Giving? How?

How much money should a Christian give away?

Some Bible teachers argue that we are obligated to give God a tenth, a tithe of our income. These teachers say that Christians should give that much away. They may give more; above that is voluntary.

In this present series – Where Do You Find Identity, Security, and Joy? A Scriptural Understanding of Money, Giving, and Material Possessions – we’ve seen that biblical teaching on money goes far beyond the percentage of our income that we give away. Indeed, we’ve noted several times that we can give away 100% of our income and assets and still be disobedient:

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3)

So surely we can give away 10% of our income and be disobedient.

Consider in this regard the rich young ruler, in the story told in Mark 10 as well as in other gospels. He runs up to Jesus and asks. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus says he lacks one thing: He is to go, sell all his assets, give the proceeds to the poor, and come, follow Him.

And the rich young ruler walks away.

This man was outwardly following all the Old Testament Law. He certainly was tithing. He probably was giving away 25% or more of his income. And yet he valued his possessions more than he valued Jesus, more than he valued eternal life.

Thus, the answer to the question, “How much should a Christian give away?” has to be more complex, more nuanced, than “10% of his income.” If that’s the teaching you hear, it’s easy to give a tithe, and think, “I’m ok with God now – I’ve fulfilled my obligation,” when all the time you’re just like the rich young ruler, with a wrong attitude toward your possessions.

So let’s turn again to 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 to learn more about true Christian giving. We’ll first review what we’ve already learned from this passage, then highlight five additional lessons from 2 Corinthians 8:10-9:15, and finally discuss how to become a true Christian giver.

True Christian Giving: A Review of Earlier Lessons

We first looked at this passage in a sermon on contentment. 2 Corinthians 9:8 includes the phrase, “having all sufficiency in all things at all times.” The Greek word translated “sufficiency” actually implies an inner attitude of contentment: knowing that however much or little you may have, you have enough. You can be content.

If we know our identity as Christians – children of God, adopted into His intimate family, heirs of God; if we know that He will never leave us nor forsake us, that the sovereign, loving God will hold us secure in His hands;  if we see Him as the greatest joy, and thus see that nothing can ever take away our supreme joy – then we are content. Then we are satisfied. Then our circumstances do not determine our attitude.

In our second look at this passage, we focused on the word translated “generosity.” We saw that the word focuses not primarily on the amount given, but on the inner attitude that motivates the giving. That inner attitude is one of sincere concern or love.

The Macedonians exemplify this attitude:

For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity (sincere concern) on their part.  For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,  begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints–  and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. (2 Corinthians 8:2-5)

What is the main motive for this type of generosity, this type of sincere concern?

  • The main motive is not gratefulness to God
  • The main motive is not to do some great work for God
  • The main motive is not to build up an institution
  • The main motive is not to get recognition, such has having a building named after you
  • The main motive is not that you will receive more money in return

The main motive is joy in God – the Macedonians gave out of their joy, after giving themselves to God, after receiving His grace.

In giving, we are displaying the gracious character of God that we have as His children.

Just like the Macedonians, we are to cultivate such joy, we are to beg for such sincere concern for others, to beg for the privilege of giving.

Then, we saw in chapter 9 three results from this sincere concern:

  • It leads to thanksgiving to God – not primarily thanksgiving to us
  • It leads the Jewish recipients to glorify God, as they see that these Gentiles are truly believers in Jesus, are truly their brothers and sisters, in partnership with them
  • It leads to love from the church in Jerusalem toward the givers. This is the currency that the givers receive in return.

Thus, money is the vehicle used for the gift, but money is secondary to all that is going on. The Macedonians and Corinthians are not thinking, “Ok, I need to give certain percentage of my income – now, what will I do with it?” Instead, their giving is the result of having their hearts transformed by God. Their identity, security, and joy are in Him. They are content in Him. And so they delight to live to His glory – whatever that may entail.

