To Spend and Be Spent

Q: What does the Bible say about spending and being spent for others?

The Bible teaches that we should gladly spend and be spent for others, reflecting Christ's love and sacrifice. In 2 Corinthians 12:15, the Apostle Paul expresses his willingness to 'spend and be spent' for the spiritual welfare of others. This sentiment highlights the sacrificial nature of love within the Christian community. Just as Christ spent Himself for His people, we are called to invest ourselves in the lives of others, prioritizing their needs above our own comforts. The heart of this teaching centers on love—true love compels us to serve, sometimes at great personal cost, as we seek the spiritual growth and well-being of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Q: How do we know the importance of love in Christian service?

Love is foundational in Christian service, as our actions must flow from a genuine love for Christ and others. Paul openly states that his willingness to 'spend and be spent' is driven by love—love for Christ and love for God's people. This foundational truth underscores that without love, our efforts are futile. In 1 Corinthians 13, we learn that even the most sacrificial acts lose their value without love. Love motivates us to serve selflessly, maintain integrity, and persevere through challenges. In essence, love should be the guiding principle behind all that we do as Christians, leading us to act for the glory of God and the benefit of others.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to redeem the time?

Christians are called to redeem the time by making the most of every opportunity for spiritual advancement. In Ephesians 5:15-16, we are instructed to walk wisely, making the best use of our time because the days are evil. Time is a precious resource given by God, and how we spend it reflects our priorities. Christians are to invest their time in pursuits that bear fruit for God’s kingdom and bring glory to Christ. This means intentionally focusing on what is eternally valuable rather than getting caught up in temporal distractions. By redeeming our time, we honor God and fulfill our responsibilities to serve others effectively, ensuring that our lives are testimonies of His grace.

Q: How can Christians balance earthly responsibilities with spiritual pursuits?

Christians should view earthly responsibilities as opportunities to glorify God and serve others. While believers have earthly responsibilities, these should not overshadow their spiritual pursuits. Matthew 6:19-21 encourages us not to lay up treasures on earth but instead to focus on heavenly treasures. Balance is found when earthly tasks are approached as avenues to glorify God. For instance, work can be a means of providing for one's family while also supporting the work of the church and engaging in community service. Ultimately, Christians are called to live out their faith in every aspect of life, ensuring that every duty is infused with a desire to honor God and build up His kingdom.

Second Corinthians 12, 15. Let's start in verse 14 for some context. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Let's pray.

Thank you, Father, for your word, and we ask your presence, Lord, tonight, lest we have met in vain. We ask that you'd shine the light of your countenance upon us and bless us in the hearing and in the preaching shine the light of the Holy Spirit on your word that we might understand and rejoice in you once again. Teach us by your grace, be long-suffering and patient with us, Lord, as you're so gracious to always be. I pray, Lord, that you would be glorified in all that we do and say and think in our hearts as the gospel is preached and heard, and I pray you'd teach us, Lord, to the point where we grow in your grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.

In his precious name we ask it. Amen. Really, just verse 15 tonight, I want us to think on a few aspects of this verse. He said, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you." In the previous verse, he said, I don't seek yours or what you have, but you, the treasure, that which is valuable, that which is desirable.

It's not stuff, but the Lord has an earth and a universe because he has a people. And His people are His jewels. His people are His crown. His people are His sheep, and He's done all that He's done for His own glory's sake, of course, but it is in the saving of His people that He's glorified in mercy upon sinners like us.

I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I'll be loved. There's a lot more in this verse than meets the eye, and a lot more than we'll even understand or know tonight, I suspect, and I'm certain of, that everything that we do Everything we say, everything we think, everything we pursue, everything we give our attention to is an expenditure.

We have limited time, limited attention, capacity to think, capacity to understand. We're going to know a certain number of things and certain things, and that's all we're going to know. We have a limited capacity. to know, to understand. We have a limited capacity to give. Whatever it is that we're able to give, that God has gifted us in order to give, in all of our being, it's limited. It's limited by definite and finite things.

If you spend your time on certain things, then there are certain other things that are neglected. And that can be good or bad, for better or for worse. Something else is getting neglected. One thing that's very easily spent is our thoughts. Most people have some sense of care and discernment when it comes to spending their time. That's taught a lot, you know, to make the most of your time, to not waste time on vain things, even things that the world considers vain.

