The Whole Body, Part 10: The Hands

Well this morning we continue on with our series on the whole body and again we've been pursuing this with emphasis on Ephesians 4.

Our desire as a corporate body to grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effect of working by which every part does its share causes the edification of the body in love.

And we've considered the head, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, the heart, the spine.

Last week was the shoulders. We make our way down to the hands this morning.

There's not many weeks left so I'm tempted whether or not

I should share where we're going next week but I think I'll leave it a mystery for now. I don't want there to be too much needless speculation.

So this morning we're looking at the hands and there's really two ways I want to look at the hands. The first way is simply this, a maturing church, a whole church, a sound and healthy church needs giving hands, giving hands, specifically giving hands that seek fruitfulness, giving hands that seek fruitfulness.

That'll be the first point. The second point is that if we have giving hands that are seeking fruitfulness, those hands will probably be weary hands, weary hands, and so with our weary hands we need to labor to serve, weary hands that labor to serve.

This is what we're gonna hold together. I was back and forth about whether to begin with the toil and the weary hands and then move to generosity but as I reflect on 2nd

Corinthians 9, it's so clear that we begin from a place of generosity. We begin from what we receive from the

Lord. The Lord opens His hand and we receive. If we're able to sow, it's only because we've reaped from His hand, we've reaped from His goodness.

If we put our hand to labor, it's only because He's put our hand toward us, He's enabled us, He's provided for us,

He gives us the breath of life, He gives us the strength that we need to be able to work unto

Him. He gives us all those good things that descend from the Father of blinds, all those good things, those sweet pleasant gifts, those things that work joy into man's heart, that out of that we may have an abundance, that we may be generous, and so I wanted to begin with that generosity and then turn to the toiling hands, the hands that labor to serve, and we'll have a few points of application toward the end, but let's begin here giving hands that seek fruitfulness.

So a mature church, a healthy church has giving hands, hands that have understood the depth of what they have received and therefore are open that they may freely give.

The late oil tycoon and billionaire J. Paul Getty, in his mansion,

I know the J. Paul Getty Museum is in Malibu, I'm not quite sure if that's where his main mansion was,

I'm sure he had several mansions, but it was said in his mansion that he installed pay phones for his guests to use so that he wouldn't have to pay for international or long -distance calls.

There's an example of frugality that would make a Scotsman proud. Some people pinch pennies so hard, as the joke goes, they make

Lincoln cry, or when they open their wallet all the presidents squint because they're not used to seeing light, and the idea is

God is not squinting, God is not, you know, so threadbare in the way that He gives.

God is a God of absolute abundance, a God whose generosity cascades toward us day by day, and we look around in the creation and we see this picture of absolute abundance.

God is a generous giver, and so when we're looking at 2nd Corinthians 9, and we'll look at it shortly in a moment,

I have all sorts of passages for us to consider this morning, we begin with this idea that God's generosity is a part of the very joy that He has in who

He is. The joy He has being a creator, a sustainer, a provider, and out of His goodness, out of His joy flows this generosity.

He sends rain even on the wicked, even on the unjust. So generous, so full and free is the way that God supplies.

God Himself is a cheerful giver, and therefore the giving hands of a body ought to be cheerful hands.

We ought to give cheerfully. We ought to, in some small way, reflect that abundant generosity of our

God. Since He is a giver who delights in giving, His people ought to be givers who delight in giving as well.

This is something that redemption is meant to restore in us as fallen human beings. Rather than taking what we can and living as though this world were dog -eat -dog, we recognize our

Father is in control. He meets our every need. Never do we see the sons of the righteous begging for bread, and so in that generous abundance with which

God has met every need, we are freed to give. We can be liberal in the good sense of that word.

We can give liberally. We can have liberality in the way we look at our resources. Now this is true of us as individuals, and it must be true of us as individuals, and if it's true of us as individuals, then it will be true of our church.

It will be a characteristic of a mature church, a spiritually minded church, a mission -oriented church, that that church is a generous church.

Paul says this to the church at Philippi, chapter 4, Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when

I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you and you alone.

Even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for all of my necessities, not that I seek the gift,

I seek the fruit that abounds to your account, giving hands that seek fruitfulness.

You see this church in Philippi was a spiritually minded, mission -oriented church that understood the nature of giving in this missional direction.

There's a fruitfulness that accords the ministry of the gospel when hands begin to share, when hands begin to open and give.

So we see here in Philippians 4 the sharing hands of a mission -minded church.

In some ways Paul has come full circle from where he began in the letter of Philippians. He says in chapter 1, verse 14,

You have done well in that you've shared my distress. Remember last week we spoke about a mature body being able to bear the weight of others' burdens, right?

Strong shoulders, mature shoulders. Paul felt that from the church at Philippi. You bore my weight, you shared my distress, you sought to provide in ways that you could relieve and the idea of sharing holds together what was a central theme in the book of Philippians, this idea of fellowship.

That is the word translated share, koinonia, fellowship, a participation, a co -inheriting, a co -deliberation.

I thank my God, he says, in all of my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in every prayer for you all in view of your fellowship, that is your sharing, your participation in the gospel.

So the idea of sharing, we see this again in Romans 12, 13, contributing to the needs of the saints, or Galatians 6, 6,

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches. So the idea of contribution, participation, sharing, holding things loosely that we may provide for those who need provision.

Now Paul is speaking here of material support, but also in chapter 1 he's speaking of the sharing of his affliction, of the obstacles of his ministry.

These partners weren't fair -weather partners, they weren't writing a check so that they could ignore the difficulty, they were giving themselves over in the work of the ministry.

They were doing that in prayer, they were doing that in deed, they had devoted themselves to the ministry of the gospel in this way.

It was a privilege for them to be joined with Paul in his labors and his afflictions, and Paul recognized that.

