Generosity is love in action

The passage is about generosity and its importance in the church. The churches in Macedonia set an example of generosity, giving beyond their means even in their own poverty. Generosity is a sign of God's grace and a way to worship Him. It is sacrificial and intentional, and it is an expression of love for God and others. Giving is not just about money, but about giving our whole selves to God. So if you guys could all stand with me, we stand in reverence for God's holy word inspired by the spirit. Today we're going to be in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, verses 1 through 8. If you don't have a Bible, there are Bibles under the seats around the room, and if you don't have a Bible, again, at home, please take a Bible home. That's our member's gift to you. Put your name in the front there, and that's yours. All right, 2 Corinthians 8, 1 through 8. 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. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your generosity. We thank you that you don't have to prove anything, that you showed us your love, your deep love for us in generosity by giving us your son Jesus, that he would die on our part on our behalf, that we may have life in you, Father. Would you transform our hearts through this message today that the Holy Spirit has given? Would you just transform our hearts, Holy Spirit? Would you soften our hearts to receive this? And we just pray that this honors you and glorifies you. And I just pray for Pastor Tim. I ask that you would bless him through this as well. We thank you for him, and we thank you for your love, Father God. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. That's awesome. You see, this passage is about generosity. And we can think about generosity in a bunch of different ways, and it can apply in a few different ways, right? We could be generous with our time. We could be generous with serving others. But here in this passage, Paul wants to get at what does it look like to be financially generous. So before we dive into this passage, I need to give us a little bit of context because as you remember last week, we kind of put Paul to rest, right, at the end of 1 Timothy. We're kind of resurrecting him again. So let's see what Paul has to say here in this passage. In this passage, this is Paul's third time going through one of his missionary journeys, where he took the gospel of Jesus from Judea to Antioch and throughout Asia Minor, spreading the gospel throughout the world. So in Paul's third missionary journey, he takes up a collection of finances, okay, from all the churches to help the church in Judea that was going through some struggles and suffering. The letter here that Paul is writing to is to the church in Corinth. And the church in Corinth, if you guys remember any history about the church in Corinth, it was a rough church. We thought Timothy had it bad. The church in Corinth was, that was a rough one. And what was, the church in Corinth was having a huge issue with generosity. They were having a huge issue with generosity. They were struggling with that. And you see, Paul, in this passage, gives the church in Corinth four qualities of generosity and one core truth about generosity. Which leads me to my big idea and what Paul is really trying to hit home with the church in Corinth. Generosity is love in action. Write it down. Generosity is love in action. So let's go through this. The first quality of generosity, the first quality of generosity Paul wants to get at is generosity is an indicator. Generosity is an indicator. And I'm going to read verse one and I'm going to jump all the way down to verse six and seven, okay? So follow along. It says, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches in Macedonia. 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. See, like I said, Paul is writing to this church in Corinth. And the first thing Paul gets out, right in verse one, Paul is pointing the church of Corinth to look at the churches in Macedonia as an example of what generosity looks like. And what this shows us is that generosity, when generosity is exposed, when it's acted upon, when it's applied, it's the proof, the signal, the sign that God is working in someone's heart. Generosity is the thermometer of grace. In verse seven he says, see that you excel in this act of grace. You guys remember last week we talked, the whole sermon was about grace, right? What is grace? You guys remember the definition? Grace is unmerited favor, unmerited favor, a gift that we didn't earn, a gift that was freely given. So in this part, what Paul is saying is generosity is favor shown because of favor received. You see, God's people are marked with grace and mercy. And as an indicator that we follow, as a church, as a people, Jesus, and have been transformed by Jesus, we walk as people in generosity. Why? Because our God is a generous God, amen? We cannot be a people of stinginess, right? Because that's not a good example of who Jesus was, but we are a people that walk in generosity. I love what Martin Luther says, he says, true giving is not motivated by the desire for recognition or