Thank you. Turn with me, if you
would, to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians 8. This chapter and
the next chapter Both 8 and 9, they deal with the same subject. This is one letter written, but
these two chapters in particular, he's dealing with the very same
subject. And I want today, we're going
to Lord willing, go continue through second Corinthians. And
I would like for today to be a set up to these two chapters
as we, as we go on through them. Okay. So I want to begin by skimming
through a couple of verses. Second Corinthians eight verse
one 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, their abundance of
their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their
liberality. You see what he's saying there?
He's wanting to tell them about the Macedonian. That's the point
of the chapter and their liberality. If you look at the heading at
the top of the page, mine says the liberality of the Macedonian
churches. Verse four says, praying us with
much in treaty, that we would receive the gift and take upon
us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. They wanted us
to take this gift that they had made up and minister it to the
saints who were in need. And in verse 10, he says, I know
that you have a heart to do the same thing. That's what he says
in verse 10. In verse 11, he said, I want
to encourage you to do it. Verse 10, he said, 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. He said, I know you have a desire
to do the same thing. You said that a year ago, and
I want to encourage you to do it. Verse 13, he said, for I
mean not that other men be eased and you be burdened, but by an
equality that now at this time your abundance may be a supply
for their lack." He said, the Lord has given much to you right
now, to the Corinthians. And he said, your abundance be
a supply for their lack, that their abundance also may be a
supply for your lack. That there may be an equality.
That's what believers do for each other. When there's a need,
those who have, supply it. And in chapter 9, verse 5, he
said, Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren
that they would go before unto you, Timothy and the men that
were with him, I told them to go before unto you and make up
beforehand your bounty, your blessing, whereof you had noticed
before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and
not as of covetousness, but this I say, he which soweth sparingly
shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall
reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity,
For God loveth a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 2
Corinthians chapter 9 are both all about Christ crucified. You thought I was going to say
giving, didn't you? They are all about Christ crucified. whole subject of 2 Corinthians
chapter 8. The whole reason he wrote 2 Corinthians
chapter 8 and 2 Corinthians chapter 9. There are many subject matters
in the scripture. The scripture deals with many
things. But the message in every single
one of them is Christ crucified. Every single time. Look with
me at Luke 21. Luke 21 verse 1, and he looked up and
saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And
he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, of a truth I say
unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all. For all these have of their abundance
cast in unto the offerings of God, but she of her poverty. have cast in all the living that
she had. She cast in all the living that
she had. Somebody will say, well, the
Lord is preaching on giving. No, he's not. He's preaching
on Jesus Christ crucified. What do you mean? Why would you
say that? Go back to our text. 2 Corinthians 8, this time look
at verse 9. 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. You know what that means. That
means he gave it all. That's what it means. He gave
all the living he had. Every bit of it. I mean every
bit of it. All the living he had. If that
does not motivate a believer to liberality, Nothing will. Nothing will. You can try to
encourage people to give and do all these things and talk
about all. But if Jesus Christ crucified giving his all does
not exhort us to liberality nothing will. If we want to encourage
God's people to be givers then all we need to do is preach Jesus
Christ crucified. That's all we need to do. The
same thing applies to every good thing that's in the life and
the evidence of a believer. If we want to encourage forgiveness,
that's a good thing among God's people. That is such a good thing. If we want to encourage forgiveness,
all we have to do is preach Jesus Christ crucified. Isn't that
right? If we want to encourage love, don't you love it when
love is in a place? If we want to encourage love,
all we have to do is preach Jesus Christ crucified. If we want
to improve our marriages, Jesus Christ crucified. Husbands, all we have to do is
look at how our Lord dealt with His church, dealt with His bride.
He said, Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the
church and gave Himself for it. That's Jesus Christ crucified. everything that the Apostle Paul
is going to say in light of giving and he is going to deal with
giving throughout these two chapters, but everything that he's going
to say in light of giving, he's going to say it in light of Christ
crucified. That's how he ends the whole
thing. If you look at the last verse in chapter nine, verse
15 says, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. unspeakable. Jesus Christ crucified. Okay. With all that being said,
our text this morning is second Corinthians eight verses one
to seven. Verse one says, moreover, brethren,
we do you to wit. We want you to know of the grace
of God bestowed. The grace of God bestowed. That's
what we want to tell you about. The grace of God bestowed giving
all giving. We associate that with money.
