A Sharing, Generous Church

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Today's scripture reading is from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians,

chapter 8, verses 1 to 15, and chapter 9, verses 12 to 15.

A reading from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.

In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.

Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people.

And they exceeded our expectations.

They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God, also to us.

So we urge Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.

But since you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love that we have kindled in you,

see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

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.

And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter.

Last year, you were the first not only to give, but also to have the desire to do so.

Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it,

according to your means.

For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard-pressed, but that there might be equality.

At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn, their plenty will supply what you need.

The goal is equality.

As it is written, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people,

but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves,

others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ,

and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.

And in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you,

because of the surpassing grace God has given you.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Thanks for that scripture reading, Maddie.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Our Father, we want to hear from you, and we thank you that when your word goes forth,

it does not return void or empty.

We thank you that your word is living and active,

and we ask that it would bring much conviction today,

that it would draw us near to you,

and fix our eyes upon the grace that you've poured out upon us in our Savior, Jesus Christ.

In his name we pray.

Amen.

All right, so I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

You know, back in the fall, me and Jonathan typically plan our full year preaching calendar,

and originally when we had planned this preaching calendar,

we planned for these past three weeks to be a miniseries on giving and generosity.

Because as many of you know, we are in the middle of a capital campaign.

We're trying to raise $250,000 more to meet our $600,000 goal to pay off this building

and to create more usable space for our growing church.

And so we originally planned to preach a miniseries on giving after Easter,

before everyone went on summer vacation.

Because honestly, we'd really like to hit our goal this summer

and just get this capital campaign behind us,

get into August, our new ministry year, looking forward debt-free.

All right, so that was our original strategic plan.

Three sermons on giving, just what you wanted, right?

To promote this capital campaign, to pay off our debt,

and glory to God, right?

Three sermons on giving.

Now, if that sounds like, if that sounded to you like a bad idea,

maybe even manipulative, like two pastors trying to maybe be more strategy-led than spirit-led,

honestly, you're probably right.

And that's why we haven't done that.

As we came toward the end of our last series in the Gospel of Mark,

upon further reflection, Jonathan and I were convicted that actually we need to cast a far

grander vision for our church.

A far grander vision than just some immediate vision of paying off our debt in three to seven months.

We need to cast God's vision.

Something so much grander than just $600,000 to own and upgrade this property.

So in the past two weeks, what you've heard Jonathan do is cast this wider vision of a church united under Christ,

together under one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Father, one Spirit, one body,

and yet at the same time, rich in diversity, right?

Many members, many gifts, many talents, many callings.

And we hope what you've heard so far isn't just a challenge to be more, give more, do more.

But we hope that you've also heard an invitation to have more.

To have more of an experience of the presence and power of God.

To have a deeper communion with Christ and His body, the church.

To have a firmer sense of meaning and purpose and a Spirit-led direction in your life

as you use all the gifts that God has given you to serve Him, to serve the church, and to serve the world.

And so today we're going to wrap up this series, yes, with a sermon on generosity and giving,

because that still is a part of God's vision for the church.

But listen, it's not for the sake of getting more out of this congregation.

It's like accomplish our church's strategic financial objectives.

It's not to alleviate our anxieties about debt and high interest rates, no.

Christ's church exists not to raise capital, but to raise followers and worshipers of Jesus Christ.

Christ's church exists to lead people into deeper relationships with Jesus and His church

through community and for the city.

So as we open up this ancient letter from Paul today,

what I hope to make clear is that God is far less interested in generosity from you

and far more interested in being generous toward you.

And I want you to hear that that's my heart for you this morning as well.

That's the heart behind this sermon.

It's not so much that we want generosity from you, but that we want generosity for you

as the people of God raised with Christ, heirs with Him,

awaiting an imperishable inheritance which we did not earn and which we cannot lose.

As we look at Paul's heart this morning for the church that he planted in Corinth,

we want you to know that this is our heart as well for Christ's church, Christ's church East Bay.

That we as a church might join in the joy of Jesus' generosity.

And that's the main point.

It's a challenge, it's an invitation as well to join in the joy of Jesus' generosity.

Now let's start by looking at Paul's heart for this church in Corinth as he writes what,

it's pretty much just like a fundraising letter.

That's what Maddie just read.

