All right, we are in a series under pressure. My name is Brian Asser. I don't know if I mentioned that earlier. I'm one of the pastors here at Community Covenant Church and I have spent most of my adult life in a job where I have had to raise money. So, I've talked to a lot of people about money. I've had lots of conversations about money with people and I found that people will tell you a lot about their life when you start talking about money. It's sort of interesting. Sometimes they'll tell you about unexpected expenses that they have. Sometimes they'll tell you about the financial pressures that they are facing in their lives and how much stress that they are experiencing. Sometimes I know more about their life and about their finances than their accountant does in a five-minute conversation.

You know, underneath all of those conversations, I think is a question that all of us are wrestling with. Will there be enough? Will I have enough for the food that I need to buy, for the present that I want to get for my father on this day, for whatever it is, will there be enough? And the problem is that we've been taught that if I give that somehow I will have less. This creates a scarcity mindset that runs through our brains. A mindset that says I need to hold on tighter so that I will be more secure. A mindset that says if I keep more, I'll have more. And if I give something away, there might not be enough left for me. And the reality is that when we're under pressure, that only amplifies those feelings. And the thinking, the scarcity mindset just gets louder in our brains when we're experiencing the kind of pressure, no matter what that is.

But here's the thing. In today's passage, as we look at scripture today, we're going to discover that God's kingdom doesn't always work the way that we expect it to work. In fact, surprisingly, Paul is going to introduce us to some of the poorest people that he knows. You ready to jump in?

We're going to be in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9. It's part of our under pressure series. We're walking through the letter, the second letter of Corinthians to the uh church in Corinth. And we find in the book of 2 Corinthians that Paul, the author, and the people of Corinth, the church, are under a lot of pressure because they're facing relational conflict. They're experiencing disappointment and they are suffering in the midst of all the things that are happening. And we've talked about how, you know, difficulties in life can actually help shape us and grow us and help us to become people more like Jesus. and they can help us to become closer to God and closer to other people. And we're going to find that today as well.

So, let's see what Paul has in store for us. We're going to be in chapter 8, verse number one. You can follow along in your Bible. We're going to be in the NIV. Otherwise, I should have this words up on the screen. And indeed, they are.

So, and now brothers and sisters, we want you to know that the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.

All right, I'd like to pause early on and kind of just make sure that our brains are understanding the context uh that we are looking at. So, end now, which is the start of this chapter, signals a shift in the letter. What's been happening up to this point really from chapter 2:14 all the way to the end of chapter 7 Paul has been defending himself and his ministry some traveling preachers had come to town and they had started telling people you can't trust Paul he said he was going to come visit you and he didn't come visit you can't trust Paul and you know most traveling preachers like us have letters of recommendation so that you know that we can be trusted Paul doesn't have any letters of recommendation. What's up with that? And then lastly, they question why anyone would want to follow somebody who was experiencing so much weakness, so much suffering, and so much opposition. Why would you want to follow a loser?

And the Corinthians understandably had started to doubt Paul's authority and his teaching. So Paul responds by saying that his suffering was actually for their sake and they the Corinthians were his letter of recommendation. The things that God had done in their lives that was proof that God was at work in and through Paul. But he was so worried that he sent Titus ahead of him to go visit. And he carried a severe letter. Titus did some damage control while he was in town. And the good news is that as Paul was starting to write this letter, Titus returns and gives him some good news. The Corinthians were giving Paul a break and the relationship was starting to heal.

So when Paul says, "And now," he isn't completely changing the subject. He's moving on to the next step in the relationship. The relationship has at least in part been restored. So there's some trust maybe starting to build. And Paul is now going to invite them into a massive ministry opportunity. And he begins by sharing what God has done in the Macedonian churches.

So let's jump into verse two now that we understand what's happening in the context of this passage. He says, "In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity." That's not what you expected, was it? He says, "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 the service to the Lord's people and they exceeded our expectations. They gave themselves first of all to the Lord and then by the will of God also to us." So we urged Titus just as he had earlier made a beginning to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we have kindled in you, see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I'm not commanding you, but I want to testify to the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

All right. I think it would be helpful for us to understand the scope of this project that Paul is inviting them to join. You ready for this? Paul is organizing a collection for the believers in Jerusalem. Anyone who set out to do some fundraising knows that that can be a tall challenge, a really challenging order. So, we understand that. Uh, but that's only part of what's going on here. Paul isn't just collecting money. He's also facing racial and ethnic tensions. Jews and Gentiles did not get along. It's one of the biggest tensions and divides in the ancient near east world. And so in the letter of the ro to the Romans, Paul asks for prayer that the Jews would receive the offering that we're talking about right here that he's asking the Corinthians to take.

