Sermon on 2 Corinthians 8:1–15: Five marks of distinctively Christian giving
A sermon by James de Costobadie (Costa), Senior Pastor at Latimer Church, working through 2 Corinthians 8 on the topic of money and Christian giving.
Summary
James de Costobadie (Costa) preaches through 2 Corinthians 8:1–15 as part of Latimer Church's series on 2 Corinthians. He opens by grounding the passage in 1 Chronicles 29, establishing two foundational truths: everything we have comes from God, and everything we have therefore belongs to God. He then works through the passage to identify five marks of distinctively Christian giving — that it is sacrificially generous, willingly given, grace-empowered, proportionate, and an expression of spiritual unity. Central to the sermon is the argument that the grace of Jesus Christ — who became poor so that we might become rich — is the only motivation that can transform giving from a chore into a delight.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Introduction: A deal with the congregation
James de Costobadie: We're continuing to work through the book of 2 Corinthians. If you've been here over the last few weeks, you'll know that we're going through more or less chapter by chapter. And if you were paying attention during that reading, you'll know that tonight's topic is on the sensitive issue of money and giving.
So let me offer you a deal — and let me say what the deal is before you laugh at it. I will not reach out the begging bowl on behalf of Latimer Church and ask for your money for Latimer, as long as you come to God's word and open our hearts to receiving from him what he wants us to hear. So I'm not going to talk about Latimer's needs, but I do want us to hear from God's word and not screen out what God is saying to us. There is a word here for us individually. There may well be a word here for us as a church together. We need to hear what God is saying to us. So relax — I'm not going to get the begging bowl out — but at the same time, don't relax, and let's hear what God has to say to us.
Foundation from 1 Chronicles 29: Two vital truths
We haven't come to 2 Corinthians 8 just yet, but in the morning services we've been working our way through the book of Chronicles in the Old Testament. And so by way of laying a platform for 2 Corinthians 8, I want to have a look just for a moment at a passage in 1 Chronicles chapter 29, where King David leads the people and says this:
"Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honour come from you. You are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand."
King David here was talking about the giving of the people for the building of the temple. It was a massive moment in Israel's history when the temple was built, when God came to dwell with his people. David was the king at the time who was doing the preparation for the temple. It would actually be his son Solomon who would build the temple, but we're told that Solomon was young and inexperienced, so his dad gets things ready for him. And there are amazing amounts of wood and gold and silver and precious stones that were donated. The people give. Interestingly, David gave first, we're told, and then the leaders of the people gave next, because believing leaders shouldn't ask others to do what they themselves don't do. And the people, we're told, rejoiced at the willing response of the leaders and they themselves gave. And then the assembly gets together and David speaks those amazing words.
In those words there are two vital truths that we need to notice as we begin tonight. Two truths that I suggest run counter to everything we naturally think, and which our society naturally thinks.
The first is that everything we have comes from God. Verse 12: "Wealth and honour come from you." And verse 14: "Everything comes from you." That is, anything that we have in this life, in this world, we only have because God is a generous God. He's so generous he gives us every good thing that we have. You and I, we don't have anything good apart from the generous hand of God who has given it to us. You might say, well, hang on a second, I have worked quite a few hours to earn that money which is now in my account. Fair enough. But it was God who gave us the brains and the skills and the physical capacity and, frankly, the opportunities to be able to earn that money. So whether directly — and let's face it, money doesn't grow on trees and not much money comes to us directly — but whether directly or indirectly, it all comes from God's generous hand. That's the first thing. Everything we have comes from God.
The second truth is that everything we have therefore belongs to God. Verse 11: "Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom. Yours is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and on earth is yours." We might think, oh good, yes, well it does come from God and God's very generous, thank you very much, now it's mine. No — the Bible's perspective is different. It comes from God, but it remains his. It's not ours ultimately, but his. In that sense, everything that we have in this world is much more a loan than a gift. And one day he will call it back in to see what we did with that loan. In other words, you and I, we're not so much owners of things in this world — even if our name is on the legal title deeds — so much as stewards of what God has entrusted to us. And the question is, what are we going to do with what God has loaned us? Whether we have much or whether we have little, what will we do with it? And when finally we meet God and have to give account of everything we have done with everything he has loaned to us — as we saw in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, every one of us must stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive for what is done in the body, whether good or bad — on that day when we give account for how we used it, what will he say to us?
