High Ongar Parish - Sermon Script

It might seem like a distant memory, but christmas was only a month ago. So maybe you’ve forgotten, but I wonder what you got for christmas. What was your best present? The socks. The jumper. The new TV. Or maybe the fact that someone else cooked the dinner or looked after the kids. Maybe your best present was simply a rest. So let me ask you: what was your best christmas present?

Well if you were here in church on christmas morning, then you might remember that we were thing about the best present ever. The best christmas present of all time. And we looked at v15 of the passage we’re going to study in more detail this morning. So if you’re not already there, please turn back with me to 2 Cor 9 on p4 of your service sheets look with me at that last verse:

That’s what christmas presents are all about. A reminder the greatest christmas present of all time. The gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. A gift that led to the death of His one and only son on the cross. A willing death. A necessary death. Because each and every one of us by nature has rejected the God who gave us life in the first place. By nature, we’re all sinners. And so, left to ourselves, every one of us would be facing God’s just punishment when we died. Without God’s indescribable gift, every one of us would have been facing an eternity in hell; a just punishment for our rejection of his indescribable gift.

The motivation for giving. The motivation for giving. V15 is the last verse of ch 9 and concludes a long section which began in ch 8. And in ch 8, Paul’s been encouraging the Corinthians to be generous. Why? What’s he want the money for? Well in Europe and especially in Corinth, there was an economic boom. But in the land of Israel, there was a recession.

And of course, if you believe the statistics, then here in Britain we were just about coming out of recession by the end of last year. And for many people, 2009 was a painful year. Especially if you had your hours cut or lost your job completely. But at the same time, I think we need to have a bit of perspective. This time last year, the media was full of stories about a return to the depression of the 1930s. In his book, the road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell recorded a journey he made around various northern towns in the mid-1930s. He records visiting houses where 10 people slept in two squalid little rooms. Houses that had no hot water; houses that were 50 yards from the nearest loo; houses where people were cold because they had no bedclothes. This wasn’t the exception. In the 1930s, this was normal. According to Orwell, at the time, between 10 & 20 million people were malnourished; not in Africa, but here in England. In 21C Britain, relative poverty is now defined by your access to consumer goods.

But back in 1st centuary Israel, there was a famine. And, of course, there was no social security in those days, so the christians in Israel were literally starving. There was a financial need because there was a famine. So Paul encourages generous giving by those christians living in more prosperous areas. The need was pressing. But the need wasn’t the main motivation for giving. No the motivation for giving was the Gospel. The motivation for giving is God’s indescribable gift in the person of His son. Back in 2 Cor 8:9, Paul wrote:

As a church, we have financial needs as Barbara has already outlined for us. But if our giving is simply to balance the budget, then we’re no different from a local keep-fit club. Our motivation for giving must be the Gospel. Our motivation for giving must be the Lord’s indescribable gift to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And our financial giving should be just one small part of our total whole-life response to that gift. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

1 Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Just because giving is meant to be a thankful response, doesn’t mean it’s a spur of the moment thing. Godly giving isn’t an embarrassed fumble for loose change when the plate comes round. No godly giving is planned giving. Which means if we’re christians, if we’ve been gripped by that indescribable gift, we need to sit down, pray through our budgets and plan how much we’re going to give.

If you’re not a christian here this morning, then I hope you’re learnt something about the christian faith, but as I said at the beginning of the service, the main point of this morning is for committed christians. But if you do consider yourself a member of St Mary’s, or St James or All Saints, you should be giving at least something to the church; but your giving shouldn’t be driven by guilt to chuck whatever loose change you can find when the plate comes round. Why? Because godly giving is planned giving.

But Godly giving is also prudent giving. God has been lavish in His gift to us. But God’s not wasteful. He wouldn’t have given His own Son to death if it hadn’t have been absolutely necessary for our salvation. God doesn’t waste his gifts. And the biblical principle of good stewardship can be applied to our giving. If you’re a tax payer, then when you give to charity, the tax man adds another 28% to your gift. But it only works if you sign a gift aid declaration. So if you’re a tax payer, and you don’t gift aid your giving, then you’re wasting 28% of it. So, in a sense, you’re wasting God’s resources. And it’s the same with one-off as well as regular gifts. If you’re a tax-payer, please don’t put loose change in the collection plate. Use one these special one-off Gift Aid envelopes and make sure you sign the declaration on the label. Because Godly giving is prudent giving.

So godly giving is planned and prudent. But maybe you’re asking how much. Well if we were a keep fit club, then we’d say that we’ve got about 150 members on our Electoral Roll, so [as Barb mentioned earlier] to balance the budget that works out at about £38 a month each.

As a thankful response to the Gospel, we’re called to be generous. So what does generous mean? Well generosity is a relative term. As that passage from 1 Cor put it: whenever we’re paid or receive our pension or allowance of whatever, each of us should set aside a proportion in keeping with our income. So what kind of proportion? Well the Old Testament set God’s people the target of giving away 10% of their income, and christians have often used this target as a starting point – which is why corporately as a church we’re aiming to build up to giving away 10% of our income as a church to mission and other charities outside the parish. But the New Testament doesn’t actually mention 10%. It simply commands us to be generous.