She read a fundraising letter from the Apostle Paul, an ancient one, all right?

Now just a little bit about who Paul is addressing.

Corinth was a city not unlike the Bay Area.

It's a bustling entrepreneurial hub that was being rebuilt by lots and lots of new money flowing in.

This was a place where fortunes could be made, wealth could be created,

even if you weren't necessarily born into the old money Roman aristocracy,

you still had a chance to make it and gain the status and the influence that come with money.

At the same time, what was going on, Paul was writing to the church in Corinth

during a particularly severe famine in the Roman world, one that lasted over 15 years.

Maybe you remember Jesus, he predicted it, and so did the early church prophet Agabus,

he predicted it as well.

And this is verified by historical records.

We know that Egypt had had some very significant crop failures

and that the Middle East was hit with a series of severe droughts.

And so by the time Paul was writing this letter,

the Roman world was in the middle of this like over 15-year famine.

This is around year 10 when Paul's writing this.

And at this time, grain in Corinth was so scarce

that even in wealthy places like Corinth, inflation was hitting so hard.

According to one historical record, the price of grain was about eight times the normal price.

But even as Corinth was being hit, the ones who were being hit the worst were the people in Jerusalem.

The church in Jerusalem is the church that Paul is trying to raise money for.

The mother church, the first church, the church in Jerusalem.

So Paul, you know, what he's doing is, you know, in addition to preaching and teaching

and developing leaders and governing and church planting and really just trying to stay alive, right,

he's now on his third missionary journey and he's become a fundraiser as well,

trying to raise money for the struggling church in Jerusalem.

All right, so that's the context for our passage today.

Now, as an apostle, there are all kinds of moves that he could have made, right,

to raise this money, all kinds of levers he could have pulled, all kinds of favors he could have asked for.

He could have gone, hey, I'm an apostle.

I'm an authoritative apostle.

Give your money to where I say you should give it to.

Or he could have gone that, you know, sappy, sad, guilt-inducing, sad, infomercial route

and said, oh, look at those poor Jerusalem Christians.

Oh, we've got to give something to them.

You should feel guilty that you're living so well, right?

No, he doesn't do that either.

He might have gone the televangelist route, like, hey, give your money

and God's going to give you even more.

Health and wealth, right?

Prosperity gospel, he doesn't do that.

And he doesn't even play the comparison card.

Like, look how much the Macedonian churches have given

and they are way poorer than you,

so shouldn't you give more?

No.

Even while bringing up the example of the Macedonian churches,

notice how he phrases it in verse 1.

And now, brothers and sisters,

we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.

Did you catch that?

He's calling their generosity a grace, a charis,

a gift given to them by God.

Paul's not even highlighting them, like, oh, how great the Macedonian churches are.

No, Paul, for Paul, what he sees and what he is eager to point out

is not the Macedonian churches,

but the gracious hand of God within the Macedonian churches.

See, for Paul, giving generously was not just some, like, righteous act to endorse,

but a gift from God in and of itself.

Look how he describes it in verse 2.

In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty

welled up in rich generosity.

Like, God had so gifted these churches.

His favor and grace were so powerfully at work in them

that even with their own trials, even in extreme poverty,

they were somehow endowed by God with the privilege and honor of overflowing joyful generosity.

When Paul says in verse 1,

I want you to know about the grace that God has given,

he's saying that God has gifted them pretty much with a miracle.

The miracle of generous giving.

Verse 3,

For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability.

Think about that.

How do you give as much as you're able and then even beyond your ability?

Think about that.

How does someone give beyond?

Isn't that the very definition of a miracle?

Like water from a rock, like manna from heaven kind of stuff.

God worked a miracle out of these poverty-stricken churches in Macedonia.

And look, this gift, it wasn't just a gracious gift of God that was financial in character,

but it was a miracle of the heart.

Look at verses 3 and 4.

Paul says,

Entirely on their own,

they urgently pleaded with us

for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people.

Well, the gift here,

the miracle here,

is not simply money unexpectedly flowing from one church account to another church account.

No, the miracle here is a transformation of hearts.

Hearts once only inclined towards self-service,

now poured out in exceeding love for others.

That's a miracle.

I want you to think about that for a second.

What is the tougher, greater, more surprising miracle?

