Continuing our worship, we start with worship and song and prayer. We continue as we give announcements and consider what God is doing at Providence, as we give our gifts and our tithes to God as an act of worship. And now the service culminates as we turn our attention to God's Word, where we see through the work of the Spirit and hear specifically God speaking to his people. The high point of our corporate worship together. Now we're continuing and actually this morning concluding our mission series titled Make Disciples. We've been considering this series all fall together considering what is the nature and purpose of Providence? Why do we exist? What are we seeking to do in this community and what are we seeking to do in partnership with other churches to the ends of the world? And to sum it up broadly, that mission is to make disciples, to mature disciples, to increase their growth, their sanctification, their holiness, their reflection of the image of Christ, and to multiply disciples. To increase the number of those who consider Christ their Lord and their Savior. As we've looked at that, we've considered the treasuring of Christ, one of the callings of discipleship, to grow in our affections and worship of God. We've considered the way that we're called to mature in Christ, to pursue holiness. To be more and more conformed to His image. And we've considered how we declare. Now at the end of this series, we started last Sunday a two-part concluding miniseries called "Count the Cost." So in light of what we've said previously and prior about discipleship, we're now finishing with two series, two messages that consider what is the cost entailed in this mission. Last week, we specifically considered Looking in Luke chapter 14, the cost that Jesus tells us is involved with those who are called to be his disciples. As Skip read for us during worship, the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "It is not cheap grace." There is a cost when we consider what it means to follow Christ. Well, this morning we're going to consider the second part of that, count the cost, and we're going to look at that phrase, count the cost, in a slightly different way.
So turn with me to 2 Corinthians 8. As you're looking there, let's begin with a word of prayer. Lord, this morning has been a testimony to Your grace as we sang songs highlighting all that You have done for us in the Gospel, singing of the wonder of the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, pleading with You for grace that our hearts might so rest in Christ that we could testify with confidence that all we have is Christ, that all we need is Christ, that all we desire is Christ, that our joy would be complete in Him. So I ask now that You would continue Your work of grace. We know that You will. We know that You are committed to working and being involved and present in the preaching of Your Word because Scripture is inspired by You. It is Your inerrant words. It is filled with Your truth. And so in it, we see You more clearly. And this morning as we hear Your Word, as we sit under it, as we submit to it, We ask that you would shape us by your word. Do that, Lord. Do it now for the glory of Jesus. Amen.
Well, look with me at 2 Corinthians 8, beginning in verse 1. Paul writes this to the church in Corinth: We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity 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. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command. But to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
As we consider this text this morning, I want us to consider a question. There's one question I want us to kind of put as a banner over this message. And we're going to spend the morning laying out our answers to that question. And the question is simply this. It's very straightforward. How does the grace of God motivate generosity? As we look at 2 Corinthians 8, how does the grace of God as Paul describes it here motivate generosity. He's talking about a church, the Macedonians, to another church, the Corinthians, and he's seeking to highlight the grace of God and the generosity of the Macedonians to stir up generosity in Corinth. So how does he do that? How does he show us God's grace leveraging and pushing out generosity amidst God's people?
Well, the first way that he does that is actually at the very end of the passage. He does it by recounting for us and for Corinth the cost of the cross. Now, there's a little bit of background in this text we need to fill in. When Paul arrives in Macedonia, he's floored by what he encounters. He knows and expects he's going to visit actually a region filled with impoverished people and churches that are actually in the midst of difficulties. Persecution. But what surprises Paul is not that, but the fact that these people in the midst of this difficulty beg Paul for what they consider the privilege of giving to the beleaguered church in Judea. When he talks about this gift of grace that he wants the Corinthians to continue, that's the context he's talking about. The church in Judea, so around Jerusalem where Christianity started and where all of these missionaries initially were sent out from. So the apostles— Christ ascends into the heavens and He gives them the charge, "Go and make disciples." Well, they start in Jerusalem and in Judea. And that church where it all started during Pentecost is now facing difficulty and real needs, real poverty. And so Paul is going out throughout all the churches to raise funds to help, to give, to help establish this church that's struggling. What he's surprised by in Macedonia that he's reporting to the church in Corinth is when he comes to Macedonia, Paul actually writes previously in chapter 7, he says, "When I came, I had no intention of actually asking the Macedonians to participate in the support of the Judeans." The reason was simple. I didn't want to go to Macedonia where they were suffering and they had their own poverty and ask them to give to help the poverty of Judea. I want to make them more poor so we can make Judea less poor. But he's shocked by what he encounters.
