Compelled to Give (2 Corinthians 8:12)

Introduction

Disclaimer. I am not encouraging anyone to play the lottery. Simply used for making an observation this morning. Tuesday’s mega millions jackpot. Won by still, I think, an unknown individual in South Carolina. The power ball last night was won by two people in Iowa and New York. So it’s over. Let it be erased from your mind forever. But there was a lot of excitement Tuesday in relation to this particular drawing. And I was told the odds of winning, like the one person in South Carolina did, was one in three hundred million. I don’t think we can really put our minds around those kinds of numbers. Someone compared it to, though I’m not really sure this is right, that it would be like taking a dice and rolling a one and then picking it up and doing it 13 times in a row.

And I know what our young people are going to do. They’re going to go home today, and they’re going to get a die, and they’re going to roll until they get 13 ones in a row. We won’t even see you tonight.

At 6 p.m. I think it may be even greater than that. But I really like the lightning comparisons.

Now I do a little bit when I play golf.

And there have been a few times with some close calls where I thought, I’ve got to get out of here now. And don’t want to be out there when I see lightning. But you have a one in a million shot, roughly. Now, in your lifetime, you have a one in twelve thousand shot of being struck by lightning. You don’t think much about that, but you have a lot greater odds of getting struck by lightning than you do winning a lottery jackpot like the one that was had on Tuesday night. I mean, that’s incredible the difference. And this, and I’m not, I’m not really sure about this, but this is what they say. You have a one in 183 million chance. Now, that’s better than winning this jackpot.

Almost twice better. A one in 183 million chance of being struck by lightning as you’re drowning. That’s the double, that’s the double whammy. I’ve never heard of such a case in my life. That’s that’s really bad luck. But if you are of a mind or disposition to engage in this madness, I’ll call it. Let me save you a little trouble. Just the next time it happens, do what I did. Just pick out a couple of numbers in your mind. That’s what I did. I chose 77 and 11. Now, notice I didn’t get either of the first two numbers right. Okay, just keep doing it. And we’ll talk about whether or not you should buy one ticket down the road, if you ever get three numbers right.

Okay, we’ll have that, we’ll have that conversation. But I make all of those points to make this point. There was a lot of excitement about this. Even Katy Perry is standing in line in Kentucky, I was told, to buy a ticket. Why does she need the money? But there was just excitement about being involved, and people were talking about it, and so people want to have a piece of it. And so I make this observation this morning that people have no problem whatsoever, even giving foolishly to something if they’re excited about it. And that part of being excited about the giving is what I want to talk to you about.

Paul is trying to accomplish a couple of big things in 2 Corinthians. Number one, he is trying to repair a fracture in his relationship with the church at Corinth that is not his doing. As he wants to regain their confidence in him as the Lord’s apostle.

1. Christ's Love Compels Us

And there’s a couple of chapters devoted to that in the middle of the book. But there are some statements in both that section and actually one prior that I want to call your attention to as it involves motivation to accomplish those two things. Number one, repair your relationship with the Lord’s apostle, and number two, to engage in this contribution for the poor saints in Judea. And in this translation of 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14, it says, For Christ’s love compels us. The New American Standard says, Christ’s love controls 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.

I like that phrase in particular, and it’s caught my eye several times in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 15, when it says, they who live should no longer, no longer live for themselves. That is the attitude of a Christian in a nutshell. We no longer live for ourselves. And then this in the section that relates to giving specifically, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sake, this is why Christ’s love compels us. For your sake, he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. I don’t know who the person was who won the lottery in South Carolina, but I am richer than he, she, or they are because I know the Lord. He became poor so that I might become rich.

Christ’s love compels us. And so, as you might have seen in our Facebook advertising, I told you I was going to be speaking this morning on compelled to give. And that’s really what’s going on in this section in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and chapter 9. Not by way of commandment. It’s interesting, I put this slide together without really consulting the text, without looking at it. I went on memory, and for some reason I quoted the American Standard Version of 1901 when I did, not by way of commandment. And the point that Paul is making in the prior verse to the one that said, Christ became poor that you might become rich. He said, I’m not saying this by way of commandment. I’m not saying this as simply a command of God, though that would be enough.

That would be enough reason to get involved in the giving toward the poor saints of Judea because God said you should. He says, But that’s not my motivation merely, is the idea. Not merely by way of commandment, but I am proving the sincerity of your love. Also, I’m speaking to a greater motivation here, a motivation that is prompted by the great sacrifice of Christ on your behalf, that though he was rich for your sake, he became poor. That you through his poverty. As we’ve been reading about in our study this morning in the adult class, might become rich. And so he would go on to say in chapter 9, I’m saying this not under compulsion, not grudgingly, is the response that he wants. But God loves a cheerful giver.