Setting the scene: 2 Corinthians 8 and the Jerusalem relief fund
And so tonight we're looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 8, where the Apostle Paul has got some things to teach us about giving and about money. Now if you're here tonight and you are not a Christian, I want to invite you to listen in on what the Apostle says. I know you might think, oh gosh, here we go again — church is always on about money and they always want our money. But really, it's not about that. I want to invite you to look at what the Apostle says about money because I suggest to you that a Christian view of money and a Christian view of giving is very distinct. It's very different to the way that we naturally think.
Generally around us, people think that money gives you two things, apart from just meeting our everyday needs. One is it gives you security — get some assets in the bank, set for a rainy day. And secondly, it gives you meaning — in other words, you are what you buy. But when we come to the Bible, what we find is that actually it's God who gives us security. On the day that we are there, whether in a few years or many years to come, taking our last breaths in this world, it does not matter how much we have in the bank. It doesn't matter how grand our assets are. They will not be able to help us on that day. Only God can help us. And if we've not thought about that day, if we've not reckoned with what is one day to come to all of us, then we need to back up the truck, so to speak, and ask ourselves, where are we placing our security? And what will actually help us in that day? The Bible says that God can help us in a way that no one else can.
The other way that people see money is as providing meaning, and there too the Bible gives us the answer that it's God who provides us meaning. We were made to know him, to love him, and to serve him. And so once you realise that God provides security and provides meaning, it actually gives to us a wonderful freedom to do with money what God wants us to do, and to hear from him how he wants us to steward the money that he has loaned to us.
So we're going to spend our time working through 2 Corinthians chapter 8 as we always do, to hear what God had to say to the Corinthian church and to us tonight on this topic.
Let me fill us in on a bit of the backstory for this chapter. In addition to all the missionary work that the Apostle Paul did in Asia and Europe, Paul had also been organising a charitable fund, and he was expecting the church in Corinth — we're in the middle of the first century here — to contribute to it. Very likely this is the same fund as he mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, for example in Romans chapter 15, put together to be given to the poor believers in Jerusalem. Right from the early church, those Christians who were in Jerusalem had been persecuted. They'd been the victims of poverty, partly as a result of the hostility of the Jewish populace around them, and partly because of a famine that we read about in the book of Acts.
Reading between the lines, it seems clear that Paul felt some anxiety lest the much-publicised pledge which the Corinthians had made towards this fund failed to materialise. And so, having been reassured by Titus that the Corinthians still entertained great affection for Paul and support for him, he includes chapters 8 and 9 in his letter, urging the Christians in Corinth to renew their commitment to this famine relief fund which he was putting together.
In terms of the letter itself, it's instructive, I think, that this is really the first time he has asked them to do something practical. In chapter 7, he pleaded with them to open their hearts. And now he asks them to give physical expression to this by contributing money. I think there's a direct link between that. Chapter 7, verse 2: "Make room for us in your hearts." And then he gives them opportunity to express that warmth towards him by actually giving money. I think that confirms what you and I know to be true, which is that money is a very personal thing. It's very sensitive, what we do with money. Maybe this isn't just a 21st century thing — maybe this is the way that people have always seen it.
I won't forget hearing that Tim Keller of Redeemer Church in New York once went to visit a young married couple and asked them questions about how their marriage was going, and actually asked them quite intimate questions — asked them about their sex life and other aspects of the marriage — and then asked them about their use of money and how that was. And one of them immediately said, "Oh, actually I don't feel comfortable talking about that, it's too private." Interesting what you consider private. But there you go. Maybe that's why Paul presses into this area having asked them to open their hearts to him.
And you see in verse 7 that he's going to urge them to excel in the art of giving, in this grace of giving. That's an interesting thing. Just as we should aim to excel in godliness, aim to excel in faith and trust, here is an area to excel in. We should be aiming for the best, the highest, the most in accordance with what he says — not just the least.
Now, to stir the Corinthians to action, he indulges in a cheeky little bit of competition. Paul is writing from Macedonia — these days a separate country, but back then it was part of the northern regions of Greece. And so he knew the Macedonian churches well. He was staying with them. He knew that they'd already contributed to this gift he's putting together. And now he writes to the Christians down in Corinth and compares the two of them. I mean, what better way to goad the Corinthians into action than a bit of loud praise for their country cousins up north?