He encounters a group of people who express the illustration we saw last week of William Borden of Yale. Remember that concluding illustration? A man who encountering the Gospel describes his life with the 3 phrases: no reserves, no retreats, and no regrets. That kind of mentality grows out of a man who's been amazed by grace, and it shifts the focus from considering the cost of discipleship like we did last week, the cost of discipleship to us, to now considering like the Macedonians did, the cost of purchasing discipleship to Christ.
6 · Oswald highlights verse 9 as the textual anchor for the sermon's central argument: the Macedonians' generosity was motivated by seeing Christ's own generosity in the incarnation and cross
Paul makes just this connection in our text in verse 9. He reminds Corinth of what the Macedonians saw. "For you know," he says, "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich."
7 · Oswald contrasts a command-based appeal ("renounce all") with Paul's grace-based appeal
Remember last week in Luke 14:33, the final verse of our passage, Jesus says, So therefore, anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple. Now Paul knows Jesus said that. He could just write to Corinth here and just say, you remember when Jesus said if you're going to be disciples, you've got to renounce all that you have? Well, I'm calling in that claim of Jesus. You need to pony up and support the church in Judea. But he doesn't do that. Instead, this entire passage is an appeal to grace. Paul shows us that the gospel motivates generosity in the same way that it saves. It applies grace.
8 · Oswald traces the arc of Christ's generosity from pre-incarnate glory to incarnational poverty to substitutionary death
And he highlights where grace is seen. And he highlights where grace is seen in its most brilliant moment. At the cross. Grace motivates our generosity by reminding us first of Christ's generosity for us. Jesus makes generosity, we could say, a gospel issue. Before the incarnation, you have to remember this, before Christ takes on flesh, he exists as the eternal Word of God. He is the Son of God and he lacks nothing. He's fully God, and because He is fully God, He has no needs. Forbes doesn't have a category for where Jesus rests on the list of wealth as the Son of God enthroned in heaven. But we know the grace of God because the Word of God takes on flesh and leaves the Father's glory for the poverty of a barn. The Prince of Heaven becomes a carpenter's son in this backwater place called Nazareth. When Jesus enters into ministry, he enters into essentially 3 years of homelessness, right? He has no place to rest his head. He has to live at the goodwill of others. He has to be hosted by other people to get food and meals. And at the conclusion of those 3 homeless years, he ends up dying on a tree to pay a debt that he does not owe.
9 · Oswald asserts that generosity is inherently a gospel issue because Jesus' cross defines generosity
So generosity is a gospel issue because Jesus made it one. Jesus is generous to suffer our punishment and our death for the debt of our sin. And so when we recount the cost of the cross, we see how grace motivates infinite generosity and the pinnacle of sacrificial giving in Jesus, don't we? And when we see that and we consider it, it changes how we live.
10 · Oswald offers historical examples (William Borden and George Müller) of radical generosity motivated by gospel grace
It changed how William Borden lived. Remember that last week? This man, this millionaire heir to the dairy empire, a lot of money in milk, and he gives up his millions for the sake of Christ. He counts the cost and says Jesus is worth it. We see it also in a man like George Müller. George Müller, the man in Great Britain who spent his life, gave his life to raising money for the disenfranchised, who gave his life to raise money and raise up orphanages. This incredible story, if you ever read his biography, of the way he engaged himself by faith in seeing God provide for his needs and the needs of others. Here's an incredible stat. When Mueller died, his estate was worth $850 at the end of his life. $850, that's what he's got in his bank account, in his pocket, laying around his house. But at that point, and up to that point, he had given away $407,450 in his lifetime. Now, if you translate that into today's dollars, that means George Mueller gave away $177 million. We read articles about stupid athletes who earn $177 million and at the age of 40 are flat broke, right? Mueller is not that story. He's the story of a man where we see the grace of God motivating generosity as Mueller considers the cost of the cross and is changed by it.