This was a sharing church, truly a church in fellowship with the ministry of the gospel.

And so he says, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you and you alone.

You know this. I don't need to remind you of this, but I'm going to remind you nonetheless.

He references when he left Macedonia. This is probably referring to the second missionary journey, or what

Soler's called a second missionary journey, and this accords with Acts chapters 16 through 18.

He left Macedonia and went through Athens and the province of Icahio, or modern -day Greece.

It's significant because we know that while Paul was in Corinth, he was not living off the proceeds of his ministry in Corinth.

He was being supported by other churches that had been well established. He did that so that he didn't have to be a burden to the churches that he was sowing, that he was ministering to.

He defends himself in this way. He refers to the way he established the church in Corinth, not choosing support from them so that there would be no misperception about the nature of the gospel or the nature of his ministry.

He says in 2 Corinthians 11 and verses 8 and 9, I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge.

I took from other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. And when

I was present with you and in need, I burdened no one. For what I lacked, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied.

You see, this was the nature of Paul's gospel ministry. He came with an unburdened gospel free of charge.

I don't want this to be confused at all, and the other churches that received that same ministry have shared with me in the demands of the ministry and supported the work of the ministry.

That's what he's referencing here in Philippians 4. The churches of Macedonia, the churches of Philippi, these were churches who were mission -minded.

They gave and shared in such a way to support the gospel ministry. You see these believers in Philippi, they're eager to give.

Paul didn't have to create an infomercial with some 1 -800 number and long tables of callers answering the hotline.

These people were simply motivated out of a sincere love for Paul and the ministry that Paul had given his life toward.

They were kingdom -minded. They wanted the gospel to go to the ends of the earth. That's what they had received from Paul, this awareness that the glory of Christ must exist as far as the east is to the west.

And so even in this place of Philippi, where perhaps you're reading that there's threats on the way and subtleties of Judaizers coming in the mix, you find a mission -minded church, a sharing church, a mature church.

And look at their hands. Their hands are giving hands that seek fruitfulness.

Paul says, I don't seek the gift so much the fruit that abounds to your account. Now what is fruit?

Fruit is so intimately connected to the idea of the hand. It's the fruit of the hand.

Fruit is that which accords from labor. And again, that's going to be the second point this morning. We labor, we toil, our hands grow weary, but our hands labor and grow weary because we're toiling for the sake of fruit.

We expect some return on that labor. We expect there to be fruitfulness that abounds as a result of putting our hand to work.

Fruitful hands do good works. Paul often uses this language of fruit to speak of good works.

It's the produce of service, the produce of serving the Lord. Romans 113, now

I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, I often plan to come to you and I was hindered until now that I would have some fruit among you also, just as among the other

Gentiles. See what he's saying? I wanted to come and labor in your midst that I might have fruit.

I wanted to put my hand to work in Rome so that I could see fruit as a result of that.

Again, Romans 7, verse 4, My brethren, you have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God.

So Christ, as it were, puts his nail -scarred hand toward us in this new marriage, this new covenant, so that we would bear fruit.

We would be the result of his labor of love in our lives. Paul had prayed for the church at Philippi that they would be filled with the fruits of righteousness.

I think we can rightly understand that phrase as the fruit which is produced by righteousness or comes from righteousness.

We see it in 121, To live is Christ and to die is gain. If I live on in the flesh, this means fruit from my labor.

If I put my hand to the plow, if I'm willing to work in toil and spend myself in this way, there will be fruit.

Fruit always follows labor. That's the idea. We were created in Christ Jesus. Good works which

God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them as a result of being created anew in Christ Jesus.

God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. What does that look like?

It looks like fruitfulness. Colossians 1, 3

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all of the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you as it has also in all of the world.

And what is that word doing? It's bringing forth fruit. This is what

Paul is experiencing. This is what he's doing. He's laboring and churches are sharing in his labor, giving toward his labor, so that the gospel ministry would bring forth fruit.

Fruitful hands give. Here we come to 2nd

Corinthians 9, beginning in verse 5, which we read. But this

I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. That's just a natural principle, isn't it?

If you only throw a few seeds, you shouldn't expect a bumper crop. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

And by the same token, he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Paul says, so let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, because God loves a

Just to pause there and grasp what Paul is laying down. Paul has genuine need.

Paul is laboring and spending himself to the very knuckles of his hand, but he's encouraging that the giving, the sharing, the fellowship of the churches that are partaking in this gospel ministry would come not out of necessity or constraint, not come out of squinting eyes and begrudged hands, but it would come out of the cheerfulness of the heart.

It's our joy to give. It's our joy to pray. We love hearing of the fruitfulness of the gospel.

It saved our lives. It brought us out of darkness into light. Why would we withhold? Why would we begrudge?

We delight to have this fruitfulness in our midst. And so Paul is encouraging.

God loves a giver, and as we said, why? Because he himself is a cheerful giver. Now Paul recognizes you may have cheer in your heart, but it's no less sacrificial.

To give is sacrificial. It may come from a cheerful heart.

It may be abundant in generosity, but nevertheless it is a sacrifice. To give rather than to hold is sacrificial by necessity.

And so Paul, trying to, as it were, elicit this understanding of how God gives, also reminds the church at Corinth, God is your provider.

In other words, you can afford to give. You can afford to be generous. Why? Because God is generous with you.

So listen to what he says. God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

If your heart is devoted toward giving, toward sharing, toward participating in the ministry of the gospel,

God will provide you with such an abundance that you may fulfill that desire of your heart. And this is again connected to the idea of sowing.

If we sow sparingly, we'll reap sparingly. If we sow bountifully, we reap bountifully.

God sows bountifully. We ought not then to take from that bountiful harvest and sow sparingly.

