Hello, and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now, come along.
Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
Well, we're going to be in Second Corinthians, chapter eight
here this morning as the kids head on out.
We're going to go to Second Corinthians, chapter 8.
The title of this sermon this morning is the Grace Giver.
The Grace Giver.
We mentioned already in this service this morning that our theme
for the month of December is gifts.
And we're going to look at this morning how we as believers
have been given the greatest gift, and we know that that is salvation.
But obviously, on top of our salvation, we have the opportunity
to know many other blessings in our life.
The book of James says in chapter one, verse 17, every good
gift and every perfect gift is come from above and come down from
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness or variation,
neither shadow of turning or change, meaning this.
Every good thing that we have in our life, if we are believers
and we trust in God, every good thing, salvation, our family,
our friends, our health, anything is coming from God.
And so we as Christians have been abundantly blessed.
We live in a society that is taught not to be content with what
we have, but to want more.
I need more gifts, more things.
And the Bible says it's the complete opposite.
When we understand how much we have been graciously gifted, it changes
the way that we live our life.
It changes our perspective on things.
Speaking of changing perspectives, I remember growing
up as a child, Christmas was always about, what am I going to
get this year?
Right?
That was the conversation at school, right?
We're sitting around school, we're like, what do you think you're
going to get for Christmas this year?
I don't know.
I want a bike.
I want a basketball hoop.
I want this, I want that.
And there was always that buzz with my friends about who was going
to get the best Christmas gift this year.
And time would get closer.
And, you know, you put your list in and, you know, most of the
time, being an only child, I usually got what I asked for, Right?
Okay.
So I would get this great gift, and it would be exciting.
But you know what?
Over a few months, that would get kind of old, and I would start
thinking about, what am I going to get for Christmas next year,
Right.
It was that cycle of wanting more, getting more, and then never
really being completely satisfied, even though I was very
thankful for many of the gifts that I received.
But as I got older and we started to have children, our conversations
began to shift, right?
It wasn't about, what am I going to get this year.
It was, what are we going to get the kids this year?
Right?
Because my joy changed from receiving gifts to, hey, I want to
bless my children with gifts.
I want to be able to provide for them something great this year
and make them happy.
Right?
That's the idea of a believer.
When we start out as a Christian, it's all about us.
It's all about what we've received of God and what we can continue
to get from the Lord.
But the Bible very clearly teaches that, yes, we do receive
those gifts of God.
But as time progressed and as we mature, we look for opportunities
to give gifts to others.
We look for opportunities to share the love of God with others.
We look for opportunities to use the gifts that God has given
us in, in light of those blessings and try to bless other
people that we come across in our life.
And so here in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, we see Paul challenging
the church in Corinth to be grace givers.
And he reminds them of a few examples.
He's going to talk about another church in Macedonia, but
ultimately he's going to talk about the gift of grace that was
given to them through Jesus Christ and why they should be giving
as well.
Now, in this context, he's talking to them about giving to the
work of the ministry.
And a lot of people say, well, Pastor, you're not allowed to preach
about giving in the church.
I would say it's in Scripture.
So yes, I can.
Okay, we're going to talk about giving to the church today.
And now we're not necessarily only talking about material giving,
financial giving, but what we are going to talk about is as a Christian,
we are challenged to be grace givers.
Not everyone's able to give to the same degree.
We're going to talk about that here in this passage of Scripture.
We're going to look at how God has blessed us and how we bless others.
We already mentioned this morning in Ephesians chapter two,
the greatest gift.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
What does that mean?
That means that we cannot ever earn our salvation.
We cannot ever pay for our salvation.
We cannot ever be Good enough to earn God's grace in our life.
I use this analogy on Wednesday, but we could say today,
hey, everybody, as you leave today, we have a gift for you in
the lobby.
We have a gift for all of you.
And it's.
Just because you're here doesn't mean that you've been good.
It doesn't mean that you've been kind to me.
It doesn't mean anything.
It just means that we love you enough to give you a gift as you
head on out today.
Now, you could walk out in the lobby, and as you get to the desk
there, the person sitting behind the desk could say, okay,
here's your gift.
All we're asking for is $5.
You say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I was told that this was a gift.
If I have to pay $5, even if it's a cheap price for whatever I'm
getting, I'm still paying for something.
Say it's no longer a gift because I'm paying for it.
Or let's say, we didn't ask you for money.
But as you head on out, they say, okay, you can have this gift.
All you gotta do is sign up for 5 hours of service here at Middletown
Baptist Church.
We got a lot of leaves to pick up.
We got a lot of pressure washing we need to do.
And you say, wait, no, no, no, that's not how a gift works.
Right?
Those will be two bad responses to, you know, offering
a gift.
But there also could be, hey, no strings attached.
You can have this gift as you walk out.
But.
But you could say, I don't want that gift.
I don't need that gift.
I've had too much in my life already.
I don't need that.
Right?
And so that's the way that many of us deal with the gift of
God.
A lot of people think, well, it's something that I have to earn.
It's something that I have to do.
It's something that I have to accomplish.
Well, no, the Bible says it's by grace and grace alone that we
are able to understand what Jesus Christ did for us.
It's by grace alone that we come to him in faith and receive
that gift of grace.
Some people say, well, you know what?
I don't need that gift.
I don't want that gift.
I don't want that commitment.
I don't want to take that with me.
That's rejecting the gift of grace.
But my prayer is that all of us here this morning have received
that gift of grace.
And so therefore, there's a Challenge for us, there's a challenge
in our life and that challenges to receive the gift of
grace and then show that gift of grace with other people that we
come across in our life.
Romans, chapter 6, verse 23 tells us what we deserve for the
wages or the payment of sin is death.
So biblically speaking, this is not Pastor Josh speaking here.
This is.
This is the Bible.
What do we deserve as a sinner?
Death, separation, punishment.
But the Bible says there's a second part of that verse.
But the gift.
There's our word again.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
That is what we have received.
We have received a gift that we don't deserve.
We deserve punishment, we deserve death.
We deserve separation.
But God in His love for us, offers the gift of grace.
