2 Corinthians 8–9

0:00 Good morning, my name is Ryan Robertson and I have the privilege of serving as one of the elders here at 3rd Avenue Baptist Church and today is the last of a three-part sermon series that we've been having in the book of 2nd Corinthians. Our senior pastor Greg Gilbert is on sabbatical right now and a number of men are preaching through various texts, as Greg gets some much-deserved rest. And I think it's a good thing for elders to experience the week-in and week-out work of preparing a sermon.

0:40 I'm thankful for Greg, even as he's not with us, especially having now preached three weeks in a row. Two Sundays ago, we looked at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We saw that we can have confidence in the gospel, in God's sustaining power and in our future. Last Sunday, we looked at 2 Corinthians 5, and we saw that Jesus' work as our mediator has changed everything for us, that we have a new home awaiting for us, a resurrection body, a new relationship with God, and a new role as ambassadors for him.

1:18 And today, we're going to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, and we're going to look at gratitude-driven generosity. In light of all the Lord's generosity towards us, how should we, both personally and congregationally, be generous towards others? So, a few weeks ago, I was in Edinburgh, Scotland, at Charlotte Chapel. It's a Baptist church in the heart of Edinburgh, right on Princess Street. it's the main strip kind of in Edinburgh and about 150 of us were meeting from various different congregations mostly European congregations and one of the things I was doing there was giving a talk on the importance of church partnerships churches partnering together in the gospel and after my talk Paul Reese who's the senior pastor of that congregation he guided me to a painting hung in a meeting room and he pointed to the man in the painting and he

2:19 said that's christopher anderson and he planted this church in 1808 and anderson was originally hoping to join william carrie famous missionary in his work in sarampore but because of medical issues the lord prevented him from going to sarampore and so with a faithful evangelical ministry in Edinburgh, Scotland, he planted Charlotte Chapel. He turned his attention to work in Edinburgh and then to raise funds throughout England and Scotland for the work of Kerry and the others in Sarampore. And even though he couldn't be with them physically, the Lord used him greatly to see many throughout Scotland and England stirred up to give towards gospel needs in India. This church plant in 1808 was immediately generous and stirred up others to do likewise. It's a pretty good example. As I looked around the room, I noticed a number of different photographs. We don't paint pastors like they used to. We have photography. So on a wall,

3:23 they had some photos, and I looked at all of their senior pastors through the years, including a man named Derek Prime. Derek Prime was the pastor of this church for 18 years, and he counted Alistair Begg as one of his pastoral assistants. Seeing Derek's photo reminded me of another man with the last name Prime, Andy Prime. I met Andy a couple years ago. He's a pastor in Gracemont Community Church, one of the churches planted through the Ministry of 20 Schemes. As I left that room and those photos, I was a bit overwhelmed as I thought about the Lord's generosity to churches in India, churches across the town in Edinburgh, and so many others.

4:09 To see men like Alistair Begg raised up and sent to Cleveland, Ohio, of all places. That's some generosity. For the churches planted in the wealthy areas of Scotland and in the neediest areas of Scotland. As I left that room, I ran into Jared Mays, our very own Jared Mays, who was there attending the conference, and he was telling me that he was going to be preaching at one of these 20 Schemes churches that very weekend, one that financially supports Jared and Zoe Mays.

4:43 Now, that was a bit stirring as well, to hear about this local church in Scotland whose members understand affliction and poverty in ways that you and I most likely do not, giving out of their lack towards the gospel ministry of people that we've sent out here at Third Avenue Baptist Church. It was kind of like this full circle moment for me. See, that's the beauty of the church, isn't it? The gospel compels us to personally and corporately sacrifice for others, whether it's others in our local church through things like benevolence or for other local churches in our city and cities across the world. Our text today, again, is 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, and let's read it together, starting in verse 1.

5:37 Paul writes, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urge Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,

6:39 yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. And in this matter I give my judgment, this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work, but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 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. As it is written, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he is going to you

7:44 of his own accord. With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel not only that but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us for the glory of the lord himself and to show our goodwill we take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us for we aim at what is honorable not only in the lord's sight but also in the sight of man and with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. As for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the

8:48 people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

9:24 The point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, he is distributed freely, he is given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

10:10 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others. While they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you, Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. I think the main point of this passage is that as Christians, as recipients of grace, we should joyfully seek to be generous to others.