Paul connects this to the very nature of God, not just in terms of his desire to give cheerfully as our good

Father in heaven, but also his heart for those in need, his desire for the kingdom to advance as a result of his people's generosity.

As it is written, he has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.

How has God given to the poor? Well, throughout church history,

God has given to the poor through the generosity of his people. This is one of the central ways the kingdom has advanced.

I was reading a marvelous Spurgeon sermon this past week, and toward the end he was relishing the testimony of George Mueller.

Some of you have heard of George Mueller of Bristol, and the point was in the sermon that we have weak hands and weak knees, and he was connecting that to the weakness of our labor and the weakness of our prayer lives, and he said we ought not to think of figures in the past or even figures present as these triumphant heroes of faith that we could never become, that we could never aspire to.

He says any one of us could be an Abraham if we would have strong knees and strong hands and put ourselves to the labor, and he pointed to George Mueller as an example of this.

What is it but the strong knees of George Mueller that has, out of a desire to to be kingdom oriented, to provide for the needy, has taken in over 7 ,000 orphans across the years of his ministry?

And has he not found at every turn that God is even more abundant than him? He is so sufficiently provided for as he seeks to provide.

That's essentially the truth that Paul is getting at here in 2nd Corinthians 9. It's as if God was saying, test me in this, but as his people were not often willing to.

We look at our lives and we see it's rather hard to be so free, so generous as reflects the goodness of God, and for that reason churches may not be capable of the kind of kingdom advance that they could be, not just because they're not generous according to the character of God, but because they don't have even the same heart and concern for the needy that God has throughout his work.

The kingdom advanced through the Roman Empire so rapidly because Christians devoted themselves to meeting the plight of the poor and the needy and the vulnerable, rescuing infants that were being exposed in the countryside, caring for those who had no social network, no system with which to be provided for, the widows or the beggars, and they had this incredible ability to understand how to use their resources in liberality for the sake of the kingdom.

I wonder if the kingdom has not advanced very far in our modern day because we have not understood these lessons.

Neither do we reflect our Father's character of generosity, but also we don't have his eye or compassion and pity toward those in need.

And how do we train our children in this, I wonder? It's sort of that dilemma, isn't it?

Whenever we get to an intersection, maybe closer to a city like Worcester, we're heading toward Boston, and there's boundless to be two or three people walking up and down with a cardboard sign.

Do we then turn back to our children and say, no, we don't give anything to them, they'll just use it to hurt themselves. Are we training our children to be callous in the way that we look at others, others who bear the image of God?

Now that may not mean in wisdom that we give them cash, cold hard cash, but are we training them to have an eye of compassion, an eye of pity?

He has dispersed abroad. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever.

And Paul's recognizing he's doing this through you, Corinthians, through you as a church.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown.

Increase the fruits of your righteousness. There it is again. Your hand labors, your hand is now open to generosity, your hand is bearing fruit.

May he who's given that seed that you've sown, may he who's granted you the harvest you've reaped, also increase the fruits of your righteousness.

He says, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality which causes thanksgiving through us to God.

Notice the increase, the abundance, the provision is all coming from God. His people are not the ends of that, they're the conduits, they're the instruments of extending that in gratitude toward God and to meet the needs of others for the sake of the kingdom.

Paul recognizes that in this church's desire to supply the needs of the saints in contacts, that's the needs of the saints in Jerusalem, Paul is going around and gathering from churches like Corinth and Philippi and Macedonia this great love offering that will be bequeathed to the saints in Jerusalem who are being hunted down and persecuted with great devastation.

And he wants the the riches of the Gentiles to stream toward them, to show this mutuality of the one body now maturing in Christ, both

Jew and Gentile. And so he says, the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, it's abounding through many thanksgivings to God.

While through the proof of this ministry they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ and for your liberal sharing with them and all men and by their prayer for you who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.

That was the key. Paul recognized the grace of God is evident through the Corinthians' generosity.

People aren't like this, people don't care like this, people don't give like this.

Clearly God's grace is among you. Clearly God's grace is in your midst. How could you possibly be so generous?

How could you possibly cast that eye and share that time and give that effort?

How could you strain and push and labor so diligently, so freely? Aren't you fearful?

Don't you fret? Aren't you anxious? How are you gonna make ends meet if you live your life in this way? Don't you have to protect and fend and be like smog hoarding over the coins?

No, Paul recognizes this freedom is an evidence of the exceeding grace of God. God is a cheerful giver,

God's people are cheerful givers. Emphasis on cheerful giver.

Some people write a check so they don't have to be giving in other ways. Let me write a check and tick off the box and that way

I don't have to actually care. It's a way of actually preventing my care.

I don't have to give time. I don't have to devote myself to prayer. I don't have to make an appearance, just do what the government does, throw money at a problem, hope that fixes it.

The kind of generosity we're talking about here is something very intimate and personal and free and rich and abundant.

It may have a price tag on it, no doubt, but it's far more than that. It's far more than resources.

If the position of the heart is reflective of God's cheer, of God's compassion, what should that mean for our lives?

I don't want you to miss that Paul connects giving with fruitfulness. So a church that's not bearing a lot of kingdom -oriented fruit may have a kingdom -giving problem because for Paul a church that is generous not only exhibits the grace of God but that grace of God exhibited by them bears fruit.

Romans 15 beginning in verse 25. Now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints for it pleased those from Macedonia and Ikiah to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.

It pleased them indeed and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.

Therefore when I perform this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain.

And I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Paul is showing them this is the way the mission will continue.

As you provide and participate in the work of the ministry, the ministry gets extended.

I want to do this and get this gift sent to Jerusalem so I can make it to Spain. I want to go to the very edge of the

Roman Empire toward the West. Paul recognizes that this generosity, this participation, this sharing in the work of the ministry is one of the ways that the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ abounds.

