2 Corinthians 8: Generosity is Contagious

The "Las Vegas" of first century Rome has been on a long journey. The Apostle Paul is encouraging them to forgive one another, know who they are in Christ, keep their lives holy, and stay unified.

Overall Theme: Strength in Weakness The God of All Comfort

Strength in weakness. This is the central message of 2 Corinthians. Throughout the letter Paul turns upside down our natural expectations of the way life works. Contrary to the way the world and our own human hearts naturally function, God takes what is low, despised, and weak to accomplish his purposes.

Key Verse God of all Comfort

(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Bible Breakdown
• 1:26 Generosity is Contagious
• 4:39 The Macedonian Example
• 7:22 Giving According to What You Have
• 10:47 The Partners in Ministry
• 13:17 The 90-Day Tithe Challenge

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, and if I were to give this one a title, it would be Generosity is Contagious. Generosity is Contagious. And before we do this, if you're listening to this on the podcast, you're still my favorites and you have no idea. But if you are watching this on YouTube, then things will look a little bit different.

Speaker 2: 0:48

In my and I'm air quoting here studio today, and that is, we are in the process of doing some renovations. We're taking a step forward in the way everything looks, and so if you're a podcast listener, nothing changes. But if you are someone who is used to watching me, then this looks a little bit different this week. But we are going to have something new that I'm really excited to show you guys. It's going to look different. It's going to take a lot for me to get used to, but I cannot wait for you to see it, and I may actually shoot a completely separate video. You can only get on YouTube. That'll let you see it as we get started.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Okay, but enough of that for now. Let's talk about what it is to understand that generosity is contagious. But, as always, before we do that, make sure you comment like, subscribe on YouTube. We are on our way. We are getting closer every day to the road to 1000. Thank you so much for everybody. I see some of you who are sharing this on your social media, asking your friends to go and subscribe to all of this. That means the world to me. Thank you so very much. The podcast listeners make sure that you can actually share the podcast on your social media as well, and together we are creating a community of people. I loved it so much.

Speaker 2: 1:57

The other day I was saying goodbye to someone as they were leaving church and I said goodbye, I'll see you next week. And this lady looked at me and she said pastor, I see you every day. And it just filled my heart with so much joy that we get to spend this time together every day and I just love it. I love just geeking out and enjoying the Bible together. And, of course, as always, there's also a community that is growing every day on the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. That is the place to go, man, you want to talk about people who are really doing an amazing job. Those people over there are doing phenomenal, so make sure you go there and you get a chance to read the stuff that they are writing. It is amazing. I look forward to reading them every day. So this one is one that is. I would love to hear your comments on the Bible breakdown discussion on times when you have been blessed by somebody and then times when you have had the opportunity to be a blessing. That's what we're going to be talking about today in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8. So if you want to take your Bibles with me, you want to open them up to 2 Corinthians 8.

Speaker 2: 2:57

I love the idea of generosity, but here's the thing Generosity does not come natural to a lot of people. Now, if generosity does come natural to you, then you don't understand why people struggle with it, but a lot of people do struggle with the idea of being generous. And can I just get on my pastor soapbox for a moment? One of the areas where we should be able to talk about finances the most should be in the church world, because it's in the church world where we can talk about how God has a plan for our finances, and he wants us to be free in our finances. He wants us to be blessed. He wants all these great things for us.

Speaker 2: 3:33

But when we get into church settings, a lot of times people say, god, you can have my soul, you can have my eternity, but don't touch my checkbook, don't touch my checking account. And I think that's very dangerous when we talk about that, and I can't tell you how many times I've had people come to me and they have said, pastor, I would love to give, I'd love to give to missions, I'd love to give to the church, but I'm just financially strapped right now. There's just nothing I can do. And then I'll start a series on how to honor God with your finances, and then I'll get these emails of criticism how dare you talk to me about my finances? Well, you just told me that you were struggling, and so one of the things I love about God is he loves us enough to talk about all kinds of things, and what we're going to see in this chapter is Paul talking about the idea of we are being called to generous living. That's not just our finances, but it's in a lot of ways, and, if you remember, the overall theme of second Corinthians is the God of all comfort, and so that even in our difficult times, many times we can find comfort when we are generous to one another. And so I want to read this and just see what God's word will say to us as we walk through this together.