10:52 As Christians, as recipients of God's grace, we should joyfully seek to be generous to others. And as we look at this passage, I want to look at six attributes of a Christian's generosity. Six, you say. I know it's a baptism Sunday. I promise these are shorter points than usual. Now, Paul's writing to the church in Corinth. And so there's an application to this entire church that he's talking to. But I want these attributes to also be applied to us and our own personal attitudes towards giving.

11:29 Paul had a number of items that he wanted to discuss here in 2 Corinthians. and what we think is his fourth letter, in fact, to the church in Corinth. One of those issues comes into view in this passage. The church in Jerusalem was suffering. They were in great financial need. And Paul was organizing an offering amongst other churches to go towards those needs. Seems like the financial need had been going on for a while because Paul references that the Corinthian church had made a pledge a year earlier.

12:03 It wouldn't make sense for Paul to pick up these funds immediately. He knows he's going to other places, so he starts working on the offering, and then he moves on to another place, to Macedonia. And the funds would be picked up by Paul or his representatives on the way back as they headed towards Jerusalem. The Macedonians weren't as wealthy as the Corinthians were. Even in a time of their own affliction, they were eager to contribute to the needs of the church in Jerusalem.

12:35 Paul had shared with the Macedonians, it seems that the Corinthian church had stepped up to the plate, that they had been exceedingly generous, and the Macedonians wanted to pitch in. They wanted to join in this offering. And it looks like they wanted to send some of their own to Jerusalem with Paul to administer the gift. Now it's time to collect the offering, And Paul, rather than showing up with some Macedonians and the Corinthians maybe not fulfilling their pledge, Paul wisely decides to send Titus with this letter to get things moving.

13:10 Paul's pastorally caring for the Corinthian church in this. Can you see that? He doesn't want to embarrass them. So he's sending on a messenger ahead saying, all right, let's get going. Let's get this offering together so that when we show up with the Macedonians, the ones that you've encouraged by your generosity, they'll actually be encouraged in fullness. He's been boasting about the Corinthians, and it's stirred up others to give. Now it's time to give what has been pledged, and so Paul sends this letter with Titus.

13:43 And right in the middle of this letter is our text. That's what's happening in our text right now, and these are the six attributes now that we're going to look to as we examine our own giving, personally, and again, as corporate, a corporate church. The first attribute of our giving is it's to be generous, generous. Wait a second, isn't all giving generous? I don't think it is. I think there can be stingy giving, and I think there can be generous giving that goes above and beyond.

14:19 at the very beginning of our text Paul is commending the churches in Macedonia for their giving in verse 2 he describes it as a wealth of generosity in verse 4 we read that the Macedonians were begging earnestly for the favor of taking part in a giving campaign imagine that they're not passing the buck off to the Corinthian church they're eagerly begging hey we want to be in on this offering? Can you let us take part in this? That's generosity. It's a type of giving that results in those who have very little giving to those who have even less. It's a generosity we see in the early church in Jerusalem, this very church that's now receiving the gift. If we look at Acts 2, the church in Jerusalem were selling all that they had in order to contribute to the needs of others. It's an earnest generosity. Note that the generosity was not a matter of the actual

15:20 dollars being given. It's got to do more with the heart. Generous giving is disproportionate giving. I think it's easy for some churches, and yes, even some individuals, to look around, compare themselves to others, and say, well, I don't have what others do. And so when there's need, I'll let those others step in and fill the gap. If the Lord ever gives me excess resources, I'm sure I'll be generous then.

15:53 But here in the text, we read that that's not what the Macedonians are doing. They're giving beyond their means. How's your giving? Would you say it's generous? If you were to sit down and look at your budget, your bank statement, does your giving show a generous heart? Or when you sit down and budget, do you look at all your needs and all your greeds and then look at what's left and say, I'll just give what's left to the work of the Lord?

16:31 When Paul says the Macedonians were giving beyond their means, I think he's referring to a giving that is going beyond what is normal and expected. Again, these Macedonians are giving beyond their means. They're giving beyond their circumstances. So that's going to be our second attribute of Christian giving. It isn't circumstantial. Early in this chapter, Paul alludes to the financial circumstances of these Macedonians. They're in a severe test of affliction, verse 2.