This is what Jesus was getting at all these months we had spent in the Sermon on the Mount when he was exhorting us to store up treasure in heaven, which means we don't turn our knuckles white and clinging to the treasures of the earth.

Our Father gives good things. We don't need to claw it all down. We can't keep it anyway. The grace of God loosens that grip on the things of the earth.

We enjoy the fruit of our labor and if we recognize its God -given source, it frees us to then be abundant in sharing the fruit of our labor as well.

Again, there may be a price tag on that, there almost certainly is, but it's so much more than a price tag.

Christians ought to be those, especially in this day and age where everything is boiled down to some bottom -line budget measure,

Christians ought to know that the most valuable things in life don't have price tags on them. Acts 20 verse 35,

Paul is with the elders in Ephesus. It's interesting, out of all that he shares, even as he weeps saying, wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock, you think of this incredible, impassioned time and speech that he has with them as he's about to depart, and what's the very last thing he leaves them with?

It really stood out to me this week. Of all the things you end that little speech, that time with these leaders in Ephesus who are going to be the part of this burgeoning generation of Christianity in Asia Minor, what do you leave them with?

What's the last thing you want to impress upon them? And it's this, I have shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak.

This is the last thing that Paul leaves with the elders at Ephesus, out of everything that he has to say, he leaves them with this.

My own life, the way that I've worked and provided for myself, the way that I've trusted

God's provision, and use it to extend the kingdom, I have shown you in every way by laboring like this, you must support the weak and remember the words of the

Lord Jesus that he said, it's more blessed to give than to receive. And then he prays with them and he departs.

That's the last thing he says to them. Remember this, please remember, please church leaders, please churches in Ephesus remember, it is so much more blessed to give than to receive.

Why would Paul leave them with that as a parting instruction? It's because he understood how vital it was to the advancement of the gospel.

Christ's had infinite strength and made himself weak of no reputation. So this cruciform ministry that Paul understands so well means insofar as you understand your strength in Christ, your position and advantage and benefit in him, you must support the weak.

And what that looks like is a life that's been opened. It's more blessed to give than to receive.

What's the crowning example of that? The Lord Jesus Christ himself, who though he deserved eternities of worship and praise to receive all splendor, all honor, all glory, rather than receiving that, denied himself that in order to become a slave and become obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Why? It's more blessed to give himself in that way than to receive. It's a sacrifice.

Christ's life was a sacrifice. Paul's labors in the ministry was a sacrifice. The smallest act of generosity is a sacrifice and however small that sacrifice may be,

God is not so unjust to forget it. The extra five or ten minutes you spend because there might be an opportunity,

God is not so unjust to forget that labor of love, that heart of compassion, that impromptu desire to bless, that concern extended to someone potentially in need, the concern that God shows in that he doesn't just care about getting us on the

Romans road in three minutes and then moving on, but he's concerned about all of his creatures, both in body and in soul.

Jesus, the great physician, raising Talitha, saying, get her something to eat. When everyone's too distracted in the gas to pay attention to how starving she was and what her body needed in that moment.

This is what James is getting at, this ability out of God's compassion and generosity to meet the needs of those who come in, showing no partiality, but recognizing

God gives in this way. God is the Father of lights and all these good things come down upon his people and we return them in gratitude and praise and also we utilize them in the advancement of the gospel.

Hebrews 6 .10 tells us it's going to be sacrificial and that God will honor that sacrifice.

God is not unjust to forget your work, your labor of love, which you've shown toward his name, and that you've ministered to the saints and you do minister, you've shared with the saints and you do share, you have fellowshiped with the saints and you do fellowship.

You get the idea, this is easy to neglect. We're forgetful people.

Doing good is not only hard, sharing is not only sacrificial, but it's just so easily neglected in our day and age.

Everyone for himself, every man on his own, only the strong survive.

It's so easy to forget that Hebrews 13, verse 16 says, do not neglect. New King James says, do not forget.

I like the Nazby here, do not neglect. Doing good and sharing, fruitfulness will come from that.

What is it though? It's a sacrifice. Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices

God is pleased. God knows it's a sacrifice. He's provided for you in such a way that you're able to make that sacrifice.

If you're expecting to only give when it's not a sacrifice, you haven't understood the first thing about Christian giving.

Christian giving is sacrificial in its very DNA. You recognize God has provided the fatted calf that you may return it unto

Him for His glory. God has situated and caused you to abound so that in that very abundance you may return to Him glory by opening your hands wide to those in need, by extending the gospel in generosity.

It's a reflection of what He's like. It's a sacrifice that's simply born of faith.

I know He's my provider. I didn't accomplish this by my own strength. He provided. If I did anything by my strength, it was the strength that He provided.

If I did anything by my wisdom or my wit, it was the wisdom and wit that He provided. Anything I have that is good comes from Him.

And so anything I give, anything I sacrifice simply returns to Him who gave it. Can I not trust

Him then with every need? Can I not spend myself in uncomfortable ways for the sake of loving

Him, for the sake of trusting His purpose? It's a sacrifice born of faith.

It's a desire to please our Heavenly Father. We should be so desiring to please our

Heavenly Father that if I could put it in human language, as Paul says, if I could speak foolishly for a moment, we would almost frustrate

Him with how loosely we share. What I mean is that for some time we would give a birthday present or so on to our kids and then find out later that day they'd given it away to one of their friends.

At some point we're like, we love the generosity, but this is getting really frustrating. That was for you.

That was your gift. You stop giving these things away or trading them. God desires for us to reflect something of His nature,

His character, His goodness, His compassion. We rarely can do that better than in meeting the needs of others.

Giving hands seek fruitfulness. And so we're not to forget, not to neglect doing good.