And I think we might think that that's a tactic that's a little bit below the belt, bordering on emotional blackmail. Have a look at verse 8: "I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others." But the point was that the Macedonian churches he's using to challenge the Corinthians' generosity could hardly have been seen as a serious threat to the prestige of the Corinthians, because they were so much poorer. This is not comparing apples with apples. These poor Macedonians were not a threat to the Corinthians. And frankly, if wealthy Corinth couldn't raise more funds than the churches in Macedonia, they deserved to be humiliated — a bit like perhaps saying of us that we in the West deserve to be embarrassed if we can't match the extraordinary generosity of our brothers and sisters in Africa or India or South America, where perhaps they have far less than us. We ought to far outshine them, and if that's not the case, then shame on us.
Five marks of distinctively Christian giving
So he stirs the Corinthian Christians to contribute, and as he does, he shows why as Christians we should give. In fact, he shows that giving is an essential mark of Christian discipleship. And in the chapter he shows five things that are distinctive about Christian giving — not that Christians are the only people who give, but five things that are distinctive about Christian giving.
First mark: Sacrificially generous
James de Costobadie: First of all, in its nature, Christian giving is to be sacrificially generous. Have a look at verse 1:
"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."
We know from other places in the New Testament that these Christians in Macedonia had suffered persecution. And as so often, persecution and poverty go hand in hand. So that seems to be his reference here — that out of the most severe trial, this persecution that they had suffered, and yet far from using this as a reasonable excuse for an inability to contribute to Paul's fund, they had actually come up with a gift far beyond what might reasonably have been expected. It was, says Paul, extraordinarily sacrificial generosity.
In other words, this wasn't the kind of giving that was just, oh, what have I got in my pocket — not token giving. It wasn't just giving to save face, just finding something to put in the pot. It wasn't just making a donation. It certainly wasn't giving what they could get in return. It was massively sacrificial.
As I thought about that, I thought about ways in which we have been the beneficiaries of other people's incredibly sacrificially generous giving over the years. Some of you were in Christchurch at the time of the earthquakes, and a difficult time it was for everyone. But one of the amazing things that happened afterwards was the way in which Christians from elsewhere in the world, quite unprompted, gave to churches here. Within six months of the earthquakes, a group of churches had been given over two million dollars. Quite unsolicited. This wasn't us putting the begging bowl out. This was Christians sending money from overseas, unprompted, because they knew that it would be very useful over here.
When we left the Anglican Diocese in 2018, Christians and churches from elsewhere — perhaps especially the Diocese of Sydney — were unbelievably generous to us as a group of churches. That wasn't just token giving. It was sacrificial giving. And sacrificial giving by definition means it comes at a cost. You can't really have sacrificial giving that doesn't actually cost you something. Meaning that if you give sacrificially, probably there's something else you can't do instead. It's not just taking a bit of cream off the top. It's actually meaning that you have to sacrifice something to give in that way.
And maybe, to be honest, this first point — just these few first verses — is the biggest challenge from this passage for us tonight. Because it's just so, perhaps, unnatural for us to get our heads around this. As a church last year, I think I'm right in saying that we budgeted 6.5% of our income for missions. And I read this passage and think, really, is that enough? Is that what it ought to be, even if we did end up giving rather more away in the end?
I think it's personally challenging here. I couldn't find any figures for giving in New Zealand, but the figures I could find for the US is that the average church attender there gives 2% of their income to the work of the gospel. 2%. I don't think one could reasonably say that that is sacrificially generous. Sacrificially generous means it really comes at a cost.
At which point I might remind you of the story of the cow and the pig who were in a supermarket debating which was most generous between them. The cow looks at these hundreds of litres of milk on the shelf and says, "There you go, beat that!" Whereupon the pig turns to the shelf of bacon and says, "There you go — you just made a contribution, but we have made a real sacrifice." There's a difference, isn't there? And some of us might want to look at ourselves and wonder, are we just making a contribution, or are we actually making a real sacrifice? Or are we actually not giving anything at all, because we've never really got around to it? Maybe that's a question. It's certainly a question for churches as a whole as well as individuals.
Second mark: Willingly given
James de Costobadie: So, Christian giving by its nature is to be sacrificially generous. Then secondly, in its heart, Christian giving is to be willingly given.