17:04 they're experiencing extreme poverty verse 2 they gave according to their means and beyond their means verse 3 but it's clear that the financial situation of the macedonians did not restrict their ability to be generous they didn't look at the excesses of other churches of hub cities like corinth and say those other churches they can carry the whole burden that's a real temptation to look at others to look at our own neediness and then to look at what others appear to have in surplus and allow them to pick up the slack another question for you are you a circumstantial giver perhaps you're a student at a university and making a meager wage in order to get through school perhaps you're in a season of picking up odd jobs in order to care for your needs

18:08 you read paul's words about a severe test of affliction and extreme poverty and you say to yourself that's me like i'm afflicted i'm in extreme poverty you hear of the church having a budget deficit deficit in the six figures and you figure that others in this congregation will pick up the slack because it's out of your own personal depth. And I want to encourage you to look at the example of the Macedonians who gave out of their lack. Now what I'm not saying, I want to be clear on this, is for you to be financially irresponsible. Don't hear me say you should give out of your lack and pull out a credit card and go into debt to give. That's not what I'm telling you to do. That would be foolish. But what I am encouraging you to do is to look at the way that you spend and see if there's a sacrifice or two that you could make in order to pick up the slack with others. Perhaps it's adding a roommate, perish the thought, or changing your coffee

19:15 drinking habits. Perhaps it's carpooling or walking to school or work. I used to be an accountant, and every March tax season would roll around, and I would do all sorts of tax returns for people, and we would enter in their income, and we would enter in their donations, and i love to see the generosity of christians we would do taxes pro bono for christians who were living paycheck to paycheck my boss was a benevolent christian man and so he wanted part of his business was to be this to do people's tax returns for free as a way to help them out we would also do tax returns for doctors and business owners that made seven figures and i loved i loved the generosity that i saw out of my brothers and sisters who i saw how little they made and i saw how much they gave and then i would look at these people

20:17 making seven figures and they would give maybe fifty dollars to the heart society and that was it for the year and i thought wow that is that's christian generosity and as i was preparing this message, I was thinking of various names and people who had done their tax returns 20 years ago, just marveling in God's grace that they gave beyond their circumstances. Friends, don't let your circumstances restrict your ability to give. You can give generously in your circumstances.

20:50 You can give above and beyond your means. What led the Macedonians to give beyond their means? What compels Christians to give beyond their means, to set aside funds that could be used for retirement savings or momentary pleasure? What causes Christians to give those funds to kingdom causes? Well, ultimately, I think the answer to those questions is our third attribute of Christian giving. It's because the generosity is fueled by thanksgiving.

21:25 It's fueled by thanksgiving. In verse 10, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the generosity that has been shown to them when he writes this. 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 might become rich. See, he's grounding the Corinthians' motivation for giving in the gospel. Remember our passages over the last two weeks. We've been given salvation, secured by the promise of the Father, an eternal weight of glory that can't be compared to this light and momentary affliction that we experience in this world.

22:05 We've been promised an eternal home, a resurrection body, given a new relationship with God, mediated by His Son, and made ambassadors of His kingdom. We have this new role. What Paul is saying here is that our generosity should be fueled by thanksgiving for all of those things. Christians, we know what it's like to be on the receiving end of exceedingly incomprehensible generosity. Yet for our sake, Jesus became poor so that we might become rich.

22:44 Paul uses financial terms to describe the sacrifice that Jesus made. He laid down his life so that we might have life and being united in Christ as the beneficiaries of all that his life has won for us we are called to be generous to our brothers and sisters in Christ see Jesus didn't count equality with God something to be grasped but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. That is radical generosity. So as we're talking about financial generosity, friends, I want to just remind you of the incomprehensible generosity that has been shown to us in this life, and an even greater generosity when we think that all that is awaiting us in eternity. We should be stirred up with

23:45 thanksgiving one of the tools that can spark radical generosity in the christian's life again is the reminder of the generosity shown to us how can we cling to this world's possessions when we reflect on what christ gave up for us oh but i really really like that latte jesus gave up his heavenly home to come and die for you it's kind of laughable isn't it when we test our hearts and things we cling to now again i like a latte every now and then i'm more of an americano guy i'm not saying that these things aren't good but we have to put them in their proper place now another warning here it could be really easy to fall into the temptation to be legalistic in our giving we're not giving more so that we can receive more and more forgiveness we do not believe

24:52 in a works-based righteousness so we're not trying to earn god's favor by sacrificing something in order to give more, we're not trying to do that as if it's going to earn us anything. Everything's been earned for us already. We're giving more because all, all, all, all has been freely given to us. We're not doing it out of compulsion. We're doing it cheerfully and joyfully. What is your disposition towards giving? When you sit down and do your budget, Are you looking at that line of your Excel spreadsheet or that piece of paper?

