“Excelling and Generous in Grace”

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:1-8

One of our shortcomings in this life is that of comparing ourselves to others. And it is a shortcoming! We have never been told to do better than someone else. As a matter of fact, we are told that God will judge us by his standards and by his merit, and not by comparing ours against that of others.
When I was in college, grading on the curve was one of those items that could either help or hurt, depending on how well or how poorly the rest of the class did. Most professors didn’t use this method of grading, but some did, and some even let the class choose early in the course. The curve was bell shaped, with an A on the left and an F on the right. There had to be at least one A and at least one F, regardless of the percentage grades.
Fair? Not at all, and personally, I always preferred to sink or swim on my own, and not depend on the failure of others to hold me up!

In faith, God never grades on the curve, and will never compare us to others. And how will we be judged? By these questions – Are we one of his flock or not? Do we follow his commandments or not? And these are questions that the Lord, and him alone, will answer. We will be judged by God, by his standards and by his mercy, and nothing else.

In the church, there are many issues that should never be compared person to person, to be decided on a curve. Faith expression and response is never a contest. How many committees do you serve on? I’m on more! How many hours each week do you spend at church? I give more! How much do you put in the offering plate? You’re not even close to me! Comparing the things we do as Christians have nothing to do with what others do. They have little to do with our faith, and they have nothing to do with salvation. But in our passage from scripture today, Paul seems to be doing this very thing – pitting one church against another in a financial contest.

Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-4

Becoming part of a faith community implies that a mutual focus exists. In the case that Paul alludes to, offerings are being taken to help the residents of Jerusalem who are in dire financial straits. Now we might think that a generous response to a situation like this, to brothers and sisters in need, is pretty much a given. But the truth is that Gentiles were being asked to help Jews.
This relationship, this tearing down of walls that had existed for centuries, was a totally new concept for the emerging church. The Jews had always looked down their noses at the rest of the world, and would never have even looked in the direction of a non-Jew, except to express their contempt. But now we are seeing the real life application of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) – those who were previously despised were helping those who had rejected them. This is the situation that Paul is writing about.

But he is doing something else that, at least for me, causes some concern in faith. He is creating an atmosphere of competition between the churches in Macedonia (notably Thessalonica and Philippi) against those a few miles south in Corinth. All had committed to the offering, but apparently, Corinth was falling far behind. So Paul is telling them how well others are doing, in the hope that they will take up the challenge.

But what does the commitment and generosity of the Thessalonians have to do with the Corinthians? Jesus, I believe, taught us just the opposite! In Matthew 6:1-4, the Lord tells to keep the amount that we give to ourselves. Now it’s true that our Financial Secretary keeps a record of our giving, but it is simply so she can give us an accounting at the end of the year, primarily, I believe, for income tax purposes. The point of the Matthew passage is this - don’t brag about what you give and don’t use it as a means to create an indebtedness that someone else is obligated to pay to you. But on the other hand, this in no way gives us license to be less than generous either. As a matter of fact, it gives us the opportunity of being overly generous toward the needs of others, while experiencing humility and mercy in our own lives.

Read 2 Corinthians 8:5-8

The New Interpreters Bible says this – “The ‘remembering of the poor’ - in its being given and in its being received – becomes for Paul the supreme symbol of the unified people of God in Christ in whom truly there is “neither Jew nor Greek (Galatians 3:26-29). Paul construes the collection as a one time, symbolic act in which the Gentile churches as donors, and the Jerusalem believers as recipients, each acknowledge that they belong to the other in Christ.”

While this may be true, I still think that Paul has overstepped his bounds by putting the generosity of one church up against that of another, if indeed that is his intent. He does make one comparison that I agree with, though – he reminds Corinth that they have been generous in many other ways – why not in this one?
He lists several areas where they have been very faithful. Their great faith is a reason for rejoicing, their speech, which I take to mean their proclamation of the gospel message, is encouraging, the raising up of their knowledge indicates that they are eager to study and understand Christ’s mission to the world and how they fit into it. And their love and support of the apostles has been a special gift to Paul and others. Generous in many ways! But when it came to their giving for the poor of Jerusalem, (Paul calls it “this grace of giving”), they are falling short.

So what is this “grace of giving”? The expression implies that we are to see our giving to the Almighty, not as an obligation but as an opportunity, as a point of grace – a chance to express their gratitude for God’s good gifts to them. Corinth was being selective in their giving – those gifts that they could offer within their own church and area were given generously, but the needs of the Jews who lived so far away apparently meant little to them. Now I don’t want anyone to think that I’m calling our church to give to every need that comes along. If we did, we wouldn’t make much of an impact on any of them. However, when any need arises, we always need to pray about our response.

Pastor Scott Colglazier offers the following as a means to reflect on our attitude toward giving. He writes:
I would suggest that you try something for one month. Try smiling the entire time of the offering. Smiling really can be a form of prayer and meditation. Smile from beginning to end! I guarantee that you will begin to feel more joy in the experience of giving.
--R. Scott Colglazier, Finding a Faith That Makes Sense (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1996), 29-30.

Do each of us have a sense of joy in what we give each week? Can we truly claim that we show “grace in our giving”? Please don’t think that I’m suggesting that we don’t – I just want each of us to think about the quality of our giving. Do we trust God enough to be personally generous? Do we give out of our prosperity, or in our poverty? Does our giving truly reflect our gratitude for the Lord’s gracious gifts to us?

Paul uses the example of the churches in Macedonia to illustrate the point – they gave “out of the most severe trial.” They didn’t see their situation as being limiting – they just gave.

And while Paul was writing about a financial matter, we can’t limit our understanding of “grace in our giving” solely to that of money.
We need to ask ourselves “Am I generous in my giving of love to others?” – not just to those in our congregation and to those who we can identify with, but more specifically to those who are not – like the Gentile giving to a Jew.
We need to ask ourselves “Am I generous in the giving of my time?” Do I regularly spend time in bible study and devotions? Do I regularly spend time in service to others, helping them in ways that they cannot help themselves?
We need to ask ourselves “What abilities and gifts do I have that someone else may need?” Can I stop by a homebound person’s house and mow the lawn or trim the hedge? Can I take a moment to make a phone call, or even better, a visit to someone who is struggling in life? Can I give them a ride to the store? Or fix their porch? Or change the oil in their car?
And we need to consider why we do each of these things – is it because we are looking for reciprocity from those we help, or are we giving graciously because of all that we have already received?

These are all questions that we need to ask ourselves, and, I believe, they are questions that the Corinthians should have been asking themselves. But what they should not have done is to try to out give the Thessalonians! The real question for that church was – “Are they giving to the extent and in the ways that they knew that God wants them to give?”
And the question for us is, “Are we giving to the extent and in the ways that we know God wants us to give?” Be honest in your answer, and generous in your response, and smile with joy the entire time that you are giving.