In the most recent sermon that considered this passage, we looked at 2 Corinthians 8:1-9. We emphasized again that

1)      True Christian giving results from the overflow of joy in God

2)      True Christian giving is motivated by sincere concern/love

Then we added:

3)      True Christian giving results from grace given by God

4)      True Christian giving begins not with giving money but by giving yourself to God

5)      True Christian giving results from taking on the character of Jesus

Because Jesus was rich in his relationship to the Father, He made Himself poor in His becoming man, in His suffering, so that we through that poverty might become rich in relationship to the Father.

We are to be like that: Knowing we have relational riches in being loved by God, being in His family, being secure in Him, we give out of that abundance, out of sincere concern for others.

So, true Christian giving is not an obligation you have to an institution. It is not a requirement you have to fulfill in order to maintain membership. It is not even primarily a budgeting decision.

Rather, as Romans 8:29 says, if you are in Christ, God predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son. True Christian giving is a result of that work – the result of a life transformed by God, a life conformed to the image of Christ, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Five Further Lessons from 2 Corinthians 8:10-9:15

These five lessons flow directly out of what we’ve already discussed:

1) True Christian Giving is Individual

That is: No one pattern will hold for everyone. Look first at a phrase in 2 Corinthians 9:7: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart.” That necessarily implies a difference among the Corinthians both in the amount they give and in the percentage they give. All biblical giving will be the result of God’s grace – but that grace will manifest itself in different ways. God’s grace led the Macedonians to give way beyond their means, beyond what Paul had any reason to expect (8:3). But Paul doesn’t expect the Corinthians to do the same. As he says in verse 12:

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

Because of this verse, some teachers, including me in the past, have said giving is to be proportionate to our income. I no longer think that’s the most accurate word to use. Paul is not telling the Corinthians to give the same proportion of their income as the Macedonians gave. Instead, they are to consider the generous giving of others, including the Macedonians, and use that to inspire them, to help them imagine what God might do. But they are not competing with the Macedonians to see who can give the most. Rather, they are to follow the Macedonians’ example of Christlikeness, not necessarily their example in terms of the proportion of their income they gave.

If we have sincere concern, if we are giving out of joy in God, if we are giving like Jesus – then we will give generously, and our giving will be biblical. We should expect that such biblical giving will manifest itself differently in different churches, and in different individuals.

So true Christian giving is individual. There is no set amount, no set percentage, that will characterize all Christian giving.

2) True Christian Giving is handled with honor in the sight of men

In 2 Corinthians 8:19-21 Paul describes his plans for taking the gift to Jerusalem. Paul is careful not even to give the appearance of impropriety. He arranges matters so that no one could possibly accuse him of absconding with the money, or misusing it for personal gain. He says, “We aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of man” (2 Corinthians 8:21).

We well know that money can cause divisions in the church. We know that money has often been misused by churches and pastors. We must handle it carefully, and have procedures and mechanisms in place that make clear to any observer that the money given to the church is used appropriately.

3) True Christian Giving is not forced

Paul writes:

So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. (2 Corinthians 9:5)

Where the ESV has “not as an exaction,” the NET reads “[not] something you feel forced to do,” and the Holman Christian Standard reads “not an extortion.”

Note that Paul asks for all the money to be collected before he arrives. This is exactly the opposite of how many churches and parachurch organizations in the US tend to raise money. We often bring in a well-known person to draw a crowd and raise a lot of money. But Paul implies that he will not operate in that way. It seems he thinks his presence could be seen as forcing people, embarrassing people into giving, and he doesn’t want people giving out of that wrong motivation.

Verse 7 elaborates on the idea. We are not to give reluctantly (or, in other translations, “grudgingly,” “under compulsion,” “out of necessity”). Thus, we are not to raise money by manipulating emotions, or by promising financial returns, or by shaming people into giving, or by highlighting tax advantages. True Christian giving is never forced, in any sense.

4) The True Christian Giver gives blessings

We have to delve a bit into translation to see this point.

