Turn with me, if you would, to
Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Our text
is actually 2 Corinthians chapter 8. But what the Apostle Paul
says here in Philippians 2, this will help us to enter into what
he's saying over in 2 Corinthians 8. Philippians 2 verse 1 it says,
if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any
fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies. I've always loved that verse.
If there's any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love,
any fellowship of the Spirit, any bowels, that means heart
and mercies. He said in verse 2, fulfill ye
my joy that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife,
or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That's the summary
of everything that he is going to say in 2 Corinthians 8 and
2 Corinthians 9 on the subject of giving. Last week we started
2 Corinthians 8 and he's talking about this subject of giving
and this summarizes everything he's saying. Verse 5, let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. who being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross." And why would God
do that? It's because God so loved the
world. That's the reason. God loved
this wicked world and He gave His only begotten Son. Turn with
me over to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. Verse 10 says, Herein is love,
not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Now watch verse 11. Beloved,
if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. That's what he's saying. If God
so loved us back up in verse seven, he said, beloved, let
us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth
is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God for God is love. in this was manifested the love
of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through Him." The motivation
of everything God gave for us was love. That's the motivation,
love. And everything that we do in
return, that's the motivation, love. Love. Now go with me to
our text, 2 Corinthians chapter 8. We're going to pick up with verse
8, but let's start reading in verse 1. 2 Corinthians 8 verse
1 says, Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit, we want you to
know of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia,
how that in a great trial of affliction, The abundance of
their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their
liberality. For to their power or to their
ability, I bear record, yea, and beyond their ability, they
were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we
would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the
ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we
hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us
by the will of God, insomuch that we desired Titus, that as
he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace
also. Therefore, as you abound in everything,
in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your
love to us, see that you abound in this grace also. He said,
I want to tell you about the Macedonians, how God's grace
was greatly bestowed on them. Greatly, greatly bestowed on
them, even though they were in the middle of a great trial of
affliction. And that's something that every
believer will go through a great trial of affliction. And he said,
even though they were experiencing deep poverty, deep poverty, they
were willing of themselves to take up everything they had the
ability to give. They in amongst themselves, they
gathered together everything they had to give to make up an
offering for the saints who were in greater need than they were.
You know, there is always a believer who is going through more than
we are going through. We naturally feel sorry for ourselves. We focus on what we're going
through. We focus on what we're in the middle of. May the Lord
cause us to enter into the fact that there is always a believer
who is going through more. These Macedonians were in such
deep poverty. Poverty like we'll never experience. The brethren in Mexico experienced
poverty like we'll never experience, by God's grace. And they didn't
have anything. They didn't have anything. But
still, they took everything they had. And they said, we believe
they're in a worse state than we are. And they begged Paul,
would you please take it to them? They need it more than we need
it. And what an example, an example of love. And as we're about to
see, they're proving the sincerity of their love. And that is such
an important thing for us to remember. There's always a believer
who's going through more than I am. Always. And Paul said,
whenever he saw how much they had given, how much they made
up, he said, I was in shock, just in shock. They gave it all.
And he said, I'm telling you this to encourage you to do the
same thing. Verse seven, therefore, as you
abound in everything in faith, God gives more faith to believe
and you abound in it. And he said in utterance of the
gospel and knowledge of the word and in all diligence. to worship
in your love to us. See that you abound in this grace,
he called it, this grace of liberality, this grace of kindness, this
grace of love, this grace of giving. He said, see that you
abound in that one also. Abound in faith and abound in
this same grace also. Now in verse 8 he says, I speak
not by commandment. I love that. I love that. He said, I am not commanding
you to give. Don't you love that? I'm not
commanding you to give. I speak not by commandment. This
is not the tithe written in the law. That's not what this is. He said over and over again,
he called it a grace. He said, this is a grace. A grace
is something that is freely bestowed from the heart. freely given
in the heart. If you make a law out of it,
you remove all grace. I'm going to give you an example
of that, okay? Horatius Bonar said, men have
repeated it and repeated it, and I think it's a wonderful
statement. He said concerning this thing of giving, he said,
if you tithe, you run to the law. He said, if you give less than
tithe, you're an outlaw. He said, the only thing to do
is give more. First time I ever heard that, that was like, wow. All right, so you know what I
could do at that moment? I could make my number 12. All
right, I'm going to make it 12%. See, if I tithe, I'm under the
law. If I don't tithe, I'm an outlaw.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to make my number 12. You
know what I've done at that moment in time? Taken all the grace
out of it. I have removed all the grace.