11 · Oswald establishes that the cross is not merely one point among several, but the fountainhead from which all subsequent points flow
When we recount the cost of the cross, specifically the grace of the cross, we see there the fountainhead for all the other ways that grace motivates generosity, both in this passage and in our lives. Does that make sense? When we start in this first point and ask, how does grace motivate generosity? And we say, well, It does it by recounting the cost of the cross. That's just not point 1, then we move on to points 2, 3, and 4. Point 1 serves as the springboard and the fountainhead for all the other points. They're all tied into and built upon that. That the cross had an infinite cost that Jesus willingly embraced. That the cross had an infinite sacrifice that Jesus, for the sake of joy, took upon Himself. And then it shows us how that cross and that cost connects with grace to continue stirring up motives for generosity.
12 · Oswald signals the shift to the second way grace motivates generosity: by stirring up gratitude
And the thing we see that it stirs up next, when we consider how grace motivates generosity, is that it stirs up gratitude. It stirs up gratitude.
13 · Oswald expounds verses 1-4, highlighting that the Macedonians begged Paul for the privilege of giving despite their own affliction and poverty—evidence of gratitude's fingerprints throughout the passage
Now, if you look in this passage, you're not going to see the word gratitude anywhere. It's not there. Not explicitly. But its fingerprints are all over the place. In fact, in verses 1-4, Paul describes a group of believers, these Macedonians, and he's talking to Corinth and talking to us by using this example. And he says this group of believers are in the midst of their own difficulty. They're facing afflictions. They're facing persecution, right? And they're also poor. They're impoverished. And this church begs Paul. They beg him earnestly, Paul says. So it's not even like they're begging. It's almost like they're pathetic in their begging. Please! They beg him for the opportunity to give sacrificially. He says they actually give in a wealth of generosity. He says they give beyond what would have been expected.
14 · Oswald asserts that the Macedonians' generosity was not obligatory but gospel-motivated
But this isn't a church that feels obligated to give. Remember, Paul says he goes there and isn't even planning on having them be included in what he's doing in fundraising because he knows they're poor. What we see in 2 Corinthians 8 is a church that has encountered the gospel. They have tasted grace. And their encounter with grace has renovated their motivations for giving. And here's the thing, as we consider generosity and as we consider how grace motivates generosity, those motives are incredibly important. Motives matter.
15 · Oswald introduces a provocative claim: gratitude can be dangerous
And motives matter especially when we consider this idea of gratitude, that grace stirs up generosity through gratitude. Because gratitude can actually be a dangerous thing. Does that sound like a strange thing to say? Gratitude can be dangerous. The gospel's imprint upon the Macedonian church is expressed primarily in their motives, not their actions. Does that make sense? The fact that the gospel is operative in their hearts and it's operative in the way they view the world is expressed not in the fact that they give sacrificially, but in why they give sacrificially.
16 · Oswald moves to 2 Corinthians 9:7 to show Paul's concern for motives: God loves cheerful givers, not reluctant or compelled ones
In the next chapter, Paul is still exhorting the Corinthians. So this generosity deal is such a big topic that he takes 2 pretty long chapters out of this letter to devote to it. And in the next chapter, in chapter 9, he's exhorting the Corinthians, give to this collection. He says this, verse 7, "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart." not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. We've all heard that verse before, right? And that expresses exactly why gratitude is such a dangerous thing.
17 · Oswald expounds the danger: gratitude twisted into debt-repayment is broken gratitude
If we aren't careful, gratitude for the gospel can get twisted into a mindset that now seeks in giving to pay God back. If generosity flows from gratitude that says, "Look what God has done for me! I must respond!" we don't grasp grace. The cost of the cross is infinite. The sacrifice that we see in Christ being crushed for our sins, in His wrists being pierced, in the lacerations upon His back, in bearing the wrath of God in our place, that sacrifice is limitless. And that means this: it's a debt that He takes upon Himself that belongs to us. That we are incapable of paying back. You can't pay God back for what Jesus has done on the cross and in the gospel. And so it means this: gratitude for the gospel is a broken gratitude. Your gratitude is not functioning the way that it should if it treats the generosity of the cross like one massive mortgage. That you're gonna just try and chip away at for all eternity, that somehow you're gonna slowly pay off. You will never make a dent in that debt, ever.