We associate that with Sunday morning offering box. But all
giving of every kind is a grace of God bestowed. All giving of
every kind. It's a grace of God bestowed. Every good and perfect thing
that is in us is a grace of God bestowed. Every bit of it. Faith, you know, we desperately
need faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith is a grace of God bestowed. It is not of ourselves, that
is the gift of God bestowed. And do we do it? Yes, we do.
Do we have faith? Yes, we do. But that's a gift
of God bestowed, right? Repentance, that is a gift of
God bestowed. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth thee to repentance. Do we repent? Do God's people
have this changed mind? Absolutely. But it's the gift
of God to them. Everything that we are, everything
that we have, everything that we do is by the grace of God
bestowed. And what that means is God gets
all the glory for it. All the glory in everything.
He gets all the glory in everything. Giving is no different. He gets
all the glory even in our giving. His grace is what produces liberality. It's God's grace bestowed that
causes liberality. Let me show you that in first
Corinthians 15. This is one of the best scriptures to illustrate
this. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 10 says, But by the grace of God I am
what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not
in vain. God bestowed His grace on me
and what He did was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with
me." What he's saying right there is, God's grace bestowed upon
me produced this abundant labor. He's given him all the credit
for it, all the glory for it. It started with Him. He moved. I responded. His labor is what
caused my labor. Giving is something that is not
natural to this flesh. Not at all. The flesh says, and
you look inside and tell me if you don't agree with this. The
flesh says it's better to receive. That's what the flesh says. It's
better to receive. God's Spirit moving on the heart
of the person says it's better to give. It's of God. Grace is of God. Sovereign grace. Giving is of God. I thought about
the fact that our Lord uses, He moves on the hearts of unbelievers
to give to His people. And every ounce of it is of God.
It's all of God. Everything that happens is for
the good of His people and for His glory. It's all of God. God's Spirit says it's better
to give. When giving is abounding in a
person or in a congregation, it really is something to rejoice
over. And the reason is because It means God's grace is abounding
in a person or in a congregation. When God moves and God leads
the heart and God's Spirit sheds grace in the heart, there is
a response that takes place. And it's giving. As we have been
given, so we give. And the Apostle Paul is telling
the Corinthians, I'm truly rejoicing over this. I want to tell you
about the Macedonians. And this is something to really
rejoice over. Go back to our text, 2 Corinthians 8. Verse 1 says, Moreover, brethren,
we want you to know of the grace of God bestowed on the churches
of Macedonia. Now who make up the churches
of Macedonia? It was Philippi, Thessalonica,
Berea, Neapolis, Apollonia, and quite a few other ones. But rather
than thinking of them as cities, rather than just thinking of
these churches as cities, Let's look at a few of the members,
okay? Go with me over to Acts chapter 16. Let's look at who
specifically he's talking about here. Acts 16 verse 9 says, And a vision appeared to Paul
in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia
and prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And
after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to
go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called
us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing from
Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracea, and the
next day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is
the chief city of that part of Macedonia, in a colony. And we were in that city abiding
certain days. And on the Sabbath, we went out
of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made. And we sat down and spake unto
the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped
God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended
unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized
and her household, she besought us saying, if you have judged
me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide
there. And she constrained us. So this woman, Lydia and her
family, they're from Macedonia. All right, and I think it's important
that we acknowledge the fact that she constrained. She said,
if you've judged me to be faithful to the Lord, she said, here I
sit, here I listen, I believe what you're saying. And I can
envision the personality of this woman. I can envision the demeanor
of this woman. This woman wouldn't take no for
an answer. Lovingly, kindly. But Paul and Silas, they said,
no, we're fine, really. We have accommodations in town.
And she said, no, you're coming to my house. If you count me
as a sister in Christ, then I'm taking care of you. You're coming
into my house. Okay, here's another church member.
