When We Give Like Jesus:
We give SELFLESSLY. (2 Cor 8:9)
We FINISH what we start. (2 Cor 8:10-12)
EVERYONE is taken care of. (2 Cor 8:13-15)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above with your cursor for answers!
-
00:00-00:02
The title of the series this month is what?
00:03-00:04
Love to give.
00:04-00:05
All right, now let's say it again.
00:05-00:06
Now it's on the front of your bulletin.
00:07-00:09
I love to give.
00:09-00:14
Now, here's the thing, the title of the sermon series is I love to give.
00:14-00:17
And we are so moving past that.
00:17-00:27
We are so moving past, yeah, offering is part of the church and I should probably give and I'm gonna feel guilty if I don't.
00:27-00:30
and that is not where we are going at all.
00:30-00:37
We are moving to the biblical view of giving, which says, I love to give.
00:37-00:39
So let me hear you say it like that.
00:40-00:41
I love to give.
00:42-00:48
There we go, we're getting, we'll work on the who's too, but we're getting somewhere.
00:49-00:50
We love to give.
00:51-00:54
And as I promised, no guilt trip here.
00:55-01:00
You're not going to have people, shaking the offering bag in front of you, right?
01:00-01:04
Like, you know, there's no guilt here.
01:05-01:09
Okay, and this is freeing.
01:11-01:13
And I hope that you find that in this series.
01:15-01:21
This isn't meant to be some obligatory liturgical act that we do.
01:21-01:29
This is freeing that we give unto the Lord because we love to give.
01:30-01:33
And that's what 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 are all about.
01:35-01:46
So, just to give you the context, if you weren't with us last week, in this passage, the churches were rallying around taking this offering for the poor churches in Jerusalem.
01:47-01:51
Okay, there was a lot of persecution back in this day.
01:51-02:09
You know, Jews who had come to Christ now were being persecuted, losing their jobs, losing their businesses, and the church was growing very quickly, but it was growing with suddenly very poor people, and the churches, the other churches were rallying around, saying, "Let's take an offering.
02:09-02:18
"Let's support these poor Christians in Jerusalem." And 1 Corinthians chapter 16, the first four verses, Paul talks about that.
02:18-02:25
And when we get to this passage that we're looking at, Paul is teaching about giving, And he's using the Macedonians as an example.
02:25-02:27
You're like, who's the Macedonians?
02:27-02:33
Well, that was the church in Berea, the church at Philippi, and the church at Thessalonica.
02:33-02:36
Those would have been the Macedonian churches.
02:37-02:41
And Paul's lifting them up as a highlight to say, look at how they gave.
02:42-02:44
You know, these guys understand giving.
02:44-02:50
They understand what it means to love to give, and here's why they love to give.
02:51-02:53
And we saw that last week.
02:53-02:55
Were the Macedonian churches rich?
02:56-02:58
No, they were poor.
02:59-03:03
These were poor churches themselves, but they had something to give.
03:04-03:10
And they wanted to give it, because giving is worship.
03:11-03:15
And understand all of those principles apply to us.
03:16-03:20
I don't know what anyone in this church gives outside of my own family.
03:21-03:26
I don't know what anybody in this church makes outside of the people that are employed by this church.
03:29-03:31
But we all fall under those principles, right?
03:31-03:33
Do you have something to give?
03:34-03:34
Do you have something?
03:35-03:38
I go, Pastor Jeff, I only make $5 a year.
03:39-03:40
But you still have something.
03:42-03:43
The question is, do you wanna give?
03:45-03:48
See, giving is a hard issue, it always has been, even in the Old Testament.
03:49-03:50
Giving's a hard issue.
03:52-03:53
Well, I don't know if I want to give it.
03:53-03:56
Well, you have to come to that place where you understand that giving is worship.
03:57-03:58
It is an act of worship.
04:00-04:02
And we talked about that last week.
04:02-04:04
How much of what you own actually belongs to you?
04:05-04:05
Right?
04:06-04:07
Remember, we said that nothing is mine.