We recognize that sharing is sacrificial. F .F. Bruce puts it this way,

Christianity itself is sacrificial through and through. It is founded on the self -offering of Christ.

Therefore, the offering of His people's praise and their property and their service and their lives is caught up into the perfection of His sacrifice.

That's the idea. It's simply the outflow. It's simply downstream from how

Christ has given so freely to us. You think of the widow that gave two mites.

Jesus observing all of these holy rollers with their elaborate robes and and hems and phylacteries and they're trumpeting about their great achievements and they have the math lottery cardboard check that they're showcasing as they bring it to the tithing box.

And Jesus recognizes a widow humbly, almost ashamedly, bringing to cast her two mites in and he pauses to point out that act.

He says, you see that woman, she gave far more than they. So the proportion here is not according to the eye of man.

It's not the price tag. It was not what the two mites meant to the offering box compared to the 10 million mites of the holy rollers.

It wasn't the offering box. That wasn't where the proportion mattered. Let me put it this way.

It was not what the two mites meant to the offering box. It was what the two mites meant to the widow.

We too quickly want to say it was what the two mites meant to the Lord. We're missing the point of the sacrifice.

What Jesus praises is what it meant to her. Do you see this woman? She shouldn't be giving in this way.

This is an act of pure faith, of pure love to the Lord. It was in proportion to herself that she gave.

This is the very idea of sacrifice. And she must have understood something that Proverbs 11 24 is getting at.

There is one who scatters but increases even more. There's another who withholds more than is right and is led toward poverty.

This cannot exist in a Darwinian worldview.

This can only exist if God is God and provides for the needs of His people. That you could scatter and increase or alternatively that you could withhold and then lose.

That's kingdom economics. That's the way that God has so orchestrated faith and supply, sacrifice and provision.

And so giving hands seek fruitfulness. It's in proportion to self. What it means to me, my time, my resources, my comfort.

Do I understand what Paul understood about the beating heart of gospel ministry being a self -offering that may have a price tag on it, but for those who are well to do with price tags, the proportion doesn't mean as much, does it?

So everyone asks the question, what's the equivalent of the two mites in my life? I can give liberally of my finances but not of my time.

What would the sacrifice be that pleases God? Or I've got all day long but I'm hoarding anything that I receive.

What would be, again, the sacrifice that pleases God? Do you see? It's in proportion to the self that our faith is tested, our faith in God's provision, our love and desire to please the

Lord. So giving hands seek fruitfulness, but of course to devote ourselves, to offer ourselves, to be open -handed with our time, our resources, our energy in this way means we're gonna have weary hands.

This is gonna be very difficult. No wonder Scripture says, don't begrudge, don't be sparing, right?

God loves a cheerful giver and that's usually a reminder to an uncheerful people. God loves a cheerful giver, and they're all murmuring and muttering as the plate goes by.

The reminders there because we're not very cheerful in the way that we give. We might give and then say, now that person really owes me and I have a mental

Rolodex of all the people that I've given to. Is that how God gives? He just cascades bountifully.

There's no ability to return. He does this even on the unjust, on the wicked. That's how bountiful, how generous

He is. If J. Paul Getty is installing payphones in his mansion, what is our

Father in Heaven like? I'll give you the mansion. It's almost reckless in His abundance.

You don't even appreciate it. You couldn't even possibly use it as you should, but I give it to you anyway.

So giving hands seek fruitfulness. The second point is this, weary hands labor to serve. That's what a maturing, a sound, a healthy whole church needs are weary hands, hands wearied from being open, from toiling, from receiving that which

God provides and then spending or expending it in generosity toward others. Weary hands that are laboring to serve.

We're to use our labor in the strength that God provides, which implies there's a way to use our labor in our own strength.

The difference will often be found in the spirit of our labor and the end of our labor. How are we laboring?

What spirit are we laboring with? And what's our goal? What's the end of it? Are we laboring out of gratitude because we recognize it's all from the

Lord? It all returns to Him? It's good that He's given me my lot, allows me to have good things in life.

I have a simple heart with simple gratitude toward the Lord and I seek to accomplish His will in my life and through my work and through my resources.

And what's my end? Is it the glory of God or is it heaping up things that moths can destroy and thieves can break in and steal?

Is the end the glory of God, the advancement of the kingdom that glorifies God or is it my own personal comfort?

Is it the second barn to which Jesus says, fool your life is required this very night?

The irony of course in that parable is that the man building the second barn considers himself to be the wisest.

Look how thoughtful, look how strategic I'm being with my resources. Everything in its place, in its time.

Do you think this came out of nothing? I've worked very hard to build up this kind of prosperity and I'm gonna be very deliberate and careful about where my second barn goes and what it will be built like and what it will accomplish.

And I'm so wise and humble I won't even think about a third barn. And Jesus says, fool, weary hands that labor to serve have the right spirit and the right end.

Because you will not continue to serve with weary hands without the right spirit and the right end.

As soon as your hands are weary, as soon as the labor is toilsome, why would I continue to serve in this way?

Why would I continue to give in this way? I should be receiving, if anything. These are hands that have grown weary in doing good.

And why have they grown weary? They don't have the right spirit. They haven't understood that their hands are ever open from what

God provides. They don't have the right gratitude, the contentment in that. They also don't have the right goal, the right end.

They forget why they've been given work to accomplish, why God has revealed his will and made himself known to them.

As for you, Paul says to the church at Thessalonica, do not grow weary in doing good. You leave this place,

I can imagine perhaps we have a new desire, a jumpstart to serve one another, an eye of compassion or pity for those in our midst or in our community in need.

Maybe we'll think twice about the guy holding the cardboard sign. We'll start out well, but then we get fatigued.

It's too uncomfortable. It's not a good use of my time. It's a waste of my resources. We start to get irritated.