And we know how he offered that.
He demonstrated his love towards us in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
Right?
That's the gift that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have everlasting life.
So that's what we're working with here this morning.
We're not working with, hey, God has given me a good job.
God has given me a nice family.
God has given me decent health.
No, we're not talking about that.
At its core, we're talking about the gospel grace of your salvation.
The Bible says that, that you were separated from God, you were
an enemy of God.
You were on your way to punishment.
You were, as the Bible says, dead in your sins.
But what did God do?
He gives us the gift of grace so that we can be brought to life,
so that we can know what it means to live with him forever.
That is what we're dealing with here this morning.
That is the greatest gift that God has extended to you.
And so God has given us many ways that we can worship him.
He's given us many ways that, that we can honor him because of
what he has done for us.
We know that, you know, Christina up here singing, that's
one way that she can worship God.
You singing in your seats out there, that's a way that you can
worship God.
There's a way that you can worship God by service.
There's a way that you can worship God by all these different
things.
But the Bible actually says that one way to worship God is actually
through giving.
And so the act of worship that we're going to talk about here this
morning is the act of giving.
The act of Giving is worship.
Hebrews chapter 13, verse 16 tells us that our giving pleases
the Lord.
I don't know about you, but because of what Jesus Christ has
done for me, because of the love of God given to me in my life,
I want to please my Savior.
And the Bible says one of the ways that we can please our Savior
is through giving.
Paul even mentions in First Corinthians, chapter 16, verses 1
through 4, he, he emphasizes the importance of giving to the Lord.
Ultimately, God wants us to give as an act of worship.
He wants us to give cheerfully, as Second Corinthians,
chapter 9 says.
Why?
Because we are really giving back to him what he already owns.
I think so many times in our life we think that, hey, you know
what?
I can't afford to give this to God.
I can't afford to give this to others in the name of God because
I need this.
I have to have this.
This is mine.
This is what I earned.
Folks, everything that you have, every good gift and every perfect
gift comes from my hard work, my job, my education.
No, it comes from God.
Everything that we have is from God.
Therefore, to give it back to him is just doing the right thing.
Hey, you know what, Lord?
And he's not even asking for all of it.
He's asking for just a portion of what he has given us.
And so the Bible says here, it's not by command.
We're going to look at that here in Second Corinthians, chapter
eight.
It's not like God sits here and goes, well, you didn't give to
me this week, so you're not going to get any blessings this week.
He's not talking about that.
He's always talking about the heart of the issue.
God wants our heart.
And if he has our heart, he has our giving.
If he has our heart, he has our dedication.
So here in this passage, this particular passage in 2 Corinthians,
chapter 8, we'll be studying on the topic focusing on giving to
people in another place for the furtherance of the gospel.
That's in context.
That's what's being talked about here in Second Corinthians,
chapter 8.
Taking what God has blessed me with giving that to other people
for the furtherance of the gospel.
Not.
Not so that someone could get a private jet.
Not, not so that someone could have extra money in their bank account.
No, it's talking about furthering the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's what we're talking about here in Second Corinthians,
chapter eight.
So if you have your Bible let's go ahead and look there.
I want to give you a little bit of context, little get a little
bit of background.
After waiting a year for the Corinthian church to fulfill their
promise regarding their promise offering to him, Paul writes
2 Corinthians chapter 8 to challenge them.
We already know here in 2nd Corinthians, Paul has been challenging
the church on a lot of different things.
Well, one thing he's going to challenge him on here in chapter
eight is you said you would give to the furtherance of the gospel,
but you haven't yet.
You've been holding on to it.
And so he's challenging them.
And so in order to effectively get the message into their hearts,
he begins with the example of the Macedonian churches.
Remember where he was at?
He was at the church in Macedonia, and that's why they got
upset with him.
So he says, well, I'm going to show you what the Macedonians are
doing in their giving, because they're a great example.
I think he's going to go a little bit further and he's actually
going to give them the example of Jesus Christ.
And so what we're going to see here is that the Macedonians participating
in the offering of God giving to the Gospel message.
And so Paul tells us here in Second Corinthians chapter nine,
all of that.
That's what he talks about in Second Corinthians chapter nine.
Here, he's building that picture.
So Paul begins to lay the groundwork for Corinthian believers
in their participation with giving to the Lord.
And so as we notice the example of the Macedonians giving
and how they give to the needs of others, we begin to recognize
that we have been given great things in our life.
And so we as recipients of grace should then be those that give
that grace to other people.
And that's why we come up with that phrase, the grace giver.
Paul repeats the word grace seven times here in this chapter
and three more times in the ninth chapter.
And so although the offering that was being talked about in the
verse was to help pour Jerusalem, the major idea here is
being given towards the Gospel message, given towards the idea that
we're going to further the kingdom of God.
And so there's a willingness and an opportunity to give for the
grace of God.
So let's look at verse number one.
It says, moreover, brethren, we do.
She's speaking to the Corinthians, we do you to wit, of
the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.
So what does he say here?
He says, corinthian Church.
We want you to know about the grace of the Macedonian church, how
they've been giving to the cause of the gospel.
So he's just letting the Corinthian church know that the Macedonian
church is giving.
He's using them as an example.
And so we see here that they have a responsibility and a privilege
to give to the cause of Christ.
And just as the Corinthian church and the Macedonian church
has a privilege and a responsibility to give to the cause
of the gospel, so we too, at Middletown Baptist Church have a
privilege and a responsibility to cause.
To give to the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And so on our own strength, in our own strength, we find reasons
and excuses not to give.
We get weary and we decide to give up.
And so if we look at it in the perspective of it being a blessing
to us and through the power of God, we can stay faithful.
And so let's see the characteristics of a grace giver.
Let's look at what he talks about with the Macedonian Church.
Verse number two.
We're going to look at the characteristics of a grace giver.
Verse number two.
He says how that in great trial of affliction, we see first
and foremost that they're giving out of a difficulty.
He's not saying that the Macedonian church had all of these
blessings and they had excess and they're like, well, we got to
find somewhere to put this.