04:08-04:14
You're taking with you out of this world exactly the same amount of stuff that you brought into the world.
04:14-04:15
Nothing is mine.
04:15-04:16
It's all God's.
04:17-04:24
allowing a certain amount of stuff to pass through our hands to use for his glory.
04:26-04:28
We can take a page out of the Macedonian's book.
04:30-04:34
To turn to verse 8 here, this is where we left off last week.
04:35-04:46
Notice Paul says, "I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.
04:48-04:50
Here again, Paul is making this point over and over.
04:50-04:52
This is not a command.
04:53-05:03
And there are some people that teach that unless you're tithing, unless you're giving 10% of your gross, unless you're doing that, then you're in sin.
05:04-05:07
And this is the set amount, and you have to be doing it this way.
05:08-05:11
And they try to make giving this legalistic thing.
05:12-05:16
Notice Paul says, "No, this isn't a command." Giving is to be done free will.
05:16-05:21
It's to come from a heart that loves the Lord and is worshiping over and over.
05:22-05:23
Give of your own accord.
05:23-05:26
Give according to what you have, and it's gonna come up again in this passage.
05:26-05:36
He's making the point, but notice the first thing, he says, "I say this not as a command." You see, if New Testament giving was commanded, this would certainly be the place that Paul set it, right?
05:37-05:41
Don't forget, the Lord expects you to give X percent of your income.
05:41-05:44
He says, I say this not as a command.
05:45-05:49
I don't know what any other church you may have been to, been a member of, visited.
05:49-05:53
I don't know what they might have told you, but look at what your Bible says.
05:53-05:56
You know, we are not the mob, OK?
05:56-06:00
You're not going to have, you know, people in our church standing outside the door.
06:00-06:01
How much did you give?
06:01-06:05
You know, shaking you down, breaking your thumbs if you didn't give enough.
06:05-06:06
That's that's not New Testament giving.
06:07-06:08
That is not New Testament giving.
06:10-06:12
He says, show that you too have an authentic love for God.
06:15-06:30
And for these poor saints, so as we move on in the passage, you know, Paul, where am I going to find an example of passionate, fired up, authentic love that gives joyfully and give sacrificially?
06:30-06:31
Can you think of an example?
06:32-06:33
Look at verse nine.
06:33-06:36
This is one of the most beautiful verses in the entire New Testament.
06:37-06:49
He says, 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, by his poverty.
06:51-06:52
Might become rich.
06:54-06:58
The church, this is the motivation to give and as great as the Macedonians were.
07:01-07:03
The ultimate example of giving.
07:04-07:07
is right here in Jesus Christ, because his whole life.
07:09-07:09
Was about giving.
07:11-07:20
Jesus even said, I didn't come to to be served, I came to what I came to serve, he came to to give everything and.
07:21-07:23
The question is, how can we emulate?
07:24-07:32
You know, right in the middle of this passage about giving all suddenly talks about Jesus Christ, how can we emulate the giving of Jesus Christ?
07:32-07:35
We'll jot this down on your outline.
07:36-07:39
When we give like Jesus, first of all, we give selflessly.
07:41-07:44
When we give like Jesus, we give selflessly.
07:46-07:50
Again, this is so important to read the Bible, understanding the context.
07:51-07:58
You know, this is a beautiful verse, and we can do a whole sermon series just on this one verse about the person of Jesus.
07:59-08:03
But this verse is in the middle of a passage about giving.
08:05-08:13
And sometimes when we talk about giving, people immediately want to transport to, well, I give my talent to the church and I give my my time to the church, and those things are fantastic.
08:16-08:20
But we can't neglect the fact that part of your giving is giving financially.
08:21-08:26
And that's the context of this passage is giving financially right in the middle of this.
08:28-08:29
Paul shares the gospel.
08:31-08:33
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
08:33-08:35
First of all, notice it says.
08:36-08:42
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, what's he talking about?
08:42-08:47
Though he was rich, he's talking about the fact that Jesus is God.