Before long, we're back to serving ourselves. We're back to rather sacrificing people and opportunities for the sake of self, rather than the sake of self for people and opportunities.

And what's the problem? We've lost sight of the source. We must labor in his strength.

We must serve for his glory. If we're laboring in our own strength, we'll grow weary to the point of abandonment.

If we serve ourselves, we'll just begin to murmur and grumble. I'm always getting the short end of the stick.

Why am I always the one picking up? Jamie Dunlop says, service can go horribly wrong when people grumble that others aren't pulling their fair share.

Where does this attitude come from? Well, at some level it comes from a very poor understanding of how

God values service. It could come from pride. It could come from confusion about the value of service or even the quantity of service.

On the other hand, it may come from a heart that is too quick to condemn those who are missing out on God's gift of service, not quick enough to show such people compassion and help them find their place in the body.

That's very wise. Jesus didn't take out a pool stick and beat his disciples over the head.

He showed them by example how to serve. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but rather to serve, to give his life.

He showed them that even when they were so thick -headed, so selfish and ignorant, they couldn't grasp it.

They couldn't grasp it when it was demonstrated in front of them day after day, year after year.

They couldn't grasp it when he was at the very foot of the table, having girded himself, wiping the crust and the filth off of their feet.

They couldn't fully grasp it and they certainly couldn't apply it in their lives when he told them, whoever desires to become great among you will be your servant.

If you want to be first, you must be a slave of all. You will not be like the Gentiles.

They're rulers lorded over everyone else, not so among you, not if you know me, not if you're following me.

So greatness in Jesus' eyes is service, hands that are wearied from laboring in service to others, but they press on nonetheless because they have the right spirit of gratitude to God and they have the right goal,

God's glory, God's kingdom consummated. Whoever desires to become great among us as a church body must become a servant to all.

What does that kind of attitude do? If you're starting out with the desire to become the greatest of all, what's bubbling up in your heart?

What do I have to do to be the greatest? I want my name in the neon lights, my name in the billboard,

I want everyone to slowly cover their mouths whenever I walk in the room. All the conversations cease and they turn my way as I strut forth.

I want to be the greatest in the kingdom. And Jesus says, okay, you'll have to be a slave to everyone.

Well someone who wants to be the greatest according to the flesh, the greatest out of this pride or selfishness, will not be able to be a slave to anyone else.

They want everyone to be their slaves, that's why they want to be great. Everyone should serve me, I'm so great and worthy. Everyone should acknowledge me, bear up my reputation.

For the disciple to say, I'm out of love for Christ, out of understanding of the gospel, out of desire for the kingdom,

I want to serve others, esteem them more worthy than myself. I'll be uncomfortable for the sake of their comfort.

I'll be burdened for the sake of their freedom. That kind of mentality means you can't have this attitude of,

I'm gonna be the first and the greatest. You end up a lot like John the Baptist, he must increase,

I must decrease. It's so fascinating that John doesn't say, he must increase and I slowly and closely behind him.

He gets the preeminence and I'm right there like second place, maybe third. If he's going up,

I'm going down. If he's becoming preeminent, I'm becoming the least. That's his mentality. So there's no place for mwahaha, a few more meal train deliveries and I'll be the greatest.

There's no sense of vying over, look at my example of serving. Aren't I first?

We've shown ourselves in that way to not understand the first thing that Jesus is trying to teach us.

It's his own example. The Son of Man never came to be served. He came to give.

We live in a day of consumption, this consumer mentality that pervades every arena of our life.

Consume, consume, consume, receive, receive, receive. And the kingdom comes and it says, give, spend, offer, sacrifice, serve.

In a world that's constantly bleeding into our ears, take, absorb, chew, eat, receive.

The kingdom is pointing us in a totally opposite direction. No, lay down, give away, open wide.

Christ is our example in this way. You cannot do that. Your hands will be weary.

You will not consist and persevere in the weariness of that toil if you don't have, again, the right spirit of gratitude and the right goal of God's glory.

If you're doing that out of guilt to try to assuage your conscience, yeah, I've been so lousy, let me try to serve or I'm gonna make it up this way, that's not gonna get you very far.

As soon as your hands are weary, you'll be done. Guilt won't get you very far. Gratitude will take you all the way.

Feeling better about yourself. I'm trying to set down a good example or hold up your esteem. That won't get you very far.

Not when your hands are so weak that they feel as though they're dead. When your object is God's glory, though he slay you, you will serve.

This is what Paul is getting at when he tells the church at Corinth in the previous chapter, chapter 8, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.

He's giving to the church at Corinth his favorite example, the poster church of generosity, of giving hands that seek fruitfulness, of toiling and laboring hands.

He says, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. In their trial of great affliction, they had an abundance of joy and even in their deep poverty, they abounded in the riches of liberality.

I bear witness according to their ability, yes, even beyond their ability, they were freely willing.

They implored us with urgency to receive the gift and the fellowship of ministering to the saints.

Paul was surprised by the example of the church at Macedonia. He's having to convince and persuade and send the missionary circulation, as it were, to the churches of Philippi or Rome, not the church of Macedonia.

We didn't come asking for them, they came asking us. We didn't come imploring them or urging them, they came urging us.

They didn't give out of what they could give, they gave out of what they shouldn't have given, and they didn't give out of ease and comfort.

Well, we've got it going well, and so let's give to those who don't have it going well. They were in the midst of a great trial of affliction, but they had joy.

They were in deep poverty, but they were rich. What has the

Church of Macedonia understood about the gospel? The very thing that Paul understood about the gospel, this gratitude toward God and the chief end of his glory, knowing he provides all of our needs.

We can truly lay all things down to him. We can be freely willing. That's the word that haunts me almost, freely willing, because as soon as we think about meeting a need, or being generous in some way, or extending ourselves in a way that we wouldn't otherwise, we start to have all these little algorithms that run in our mind.