In 2 Corinthians 9:5, the word translated “willing gift” is the normal word for “blessing.” Then in the next verse, Paul uses the same word again in the plural. The ESV here translates it “bountifully.” The translators use that word because Paul is drawing a contrast with giving “sparingly.” But the English reader then misses both the link with verse 5 and the connotation of the gift as a blessing from God. As we saw in the previous sermon in this series, in this passage Paul emphasizes again and again the different currencies of giving and receiving. The primary currency here is blessings.

So let’s re-read verses 5 and 6, using “bountiful blessing” for this Greek word:

So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the bountiful blessing you have promised, so that it may be ready as a bountiful blessing, not as an extortion. The point is this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows with bountiful blessings will also reap with bountiful blessings.

The Apostle says: God has given you a grant to be used for His glory. You are to be a conduit of God’s blessing to others. You are to be a means God uses to bless others. If you are not sowing blessings from God, you will reap no blessings of joy, of love, and of prayers on your behalf.

The true Christian giver gives (and receives) blessings.

5) The True Christian Giver is cheerful

The rest of chapter 9 elaborates on and supports this idea.

We could infer that we should be cheerful givers from the first few verses of chapter 8: If the Macedonians are giving out of their overflow of joy in God, if they beg Paul for the privilege of participating in this partnership with the church in Jerusalem, if they are taking on the character of Jesus, loving with His love, sowing His blessings, all the while glorifying God, then surely they are giving cheerfully. But Paul highlights this point in 2 Corinthians 9:7:

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Then in verse 8 Paul says God will make all grace abound to them – and that must include the grace of giving (8:1) – so that they can abound in every good work. So we will have whatever we need to be conformed to the image of Jesus outwardly as well as inwardly.

In verse 9, the Apostle quotes Psalm 112:9. Note that “he” refers not to God but to the blessed man:

He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.

The key phrase “his righteousness endures forever” appears also in Psalm 112:3. Using New Testament terminology, this means: “What he does in conformity with the character of Jesus will have an eternal impact.” Who is this true of? Verse 1 of the psalm tells us: “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in His commandments.” This is the person who knows who he is before God because of the work of Christ, who finds his identity, security, and joy in God.

I encourage you to read the psalm in its entirety, and to look for ways that the psalmist makes clear that the “blessed man” has his identity, security, and joy in God. For our purposes today, however, it is sufficient to see that Paul quotes the psalm because the blessed man has great joy as he sees his giving as part of God’s plan of blessing.

Turn now to 2 Corinthians 9:10:

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

Paul here alludes to Isaiah 55:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

God supplies both the inputs into the production process – seed – and the outputs of that process – not just wheat, but bread (what the wheat becomes after it is dried, ground, kneaded, and baked). Just so, He will give you what you need in order to glorify Him, and will see to it that He is indeed glorified as you give of yourself, your time, and your resources in accord with the character of Christ. Your righteousness will endure forever, to God’s glory among the peoples.

Then 2 Corinthians 9:11

You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

That is: You will be enriched in every necessary currency so that you can show sincere concern in every way. And this, as we have seen, produces thanksgiving to God, glory to God, and love for the givers (verses 13 and 14).

Paul then concludes in verse 15: “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift.” This is what all Christian giving is about. We are showing what God is like, as Jesus showed us what God is like. This is the source of our joy. This is why we can give cheerfully. We are displaying His character. We are accomplishing His purposes. We are actualizing what our Creator intends us to be.

Becoming a True Christian Giver

You may say: “OK, Coty, I understand the conceptual point: My identity, security, and joy must be in God. The greatest gift is indeed His gift to us. And I realize that even my giving is a grace from Him. So, with all confidence in His future grace, I must give myself to God first, and then take on the character of Jesus and cheerfully give blessings to others. Furthermore, from the sermon on spending, I understand that I must set aside for giving a portion of all I receive up front, before I spend anything else, so that I am not giving out of my excess, but out of all that comes in. And I even get the idea that giving must be individual – I know you can’t tell me to give a certain percentage or a certain dollar amount.