08:48-08:52
He's talking about the fact that Jesus has an eternal glory.
08:55-08:57
And we talked about this over Christmas, didn't we?
08:57-09:03
Remember John 1 and verse 14 says that the word God became flesh.
09:05-09:07
That Jesus wasn't some afterthought of God's.
09:07-09:18
God wasn't in heaven like, "Well, the law thing isn't working out, so I guess I'll send my son, and he created this being who was going to represent him." Jesus wasn't some afterthought.
09:20-09:25
Jesus is eternal God, and he makes that claim over and over and over.
09:25-09:31
of my favorite examples. I write down John chapter 8 verses 57 through 58.
09:32-09:43
Jesus was in the middle of a confrontation with certain Jews and Abraham came up and Jesus said Abraham I was glad to see my day.
09:44-09:50
They were kind of mocking him. They're like you're not even 50 years old and you've seen Abraham?
09:51-10:03
And Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, before Abraham was, "I am." We just say, "I am." What does that phrase even mean?
10:03-10:04
That was a claim to be God.
10:05-10:11
Jesus was saying, "I'm God." I was there in Abraham's day because I'm God.
10:11-10:15
I was there long before Abraham because I am God.
10:18-10:20
I've had people want to dispute that verse with me.
10:20-10:30
They were like, "Well, that's not what Jesus meant." And my response is, "Well, that's how the people took it "because the next verse is they tried to kill him." They knew exactly what he was saying.
10:30-10:32
He was claiming to be God.
10:33-10:40
So when 2 Corinthians 8, 9 says he was rich, that's what he's talking about.
10:41-10:43
How rich is God?
10:44-10:50
God has a level of wealth that is incomprehensible because he can speak things into existence.
10:51-10:53
He literally owns everything.
10:55-11:02
Every molecule, every atom in the physical world, the spiritual world, everything belongs to God.
11:03-11:06
And Jesus Christ is God, and Paul is highlighting that here.
11:06-11:09
Though he was rich, look at this next phrase.
11:09-11:11
This is so profound.
11:12-11:14
I'd encourage you to meditate upon this this week.
11:14-11:23
He says, "Yet for your sake, he became poor." It says that Jesus became poor.
11:23-11:26
Now, he's not talking about money here.
11:27-11:28
Okay, was Jesus poor?
11:28-11:38
Well, when he was on the earth, he wasn't exactly rich in the sense of he had the biggest house and the biggest entourage and the finest clothes.
11:40-11:42
But Jesus wasn't really financially poor either.
11:43-11:47
He had people supporting his ministry as this traveling preacher.
11:48-11:49
He's not talking about that.
11:50-11:52
He's talking about the spiritual riches Jesus has as God.
11:53-11:59
He's talking about how he became poor, referring to the incarnation.
12:01-12:09
As I said, John 1:14, "The Word became flesh." Philippians 2.7, Dina earlier had read from Philippians 2.
12:10-12:12
Going back a couple of verses from where she started.
12:14-12:18
Paul says that Jesus made himself nothing.
12:19-12:20
That's the poverty.
12:21-12:31
Though He's God, He willingly, Philippians 2:7, made Himself nothing.
12:33-12:35
Can we even wrap our brains around the gap there?
12:37-12:48
from Almighty, Eternal, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent God taking the form of a man.
12:51-12:53
Can we even grasp the gap?
12:55-13:00
Holy Spirit in describing that says He made Himself nothing.
13:01-13:02
That's the poverty.
13:04-13:21
I was thinking about that this week and last summer I was going into Walmart just up here in Cranberry on 19th and there was a guy sitting outside, you know, hungry, please help, had a little cardboard sign, he was sitting right outside the door.
13:22-13:35
So I went up to him and I said, "What do you want to eat?" I said, "I'll go into McDonald's right now, I'll get you something to eat, what do you want?" And he goes, "Oh, thank you so much, man." He just had a guitar with him and really not much else.
13:35-13:42
He goes, "Man, I really appreciate that." I went in and got him some food and I came out and gave it to him and sat down with him.
