WWUTT 1692 According to What a Person Has (2 Corinthians 8:10-15)

Have you ever fantasized about just how generous you would be if God were to bless you with a million dollars?

But it doesn't matter how generous you think you would be. It matters how generous you are right now, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher,

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in 2 Corinthians chapter 8.

I'm going to start reading in verse 8. We'll pick up a couple of verses from yesterday and go through verse 15.

This is out of the Legacy Standard Bible, the word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth.

I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though being rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

And I give my opinion in this matter, for this is profitable for you, who were the first to begin a year ago, not only to do this, but also to desire to do it, but now complete doing it also.

So that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it from what you have.

For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

For this is not for the relief of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality, at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality.

As it is written, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.

So we come back again to verse 9, which was where we finished up yesterday with Paul saying, you know the grace of our

Lord Jesus Christ, that though being rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

And that verse really kind of brings together the first and second sections we've been looking at here. So the first section was yesterday, verses 1 through 8.

You have that verse in 9 that kind of brings these two together, and then the next section goes from verses 10 to 15.

And all of this is in light of the gospel. It's because we know the gospel of our

Lord Jesus Christ, because of all that he has given to us, giving up his throne in heaven and taking on flesh and dwelling among us, living a perfect life, dying a sinner's death on the cross for our sins.

Because remember previously what Paul said back in chapter 5, verse 21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

This is the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, so that by his poverty we would become rich.

And he rose again from the dead, so that all who believe in him, we will not perish, but we will rise again also.

We are risen to walk in newness of life, even in this life in which we live, and we are going to be risen from the dead ultimately at the end, when we're raised at the coming of Christ.

Our lowly body transformed to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

And all of this because Jesus gave up his throne in heaven, took on flesh, dwelled in poverty, and this was for our benefit.

It is for our sake he became poor so that we might become rich. And again, same statement at the end of chapter 5, for our sake, he who knew no sin became sin for us.

And not that Jesus was ever at any point, even in his death on the cross, a sinner.

But it's God the Father looking at Christ as he's dying as an atoning sacrifice for us.

He looks at Christ as if Jesus had lived my life. And then God looks at us, we who put our faith in Christ, as though we had lived

Jesus' life. And we are justified by faith in this way. We are clothed in his righteousness.

And so in light of this, because of what Jesus has done for us, so we must be willing to sacrifice and to give for others.

And one of the main ways that we do that is through financial, monetary charity.

We give of our money. We give of our earnings. We give of those things that we have been blessed to possess.

Ultimately, everything belongs to God anyway. But we have been blessed to possess these things.

And so in service to the Lord and in love for one another, we would give charitably to others.

In 1 John 3, 16, by this we have known love, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth.

So not just word and tongue, it should be in deed and in truth. We do proclaim the truth.

We do share the hope of the gospel with others. But then the deeds that we do also affirm the truth that we believe.

Jesus by his very life gave himself for us, so we must be willing to give of ourselves for others in light of what

Christ has done for us. Now, remember, as Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to give, to be generous to the church in Jerusalem, the need that they have there, as he is encouraging the

Corinthians to participate in this, he is not speaking this as a command. That's verse 8 again. I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others, the sincerity of your love also.

So you can demonstrate the love that you have, the Holy Spirit that is within you. Now, previously,

Paul was excited to hear the testimony that had come from Titus after he returned from Corinth.

Paul had written a tearful letter. He had called them to repentance, and the

Corinthians responded to that with a godly sorrow that led to repentance. Titus has witnessed that in the church.

He's come back to Paul to tell him that the Corinthians did receive the letter. They still love you.

And so therefore, because the Corinthians had turned back to the apostle Paul, the correlation there is they turned back to the gospel, because Paul proclaimed the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

These Corinthians that aren't following the false teachers, but they're following Paul, means that they have turned from their sin and from their rebellion back to the gospel of Christ and are living in it.

And so Paul rejoices to hear of the genuineness of their faith, the work of the

Spirit of God that is in their hearts in this way. So as he's demonstrated, or as he's seen this demonstrated, and as he had praised them for this just in the previous chapter, just in chapter seven, so now he is urging and encouraging them to further demonstrate their love, the love that they have, the love of God that has been poured into their hearts.

Further demonstrate that in this way, in giving to your brothers and sisters in the

Lord who are in need. Paul says, I give my opinion in this matter. This is not a command, once again, verse eight, but in 10, he says, this is profitable for you, who were the first to begin a year ago, not only to do this, but also to desire to do it.

