They said, that's okay. We still want you to come. So he said, he went to this church to pastor, but he kept telling God, I don't want to be a pastor because I don't want to beg for money. And from his perspective, because what he had grown up under pastors have to beg for money. Well, he's been pastoring in Davis. He started the church probably 25 years ago, a growing, wonderful church. They have a beautiful facility, incredible facility, and he never asked for money. He just has this little deal inside deal with God that he would pastor, but he would not ask for money. I mean, that's a great deal.

I wonder if God will do that for the rest of us. And Paul says, I don't say this by way of command. Now, notice in verse 9, here's our motivation. All I have to do is tell you this. All I have to do is know this and I'll give. If I know this, if I understand this, if this truth grasps my heart, I will give. This is why only believers should give. Only regenerate people who are in the new covenant should give. Just like only believers should take communion. Only believers should give. Just like only believers should be baptized. Only believers should give. Because listen to these words. Verse 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that through his poverty, you might become rich.

You ever considered the utter mystery surrounding the incarnation of Jesus Christ? Never just think about that. This is one of the key central truths of Christianity, incarnation of Jesus Christ, that God entered our time and space while remaining above time and space as our sovereign Lord. Never was the time He didn't sovereignly rule this universe. And yet He came into our world. The eternal becoming temporal. Take a look at that. The infinite becoming finite. The word that created everything. Becoming flesh. It is absolutely beyond human comprehension. The incarnation. That God became flesh. The one who knows all things has to grow in wisdom, the New Testament says. Jesus grow and stature and wisdom, but this is the God of the universe.

This is the father of the ages, the eternal father, by say a nine. And he grew in wisdom. The all-sufficient one has to hunger in first. What did he say on the cross? I first, because he had reached the very bottom of humanity. The creative everything has to be homeless. I think it's significant that Jesus was born not in a homeless shelter, but in an animal shelter. You think it's significant that he was poor and homeless, didn't have a place to lay his head. The Lord of life must suffer and die. God in the flesh has to endure enshrangement from God the Father. He has to cry out my God. My God, why have you forsaken me? Did he become poor? Think of it. In Jesus, God who knows the end from the beginning, Isaiah says.

Think of this. The one who knows the end from the beginning had to watch the eternal plan of God unfold moment by moment, just like you do. Just like you do. We can talk in grandiose terms about this incredible plan, sovereign plan of God of the universe, and yet you have to watch it unfold moment by moment by moment. If you ever thought about the fact that Jesus lived 33 years on this earth, without a TV, without a video game, without a car, working as a carpenter, watching time unfold, he grows from infancy to childhood, to adulthood, he responds to him in his life. One time he rejoices, another time he grieves and weeps, from day to day, from hour to hour, the changeless God endures change.

He watches his body change. He watches the world change. This unchangeable. It's an amazing thing. Why did God enter into time? Why did Christ become a man? Well, it's revealed to us in many ways, but for example, in Matthew 1, when the angel appears to Joseph, it says, that Mary, you'll be trod, whom you have not yet married, is with child. She's going to have a child, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and you're going to name him Jesus because he's going to save his people from their sins. Yes, Yeshua means the Lord's salvation. So you name him Jesus because he's going to save his people from their sins. Why did God become poor? John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave, there's only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him would not perish, but have eternal life.

Son of God took on the limitations of time, even death, so that those of us, all of us who deserve to die, would live. He who was rich made himself poor. Charles Hodge says, grace is unmerited, spontaneous love, spontaneous, unmerited love, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the very perfection of grace. It's the sum and source of all graces when we look at him. Think about this. No one else has ever been impoverished like Jesus. Do you think you're poor? You're not poor. Do you think you're rich? You're not rich. No one was ever rich like Jesus. And no one has ever been poor like Jesus. Philippians chapter 2. Why don't you turn there? Let's read these words. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2 Paul is arguing he is enticing these Philippian believers to stop and refuse to live selfishly to meet their own needs, but rather to look out for the needs of others.