No, the Macedonian church was giving out of great poverty, out
of great affliction, out of great difficulty.
He says how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance
of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches
of their liberality.
So, so, so they didn't give because they could afford to lose
it.
They gave even when it didn't make sense in the eyes of the world.
They didn't have a lot for themselves.
They were going through a difficulty, they were going through
poverty, as it says there.
But what does it say?
They did it with joy and liberality, man.
That's really an interesting concept to think that they were going
through a struggle.
The Macedonian church was not like, hey, you know what?
We've had an extra good year this year, so we're going to go ahead
and dole out things to the cause of the gospel.
No, they gave when it hurt, they gave when it was a stretch,
they gave when it was a challenge.
And so it says here that they gave in a place of affliction and
poverty, but they did it with joy.
And they did it as it says there with liberality or they gave
generously.
The word liberality here means open hearted.
The word liberality means to be free of ulterior motives, meaning
they weren't giving to get something back.
That's really what love is in general, right?
True love, true biblical love is giving when I don't necessarily
receive it back, not even giving to expect it to come back.
And so the Macedonian church, out of poverty and out of affliction,
gave joyfully and gave generously.
It was sheer unadulterated joy that motivated their hearts.
It was a love for God which then manifested itself as a love
for others that allowed them to give joyfully.
In the midst of difficulty, they would say, well, how could I
do?
How could I give joyfully when I know it's going to hurt?
How can I give joyfully when I know it's going to be a stretch and
a sacrifice?
Will we go back to where we started, that gift of grace and salvation?
I would have nothing, I would have nothing if it wasn't for Jesus
Christ.
And so this open hearted generosity comes from that motivation
in their hearts.
And so the described generosity here is a sacrificial
kind.
It was with joy that they made their gifts unto the Lord.
They did it sacrificially.
And Paul witnessed this willingness by the Macedonians in
their giving, in the manner in which they did it.
How did they do it?
He says it there in verse three.
He says, okay, they were able to give joyfully and generously.
For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power,
they were willing of themselves beyond their power.
Meaning what power were these Macedonian people trusting in when
they gave to this cause?
The power of God, not their own power.
Okay?
And so again, this is not a message today to say, well, hey,
you know what, we, you know, you all need to start giving.
I'm going to look at everyone's giving statement and we're
going to make sure that all of you guys are faithful.
No, this is a matter of the heart.
But what we can see here is that the way they were able to give
sacrificially was by trusting in the power of God and not the power
of themselves.
Not the power of their hard work, not the power of their position.
They were able to give with motivation because it was beyond
their ability.
It was the ability of God.
Now I'm going to tell you, sometimes there's going to be times
in our life where we get to a place and it could be with giving,
it could be with anything.
And we can say, you Know what?
There's my roadblock.
There's my limitation.
I cannot go further.
I cannot have enough wisdom.
I cannot have enough strength.
I cannot have enough grace.
I cannot have enough love.
And I'm going to tell you as a human being, we're all going to reach
that place in our life where we meet our limit.
But I'm going to tell you that the Bible teaches us that there's
nothing impossible with God.
There's no limit to God's love.
There's no limit to God's power.
There's no limit to God's grace.
And so how can we give above our capabilities?
How can we love beyond our capabilities?
How can we serve beyond our capabilities?
We trust in the power of God to give us the strength to do things
that are impossible.
God says we can do things.
We can do things in his will that are beyond our capabilities.
Philippians, chapter 4, verse 13.
I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.
It's not saying that I can do anything I want.
It's I can do anything that God wants me to do.
I can do anything that he calls me to do because of his power
in my life.
And so therefore we see that they give beyond their ability because
of the power of God.
It's not careless giving, it's giving in faith.
We see it there in verse three.
It says, for to their power I bear record, meaning they.
They had power, yea.
And beyond their power, they were willing to give of themselves,
praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and
take upon us the fellowship of the ministering of the saints.
And so the Macedonian church did not know exactly where the gifts
were going to, but they knew who was going to give them that gift.
And that gift came from God.
They said, we don't know where we're going to get all of this to
give to you, but we know that God is going to give it to us.
And so we could say it this way.
They didn't know how the gifts would come in, but they knew who
was going to give them that gift.
And we see in verse five, they give unselfishly.
And this they did not, as we hoped, but first gave their own selves
to the Lord and unto us by the will of God.
And so much that we desire.
Titus, Remember Titus, is that the messenger?
He's the one that's going back and forth and giving the letters
and giving the giving.
He says here, in so much that we desire, Titus, that as he had
begun, so he would also Finish in you the same grace also.
So what is he saying here?
He's saying this.
To be a grace giver like the Macedonians, we must first give our
own selves to the Lord.
Go back there and look at verse five.
He says, as they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own
selves to the Lord.
This is a personal spiritual commitment to the Lord.
This is something that we must do before we become somebody that
we want to be some, you know, some super Christian, some super
giver, some grace giver.
We have to give ourselves to the Lord.
This is a personal sacrifice.
Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service.
What does the Bible say there?
That God doesn't want a part of us.
He wants everything.
He wants us.
He doesn't.
Let me.
Let me say this, and I hope you understand this by context.
He doesn't need our money.
God does not need your money.
God does not need your service.
God does not need your ministry.
You say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
I thought he does need me.
Let me tell you, that's a very selfish way to think about things.
Like God needs me to get the gospel message out.
God doesn't need me.
God wants me.
God desires to have me be involved with his work.
It's like when I go out and do work at my house and Mike is there.
Do I need Micah to help me get things done in my house?
Actually, no.
He kind of holds me up.
Dad, what are we going to do with this tool?
He's in the way.
Hold the light.
You ever had your son try to hold the light for you?
He can never.
I couldn't figure out what.
My dad always would get mad at me for holding the light.
I'm like, dad, I'm holding the light, right?
He's like, no, you're not.
And then Mike is doing the same thing.
And I'm like.
He's like, you're not holding the light, right?
Come on, man.
I don't necessarily always need my children to help me, but
I want them to be involved with me.
I want that relationship.
That's what God wants.
