Jesus Fruit: Excelling in Generosity - 2nd Corinthians 8:1-15 (Wednesday Night Reflection)

There once was a terrible plane crash over the ocean and two men survived. They were able to swim to a deserted island, where they were coming to terms with their fate.

One man said, “What are we going to do?! If we don’t do something we’ll die out here!” He immediately jumped up and started trying to gather firewood, food, any fresh water.

The second man sat on the beach quietly enjoying the sun, sand and surf.

Finally, after the first guy had exhausted himself, he came and sat down next to the second guy and said, “George, don’t you want to try and get off this island?”

“Oh, we’ll get off this island without having to move a finger. See, I’m a millionaire.”

“What difference does that make out here?”

“I’m a millionaire, I go to church, and I’m a pretty good tither. Trust me. My pastor will find me — he may have to call in the Coast Guard, or the National Guard, but he will find me!”

I could have easily skipped over aspect of Jesus Fruit.  We’ve talked about love, we’ve talked about joy, and we’ve talked about peace, patience, and kindness.  Would anyone really notice, or if they did, would they really get upset if we didn’t talk about money?  Folks usually don’t like hearing about money in a sermon (at least that’s one of the reasons that I’ve heard for folks leaving their f emergency church, “all the preacher talked about was money.”  Would folks really get worked up if I skipped over the fruit of the Spirit known as generosity?

The first part of the problem with skipping over generosity and moving on to faithfulness is that it would make our journey incomplete.  Think of it in this way.  This past Saturday we went to Carteret County Speedway and watched several races.  One of them was the Legends race.  The 00 of Aaron Crumpler dominated the first part of the race before being caught up in an accident midway through the race.  He could have pulled into the pits and skipped the lap that the accident was on, and then gone back out and run.  The trouble is, by skipping that lap, he would have ended up a lap down an ineligible to go for the win because he had not completed the whole race.  The rest of the problem with skipping past generosity is that it would be a failure to be faithful to God’s Word.  We cannot simply pick and choose what parts of God’s Word we want to live by, as followers of Christ, we are bound by His whole Word.  So, in order to be able to say when we finish week nine in a few weeks that we have completed the journey, and in an effort to be faithful to God’s Word, this week we look at the generosity aspect of Jesus Fruit, or as Paul refers to it, the Fruit of the Spirit.

Now some may suggest that as we consider this message on generosity, we could talk about many things that we should be generous with, our time, our talents, or our service; that we really do not have to talk about being generous with money when it comes to the generosity that God expects.  Time, talents, and service are important and vital to the work that we do as a church.  However, to be faithful to the text, Paul was not talking about any of those other things, Paul was straightforwardly talking about being generous with financial resources…and financial resources are important, because they are needed to fund the ministry of the church.

Paul actually acknowledges how the church in Corinth excels in many aspects of ministry—“in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in upmost eagerness, and in love….”  Then he turns and says, “we also want you to excel in this generous undertaking.”

What undertaking is it that Paul is talking about?  It is about the funding of the churches that had been established and an effort to spread the Gospel…to share the news of the salvation that has been found in the Jesus Christ.

There are multiple things that can be gathered about generous giving from Paul’s writing to the Corinthians.  I want to focus on five aspects.  They are:

(1)      Generous giving is about “spreading the wealth.”

(2)      Generous giving is a privilege.

(3)      Generous giving can be done even in tough times.

(4)      Generous giving is not about a specific dollar amount, but in accordance with our resources.

(5)      Generous giving is an act of love that mirrors the work of Christ.

First, generous giving is about “spreading the wealth.”  Does that sound familiar?  The idea of “spreading the wealth,” leaves many people on edge as it was a lynchpin part of a political campaign not too many years ago.  Folks could not believe what was being suggested…that somehow what the wealthy, or simply folks that had some money (it depends on how one defines wealthy) had, would be taken away and given to those who did not have money.  Talking about it left, and probably still leaves a bad taste in folk’s mouths.

The problem is, as we find in Paul this morning, that “spreading the wealth” is a Biblical concept.  Paul writes, “I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.  As it is written, ‘The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.’”  “Spreading the wealth,” it is right there in God’s Word.