Am I doing this out of guilt? Am I doing this to atone for something? Am I doing this to make myself feel better? Am I doing this to be noticed?

Am I doing this to be thought well thought of? And sometimes we even talk ourselves out,

I probably don't have the right heart, so I'm not going to give, I'm not going to do, I'm not going to seek. Paul just says of these

Christians in Macedonia, they were freely willing, no constraints, no pressures, no calls, they were freely willing, freely willing.

They understood something about the sacrifice of Christ and what that meant for their lives, something about the love offering of the gospel and what that meant for their lives.

I've shared this story in years past, but there's probably so many new years here, it's worth sharing again. One of my favorite stories from Martin Lloyd -Jones, he spoke of a

Welsh farmer who went into the house one day with happy news. He gathered his wife and his children around and he said, our cow just gave birth to twin calves.

One of them is bright red, a reddish brown, the other one is white. He said,

I'm so excited, let's devote one of these cows to the Lord. We'll bring them up together and when the time comes, we'll sell one and we'll keep the proceeds for ourselves, but we'll sell the other and we'll donate that all to the

Lord. Well, some weeks went by, his wife watched these calves grow up and she said, darling, which calf do you think you'll give to the

Lord? He said, oh there's no need to bother now. As I said, we'll treat them in the same way, when the time comes we'll do as I say.

And then not but two days later, the wife came into the kitchen table and the farmer had his head in his hands, he looked absolutely miserable and she said, what happened?

He said, the Lord's calf is dead. She said,

I thought you hadn't decided which one to give to the Lord. He said, no, no, no, I always knew which one it was going to be and that is the one that died.

You see the point of the story. In a moment he seemed freely willing until it came to the crucible, until he actually was faced with what that sacrifice would mean for his life, his livelihood, his comfort.

And that meant the Lord's calf has to be the thing that's dead. I can't afford to lose it in that way.

Lloyd -Jones is getting at that, that's not how a Christian understands the demand of sacrifice. It's not a sacrifice if you can afford it.

It's a sacrifice because you can't. If you think of your life in this way, your relationships in this way, your time in this way, you'll understand something that Paul is driving home to these churches.

This is the ministry of the gospel. This is what the gospel looks like at work in people's lives.

This is the most powerful attractant to the gospel. You cared when you shouldn't have cared.

You gave when you shouldn't have given. You noticed when no one else would notice. You sought when no one else would seek.

You met when no one else would meet. You persevered when no one else would persevere.

If our eyes are focused on the growth and the blessing of this body, we will not only put our hands towards serving, we will put our hands towards serving in seeking fruitfulness.

The seeking fruitfulness that then even extends further into more acts of service and sacrifice out of gratitude for God to be a freely willing church.

What would it look like for our church to go knocking down opportunities? Not because people have come to us, because we're seeking those opportunities.

We're imploring and urging them. We want to give. We want to attend. We want to show.

We want to be present. A worshiping hand closes in upon this kind of diligent labor.

And having closed in on this labor, it's opened in grateful reception. Lord, look at the fruit. Look at what you've done as a result of this.

To you, all the praise, all the glory. And that hand opens even wider in mirrored generosity.

A worshiping hand closes in upon diligent labor to be opened again in grateful reception and extended to mirrored generosity.

As we come to a close, let's be reminded that our labor depends entirely on the

Lord. It's easy to say that, but to never apply it in our lives as if it were true.

It becomes some fortune cookie sentiment that has no bearing on my life. Listen, how you use your time and your resources and your relationships will tell you whether you believe that to be true or not.

Do you really believe that the labor of your hands depends on the Lord? Do you really believe that unless the

Lord builds, the workman is in vain? All of his labor is in vain.

There's a reason that the Lord warns His people in Deuteronomy 8, beware that you do not forget the

Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, His statutes which I command you today, so that when you've eaten and you're full and you've built beautiful houses and you dwell in them and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold multiply and all that you have is multiplied when your heart is lifted up and you forget the

Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, verse 17, and you say in your heart, my power, the strength of my hands has given me this wealth.

That is the snare that Paul warns Timothy and the leaders that Timothy is seeking to train and disciple against, the snare of seeking this wealth, having their heart pierced through with many sorrows.

It's why he leaves the elders at Ephesus to say, brothers, if you remember anything, remember this, the very words of the

Lord Jesus, it's more blessed to give than to receive. May it never be among us that we would forget.

It's the Lord's wealth, the Lord's strength, the Lord laboring in and through us. All of our hope and stay is in this.

So why do we hoard and covet and seek to claw at the things that are freely given from Him?

Should our hands not be open to freely give as we freely receive? What does it mean for you to recognize what two mites might be like in your life?

Not the thing you can afford, the thing you can't afford to give. You remember as a

Christian, it's the mighty hand that's clutching you in unrelenting mercy and He's the one that's ordained all that comes to pass, every step that you take, every need.

It's His sovereign will to decide whether He'll meet it or whether He'll withhold it and a maturing

Christian, like a maturing congregation, learns to bless that hand because He's faithful not only in what

He gives but what He takes away. Wise is

His wisdom. Infinite is His power. He'll meet every need I have and if He doesn't meet that need, it's for a higher and better purpose.

Therefore, my weary, laden hands can be humbled under the mighty hand of God who will exalt me in due time.

There's a resting place for weary hands and in that very resting place, these hands are strengthened again so that our labor is not in vain, so that our hands may expend and extend in such a way that bears fruit.

I was reminded of when the Lord started working very deeply and powerfully in my life.

This is almost as embarrassing as anything I could share, but I loved listening to Hillsong United and I heard some oohs and ahs and some grimaces, that's okay.