Speaker 2: 4:39

So, second Corinthians, chapter eight, verse one, says this Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God, in his kindness, has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles and they are very poor, but they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in his rich generosity, for I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more, and they did it of their own free will. They begged us, again and again, for the privilege of sharing the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. Now remember what I was telling you before, that when the Holy Spirit descended on the Jewish people in Acts, chapter 2, according to history, a lot of people never went back home. They were already there because the Feast of Pentecost was the first of the fall harvest, when people would travel back to Jerusalem to celebrate the fall harvest. But then this amazing thing happened they just never left, and so, because of that, there were a lot of people that needed financial help, and so these churches that started getting planted, they were sending money back to the city of Jerusalem to help them. And so what happened was is, as Paul was in Macedonia planting churches and he's telling them about the other churches, paul's saying these people were broke, they didn't have anything, they couldn't even afford to pay attention, right, but they wanted to bless the people in Jerusalem. So he said, man, they just blessed them and blessed them, and blessed them even more than they could really afford.

Speaker 2: 6:19

Verse 5 says this. And to encourage you to finish this ministry of giving, since you excel in so many ways in your faith, in your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm and your love from us, I want you to excel in this gracious act of giving. I am not commanding you to do this, but I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of other churches. You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet, for your sakes, became poor so that by his poverty he could make you rich. Here is my advice it would do you good to finish what you started a year ago. Last year, you were the first who wanted to give and you were the first to begin doing it. Now you should finish what you started. Let your eagerness, the eagerness you showed at the beginning, be matched by now you're giving.

Speaker 2: 7:17

Give in proportion to what you have. Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly and give according to what you have, not what you don't have. Of course, I don't mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality. Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need Later, if they will have plenty and they can share with you when you have need. In this way, things will be equal. For the scriptures say those who are granted a lot had nothing left over and those who gather only a little had enough.

Speaker 2: 7:55

So what Paul is saying is he's talking about this idea of a lifestyle of generosity. If you can see what he's saying, he's saying I'm not asking you to give in such a way where now you can't pay your bills. He's saying I'm not asking you to do something. That's ridiculous and crazy. What I'm saying is have a lifestyle where it just becomes part of your world to give, because it really is true it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. The challenge with that is, is that a lot of times because we're so blessed and I know we all have challenges and all of this but if you live in the United States which I think it's about 90% of this audience lives in the United States, so the other 10, ignore this for a moment. But if you live in the United States, so the other 10, ignore this for a moment. But if you live in the United States, you are automatically the top 1% lifestyle and earners in the entire world. So you're all, just because you woke up, just the level of just the blessing that we live in the United States, we're already that blessed. And so what he's saying is is when you realize you're blessed, you should bless others.

Speaker 2: 8:56

But the challenge is, a lot of times is we're so blessed that we can give to someone and we don't feel it, it doesn't cost us anything. I think that's why God asks us in Malachi chapter three and all over the Old Testament, malachi chapter three, to give the tithe to the Lord, give it to the local church, give it to the body of Christ. It's because for many of us, if we were to give 2%, 3%, 5%, we wouldn't miss it that much. 10% is just enough where you feel it, and I think that's important because that tests our heart a little bit. And that's what Paul was saying. I'm asking you to give to test your heart, like, are you really willing to go all in for the Lord? And that's important, because where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. But then, once again, he says on the other side, I'm not asking you to give to the point where you can't take care of yourselves, I'm just saying that, as God has blessed, you, give and then, when you need, god will make sure it comes back to you as well.

Speaker 2: 9:55

And that's not the law of karma. Okay, which, by the way, karma is a New Age teaching. I get what people are saying. Karma, you do something, it comes back to you. There's a law of sowing and reaping in the Bible, but as Christians we don't believe in karma. Okay, that's New Age. And like Hinduism, okay, the law of sowing and reaping is whatever you sow, whatever you plant, that's what will come back to you. I know it sounds similar. One is based in paganistic worship, one is based in the Bible. Let's go with the Bible. So it's the idea that when you sow into other people's lives, when you are generous, when you need generosity, it will come back to you. I heard that say. Someone say that to me one time is they said I used to get so mad at God when I would be struggling financially and then I realized that whenever I'm blessed I don't think about him. So when I'm struggling, why should I start thinking about him? It's starting to something to think about. Right, let's finish the chapter, verse 16,.