25:33 You're looking at giving and going, ah, this one's a gut punch. What if you were to start out the process of giving and deciding how much to give in prayer? Thanking the Lord for his goodness to you in the gospel. I think that's a great way to align your heart with what matters most in this world when you consider your finances. Now up until this point, we've been looking at financial giving. It's very clear in the text that Paul is taking up a financial offering for the people in Jerusalem, for the church in Jerusalem.

26:09 But there's something that's happening in chapter 4, verses 16 to 24, that I want to point out to you. It kind of lends itself to a fourth attribute of Christian giving, in that it involves being generous with people. It's not just money. We're seeing generosity even in this text when it comes to people. In our passage, we see the generous sending of Titus to be an encouragement to the church in Corinth. Additionally, Paul is sending a brother who is renowned for his giftedness in preaching.

26:43 We don't know this individual's name. The church in Corinth may have known who it was. It might have been completely irrelevant. But this preacher has been assigned to Paul's traveling ministry, and now this preacher is being redeployed to Corinth. Now Paul's ministry immediately would have been bolstered by such a man. You get a good preacher in the pulpit, you pass around the offering plate after a good sermon, that's sure to get you some results. But Paul is being generous by giving out this great preacher to this traveling band that's going to Corinth. And he's not the only one that's being shared.

27:24 there's a third nameless individual mentioned in verse 22. Someone who is earnest, someone who's trustworthy to help in the collection. So three brothers, at least, are heading to Corinth in this traveling band to encourage the Corinthian church and to collect the offering for those in Jerusalem. I think it's important to stop here and apply this to ourselves, again, both personally and corporately. It's a radical generosity that trains up qualified pastors for the sake of other congregations. In the last four years, we've seen some gifted preachers leave this congregation and head to other congregations full-time. Now, I'm only using four years. Friends, we could talk about God's marvelous goodness over the last 20 years. Over the last four years, just to give you a sample, we've seen Sam Amati head to Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church across town. Matt Smethurst goes to Richmond, to Pastor River City Baptist Church. Omar Johnson goes to a church revitalization

28:26 in D.C., Temple Hills Baptist Church. John Diedrich goes to a revitalization in the Phoenix, Arizona area. That's Redeeming Grace Church. Friends, that's just a sampling. And four years ago, if Greg was to have taken a sabbatical, those four men would have been in here filling the pulpit. And I'm specifically feeling that loss as I was preparing for this sermon, saying, man, I love those guys preaching. Maybe you're feeling that, listen to me. That's not a bad group of guys for pulpit supply. Again, that's a four-year sampling. Over the last two decades, men like Aaron Menikoff and Keith Goad and Brad Wheeler and so many others that have served this local church or serving elsewhere this church has been generous we also send brothers and sisters gifted in evangelism and discipleship to locations around the world as missionaries to plant and strengthen

29:27 churches it is an act of stewardship of third avenue baptist church to receive young men and women into membership and to see them grow in godliness and equipped for ministry and then sending them out for the sake of the name to other congregations and to plant other congregations in other places. And friends, this is a gift to Third Avenue Baptist Church. Often I have rightly just been so convicted of ah, another one, gone.

30:02 Well, that's not a generous disposition. But friends, our work in this regard isn't done. we can't rest. By God's providence, we're just miles down the road from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and we are literally a stone's throw away from the University of Louisville. In the years ahead, we're going to see more seminary students joining this church every semester. We're going to see more people come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ because of the ministry of across campus just around the corner. We must ask ourselves, how are we going to steward this opportunity.

30:44 It would be of our benefit to keep them. Those names that I just rolled off, can you imagine what it would be like for us to have hogged them? Man, we'd have such a vibrant preaching ministry week in and week out in this church, and the discipleship would be so strong, and the gifting would be so rounded. But it's a generous thing to send out. More gifted preachers and more gospel proclaiming professionals would be of great benefit to any congregation. Some of you University of Louisville students I think will be members Lord willing of this congregation for many years but some of you will move to other places and get jobs in other cities and earn good incomes and give towards good kingdom work and it would be a generous thing for our church to freely be generous with you and not to say wow that brother was going to make half a million dollars as a dentist now he's gone to some congregation in Owensboro woe is us that would

31:46 have been good for him to give to our congregation no that's not gospel generosity gospel generosity isn't just of our own finances it's also of our own people now for a moment of personal application we see in verse 17 that Titus is going of his own accord. He has a love for the gospel, and he has a desire to serve the Corinthians. I can only imagine how great it was to be part of Paul's traveling posse, to stay up late and hear stories like what really happened on the road of Damascus, like give us all the details again, or that hair-raising story of when you were lowered over the wall on a basket, Paul, tell us that one again. But Titus is generous by leaving the comfort of being side by side with Paul and traveling over 450 miles south. I checked my

32:51 geography, Brandon. It was 450 miles south in Greece. That's a hard journey. That's not a speed Eurorail train? That's a dust-filled, dangerous journey, either on ship, on the coast, or on land. And Titus is being generous by leaving comfort and going through a difficult circumstance to go and minister to others. It takes a measure of self-sacrifice to leave the comforts of home and deep friendships to serve other congregations, whether it's across town or around the world.

