June 28 2009 Reading: 2 Corinthians 8.1-9

Theme: Though He was rich.........

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake in order to make you rich................... 2. Corinthians 8.9

A couple of days ago, after reading what Paul says in 2 Corinthians about giving, I browsed through Amazon dot com, where you can order and pay for just about any book you want. Were there any books on giving, I wondered, and of course, needless to say, there are hundreds. One of them caught my eye: its title was: The Giving Heart: Unlocking the Transformative Power of Generosity in Your Life, written by Mary Jane Ryan

In the heartfelt chapters in this book, Mary Jane Ryan encourages us to give from the joyous overflow of a loving heart, and to be thinking about all kinds of generosity. In a down-to-earth way, say the publishers............. she gets to the heart of giving

That’s what Paul is doing in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. He gets to the heart of giving. But, of course, in quite a distinctive way. Here we discover, he is writing to the Church at Corinth, asking for their help,

asking them to be generous........

and, as I say, here Paul too gets to the heart of giving............

Paul is writing to the Church at Corinth, asking for their help,

asking them to be generous........

Why ?

Well, alongside all his other work, and constant labours in spreading the Gospel,

Paul had begun to organise a collection to take to Jerusalem,

for the Church there.

Even though Paul’s mind, his overall plan, is focussed on getting to Spain,

at the moment, this was his first and urgent priority - to get to Jerusalem. He had started gathering a collection from all the congregations in Greece for the the poor in the Church in Jerusalem. There had been an awful time of persecution and troubles for the Church in Jerusalem and there were many who had lost all they had. There were widows, young children who were now orphans. Now on his third missionary journey, Paul wanted to do something for them, and getting this collection together had been in Paul’s mind a lot. He had written to the churches in Galatia, Macedonia and Achaia about it.

Now here in 2 Corinthians Paul makes a kindly, affectionate appeal to the Church in Corinth for help in this collection he was going to take personally to Jerusalem.

And in the letter, he says this. You know, you, as the Church in Corinth, along with all the other churches have received so many wonderful spiritual blessings from Israel, that now in their time of desperate need Jerusalem, I am asking you to share what you have with the Church in Jerusalem. This collection, gathered together and taken to Jerusalem would let the Church there know that the churches scattered right across the Mediterranean world knew about their situation and were concerned. The churches in Europe who were strong could show something of the love of the gospel by helping the Church in Jerusalem at this time, in their weakness.

But, in asking for help from the Church at Corinth, Paul draws this giving right back to Jesus Himself, he points the Church in Corinth to Jesus Himself. Paul says,

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake

in order to make you rich...................

Paul is doing here what he very often does....... in all his letters

he will point his readers to Jesus Christ

and say to them....... this is what Jesus Christ is like,

this is what He has done,

this is His love for you,

now - this is how you should live, this is what you should do

and this is what he is doing here............

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake

in order to make you rich...................

If we ask Paul, what is at the very heart of our giving............ here is his answer

it is Jesus........ rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake

in order to make you rich...................

How do these two things connect........

Jesus Christ, and our own giving, our own generosity............

It is really very simple........... if we look at Jesus,

we see One who gives, gives of Himself for us...........

rich as He was, He made Himself poor for our sake

Perhaps you’ve seen the programme the Secret Millionaire

Each week a millionaire leaves their luxury life behind, takes on a secret identity and lives undercover in a deprived area for a week to ten days. Living on a limited budget with no modern conveniences they have to make their own way in the community – working and volunteering with the locals looking all the time for individuals or projects who they think deserve help.

A couple of weeks back Kavita Oberoi was the secret millionaire. She is a successful businesswoman. She moved into a neighbourhood where half the families survive on benefits and lived in a flat finding out how hard it is to get by. On the final day, she told some of the folks she had got to know her real identity, and gave the ones she had chosen a cheque for thousands of pounds to help them.

This is what Philippians chapter 2 says about Jesus:

though Jesus was of the very nature of God,yet He made Himself nothing and taking the very nature of a servant...... He humbled Himself and became obedient to death even death on a Cross !

There is the great movement, the wonderful giving that Paul is talking about.............

as the Son of God, He had all the riches of God’s presence, yet He gave all of this up to become a human being, a servant. He lived as a human being

giving up all things, trusting only in the living God...........

And at that great time of testing recorded at the beginning of the gospels, when Satan offered Jesus the world and all its kingdoms, Jesus refused wealth, and power, and domination, choosing instead poverty and lowliness.............. this He did for us...............

rich as He was, He made Himself poor for our sake

Or look at the Cross, there He gave up everything. He gave Himself into the hands of violent and wicked men, this is your hour to act, He said, when the power of darkness rules, nailed to the Cross, in humiliation, He gave up His reputation; and finally He gave up His own life, crying Father, into Your hands I commend my Spirit. Bearing our sins, bearing them away, bringing us peace with God...............

“Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” Paul writes in Ephesians.5.2..

rich as He was, He made Himself poor for our sake

Paul says............ but then he goes on..............

in order to make you rich...................

Let’s think about this for a moment............

in order to make you rich...................

John Davison Rockefeller was one of the great American industrialists of the nineteenth century. He had made his money with the oil industry. He founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870 and ran it until he retired in 1897.

He was asked how you become rich............

He said: there are three simple rules for anyone who wants to become rich: 1. Go to work early. 2. Stay at work late. 3. Find oil.

that’s one definition of becoming rich.............

here’s another...............

In his will, shortly before he died, Patrick Henry, one of the leaders of the American Revolution, and a devout Christian wrote............

"I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them and that is faith in Jesus Christ. If they had faith in Jesus Christ and I had not given them a single shilling, they would still have been rich; and if they had not faith in Jesus Christ and I had given them all the world, they would be poor indeed."

If they have faith in Jesus Christ they would still be rich;

‘The New Testament declares this from end to end! Paul so often writes about “unsearchable riches” and “unspeakable gifts”. ‘We have this treasure.” And perhaps the great need of the Church today is this: a much deeper sense of the riches we have, a much deeper sense of the treasures we have in Jesus Christ and His Cross.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake

in order to make you rich...................

This is what Paul says to the Church at Corinth, and to us.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake

in order to make you rich...................

and for us......... this is the heart of our giving

Here is the very heart of

Christian living and Christian giving..........

what we give wells up from what Jesus Christ has given us, in giving up His heavenly home, and His giving of Himself at the Cross, pouring out His life for us.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake

in order to make you rich...................

AMEN.