13:43-13:45
And we talked for a little bit.
13:45-13:48
He said that he kind of travels around.
13:48-13:50
I asked how he came to be homeless.
13:51-14:01
And he said, "Well, it was really a choice of mine." He goes, "I have places I could go, but this is just a choice." He kind of travels around and plays his guitar.
14:01-14:02
I said, "Well, who do you play for?
14:02-14:07
"Like, what kind of venue?" He goes, "I just kind of play myself, "and you know, in the woods or whatever.
14:07-14:18
"I just do these little concerts for myself." And I said, "Do you know the story about Jesus?" And he's like, "Yeah, I think so." And I showed the gospel with him.
14:19-14:26
And he goes, "Yeah, I've heard that before." And I said, "Well, what have you done with it?" We talked about Jesus for a little bit.
14:27-14:34
And as we were talking, And I had a prayer with him and I said, well, you know what, I get to get going, but it was nice to talk to you.
14:34-14:45
And I started to get up and this really kind, elderly gentleman walked by and he reached into it and pulled out some cash and handed it to me.
14:47-14:49
Because I'm sitting with this guy.
14:50-14:58
He hands it to me and I'm like, I'm like, not ready to respond to that.
15:00-15:10
Because I almost said, oh, no, no, no, no, I'm not a beggar. But then I'm like, yeah, I'm like, would that offend this guy?
15:11-15:14
Would it? Maybe it wouldn't. Maybe it wouldn't embarrass him, but maybe it would.
15:16-15:26
I was just like, oh, no thank you, you know, I'll just give it to him, you know, I'm good. And this man didn't get it.
15:26-15:30
He's like, "No, son, it's okay.
15:31-15:35
"I want you to have it." And I just, I couldn't think.
15:35-15:39
I mean, my brother is so much quicker on his feet than I am, and I so wished I was there at that point.
15:39-15:50
I couldn't think of the intelligent thing to say, and because I didn't want to embarrass the guy that I've been trying to share the gospel with, and it's okay.
15:51-15:55
And then right after that man walked by, another person walked by with a McDonald's bag.
15:56-15:57
And he handed it to me.
15:57-16:02
He goes, "I got you some hamburgers." There's no handbook.
16:03-16:05
There wasn't a class in Bible college for this.
16:05-16:16
I'm like, "I'm not hungry." And this guy's like, "Take the food." And I'm just like, "I'm good, thank." No, you know, it's okay.
16:17-16:18
I got this for you.
16:18-16:21
I saw you guys come when I came in and I got this for you.
16:22-16:26
Then I started thinking, you know, I was just about to leave, I think I'm going to stick around for a while.
16:27-16:28
[LAUGHTER]
16:30-16:32
I made $56 that day.
16:32-16:34
No, I did not take a dime.
16:37-16:39
But why did I tell you that story?
16:41-16:44
It certainly wasn't to highlight any generosity on my part.
16:44-16:46
I think I spent $3 on the guy.
16:46-16:48
That was nothing.
16:48-16:54
And many other people walked by giving a couple of bucks here and there.
16:55-16:59
And some people walk by with food and a couple bucks here and there.
16:59-17:01
You know something that didn't happen?
17:03-17:08
Nobody made themselves poor to help this guy.
17:10-17:11
Nobody did that.
17:12-17:14
There was nobody that said, you know what?
17:14-17:15
You know what I'm gonna do?
17:15-17:38
Is I'm going to abandon my job, my house, everything that I have, everything that I've earned in my life, I'm going to abandon all that, and I'm going to go to your little concerts that you have in the woods, and I'm going to be poor like you, and I'm going to travel with you so that after a season of that, you can have everything that I have.
17:39-17:49
You can come back to my house with me after we travel for a while, and after I'm poor with you, you can move in with me, and you can own everything that I own.
17:49-17:53
Nobody did that except for God.
17:54-17:56
And that's the point here.