Now for those on tight or shrinking budgets, 10% might be crippling and I completely understand that. But some could give away 10% of their income and not feel much of a pinch. What’s the definition of generous? Well it’s up to you. Whether you’re being generous with your giving is between you and God. He knows your circumstances; and if you’ve been gripped by that indescribable gift, reflected on the Bible’s teaching and prayed the issues through, then in your heart, you’ll know whether you’re being generous or not.

Maybe this afternoon you sit down and prayerfully plan your giving, it’s a generous amount, maybe even a sacrificial amount; you set up a Standing Order and sign the gift aid Declaration so you’re going to be a prudent giver as well. But what if, during the week, your mind starts thinking about all the other things you could have spent the money on. A better holiday; a pony or some more sports kit. It’s not that sport, pets, or holidays are wrong in themselves – we all need to keep fit, have a rest and God wants us to enjoy His creation. But if your giving is half-hearted, if you start to resent your giving, then it won’t be joyful. And it you’re not joyful about your giving, then no matter how much you give, it won’t be godly. Because Godly giving is joyful giving.

And the first result is that the giver is blessed. The giver is blessed. Now we need to be careful here. We don’t give in order to be blessed. Even less do we give in order to get right with God. No as we saw from v15, our motivation for giving is the Gospel. But look with me at v8:

10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion,

Now we need to be careful. Some churches I’ve come across teach that if you give to the church then God will make you financially rich. And it’s a dangerous heresy. So if that’s not what it’s saying, what does it mean? Well, v10 is saying that, if you give generously, maybe even to the point where it seriously impacts your budget, God is able to balance your budget. After all, He’s the creator of the universe. Nothing is impossible with God. So blessing your budget is no sweat for God. As v8 puts it, God is able to supply all your needs. Not all your wants, especially those fuelled by our materialistic debt-laden culture. Nowhere does God promise you a 5 star luxury holiday.

But God is able and willing to supply all our basic needs. He can provide us with extra cash, sometimes by receiving extra money we’d not expected. Or He can help us to limit expenditure that we thought we were going to have to fork out. It’s what Kate and I call divine arithmetic when it comes to balancing the budget. When we were at Bible college with a young baby and without both the incomes we’d been used to, even though we carefully budgeted, we sometimes didn’t know how budget the was going to be balanced. But when we had needs, we prayed and the Lord provided – like when our cooker packed up. And The Lord has done it again for us since we’ve been here in High Ongar. We need a much bigger lawn mower for the massive Rectory lawn. So we prayed about it. And hey presto, a cheque arrives through the post just before christmas from a completely unexpected source that will hopefully cover the cost of buying a new lawn mower. So even when times are tough, the challenge is to remain generous with our giving, and to trust the Lord to provide for all our needs. Divine arithmetic then.

God doesn’t promise to make us rich. But he has said, as a general rule, he will provide for our needs and bless the godly giver. Spiritually bless us that is, as our needs are met and our faith is stretched. That’s the first result of giving. The giver is blessed.

And then in v12-[13/ 14], we see the second result of giving. The needs of others are met. Needs are met. And to understand this we need to remember the context. Paul was taking up a collection from rich European churches to help the poor christians back in Jerusalem who were in the midst of their own recession. So what will happen when those Jewish christians received a gift from their richer European brothers and sisters in X? Well look at v12:

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men 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.

So not only are practical needs met, but the recipients are driven to thank the Lord for His provision. Because that’s how the Lord normally provides for His people. Yes God sometimes performs miracles like divine arithmetic. But normally the Lord provides for the needs of His people through the giving of His people. Your giving will supply the needs of God’s people here at High Ongar and beyond. When God’s people are in need they pray. And when the Lord’s provides, they say thank you.

But there’s more. What are they saying thank you for in v13: it’s not only for the material provision they’ve received. No, they’re also thanking God for the Corinthians' faith. Because the Corinthians’ generous giving is a demonstration of the reality of their faith. It’s a demonstration that, when push comes to shove, their faith isn’t some private religious experience that comes and goes. No, they’re prepared to put their money where their mouth is. Or in other words, when they say their believe the Gospel, they’re prepared to back it up with hard cash. And so those receiving the cash give thanks. Not only for the cash, but for the reality of Gospel being worked out in the givers’ lives.

What else happens when these poor christian in Jerusalem received the money. They not only thank the Lord. They pray for the givers. They get out the Corinthians' prayer letter which came with the cheque and start praying for the ministry back in Corinth. What’s the result of giving? Not only are the givers blessed and needs met, but ministry is multiplied. Ministry is multiplied.

So it could be that, in years to come, people here in High Ongar give thanks to the Lord for your giving today in church; giving that led to an expansion of the ministry, giving which humanly speaking led to them coming to know Jesus's Ministry which saved them from a lost eternity in hell. Ministry that led to God’s people being blessed and God being glorified.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the indescribable gift of the Gospel; for the gift of your Son who lived and died for the sake of His people. If we’re christians here this morning, if we’ve been forgiven in the Gospel, then we pray for grateful responsive hearts. Help us to respond with the whole of our lives, we pray. And help us to respond with godly giving: with giving that’s planned, prudent, generous and joyful. And as we give, we thank you for your further blessings and long that ministry might be multiplied in this place, so that more people might know the indescribable gift of sins forgiven. In Jesus’s name, and for you glory we pray. Amen

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