He isn't sitting here going, well, you know what?
You didn't give X amount of dollars this week, so therefore I'm
upset with you.
He wants you to be a part of it, if that.
That's the idea.
So.
So we see here, the Macedonians, they gave of themselves,
their bodies, a Living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto
God, which is the reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your minds.
That's the idea.
We're transformed.
We're desiring him.
And so that's what we see here.
They gave themselves to the Lord and unto us.
So as they give themselves to God, what do they do?
They give themselves to others.
Isn't that the greatest commandment anyway?
If we love God with everything, right?
Remember that guy that came up to Jesus and said, hey, what's the
greatest commandment?
He was trying to trick Jesus.
He was trying to trap Jesus.
And Jesus responds with the perfect answer, says, love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength.
That means love God with everything.
But when you love God with everything, the second commandment
is like unto this, do you love your neighbor as yourself?
When you love God, you will love others.
One John says, if you say you love God, but you hate your brother,
the love of the Father is not in you folks.
That's the challenge.
The challenge is to say, I love God, but do I love God enough
to love those that he loves?
The Macedonians said, we're going to give ourselves first to
God, but then to others.
So some of you, I'm going to pause right now because some of you
might be like me.
If I was hearing this sermon, I would say, well, you know, this
guy doesn't know that I don't really have any finances to give
to anybody.
We're not talking about that.
It's the heart of giving.
It's the grace giver.
For some of you who've been gifted with finances to be able to
help others.
For others, you might say, I don't have a lot to give, but I can
give my time.
I can give my talents, I can give all of these things that God
has given me in my life to help others.
Because that's the heart of this.
The heart of this is not building an empire.
The heart of this is not saying, well, you know what?
We need to build more buildings.
We need to build more things.
The heart of this is building the gospel message, reaching people
for the cause of Jesus Christ.
That's the message.
So for you, you might say, my part of that message is, I'm going
to get out there into the fields and I'm going to spread the
gospel message for Jesus Christ.
Peter, lest you guys think that it's all about money, Peter's
walking to the temple one day and this guy's on the ground, he
says, hey, I need alms.
And Peter says, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have
give I thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.
What did Peter give?
Peter gave him what he could give him.
And that was the power of God.
That was the message of the gospel.
And so, as a Christian, God uniquely gives each one of you with
different material blessings that you can use for the cause of
the gospel.
It's all about the gospel.
It's all about.
It's not.
God doesn't give someone a talent to sing in front of people
just to go become famous.
God gives them that talent so they can use that for the glorification
of our Savior.
God has gifted some of you financially.
Not so that you can say, well, look, I'm the richest person in Middletown.
It's so that you can use that for the cause of the gospel.
God has given some people talents in here in building things.
It's not so that you can say, well, look, I'm the greatest builder.
It's so that Jesus can see.
People can see Jesus through us.
Matthew, chapter 5, verse 16.
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works
and glorify your father, which is in heaven.
So what do we see here?
In Second Corinthians, chapter 8, they gave of themselves unto the
Lord and unto us by the will of God.
Meaning it is the will of God that we love him and that we love
others.
And we demonstrate our love to him, and we demonstrate our love
towards others.
True love is demonstrated.
You say you love God.
Biblically speaking, what does that mean?
That means if I love God, I will keep his commandments.
I will obey him, I will seek after him.
I will.
I will communicate with him.
You guys have heard this analogy before.
What if I said, I love my wife, I love her so much, but I don't
want to talk to her.
I.
You know.
You know, that's.
That's something else.
I wouldn't be a loving husband, right?
But how many Christians say, well, you know what?
I love God so much.
I just love him so much.
But Bible reading.
Just don't want to get into that prayer time.
I don't need him.
Ah, he's given me a lot of good things, but I don't want to
give that back to him.
Folks, I know that's.
I know that's a little coarse.
I know that's a little mean.
But if we put it into perspective that we understand.
Do you see how that doesn't go together?
I love my dad so Much.
My dad and I were not best friends when I was growing up, but
now my dad is my best friend.
Think about if my dad wrote me letters in his life, and he would
say, hey, son, you know, I'm thinking about you today and love
you or whatever.
And let's say he passed and he left all those letters to me in a
box.
And I just said, well, you know what?
I don't want to read those.
I'm good.
Just put that away.
No, I tell you what, I'd had that box open.
I'd be reading that all the time.
I'd be memorizing what he said to me because I love him.
And that's what it is for you.
God sent his only begotten son.
Yes.
But he also sent you his word that you can read and study and grow
in.
And so, folks, love is demonstrated.
Love is demonstrated by obedience.
Love is demonstrated to others by.
So let's say.
Let's say, practically speaking, I've got my brother up
here, and he goes, hey, really in need right now.
And I go, well, I love you, brother.
And I've got.
And the book of James talks about this.
I've got everything that I need right here to help him.
And I go, I love you, but I can't afford to.
I've only got six of these.
I can't.
I can't afford to lose one.
And this brother over here has none.
And we're going, well, I love you, though.
Go out.
We'll be praying for you.
Be warm and filled.
The Bible says that is not love.
If I love my neighbor, I will help my neighbor.
If I love the Lord, I will sacrifice for him.
And so the Bible says it's not an issue of works, it's an issue
of love.
And so therefore, we go back and we see these character traits
that they were willing to give on themselves to the Lord first,
but then give on themselves to others as well.
And that is, as it says there in verse five, the will of God.
The will of God is to love God and to give yourself to him and to
give yourself to others.
Life is not about us.
This Christian life, this Christian walk, I am not the center
of it.
If I begin to start to think that I am the center of the world,
I begin to live like I am the center of the world.
And I begin to treat others like I'm the center of the world.
And that's what's called classic humanism.
I worship myself and I expect other people to.
To worship me because I am the center of the universe.
And that is what the world teaches.
That was the original lie from the very beginning.
Satan comes to Eve and he says, you can be like God.
You can be your own God.
And that is what's being taught today.
And the Bible says true spirituality, true salvation, true
Christianity is not that.
It's that God is the center.