17:58-18:10
Though he was rich, he became poor so that, what does he say, by his poverty, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
18:11-18:13
Understand the magnitude of what Jesus Christ did.
18:13-18:17
He willingly emptied himself.
18:17-18:22
He made himself nothing to come and live with a bunch of snakes like us.
18:24-18:25
To redeem us.
18:28-18:38
To provide forgiveness of sin and eternal life through the cross, through the empty tomb. And he gave us the Bible says he gave us his riches.
18:40-18:43
You see, it wasn't like God says, OK, you know what, you're forgiven.
18:44-18:46
Don't ask me for anything else.
18:46-18:47
That's what I say to my kids.
18:47-18:50
Like I gave you this, okay, don't ask me for anything else right now.
18:50-18:51
And God wasn't like that.
18:51-19:07
He says, I became poor so that you can become rich, so that you can become a possessor of everything that Jesus Christ has.
19:09-19:10
You understand that?
19:10-19:12
You're like, what do you mean everything that Jesus has?
19:13-19:15
Well, John 15, 11, just drop these references down.
19:15-19:17
don't try to turn I'm going to say that very quickly.
19:18-19:22
On 1511, Jesus says he gives us his joy.
19:24-19:28
John 1427, Jesus gives us his peace.
19:30-19:33
Colossians 3.4 Jesus gives us his life.
19:34-19:39
First Corinthians one five tells us that we are enriched in every way.
19:42-19:52
Ephesians 1 3 says that we have every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ What does Jesus Christ have that he's holding back from you? What's the answer?
19:53-20:17
Nothing. He gave you everything in him as found every Spiritual blessing that God could possibly offer you Everything If that wasn't enough Romans 8 17 tells us that we are joint heirs With Christ, can you even wrap your brain around what that means?
20:18-21:39
Jesus didn't just forgive us of our sin then just give us some ticket to heaven Jesus says now you have everything that I have I'm giving it to you You're going to inherit everything that belongs to me. We're going to be joint heirs By his poverty he's made us rich Paul says this is how we're supposed to give Selflessly selflessly Understand that for Jesus coming to the earth Dying on the cross there wasn't a personal game for him There wasn't a self-seeking motivation there. His goal was to glorify his father And his motivation was because he loved you Because of his obedience the Bible says God gave him the name that is above all names But understand that when we talk about giving and we talk about selfless giving we have the example in Jesus Christ We said last week, remember, love always results in giving.
21:39-21:40
Remember we talked about that?
21:40-21:46
When you think of your spouse or your boyfriend or girlfriend, when you love someone, you naturally want to give.
21:47-21:54
Well, in Jesus Christ, we find the greatest love, and because he has the greatest love, it compels him to give the greatest gift.
21:58-21:59
What is that gift?
21:59-22:01
Well, the Bible says the gift is everything.
22:03-22:05
every spiritual blessing in Christ.
22:06-22:10
And those who call Jesus Christ Lord just naturally follow his example.
22:12-22:17
That's why, church, listen, we're not gonna twist any arms to give.
22:17-22:22
And this sermon series is not about a guilt trip because the truth is if you don't wanna give, don't give.
22:25-22:25
It's a hard thing.
22:27-22:28
It's an act of worship.
22:29-22:41
And we're not going to enforce you to give any more than we would enforce you to sing better during music time. That's worship to like, little louder, please, you don't sound like you're worshiping.
22:42-22:43
has to come from here.
22:45-22:47
So it was given, it comes from here.
22:49-22:50
The heart issue.
22:52-23:02
Paul's point here is you're given as an expression of the truth of the gospel, because Jesus so gave himself selflessly.
23:04-23:06
That's the attitude that we're to have when we give.
23:06-23:07
So we give selflessly.
23:07-23:10
Number two, when we give like Jesus.
23:12-23:13
We finish what we start.
23:14-23:16
Look at verses 10 through 12.
23:17-23:20
He said, and in this manner, I give my judgment.
23:22-23:30
This benefits you who a year ago started not only to do this work, but also to desire to do it.