Speaker 2: 10:45

But thank God, he has given Titus the same enthusiasm for you that I have. Titus welcomed our request that he visit you again. In fact, he himself was very eager to go and see you. We also are sending another brother with Titus. All the churches praise him as a great preacher and he shares the good news. He is appointed, or was appointed, by the churches to accompany us as we take the offering to Jerusalem, a service that glorifies the Lord and shows our eagerness to help. We are traveling together to guard against any criticism for the way we are handling this generous gift. We also are careful to be honorable before the Lord and we also want everyone else to see that we are honorable. We are also sending with him another of our brothers who has proven himself many times and has shown on many occasions how eager he is. He is now more enthusiastic because of this great confidence in you. If anyone asks you about Titus, say that he is my partner, who works with me to help you, and the brothers with him have been sent by the churches and they bring honor to Christ. So show them your love and prove to all the churches that our boasting about you is justified.

Speaker 2: 12:03

Now what do we do with this chapter? What Paul is teaching them over the course of this book is that God is the God of all comfort. Remember, they've come through this long journey of being in sin and Paul having to say you need to get it right. Then they repented of that sin and now they're in this place of, of, of brokenness and um, of really insecurity, where they need to realize they need to forgive one another, come back together and move forward, because God loves them. God is the God of all comfort. Well, how does God comfort me? By me giving away my money? Like, how does that work? Can we just be really honest? That doesn't make sense to me. God should be comforting me by giving me the bag, by giving me all the money, not me giving it away.

Speaker 2: 12:45

Well, here's the thing the great theologian Jim Carrey once said. He said I wish for a day that everybody could be rich and famous so that they could realize it doesn't solve any problems. Think about that for a moment. One of the most famous comedian actors of our generation says I wish for one day everybody could be rich and famous and have everything they wanted, so that they could realize that it solves nothing. Here's the thing that God wants us to understand. He wants us to be blessed. He wants us to have all the things that we need. He just doesn't want all the things to have us. Because what happens is, if we're not careful is, as God blesses us with more, we begin to acquire more stuff, and if we're not careful, we begin to acquire more gods in our life, things that we put in place of God in our life, and what we realize is is that in our finances, we try to get from our finances what only God can provide. We try to get comfort, we try to get security, we try to get self-worth, we try to get everything from money, and money might be the tool that God uses to help us with these things, but those things only come from God and what God helps us realize is that it is truly more blessed to give than to receive.

Speaker 2: 14:06

So what I would encourage you to do is, if you find yourself as someone who doesn't consistently give a tithe to the local church, take what I call a 90 day tithe challenge, and this is not a place where you are tempting God, but you are giving God an opportunity. He says in Malachi, chapter 3, test me in this and see that if you bring all of your tithe into the storehouse he didn't say give it to the humane society, he didn't say give it a one-on-one to people in need. He said no, no, no. He said you bring all the tithe Malachi 3.10, into the storehouse, that there may be meat, there may be resources in my house, and since we don't have a temple anymore, it's the local church. See if I want open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that you can't contain. It's the only place in the Bible where God gives us permission to test his word. And so now there's places where he says test the spirit to see which is of God.

Speaker 2: 14:57

But this is where he's saying directly so what I encourage you to do is, with all humbleness, go on a 90 day tie challenge and what that means is is you take 90 days and you say okay, god, I want to trust you in this and I know that you're faithful. So for 90 days I am going to consistently tithe on what I earn, consistently I'm going to tithe and I want you to write it down somewhere. Make a spreadsheet, do whatever you got to do, write down the date Today, god, I am trusting you and I am tithing to you. And then you give that to God and for 90 days you do that and watch if God does not open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing you can't contain Now. That may not be financial, it might be an answer to pray over here, it might be a restored relationship over there, but I believe if you pray about it every day, if you're serious about wanting to be truly blessed of God, god will honor his word.

Speaker 2: 15:49

Can I tell you, over the course I've been in ministry now for 20-something years and I have challenged people over the years to do this. Can I tell you, not one time when someone has done this sincerely have they ever made it to 90 days, because usually somewhere around the 30-day mark, god does something amazing and they go. You know what? Sometimes it's financial, but sometimes it's something else and they go. You know, I know that was God. I get it. When I'm doing this, I'm releasing the blessing of God into my life.

Speaker 2: 16:13

So if you don't believe me, try it and see that God is the God of all comfort and he wants to bless you in every way, including giving us the opportunity to be generous. Let's pray together, god. Thank you so much for today. Thank you for your word, thank you for who you are. I pray that in all things, god, you would help us to be led by you, even in areas like this, where we don't always understand. But we trust you in those areas because you always prove yourself faithful, even though you don't owe us that. But you do it anyway and I'm thankful for you. In Jesus name, we pray amen, amen, don't forget. God's word says in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 1 God is the source of all say it with me comfort. He comforts us in all of our troubles so that we can comfort others. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow with my kind of no-transcript.