This is later on in Romans. He says, "Please pray because I don't know if the Jerusalem church is going to want to take this offering from some uncircumcised Gentiles across the planet. they might not even want to take the gift. Like that's how big the divide is. Entright says that this could establish a benchmark for generations to come. A sign that Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians could actually get along and could be for each other. This would be mindblowing in the ancient nearest world.

But this project wasn't just struggling because of pressure from the outside. It also had some struggle within. The Corinthians had made a pledge before Paul had even written the letter of first Corinthians, which means that this is not an ask for more money. He's not saying, "I need you to give more money." He's actually inviting them to finish what they had started. And according to Paul, they had started collecting money. But somewhere along the line, they stopped. Maybe it was because their trust in Paul had sort of fizzled out. Maybe it was because of this Jew gentile divide thing that I've been talking about here. We don't actually know why they stopped. We just know they did.

And I think the reality is that sometimes we get really excited about things and we're like, "Yes, I'm going to do this." And we get moving. And then it gets hard. It gets tough. And that initial energy, that initial excitement starts to fizzle out, which means that the Corinthians are a lot like us. We all have a list of things that we are definitely going to finish someday.

And so Paul wants to renew their commitment. And that's why he tells them about the Macedonian church. God had done something absolutely amazing in the Macedonians. And even though the Macedonian church was experiencing extreme poverty, as he noted, and maybe you could say a lot of financial pressure, it says that they gave beyond their means. Not only that, but they were the ones who were asking, "Can we give?" I I just can't help but think if I'm Paul, Paul's preaching to the Macedonians and there's some amazing things happening. People are coming to follow Jesus, really awesome, you know, healings and things. And he mentions, you know, the church over in Jerusalem that's struggling, but he's thinking, you know, do I ask, do I not ask? These people are so poor. I don't know. And then they're like, "Paul, we heard about the church in Jerusalem and we want to give." And Paul's thinking, "Isn't that sweet? Okay, you can give."

And then Paul counts the offering. And he realizes that the people that he was worried about having enough just to survive, they couldn't even afford the things that they had. They were the ones that were leading the way in this collection. surprise.

I think sometimes a little friendly compet competition can be just what the doctor ordered. But Paul isn't just concerned about a big offering. He has something else in mind for the Corinthians. The Greek word caris, which is often translated to Greece in the English, appears 10 times in these two chapters, uh, chapters 8 and nine. And if you're reading the NIV, which we are, you can miss this because the translators actually choose six different words to translate into these six different words, English words. So you might miss this, but to be fair to the translators, Paul's using caris to do a lot of different things in this passage. So it does make some sense that he that the translators start using these different words.

So what do I mean by that? Most Christians think about grace as undeserved love and power. And God gives that generously. And we think of that as grace. It's true. Totally true. We don't want to miss that. God is generous, graceful, gives us amazing gifts, but for Paul, it's so much more than just that undeserved love, undeserved grace, power, uh, and that sort of thing. But if you want to know why the Macedonians gave the way that they did, and if you want to understand why Paul is inviting the Corinthians into this, and if you want to understand why generosity is such a big deal to Paul and to Jesus and to God, you have to understand verse 9. And that's where Paul shows them what grace is.

So verse 9, let's read that. For you know the grace, there it is. Caris, of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich.

This verse is loaded with so many really important theological things. This mirrors the Christ poem from Philippians uh chapter 2 where it says that Christ emptied himself and did not consider equality with God something to be grasped for his own advantage. Instead, he chose to become a human, emptying himself of the privileges that were rightfully his. And he suffered and he died. Why? so that we might become rich.

So yes, this is about grace. It is about salvation. It is about forgiveness and all of those good things that we think about undeserved grace and mercy. Grace is something that God does in us. Grace is something that God does for us and we celebrate that. But grace is also something that God wants to do through us. In the same way that Jesus emptied himself of his privilege, Paul empties himself for the sake of the Corinthians. That's why he suffered for them because he was emptying himself. He loved them so much. He was willing to give up his own comfort. Similarly, the Macedonians emptied themselves for the sake of the Christians in Jerusalem. And Paul is inviting the Corinthians to do the very same thing so that they can become a channel of grace just like the Macedonians.

Now to be clear, he's not asking them to become poor so that the Jews can become rich. All right? That's what this next part of the passage is about. Let's look at verse 10...

Paul says, "And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year, talking about the collection, 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 one does not have. 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. The goal is equality. As it is written, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little."

If it's not clear, Paul is interested in equality. Says it twice in there. The church in Jerusalem was struggling. And the church in Corenth had more than enough. They had plenty. But Paul knows that someday the tables might get flipped and the Corinthians might be in trouble and the Jerusalem church Jews there might have plenty. Anybody ever experienced that in their own life? Some days you feel like you don't have anything. Other days you feel like you have plenty.