This is an example. He says, have the attitude that was in Christ, Jesus. Verse 6. Who although he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. In other words, to cling to and refuse to give up. But he emptied himself. He poured himself out taking the form of a bond servant being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, to the cross. For this reason also God highly exalted him, and he stood on him the name, which is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow. Of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

None was richer than he and none became poor than he. But listen again to those words in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9. Think about these words. Let these three words think into your heart for your sake. For your sake. Isn't that amazing? That this one who was rich became poor for your sake? You see, this is what it is. The significance of Christ's impoverishment, of him becoming poor, is only grasped when it becomes intensely personal. When you come to embrace the fact that Christ became poor for you, it will capture your heart, and it will fill your heart with joy. The significance of his becoming poor becomes real when you embrace him by faith, and his word by faith. Paul says, it was also that you through his poverty might become rich.

You through his poverty might become rich. Now, I want you to just think for a moment. I know it gets hard at this point in the sermon. This is the time when the mind the clutch starts slipping, and you're not thinking real clear. But I want you just to gird up the loins of your mind and think about the logic of this. The logic that is implicit in this statement of this great truth. It's just too obvious to be missed. And here's what it is. If he did all this for me, then nothing I give or do for him is too much. I can honestly say, you can never give too much in response to what Christ has given to you. Never. And you will never feel like that either. You will never feel like when you give out a response to this great gift that Jesus Christ has given to us, you will never feel like, oh, I wish I hadn't given so much.

Such love, Paul says, constrains us. It controls us. It leads us. It keeps us going in a direction. It affects the way that we look at things. It affects the way that we hold things. We were redeemed at an incalculable cost. The Bible says, I am no longer my own. He bought me with a price. And what a price. What a price. You know, that should fill our hearts with joy that God would be willing to pay this kind of price for us. Think of the price He paid for you. A year worth of sun to God. A year worth of sun to God. What is worth of sun to you? What would you give your son for? God says, you're worth of sun to me. Let me read a long quote. Herbius was a leader in the church in the 12th century.

He writes, he wished to become poor for a time for you in order that you might become partakers of his everlasting riches. If therefore, he who is the creator and Lord of all submitted to poverty for you, why do you not love your love for him contribute part of your riches for his needy members? He was rich. For whence our men's rich. Whence our men rich. By so gold or silver, family, land. But all these things were made through him. How do you measure your riches? Christ made them. What then is richer than He? Through whom riches have been made and also those things which are not true riches? I don't know where I'm at on this. For to him we owe the riches of intellect, memory, life, bodily health, our sins and the strength of our members.

For indeed when these are a sound, then even poppers are rich. You older folks can all say, Amen. You just have your mind and your memory and your life and your health and your strength. You have incredible riches, a gift from God. Through Him also come those greater riches, faith, piety, justice, charity and morality. For no man possesses these things except through Him who justifies the wicked. Who in the world's that, the wicked? Oh, that's you. As the Bible says, God justifies the ungodly, that's you. If you've been justified, that means that's you. We're the ungodly. Moreover, it is not said that He became poor when He had been rich, but that He became poor when He was rich. He didn't lose His riches.

He became poor in the midst of His riches voluntarily, for He assumed poverty. It did not lose His riches. Inverly He was rich and outwardly poor. His deity was hidden in His riches. His manhood was apparent in His poverty. Since in His blood, the sackcloth of our sins has been torn to shreds. Through that blood, we have cast away the rags of iniquity in order that we may be invested with the role of immortality. Let's therefore, we should fear His riches. Not daring in our beggly state to approach Him. He showed Himself poor. You see what He's saying? Herbius is saying, because God didn't want you to be afraid to approach Him in His riches and so He became poor, nobody had any trouble approaching Jesus.

Little children would approach Jesus. The Bible says no one can approach God who dwells in light, and He had God came into this world as a man. Little children would crawl up on His lap. He showed Himself poor. That is, God, dame to be born as a man, abasing the greatness of His power so that He might make available to men the riches of His divinity and cause Him to partake of His divine nature. Let me finish the quote from Christusdom that I wanted to skip over, but let me read it to you. Why, O man, are you at all downhearted? For fear less your goals should diminish. If such are your thoughts, do not give it all. You know, if you're struggling over giving because you're afraid that it's going to reduce your wealth, may I just tell you, don't give.