18 · Oswald cites Piper's concept of a "debtor's ethic" to diagnose the legalism that results when gratitude becomes obligation
That's what Piper in his book Future Grace calls a debtor's ethic. It leads people into this self-empowered obedience and legalism. Generosity is something I do because I'm grateful, because I owe God. Because Christ gave, I should give and I have to give. And so you give under compulsion and out of misplaced notions of self-righteousness. You start trying to repay and even re-earn God's favor, which the Gospel says you can never earn. That's why you get it Through grace alone, by faith, right?
19 · Oswald contrasts grace-drenched gratitude with debtor's ethic: the Macedonians give not to reduce indebtedness but to increase it, positioning themselves to need even more grace
The gratitude we see in 2 Corinthians 8 is of a totally different sort. It's a gratitude not given to a debtor's ethic, but a gratitude that is drenched with grace. This passage reeks of unfathomable, cavernous grace. Their generosity that we see in this impoverished church is motivated by gratitude for grace but it's also an expression of grace. Does that make sense? They're motivated because they're grateful, but they give not just because they're grateful, but because they want more grace. Here's what I mean. They aren't generous because they're working off a debt. They're generous because of the nature of grace. They're not generous because they want to get out of God's debt. They are generous because they desire to be more in God's debt. Does that make sense? That is to say, they want to give in such a way, to such a radical extent, that they are more in need of grace. They're going to be so generous that they position themselves in such a way, not that they're less indebted to God, but that they've given to such an extent and so sacrificially that now they have to come before God in new ways saying, We gave so much, we need even more grace, God. We're even more in your debt, and we are happily more in your debt because being more in your debt means we need more of your grace.
20 · Oswald unpacks the Greek behind "favor" in verse 4 (the word is "grace"), revealing that the Macedonians begged for the privilege of giving specifically because giving would increase their need for grace
Verse 3, for they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly. Why? Why do they do that? Verse 4: "They beg us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints." That word "favor" is actually the Greek word for "grace." They are generous, Paul says, because they are begging, almost in a pathetic way, begging earnestly to be put into a position where they need more grace.
21 · Oswald defines proper gratitude: perpetual amazement at the unrepayable nature of grace, trusting that the God who saved will continue to save and will consummate His kingdom
Proper gratitude never ceases to be amazed at the unrepayable nature of God's generosity. It's grace-saturated gratitude that stands in awe that God has saved and that He continues to save, that He's not just inaugurated His kingdom and invited us into it, He will keep us in that Kingdom and He will one day establish that Kingdom. It's a gratitude that casts itself upon the hope that the same God who was gracious to us in the past will also be gracious to us in the future.
22 · Oswald signals the transition to the third way grace motivates generosity: by increasing faith in future grace
And that's the third way grace motivates generosity. Grace motivates generosity by recounting the cross and then having established the generosity we see in the cross, by stirring up the right kind of gratitude. Not a gratitude that pays God back, but a gratitude that says, "That's amazing! If he's given Christ, he will give us all things. I want to go live in such a reckless way that I put myself more in need of God's grace." And you can only live in that way where you're putting yourself more in need of God's grace in the way you live generously if you also have a framework that says, "I expect that I can live that way because God." God will extend future grace.
23 · Oswald states the third mechanism: grace motivates generosity by increasing faith in God's future faithfulness, trusting that His past grace guarantees future grace
The gospel motivates generosity by increasing our faith. Increasing our faith that the same God who was faithful yesterday will be faithful tomorrow and next month and next year.
24 · Oswald addresses the awkwardness of pastors talking about money, acknowledging the potential appearance of conflict of interest, but notes that Paul boldly addressed generosity and expects future grace to motivate giving
One of the striking things about this passage for me as a pastor as we look at this this third point is that Paul is asking people to increase their giving. I mean, shoot, he's talking about giving, period. As pastors, that's kind of an awkward topic because we're aware that you're aware that your giving pays our salaries, right? I get that and I know that you know it and that can kind of make it seem like there's a conflict of interest. But I see in this passage, here's Paul not shirking away from the topic of addressing churches and calling them to generosity. In other places, he does it in different ways. It's not the only time that he does it. He uses the illustration of the Macedonians in an expectation that future grace and their understanding of it will stir up a different church to give as well.