I've made it a law again. Does that make sense? Paul said
this is not by commandment. This is grace. This is grace. Our Lord has made it very clear
in his word. It is better to give than to
receive. Our Lord encourages giving. He
encourages giving. He encourages giving. Look at
the end in chapter nine, the end of verse seven says last
few words at the end of verse seven, God loveth a cheerful
giver. And he does. He's made that very
clear in His Word, but Paul is telling us true giving is not
giving because you have to. That's not giving. That's not giving. Chapter 8,
back in chapter 8, verse 8, he said, I speak not by commandment,
but by occasion of the forwardness. That word means willingness. It means eagerness to care for. He said, I'm trying to encourage
you to be eager to care for each other, take care of each other,
love each other, the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity
of your love. That's why I'm telling you this.
God's children Love. We just read a minute ago, love
is of God. God is love. God's children love
and they have a desire to prove it. They have a desire to prove
their love for God and for his people. And that's what we're
being exhorted to do here. Love each other and prove it. Verse nine says, for, you know,
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. THAT THOUGH HE WAS RICH, YET
FOR YOUR SAKES HE BECAME POOR, THAT YOU THROUGH HIS POVERTY
MIGHT BE RICH. WHAT HE'S SAYING IS CHRIST PROVED
IT. HE PROVED IT. GOD SO LOVED THE
WORLD AND HE PROVED IT. HE PROVED IT. HE GAVE. gave. He gave all of it. He didn't
do it out of commandment. Paul said he did it out of grace. It's grace. It's grace. He did it because he wanted to.
He did it because he wanted to. He did it not begrudgingly. And that's what he says in chapter
nine. Don't don't give grudgingly. He said if it's grudgingly, don't
give it. And Christ did not give Himself. He did not lay down
His life. You know, He went to the cross
and we read of all of His sorrow, all of that terror, all of the
horror. He said, Father, if it's possible,
let this moment of all this sin that I'm feeling and enduring,
let this pass from me. But He said, for this cause came
I into the world. I came to go to the cross. That's the whole reason I'm here.
And he did it willingly. He did it because he wanted to,
of his own free will. His own free will. He went for
the joy, it says. He went because there was love
in his heart for his people and he wanted to prove it. And he
did. So Paul is saying, let's do the same thing. Let's prove
the sincerity of our love for God and for each other. One man
said this. He said, how can we who are loved
in such a way, talking about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
though he was rich, he made himself to be poor for our sakes. He
went to the cross for our sake. How can we who are loved in such
a way, not also love? How can we not also love? The
Apostle Paul said, he quoted, if any man loved not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha, cursed when he comes
back. And one pastor in response to
that said, if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, how could
you not? How could you not? How could
we not, who have been loved so much, not also love? That man
went on to say, how can we, who are the recipients of such grace
and mercy, not be gracious and merciful to others? Kind. Considering the depths of grace,
considering the fact that our cup runs over, it just runs over,
how could we not pass that love along to others? So verse 10,
he said, herein, I give my advice. And every time I read that, I
think, you know, that's something I probably need to pay attention
to. An apostle of God is saying, let me give you some advice.
