People use lots of terms to describe their pastors.
God has a way of speaking to us in order to show us uncomfortable truths about ourselves. It began a few weeks ago. A pastor was talking about how his wife's car trunk was always filled with stuff. "She's always buying things, running here, running there. It's like a sign I saw recently which said, 'My husband and I are doing a workshop. He works and I shop!' "
Anyhow, this pastor confronted his wife. But she quickly set him straight. She had a story for every item in her trunk. Each item was purchased for needs that she heard about at church, or at their kids' school, or at a get-together. And when she'd see the person, she'd reach into her trunk and pull out a bag of groceries, or diapers, or whatever was needed. The pastor was amazed by her generosity.
And then I had a business meeting at the church. And the person I was meeting began to describe how "generous" a particular pastor was. She'd known him all her life. People use a lot of colorful adjectives to describe pastors these days, but what a tribute that it was his generosity that impressed her!
An example of extreme generosity.
And then one morning our elders were praying, and Carl Dahlquist told us about his son's church in Centralia, Illinois. It is Greenview Christian Church. Carl's son, Jeff Dahlquist, is an elder there. A few months ago they decided to designate half of their Easter offering for benevolence needs in their community. They are known in Centralia as, "the church that always gives." Last year, they responded to the earthquake in Haiti by rallying the community of Centralia to donate a 40 foot long shipping container full of medical supplies and emergency equipment to Haiti.
Well, right before Easter, storms ripped through their community. The storms destroyed the church's roof and caused extensive damage to their property. The local news reported that despite what happened to their building, "the church that always gives" stuck to its plan and used half its Easter offering to help people in the community.
But then a few weeks later, the church in Centralia received a mysterious package in the mail. It was a package from Haiti-- from our dear brothers and sisters in Christ. These same people were the ones who nearly a year and a half ago saw over 230,000 of their people die in a violent earthquake. Many of them had lost everything-- their homes, husbands, wives, children, and loved ones. But when they heard what had happened to the Greenview Christian Church, they immediately took up an offering!
When you consider the average yearly wage of a person in Haiti, when you consider the severe trial they've been through, when you consider their extreme poverty (Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world), the Haitians had given as much as they were able. They even gave beyond their ability, entirely on their own. It was a privilege, an honor for them, to share with their comparatively wealthy brothers and sisters back in Centralia, Illinois.
The people in Haiti are so poor. One woman at the mission in Haiti recently heard a sermon on tithing and was overcome with excitement. Remember the story of the widow's mite in Luke 21? This poor woman in Haiti didn't even have two coins to her name! But she went home and then came back the next Sunday. When the offering plate was passed, she placed two ropes in the offering plate! It was all she had that was of value! Ro Ro, the director of the mission, says that they use the ropes to hang things at the church!
Why do some people give liberally, while others do not?
Here's something that surprised me. In 2009, the United States Bureau of Labor did a study on generosity. They analyzed what people actually give instead of what they think they give. Did you know that the poorest one fifth of Americans give at twice the rate of the wealthiest of Americans? The poor give 4.2% of their income, whereas the wealthy only give 2.1% of their income.
Maybe you can crack the riddle. How is it that when it comes to generosity, some people's hands seem bound, while others are loosed to give freely, abundantly, and liberally? What are we to make of this?
This is the situation we find in 2 Corinthians 8-9. The church at Corinth was extremely wealthy. The churches in Macedonia were extremely impoverished. But which churches proved to be the most generous? It was the impoverished churches! The church at Corinth talked a big game. They promised big. But when push came to shove, they didn't follow through in being generous. Meanwhile, the Macedonian churches, like our Haitian brothers and sisters in Christ, excelled in generosity!
2 Corinthians 8:1-5 (NIV) says, "And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 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. 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."
The Macedonians excelled at generosity, while the Corinthians did not.
Check out 2 Corinthians 8:6. Paul had to send Titus to Corinth to help the Corinthians complete what they started. They were supposed to be collecting money to help the plight of the poor in Judea, who were suffering a famine. In 2 Corinthians 8:7 (NIV) Paul had to remind them, "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."
Isn't it true that when it comes to generosity, some excel, but some flunk out? The Macedonians excelled! The Corinthians were flunking out of Generosity 101. Look at 2 Corinthians 8:8 (NIV) where Paul says, "I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others." Exhibit A: The Macedonians. Exhibit B: The Corinthians. Exhibit A: Our brothers and sisters in Haiti. Are we Exhibit B? Are we generous? Are we known for our generosity? Are we, "the church that always gives"?
The apostle Paul makes a brilliant point in 2 Corinthians 8:8 (NIV) when he says, "I am not commanding you..." You can't coerce generosity. You can't command it. Neither can you coerce, or legislate, love. So why is it that some excel in generosity while others flounder?
We spend luxuriously on ourselves so that we're not "able" to give to others. We upgrade our square footage and multiply our residences, while others lose their homes. We stack and store and purge while others scrounge. We rationalize our greed, our materialism, and our self-centeredness. Our new gospel is attaining personal financial peace-- personal security through wealth, hope through wealth, salvation through wealth, joy through wealth, contentment through wealth, personal health through wealth, and pleasure, enjoyment, and love through wealth.
Where is our hope?
In 1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NIV) Paul says, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."
Where is our faith?
The Macedonians had a different conception of what it means to be rich! Here is what we're missing. 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV) tells us, "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!"
This is our gospel. Jesus, though being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing. He poured himself out, taking the very nature of a servant, being made human in likeness, being found in the appearance as a man. He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross! See Philippians 2:6-8.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Galatians 3:13 (NIV) says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us..." Isaiah 53:12 (NIV) says, "...he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
Where is our love?
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NIV) says, "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."