25 · Oswald applies the sermon by transparently addressing Providence Church's financial challenges: a large mortgage on a small space, budget strain, and the need to decide whether to renovate or sell
Which I think for me brings application that should be expressed in this sermon. Paul's walking around telling churches of a need and stirring up their support and generosity to give to that need. Well, this need I want to talk about is not equal to the need of the Judean Christians. It's a different sort of need, but it's a need that exists, and it's the need that we have here at Providence. For those of you who came to the family meeting in the fall, you saw us lay out the budget and talk about the building. And we knew and recognized as your pastors that our budget was a step of faith. And there's a degree where our budget should be a step of faith. But we recognized and we talked about the fact that there might be challenges for us in the upcoming year. We have a building situation. We have a budget situation. If you look around the room, you can see we are growing, and as we grow in this space, we're running out of seats for people to sit in, right? We've also got a really big mortgage. A mortgage that seems to extend beyond the capacity of our giving. So we're stretched to afford the building. And not just a big mortgage. We've got a big mortgage on a church that has a small worship space. So to make budget, we need to see generosity increase at Providence. We also need to consider whether it's wiser to renovate this space, to knock out walls in the back and make this worship space bigger and more suitable to our needs, which will cost money, which is tough with a tight budget. Or whether it would be wiser to consider selling the building and moving into a rented space that would be more affordable and larger to fit us. So there's some real needs. As pastors, we've been aware of them. There's ways right now, as the giving comes in the first part of the year, where we look into the future and see the trends and recognize the budget is starting to get really tight. And really precarious. And what does it look for us as we consider the building? What is the way forward?
26 · Oswald calls the congregation to prayer, input, and increased generosity
Well, I share this because we need your prayers for it. I want you to be aware of it as a church. It's not a burden that just your pastor should shoulder. It's a burden that we should all think about and pray about together. It's also something we want your input on. We want your counsel on. What are your thoughts as you look at this building, as you consider our mortgage, as you look at our budget, and you consider the options of renovation, you consider the options of selling and renting? What do you think about those things? But whatever course we take, we will need more generosity. That's not to say that people at Providence haven't been generous. Many of you have been incredibly generous, but it's to recognize that to make this budget work, we will need more generosity, which means we will need more faith.
27 · Oswald returns to the text to show Paul's rhetorical strategy: using a poor, persecuted church (Macedonia) to challenge a wealthy church (Corinth)
I'm challenged by Paul's boldness in addressing the need for generosity, but I'm even more by the way that grace elicits an impoverished, suffering church to step out in faith. Paul talks about generosity and he charges the church in Corinth, the wealthy church, "You should give. And to stir you up to give, let me tell you about your poor brothers and sisters in Macedonia." And he gives this equation. He basically says, "You have this severe test of affliction." So here's persecution. And then you add to that, they have extreme poverty. So persecution plus poverty in Macedonia equals overflowing generosity. You get a dirt-poor church giving according to their means and beyond their means. It's radical and it's sacrificial. And it's the kind of giving that Paul shows us can only happen through faith.
28 · Oswald contrasts willpower-driven giving with grace-expecting faith
It stems from gospel gratitude that isn't just grace-driven, It's grace expecting. The Macedonian generosity is not an act of willpower. It's not like Paul sits up in front of them and lays out a 3-month sermon series and teaching program on giving and generosity and just starts really leveraging the guilt. Look at everything Jesus has done for you. Won't you give more? It's not like they go home and and just say, "We gotta work harder. We gotta think strategically. We gotta do something to make this happen." That's not what's happening. What's happening is a movement of faith, a glad response to the gospel, a people that have tasted grace, and so they want to radically position themselves to be put even more at the mercy of grace. They beg Paul for the chance to give because they're begging him, "We want grace." They want to be stretched to the place where they actually give, according to Paul, too much, because they know in giving too much they position themselves to depend more deeply and more intentionally upon God.
29 · Oswald synthesizes: grace-dominated gratitude is not past-oriented payback but future-oriented dependence
Grace-dominated gratitude recognizes the incessant need for more grace. It doesn't say, "God gave grace in the past. Wonderful. Now I should give." It says, "God gave grace in the past. I should position myself considering how good that grace was that I'll need more grace in the future." And so gratitude grows because the debt of grace grows.