For our church to somehow hit its goal, like tomorrow,

through some mystery donor or some like crazy tax refund or something,

250K, boom, it's done, right?

Is that the most amazing miracle that you can fathom for our church?

Or would it not be a greater miracle for God to so move the hearts of Christ Church East Bay

that every member, 100% of us, might give beyond our ability,

even pleading to do so,

because we've counted such a great privilege to share in what this church is all about,

leading people into deeper relationships with Christ.

And as your pastor, I pray for this second miracle.

I'll take this second miracle any day, over a quarter million dollars,

the miracle of changed hearts,

hearts inclined, desperately pleading to participate in the overflowing joy of generosity

toward the work and the purposes of God.

Regardless of what poverty we may face or experience,

that's the miracle that I want.

That's the gift that I want for us.

And I'm curious if you want that too.

But the question for us this morning, Christ Church, is do we want this miracle?

Do we want this grace that God gave to the Macedonian churches?

Or are we even able to see that as a gracious gift from God?

Like, do we see the generosity that God calls us to as just an edict to obey

or an actual divine gift for us to enjoy?

And do we really believe the words of Jesus who said it is more blessed to give than to receive?

Can we believe him?

Will we take him at his word?

Is it truly more blessed to give?

I want to take you, I want us to consider for a moment,

I want to take a moment to really consider that question this morning.

I want to ask you to do a quick inventory of all the most joyful people that you've ever met in your life.

An inventory of all the people who you most aspire to live like,

of all the people you consider to have lived the fullest and most meaningful lives.

Get a picture in your head of that person or those people.

Now, is it not true that the most joyful people we know,

the people who live the fullest and most fulfilled lives,

isn't it true that the people we most want to emulate

are not the tight-fisted, self-protective, financially savvy penny pinchers,

but the most generous people we know?

Is that not true?

Now, why do you think that is?

Why do you think that Jesus was right?

And not just because of some biochemical link,

maybe between generosity and endorphins or dopamine and pleasure in your brain,

but isn't it true that the most generous person,

the most generous people we know,

are also the most committed and purposeful people we know as well?

The people who know exactly what they are living for, right?

The people who've committed their lives to something far bigger than their own individual selves.

People who've discovered something worth living for,

perhaps even worth dying for.

And in his book, The Second Mountain,

New York Times cultural commentator David Brooks, he writes,

the people who radiates a permanent joy

have given themselves over to lives of deep and loving commitment.

Giving has become their nature,

and little by little they have made their souls incandescent.

If you closely look at joyful people,

you notice that very often the people who have the most incandescent souls

have taken on the heaviest burdens.

Do you not find that to be true in your life?

I certainly find it to be true in the people that I know.

And I think Apostle Paul would agree.

There's something joyful about giving oneself,

even when it's costly and burdensome,

to something, to someone that's still absolutely worth it.

And for these Macedonian churches,

what they gave themselves to,

what was most worth it to them,

was to give themselves, what does it say in verse 5?

To the Lord.

Verse 5, Paul says,

Do you see that?

Deep and transcendent commitments to God

and His work that led to joyful generosity.

They gave themselves to the Lord and to His will.

They recognized that they were not their own,

but that they belonged to another.

So how could any of them withhold whatever they had,

even in their poverty,

everything that they had belonged to the Lord in the first place?

And what did they have that they did not receive from Him?

This is absolutely essential to a rightful understanding

and practice of generosity.

The Christian view of property and economics

is radically different than the views on the right and on the left.

Those on the right say that everything an individual possesses

belongs to him or her,

and he or she may use it however they want.

And then those on the left say that everything an individual possesses

belongs not just to him or her,

but to their whole community,

and the community may determine how to use it.

But Christians know that everything an individual possesses

neither belongs to him or her,

nor even solely or primarily to our community,

but first and foremost,

it all belongs to the Lord.

It all belongs to the Lord,

who doesn't just command obligatory generosity,

but models joyful generosity

and invites us into his joy.

You know, when we talk about generosity,

it can be so easy for us to think of ourselves

as benevolent, charitable benefactors,

you know, graciously donating to others at our own expense.

Oh, how gracious of us, right?

But what if a more accurate picture

is to see ourselves as money managers

or as trustees?

