They Gave Themselves to Us
2 Cor 8:1-7 Feb 13, 2005
And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most 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 saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything–in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us–see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Giving is a grace that begins with ourselves
Intro: First they gave themselves.
Every year Butterball Turkey, Co. runs a turkey cooking hotline at thanksgiving. Each year some people call 3 hours from dinner time to find out why their turkey is still frozen and how long it needs to cook. However, several years ago, one of advisors at Turkey Help received an unique call. The caller had found a turkey in the bottom of her chest freezer that had been there over 20 years. “If I eat this turkey, will I get sick?” “Probably not, but it will most likely be very tasteless and dry.” “Ok,” the caller said, “then I’ll just give it to the church.”
Now I do not believe that any of you would do that, however, here are a few things I found in the food pantry recently:
Paul calls giving to the work of the Lord, an act of grace, do these look like gifts of grace? Or may we safely imagine that someone was trying to clean out their pantry?
Last week, Rev. Landis told us a little bit about the background of the passage we read this morning. Who can tell me about the background?
Jerusalem poverty
Decision of the church in Antioch to help and to ask others to help.
Rich churches were approached to help, including the church in Corinth. It seems that Corinth had been dragging their feet.
At the same time the church in Macedonia was struggling in poverty.
Apparently, because of concern for the people in Macedonia, Paul and the others had not approached Macedonia to give. But when the people heard what was happening, they begged Paul for the opportunity to participate, and when they did, they not only gave, they gave more generously and more sacrificially than Paul would have ever thought possible.
In the truest sense, they gave themselves and excelled in the grace of giving. They did not give canned snails or swamp sauce. They gave themselves. And first, they gave themselves
I. To God
A. Created to Glorify God and enjoy him forever
B. God’s nature is to give. In creation God gave life. At the Exodus, God gave freedom. At Sinai, God gave direction. In the Temple, God gave worship. In the Exile God gave his people a singleness of intention in worship. And through Jesus God gave salvation and hope and purpose. It is God’s nature to give.
But it is our sinful nature to cling to whatever we can. Don’t we hold on to an awful lot of stuff? Last night Sheryl was going through the video’s we have purchased. They have all been watched at least once, but why do we need to own them? As I look around my office, I see stuff that I hold on to. If I were to open my filing cabinet, I could show you notes from Seminary that have been moved hundreds of miles, but never opened. My father’s garage is filled with wood that was moved in 1970 from Western PA to New Jersey and on to Virginia in 2000. Our nature is to cling to things.
The problem is when we cling to stuff, we become slaves to the stuff we cherish. And God longs for us to be free and to experience his greatest joy, the joy of giving.
C. And that begins when we choose to give ourselves to God. Just as God gave everything through Jesus, we are invited to share that joy by giving ourselves.
Manute Bol is a giant, even among his National Basketball Association peers. Beginning in 1985, the 7-feet 7-inche tall Sudanese, Bol rocketed from anonymity to international celebrity for 10 years in the NBA.
Today Bol is now in poor condition, both physically and financially. On June 30, 2004, Bol was thrown from a car in a traffic accident. He suffered a broken neck, broken left wrist, shattered kneecap, a massive head wound, and several internal injuries. Four months later, when SI featured him in an article, he was still hospitalized with no means to pay for his treatment.
Why is a man who earned millions of dollars in his career having trouble paying his hospital bill? One might assume Bol was simply another professional athlete who squandered his savings. But Bol is penniless for a much different reason. Steve Rushin in SI writes, "He's given his life savings—his salary averaged $1.5 million during his 10-year NBA career—to his countrymen." Yes, everything he had has been given to the people of Sudan as they fight for freedom, as they try to reestablish a nation and as they care for the orphans of the war and famine.
Even when Bol participated in a celebrity boxing match, defeating William "The Refrigerator" Perry, he sent every dime of the $35,000 proceeds to a fund for Sudanese orphans.
Bol told Sports Illustrated, "God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart so I would look back."
You see, Manute Bol has first given himself to God, and in that giving he found freedom from our human desire to cling. To look back at where we have been and see what God has done, will lead us to reach out to those who are in need.