Herein, I give my advice for this is expedient for you who
have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward or
willing a year ago. He said the mind and the heart
is there, I know it's there. He said you were talking about
this a year ago. God has put a willingness in there and He
said now I want to encourage you to do it. I want to encourage
you to do it. Verse 11, now therefore perform
the doing of it that as there was a readiness to will So there
may be a performance also out of that which you have. As you
see brethren who are in need, love them, help them, do for
them, care for them as Christ has done for us. Everything we're
going to be cared for all of our days, aren't we? And the
Lord's going to care for all of his people. But he's going
to use us to do it. He's going to lay it on our hearts
to take care of each other. And James said, if a brother
or sister be naked and destitute. And there are brethren who have
gone through things where, you know, they get to a place where
they feel like I'm about to be naked and destitute. I'm losing
it all. I know believers who've lost
their houses. If a brother or sister be naked
and destitute, and that that's all of us as we stand before
God in his flesh, isn't it? Naked, no robe of righteousness,
completely destitute of anything to, to, uh, merit any worthiness
before God. And James said, if you see a
brother or sister who's naked or destitute, and you say to
him, be warm and filled, but you don't do anything for him,
what does it profit? That's how every one of us stood
in Christ saw us in our nakedness and in our destitution. And he
did something for us. And James is saying, we need
to do the same thing. Go with me over to Ephesians
two. Ephesians 2 verse 11, it says,
Wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands, that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
For he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man,
so making peace. and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and he came and preached peace to you which were afar off and
to them that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." You know what grace
is built on? But God did something. That's what the gospel of grace
is built on. God did something. He loved in
word. He loved in deed. Let me show
you this. Go to first John chapter three.
1 John 3 verse 16 it says, Hereby
perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life
for us, and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little
children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
in deed and in truth." Thank God Christ didn't just love us
in word and in tongue. He loved us in deed and in truth. Well back to our text, 2 Corinthians
8. Verse 10, he said, and herein,
I give my advice for this is expedient for you who have begun
before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now,
therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness
to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have.
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according
to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." God's people
have a heart to give it all. They do. They have a heart to
give it all. They're so grateful for Christ.
They're so grateful for what He's done. They get a small glimpse
of eternity. They get a moment to realize
the earth is going away. It's all going away. These bodies are going away.
Our houses are going away. The land's going away. The money's
going away. The bank accounts are going away.
It's all going away. And God's people see that and
for one moment they realize the gospel's everything. The Word
of God is everything. The glory of God is everything.
Being found in Christ is everything. Eternity is everything. And they
honestly say in their hearts, I'd give it all. I would give
it all. But we can only give what God
provides for us to give. We do have houses and we promised
the bank we would pay the bank. Our Lord said, owe no man anything.
That means pay the man. We bought a car and we told that
car dealership, we'll pay you, pay the man. We have children. Our God said, if a man won't
provide for his own, he's worse than an unbeliever. Feed them,
go to the grocery store, buy stuff. And we can only give what God
provides for us to give. God's people do have a heart
to give it all. but we can only give the amount he has given
us. Every dime comes from him. We can't add one cubit to our
stature. I can't decide to just go increase
my pay. Well, I'm a hardworking man.
I got a good mind and I'm tired of being poor. I'm going to go
make more money. God gives the money. The Lord gives, the Lord
takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And we can only give what God provides us to give. And whatever
that amount is, is irrelevant. I want to relieve you from all
responsibility of giving. The ministry will be fine. God
will provide for this as He sees fit. He will support it as He
sees fit. He will bring whatever He needs
to bring from the far ends of the earth. If He has to lay it
on somebody's heart in Russia to write a check to Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church, that's what He'll do. So I just want
to relieve everybody. You just don't have to give.
This is not by commandment. God will provide. Our amount
is irrelevant. It's the heart in the matter.
That's what He's saying. It's the heart in the matter
that God looks on. He said in verse 12, If there
be first a willing mind, if there's a happiness in it, if there is
a joyful willingness, then He said it's accepted of God. It's accepted according to that
He has. It's accepted. No matter how
much it is or how much it's not. It's accepted. Now, if your Bible's
like mine, you see there in verse 12, if there be first a willing
mind, there's a reference, you see Mark 12 and Luke 21, those
references right there. Those are to the story of the
widow with the two mites, which we looked at last Sunday morning.