23:32-23:34
You started this because you really wanted to do it.
23:34-23:35
Remember that last year?
23:35-23:41
You were so fired up about it, and you started this because your hearts were ready.
23:42-23:56
Verse 11, he says, "So now finish." So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness and desiring it may be matched by by your completing it out of what you have.
23:58-23:59
See what he's saying.
24:01-24:05
Finish, verse 11, the end of verse 11, he says, complete.
24:07-24:09
There it is again, out of what you have.
24:11-24:14
Oh Paul, I don't have a lot to give.
24:15-24:16
Give out of what you have.
24:18-24:19
We'll do verse 12.
24:19-24:25
For if the readiness is there, is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.
24:26-24:28
Nobody's asking you to give something you don't have.
24:29-24:32
You give according to what you do have, you see?
24:35-24:39
Like, man, I am going to rob a store so I have money to give.
24:40-24:40
No, no, no.
24:41-24:44
Give according to what you have.
24:47-24:48
What's the point of these verses?
24:48-24:51
"Well, I think you see it there, it's pretty obvious.
24:52-24:56
"It's easy to get excited at first "and then drop off over time, right?
24:58-25:05
"Like, hey, we're taking an offering "for these poor churches in Jerusalem." And Paul mentions a year passing.
25:06-25:08
It was a lot easier to get fired up at the time, right?
25:09-25:16
"Yes, yes, we should do that, yes, yeah, let's do it, "let's do it." And then over time, our excitement for anything fades over time.
25:17-25:19
I was like, "Hey, remember how excited you were?
25:19-25:20
"Remember how excited you were to start?
25:20-25:25
"Let's be that excited to finish." Okay, keep it going, keep it going.
25:25-25:27
Finish as strong as you started.
25:28-25:32
Again, it's not about the amount, it's about the willingness.
25:32-25:35
That's the point, it's about the willingness, the willingness.
25:36-25:37
Give according to what you have.
25:40-25:44
If you're not sure, it's worth giving a little bit.
25:44-25:58
If all you have is a little bit, Ask the kid who gave his lunch to Jesus, when Jesus multiplied it to feed thousands of people, ask that kid what God can do when you joyfully give him something that seems small to you.
25:59-26:00
I wasn't there.
26:01-26:03
All I know from that account is what the Bible says.
26:04-26:17
But I wonder sometimes if that kid that had the two little fishes and the five loaves of bread his mom packed him, you know, I'm sure in his Moses lunchbox, I'm sure that kid when he handed that to Jesus.
26:17-26:19
I just can't help but wonder there was a thought in his head.
26:21-26:23
Everybody's hungry and I don't have much.
26:24-26:25
I don't know what's going to happen with this.
26:26-26:27
And what did Jesus do?
26:28-26:32
Fed so many people and even had enough that each of the apostles.
26:34-26:36
Had a lunch bucket to take with them, too.
26:38-26:40
Ask that kid what God can do with a little bit.
26:41-26:43
Because it's not about the amount.
26:44-26:48
It's about the willingness to give what you have.
26:50-26:55
So I would encourage you, don't be discouraged by the need.
26:58-27:18
You can look at the need of so many people needing money for, you know, whether it's should work or planning churches or everything from, you know, domestic abuse and, you know, pro-life, you know, pregnancy centers and all good things.
27:18-27:29
And it's easy to look at all of these things and say, "Wow, I wish I could give a billion dollars to every one of them, but I can't." Don't let that discourage you.
27:30-27:30
What can you give?
27:32-27:34
Give according to what you have, Paul said.
27:34-27:35
Don't be discouraged by the need.
27:36-27:38
Don't be discouraged by the amount that you can give.
27:38-27:41
My encouragement to you is to just joyfully put it in God's hand.
27:42-27:44
Just joyfully put whatever you have in God's hand.
27:46-27:50
But as Paul reminds the Corinthians here, finish what you start.
27:51-27:52
Finish what you start.
27:53-27:55
Don't let discouragement get you off track.