And I think that even gives us a timeline of how much time has transpired between first Corinthians and second

Corinthians. It was a year ago, because it was in first Corinthians 16 that Paul encouraged the Corinthians to take up that offering, gather it and have it ready for when

I come. Don't be gathering it when I get there, be in preparation for it. So you're gathering for it before I arrive so that you can give it to me and with other men that you will entrust to go with me and we'll take it to Jerusalem.

That was in first Corinthians 16, where he talked about that. So they were the first. As we read about a need that was in Jerusalem at that time, and Paul encouraging the

Corinthians to take up an offering for it, it was the Corinthians whom Paul spoke to first and saying, take up an offering.

And then there are others that have come into this as well. The Galatians have come into this. The Macedonians have been, they begged to be involved.

As we read yesterday, they were begging us with much urging for the grace of sharing in the ministry to the saints back in verse four.

And so there are others that have come on board with this work, but it really began with the

Corinthians. So look at the generosity that the Macedonians have demonstrated by their willingness to want to give.

They're giving out of poverty. The Corinthians are much wealthier. Those in a

K I have more money than even those who were in Macedonia. The Macedonians are being so persecuted that they don't have much to give, which is why

Paul didn't go to them and ask for them to give for the church in Jerusalem. But they really wanted to.

The Corinthians, on the other hand, had much more money. And so Paul was encouraging the Corinthians to take up this particular offering.

So, in other words, you know, Paul is saying the Macedonians are giving show your faithfulness in this work also that we may be mutually encouraged by one another.

This task started with you. Fulfill it. Do it. Complete doing it also so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it from what you have.

So Paul says, complete the task. There was there was that readiness to desire to do it.

So if it's genuine, if your desire to do it is genuine, you got to complete it, do the work so that there may be the completion of it from what you have.

Verse 12, for if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

Now, that's very important because some of us can get kind of pious or self pious, self righteous, and we can think to ourselves and surely you've done this before.

Right. If God would bless me with millions, I would be really generous with it.

Yeah. If God were to give me millions of dollars, how many people could I help with this? Oh, I would give to my church.

I would give to these charities. I know these people who are much in need. I would go buy them a car.

You know, I would I would help them pay off their mortgage, whatever else that you think in your mind that you would do to be generous with millions of dollars, if God were to bless you with that.

Have you ever had that in your heart? You've ever like work those things out in your mind before? I know I have. All right.

I'm preaching to myself here. I've certainly gone through those things in my mind. God, if you just give me millions, how generous

I could be with these millions. That really doesn't demonstrate a genuineness of our hearts at all.

There was the song Give It Away by Michael W. Smith that was written back in 1992.

This was a long time ago. Now, hard to believe that was 30 years ago. Wow. The Change Your World album.

Any other 90s contemporary Christian music fans out there anyway? Yeah. Give It Away by Michael W.

Smith. There was there's a line in that song. The road of good intentions doesn't lead to anywhere.

We got to give it away. You know, if you love others, you got to show love. That was kind of the gist of the song.

Now, you've heard that quote said another way. The road of good intentions leads to hell. But I like it this way in the song a little bit better, because it really it demonstrates the vanity of saying, if God were to bless me with millions of dollars, how many people

I could help with that. That doesn't go anywhere. It doesn't benefit anybody. It really doesn't even say anything about your own heart.

Other than, hey, yeah, you think you're more generous than you probably would be, OK? Maybe that's what it says about your heart.

Remember, we've been going through Ecclesiastes on Thursday in our Old Testament study.

And in the Ecclesiastes study, the preacher there is saying all is vanity, right?

And vanity doesn't mean that you're self -centered necessarily. Vanity means emptiness.

It's all for nothing. It's meaningless. It doesn't go anywhere. And so all of that virtue signaling, maybe you're just virtue signaling to yourself.

Maybe you don't say it to anybody else. But the signaling of virtue and saying, hey, if God were to bless me with millions,

I would bless a bunch of people with those millions, OK? It's just vanity.

It's meaningless. It doesn't go anywhere. It doesn't do anything. And I don't think there's a whole lot of harm in thinking about it, right?

What would I do with a million dollars? Who are the people that I would bless? I think there's a good exercise in the mind of that so you don't get too attached to things or you don't think of that money as being for you and you understand the responsibility that if you were to receive such blessings, you bless others with it.

I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with that. But just the fact that you have those good intentions doesn't speak necessarily to your character.

It's what you actually have and what you actually do with it. So that's really going to be the measure of your character.

Are you giving to others? Are you giving to your church? Do you take a portion of your income and you give it unto the

Lord, unto the work of service, the ministry to the saints, the work of going out and sharing the gospel in other places, supporting missionaries, helping with the material needs of those people who are in need?