If we would know the joy of the life that God has for us, we must begin by giving ourselves to God, for surely, God knows how to best care for us. That is what the Macedonians did,
II. To Teachers
But they did not stop there. In fact, when we give ourselves to God, it is impossible stop there. After they had given themselves to God, they gave themselves to their teachers. These were the people they had come to love. Paul, Barnabas, Titus and Timothy, were their mentors, they were the men who had taught them the gospel. They were the men who had given their all. And so the love of the church was transformed into service. The movie, The Princess Bride is love story begins at the home of Buttercup, the future Princess Bride. Her small, crude house sits on a hill with beautiful sloping countryside as a backdrop. Though dressed in drab brown clothes and clearly a peasant girl, Buttercup orders others around as though she were royalty.
Another peasant named Westley is a laborer on Buttercup's farm, and the narrator says that Buttercup's greatest pleasure in life is tormenting Westley. She refers to him as "farm boy" and makes liberal use of her authority as she orders him about. Yet no matter how menial the task, Westley always responds the same way: "As you wish."
"Farm boy," Buttercup says, "polish my horse's saddle."
"As you wish."
"Farm boy," she says as she drops two pails at his feet, "fill this with water."
"As you wish."
"Farm boy, fetch me that pitcher."
"As you wish."
Though Buttercup is maddeningly condescending, Westley is the model servant. He never refuses her demands, and his attitude is kind and willing.
And one day Buttercup has a precious insight. Peter Faulk, the narrator reads, "That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying 'As you wish,' what he meant was, 'I love you.'"
Love, when it is true, will always be communicated through joyful service. It is the way we have been created. It is part of the image of God.
James said, “Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well"—but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?” You can say you love that person all you want, but if love does not translate into service, it is useless. Unless giving arises from your love, it is empty. The Macedonian Church eagerly served and gave to those who had been their teachers. They first gave themselves to God, then they gave themselves to their teachers and that went even farther because they also gave themselves
III. To the Needy
The text we read this morning was not written to the Macedonians, it was written to the Corintians. The Corinthians were a very rich people. They were located on a trade route and those who lived and worked there experienced all the benefits of the affluence of the Roman Empire.
Paul’s great desire was to see the Corinthians experience the freedom and joy that learning to give had brought the Macedonians.
In his book Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them, John Ortberg tells of a young man named John Gilbert. At age five, John was diagnosed with Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic, progressive, debilitating disease. At age 25, the disease finally claimed John's life.
Every year John lost something. One year, he lost the ability to run, so he couldn't play sports with the other kids. Another year he could no longer walk straight, so all he could do was watch others play. He lost the ability to do all the outward things that we think of that make us human. Eventually, he even lost the ability to speak….
John Gilbert suffered far more than what most of us can imagine during those years. Groups of students humiliated him because of his condition and because he had to bring a trained dog to school to help him. A bully used to torture him in the lunchroom where there were no supervising teachers. No one ever stood up for him; maybe they were afraid for themselves; who knows?
At one time John wrote, "What a silly species we are. We all need to feel accepted ourselves, but we constantly reject others."
But John had other moments in his life, too. Once he was invited to a National Football League fundraising auction. When it began, one item in particular caught John's eye: a basketball signed by the players of the Sacramento Kings. John so desperately wanted that ball that when it came up for bid, he felt his hand raise up in the air. Not having the funds to participate, John's mother quickly brought it back down.
They watched the bidding go up and up and up. It rose to an astounding amount compared to the value of the ball and especially compared to other items at the auction. Finally, a man made a bid that no one else could possibly match, and he won the prize.
The man walked to the front and claimed the basketball. But instead of going back to his seat, the man walked across the room and gently placed it into the thin, small hands of the boy who had desired it so strongly. The man put that ball into hands that would never dribble a ball down a court, never throw it to a teammate, never fire it from the foul line. But those hands would cherish it for as long as they lived.
"It took me a moment to realize what the man had done," John writes. "I remember hearing gasps all around the room, then thunderous applause and weeping eyes. To this day I'm amazed…Have you ever been given a gift that you could have never gotten for yourself? Has anyone ever sacrificed a huge amount for you without getting anything in return…except the joy of giving?"
APP: Have you ever experienced that Joy, the joy of giving? This morning we invited you to return the enveloped that you got last week, this envelope is a commitment between you and God, the finance team will never see it, I will never see it, in fact, the financial secretary will never even see it. That commitment is not for any other eyes. But it is between you and God and that makes it serious. But this is not about giving your money, oh, that is an important indicator of your relationship with God, but this is about giving yourself to others.
God longs for you to experience the joy of giving yourself to others. The opportunities to serve and share are as numerous as there are people here today. Having given yourself to God, how will you give yourself to others?