And I am just those that I'm going to support him and love him,
proclaim him and serve him.
That's the whole message of Scripture.
And so he says here in verse six, insomuch that we desire Titus.
Titus is the messenger that as he had begun, so he would also finish
in you the same grace.
Also meaning this is the way the Macedonians are living.
And this is a grace, this is a gift.
We hope that that's how you begin to live, that you grow in this
grace as well, that this same grace of giving is given over to
you, and that you follow that.
And so the Macedonians gave of themselves.
So the challenge is, do as the Macedonians did.
When a person absolutely gives himself to the Lord, then God has
all, has all that that person has, including their potential.
According to verse five, the primary key to godly stewardship,
to giving enjoy is to first give yourself to the Lord.
Paul says as much to his readers there in many passages of
Scripture.
So grace giving is the kind of giving that must require God for
it to be truly grace giving, no strings attached.
God directs it because he knows what's best to do with it.
It requires love for the Lord and love for others.
And so therefore he says, grow in this grace, grow in this gift.
And so we see the characteristics of the grace giver.
But let's look at number two.
The charity of a grace giver, the love of a grace giver.
Verse number seven says, therefore, in time you see the word,
therefore you say, okay, what did we just read?
He says, be a grace giver.
Be like the Macedonians, give cheerfully, give liberally, even
in the midst of difficulty.
Therefore, as ye abound in everything, so he says, as you're
growing as a Christian in faith, so he says, you're growing
in faith great and in utterance, and in knowledge, and
in diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this
grace also.
What is he talking about?
He's talking about the grace of giving.
So he says, as you are growing as a Christian, you grow in your
faith.
You grow in what you say, you grow in what you know, you grow in
how you love.
He says, just as you're growing in all those other areas
grow in this grace also.
It's a point of spiritual maturity.
As I mature, my focus changes from what I get to what I can give.
We even know that In Acts chapter 20, Acts, chapter 20, verse
35, it says, it's better to give than receive.
And there's that idea that as a Christian, our perspective begins
to change.
And he says, so as you are growing in faith, in utterance, in
knowledge and indigence, in your love to us, see that ye abound
in this grace also.
It's a challenge.
It's a challenge to see this as a spiritual discipline.
It's a challenge for us to see this as spiritual maturity, a marker
of spiritual maturity.
So.
So we all agree that as a Christian, our Bible study should
grow.
We all agree that our prayer time should grow.
We all agree, hopefully that our service should grow to the Lord
as we mature.
He's saying the same thing goes with giving.
And I know that this is a touchy subject.
Why?
Because our society, because of sin and because of selfishness
and because of humanity and that whole idea of humanism.
People over the years, over the decades, over the centuries have
abused people in the area of giving so much to say that we're
so jaded against anyone talking about giving in church that
it becomes, hey, you know what?
That's it.
Hey, he's just up here trying to be a money hungry guy.
No, no, that's not what we're talking about here.
We have to address what Scripture says.
And we cannot get around the fact that he says, here, grow in
this as well.
But here's where it gets interesting.
Verse 8.
Some of you maybe have not heard this verse.
He says, I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the
foreignness of others and to prove the sincerity of your love.
Ooh, what does that mean?
That means it's not a commandment that keeps your salvation.
It's not a commandment that says that if you give, you stay saved,
but then if you don't give, you aren't saved.
He says, no, all it is is a marker of the sincerity of your love
to prove your love.
Says you want to show your love.
Be a grace giver.
Now, I don't have time to go to the other passages of Scripture,
but we do know that in Second Corinthians, chapter nine, it talks
about proportionally giving, right?
So, for example, let's say we have.
I don't know who's a really rich person.
I won't say a name because then It'll get political, all right?
We'll have a really rich guy come into the building.
He's.
He's a multi billionaire, okay?
It doesn't have to be a man.
It could be a woman, all right?
They all come in here, and we look at them and we go, okay, we
want you to give to the Lord.
And then we also have someone that comes in that's, you know, unemployed.
Maybe they're getting some money here and there, and we don't.
Biblically, God does not expect the billionaire to give the
same amount as that person who has financially nothing, okay?
He doesn't.
And I think that's very clear in Scripture.
The widow with two mites, right?
She gave everything.
She only gave two mites, though.
And there was an honor there with the widow with two mites.
And the Pharisees were holding on to money and giving out of their
comfort, and there wasn't.
And they were abusing the widow.
I think the story of the widow of two mites was also a condemnation
against those Pharisees who were abusing that widow to give everything.
But in the principle of the context what we're talking about
here today, what I want to say is this.
Don't expect to say, well, Pastor's just asking us all to give
everything.
I'm not saying that.
What I am saying is that give out of the sincerity of your love.
Give out of what God has challenged you with in your life.
That's what he's saying here.
And you give proportionally to what God has blessed you with in
those finances.
But, for example, that person that came in, maybe they had, you
know, no income.
They might say, hey, Pastor, but God has gifted me with this area.
I can.
I can sing or I can build or I can do this.
Hey, you know what?
It's giving of yourselves.
And so therefore, that's what we see here in this passage of scripture.
He says it is to prove the sincerity of your love.
So giving to the work of the Lord is a practical way that you
can show your love to the Lord.
It's voluntary.
It's not out of obligation, but out of love, right?
Because God loves.
This is the next chapter.
We don't have time to go there.
But God loves a cheerful giver.
So.
So who is.
Who's God more pleased with?
Okay, that billionaire that comes in and goes, oh, I got to give
a couple million to this church.
I hate doing that.
I better.
You know, he's.
He's mad about it the whole time.
Or that person that gives a few dollars.
But it's everything to them.
And they're cheerful about and they're excited about it.
I would venture to say that God, Biblically speaking, is more
pleased with a person who's joyful and cheerful in their giving,
that's giving out of the poverty, than the person who is giving
out of their abundance of their heart.
But they're mad about it the whole time.
The Bible says it's the cheerful giver.
It's the.
It's the joy in our hearts that he's looking for.
It's not out of obligation, but out of love.
And then we think about this.
And so I love how Paul thinks here because he.