30 · Oswald expounds 2 Corinthians 9:8, showing Paul's promise that God will make grace abound to those who give, ensuring sufficiency in all things at all times
Right after Paul challenges Corinth about their attitudes in giving, remember he says, "God loves a cheerful giver, don't give compulsively." He reminds them of the promise of future grace for anybody who embraces the gospel's generosity. He says this in verse 8 of chapter 9: "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. So in this point, remember, Paul is saying one of the things that stirs up generosity is a people who have faith that God wasn't just gracious in the past, that God will continue being gracious in the future. So Paul says in 2:9-7, don't give under compulsion, don't give out of a debtor's ethic, Don't give because you feel like you have to give. Give cheerfully. And then in verse 8, give cheerfully and with an established faith that God will supply future grace.
31 · Oswald preempts prosperity theology misreadings: Paul does not promise material wealth but grace
Now, this is also a popular text for prosperity theology. So let me just say here a moment, Paul is not a prosperity preacher. You can't go to 2 Corinthians 9, even though people do this, and try and pretend like Paul is promising people Beamers and Bentleys. That's not what he's doing. Shoot, I mean, these crazy Macedonians have just made themselves more poor, right? That's not prosperity theology. Paul's highlighting this church that had tons of faith, and you know what their faith got them? Less money. Paul is not promoting prosperity gospel here. Paul is not promising you Benjamins if you step out in generosity. He's not promising you goodies. What he's promising you is something you need far more. He's promising you grace.
32 · Oswald shows that radical generosity creates a need for radical faith—a desperate resting in God's provision
So radical generosity is exciting because it positions the giver to need a more radical faith. I've given a ton. In fact, I'm like the Macedonians maybe, and I've given kind of beyond what I maybe should have, which means I really need to pray hard. Lord, I think that was the right thing to do. Give me faith that you, the God who gives food to the sparrows, who clothes the lilies of the field, that you will provide for me. It's a desperate resting in God's ability to do for us what we can never do for ourselves. Faith is impossible without grace, and the faith that motivates generosity believes that the God who gave grace yesterday, because of Jesus and because of the cross, will give grace tomorrow.
33 · Oswald introduces a second financial application: the new Sovereign Grace Ministries polity raises expectations for church partnership giving (5-10%), requiring Providence to increase giving to SGM while already facing budget challenges
We just watched this mission video, right? The first of three. We talked about this polity presentation. Well, I think one of the exciting aspects of the new polity is it raises the bar and expectation of how churches will give in their partnership with Sovereign Grace Ministries. So part of the polity is talking about a 5% floor for giving for churches, for smaller churches that maybe have financial difficulties, and then also a goal of 10% for churches that if they have the wherewithal, they would engage in gospel ministry together. And I think what's helpful about that is it's taking those who take and desire gospel partnerships. So it's taking churches who say, "Yeah, we think it's good to band together. It's good to work together within Sovereign Grace Ministries or another ecclesiastical body for the purpose of mission, to make Christ known." It takes those churches who want the benefits of partnership. And he says, "That's excellent. Because you want the benefits of partnership, join with us in funding partnership." That makes sense. It's a good thing about the polity. But what's written to the polity will actually require us to increase our giving to Sovereign Grace Ministries. We're watching videos talking about the Pastor's College. What does it look like to fund those things? Can we fund those things? The thing is, they don't make these videos required. They don't send them out and And the COVID letter doesn't say, "To whom it may concern, thou shalt show video 1 on the 3rd Sunday in November," or whatever this is. Thou shalt show video— it doesn't say that. In fact, we receive notification and communication at times from Sovereign Grace Ministries saying, "We understand that the economy is difficult. So use discretion and wisdom. If you don't feel like you can show these videos and you don't feel comfortable asking folks to give, give to the mission together. And we understand that. We don't want to take away from the way folks give to their local church. CJ specifically talked about we want people to prioritize giving to their local church. We don't want them to give to the partnership in a way that takes away from their giving locally. Well, okay, so they say that and they've told us that. So what does that mean? I mean, I just talked about the fact we're struggling to make budget. Our building is really expensive. Should we show a video asking folks to give something additional to what they're already struggling to give towards?