Just don't give. If you are not quite certain that it is multiplied for you in heaven, if you're not sure yet that when you give to the work of Christ and to the people of Christ, and in the name of Christ, if you're not sure yet that it is multiplied in heaven, then do not be so. Just don't give. Wait until you're sure. Now if our giving does to zero and I have to get a job, so be it. I don't think anybody gets like that in the church. I think people give because they love Jesus Christ. He says, but you seek your recompense here. Why? Let your arms be arms and not your traffic. Give for the right reason. Give because he's given so much to you. Give because you could never out give God. He has already given you out of his riches.

And you could never repay. This is the grace of God that turns selfish people into joyful givers. I don't want selfish people to give. I want selfish people to become joyous givers. And that's what this verse does. This verse takes away the only basis of selfishness that you have. And that is this. The basis of selfishness is the notion that giving less away and keeping more for ourselves is going to provide more helpful fulfillment in my life. Right? If I keep more for myself and give less, then I'll have more happiness and more fulfillment. And this verse shows that God's purpose in sending His Son was to create joyful, loving, generous givers. One of the greatest transformations that could happen in the life of this church or any church that would redound to the glory of Jesus Christ is that people get converted into being joyful givers.

And if God values joyful, loving, generosity so much that He would give His own Son, to create it in His people. And we can be absolutely assured when we are generous, we're going to be happy. And we're going to be more fulfilled because God is bound to work mightily in our hearts as we respond in faith. If you want to tie, go ahead. That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. That's how you determine what you're going to give. But I would suggest there's a little better plan. Actually think about it. I know 10% is easy to figure out. Some of you struggle, I see 10% of gross, 10% of net, 10% of benefits, 10% of what? Well, you will be hard pressed to go back to the Old Testament and figure out how to do it.

You go back, get a concordance, look up the word, tithing and tithe and figure out what the tithe was in the Old Testament. You're going to have a hard time. But let me tell you this, here's a simple plan, a simple plan. The plan is this, get so full of joy in Jesus Christ and then begin to ask God as the Macedonians did to empower you to give from a heart that's full and overflowing and then just give all you want. What we'll do when we come back to this passage, Paul says you have to give systematically, sacrificially and with deep satisfaction. Start with the satisfaction. Get satisfied in Jesus and then be motivated to give to meet the needs of His saints. I love this old chorus and I believe it, and I know you all feel this way.

Every believer in this room, in the deepest part of your heart, you do feel this way. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. I'd rather have Him than riches untold. I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I'd rather be true to His nail pierced hand. I'd rather have Jesus than anything. Let's stand together and pray for ourselves. Our great and gracious God. We are such a blessed people in so many ways. You filled our life with your rich blessings because you gave us Christ. You filled our lives with blessings because you opened our eyes to the truth of this reality that you have given us son to redeem your people to yourself. The Jesus though he was rich became poor so that we through his poverty might become rich.

Father, you've also blessed us because you happen to make us a people who's living in one spot in the world where we have an abundance. We pray, Father, that as we serve you with our utterance, with our mouth, our communication, with our energy, our physical energy. We serve you, Father, in worship. We serve you in using our spiritual gift. I pray we would also serve you in the way we give. May we give out of hearts that are full and overflowing with satisfaction and joy in God. I pray, O Father, that we could truly be what you've called us to be. His mirrors of Jesus Christ in this world. May we have the same kind of heart in giving, as Jesus had, when he made himself poor for us. Father, we pray that you would motivate us and that you would continue to give us many opportunities to give, to advance the gospel, to see it go out around this globe, to support those that you raise up and send, to send our own.

Father, that we would use our resources and beyond our ability to give the advancement of the kingdom and that we would give not out of coercion, not out of arm twisting, not out of guilt, not out of wrote obligation, but out of the joy that we have in Christ. We pray that you would empower us, that you would give us that grace for the reputation and glory of your Son. And we ask it in His name. Amen. Amen. Amen.