When it comes to what we spend our time on, we have some awareness of that, but our thoughts tend to be far less monitored. Do we understand how precious they are? Do we understand how important what goes on in our mind is? What we spend our thoughts on? What do we think about? Do we think about vain things, selfish things? Turn with me to Philippians chapter four. This will be a familiar scripture to you. That which is most familiar to us will be most easily taken for granted. So let's not be so familiar with this verse that we don't take to heart.

Philippians 4, 8, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, we're seekers of truth. In temporal things, in earthly things, the truth is vital. If there's to be any success in anything, the truth has to be understood. When it comes to spiritual things, it's eternally vital. It's all important, the truth. They asked the Lord, what is truth? And he told his disciples, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. Whatsoever things are honest, the people of God don't have anything to hide. Our sins, we don't hide them before God. We confess our sins unto God. We don't have any ulterior motives.

If you do, you need to lose them. If there's anything sneaky about your life, get rid of it. Whatsoever things are honest, think on that. Pursue that. Spend your thoughts on that. You know, it's so One of the biggest enemies of sinners is time. Did you know that? Because the more time that you have that's not occupied by something, the more trouble you're going to get into as a sinner. That's just the fact of it.

But time is also precious when it comes to spiritual things. When it comes to the people of God, the Lord said, redeem the time, make it count. In other words, make it count. Whatsoever things are just honest, honest. What do you enjoy? Honest things? I thought about some honest things and some dishonest things, and we're going to talk about that a little bit, but you can think of that yourself. Do we just enjoy simple things that the Lord has given us to do and enjoy? Nothing ulterior. Nothing sneaky. Nothing underhanded. Nothing to hide. Paul said, I've declared the whole gospel to you. I'm not gonna mince words about it.

If you hate me for it, then that's just, that's the natural man. The Lord may have mercy on you anyway. If he does, if he's gonna have mercy on you, he's gonna use the gospel that you hate to do it. By nature, you're gonna hate it now. Whatsoever things are just, The people of God are sensitive to that. Again, in earthly things, and we know in spiritual matters, there's got to be just, God is a just God. That's why, you know, that's one of the ways that we understand the gospel. We understand that, you know, me walking in an aisle and saying some words is not going to make up for me killing God's son.

There's got to be justice for that. There's got to be a price paid for my sins. the evil of my heart. God's got to be recompensed for that. There's a great, dark gap between us and God by nature. Our sins have separated between us and our God. And only by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is atonement made, atonement. We're at one with God because of his precious blood. And nothing else is worth that much. Nothing else satisfies the justice of God. the sacrifice of his son.

And that carries over into everyday life. Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely. Isn't this beautiful language? Do we think about things that are lovely? Whatsoever things are of good report, If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, if God is worth praising, if he's worthy of praise, if he's worthy of our time, if he's worthy of our thoughts, think on these things. Think on these things. What are our pursuits and our passions? What are you doing? You ever ask yourself, what am I doing? And why am I doing it? Trying to get ahead? Have you figured it out yet?

There's no ahead. There's no such thing. Well, there is. Let me take that back. There is. But you know, It took it just for me to even get a concept of it. And I'm not saying I get it and I understand it. And I know what I'm talking about on this necessarily. I'm just saying this, it took me probably 40 to 45 years to at least even have a glimmer of the fact that I needed to stop and realize that whatever a head means, I was already there.

I was already there. My wife, my little children at the time, every luxury that a reasonable man could ever want, and all of the gifts from my God who had given Himself for my sins and blessed me every step of the way. He worked out everything in my life before I even knew Him for my good, for my ultimate good, to make me like His Son. And I was striving. I was in the rat race. in the dog-eat-dog for what? For what? I was worried about what? I had everything. We already have everything. We're already ahead, whatever that means. We're ahead.

What more do we want as believers? What more can this world give us? Isn't it time to maybe just stop and say, I'm already ahead. Let's just honor God with the rest of it, shall we, for the rest of our years, with the rest of our time? Let's just use all of the blessings He's bestowed upon us, temporal blessings, to honor His holy name and quit trying to get somewhere else. Where else do we want to be? What more do we want to have?

We spend all of our time, now you think about this now. I know you because I'm a you, and you're a me. We spend all of our time gaining, gaining, gaining, obtaining, and when we have so much, we have so much, we take all of that for granted while we strive for more. It's like we don't even have the stuff that we've already gained because we just want to get over that next hump.