33:30 But that's ultimately what generosity is, isn't it? It's giving of oneself for the sake of others. It's outward facing. That's the fifth attribute. The Christians and the church's generosity is directed outward to other congregations. It's not generosity towards ourselves, friends. Again, to remind you of the circumstances of this offering that we're seeing in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, it's for the church in Jerusalem. And the Corinthians had pledged support earlier.

34:04 Chapter 9, verse 2, For I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. The church in Corinth had pledged a gift to help their fellow Christians in Jerusalem. And that generous pledge had stirred up churches throughout Macedonia to also give. And Paul's hoping to stir up by some of his colleagues this offering. The zeal of the Corinthians had stirred up the Macedonians. And if Paul shows up with the Macedonians and there's no offering that's there, it's going to be super discouraging to the Macedonians that are with him.

34:46 There's this early church associationalism that's going on. Do you see it? Hey, Corinth, I told your story to the Macedonians. And they were so excited about what you did that they gave to the church in Jerusalem. And now I'm coming to get the offering. So I'm sending Titus ahead of you. And I might be bringing some of those Macedonians with me. We see three locations represented in this text. There's some good old biblical associationalism happening here. I was reminded that a few of us this afternoon are heading our way to Indianapolis.

35:20 Southern Baptist Convention, 45,000 churches represented. Not all of them will be there. But they're going to gather to conduct some business. Business that's important, where some of the budget is going to be used towards cooperation with the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary that some of you are students of. Some of the budget going towards things like the International Mission Board, which the Southern Baptists use to send missionaries all over the world. And one of the interesting things that happens this week is we hear report after report and there's a lot of clapping and a lot of excitement and thanksgiving because of the associational work that can be done amongst all of these churches.

36:01 We can also look to the kinship and friendship that our local church has is with other networks like the Pillar Network and ACME, the Association of Churches for Missions and Evangelism. over the last few years we've seen such generosity from other churches towards members sent out from third avenue baptist church let me encourage you with one of them one of these stories matt and emily tyler a couple years ago go to bangkok and on their way sent out by third avenue they go through charlotte north carolina and a group of pillar network churches in charlotte decide to be generous towards this ministry even when it wasn't their missionary it was the missionary we were sending out all these churches give towards this work that church also recently gave the church in bangkok also recently received sorry a grant from acme and matt tyler got to stand in a room full of acme churches like third avenue when we were in new mexico and encouraged that association of all the lord was doing through that ministry

37:05 and through their generosity. Matt's a graduate of Southern Seminary. He works with Nine Marks and Desiring God on various projects. He partners with a brother sent from Capitol Hill Baptist Church. And a whole bunch of churches gave some out of their abundance, some out of their lack, to support that work, ultimately producing thanksgiving to God. And that's repeated over and over and over again as churches partner together towards this work.

37:40 When we look outward and are generous towards others, it sparks further generosity that the Lord uses, generosity of various churches to spur each other on. When I hear of a small church in Scotland giving towards the work of Jared and Zoe Mays, that causes me, number one, to thank the Lord for their generosity, but number two, ask myself, Where else can I be generous towards others? It's outward focused. Think about all the relationships that you hear about as we pray for various churches in various places.

38:14 What an amazing opportunity for us to be partnering with so many. And as much as there's a horizontal benefit of this generosity in our tightening bonds and our friendship together, friends, even more, there is a vertical element to all that is going on through our giving, And that is our sixth and final attribute this morning. It's that it is God-glorifying. Generosity, gospel-fueled generosity, is God-glorifying. From the very beginning of this section, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 1, Paul writes that the generosity of the Macedonians was a result of the grace of God.

38:54 Even as he's commending the churches in Macedonia, he's pointing out, hey, lest you get caught up in what the Macedonians have done, it's not of their own accord. It's of the grace of God. It's only by his grace that they're able to do this. At the end of the passage that we're looking at this morning, Paul repeats that their generosity, the Corinthians, will produce thanksgiving in the recipients, the church in Jerusalem. Note that the result isn't just supplying for the church in Jerusalem's needs.