“But still: I have to decide. I have to budget. What do I give? Everything? A tithe? If so, a tithe of what? Of my income? Of my assets? You’ve said that biblical teaching has to be more nuanced than ‘give 10% of your income.’ Well, it’s time for some nuance.”

That’s a good question. Here are my suggestions, built on what we have seen in Scripture:

  • First: Consider and meditate on the question in the sermon series title: Where do you find identity, security, and joy? Repent of dependence on anything other than God in these areas.
  • Second: Acknowledge to God verbally and, if it helps you, in writing, that all you have – your income as well as your assets, your Iphone as well as your home equity – is a grant from God to be used for His glory.
  • Third: Consider the institutions and people around you – around you locally, and around you across this globe. Think of the many opportunities you have to glorify God, to display Jesus, to spread the Gospel, to spur church planting movements among the unreached, through giving of time, money, and love.
  • Fourth: Pray, asking God, “What percent of my income should I commit to giving for the next few months?” And pray specifically, “Should I give more than I have been giving?”
  • Fifth: Decide. Designate that amount for giving as soon as you receive any income.
  • Sixth:  When you have given away all that you have planned and other needs arise, don’t immediately say no to those needs. Pray again. It may be right to take money out of other budget categories to meet this need. Indeed, some of us set aside another percentage of our income specifically to be able to respond more rapidly to such unforeseen opportunities.
  • Seventh: A few months later, prayerfully reconsider what has happened since the last time you determined how much you would give. If you increased your giving, ask: What has God done with that additional amount? And ask again: Should I commit to more, to a higher percentage? Should I include giving from my assets?
  • Eighth: Repeat this regularly for the rest of your life.

Do you see how this relates to tithing? Tithing is one small part of this process, only relevant in steps four and five. If you are not tithing now, certainly do pray specifically: Should I begin to give 10% of my income now? Many people think they cannot possibly give that much. But as Randy Alcorn asks: If your income went down by 10%, would you die? If the answer to that is “no,” then you can indeed tithe.

So if you’re not tithing, that can be a good place to begin. Consider that. But if you have been giving very little, and you faithfully go through these steps, and you decide to give 6% of your income – praise God! Be faithful to that commitment. I am confident that when you get to step seven, you will have such joy in God that you will increase your giving further.

Just so, if you are already tithing, don’t think you’re exempt from this process. Keep going through the steps. If we all do this, I am sure the great majority of us will end up giving much more than a tithe.

For each of us must always remember:

God has made all grace abound to you. He created you for His glory. But you – and indeed all humanity – turned your back on Him, thinking you knew better than He how to arrange your life, how to obtain joy and fulfillment. Having rejected the very purpose of your creation, you deserve God’s punishment.

But God showered you, and all of us, with grace by the sending of His Son into this world to live as man. He lived the life you and I should have lived. He died a horrible death on the cross on your behalf. He rose victoriously, and now always lives to make intercession for us. And He will come again to usher in His Kingdom.

This risen Christ calls out to you, rebel that you are: Come be part of My bride. Come be My joint heir. Come, be reconciled to your Creator, and He will be your loving Father forever.

So give yourself to Him.

Follow hard after Him.

Know who you are, what He promises now and in the future.

And so live as to show who He is – through your love, through your sincere concern, and through your giving of money, of time, and of yourself.

Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!

 

 

The Currency of Giving and Receiving

Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

What does He mean by that?

How does He exemplify that?

Consider what He says to His disciples in Mark 10:29-30. Jesus has just told the rich young ruler to sell all he has, to give the proceeds to the poor, to have riches in heaven, and to come and follow Him. The ruler instead walks away. Peter, astounded that poor fishermen are more obedient than this rich man, has just said, “We have left everything and followed you.”

Jesus replies:

Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,  who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).

What does He mean?

There are those who say, “Just read it to see what it means: ‘100 times more in this life.’ So if you give $1000, you will get $100,000.” Then, when you give the $1000 and don’t receive the $100,000, they will suppose that there is some sin in your life, or some lack of faith, that keeps God from fulfilling His promise.