reward, but by the deep gratitude for the grace and mercy we have received from God. See, when I think of this passage, I hope as living stones, not only living stones firmly, but all the living stones in northern Nevada, we would be like the Macedonia churches, a church that sets an example for their city, for our city firmly, for the churches in the area of what it looks like to be radically generous. You see, if we could be a church, or even all of our churches could be so radically generous, that's contagious and that changes things, family. Being radically generous changes our city and lives forever. The second quality of generosity is generosity is sacrificial. Generosity is sacrificial. Let's read verse 2 and 3, 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. So, a little bit of context here. The churches in Macedonia area, they didn't have a lot. In fact, they themselves were going through trials and sufferings. It says there was poverty, there was affliction. They're the average Joe people, right? They're friendly people. Average Joe people, right? But look at what they didn't say. Look at what the people within the Macedonian churches didn't say. They didn't say, I'll give generously when I have more. That's not what they said. You guys know that I love statistics, right? And so, I'll nerd out with you guys just for a moment. I was looking at statistics of generosity. And research has shown that those with bigger incomes give less percentage of their income to charities. Isn't that interesting? And those with smaller incomes give more percentage of their incomes to charities. I thought that was fascinating. And here's the statistic here. Those that make $20,000 a year are eight times more likely to give to charities. Eight times more likely to give to charities than those that make $100,000 a year. I thought that was mind-blowing. And the question is, why? Why is that? And I think the answer is our heart is deceptive. Our heart tells us we never have enough. We never have enough. And here's the reality. If we can't do it now when we have little, then we won't do it when we have much. And look at what it says. They gave them an abundance of joy that overflowed and a wealth of generosity on their part. An abundance of joy. This reminds me of my trip to Honduras when we were doing Living Water International. We were building a well. I remember being there and seeing that the people of Honduras had little. They really had not a lot of things, but they had so much joy. And I was kind of awestruck by their joy. They would just randomly, spontaneously break out in worship. We'd be sitting down. We'd do a drill. We'd go sit down at one of their villages. We'd be eating some food. And then all of a sudden, one guy would get up and he's just like, let's praise the Lord. I'm like, okay, let's do it. And they would just start singing and praising. And it was so contagious, this joy. And I remember feeling like, why do I not have that kind of joy? What's stopping me from having that kind of joy? This radical joy. And here's the reality. They trusted in the Lord's provision day by day rather than trusting in their own provision. There's two truths that we can find here in this verse, in verse 3. The first truth is that these churches, they gave according to their means. Do you see that? They gave according to their means, verse 3, which means it's not about the amount that they gave. There's something much deeper. There's something much deeper. It's about trust. They trusted in the Lord's provision, right? Here's the truth about money, right? Money gives false security. It gives a false security. We feel that if we have more, we'd be better off, right? Come on. Amen? If we had more, we'd be better off. But it's not true. It's a false security. Here's the reality. Money can't stop a car from hitting your kid and killing them. Money can't stop cancer from riddling your body and destroying you. Money can't stop major life events. It just can't. It's a false security. You see, the great lie is that you need more to be secure. That's the great lie. The devil said this in Eden. Ah! You're not secure with God. You need more. Take the apple. Eat it. And ever since that lie first started, it's been a lie that the world has been shoving down our throats ever since. You just need more. You're not satisfied until you have more. Here's the great truth. The Lord has provision for you. There isn't a lack of provisions for you. Do you know that? I guess that's why Jesus talks about the birds don't worry about what they eat. They don't store up. That's why Jesus talks about the flowers don't worry about what they wear. God has provision. There's no lack in provision for you. The issue is the lack of trust. We have a lack of trust in the One that created all things, that provides for every need. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6, 19 through 21? Let's pull that up real quick. It says, don't store up treasures on earth where moths eat them and rust destroy them and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. Whatever your treasure is, there the desire of your heart also will be. See, Jesus knew us pretty well to know what we invest in is what we love. What we love is what we invest in and what we love and invest in is what we worship. The second truth that we can find here in verse 3 is they gave not just by the means but beyond. Do you see that? They went beyond. So, our generosity doesn't even have a cap. You see, the Old Testament says there's 10%, but Paul talks about how much more we give because how much Jesus gave to us. So, Paul kind of pokes a hole in that legalistic thought process of saying you have to give 10% and you're good, right? He's like, no, no, no. How much more? There isn't a cap because grace doesn't have a cap. Grace isn't cheap grace. We've been lavished with the goodness of God. Amen? So, they gave beyond. That's an overflowing of the grace that we've received. The third quality of generosity, generosity is intentional. Generosity is intentional. Here's the reality. Paul wasn't actually going to go to this church, these churches in Macedonia. He wasn't going to make a collection, a financial offering from them due to they were in poverty and they were suffering a lot. He's like, I'm not going to go there. It's like, give them a break. Now, the churches in Macedonia found out that Paul was taking a collection. When they found out, they begged, the church members came and begged Paul to take part in helping the church in Judah. Look at verse 4, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the release of the saints. This would be like if today we didn't talk about offering and then we didn't talk about offering and after service, you guys came up to me like, you didn't talk about offering, Tim. And I want to be a part of that because you want to know what? The churches in Macedonia understood that offering was a part of worship. It was a part of worship. It was putting our eyes and focus on Jesus. They wanted to be a part of the mission of God. For them, getting involved in financial offering wasn't a problem to be avoided, but a privilege to be desired, a privilege to be desired. See, they invested in the kingdom through the church to see people come and know Jesus. They invested in the mission. Why? Because they understood the great promise of God, that this stuff is temporary, but the things in heaven is eternal. And here's the thing, we invest in God's kingdom not expecting anything in return. You see, because that's the prosperity gospel. Say, okay, if I give, I'll receive? No. Even Jesus said it's better to give than receive, right? You know, and I truly believe when Jesus is talking about storing up treasures in heaven, I believe he's really specifically talking about two treasures in heaven, okay? Like when we get to heaven, he's going to be like, here's a briefcase, here's a million dollars. Good job, guys. That's not what's going to happen, right? What is Jesus talking about? I think there's two things. The first thing is the ultimate treasure when we go to heaven, we get to behold Jesus forever. That's the ultimate treasure, to be in the presence of Jesus forever. The second thing, the second treasure of heaven are people, people. There'll be a day when you are in the kingdom of heaven and there'll be people that approach you saying, because of your investment in the kingdom of God in Phirley, Nevada, I came to know the Lord Jesus. That's our treasure. Because of your generosity, I came to know the living God and my trajectory that was for hell went to heaven. Praise be to God. That's our treasure. Michael Horton says this, our giving should not be motivated by guilt or compulsion, but by the genuine desire to participate in God's work and to be a blessing to others. So the question is, how do we live in this kind of radical generosity? How do we do it? Paul answers this. Look at verse 5. In verse 5 he says, and this, not as we expected, Paul says it like that, we didn't even expect them to be this generous, right? But they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. They didn't just give their money, right? They gave all of themselves, their very lives to God. Here's the truth, okay? I want you to take a picture of this next slide. You can't give your substance to the purpose of God if you haven't given your life to the person of God. You can't give your substance to the purpose of God if you haven't given your life to the person of God. It flows from each other. Essentially what this is saying is, if God has you, he has your bank account. If God has you, he has your investments. If God has you, he has your marriages, he has your children, he has your hobbies, he has your time. If God has you, he doesn't just have 10% of you, he has 100% of you. See, generosity is intentional. It's asking the question, what have I not given to Jesus that I need to? It's intentionally looking on ways to give to be generous and being consistent in it. I think about, you know, summer's coming, the summer vacations, right? I love how it's been raining and we have, like, all of the lakes are filled, right? I mean, Christina made the decision, we're not going to go camping this year. I'm like, of course, all the lakes are filled, we're not going camping this year. Anyways, summer's