We were chatting about this

in our Alameda community group last week.

Shout out to Miriam Kim for this really good example.

And she was saying

that giving and generosity

don't seem so burdensome

when we realize that it's less about us

trying to part ways with our own money

and more like us realizing

that our Father in Heaven

has written a trust.

And he's already written out

and directed exactly

how we should distribute his estate

and invest his assets.

And she gave this example

of how some of us

have had to step into this role

for our ailing parents

who are unable to maybe make decisions

for themselves

and care for themselves.

So sure, their trust may designate us

as the ones in control

and having responsibility

over all their assets now.

But it's not like it's just all ours

to spend on ourselves

or however we want.

There is a right way

and there is a wrong way.

A responsible way

and an irresponsible way

to manage their estate.

There's a way that honors them

and their wishes

and there's a way of dishonor as well.

And to not use the money

to help provide and care for them

or if they pass,

to not distribute it

as they intended

to maybe their chosen non-profits

or to their grandchildren

or whatever it is,

to disregard their will

for what to do

with all that they've entrusted to us.

It would dishonor our parents.

See, generosity isn't just about

charity and benevolence.

It's about a job

that we've been given

by our Father in Heaven.

It's stewardship.

Our calling to generosity

echoes out from God's original command

to us in creation.

Just as He generously shared

life and existence with us

when He didn't have to,

He has called us to be fruitful

and to multiply

and to fill the earth

not just for our own individual sakes

but for His good and the good,

His glory and the good of our neighbors.

God has created a world

full of abundance.

A world sustained by His presence

with daily provisions

for every need and desire.

And the simple work

that He gave us

from the beginning

to complete

was to just generously

and selflessly

exercise

our God-given authority

and to share

the plentiful bounty

of our possessions

as we all together

bear tons and tons of fruit

as we are faithful to the Lord.

This was God's intention for us.

Generosity was meant to be natural.

But you see,

the reason we find generosity

so hard and unnatural today

is because of sin's entrance

into the world.

And all the scarcity

and the selfishness

and all the sweat and tears

and blood and thorns

and thistles

that came into the ground

and all the enmity

and hostility

and violent competition

that sin created

between us

and everyone else.

People made in the image of God

yet because of sin

turned enemies

and threats to one another.

And this is why Cain

and his descendants

built those cities

as they did.

Not as dwelling places

and temples

where people might excel

at worshiping God

with one another

and loving one another

as themselves

but as self-protective fortresses.

That's what Cain's descendants built.

Self-protective fortresses

built up against one another.

Places where people

sought to excel

in the use of power

and control

and violence

and oppression.

Whereas God's ideal

for the city

was always abundance

and sharing

and harmony.

People excelling

in generosity

toward one another.

Our cities,

even with all the great things

that our cities have done,

all our triumphs,

all our merits,

our cities have always

still been plagued

by what?

Violence

and inequality

and scarcity

and people just trying

to excel

in whatever it is

that will get them ahead.

Maybe it's software engineering today.

Hundreds of years ago,

it was being good

with the sword.

Whatever it is,

try to excel

to try to get ahead,

right?

No matter how bad

that is for them

or their environment

or for their neighbors.

All right,

so I kind of got us

a little bit away

from the text

but let's bring it back

to verse six.

Okay?

Generosity.

This is why Paul

sends Titus, okay?

Because of sin

in this world,

because of our,

because of the way

that generosity

has become unnatural

in this world,

Paul goes

and he sends Titus

in verse six.

Apparently,

he's asking

for a second gift.

If you look

at verses 10 and 11,

you'll see that

this church in Corinth

actually had already

given a gift.

So Paul's asking again.

It's a double dip

right here

and Paul is sending

Titus again

to come and collect

another donation

because they need

accountability.

In their fallen existence,

generosity is no longer

natural.

So Paul sends Titus

to point them back

to the joyful task

of completing the good work

of generosity

that they started.

And he reasons like this.

Paul reasons that

what good would it be

for this church in Corinth

to excel

in a whole bunch of ways

but not also in giving.

Look at what he says

in verse seven.

But since you excel

in everything,

in faith,

in speech,

in knowledge,

in complete earnestness,

and in the love

we have kindled in you,

see that you also excel

in this grace

of giving.

And I want us

to think about that.