Paul didn't have to twist the arms of the Macedonians to contribute. Rather, they spontaneously volunteered to give. Just have a look at the second half of verse 3:
"Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints."
What's happening here is that the poor Christians in Macedonia are begging — they're urgently pleading with Paul. But the irony is, they're not pleading for Paul to find some money to relieve their poverty. They're pleading for the opportunity to give to relieve someone else's poverty in Jerusalem. They counted such an opportunity a privilege — literally, a grace.
In other words, they really believed the words of Jesus himself. You remember those words recorded in the book of Acts, when Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive. Now, why is that true? Why is it more blessed to give than to receive? Well, you might say it's a more noble thing to give than to receive — fair enough. But also, you're more blessed to give than to receive because when a person gives, they benefit from it. They benefit because as you give to something, you become more invested in the thing you give to. When you contribute to something, you actually care more about it. When you give to a person, you care more about that person. When you invest more in the kingdom of God, you care more about the kingdom of God. When you give to a church, you care more about the church. And that process of giving crushes that selfishness out of us that wants to hang on to what God has given to us.
Certainly in the Macedonians' case, therefore, it was the benefactors rather than the beneficiaries who were the ones to be envied. I think often when there is an opportunity to give — either as a whole church, and I receive a number of emails that come through saying would you like to contribute to this appeal or that appeal, or for us individually — you can have a kind of inward eye-roll, as in, oh here we go again. And it's true that giving fatigue is a thing. But when churches or individuals have an opportunity to give, perhaps we should be a bit more thankful at the opportunity. God has brought this to us at this time to give us an opportunity to contribute.
Third mark: Grace-empowered
James de Costobadie: So that's the second thing — in its heart, Christian giving is willingly given. Then thirdly, in its motivation, Christian giving is grace-empowered.
Grace runs through this whole chapter, and throughout the verses Paul seems to express a delightful surprise at how the Macedonians reacted to the opportunity to give. I don't know what he expected, but clearly it wasn't what happened. Verse 5:
"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."
They didn't do as we expected. Maybe Paul expected a more pragmatic response from these Macedonians. The request comes in, maybe he was expecting them to be a bit more, oh golly, let's go to the treasurer — have we got anything left? Have we got any big bills we need to pay? Perhaps we can spare a few pennies here. But their attitude was very different. They didn't do as we expected. And instead of the thriftiness of a good accountant, they demonstrated more the almost irrational extravagance of a lover. Because for them, it wasn't just the money that they were contributing — it was themselves. It wasn't just the church in Jerusalem that they were giving to — it was the Lord. Verse 5: "They gave themselves first to the Lord."
Those words are so striking, aren't they? This Macedonian church — the request comes in, and first of all they don't deal with the money. They turn to the Lord. Maybe they ask the Lord to show them their own hearts. Maybe they pray to the Lord that he would help them to trust him. Maybe they ask the Lord to squeeze out from them the idolatries that sat in their hearts, as they sit in ours as well. It's so important to turn to the Lord first. Because when you take Jesus out of giving, the giving so quickly becomes pragmatic — oh yeah, sure, I'll just give something to it. And we can quickly become resentful. Oh, I don't really see why I should — I've already given to this and that, I don't see why I should give to that as well, and everyone else here isn't pulling their weight. When we think like that, it's because we've lost sight of the grace of God. We've lost sight of how much God has given to us. And it's God's grace that transforms the attitude with which we give, and so often the amount we want to give. That's true for us as a church and it's true for us individually.
Have a look at verse 9:
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich — and there was no one richer than God the Son — yet for your sakes he became poor."
Think of Jesus in the palace of heaven before he came down into this world. God the Son in the perfect place, with his perfect relationship with God his Father, being worshipped and adored by the angels — and then leaving that. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. Jesus lowered himself down into this stinking world, propelled by his love for you and for me. He shrank himself down to become a baby, clothed himself with flesh and skin and bones, born amongst the animals, laid in a manger — because he knew that one day he would be treated like an animal. Despised, rejected by his own creation, one day executed as a common criminal on a cross. It doesn't get lower than that. Jesus forsook wealth to take on poverty.