But we only have to look at these disciples listening to Jesus to know He could not have meant, “Give in one currency and you will be sure to receive a hundred times more in the same currency.” James, for example, gave up all to follow Jesus, as Peter just said. But one of the Herods kills James (Acts 12:2). He never received a hundred times more goods than he gave up.

So:

  • When I give, what am I giving?
  • When I receive, what am I receiving?
  • Why is giving so blessed?

2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is very helpful on this point. We’ll see that when we give, we are not primarily giving money.  When we receive, we are not primarily receiving money.

Indeed, this mistaken conception of giving as primarily concerning money or material goods distorts much of our thinking. For we tend to think that the person who has an excess of money is the person who is able to give the most. He’s not losing much proportionately. He doesn’t have to give up much else in order to give to others. That is, the opportunity cost of giving is lower for him. So such a person can give with joy. But if I’m just barely paying my bills, I can’t give much of anything – I have nothing to spare! It would be too costly for me to give. So I can’t give with joy.

That view is not Scriptural view at all. Of the many errors in those thoughts, we’ll highlight one today: It misunderstands the currency of giving and receiving.

About fifteen years ago I was in the Philippines on a business trip.  This was when ATMs first became available for foreign transactions in southeast Asia. I inserted my card, and magically Philippine pesos came out. The machine then gave me the option of checking my balance.  Curious to see how much Beth had spent in my absence, I punched the button.  The machine gave the balance: about 200,000.

Startled, I wondered: Where did all this money come from?  I even checked the account number to see if perchance the ATM had linked me to the wrong account.  After seeing that it was indeed my own account, I finally realized that the machine was giving me my balance not in terms of US dollars but in terms of Philippine pesos.  And at the time, the exchange rate of pesos to dollars was about 40-1, which made the balance of the account not $200,000 but $5,000; about what I had expected.

If you’re checking your bank balance, you need to know the currency of the balance. Just so: In every biblical passage that concerns giving and receiving, you need to know the currency the author is speaking of. Indeed, even within one verse, sometimes different currencies are used.

With that in mind, let’s turn our attention to 2 Corinthians 8. Recall that at this time, the church in Jerusalem was quite poor, partly as a result of persecution, and partly as a result of a famine and economic downturn in the region. So in general, the new Christians in Greece and in what is now Turkey were better off financially than the believers in Jerusalem. So the Apostle Paul arranges to collect money from these new, Gentile believers for the Jerusalem church. He mentions this collection in 1 Corinthians 16, asking them to set aside money on the first of every week. Evidently that collection started well but then slowed down. Here in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 he asks the church to complete “this grace.” His wider discussion is invaluable for understanding true Christian giving.

True Christian Giving: Four Observations

Let’s read the passage in a literal, rather wooden translation, which I hope will help you to follow Paul’s argument. I’ve used English words with the same root when Paul uses Greek words with the same root. Note also that I’ve translated a Greek word you may know, koinonia, as “partnership.” Because verse 8 is something of a parenthesis, I’ve left it out here:

We make known to you, brothers, the grace of God given in the churches of Macedonia, for in the midst of a great testing of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their sincere concern. For according to their power and, I bear witness, beyond their power of their own accord with strong appeal they begged us for the grace and partnership of ministry to the saints. And they went beyond what we had even hoped: They gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God. So we appealed to Titus, that just as he started, just so he might complete this grace among you. But just as you abound in all things – in faith and in word and in knowledge and in all diligence and in our love for you – abound in this grace also. . . . For you know the grace of our lord Jesus, that for you he became poor, being rich, in order that you by his poverty might become rich.

For our purposes, the biggest difference with common English translations is found in verse 9. Virtually all English translations render this, “Though he was rich, he became poor for you.” The Greek has no word for “though,” instead just using a participle, as rendered above: “being rich, he became poor.” We’ll consider below the common translation, “though he was rich,” and suggest an alternative, which is equally possible grammatically, “Because He was rich.”