Try to imagine a church.

Try to imagine

even just an individual person

who excels

in all kinds of gifts

in faith,

speech,

knowledge,

earnestness,

and even love

and yet doesn't excel

in giving.

Is that the kind

of excellence

that this world

really needs?

Paul is saying

to this church

in Corinth

and perhaps God

is saying to us today,

Christ Church,

hey,

you're great

and you excel

in so many things.

You are a church

full of talent

and gifts

and so many things

to admire.

But see that you also

excel in giving.

And don't you dare

be content

that you excel

at everything else

if you do not also

excel in giving.

Because see for Paul,

as it says in verse 8,

generosity,

generosity is a true test

of the sincerity

of our faith

and our love.

A true test

of whether

excellent faith

and speech

and knowledge

and love

and earnestness

are really real.

And this is a test

for all of us as well.

Now just to be clear,

this is not Paul

trying to set them up

to fail.

He's not saying

that they have to

prove themselves

to him

as a church

that's just as generous

as the Macedonian churches.

He's not saying

that we have to

prove ourselves

to God

by giving generously

or else we're doomed.

No,

he's not commanding them

to give

with this test,

but he's inviting them

to give.

He's saying,

I want you to prove

me right

about what I believe

God's up to

in your church,

just as he did

amongst the churches

in Macedonia.

I want you to prove

the power of the gospel

and the power

of the Holy Spirit

is at work

within your church too.

I want to give you

an opportunity

to make your love

and to make your faith

evident

to your brothers

and sisters

in Jerusalem.

And this is so key

to understanding

Paul's fundraising letter

and really to understanding

the whole of the Christian life

and how we're to live

before God.

This little non-coercive

comment here

from Paul in verse 8

where he says,

I'm not commanding you,

but I want to test

the sincerity

of your love.

Now,

at first,

if you think about that,

if generosity

is what Christians

are supposed to do,

then why would Paul

say this,

I am not commanding you?

Like,

would he say that

about maybe

other kinds of things?

I'm not commanding you

to not murder.

I'm not commanding you

to not steal,

to not commit adultery.

Why is he saying

that he's not commanding

generosity?

Well,

you know,

as Paul is writing

this fundraising letter

trying to persuade

the church in Corinth

to give generously

once again

to the church

in Jerusalem,

he also knows

that the law

and mere commandments,

they have no power

to change our hearts.

Like,

think about it.

The laws are good

at legislating

and showing us

the right behaviors,

demarcating what is right

and what's wrong.

Like,

oh,

yeah,

I murdered that guy.

That was definitely bad,

right?

It's a clear line

when you have a law.

Laws make that clear.

It's clear when you murder.

It's clear when you steal,

when you lie.

No one ever says,

oh my gosh,

I didn't know

I was committing adultery.

No one says that.

Laws are good

at pointing stuff out,

but again,

they cannot change

our hearts.

Whoever read

thou shalt not steal

or thou shalt not murder

and thought to themselves,

oh wow,

this changed my life.

And not only am I not going

to steal and murder,

but because of these commandments,

I'm gonna devote myself

to giving more

to other people

and to helping them

live their lives

to the fullest.

No one ever says that.

We hear the command,

thou shalt not murder,

and we say,

okay,

good,

I got it.

I'm good,

right?

But you see,

the thing about generosity

and its opposite greed

is that these aren't

just simple behaviors

like murdering

versus not murdering,

right?

You can't just hear

the command,

don't be greedy

and be like,

okay,

good,

got it,

right?

Because greed

and generosity

are dispositions

and inclinations

in our hearts

and that makes them

much,

much harder

to recognize,

right?

Like,

tell me,

how much does someone

have to give

before they are considered

as generous enough,

right?

We know when someone

is murdered or not murdered,

but how much does someone

have to give

to know if they're

generous or greedy,

right?

Is it like 0% is greedy,

5% is kind of generous,

10% is like satisfactory,

generous?

How do we determine that?

It doesn't work like that,

right?

Generosity and greed

are matters of the heart.

And so again,

a command to just

stop being greedy,

we all know

that that won't do

a thing.

We cannot merely

be commanded

into generosity.

Generosity.

Because think about it,

right?