And what does he say? "Yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." For when a person puts their faith in Jesus Christ, spiritually they become instantaneously a multi-billionaire. Think about it. Forgiveness of sins. Redemption — that means being brought back to the Lord. Once we were lost, now brought back to the Lord. Adoption into his family as children. Given an assured and certain hope, one day to be with God in the new creation, which is paradise — this world renewed. Anything that you enjoy in this world at the moment will be in the next world, except it will be enhanced, and you will be enhanced to be able to enjoy it a hundred million times more than we can in this world, along with the people of God in perfect relationship — Christians from around the world and down the ages — all before Jesus who will be on the throne, and we will be there for eternity to enjoy it forever.
We are rich. Every Christian is rich. Not just some Christians — every Christian is rich. Rich beyond compare. He became poor that we might become rich. And when we know that grace of God, it enables us to become rich towards others. When you know that you are a recipient of grace that is beyond words, it enables us to show grace to others. And really it turns giving from being a chore into being a delight.
If you find giving a chore, it's probably because you don't understand the grace of God as much as you could or should. When a Christian understands the grace of God, they want to give — not just financially, but they want to give in all ways. In time, in effort, in anything they can do to help other Christians and reach non-Christians with the gospel. It's a pleasure. And I think it's so difficult for non-Christians to understand that. It's a pleasure to live for Jesus. And you know it's a pleasure if you're a Christian, because if I ask you, what would you trade that in for? How much money could I give you for you not to be a Christian? You'll say, get on your bike. I wouldn't do it for the whole world. You could give me the whole world and I'm not going to give up being a Christian, because I've got the better side of the deal. That's what Jesus said, wasn't it, when he said, what good is it to gain the whole world and yet forfeit your soul? No, no — I'd rather have my soul with Jesus, because we genuinely know that is the better side of the deal.
So then we are free to use what he has loaned to us for the good of other people. It's because of his grace towards us. That's what changed us. That's what broke our hard hearts. That's what's turned us around. That's what makes giving a pleasure. So that now the sentiment of the Christian is, I only wish I could have done more. I'm pleased with what I could do, but I only wish that I'd been able to do a bit more. We revel in God's grace. We're astonished by God's grace, how he's treated us. We didn't deserve it, done nothing for it. And he has bestowed on us the status of multi-billionaires. We are overwhelmed by it. And I hope tonight, if you're a Christian, you pinch yourself and consider yourself the luckiest person alive — we can, because of God's kindness to us.
Fourth mark: Proportionate
James de Costobadie: Then fourthly, in regards to fairness, Christian giving is to be proportionate. Verses 10 to 12:
"Here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have."
I think these are wonderful words that should bring comfort and sometimes challenge to us, just as we need. Here is a word for each one of us individually here tonight, as well as to different churches.
Paul wants the Corinthians to get on and action what they had promised they would do. Very easy, isn't it, to have unfulfilled intentions in life. You know, you discover something in your house that belongs to someone else and you must give that back to them, and you set it aside, put it on the kitchen counter, and six weeks later it's still sitting there. Easy to have those unfulfilled intentions. That can be a thing in life. And certainly it can be true of financial giving. True of a church — meaning to get around to giving to the missionaries but never quite doing it. Can be true too of us as individuals. We can have good intentions and then fail to actually do anything about them.
Though I always think if the boot was on the other foot, we might be quite quick to point out the deficiency in another person's action. For example, if you were to start a new job and three months later your employer said to you, "I'm so sorry, I haven't got around to your pay packet — we'll get around to it one day, do you mind if it's next month, it's a bit busy this month?" It wouldn't be long before I think we would take umbrage with that and register our dissatisfaction.
Well, no matter. Paul points out here that the previous year the Corinthians were the first to give to the hardship relief fund and to have the desire to do so. Now he says, finish the work. He's a bit worried that they're not going to come good on their pledge. He says, "Finish the work, so your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it."
Verse 12 is the crucial phrase: "according to your means." So Christian giving is not about giving what you can't give, but giving from what you can give. It's not about feeling guilty about what we don't have — it's about giving joyfully from what we do have. The kicker in this was that the Corinthian church was actually quite wealthy. So when he says they were to give according to their means, it actually came as a rather pointed comment. Of course the same might be said for many Christians who live in the West.
