A Scripture reading , 2 Cor 9v7, posted by Cristo prompted me to expand on that Word. Paul in 2 Cor 8 talks about the (v1) Church of Macedonia despite going through (v2) “great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”. In their great trial of affliction and their deep poverty, they were very liberal in their giving. Their difficulties in Corinth can also be traced directly to their faith, loss of jobs and their exclusion from trade opportunities, and their refusal to have anything to do with idolatry. The world may frown on this formula: great affliction + deep poverty + grace = abundant joy and abounding liberality. Paul is challenging us to break out of our self-centered posture, and learn to trust God! The Question: Does our circumstance ever make it convenient or an encouragement for giving? V3: “For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves” V5: “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God”, and v6: “so he would also finish in you the same grace also”. Paul presents their giving habit as a measure of their spiritual maturity – v7: “Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also” V8: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” Jesus set in deed the ultimate example for us all; in service, in suffering, in sacrifice. We must embrace the gap between the Cross and His Throne. Poverty is always worst, after you’ve been rich. Its bad enough to be poor, and that itself carries a burden, but once you have been at the top and then finds yourself at the bottom, it has a distinction. Now imagine the Creator of the Universe (Isaiah 6), with super-beings worshiping Him; the glory, the riches, the resources at His command; the capability to speak into existence another universe like our own. He then cloaks Himself in humanity, becomes a helpless babe in a stable to endure the mission; the more you understand about Him, the more incomprehensible it is. He spent a few years teaching and then endure the discouragement, the suffering, the humiliation, willing to exchange His own to be nailed on a tree. He was born of a woman so you and I might be born of God. He humbled Himself, so that you and I can be lifted up. He became a servant so you and I can be made joint heirs with His riches in Glory, He suffered rejection so that you and I can be called His friends, He denied Himself, so that we can freely receive all things, He gave Himself So that He could bless us in every way, Jesus, our example of the ultimate giver.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 12:38:58 +0000
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