Verse 15 emphasizes all of this by quoting Exodus 16. And in Exodus chapter 16, we're looking back at the story of the Israelites going through the desert and God's provision of mana. And the point of the whole story is that everybody had what they needed. Not more, not less. They had what they needed. Paul trusts that God will continue providing what his people need as they care for one another.

So the collection now becomes about people experiencing God's provisions. Imagine what could happen if people allowed God's grace to flow through them. Yes, money would help pe would help meet real needs that people have. But the greater impact would be that people would see the life of Jesus being lived out right before their eyes. They would see it in the flesh. A savior who became poor so that others might become rich. A savior who gave himself away for the good of others. And whenever that pattern is repeated, the giving of ourselves for the sake of others, the power of the gospel is put on full display in front of our very eyes. And the Macedonians illustrated that really well. They gave out of their poverty.

Now, this isn't a guilt trip to get people to give more money. Grace is the real motivation here. And once that becomes true, Paul no longer has to put any pressure on the Corinthians to give. Paul isn't trying to squeeze more money about out of reluctant Christians. He's inviting them to participate in what God is already doing in the world. He's describing what happens when people have been captured by the love and generosity of God.

That's why in chapter 9 6 Paul has this to say. Remember this. Whoever sws sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sws generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to bless you. There's that caris word. abundantly so that in all things having all you need you will abound in every good good work. As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor. Their righteousness endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to the sewer and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion. And through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people, but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others 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. and in your prayers for you theirs hearts will go out to you because of your surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable caris gift.

In this final section, Paul is referring to three different Old Testament passages. Proverbs 22, Psalm 112, and Isaiah 55. Psalm I'm sorry, Proverbs 22 is all about riches and poverty. It gives us a portrait of a wise person, a wise God-fearing person who knows how to be generous with their money. Psalm 112 speaks of a person who obeys God's commands so much so and particularly with their generosity and specifically their generosity to the poor, the marginalized, the vulnerable. And then Isaiah 55 is an open invitation to absolutely everyone. Come and enjoy all of the wonderful, abundant, amazing provisions of God. No charge.

What Paul is getting at here is that everything proceeds from God's generous generosity and everything returns to God with thanksgiving. Grace, generosity, gratitude are not optional extras for Christian living, but at the very heart of what it looks like to follow Jesus.

Remember when we started the question underneath a lot of those conversations that we have about generosity, will I have enough? The Macedonians discovered something truly remarkable. When they placed what little they had into God's hands, they found that God's grace was more than enough for them. And the same is true for us. The question isn't whether God has given us enough grace. The question is whether or not we will let that grace flow through us to other people.

And so I want to ask you, where might God want his grace to flow through you to other people? And don't forget to reflect on your finances because I think for many of us, that's the area where scarcity speaks the loudest.

This is a good time for me to mention that we have prayer ministers that will be over off to the side over here every Sunday. And if this is something that you're struggling with, wrestling with scarcity mindset, it's a thing. I struggle with it regularly. go over there. They would love to pray with you and for you. Uh they won't tell anybody about whatever you're asking for prayer. And if somebody goes over there today, doesn't mean that they're necessarily wrestling with scarcity mindset. Okay, people, right? Who knows what's happening in their life, but the prayer ministers would love to come alongside of you and pray with you and help you. They'll even follow up with you if you need help uh with that. And if you let them do that, okay, after you've spent some time reflecting on the grace that you've received this week, ask God, who needs to experience that grace through me.

Who needs encouragement? Have you been encouraged? Encourage somebody else. Who needs forgiveness? Have you been forgiven? Forgive somebody else. Who needs hospitality? Give somebody hospitality. invite them to your table. Who needs generosity? Who needs someone to come alongside of them and to be a friend?

And then imagine what if the whole church began to become a channel of God's grace. We took the things that God gave us and we began to give those to other people. I start to imagine that the single parent would discover that they don't have to carry that burden alone. I imagine the person battling loneliness would get invited to your table and our neighbors around us, around your house would encounter God's loving kindness through you, through the people in this room.

The world says, "Hold on tighter." The Macedonians discovered a different way to live. They discovered that God's grace was more than enough for them. And because they trusted God's grace, it flowed through them to others. And that's what Paul wanted for the Corinthians. I think it's what Paul wants for us. And I think that's why what God wants for us is not that grace would stop with us, but that it was always meant to flow through us.

Let's pray.

God, thank you for your word today. Thank you for your loving kindness, your grace to all of us. We can think about so many different things that you have given us. You have given us breath. You have given us rain. You've given us shelter here today. You've given us each other. And sometimes we forget that. We need to be reminded of that. Help remind us of all the things that you've given us today. And then God, remind us that those things were never meant to stop with us. that they were meant to move on and be shared with other people. So help us to see who around us needs your grace, needs your loving kindness. Help us to be a church and a people that would love people with those grace. Amen.