34 · Oswald reframes the question: rather than asking "Can we afford this?", ask "Will this stretch our faith and make us more desperate for grace?" He confesses his own excitement—not foolish but Macedonian excitement—rooted in faith
Well, let's maybe ask that another way. Should we show a video and embrace a polity that will stretch our faith, that will make us more desperate for grace? Well, you put it that way and it seems like a no-brainer. Because I want grace more than I want comfort. Because I want to rely on Jesus and I want us to rely on Jesus more than budget projections. I want to give and I want us to give beyond our means because Jesus gave beyond his means and because radical generosity possessions, myself and my family and this entire church for a more radical experience of God's grace extended to us in Christ. I'm aware of where we are financially. I'm aware of what considering giving to our partnership entails, and I'm excited about it. Not stupid excited. Macedonian, trying to be radical and filled with faith excited. Get on my knees and pray and cry out for God to provide excited. And who are we fooling? Our budget problems could be twice as bad and we would still be one of the wealthiest churches in the history of Christianity. Christianity. Let's pursue greater generosity because it forces us to go to the bank and make withdrawals, not just of cash, but of hope placed in possessions. And it allows us to make deposits for hope placed in future grace.
35 · Oswald asserts a key theological principle: God's purpose in calling for generosity is not fundraising but sanctification
Generosity in giving is not God's way to raise money. Paul's not talking about generosity for the purpose ultimately of raising money. Generosity in giving isn't God's way of raising money. Generosity in giving is God's way of growing believers. It's His way of growing our joy.
36 · Oswald signals the transition to the fourth and final way grace motivates generosity: by promising greater joy
Which is the final thing we see this morning. How does grace motivate us towards generosity? It shows us the cost of the cross, and then rightly understood, it wipes away a debtor's ethic and gives us gospel-saturated grace-desiring gratitude that wants to be more in debt to God. So we need more grace, and as we need more grace and are more in debt, it stirs up an increase of faith in future grace that God will continue to pour out grace. And finally, Grace motivates generosity by promising us, in all of those things, you will find greater joy.
37 · Oswald expounds the connection between grace, generosity, and joy by returning to verse 1: the Macedonians had abundance of joy despite severe affliction and extreme poverty
With every action of obedience, in today's context, the obedience of generosity and sacrificial giving, we go deeper into the debt of God's grace. And being deeper in the debt of God's grace is exactly why Paul can show us here in this text that giving generously and sacrificially and radically increases our joy. Because it's in experiencing grace that you experience joy. And joy is all over this passage. First verse, chapter 8: In a severe test of affliction, there the Macedonians' abundance of joy. Just stop right there before we go any further. They're getting persecuted. They're getting hammered. It's not just, well, they're going through kind of a hard time. The people around them just aren't treating them very nicely. Paul, who's gotten rods and been stoned and been beaten and been imprisoned and seen people die for the gospel, says what these churches are facing, it is severe. Think about that. Paul probably reaches back and feels the scars. Yeah, I can call this severe. What they're experiencing is severe, and he says, "In a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy." I face very little affliction, and I think I'm more prone to whine. And be joyful. In that severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
38 · Oswald synthesizes: grace connects giving with joy
The way that grace motivates radical generosity is it connects our giving with our joy. Generosity is not primarily a financial issue. Generosity is a gospel issue, which is to say generosity is a joy issue.
39 · Oswald cross-references Hebrews 12, showing that Jesus endured the cross "for the joy set before Him
When the author of Hebrews, coming out of Hebrews 11, right? The chapter of faith. He's described the incredible faith of all of these saints, some of whom are kind of sketchy characters, but they had just enough faith to get included in the chapter. A testimony to God's grace. He comes out of Hebrews 11 and he's talking about all of this faith and he drops into Hebrews 12 And he's about to say, in light of all that, this is what it looks like to run the race of faith with endurance. To do that, to set aside things that hinder us, the sin that entangles us, to do that, to run the race of faith, to have that endurance, you need to do this. You need to look to Jesus. He's the founder. He creates your faith. He's the perfecter of your faith. He will see it through to the end. And when you look to Jesus, you will see this: a man who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despised its shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus' radical generosity on the cross Hebrews tells us was a pursuit of joy.
40 · Oswald applies Hebrews 12 to believers: just as Jesus pursued joy through the cross, believers pursue joy through radical generosity
And it's the same stakes for us.