Do we ever just sit around in our house and say, this is it. This is my life. This is where I'm at. And it's a wonderful place. We're beautiful for situation because our savior has made us to lie down in green pastures. And he restores our soul every day. He leads us beside the still waters. We have enough. You remember what Jacob said? He really was saying, I have everything. We come to that place yet? Then you're ahead. You're as ahead as you're ever gonna get. And me too. What else is there? All by God's amazing grace spent himself for his brothers and sisters in Christ. He spent himself for Christ, to do what Christ had given him to do, to do what mattered. The Lord said, do you love me?

Feed my sheep. That's what he was doing. And some of them were dissatisfied with him for it. Some of them maligned him for it. He just kept telling them the truth. He kept telling them the truth. He kept feeding them. He spent himself for eternal things. He spent himself for that which was of spiritual value, not earthly value. He neglected that which had to do with earthly value as far as some high attainment of riches that we all want to seem to grab somehow. He neglected that in preference for what really mattered. serving, honoring, worshiping, preaching, fellowshipping with the Lord and his people. Turn with me to Matthew 6, 19, please. Matthew 6, 19, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth.

You know, it doesn't mean don't have a bank, don't have a savings account. It's not about that. You know what this is talking about. Get out of the rat race. Get out of it. You don't belong in it. You're one of the Lord's people. You're one of his sheep now. and realize how blessed you are right now, right now. If we waste our lives trying to get to some other higher place, some other more prosperous place, we will have truly wasted our lives. You're there now. Spend your thoughts and your time and the passion of your heart on that which actually matters. May God give us grace to do that.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And this, you know, religion takes this and says, oh, we're going to have, everybody's going to have a certain amount of jewels in their crown and stuff like that. That's so repulsive to scripture that it's not even worth talking about. Where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal, or where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Mm, your heart. Speaking of the heart, don't miss this word in our text. The Apostle, by the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, identifies the determining factor of all of this for you.

We've been asking the questions. What do you spend your time on? What do you spend your thoughts thinking about? What do you pursue? What's valuable to you? What are your priorities? What's your attitude? What are you doing? And why in the world are you doing it? You know what the answer is? Love. Paul said, I'll gladly spend and be spent because I love you. Because I love you. Even though the more I love you, the less I'll be loved.

But because of his love for them, his love for Christ, who told him what to do, how to do it, He introduced himself as Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. That's what was precious to him. That's what, that was his title. He wasn't a doctor of divinity. He was a servant of Jesus Christ. And because of that love, he was a bond slave. The bond slave said, I love my master and I love my family. I don't want to go free. That's what Paul had said in his heart. He loved his master. He loved his family in Christ. And he said, I'm not going anywhere. You can hate me more. The more I love you, you can hate me the more. But I'm not going anywhere. What do you spend your time on, your resources, your efforts, your thoughts, and attention on? Whatever it is you love. Think with me now. Think.

Paul didn't love the grief and the disappointment that this church was to him at this time. He didn't love that, but he loved them, so he endured that. You may not love all of the things that you pursue in this life, but that doesn't mean that they don't have an honest and a pure motive. Maybe you love your family, and so you're willing to do things that you don't love because you love them. That's what we're talking about. You're not necessarily doing what you love, but you're doing it for what you love.

Paul didn't love the cat and nine tails. He didn't love the stoning. He didn't love the prison, but he loved the Savior, who loved him first. And so he spent and spent and spent. And he did it gladly. He did it gladly. You may not love all of the pursuits and expenditures of your life, but whatever it is you're doing it for, you love that. I guarantee you that. And ask yourself honestly tonight, and may God give us grace to all. Ask ourselves honestly tonight, is it yourself? Is it yourself? I wanna know the answer to that. I want to know the answer to that now about myself. Because by God's grace, I have some glimmer of the vanity of that, of the futility of that, of the sinfulness of that.

I want to make one quick point here that he didn't just say that he would spend, but he was also spent. We spend and we are spent. We give, whether in vanity or in virtue, we give. Time, effort, thoughts, pursuits, we give. But also, this world and those around us take. They spend us. All was being spent, but it was ultimately for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want that for us. If we're going to be spent, be careful who you allow to spend you. They will spend you. Paul was being spent. He willingly spent. But he was also being spent.

For the Lord's sake, I want that for us. I want that for us. Notice what Paul spent and allowed to be spent. Everything we've said has alluded to this, but I want us to dwell on it for just a minute. He was himself. He said, I am willing to spend and be spent. Whatever capacity there is in my mind and my body and my heart is yours. That's what he was saying.