Down in verse 20, the city of Philippi, they didn't like what
Paul and Silas were preaching. And in verse 20, they brought
them to the magistrates saying, these men being Jews do exceedingly
trouble our city. And they teach customs, which
are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being Romans.
And the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates
rent off their clothes and commanded to beat Paul and Silas. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely, who having received such a charge, thrust
them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God." If you want to know the
best way to handle a bad situation, Once you think God is no longer
with you and you're out on your own and you're left to yourself,
if you want to know the best thing to do, pray and sing praises
to God. It says, the prisoners heard
them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were
opened and everyone's bands were loosed. That's what happens when
the gospel is preached. And the keeper of the prison,
awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice,
saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called
for a light and sprang in and came trembling. and fell down
before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord, and to all that were in his house, And he took
them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and
was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had
brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and
rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Lydia and her
house, and the jailer in his house, formed one of the first
churches in Macedonia. Alright, so that congregation,
you see why they felt such a deep reality that God has bestowed
great grace on us. Great grace. And Paul is telling
the Corinthians, I just can't describe to you what that has
produced in them. I can't tell you what that's
done for them. Look with me back at the text, 2 Corinthians 8. Verse 1 says, Moreover, brethren,
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. They came to see THE GREAT TRIAL
OF AFFLICTION THAT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ENDURED FOR THEM. THEY
SAW THE FACT THAT HE ENDURED THE CROSS FOR THE JOY SET BEFORE
HIM. IT WAS ALL FOR JOY. THEY ENTERED
INTO THE FACT THAT HIS DEEP POVERTY ABOUNDED UNTO THEIR RICHES. AND PAUL SAID WHAT CHRIST HAS
DONE FOR THEM. has produced a heart in them
to do the exact same thing. He said they are currently in
a great trial of affliction. Not only persecution for the
truth's sake, but he said they're currently in a state of deep
poverty. Now he's talking to the Corinthians
who are abounding right now. Corinth was a big city full of
lots of commerce. And he said, I want to tell you
about the Macedonians. He said, they are so broke. It is deep, deep poverty. But
he said that hadn't stopped them. That hadn't stopped them. Well,
they don't have anything to give. That still hadn't stopped them.
Let me tell you what the flesh thinks. Once I get rich, I'm
going to be a giver. It takes God's grace to be a
giver in little things as well as in big things. It's all the
grace of God bestowed. He said, they're so broke. They're
so broke. They don't have anything that
hadn't stopped him. That widow gave two mites, two mites. Verse three says, for to their
power, that means ability to their ability. I bear record,
yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves."
Why were they willing of themselves? It's because they saw how willing
Christ was. They saw Christ gave sacrificially. I mean, you want to talk about
giving sacrificially. And they said, if He gave sacrificially,
so will we. Christ did it voluntarily. They said, so will we. Christ
did it joyfully. They said, so did we. So will
we. Verse 3 says, For to their power I bear record, yea, and
beyond their power 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." Giving is a letting go of. That's where giving starts. It
starts with letting go of something so somebody else can have it.
It's a conscious decision to deny yourself in order to enrich
somebody else. That's what it is. And that's
what our Lord did. When He gave Himself for us,
He consciously let go of life. He let go of His own righteousness
so He could take our sin. He denied His own self in order
to enrich us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. He denied Himself in order to
enrich us with His own inheritance. That was His inheritance. He
denied Himself so we could be joint heirs with Him. He gave. He gave. He gave. He gave His body. He gave His blood. He gave His
position. He gave His sonship. He gave
everything. He gave everything in order to
minister it to the saints who were in need. That's why I did
it. Lydia and that jailer and everybody
that was with them. They said, we want to do the
same thing. I can see Paul saying, Lydia, honey, this is all you
have. I've stayed at your house. This
is all you have. She said, you take this. Paul
said, that woman will not take no for an answer. You take this,
God will provide. Isn't that what you keep teaching
us, Brother Paul? God will provide. Yeah, God will provide. I want
to say, I want to break notes and say, God will provide. I am no more confident of anything
else on earth For our good, he will not provide
our wants. Thank God. He will always provide our needs. Thank God. He'll give us exactly
what is best for us. God will provide on the confidence
of the word of God. He will provide. So Paul said
we took it. We took it. Verse 4, 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. Giving is unto the
Lord. It's unto the Lord. This is important to know. Our
giving is unto the Lord. It's unto the Lord. It is not
unto the church. It is not unto the pastor. God provides for me. God provides
for you. It is not for a need. We say
there's a need. God will supply all our needs.