He always reads ahead to what that reader is thinking.
So unless you think that that's too much, he goes on to say
in verse number nine, for ye know, and this is.
This is his thesis, this is his main thought for this passage.
He says, for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He appeals back to the grace of Jesus Christ, what Jesus has done
for us.
Some people say, well, you know, what are you going to preach
on in the Christmas season?
Well, most people say, well, Luke 2, right?
And we should.
Luke 2 is a great Christmas passage.
But I'm going to challenge you and say 2 Corinthians, chapter 8,
verse 9 is a Christmas passage as well.
Think about this.
Baby comes to earth, is born in a manger.
What does he say here?
He says that though he was rich, think about the richness of
being God.
You say, what does that mean?
He has everything.
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
He, God, is not bound by our economy.
God is abundantly, infinitely wealthy in every way.
He owns everything.
And so Jesus.
Think about this before.
Jesus didn't start his existence in Bethlehem 2,000 years
ago.
Jesus has always been and always will be he's deity.
He is God.
He's eternal.
So Jesus leaves his heavenly home.
That's what he's talking about here.
Though he was rich.
That's an understatement.
Yet for your sakes, he became poor.
That's the story of Christmas.
Jesus comes.
Jesus could have been born in a mansion.
He could have been born in a palace.
He could have been born with everything.
Gold and silver and precious jewels.
He could have been born to the wealthiest family in the world.
But where was Jesus born?
You guys all know this.
He was born in a shepherding town, in a food trough, most likely
in a cave, and had no fanfare, at least no fanfare of this world.
There was HEAVENLY fanfare But we do know that he became poor for
our sakes.
He humbled himself and we're not just talking about where he was
born materially, but the fact that he emptied himself and became
man and dwelt among us.
That's the beauty.
And he says, remember that, that ye through poverty might be
rich.
Now, this is not a proof text for the prosperity gospel.
This is not a proof text to say, you know what, Jesus became
poor so that we can become financially rich.
That's not what this is saying.
In the context Paul is speaking to the spiritual riches.
He's changed his focus to saying, yes, there is that financial
obligation, or maybe not obligation.
It's a financial challenge for us to give, but there's also the
deeper challenge of that spiritual giving.
And he says, you know what?
There is a prosperity gospel, but it's not a financial prosperity
gospel, it's a spiritual prosperity gospel.
If you question whether or not there's a spiritual prosperity gospel,
read the book of Ephesians.
The book of Ephesians is all about the riches that you have in
Christ.
Not material riches, but spiritual riches.
And I would encourage you to do a study in the book of Ephesians
because the Bible says that you are greatly blessed.
You are rich beyond compare when it comes to your spirituality.
I said this on Wednesday night and there's kind of a bleed over.
So if you were here on Wednesday night, I apologize for
the redundancy of the story.
I'm not going insane.
I know that I'm saying this again, but I'm going to give it again.
When I was growing up, I would ask my parents, hey, are we rich?
My parents would say, no, actually, sometimes they would say
yes.
I'd say, we're rich.
How are we rich?
My dad would say, well, we're not rich with money, but we're rich
with love.
We're rich with what God has given us.
We're rich with the fact that we're close.
We're rich with the fact that God has saved us.
And I never understood that until my son asked me the same question.
Dad, are we rich?
He said, do you know what I do for a living?
I'm far from being rich, son.
And he's like, well, and I.
But then I thought about it.
I said, you know what my dad said that we.
And I use that same analogy.
I said, son, we're not rich in finances, but we're rich in love.
We're rich in the fact that God has spiritually blessed us.
And that's the Same message that we all have to take with us.
And so the charity of the grace giver is a love that we are
to have, we are to give out of love.
But it's not the love that's produced in us.
It's the love given to us by the Father through Jesus Christ.
That is the love that motivates us.
So if you want a good, you know, we go to the Book of Romans
for the gospel, we go to the Book of John.
Great passages of scripture, take them to the Romans road, take
them to the Book of John, John 3.
But I can't think of many other verses that explain the gospel
so well.
Verse 9.
For we know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.
That ye through his poverty might be rich.
He humbled himself and not only did he live a life of humility,
but think about his death.
Think about the death of Jesus Christ.
Think about what.
Because we don't often think about what that means.
Jesus was crucified.
His crucifixion was a death of a criminal.
The worst death that possibly could be around at that time frame.
Excruciating, disrespectful.
They plucked his beard, put a crown of thorns on his head, they
hit him with a whip.
They made him carry his own cross to Gal Gotha.
And so what we know is that he humbled himself and he did all those
things for us so that we might understand the gift of grace.
And when we take it in that perspective and we think about that
type of love and that type of humility, that type of pouring out
himself for us so that we might have everlasting life, it's
a lot easier to say, you know what?
I'm willing to give to the Lord.
It's an excitement for me to be a part of giving to the Lord.
And I would encourage you to think about it from that perspective.
There's some people that will teach you, you know what?
You keep giving, God's going to keep blessing.
And I would say that's true, but not in the way that you might
be thinking.
I've heard people say, well, I gave this much and he didn't give
me that much back.
The truth is, is that he's not.
That's not God's economy.
Some people say I can't afford to give to the Lord.
Well, you can't afford not to give to the Lord.
And the concept of proving back to him this.
So, folks, you know what?
There have been times in My life where I've, I've.
Because a lot of times you see it on the movies or the Christian
movies.
And I sacrificed this person on the side of the road and little
did I know that person was a millionaire.
And he came back to me and he gave me, you know, his inheritance.
That's not how it always goes.
You might sacrifice for somebody and do something for somebody
and they might look at you and they might not even say thank you.
They might not even be appreciative.
But you know what?
The Bible doesn't say give to other people, love other people,
sacrifice for other people when they're kind to you.
What does it say says, love your neighbor as yourself.
Who's my neighbor?
Then the question is, who's my neighbor?
Anyone that you come across.
Jesus says to love only those that love you.
Now what does Jesus say?
Let's, let's get real this morning.
Jesus says, love your enemies.
Love those that aren't even good to you.