41 · Oswald illustrates the folly of hoarding by reading the parable of the rich fool from Luke 12
Consider a couple parables. In Luke 12, Jesus tells of a wealthy man. This guy, as we'll read it, sounds actually strangely American. The proto-American in the Gospels. The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store all of my crops?' He said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my old barns and I will build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and all my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for you for many years." Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? And so is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.
42 · Oswald diagnoses the root of hoarding: the belief that possessions will bring happiness
You know why we hoard? Everybody seen the show Hoarders? I've seen a couple episodes and it's just kind of like, you kind of can't stop watching but you're thinking, "There's people that actually like this?" The thing is, that's just a messier version of our own hoarding, of the way our own hearts are prone to hoard. You might not have a house just stacked to the ceiling with useless junk and trinkets. But you might have other things, other places stacked to the ceiling with things the Bible describes as eternally useless. You know why you hoard? You know why I'm tempted to hoard? Because I think it will make me happy. I buy and I accumulate. As people buy and accumulate, they realize, "I need a bigger house for I got all these accumulated treasures. I have to have somewhere to put them. And so they invest sacrificially, right? The reason people do those things, the reason they squeeze their budgets to be able to afford that house, the reason they squeeze their budgets to be able to put money in that account, is because we are convinced our joy is at stake in those things. That possessions will bring us pleasure.
43 · Oswald contrasts the rich fool with the parables of the treasure and the pearl from Matthew 13
Compare that with Matthew 13: The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up, Then in his joy, he goes and sells all that he had and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who, on finding one pearl of great value— the original text actually has the sense of finding one pearl of greater value than any other pearl could possibly hold— he goes and sells all that he has and he buys it. Sells the field in his joy. Sells all he has to buy the field.
44 · Oswald synthesizes the parables: generosity tangibly expresses the truth that Jesus is more and better than possessions
Generosity is a gospel issue because like few things in this life, our generosity allows us to tangibly, graciously express the truth: Jesus is more. Jesus is is better. Faith sells now and gives painfully, believing that it stores up for an eternal tomorrow. Faith goes beyond gratitude and it extends further. It goes beyond a tithe at risk to financial safety because it believes that the God who has given His Son for our sins will withhold nothing in the future. Faith gives radically because it believes Jesus provides better joy than stuff.
45 · Oswald cites the widow's mite as the biblical measure of generosity: not equal giving but equal sacrifice
Grace measures generosity not by measuring percentages of wealth, but by measuring proportions of sacrifice. It's not about equal giving according to Jesus. It's about equal sacrifice. The widow with the two copper coins that together equal a penny, Jesus says, gives more than all the wealthy because she gives all that she has. And it's in this posture that she puts herself in a desperate need of grace. And it's that posture that grace grants us joy. A joy in Jesus that exceeds the possessions we give away.
46 · Oswald concludes with Hudson Taylor's testimony: after a life of radical missionary sacrifice, Taylor said, "I never made a sacrifice
In the book "Future Grace," as well as another book, Piper highlights the example of Hudson Taylor. Hudson Taylor is the famous missionary to China. Went and spent his life on the mission field. It was actually to go serve with Hudson Taylor that William Borden is going to Cairo to learn Arabic that he can go serve and assist Hudson Taylor in China. So connection with last week. He gives his life. He goes and serves on the mission field. He lives in this radically generous way. And he knows difficulties and hardships and sacrifices that most of us can't even imagine. When he's old, he states this. One of his friends. At the end of his life. "I never made a sacrifice." "I never made a sacrifice." Hudson Taylor can say that because he's counted the cost. At the end of a life of incredible hardship and denial, he sees no sacrifice. Because along the way he's experienced joy and gratitude. He's seen God's unwavering grace, and in it he's tasted more of Jesus.
47 · Oswald closes with two diagnostic questions: What does your generosity reveal about your desire for grace? What does it reveal about where you pursue joy? Generosity is a gospel and joy issue because Jesus made it so
Our generosity is a way to remind others and ourselves of the radical generosity of Jesus. It's a gospel issue. Jesus makes it so. And so it's a joy issue. So ask yourself, what does my generosity say about my desire for grace? And what does it say about where I pursue joy?
48 · Oswald transitions to closing prayer
Would you bow your heads?