I think we can all understand the principle in verse 12 — the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. That should actually bring comfort to any of us here who really feel we've got very, very little. Maybe we're a student, maybe we're still at school even. We feel we have very little. But does that mean that we never have enough for a visit to McDonald's? Does that mean that we never have enough to get on a Lime scooter? It's according to the means that we have.
And a mistake that sometimes people make is thinking that because they cannot contribute much, therefore it's not worth contributing anything. Well, that is certainly not an attitude that Paul has. He just wants people to give to the hardship fund in Jerusalem as they're able. It just so happens that the Corinthian church actually was quite able.
And I think that should warn us from a certain line of thinking — that if only I had more, then I would be able to give more. In fact, surveys consistently show that the more that Christians have, proportionately, the less they give. So we should be very careful about that line of thinking. It is not borne out by the evidence. What we should take note of is what Paul says here: the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. It's to be proportionate — from churches or from individuals.
Fifth mark: Spiritual unity
James de Costobadie: And then fifthly, the significance of Christian giving, which is spiritual unity. Have a look at verses 13 to 15:
"Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard-pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality. As it is written, 'He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.'"
Now, you might think, hang on a second, that sounds a bit like communist speaking. But really, the big difference in Christian giving is that it is entirely voluntary. It comes from the heart. Christians and churches are to give not because anyone's putting a gun to our head or a knife in our back, but because we want to. Communist, Paul was not. But he definitely bucked our trend towards individualism in at least one regard. He believed passionately that Christian believers should not see themselves as isolated individuals, but as having a mutual responsibility towards one another.
In other words, Paul did not believe in communism, but he did believe — in those words that we sometimes use when we say the creed together — in the communion of the saints. In fact, twice in this passage the word communion, or I think it's translated "sharing" — koinonia, meaning fellowship — is used. Because that's what a Christian church is: a fellowship, a group of people glued together by a common life. And so giving for Paul wasn't just a kind of private virtue, but an expression of corporate Christian unity.
"Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard-pressed, but that there might be equality." When he says equality, he doesn't mean equality in the absolute standard of living they enjoyed, as if everyone had to have the same within a church or between churches. He means equality as in a lack of basic human needs across churches. So they're to give to the churches in Jerusalem because they haven't got enough to survive. At the end of the day, the people of God is a family — God's family — who are to show their love for God, whom we cannot see physically, by a love for his people whom we can see, whom God has put in front of us.
Last year the vestry — the church council at Latimer — were pleased to give a gift to a small church. And when we talked about it as a vestry, we decided we weren't doing this out of a strategic gospel motivation — that would be a very good motivation — we didn't do it for that. We did it out of a Christian kindness, because we just decided it was the right thing to do for a church that was struggling. I think Paul would have been pleased with that in that instance.
On an individual level, I've seen many times over the years how Christians have helped other members of the Christian family. I've seen instances — no doubt many times I've not been able to see what goes on behind the scenes — but I have seen many instances where people help those who don't have enough. I've seen Christians give towards the dental care, for example, of kids who belong to another family who can't afford it for themselves. I've seen Christians give towards car maintenance for someone in the church who wasn't able to afford it for themselves. Like every church, we have people of all different income abilities here, and it's a lovely thing when people help across the church so that others are relieved.
One way that we initiate that is we have a hardship fund as a church, and people occasionally give into that, and then we're able to give out from that to those who have particular needs. And it's wonderful when that happens. It all comes from the grace of God working in our hearts — to transform us, to transform our view of money, to transform our view of giving, and maybe most of all to transform our view of each other.
Conclusion
James de Costobadie: Here is distinctive Christian giving. In its nature, sacrificially generous. In its heart, willingly given. In its motivation, grace-empowered. In its fairness, proportionately measured. And in its significance, spiritual unity.
Let's pray and ask that God would help us to understand his grace, that we would be transformed by it in a similar direction.
Our Father in heaven, you have been so generous to us. I do pray for anyone here tonight who wouldn't call themselves a Christian perhaps, who hasn't come to a living faith in Jesus. I pray that you would help them to see how generous you have been to them, what you're offering to them through the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would help them not to resist but to accept the gift of Jesus to be their Lord and their Saviour.
And for the rest of us, Lord, I pray that you would help us to understand the dimensions of the love of Christ — how wide and long and high and deep is that love — to know that love that surpasses knowledge, that we might be those who find it a pleasure, a delight, to live for you in your world. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.