coming, but here's the reality, just because you're not here at church throughout the summer doesn't mean the mission stops, doesn't mean that firmly still needs to hear the word of God in the city. Still doesn't mean that we need Jesus to transform people. And you know what God does? He uses his people and his people's resources to reach the people of this city. That's how God works. He doesn't need our money, but he wants us to direct our eyes towards him. He wants us to direct our eyes towards him. The fourth quality of generosity. Generosity is love in action. Generosity is love in action. Verse 8, I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. You know what the nature of generosity is? You know what the nature of giving is? The fundamental truth behind all this? It's all founded in love. It's all founded in love, right? Love God, love others. See, love is the overflowing of joy in the grace of God that meets the needs of others. Generosity is love in action. This is a love issue, not a money issue. Do you see that? I love what John MacArthur says. He says, the act of giving is an expression of our love for God and our love for others. It is the tangible way to demonstrate the transformative power of the gospel in our lives. Money is not evil. That's not evil. Wealth isn't bad. We have Abraham. He was loaded. He was a rich dude. We have Solomon. That guy was rich. Money itself isn't evil, and these wealthy men were able to steward their money rightly and point their own selves to Jesus, right? Here's what Paul tells us. It's not money that's evil, right? Let's rewind. Let's go back to 1 Timothy, okay? Paul tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 10 through 12, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. Money is not evil, but the love of money is. Because here's the thing. The love of money, if you love money, you'll use people. But if you love people, you'll use money. It's about stewardship. Like does our money steward us or do we steward our money? It has no power if we can steward it, but it has a lot of power if it's stewarding you. We can't love without being generous. We can't love without being generous. And we can't be generous and give without love. Those go side by side because love gives. Think about it this way. If you say you love your children and you're not generous to them, you don't get them clothes, you don't get them food, do you actually love them? If you say you love your spouse and you're not generous in giving to them, do you actually love them? You see, here's the thing. Generosity is the opposite of selfishness. Generosity is the opposite of selfishness. See, there is, in the history of humankind, there is one act of generosity that transcends all other acts of generosity. We're going to read the famous verse in John 3, 16, 17. I want you to see this, okay? Look at this. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Do you see that? I hope you see this passage differently, too. Can you go back real quick? God loved, so He gave. That's the ultimate. Jesus shows us the true example of what generosity looks like. By loving God perfectly, by loving others, He's our example. He's our indicator of what generosity looks like. So, we look to Jesus. See, Jesus' generosity was sacrificial. He had all the wealth in heaven, yet bankrupt Himself so that we may be rich. Do you see that in verse 9? We stopped at verse 8, but look down just at verse 9. It 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, might become rich. He loved, so He gave. He loved, so He gave. See, Jesus loved so much, He drank the poison of sin to give us the antidote for death. See, Jesus' generosity was intentional. He willingly went to the cross. Did you notice that? His arm wasn't twisted. He was like, oh, I wrote the cross. No, He intentionally went to the cross. That's why I don't like that song, Reckless Love. Have you heard that song? Just because Jesus' love was not reckless, it was extremely intentional. He intentionally went to the cross for our sake so that we may live through Him. He intentionally was stripped naked. He was intentionally cursed at. He intentionally went there getting beaten and killed. And when He went to the cross, He intentionally thought of you and me. Jesus' generosity was intentional love. You see, Jesus' generosity was love in action. Think about this, if God withheld His generosity. If He withheld His generosity, we're doomed, but that's not the story. He gave a hundred percent to us, a hundred percent. A hundred percent of our sins have been forgiven, did you know that? A hundred percent of the wrath of God on sin has been paid for. And we get a hundred percent of Jesus' righteousness poured out on us. See, when we choose to follow Jesus, we become more like Him. And instead of being stingy Christians with our hands closed-fisted, we become generous because we know what we've been given. Our hands are open. So when it comes to tithing, when it comes to generosity, the issue is really having a wrong-directed love and worship, right? The opposite of generosity is selfishness. Here's the thing, what I'm really excited about, I know that some will hear this