But first, four observations on true Christian giving from verses 1 to 7:

1) What is the first gift Paul mentions?

Not the gift the Macedonians give to the church in Jerusalem. Instead, the grace given by God to the Macedonians. They received grace from God  and then they gave. After verse 1, Paul repeats the word “grace” in verses 3, 6, 7, and 9. Look at verse 7. What does Paul want the Corinthians to excel in? “This grace.” (Note that the words “act of” are added by the ESV, and the words “of giving” are added by the NIV).

So the first observation: True Christian giving results from grace given by God. True Christian giving is the result of God working in us – not the result of pressure tactics, of emotional appeals, or of making people feel guilty.

2) Did the Macedonians give out of their abundance?

Be careful here! The answer is both yes and no.

In financial terms, they gave out of their poverty, not out of their abundance. They did not have an excess, and then decide to give that extra since they didn’t need it. Paul even says they gave out of their “extreme poverty.”

But they did give out of an abundance – an abundance of what? Verse 2: An abundance of joy! Their identity was in God, their security was in God, their joy was in God – and so they gave generously of their meager resources.  So the second observation: True Christian giving results from the overflow of joy in God.

3) What overflowed from this abundance?

Be careful again. Look at verse 2. Paul does not say, “Their abundance of joy overflowed with their giving lots of money.” Verse 3 implies they gave more money than Paul ever thought possible. But his main point is not the amount of money. What did overflow? In the ESV: “A wealth of generosity.” Two months ago we looked in detail at the meaning of the word the ESV translates “generosity,” and saw that it has rather different connotations from the English word. If a billionaire gave $100,000 to DGCC, that would certainly be a generous act according to the definition of the English word. But we would have to discern the inner motivation for the gift in order to apply the Greek word to the act. We saw that the Greek word here means, “sincere concern, with no ulterior motives.” The word is thus related to love. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:3:

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

So the third observation: True Christian giving is motivated by sincere concern, by love. We are not giving in order to get out of an awkward situation; we are not giving in order to get our names on a building or to impress others. We are motivated by sincere concern.

4) What did the Macedonians give first? Again, the answer is not “money.” Verse 5: The gave themselves first. They gave up their own selfish, individualistic goals. They offered their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God. They were transformed through the renewing of their minds. Thus, their identity, security, and joy were in God and in His work. They were so completely devoted to Him, that they begged Paul for the privilege of being a part of God’s work.

So four key principles:

  • True Christian giving is a grace of God.
  • True Christian giving results from the overflow of joy in God.
  • True Christian giving is motivated by love, by sincere concern.
  • True Christian giving begins by giving yourself to God.

Again and again Paul goes out of his way to emphasize he is not primarily talking about money.

There are other currencies of giving and receiving here, other interactions between believers and other believers, between believers and God.

Jesus’ Example of Giving

Now let’s walk through verse 9 more slowly to understand what Paul says here. We’ll do this in four steps:

1) How does verse 9 support Paul’s command in verse 7?

Verse 9 begins with the word “for,” indicating Paul is supporting an earlier statement – the command that concludes verse 7, “Abound in this grace also.” However we interpret verse 9, it has to answer the question: Why should the Corinthians abound in this grace?

2) Jesus’s poverty

Paul says that we become rich through Jesus’ poverty. What aspect of Jesus’ poverty makes us rich?

Not His material poverty. He was poor materially – but we don’t have riches because He owned very little. Rather, we benefit because He humbled Himself – He became man, He was mocked and beaten, He was crucified dead and buried. That aspect of Jesus’ poverty makes us rich.

3) Our riches

What kind of riches does Jesus gain for us?

There is a sense in which we gain material riches; the New Testament calls us heirs of the world! But the emphasis in the New Testament is never on those material riches. Yes, the streets of the New Jerusalem are said to be paved with gold – but who ever pays attention to the pavement, as long as it supports you? What is central in the New Jerusalem is God dwelling with His people in their midst.