39:27 That's an immediate result. We can see that. but the result ultimately is that it's overflowing in many thanksgivings to God, verse 12 of chapter 9. The recipients will glorify God because of the submission of the Corinthians, verse 13. While giving meets the tangible needs of others, and that's a good thing, a greater product is that the thanksgiving that it produces in the recipient to God.

39:58 As they receive the gift, they glorify God, understanding that the gift is ultimately from the Lord. He has provided. But it isn't just the recipient who glorifies the Lord. The giver glorifies God, ultimately by understanding that everything that they have, their salvation, their eternal hope, their unity in Christ, even their earthly possessions are from God. And so the giver glorifies God by saying, Lord, I'm just going to give generously. I'm going to trust that you will provide for me, but I'm going to give towards the financial needs of others.

40:33 As a congregation, we are a body made up of many members, and our corporate attitude is the sum of our individual attitude towards these things. Do you give under compulsion and reluctantly? Are you cheerfully giving of your finances? Are you giving from a place of thanksgiving to the needs of this congregation and others or are you giving out of begrudgingness? When you hear of financial needs, do you expect that need to be met by others or do you zealously, zealously seek to contribute to those needs in some way, sacrificing what you can for others?

41:14 I want to just pause very briefly and remind you that the greatest priority for a Christian in their giving should be their local church a lot is assumed in this passage it's good to give to a variety of different things but if this church is your home your your giving should go primarily to your local church now i lead a parachurch ministry and unless i cannibalize all that we're doing i think it's important again to hold those things intention. Again, friend, your greatest giving should be to your local church. You sit under the preaching of the word here week in and week out. The discipleship ministries of this local church, the Lord is using those week in and week out in your life. You should be most excited about the missionary sent out from this local church to go to other places because they were once one of you. And so even as we look outward personally, think of various ministries and people that we

42:20 support personally in our home, it should always be secondary to what we give corporately to this gathering. What I give personally with Aaron and I and our family to this local church so that this local church, get this, can fulfill its pledges and its obligations to the ones that have sent out. So we can talk about all the associations we're part of and the 20-odd units of missionaries that have been sent out from this local church, but if we're ignoring our own local church and our giving, it might be that it comes to the end of a budget year and we might not be able to make out some of those pledges.

42:57 And so I want to just make sure that I address that here in the middle of this text, that even as we look outward and all of the good things that come with generosity towards others, we also have to make sure that we are looking inward and funding the various ministries of a local church that means so much to our lives so that we can send funds to other congregations corporately as a gathering to fund various ministries abroad. Perhaps, friend, you're here this morning and you're trying to find joy in your giving.

43:34 Brian, you say to give joyfully. How do I do that? Well, I have found personally in my life that my joy in giving is greatest when I'm regularly in the word, When I'm consistently meditating on God's word and I'm aware of his goodness and grace towards me, when I'm fighting sin in my life by the power of the Holy Spirit, when I'm overwhelmed with God's generosity towards me, that is when I am most often and most likely able to be generous towards others.

44:06 When I'm stuck in my sin and I'm neglecting time in God's word and I'm just feeding my flesh, I find it is so much easier to be about me and neglect the needs of others. So if you want to grow in gospel generosity, read the Bible. Meditate on God's word and on his goodness towards you. Fight your sin. And as you do so, and as you are reminded of God's generosity towards you, you can then be fueled to be generous towards others. God will take care of you.

44:41 Friends, we can have confidence in the gospel. We've seen that over the last couple of weeks. We have confidence in God's sustaining power and in our future. We read those things in 2 Corinthians 4. We can have confidence in Jesus' work as our mediator and that it changed everything. Again, we have a new home. We have a new relationship with God. We have a new role as his ambassadors. All of those things should produce thanksgiving in our hearts And that thanksgiving should produce generosity for God's glory and our joy.

45:17 Let's pray. God, we thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for your generosity towards us. God, we thank you for just this reflection on the generosity of the Macedonians this morning and how they gave out of their lack. Lord, we pray that as a congregation, as individuals, Lord, we would be stirred up to reflect your generosity towards us as we are generous towards others, Lord.

45:53 We thank you for the various ministries that we can support through this local church, Lord, and we thank you for the ministries of this local church. God, we pray that we would glorify you and our generosity towards one another. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.