Are you giving of your money? Because if you're not that giving now with what you do have, then even if you were to be blessed with millions, you wouldn't be any more giving with that either.

Again, it's not about your good intentions. It's about what you're actually doing with what you have.

And that's what Paul says here in verse 12. If the readiness is present, it's acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

What do you have and how are you being a benefit with that?

Not what do you not have and wishing that you had so that you can bless others with it.

What do you have and how are you blessing others with that? It's not sinful to be rich.

I know in our Western world that is starting to embrace socialistic economic principles.

It's even virtue signaling to say that billionaires are wicked for the fact that they have billions of dollars, which isn't true.

I mean, there's nothing in the Bible that says that you're sinful for being rich, but rather do you love money or do you love

God? And if you truly love the Lord, how charitable are you with the money that you have been blessed with?

So Paul said to Timothy, Paul instructed Timothy in this way. First Timothy chapter six, verse 17, as for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

There's the instructions for the rich. Not give all of that, what you not give, not give all of what you have away and then you'll be righteous.

No, just don't put your hope in your trust in riches. Give what you have to the benefit of others, not make yourself poor for their sake.

That isn't necessarily the command, but that you would be generous with what you have for what we've been given ultimately doesn't belong to us.

It belongs to God. So we're being generous with what belongs to God and what he is entrusted to us.

We're good stewards with it in that sense. And we, we must have a willingness to want to give, but the willingness itself doesn't demonstrate the genuineness of our hearts.

It's what we actually do with what we have, according to what we have, according to what a person has.

Verse 12, so going on to verse 13, for this is not for the relief of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality.

So again, Paul is not saying that you would give everything that you have and now you've put yourself in a position of affliction, but so that you might out of your abundance give to those who do not have.

So now there's equality and now we're all rejoicing together in the Lord for his great provision and for his great riches, riches that are much more than material possessions, but even those heavenly, heavenly abundances that we have been given in Christ.

Now this verse reads a little bit different in the English standard version. So I read verse 13 again. This is not for the relief of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality.

That's in the legacy standard in the, uh, in the English standard, it says for, I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened.

But that as a matter of fairness, going on to verse 14, your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that their abundance may supply your need and that there may be fairness.

Now that doesn't necessarily mean that Paul is telling the Corinthians, you have a lot, they don't have much, but you give to them in their time of need.

And then when you have a time of need, they're going to give to you. That isn't necessarily what Paul is saying, but that these churches or this church in particular in Jerusalem has a need.

And if you give out of your abundance to help them in their need, then they are blessed and you're blessed too because you're growing in sanctification and the genuineness of the love that you have for God and for his people when you work in this way.

So this, this time of giving out of your abundance supplies for their need so that their abundance as they collect from those churches that are so blessing them, their abundance may become a supply for your need, your need to grow in holiness and sanctification and love for God and for the saints so that there may be equality, that there may be fairness.

And this is the way God richly rewards us. We may not see a return for the kindness that we show to one another.

We may not see a return for that on this side of heaven. You may not get anything in return.

And that's really the aim, right? We give without expecting anything in return. We may not see any or reap any reward for that on this side of heaven.

But when we enter into the kingdom of God forever, we will hear from our master, well done, good and faithful servant.

Now great is your reward. So again, the return may not be now, but it may be later in God's eternal kingdom that we get to enjoy the abundance that we have stored up their treasures, not on earth, but treasure above in heaven with God and glory.

So as it is written, verse 15, he who gathered much did not have too much. And he who gathered little had no lack.

This is a reference to Exodus 16. It was when the children of Israel were gathering up manna in the wilderness.

And the principle here or, or what's being stated is that, uh, that each church should have enough for its necessity.

Each church should have enough to meet all of our needs, not our luxuries.

And that's what Paul says should be, uh, the, the desire, the mutual generosity among the churches.

We're not gathering up from one another that we may all live in luxury, but so that every believer, every church's needs would be met.

And in this way we have fairness. We have equality among the churches that we might show love and demonstrate this generosity in this way so that the church may be blessed and we may be blessed.

And all of this is the blessing of God. Amen. Heavenly father, we thank you for the gift of your son who was given to us because it is in light of the gospel that has been proclaimed to us.

The generosity that you showed through Jesus Christ, that we should show generosity to one another.

Heavenly father, help us to have genuine hearts, generous hearts that are genuine. We don't fantasize about how genuine we would be.

We're actually generous with what we have now. And we do this to the glory of your name in service to Christ and in love for one another in the church.

It's in Jesus name that we pray, amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word, when we understand the text.