So the riches Jesus gains for us are relational riches – the riches of being adopted into His family, of being His beloved children. Even when we think of ourselves as heirs, the emphasis is not on, “Oh, boy, I’m an heir – think of all the material goods I will inherit!” but rather, “I am so loved by Him that He provides an abundance of all things for my good.”

And there is more: We have the relational riches of being God’s children, and the relational riches of being united with all those in the body of Christ. He has broken down the “dividing wall of hostility.” He has made one those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

We saw this in microcosm last night as we said goodbye to our friends Sunil and Jerlin. There were close to fifty people present, from seven different countries; fewer than one-third of us were white Americans. And, as all present will attest, there was real relational richness in that room.

So now let’s take what we’ve learned, and apply these lessons to verse 9, substituting these ideas into the verse:

For you know the grace of our lord Jesus Christ, that for you he became poor – in becoming man, suffering, dying on cross . . . in order that you by his poverty might become rich relationally: that is, so that you might be adopted into God’s family, so that He might be Abba, Father to you, so that you might be His heir, so that you might have relational riches with others as part of His body.

That seems to make sense. We seem to be on the right track.

There’s one more point we need to investigate to fill out the verse.

4) The link between Jesus’ riches and His poverty

In what sense is Jesus rich?

Of course, all things are His!

But what means most to him? What constitutes His true riches?

Surely the primary answer is: His relationship with the Father.  And the secondary answer is: His relationship with His Bride, the church.

That is, Jesus’ riches are in the same currency as ours: Relational riches with God the Father, and relational riches with His people.

So what is the link between Jesus’ riches and His poverty? That is, what is verse 9 saying?

Let’s consider the traditional translation of the verse. That is, for “being rich” substitute “though He was rich.” But then substitute what we’ve seen about Jesus’ riches and poverty: His riches are relational, and His poverty is becoming man and dying on the cross:

Though Jesus was loved by His Father, he humbled himself and died on the cross, so that we by that act might be loved by the Father.

That doesn’t make any sense. “Though” is not an appropriate way to understand the participle when you substitute what type of riches Jesus has, and what type of poverty makes us rich.

“Though” makes sense if His riches and poverty are in the same currency, since we don’t expect a rich man to give away all his money and become poor. But when we see that Jesus’ riches and poverty in this verse must be in different currencies, the translation “though” makes no sense.

Furthermore, “though” makes no sense as an explanation for why the Corinthians should strive to “abound in this grace” (verse 7).

But now think of the command at the end of verse 7 together with verse 9. And let’s substitute “because” for “though. ”

We’ll do this in two stages. First, let’s just add the idea of different currencies:

Abound in this grace also. . . .  For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for you he became poor [in one currency] because he was rich [in another currency], so that you by his poverty might become rich [in that same currency].

Now that makes  sense. Paul tells the Corinthians to abound in the grace that is so clearly manifest among the Macedonians, the same grace that we see manifest in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So now let’s replace simply the idea of different currencies with the currencies of Jesus’ riches and poverty that we’ve already identified. Paul tells the Corinthians:

Abound in this grace also. . . . For you know the grace of our lord Jesus, that because He was loved by the Father, he became man and died on the cross for you, so that you thereby might be loved by the Father.

So do you see how verse 9 supports Paul’s command? Paul is saying: “Be like Jesus! Be full of grace! Show sincere concern!”

That is: Know who you are in Christ! Know you have all joy in Him. United with Him, you are rich relationally, so give yourselves first completely to God, and then give of yourselves out of sincere concern for others. Give like Jesus – knowing that even if you give away all you have, even if you give up all your time, even if you give up all your emotional energy, you always have the Father, you are always His child, you are always in his intimate family.

Lessons for True Christian Giving

Clearly Paul’s main point to the Corinthians and to us is not, “Give more money” or “give more time.” We may need to end up doing so. But that’s not his main point.