27:56-27:57
Finish what you start.
27:57-28:04
And finally, when we give like Jesus, everyone is taken care of.
28:07-28:37
Verses 13 and 14, Paul says, "For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness, your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness, not lopsided favoritism, right?
28:38-28:42
Paul's point here is everyone is taking care of everyone else.
28:44-28:50
He says, you know what, right now, they have a desperate need, and you have a little extra.
28:52-28:53
Give it to them.
28:54-28:54
Why?
28:56-29:02
Because in just a few pages of the calendar term, you're going to be the one that has a need.
29:03-29:06
And maybe they're in a position where they have a little extra.
29:06-29:08
I guess what they're going to do, they're going to send it your way.
29:10-29:29
And then in verse 15, he says, "As it is written," and he quotes, this is from Exodus chapter 16 and verse 18, "As it is written, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack." What's that verse all about?
29:31-29:33
Do you remember when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt?
29:33-29:35
Do you remember how the Lord fed them?
29:36-29:38
He gave them manna.
29:38-29:40
And what is manna?
29:41-29:46
Well, every morning this stuff would appear on the ground, this perfect food.
29:48-29:59
They would gather this stuff up and it appeared on the ground every day Sabbath and you were supposed to gather enough for two days the day before, you're like, "Well, what is manna?" And that's right.
30:00-30:08
Manna means, "What is it?" We actually, I don't know how it is in your house, but we have manna a lot at our house.
30:10-30:19
Because Aaron will make something, I'll say, "What is it?" And please don't tell her I told you that.
30:22-30:24
I see people getting their phones out.
30:24-30:25
She's not answering.
30:28-30:31
Well, Manna was a funny thing.
30:33-30:36
Because everybody had just the right amount.
30:36-30:37
No matter how much they gathered.
30:39-30:47
And of course you'd have the people that were like, I'm not sure if it's coming tomorrow, so I'm going to gather a bunch extra and I'm going to keep like a storehouse of it.
30:49-30:52
rot and stink if you tried to do that.
30:53-30:59
And God allowed that so that people knew that they had to trust God every day.
31:00-31:12
Every day, every morning when I open my eyes, it's like, "Oh, got to trust God today." Concerning the manna, the Bible says that, "Whoever gathered much had nothing left over.
31:13-31:18
Whoever gathered little had no lack." And for the families, like, we didn't gather very much.
31:18-31:18
They weren't hungry.
31:19-31:20
It filled them up.
31:21-31:23
And why in the world is he quoting this verse here?
31:24-31:41
Well, the point is this, based on what he had just said, the church, the church is to replicate the principle behind Exodus 16, 18, meaning this church, we are to manifest the heart of God by taking care of each other.
31:43-31:45
And what does that look like?
31:46-31:51
You know that this is not the extent of the kingdom of God right now, right?
31:51-31:58
In this room, in this school cafeteria, this does not constitute the entirety of the kingdom of God.
31:58-32:13
There are faithful churches all over the planet, and this particular church, we're tied into a fellowship of churches, a very quickly growing fellowship of churches where there are like 110 now all over the world in a very young church movement.
32:15-32:30
Something a lot of you might not know, when this church was starting out, you know, it takes a lot of money to start a church, to rent and to pay the preacher and to get the equipment and the signage and all of that stuff.
32:31-32:32
Like, where does that money come from?
32:33-32:36
And I had people think, well, doesn't James McDonald just like write you a check?
32:36-32:38
No, he doesn't.
32:39-32:41
You know, it comes from within.
32:41-32:47
It comes from faithful people like you who believe in the ministry and support the ministry, and that keeps us going.
32:47-32:55
But understand, startup, there was a huge cost out of nowhere from a human perspective but under God's sovereignty.
32:55-33:02
He put it on the hearts of Harvest Bible Chapel in Oakville in Niagara up in Canada.
33:03-33:08
They sent us somewhere between seven and $8,000 when we got started.
33:09-33:16
Oakville is very established, it's a very large church, and they were doing some mission giving, and it was late in their hearts.