And so these passages are all about motivations that we have to give. And yet so many are unmotivated. Why are folks unmotivated? Let’s just talk dieting and exercise for a minute. I am unmotivated. I would much rather have Thanksgiving in October, as some of us did yesterday, with apple pie and bluebell ice cream. Who wants to give that up? You know, we talk about dieting and exercise. Here’s what we want the results that might go with that, but we don’t want the results badly enough to do the work and to engage in the self-sacrifice that is going to be necessary to get the results. And I think that’s so often true of Christianity. People want the results. They want to think God is with them. They want the treasures of heaven as they understand them.

2. You Are Redeemed

And part of the problem is they don’t really understand those like they should, or they would be more motivating, but they want the results without the effort and without the self sacrifice. And they are not sufficiently motivated. Paul is saying we have sufficient motivation to be compelled to give. Not forced to give. They’re twisting my arm. Not just because it’s the right thing to do and it’s commanded by God. You should want to be involved, he says. So I want to talk about motivations for a minute. And I talk about all this a lot, so I’m not going to talk about it too much this morning. But this one thing alone should compel you to give toward God. And that is that you are redeemed. Redeemed.

Bought. Something of value that God was willing to invest in and buy. Not sure how to convey the awesome nature of this unless we perceive the slavery from which we come. The awful prospect of being enslaved and dying in our sins. Woe was me. For I am ruined. Isaiah said when he saw a vision of the holy God. For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips. I am ruined. I am undone. And that’s where we are in our sin. Absolutely ruined and undone. And yet Jesus did what nothing else could do to bring redemption, the precious blood of a lamb without spot and without blemish, Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1. And we were brought forth from a feudal way of life to serve alive in the kingdom of our God.

The musings of the psalmist about redemption in Psalm 49. No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them. The ransom of a life is costly. No payment is ever enough so that they should live on forever and not see decay. Psalm 49, 7 through 9. And yet that is the offer of our redemption. Remember the story of the healing of the paralytic in Mark 2? When he says, Your sins are forgiven, take up your pallet and walk. His friends had compassion on him. We’ve got to get this man into the presence of Jesus. And they rip up the roof, which you could do in those times, and they lower the guy down right into the very presence of Jesus, and he makes this statement in front of some who would accuse him healing on the Sabbath.

And not only that, saying he can forgive sins.

He thinks he can forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins, and that’s right.

And Jesus says this interesting statement, which is easier to tell this man to walk, or to heal his sins.

It is easier to say, take up your pallet and walk. Than it is to do the greater thing that Jesus had come to do. And that is to pay the price for sin. Now, I could talk about redemption for two hours, and it would not be exhausting, the great subject. But I just want to say this. That one thing alone is enough motivation for all the giving God wants us to do toward him and in his cause. That one reason. It’s enough. If we get it, if we appreciate it, if we know the slavery from which we’ve been released, if we know the value that our creator has placed upon us to make such a precious gift. That’s enough. But that’s not all. You see, because he not only brings us out of the muck and mire of our condition as sin is on our account, our situation is broken and undone, and only God can fix it.

3. We Are Elevated, Assisted and Glorified

Only God can satisfy via propitiation for our sins. But that’s not all that he does. We come out of the muck and mire in the prison of our sin, but then we are elevated. It is enough that we’ve simply been released from our captivity, but that’s not all he does. In a sermon that I preached a while back from Prison to Palace, we have ascended to even far greater position. As we sit in heavenly places, our citizenship is in heaven. We are known by heaven’s realm. And furthermore, we are assisted. Angels ministering spirits are sent out to serve the elect. I don’t think about that probably nearly enough because I don’t wake up in the morning and see one in my bedroom. That might be really helpful at certain times in my life.

Or I have two chairs in my office, one where I work and one for a guest, and wouldn’t it be great if I was working along and look over and there’s an angel sitting in a chair over there? Maybe tomorrow. Who knows? Wouldn’t that be something? We don’t see their activity, and so it’s so often out of sight, out of mind. But we have angels ministering spirits. Not only that, we have a high priest that we talked about last week in Romans chapter 8. Perhaps both the Holy Spirit and Jesus Himself assisting us by way of intercession on our behalf. And he is able to save forever those who draw near to him. He comes to the aid of the tempted. We have all of this assistance beyond the fact that we’ve been redeemed and elevated.

We have help.

4. The Example of the Macedonians

Those whom he called, he also glorified. We have the prospect of such an incredible hope before us. And again, I could go on and on about all of these things. Motivation. What do you mean by way of commandment? What do you mean? Compulsion. This is all the motivation I need to give in every way that God wants me to give. And one of my favorite terms in Ephesians chapter one, this grace which has been lavished upon us. What a great word. He wants to pour you out a blessing until it overflows. That’s always been God’s desire for his faithful people. That’s why we’re compelled. But now I want to look at the example that Paul gives in this section. The example of the Macedonians.