We’ve already noted the four observations from verses 1 to 7:

  • True Christian giving is a grace of God.
  • True Christian giving results from the overflow of joy in God.
  • True Christian giving is motivated by love, by sincere concern.
  • True Christian giving begins by giving yourself to God.

What lessons can we draw particularly from verse 9?

True Christian giving results from our taking on the character of Christ.

True Christian giving is one aspect of becoming Christlike. Like Jesus, we are to have such confidence in our identity in Christ, in our security in Him, we are to have so much joy in Him, God’s surpassing grace is to be so manifest in our lives, that we love, we have sincere concern, and so we give.

True Christian giving is not an obligation you have to an institution. It is not a requirement laid on you to maintain membership in an organization. It is not primarily a budgeting decision.

Rather, as Romans 8:29 says, if you are in Christ God predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son.

True Christian giving is a result of that work – the result of a life transformed by God, a life conformed to the image of Christ, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Thus, clearly true Christian giving concerns not only money, not even primarily money, but love.

Conclusion

Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

And He says:

No one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, . . . will not receive a hundredfold now in this time.

What then is the currency of giving?

On the surface, giving may be in the currencies of money, of goods, or of time.

But underneath, true Christian giving is always in the currency of grace, of love.

What then is the currency of our receiving?

No, we don’t give $1000 and have a guarantee that we will then receive $100,000. Instead, we receive something much more valuable than $100,000 – we receive returns in a much more valuable currency.

We receive joy. When we give material goods, we receive at least 100 times more joy than we would have received by selfishly holding on to those goods. We receive love. We receive relational riches. We receive our identity in Christ.

This is the Gospel, my friends. We had none of that. We rebelled against our Creator, and, separated from Him, we were strangers to all true joy. But Jesus – because He was rich relationally with His Father – became poor. That is, He humbled Himself, He submitted to mocking, scourging, and crucifixion. He died, taking on Himself the penalty you and I deserve, so that you by that poverty might become rich. You, by His work on the cross, might become what God created you to be: Filled with His joy. Conformed to the image of Christ. A giver of grace – like Jesus.

We’re not here to tell you, “Give more so we can build a building. Give more so we can increase our budget.”

God the Father offers you relational riches and joy beyond imagining through Jesus. Come to Him! Give yourself first to Him!

And then: Live out what He is like – to His glory and for Your joy.

 

 

How Should Christians Handle Money?

How should Christians handle money? How should we decide how much to give? How should we decide whether or not to buy a house – or a car, or a computer, or a smartphone?

We face these questions daily. How does Scripture guide is in answering them?

The Bible has much to say about these matters. But rather than giving us a list of rules – Give X percent! Don’t buy an Iphone! Only own cars more than five years old! – Scripture unveils the heart issues that strongly influence how we spend money. These heart issues include:

  • Who am I? What shapes my identity?
  • What is security, and how can I find it?
  • What is joy, and how can I find it?

This Sunday we begin a new sermon series: Where Do You Find Identity, Security, and Joy? A Scriptural Understanding of Money, Giving, and Material Possessions. Drawing on a variety of Scriptures, we’ll consider how the Bible answers these fundamental questions of identity, security, and joy, and explore the links between these answers and the way we use money and possessions.

Simultaneously, we’ll discuss how to apply these lessons practically during our adult Core Seminar (8:15am on Sundays), and, during the first half of the year, memorize several key passages on this theme. Read over these upcoming Fighter Verses below (they are divided week by week in this document). Meditate on them and pray over them. We trust that God will work powerfully through His Word to help us to hold firmly to who we are in Christ, thereby to find our security and joy fully in Him – and thus to handle money in a way that glorifies His Name.

Proverbs 3:13-18 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, 14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.

Luke 12:13-21 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12:32-34  “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

1 Timothy 6:6-19 Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time–he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. 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. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 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.

2 Corinthians 9:6-11  The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” 10  He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Psalm 49:16-20 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. 17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. 18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed–and though you get praise when you do well for yourself– 19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light. 20 Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Proverbs 23:4-5 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. 5 When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.