Grace is something that's given, never earned.
In 2 Corinthians 8:1 (NIV) the apostle Paul writes, "And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches." This verse gives us a vital clue into the nature of grace. Grace is always something that's given, never earned.
When you worked this week, you earned a wage from your employer. Men, when you did your chores, your wife gave you an allowance. When you completed your coursework, you earned an A+, a B-, or a C, .....hopefully not a D! The Bible says in Romans 6:23 (NIV) that, "...the wages of sin is death..."
But grace is entirely different. Look closely at Paul's words. Grace isn't just given. It's something tangible, concrete, and verifiable. You can sink your teeth into it, you can taste it, feel it, see it, smell it, identify it, and know it. Paul writes, "...we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches."
How many of you have received God's grace?
So how many of you have received God's grace? How many of you can point to something tangible in your life and say, "That's grace. That's not something I could've earned, and nothing I deserve. That's entirely of God." Most of us need a little help seeing the grace of God in our lives.
Now, it's entirely possible that some of us haven't yet received the grace of God. It's possible that we'd have a form of godliness without having encountered grace. Think about it. You don't need God's grace to attend church, to be a nice person, to provide for your family, to be a good neighbor, or to give to charitable causes. We can do many of these things on our own, without God's grace. So how can we know and identify the grace of God? Let's begin with our first of three questions.
Question number one: What are your words? What are your adjectives?
On your bulletin, jot down a list of words that describe your circumstances. You may have it pretty good, so your list may be pretty positive. Maybe you're writing words like, loved, blessed, employed, healthy, satisfied, content, rested, or awake.
But maybe things are tough, and you're writing words like, pressured, threatened, unappreciated, overlooked, exhausted, in danger, broke, broken, tempted, weak, overtaxed, unhealthy, or sick.
The church at Corinth would've had a positive list. They would have used words like comfortable, well-fed, rich, happy, or comforted. The Macedonians would be writing words like severely distressed and extremely impoverished. The apostle Paul would be writing words like troubled, distressed, beaten, imprisoned, sleepless, hungry, dying, sorrowful, poor, and having nothing. See 2 Corinthians 6.
God's grace has very little to do with most of what we've written on our list. You can be loved, yet be unloving. You can be blessed, yet selfish. You may be forgiven, yet unforgiving. You may be employed, healthy, satisfied, or content, yet ungrateful. For many, life is all about positives becoming negative, or the negatives becoming even darker. But grace is all about the negatives becoming positives!
Check out 2 Corinthians 8:2-3 (NIV). The Macedonians were under severe trial, yet overflowing with joy. They were in extreme poverty, but showed rich generosity. "Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints."
The Macedonian church was full of joy, though they were under severe trial.
What would we expect of a person with the Macedonian's negatives? We'd expect a person in extreme poverty to give nothing. We'd expect a person undergoing a severe trial to be angry, vindictive, and self-centered. But God's grace supernaturally transformed the Macedonians. They gave to the max. They gave beyond their ability. They gave entirely on their own, spontaneously. They had an urgent desperation about serving others. They considered that it was a privilege to give. They had no thought of self. Negative, negative, negative became positive, positive, positive! That's God's grace! They did not look at their circumstances, but we look at what rose out of their circumstances!
Look what Paul says about himself in 2 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NIV). " (We're) known, yet regarded as unknown, dying, and yet we live; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet possessing everything." Later in 2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV) Paul can marvel at the sufficiency of God's grace in his life. "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." God's grace is perfected in Paul's weakness.
Look at your words. Are there any paradoxical words of grace on your list? Any words that don't seem to belong together? Words, that in light of all the negatives, can only be of God?
Question number two: What is your number?
A second question I want you to ask is, "What is your number?" By default, everyone's number is one. So, I'm number one and you're number two, or three, and so on. Our number is who we serve first. And because of our inherited sin nature, it's always ourselves. We are terrifically given to our own self-preservation. Our every impulse is oriented toward self. "I'm hungry. I'm tired. I deserve. I didn't get. I want. I need. Give me."
Grace flips a person's universe upside down. The first become last, while the last become first. We'd expect someone in the Macedonian church to look out for number one, but instead they made God number one, and God's work number two!
2 Corinthians 8:5 (NIV) tells us about the Macedonians. "And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will."
Now Paul is inviting the Corinthians to do the same as the Macedonians, and to imitate what Christ had done. 2 Corinthians 8:7-9 (NIV) says, "But just as you excel in everything-- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-- see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."
Has the generosity of God come full circle in your life?
This is an important question. To what extent has the generosity of God come full circle in your life? We've mastered excel spreadsheets, but have we learned to excel in the grace of giving? We proclaim love for God, but how does our love compare to the earnestness of others? Has God's grace flipped us?
This past week I was in a conference call with a dozen pastors of churches the size of Lakeside. One pastor analyzed the giving patterns of families in his church. He shared that nearly half the households in his church (80+) were giving less than $300 a year. If these families are tithing, it means they are making less than $60 a week.
How can we declare the grace of God to our world when we cannot even give up $5 or $10 a week? I did the math. If everyone in our churches tithed, there would be such an overwhelming abundance of wealth that there wouldn't be any needy around us. We'd be able to step up to the plate and help our church camp with a $100,000 gift. We'd be able to build our children's wing debt free. We'd be able to help the Inner City Mission with a $20,000 or $50,000 gift to expand housing for the homeless. We'd be able to say yes, and help the two church plants who asked our mission team for help this past week. We'd be able to expand the generosity of our caring fund to help people among us, and throughout our community, who are falling on hard times.
If God were truly our number one, no one would doubt the sincerity of our faith. But as it stands, we barely give God a waiter's tip of a few bucks. The waiter spends that money on himself. You give to Lakeside and we give, give, give. This isn't an extravagant church. There are no extravagant salaries being doled out. There are no perks for employees. We pay our own gas, our own cell bills, our own insurance, and our own taxes. We give to the building campaign over and above, just like others in this congregation. Plus, we tithe and do it with great joy!
Check out the promise of 2 Corinthians 9:13 (NIV) which says, "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else."
Question number three: What is your motive?
Listen to Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 8:10-12 (NIV). "And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have."
In 2 Corinthians 9:7 (NIV) Paul says, "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."
2 Corinthians 8:13-15 (NIV) continues, "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: 'He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.' "
If we've truly been touched by the grace of God, we will give with eagerness and willingness, cheerfully, not reluctantly, nor under compulsion. We'll give according to our means, in proportion to the manner in which we've been blessed by God. We'll give out of what we have, not out of what we don't have. Our abundance will ease the burden of those less fortunate. We're going to talk next week about how that can happen.
Let us follow the example of our Lord and Savior. Jesus was rich, but became poor. Jesus gave himself first to God, then to us. Jesus gave joyfully. Hebrews 12:2 (NIV) says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."