It's yours for Christ's sake. And notice who he spent it on, and again, we've been alluding to this all along. He spent it on the people of God directly, but also, for Christ's sake, he did that. Because it was the Lord that said, I love my church and I gave myself for my church. If you love me, feed my sheep. He directed his pastors, his apostles, the word apostle means sent. Sent to who?

The lost sheep of God, that's who. Sent into this world to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. to the end of God's purpose of grace toward his elect from the foundation of the world. There's nothing bigger than that. There's nothing more vital than that. And let's try to put some perspective on it this way. What he spent it on, think about this. What matters to the Son of God in this world? What matters to him in this world? Well, that's not a hard question to answer because God is gonna burn up everything, all of it, except his sheep. He's gonna burn all of it, everything, and everybody, except his sheep. Notice the word gladly in our text. No reservations. No begrudging. No having to think about it. No worrying about it. When you give, don't worry about it. Look.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you. Who do you think's adding them to you now? As you're in the rat race, if you are. Who do you think's adding them to you anyway? Is He going to stop adding them to you because you pursue His glory and neglect the earthly folly of the world?

I'd say no to that. I would suggest that that's not the case. We could go through time and time again in the Scripture when that's the truth, when we see that that's the truth. And my prayer is this for us tonight. May the Lord increase our faith. Increase our faith. Lord, increase our faith. You know why I say that? Look at Hebrews 11 with me, Hebrews 11, 24.

Hebrews 11 24 By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward.

That last part is so contrary to this world. If he had had any respect to the return on investment, he would have continued to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He would have had all the riches. It would have all been his, everything that a man could ever want and even imagine. But no, he was looking at a different prize. He was looking for something of a different kind of value.

The reproach of Christ. It wasn't that he loved being hated for Christ. That's not what it's talking about. But it's saying he preferred to be reproached for the sake of Christ. and to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. It's just a season. It was by God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love for the Savior who loved him first that Moses abandoned all that every fleshly cell in his body was telling him was valuable. He forsook all of it for what was truly valuable. How did he do it? By faith. Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. He spent all that he had and bought that pearl of great price. Spent it all.

For the love of Christ, the fellowship of Christ, in Christ, favor of Christ, the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ, We've talked so many times about the blessing of Christ. The Lord doesn't just throw blessings around. You're either blessed or you're not blessed. It's not about good things or bad things happening to you. Well, something good happened to me today. The Lord blessed me. No, that's not what a blessing is. God's blessing is in Christ. It's all or nothing. If you're blessed of God in Christ, everything bad can happen to you. You can be the weeping prophet, but you're blessed of God, highly favored of God, and sitting pretty, beautiful for situation. Notice one or two more things.

Temporal outcomes were not Paul's motivation. If you love somebody enough to give yourself to them, a desirable outcome would be that they would love you too, wouldn't you think? That wasn't the case, but it didn't bother Paul. That's not what he was doing it for. Temporal outcomes are what motivated him.

It was love for Christ and his people In his case, the very expressions of his love toward them, and not being overbearing, and not being burdensome to them, and sticking to the gospel instead of flattering or impressing the flesh, those were the very things that made many of the people in this church disparage him. It was his acts of love for them that caused them not to love him. But reciprocation was not his motive. No reward of any kind was his motive, no. It was simply and primarily love for Christ and these people for Christ's sake. If you love me, feed my sheep. Paul did, so he was doing just that.

I could never exhaust the infinite list of benefits that trusting Christ, obeying Him at all cost, seeking His glory at all cost would bring and will bring and does bring for a believer. I could never mention them all. All of His benefits. Forget not all His benefits, the psalmist said. Don't forget His benefits. I can never estimate of how much greater value his blessing is than anything this world or this flesh can ever offer. I can't even estimate it. But forget all of that for a minute. Forget all of that.

Christ is worth it. He's worth it. And they sung a new song saying thou art worthy. to take the book and to open the seals thereof, because you were slain. And you've redeemed us to God by your blood. Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

To Spend and Be Spent

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about spending and being spent for others?

How do we know the importance of love in Christian service?

Why is it important for Christians to redeem the time?

How can Christians balance earthly responsibilities with spiritual pursuits?

Sermon Transcript

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To Spend and Be Spent

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about spending and being spent for others?

How do we know the importance of love in Christian service?

Why is it important for Christians to redeem the time?

How can Christians balance earthly responsibilities with spiritual pursuits?

Sermon Transcript

About Chris Cunningham

Comments

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