One of the reasons I love listening to them was because everything was sort of very new to me and as I was coming off the heels of the holiness of God, I had some little demo album from Morningstar and I had my new

Mazda 6 and I remember putting that CD in and just tears streaming down my face at the first track of this album, which was called

Sovereign Hands. And the first lines of this song say,

Sovereign Hands, nailed to a humble cross, scars you bear speak of your redeeming love.

So that's the opening. Sovereign Hands, stretched out, nailed to a humble cross, the scars you bear speak of your redeeming love.

And it goes through and the chorus is holy, you know, 80 times as Hillsong would do, but of course

I'm just reading the holiness of God and I'm so struck by this image of sovereign hands. I'm, for the first time in my life, understanding the depth and the magnitude of God's sovereignty and how holy he is and that the

Holy One would come into my state and be crucified on the cross that I should bear.

Sovereign Hands, nailed to a humble cross, and the last stanza is this, Open hands, given to a sovereign cause, all

I have will be forever yours. I'll give credit where credit is due, that is a gorgeous song.

If we understand the gospel rightly, Sovereign Hands, nailed to a cross, that we might freely receive from what he has given, what does that mean for our hands?

What does that mean for my hands? Should not mean that my hands are open to him forever. All I have is yours.

Whom do I have in heaven but you? On earth there's none I desire beside you.

My heart, my flesh may fail, but you're the strength of my heart. All I have is you,

Asaph is saying. And so we follow Christ by looking to him and conforming to his example.

We labor in vain, we give for nothing, we're fruitless without measure unless we're abiding in the vine, and having done that we pray for opportunities.

If you're seeking to be a to -might kind of Christian, the Lord will give you plenty of opportunities. You should pray for those kind of opportunities.

Lord, today put someone on my path, and if I'm so self -focused and self -fixated, will you prompt me?

Will you stop me in my tracks? Will you cause me to notice them? Lord, put my hands to work.

I'm seeking fruitfulness. This means that you'll be praying to give, praying to seek, and seeking to give.

Spurgeon once received a request from a wealthy man to travel overseas and raise funds for a new church building, and so he wrote a letter to Spurgeon and he said, he told

Spurgeon, I could travel and stay in the country home, right? I'm writing to you,

Spurgeon, Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle, can you please donate so that we can build this church?

In fact, if you want to come and visit and see my blueprints, you can come stay at my country home. I have a nice little country manor not far from there.

Spurgeon wrote back to him, if you want to raise funds for your church building, sell your country home and then I'll come visit you. To my knowledge, none of us are quite in that position.

We're actually seeking a church building, are we not? But the point is clear, we ought to pray for opportunities to do good, and having recognized the goodness we received, we ought to sacrifice and we ought to share.

This is held out in Acts chapter 4 as the apex of early Christian fellowship, and so we surrender to the

Spirit's prompting when he puts these opportunities before us, as he puts some good desire.

You know a prompt, what do we do almost like Pavlov's dogs whenever you feel a tug or a buzz in your pocket, you pull out your phone, you pray,

Spirit prompt me, prompt me to have eyes to see opportunities, let me be kingdom -minded in this way, if someone comes to my mind, let me labor, let me pray, let me seek to bless,

I should talk to that person, I should ask if everything's all right, and when that waitress comes by, I'm gonna ask if I can pray for her,

I want to invite this neighbor over for a meal. You surrender to these kind of prompts, this is the Lord seeking to work through your life.

The last point, and perhaps the most important point, and I'll close with it, is having done these things as a church, a healthy church, a church with strong, giving, weary hands, we ought to share the things that we've shared.

Here's what I mean by that, we ought to be the kind of church that celebrates needs that have been met, people that have been witnessed to, opportunities the

Lord has opened. That's the Church of Macedonia, looking, not waiting for an opportunity to fall upon them, looking for that opportunity.

And a church that is praying for and celebrating those kinds of opportunities is a church that's going to be built up into that kind of ethos, that kind of mission orientation.

We want to have this as our atmosphere, and so you celebrate the needs that have been met, the people that have been witnessed to, the opportunities the

Lord has opened, you marvel at and celebrate the good that God is doing in and through his people.

This is what has to happen in our church culture, celebrating the fruitfulness of the gospel.

Paul does this throughout his letters, he's reminding them of what this gospel ministry has done to the

Gentiles and to those far off, he reminds them of what it's doing in their lives. He commends and celebrates and so forms the community around these very values.

A worshiping hand closes in upon diligent labor to be opened again in grateful reception and extended to mirrored generosity.

And I say this, he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.

Let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly, not out of necessity.

No, God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all of his grace abound towards you, so you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work, amen?

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word.

Lord, conform us into your own likeness in this way of being generous,

Lord. Let us be known as a generous people. Let us be known as a generous church. Let us be known as a church that labors and prays for opportunities to advance your kingdom, who is not urged or implored, but rather urges and implores those very opportunities to advance your kingdom, to herald your gospel, to make known your word of truth.

Lord, show us in each of our lives what true sacrifice would be. Let us not give the last fruits out of the dregs of all that you've freely given us.

Lord, let us give the firstfruits, the first harvest. Let us return to you,

Lord, a heart of thankfulness and praise. Let us labor and persevere through weary hands as a result of having this gratitude and this desire to see your name lifted high.

Lord, open our hands as we look to you, your self -offering, your self -serving.

Lord, as you knelt down to wash the feet of your needy and filthy people, may we be reminded and even exhorted by that example to so spend ourselves in serving you by serving one another, by serving the lost, by having an eye for that one sheep that has strayed.

Lord, do this work in us. We're not able to muster it up for ourselves. Do this work in our church. Constrain us and minister to us by your spirit,

Lord. May you open our hands. May our hands freely pour out all that you pour in.