The widow that had those two mites. I want to show you a different
example. He's given an example of it's
not how much you give. The Lord said those rich men
are slinging it in there. They want everybody to hear that
change rattling. That poor widow dropped in two
mites. He said she gave all she had. She gave more than all of
them put together. So he's saying it's not how much
you give. And he gives that for a reference. I want to show you
a different one. Go to Matthew 10. Matthew 10 verse 40. He that receiveth you receiveth
me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He
that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive
a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous
man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous
man's reward. Now let me tell you what that
means. God calls a man to preach and he sends him somewhere to
preach and somebody takes him in, opens their home to him,
cooks a meal for him. They have received a prophet.
God Almighty says whoever does that is going to get the same
reward the prophet gets. Just as important. And if it's
not even a man who's called to preach, a child of God, a righteous
man. We have a conference and our
brethren come in from other places, they want to hear the preaching
and we open up our homes. And we have a brother or a sister
from another congregation and we feed them and we house them.
And he said, you're going to get the same reward. Verse 42,
and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones.
And he's not even talking about the preacher. He's talking about
a brother or sister, one of these little ones, a cup of cold water,
only in the name of a disciple. Verily I say unto you, he shall
in no wise lose his reward." What is his reward? The joy in
the heart that comes from doing it. That's the reward. The joy in the heart that comes
from doing it. As a preacher, I can tell you
that the reward for me is if God will bless His Word. It's
not by man's might. If I had the ability to bless
all of your hearts every time I stand up, I would do it. But
it's not in my ability. All I'm doing is slinging seed,
and it's up to God's Spirit to bless the hearts of His people.
But when He does, And I step back and realize God just did
something. God just moved on the hearts
of His people. They were glad. They were joyful. They rejoiced
in Christ their Savior. They were thankful. They were
this. They were that. That's my reward. I thank God. It's just joyful. The joy of doing it. And in doing
it, the remembrance of what Christ has done for us. That's our reward. Don't you love that moment when
Christ moves on the heart and really lets us enter into what
Christ has done for us? That's our reward. Somebody will
read that and say, well, yeah, but that wasn't much. He didn't
give much and he didn't even give any money, a cup of cold
water. Giving doesn't have to have anything to do with money. Doesn't have to have anything
to do with money. Maybe that man didn't have any money. Maybe
God had not provided him any money to give. He thought, I
can go, I got two working hands and two working feet and I can
go get a cup and I can fill it up with cold water and I can
give it to you. God says, whoever does that in
the name of being a disciple of Christ, I just want to serve
God's people. That's a disciple of Christ.
I want to serve him. And how did he say to do that?
Through my people. And as much as you've done it
unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to
me. Our Lord said, whoever does that
in the name of being a disciple of Christ, just because of what
Christ has done for him, for Christ's sake, for Christ's sake,
God said, it's going to be accepted. It's going to be blessed. And
I'm not going to turn over there. I was going to close out by showing
you Philippians 4. The Philippians were one of the
churches in Macedonia. And Paul was thanking them for
their gift. Apparently they gave often. They gave to Paul to give to
these poor saints. They gave to Paul on numerous
occasions. And he was thanking them for
it and he was telling them, the Lord is going to provide for
you for this. He's going to take care, just
as he's taking care of everything spiritually for you, he's going
to take care of everything physically for you also. You're not going
to suffer for this. God loves a cheerful giver. That's the summary of it all. And he
said, you're not going to suffer for it. And that's why God loves
Christ so much. Cheerful giver. Cheerful, cheerful
giving. So may our Lord cause us to take
the apostles advice. He said, that's my advice to
you. And may the Lord cause us to take it and do it for Christ's
sake. All right.