God's taking care of that. They're going to be supplied
for. But we don't give to the church and we don't give to the
pastor and we don't give to a good cause and we don't give to a
need. We give to God. They gave to God first. It's
a thank you unto God. And he said in verse 5, this
they did not as we hoped. What that means is we had a certain
number in our mind knowing kind of what they had and where they
were. We had a certain number in our mind that we thought would
be a good number and we hoped they would, you know, give that
much. And he said they far surpassed
that. They far surpassed that. There's
a pastor that traveled out to a congregation to preach a meeting
for him. And it wasn't me. And this was
not a large congregation by any means. I mean by any means. But they had to fly him out.
And they took care of him. They fed him the whole time he
was out there. And they made sure he had a place to stay.
Completely took care of him. And there's a lot of work that
goes into preaching. There's a lot of work that goes
into studying and praying and begging and searching. There's
a lot of work that goes into it. But when a congregation,
especially a smaller congregation made up of people that you love
with all your heart, after they pay to fly you out, after they
buy you an airline ticket, you think that's enough, that's plenty.
We're not in this for the money. We are not in this for the money.
We're just glad to be out there with you and fellowship with
you and be here. We're just thankful God would
bring us. We just pray the Lord would bless His word. But anyway,
they flew him out and all that and took care of him. And after
it was over, they handed him a check in an envelope, sealed
up. The church had designated a certain
amount of money, and we do that when men come. We designate a
certain amount of money to give that man for his expenses. But
they took up an offering for him as well. And they added that
on top of the expenses that they were going to take care of. So
he got back on the plane to go home, and he pulled that envelope
out and opened it up. And I adore this number, and
I'm going to tell you why. I adore this number. It was $1,562. Now here's why I adore that number. The two. Somebody gave $2 and I don't
envision that being all they had. I envisioned them having
$22. And instead of taking the 20,
And given that and keeping $2 for himself, he gave 22. What a weird number. $1,562. And that's what they
gave. That's what they took in. And
that's what they gave. But somebody didn't say, well,
I'm going to hold that back for myself. No, I have $22. I'm going to
give $22. And the pastor told me about
it because he was so blessed by the grace of God bestowed
upon them. He's not in it for the money.
I'm not in it for the money. Paul's not in it for the money.
Matter of fact, as he told them this, he told the Corinthian
church, I will not take a dime from you. I have not taken a
dime and I will not take a dime. I just want to tell you about
the Macedonians. That's all. The grace of God bestowed, verse
5, this they did not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves
to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. They did this by
the will of God. Verse 6, in so much that we desired
Titus that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the
same grace also. We sent Titus to you so he could
tell you about the Macedonians. and encourage you to do the same
thing. And that's the same reason I'm here this morning to tell
you about the Macedonians, and encourage you to do the same
thing. Verse 7 says, therefore, as you
abound in everything, in faith, we beg God, Lord, increase our
faith. I pray this congregation might
grow in faith. As you abound in faith, in utterance
of the gospel, going out and telling people how wonderful
this good news is. And knowledge of the Word of
God. I want to know more of what is
in God's Word. I want us all to know that. And
he said, as you abound in all diligence to reading the Word,
hearing the Word, and in your love to us, all of God's saints,
see that you abound in this grace also. see that you abound in
this gift from God also. And God's people really do say,
Lord, increase that gift to us. They really do. Lord, as you've
done for me, would you increase that in me? And if you will,
you know, the scripture says, Lord, you turn us and we'll be
turned. Lord, if you give, we'll abound. So may the Lord make
it so. All right, you're dismissed.