And so biblically speaking, it's not, what can I get out of this?
It's I've been given so much.
It's the natural or supernatural response to say, I want
to give back to him.
That's what it's all about.
And so that's what it means to be a grace giver.
If we want to be the grace giver in our life, we must first
and foremost trust in the grace giver.
The grace giver is God.
He is the one who gave us that grace.
And we can be givers of that grace in our life.
And the concept of we can't save somebody, but what we can do,
what we can do is share that gift of grace with others around
us.
Share that gift of grace.
It might be financially, it might be through service, it might
be through sacrifice, it might be through the fact that you love
someone enough to tell them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm going to tell you here today, giving someone something financially
is not enough.
The Bible says that there's a second part of that.
So, so if I.
So let's say, for example, someone came in this morning, they
said, hey, you know what?
I'm really struggling.
I need some finances.
And I go, okay, here you go.
I got a couple bucks in my pocket.
Take that.
That's not the ideal way to do it.
The ideal way to do it is, says, yes, I have what would help
you, but I have something else that helps you even more.
And that's the concept of Jesus Christ.
That's the belief in what he has done for Us, that's a belief
in who he is for us.
And so what we do is we love people enough to give to them, yes.
But we love people enough to share with them the truth of Jesus
Christ.
You know, sometimes I'll do a funeral and I'll stand up in front
of people and I'll know that there are many people in the room
that aren't believers in Jesus Christ.
And there's a challenge there because you don't want to offend
anybody.
But then at the other side of things, you say, if I love these
people enough, I've got to tell them the truth.
Got to tell them the truth.
And what I say to people is this.
I want to treat you like I would treat my family.
And I love my family enough to tell them that Jesus Christ is the
only way.
And so therefore, I risk offending somebody by loving them
enough to tell them the truth.
That's the greatest act of grace giving, is telling someone
the truth of Jesus Christ.
I would encourage you to think about that on a greater scale, like,
am I willing to risk an offense?
Am I willing to risk someone not liking me or getting upset with
me by loving them enough to tell them the truth of Jesus Christ?
That's a hard thing to do in our humanity, but it's a possible
thing to do in the power of God.
Just as the Macedonians were able to give above their own power
because of the power of God, you are able to give beyond your
power because of the power of God in your life.
And so you give to what you love, you support what you love.
This church has faithfully demonstrated this truth for over
50 years.
And I believe that this church will continue on if the Lord tarries
for another 50 years.
Being Grace givers, if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, if
we keep our eyes fixed on the grace of the gift of salvation, if
we begin to look at it from the bottom line, if we begin to see
it as something we have to do to be in God's good graces, if we
see something like, it's that.
That this is mechanical, we're missing the point of what God is
calling us to do as grace givers.
This isn't an excuse to say, well, God's not laid it upon my heart,
so I don't believe I need to give.
It's not what this is saying.
What it's saying is, he wants your heart, he wants your heart.
It's like anything.
I could come in here and say, well, I'm gonna give seven days a
week.
To the church.
And I'm gonna work at the church seven days a week, 24 7.
I'm gonna live in the church.
That doesn't mean anything if he doesn't have my heart.
I could read my Bible every day, but it means nothing because
he doesn't have my heart.
I could ask him for things every day, but if he doesn't have
my heart, he doesn't have my life.
He doesn't have everything.
And the Bible says, present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
That is it.
It's reasonable that we give him everything.
We'll leave you with a couple of other passages of scripture here
and then we'll be done.
Says in First John, chapter 3, verse 17 and 18.
But whoso have this world's good and see if his brother have
need and shut up, shut up.
His bowels of compassion.
Meaning we don't have any desire to help that person.
How dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue nor
but in deed and in truth.
The challenge is not to say we love somebody, but to demonstrate
it.
The challenge is that God has blessed me with something.
I need to give that to others.
So for some of us, I'm just going to speak freely this morning.
For some of us, God has greatly blessed us financially.
Help others.
Some of us, God has blessed you with.
With.
With serving talents and hospitality and mercy.
Give that to others.
Really.
God has given us all the ministering gifts to help others,
but God has given us all the gift of grace, the gift of salvation.
Therefore, if we have that gift of grace and we don't share
that with someone who needs it, what does it say there?
Says, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
If you have been saved and changed and you know that change,
and someone around you needs that change, and you go, well, they
don't deserve me to tell them the truth of the gospel.
They'll probably not receive it anyway.
The Bible says that is not a demonstration of the love of God.
Because all of us, let's.
Let's say, for example, God forbid it, the economy crashes tomorrow
and none of us have any money in our bank account.
We're back into another recession or depression or whatever
it's called.
None of us have any money.
But you know what all of us do have?
If we're believers in Jesus Christ, we have the gift of everlasting
life and we can start preaching the truth.
We can start preaching riches that will never be taken Away from
us.
Because the kingdom of God is a place where moth and rust cannot
corrupt.
This year coming up in 2025, I don't know what the future holds.
It might be a bountiful year for America or this world, but it
might not be.
And my prayer is that it is.
My prayer is that all of you exceedingly are blessed by God this
year materially.
I really do.
I pray that.
But for all of us.
I know.
You know what?
You know what I can know, Biblically speaking, I don't know
what the economy is going to be this year or next year.
But what I can tell you is that God's economy is always rich.
It's always abundant.
And when we tap into that riches, those riches, those blessings,
we're able to live a Christlike, godly life and understand
that giving in the perspective of what he has been giving us is
what it means to be a grace giver.
So I hope that you trust in that grace giver here today.
If you don't know Jesus as your Savior, none of this will matter.
None of this makes sense.
Doesn't make any sense for me to give a portion of my income to
a place that is a place that I can come to on Sunday and not give
that money.
It's going to still be there.
Let me tell you, this place isn't guaranteed.
You guys know that, right?
This building, this freedom that we have as Christians is not
guaranteed.
We're not some kind of entity that gets money just poured down
to us from upper echelons of religion.
We are an independent, local, Bible believing church.
God has entrusted you as a member or an attender of Middletown
Baptist Church, which means you are the body and I'm not the
head.