33:16-33:31
They said, "Hey, we know you guys are getting started, "and how are things with your budget?" And we're like, "Man, it's pretty tight right now." And they said, "We'll send you a gift." And they sent us, it was somewhere between seven and $8,000 so that we could get started.
33:33-33:39
And now we are in a position where we can help the next church.
33:41-34:00
Understand that when you give in those velvety bags that come around, that not only supports the ministry and the work that's happening here, but a portion of what you give goes to plant more harvest Bible chapels, to train more pastors, and to get more churches just like this one planted all over the world.
34:02-34:18
We also have plans, the elders have been discussing plans to work with some Harvest Bible Chapels in Romania because right now they're working on building a training center like the one that I attended in Chicago to train pastors to plant more churches like this one all over Europe.
34:22-34:29
But just as we were recipients of a gift to get going, we're in a position where we can help other churches.
34:30-34:33
And right now there's somebody thinking, Pastor Jeff, we can't do that.
34:33-34:37
How in the world can a church like this help other churches?
34:37-34:42
I mean, look, we're small and we're young, and let's be honest, we have needs here, right?
34:42-34:45
There's people that need paid here, there's mission work that needs done here.
34:46-34:48
How in the world can we do this?
34:49-34:54
My answer is, that's the whole point of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.
34:56-34:56
How can we do it?
34:58-35:03
We do it joyfully, and we do it according with what we have.
35:05-35:09
God's not saying we need to send the next church seven or $8,000.
35:11-35:12
God's saying, what do you have?
35:14-35:15
And how can you use that?
35:17-35:18
Help the next church in need.
35:20-35:23
So joyfully and according to what we have.
35:25-35:39
So can you say, I love to give because God is making me more and more like Jesus.
35:42-35:43
And Jesus loves to give.
35:44-35:44
Let's pray.
35:46-35:49
Father in heaven, thank you for your word.
35:50-36:26
I thank you, Father, that you have not called us to give some kind of a slick, persuasive speech to coerce or guilt people because that's not your heart God your heart is on display in Jesus Christ who had everything I was willing to give it all up so that we can have everything that's a level of generosity that certainly we We can't replicate, we can imitate.
36:28-36:30
Help us, Father, to be selfless.
36:31-36:34
Help us, Father, to continue to grow to understand that giving is worship.
36:37-36:40
And that when we start something, we should finish it.
36:40-36:53
We shouldn't let external circumstances discourage us or take our eyes off of you and put our eyes on the checkbook and suddenly be discouraged that maybe we can't give anything.
36:53-37:19
And don't let discouragement stop us from the mission that you called us to because you've proven over and over in your word that when we put a little bit in your hands, you use it exponentially and you multiply it and all you're looking for is somebody who loves you and is willing to put something in your hands.
37:21-37:26
Father, help us as a church, and help us, I pray, as a fellowship of churches.
37:27-37:47
Just as this example was set in Scripture with the Macedonian churches and the Corinthian church, and the church in Jerusalem, watching each other's backs, God, you put us in a fellowship where we've been the recipient of churches watching our back and I thank you that we're in a position where we can help some other churches get going.
37:49-37:50
So God, it's all in your glory and honor.
37:51-38:04
It's all to see your kingdom advance and it's all to see your son lifted high as he is glorified and as he is worshipped and he can take you to draw people to himself.
38:04-38:07
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Parents / Children Discussion Questions:
Discuss this passage / sermon with your children this week! Ask: "Why does the church take an offering? What happens with that money?" Explain how the money we give: supports this ministry, helps Harvest Bible Fellowship (which trains pastors and plants more churches), and helps other various needs (Moldova church offering, Action Packs, etc).
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read 2 Corinthians 8:8-15
Explain 2 Corinthians 8:9. What does this mean? Why did Paul say this in the middle of a passage on giving? What does this say about how we should give?
Why did Paul quote Exodus 16:18 in 2 Corinthians 8:15? What was his point?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another!