passage with great joy, knowing that they've been poured out grace. You know, when going all the way back to the beginning of the sermon, we had the crazy increase of rent, our members stepped up and were extremely generous. Because their eyes are set on the mission here in Friendly. I'm excited, but I'm also grieving because I know some will hear this passage and reject it, ignore the call here. They won't see the grace, they'll only see the church, oh, here's the church again, going after my wallet, but that's not true, that's not true. We want to see people in this church and in this family grow in their faith in the Lord, grow in their trust in Jesus, and have freedom in Him, not bondage by our pursuit of wealth. Couple applications for us. First application I think would be really good is like, when you go home, sit with your spouse, look at your account, what did it look like for you to be generous, right? I love what Billy Graham said, Billy Graham says this, give me five minutes with a person's checkbook and I'll tell you where their heart is. Basically, look at your bank account and you'll find out what you worship. I think those conversations need to happen because we need to know, are we actually being generous people? A second application is, and this is for both the Christian and the unbeliever in the room, is test God's provision. Test God's provision. It's kind of interesting, throughout the Old Testament it says, do not test the Lord. But then in Malachi it says, okay, I want you to test me on this one thing. I'm going to read Malachi for us. Malachi 3.10, it says, bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open the windows of heaven for you, I'm poured down for you the blessings until there is no more need. You know what the Lord is simply saying? He's like, test my provision. Trust me because I'm trustworthy. Trust me because I'm trustworthy. I've got you. I've got you in your situation. I've got you in your finances. Yes, you may need to grow in the way you steward your money, but I've got you. And for the unbeliever, this is the one time where you test God if he's going to ask him to prove himself to you. Are you going to ask the Lord, prove to me that you exist? It says, test me in this area. I will provide for you. And do you see the great promise here in Malachi? The great promise is he has provision for us. It says, I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you blessings. You know what that means? He's saying, I'm going to just put a storm of blessing in your life. It's going to rain down on you. And this doesn't mean that putting God to the test, he's going to write you a check and that's your blessing. But it does mean that God is going to bless you in your life, stewardship, wisdom. And maybe that one day when you go to heaven, you're going to see the treasures of heaven in the people that come to you and say, thank you for investing in the kingdom. I know the Lord. I know Jesus. Generosity is love in action. But if you ask the question, are we a generous people? Are we a generous people? The thing is, we learn from Jesus. And we follow Jesus in all this. Amen, family. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank you, Lord God, that you were generous to us, Lord God. And you continue to be generous to us, Lord God. It started in the beginning when you formed everything. It continued as you went to the cross, being completely generous for us, offering salvation for us, Lord God. And it continues today, that there's provision today in you, Lord God. All we have to do is trust. Trust you and your provision, Lord God. Help us, Lord God. Help us trust you. Oh, God, we praise you and we rebuke the enemy and his schemes. We rebuke in our own lives the way we've given wealth and money power in our lives. We repent, Lord God, that we have put our security in money. We have, Lord God, loved money. Lord God, we repent of that and we ask that you would help us turn our eyes back to you, the provider of all things, Lord God. That we wouldn't be clenched hands on our finances. We would have open hands knowing that you are worthy of all of us, not just 10%, not just 20% of ourselves, but 100% of all of us. You're worthy of our worship, Lord God. Bring us to our knees, bring our eyes to your glory, Lord God. Transform our very hearts. We need hearts that are transformed. We're going to continue to let this church be a beacon and a light of what it looks like to be generous to the city of Fernley. What it looks like to be generous to those that are in need in our community. What it looks like to be generous to the orphans of our community, Lord God. Help us meet those needs. Help us charge towards that, Lord God. We want to be a people of radical generosity that transforms this city for the better and for your glory, Lord God. That is our desire. We thank you, Lord. We thank you for this time that we can spend with you. We thank you for our brothers and sisters here, Lord God. We thank you that you've offered a family to us, Lord God, that we can rally around each other, Lord God. We praise you and we say all these things in Jesus' awesome, amazing, and powerful name. Amen.