Generosity that's

merely given

out of obligatory

obedience and duty

and out of a fear

of a threat

or a punishment,

it isn't true

generosity.

If I'm only giving

because I'm afraid

of what God's

going to do to me

if I don't,

or if I only give

because I want others

to think well of me,

or if I only give

because I want to think

well of myself

as a generous person,

don't you see

what that is?

That's not generosity.

That's called

a transaction.

We're purchasing

goodwill from God

or our neighbors

or from ourselves.

So if the Apostle Paul

could not and would

not command them

into generosity

in his fundraising letter,

then this was going

to fail, wasn't it?

What hope did he have

that their hearts

might actually be

moved to give?

You know,

later on we find

that this church

does give.

And the church

in Jerusalem rejoices

and they're held

together by this gift.

gift.

So my question is,

what was it

about this letter?

If he wasn't even

willing to command

them to give,

how did certain people

in Corinth

with sinful hearts

inclined only

towards serving

themselves,

how are they

motivated once again

to give a second

offering to this

church in Jerusalem?

What power could

possibly change

any of our hearts?

These hearts of ours

that are so inclined

towards selfishness

and greed,

these hearts

that have defaulted

to self-interest

and self-protection

and self-preservation

at all costs

in this broken

and violent world

where money is power

and control

and safety

and security

and influence,

what could possibly

get us to loosen

our grips

upon all we possess

and share it

with others?

Well, this is where

we're going to end

in verse 9.

For you know,

he says to them,

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.

What can change

our hearts?

What can free us

from greed

and unto generosity?

Only the gospel.

Only the grace

of the Lord Jesus

who showed us

the ultimate act

of generosity

at great expense

to himself,

the prince of heaven

who became poor

and was laid

in a manger

who emptied himself,

who divested himself

of everything

unto nakedness

upon a cross,

all to share

his rich inheritance

with greedy,

undeserving people

like us.

Jesus,

crucified,

risen,

and coming again

to share

his imperishable

new creation

inheritance with us.

He is the only

antidote

to our greedy hearts,

the only way

to a generous life.

So the question is,

will we walk

in his way,

trust in his truth,

and live his life?

I want to close

with this excerpt

from this old

Scottish preacher,

Robert Murray Shane.

Jonathan and I

are both reading

his Bible reading

plan this year.

He was also

a well-known preacher.

And he preached

a sermon

on this passage,

2 Corinthians chapter 8,

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

just on verse 9.

And he wrote this,

Oh, my dear friends,

if you would be

like Christ,

and you pray

that you will be,

become like him

in giving.

Though he was rich,

yet for our sakes

he became poor.

But you might object,

my money is my own.

Well,

Christ might have said,

my blood is my own,

my life is my own,

and then where would you be?

But then you may object,

but many people in need

are undeserving.

Well,

Christ might have

looked at you and said,

look at these wicked rebels,

should I lay down

my life for these?

No,

I will give to the good angels

and the deserving poor.

But no,

he left the 99 sheep

and came after the lost.

He gave his blood

to the undeserving.

And yet you might object

yet again,

but people who I give

my money to

might abuse it.

Well,

Christ might have said

the same thing

with far greater truth.

Christ knew thousands

would trample his blood

under their feet,

that most would despise it,

that many would make

his blood an excuse

for sinning more,

yet he gave his own blood.

My dear Christians,

if you want to be like Christ,

give much,

give often,

give freely,

even to the vile

and the undeserving.

Christ is glorious

and happy

and so shall you be.

It's not your money I want,

it's your happiness.

Remember his own word.

It's more blessed to give

than to receive.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Father,

if we have been united

with your son,

Jesus Christ,

who for our sake

became poor

so that we might become rich,

what reason do we have

to clench all that we possess

as if it is ours

and ours alone?

O Lord,

by the power

of your Holy Spirit,

in accordance

with the grace

of the gospel

and your generosity

toward us,

would you loosen

our grips

on all that we believe

to be our own

and would we remember

what do we have

that we have not received?

And don't we also

have an inheritance

that we did not earn

and cannot lose

because of the work

of Christ?

Oh God,

would you transform us?

Would you work a miracle

in this church?

Change our hearts

to make us

the generous people

that you want us to be,

giving even beyond

our ability

in the name of Jesus

and for the good

of this world,

we pray.

Amen.