I'm just a part of the body.
The head is Jesus Christ.
And what we can say here is this.
We have a responsibility to keep up the work of the Gospel ministry
in Middletown, Delaware, folks.
We want to be a beacon of light to Middletown.
We want people to know that there's a difference.
We're not just some church.
We're not just a social club across town.
You know, every church in America can have ministries, but
not every church in America will proclaim the gospel message
of Jesus Christ.
Are we going to say, you know what?
It's not about putting money into programs.
It's about putting money into the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We're going to adjust ourselves to the point of what are
we doing to reach people in our community?
What are we doing to reach people in our neighborhoods?
What are we doing to reach people in our homes?
What are we doing to reach people in our county, our country,
our world, folks, that's the focus.
That's what it means to be a grace giver.
And so I would encourage you to think about what that means for
you.
So I would say this.
Yes, there is a responsibility to keep the lights on.
There's a responsibility to keep up with the day to day at the
church.
But there's a greater responsibility in the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
And that's what we are all about.
The pillar and ground of truth.
We are the conduits, we are the vessels.
We are the instruments of sharing the grace of God to those
in this world.
Are we going to take up that mantle?
Are we going to take up that torch and say we're going to do that?
We're going to run right into the world?
We're going to run right into those that oppose us and give them
the gospel message.
I hope that that is the case.
Starts with our hearts, though.
It starts with our hearts.
And so as we conclude here this morning, may we think about
that principle found in the Book of Acts, it's better to give
than receive.
You've been gifted so much.
I've been gifted so much and so often I'm just so selfish.
So often I just want to keep it to myself.
Folks, the greatest act of giving is by loving someone enough
to show them the truth of Jesus Christ.
Next week we're going to talk about the greatest gift.
You say, well, we heard about the greatest gift this week.
Well, next week we have an opportunity to maybe have some visitors
come in because of our Christmas program next week.
One of the things that I want to highlight next week is that gift
and how people can understand that gift.
How people can get to a place in their life where they can be beneficiaries
of the grace of God.
I encourage you to invite some people out.
Maybe they're not used to coming out to a regular church service,
but say we're having some special music next week.
Bring them out.
We're going to talk about the gospel.
We're going to talk about how we as Christians receive the gifts
of God and we're able to then share that with others.
And we're going to go through the spiritual gifts this month.
Okay, we're going to go through the spiritual gifts.
So great.
I've been gifted the salvation.
But then what does that mean?
Well, there's a passage of scripture in the book of Romans,
Romans, chapter 12.
It talks about the ministering gifts and we're going to see that
all of us, if we're believers, have a ministering gift, a service
gift that God has called us to exercise within the local body of
believers.
So I encourage you to come back this month and look at those
things with us.
Well, I'm going to encourage you to stand with me, every head
bowed, every eye closed.
We're going to have a moment here where you can reflect and that
you can respond.
There's been a lot said this morning, and if you're your first
time here, you might say, well, does this church talk about
money all the time?
No, no, that's not what we're here about.
But we preach through passages of scripture and we come to a passage
of scripture that clearly talks about supporting the gospel
ministry.
We've got to talk about that.
But the beauty is, is that Paul gives us the perspective.
The perspective of the giving is the perspective of the cross.
The perspective of giving is the perspective that Jesus took on
the poverty of this world so that we might have spiritual riches,
not by commandment, but by all the sincerity of our love.
Maybe you've been challenged with that here this morning.
I know if I'm honest, I'm challenged with it.
What do I see as mine and what do I see as God's?
What do I see as untouchable?
And what do I see is available, folks?
Some of us, maybe God's calling for more than your paycheck.
Maybe God's calling for your life.
Maybe God's calling for your ministry.
Maybe God's calling for everything.
Maybe God's called you to take something on that you never would
have dreamed you're able to do beyond your capabilities, beyond
your power.
Folks, today's the day where you say, you know what?
I'm willing to give everything to the Lord because of what he has
done for me.
I want to be a grace giver.
I don't just want to give a portion of my paycheck.
I want to give all of my life to Him.
Hey, maybe today is a day where you commit yourself to just.
I want to be serving God, not just on Sunday mornings, but in every
aspect of my life.
Maybe that's the day today, but maybe it's just for you.
You say, you know what?
I'm never giving anything to God.
I've only just received the gift of grace.
And I just keep taking and I keep benefiting from it and I keep
having that peace.
But I've never thought about giving something back to Him.
Maybe today you start that conversation in your mind.
About what does it mean to give back to the Lord?
What does it mean to give out of what I've been blessed with?
But maybe you never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior.
Maybe you don't know what it means to trust in his gift of salvation,
the fact that he came and died on a cross and conquered death through
the resurrection.
Hey, none of this stuff will make sense.
The motivation will not be there.
It will all just be empty religion.
And none of us want empty religion here.
Empty religion is just that.
It's empty.
It's vain, it's works.
I would tell you that if you're doing things in empty religion,
there's not going to be any benefit, there's not going to be
any impact.
But folks, it's the relationship with Christ, it's the
knowledge of who he is and what he has done for us that draws
us to that place of desiring to give back to Him.
So if you need to know him today as your Savior, we're going
to have some people standing here and we can show you in the word
of God what it means to know him and to love him and to serve
Him.
So here in a few moments, after I'm done praying, you can come
here, kneel at the altar.
You can kneel in your pew.
You can stand where you are.
There's no rules here.
But what I will say is respond to him.
If he's been speaking to you this morning, the Word of God has
spoken to you this morning.
I encourage you to respond to him.
Make a decision today definitively to say, I know what
the Lord is telling me and I want to follow that in obedience.
Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, work in
hearts and lives.
Challenge us to be those grace givers that you've called us to be
in Jesus name.
Amen.
As the music plays, follow as the Lord leads.
This morning, thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist
Church podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
If you would like to find out.
More information about our church or this sermon, you can find
us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find
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You can also email me directly at joshmasaroiddletownbaptistchurch
dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow
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Thank you so much.
God bless.
Have a wonderful day.