Not just a single church, but a region of churches who have responded to Paul’s plea to give to meet this need in Judea. And there’s a verse that I think underpins all that I’m saying that speaks to being compelled to give that will solve all of your spiritual problems if you possess them. It is the attitude of the Macedonians. When Paul says, and they exceeded our expectations.

To the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. Let me tell you why the Macedonians are all in regard to this contribution. They see this that I’ve been talking to you about this morning. They first gave themselves to the Lord. That fixes it. That’s the compelling that’s involved in our giving unto God. And then to us, from which the Corinthians are now estranged, and then to us by the will of God. This is God’s will, and so that’s what we’re all about. And they did this, as you read in the previous verses, despite very severe trial and ordeal, and they did so with an attitude of an abundance of joy. They were even poor. But they were liberal in the midst of their poverty in regard to this giving, and they even gave beyond their ability.

Paul says, And I like this.

I want to be involved, they said. After we make the offering of Romans 12 and verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, by the mercies of God, by the mercies of God. That you present your bodies a living sacrifice. That’s what this passage is saying. A living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. When you get this makes sense. If you don’t get this won’t make sense. You won’t get it. And if you don’t get this, you won’t get there. You see, this is this is the foundation for it all. And so often we’re going to the results that we want, the results that the scriptures are talking about without talking about the proper motivations.

5. Four Things That Will Follow

Because once you get here, there are four things that will of necessity follow in your response. We won’t be begrudging of our time anymore.

My time is given to me by God. I only have the time that has been allotted to me because of him. My time here is very short. And furthermore, when we talk about whether or not we’re going to engage in corporate worship or not, it really doesn’t require that much time to meet the responsibilities of corporate worship with God’s people. Yet we feel like sometimes with some people, we’re doing everything we can to get them to think, hey, I need to be there. Why aren’t you here? You should be here. And we’re going through all of this. You should attend regularly. They don’t want to. I’ll tell you why they don’t want to. They never got here. That’s why. They haven’t first given themselves to the Lord.

And so their time is their time. It’s my time. No, it’s not. No, it’s not.

It’s his. This isn’t asking that much. I don’t have to praise him. I must praise him. I see his awesomeness. I see his kindness. I see his treasure. I see my profound need. I owe all of my hopes and sense of purpose to him. He makes my life meaningful and valuable. And will reward me far beyond what any other can do. Not even by winning the lottery. I’ve won the lottery, people. In Christ, you’ve won the real lottery. And Christ bought our ticket. Christ bought us. We want to get stingy. But advancing his cause, helping his people, caring about and desiring to encourage and instruct others to walk the narrow way with us. It’s reasonable. And it’s gratifying.

I like what Paul said later in 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 15, again, trying to repair this relationship at Corinth by saying, I will most gladly, I will most gladly expend and be expended for your souls. What an incredible statement. Wonder what that next box is about. Oh, yeah, we’ve got to get the money. Ultimately got to get the money. It’s it’s I’ll tell you, we’re often more stingy with one, two, and three than we are with four. As we consider our resources and what is given to the collective functioning of the church. I’m not saying that’s the totality of what we need to give financially in our work for the Lord. And if you’re thinking in terms of 10% or whatever percentage you want to put on it, really, if all we’ve got is two mites and we give 100%, here’s the thing.

This is not the only realm of our giving. But I want you to understand what we’re doing when we participate collectively. We are investing in a work that only we are doing in the world. I want you to see the unique nature of what we do when we contribute and pull our funds to do the Lord’s work. We are doing a work that is uniquely being done by the Lord’s people, and that is to advance the message of saving truth in our dying world. And we’re the only ones doing it. Our government’s not doing it. The media’s not doing it. We’re doing it. And we’re involved in it. The message I’m presenting today is a result of us participating in that work. Proclaiming the greatest message that is told on our planet.

Conclusion

Understand the unique nature of our work. And in conclusion, let me just say this. This is a great system that God put in place. And the reason why it’s a great system is this. It doesn’t matter how much you have or you don’t have. Isn’t that neat? All that matters is your willingness and readiness and eagerness to give. What a great system. It’s not about the haves and the have nots. It’s about whether you’re going to give your life to the Lord and whatever it means, it means. Because he’s done so much for you. One final text. He said this in 1 Corinthians. He said, You are not your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. And what I would say about that is this solves our problem with lust and pornography and adultery and fornication.

This solves our problem. My body is not to be spent in that way. My body is to be spent for the Lord. And I am more than amply compensated for the choice of keeping myself holy unto him and fulfilling his purposes for me. And when we sing with our lips, that’s what I’m doing. I am vocalizing my praise for the greatest being that exists. And one who has given me life and hope. Glorify God with your tongue, with your body, and with all that you have to give. Because he is worthy. Because he is giving the undeserving. So very much. We have been lavished upon. Come submissively to his majesty. And give him the praise that is due. You are not your own. Glorify God in your body.

Let’s stand and say.