However, before everyone gets all upset…there is a difference.  On the political campaign trail, where everyone got so worked up, “spreading the wealth,” was going to be a compulsory act on behalf of the government in taking our money and giving it to those who had none.  Those who were wealthy would have had no choice in the matter.  According to St. Paul, though, generosity cannot be an act of compulsion.  Paul says, “I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love….”  Earlier, Paul had said, “….the churches of Macedonia…voluntarily gave….”  “Spreading the wealth” is to be a completely voluntary task…an exercise of our free will, just like anything else that God asks of us…it has to be by our choice…and our choice is, according to Paul, our response to the test before us.

Secondly, generous giving is a privilege.  Paul writes, “For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begins us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry of the saints…”  Being able to give is a privilege, it is a blessing.  How so?  How can giving away what we have be a privilege?  If we have anything to give away, it means we have been blessed.  It means that we have resources beyond what we truly need.  One dictionary defines privilege as “an advantage, right, or benefit that is not available to everyone.”  Not everyone has the resources to be able to give generously, if we have that advantage, that we have the resources, then we are obviously privileged.

Next, generous giving can be done even in tough times.  “We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” Here were the churches in Macedonia…finding themselves in the midst of an economic crisis…they found themselves in extreme poverty…yet they found joy in being able to give to support the ministry of God’s church.  They did not claim that times were too tough to give…that maybe when the economy rebounded they would try to catch up…Paul says they gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging [to support the ministry of the Church] ….  Generous giving is not something that can only be done when times are good, when the stock market is soaring, when the gas prices are down…Generous giving is something that can be done in good times and bad times…and truth be told is probably more needed in those bad times.  Think of the day that Jesus and his disciples were in the Temple watching the offering being made by those who had come to worship…Jesus watched as folks gave riches upon riches, but it was when a little old widow, living in the poorest of those in poverty, dropped her two small coins in, that Jesus said she had given more than any of the others.  She had given despite the fact that she was alone and down the last of her money.  She didn’t say she needed to hold on to it and make sure she had enough to survive on, she gave an unselfish gift, even in the midst of her own need.

That brings us right to the fourth aspect on generous giving I want us to look at today.  Generous giving is not about a specific dollar about, but according to our resources.  Paul says the churches in Macedonia gave according to their means, and even beyond their means.  Later he writes, as we also read, “…now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means.  For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have.

It happened one time after a pastor had made an appeal in church for a great and worthy cause, that a certain woman, a member of the church, came to him and handed him a check for $50, asking at the same time if her gift was satisfactory.

The pastor immediately replied, “If it represents you.”

There was a moment of soul-searching thought and she asked to have the check returned to her. She left with it and a day or two later she returned handing the pastor a check for $5,000 and again asked the same question, “Is my gift satisfactory?”

The pastor gave the same answer as before, “If it represents you.”

As before, a truth seemed to be driving deeply. After a few moments of hesitation, she took back the check and left. Later in the week she came again with a check. This time it was for $50,000. As she placed it in the pastor’s hand, she said, “After earnest, prayerful thought, I have come to the conclusion that this gift does represent me, and I am happy to give it.”

For this woman, according to her means, it was $50,000.  For the widow woman at the temple, it was two copper coins.  An act of generosity is about giving of who we are, not about being a member of “the president’s club” because we gave a certain about of money…it is about giving a gift that represents us…actually it is about giving a gift that more than represents us…

Finally, generous giving is an act of love that mirrors the work of Christ.  Paul writes, “…I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others.  For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”  Paul reminds us that out of God’s love for us, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, God the Son, gave up all he had, the riches of heaven, and came to earth in such poverty that he was born in a stable.  He came that we might have life, abundant life, freed from the power of sin and given the promise of eternal life.  Jesus also gave his very life as part of that act of generosity toward us.  Will we be like Christ, willing to give all we have to those who have nothing?

My brothers and sisters, when we give generously, when we give of what we have, when we give of our very selves, then we are mirroring the act of Christ.  We are becoming Christ-like…we are abiding in the True Vine and He is abiding in us, and we are bearing the part of Jesus Fruit called generosity.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.