2 Corinthians 8:1-14 – Margie Meserve – Happiness is the Joy of Giving
/Lectionary Readings for June 27, 2021 Fifth Sunday After Pentecost, Year B
2 Samuel 1:1,17-27 David mourns the deaths of Saul and Jonathan
Psalm 130 v3-4 Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to revere you.
2 Corinthians 8:1-14 v12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.
Mark 5:21-43 v34 And Jesus said to the bleeding woman, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”
Peace through Leadership Quotes
“Wealth is not necessary to the glory of any nation; but wisdom, virtue, justice, mercy, generosity, public spirit, love of our country. These are necessary to the real glory of a nation... It is far better to have no wealth than to gain wealth, at the expense of virtue. Better is honest poverty, than all the riches brought by the tears, and sweat, and blood of our fellow creatures.” ~ John Wesley in 1778, founder of the movement that became The United Methodist Church
When we generously share our wealth of wisdom, virtue, justice, and mercy, we can help others achieve a peace that’s reflective of God’s loving presence.
Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me. God loves me. God has plans for me.
Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading
(Thanks to Margie Meserve for providing this week’s message!)
Today’s text comes from 2 Corinthians 8:1-14. 2 Corinthians was a letter written by Paul in approximately 56 CE.
Over the past several weeks, Pastor Charles has been sharing with us stories of how people received their call from God and how they responded. No one had a more in-your-face call than Paul, a trained Pharisee and a persecutor of the Jews. When he personally met Jesus on the road to Damascus, his life was forever changed. He went from being a brutal persecutor of the Jews to an extraordinarily devoted follower of Jesus.
Before Paul’s conversion, very little had been done to take Jesus’ message to the Gentiles. God needed Paul to take His message to the Gentiles. God used Paul’s talents, strengths, citizenship, and knowledge. Paul went on four mission trips throughout the Roman Empire to bring the gospel to the Gentiles and to preach the Good News and grace of God’s love and forgiveness. He also wanted to convince the Gentiles that they were loved by God.
His third mission trip centered around what was then known as Asia, Macedonia, and Greece. Paul started new churches in Macedonia and in Corinth. Paul also wrote letters of support to these new churches to answer questions, strengthen their faith, advise them on financial giving, and to warn them about false prophets. 2 Corinthians is one of those letters.
I think of chapters eight and nine as one of the first Christian stewardship letters written.
Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we read today’s text.
Read 2 Corinthians 8:1-14.
You hear the word stewardship or stewardship campaign and everyone groans – sounding just like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Oh no. Oh bother. They just want more money. What do “they” do with the money I give? Oh bother. I really wanted a new TV. Giving can often become a routine that we don’t really think about. We just write a check or set up automatic payment from our account. Where is the joy?
Paul is trying to council the Corinthian church on the stewardship of giving. First, he holds up the Macedonia churches as an example of giving. They have begged for the privilege of sending money to the new Christian church in Jerusalem who was very poor at this time, even if they themselves are suffering in Macedonia. They want to share in the privilege of serving God’s people and are extremely happy to do so.
But first and foremost, they gave themselves to God. And they are very excited in their love for God and his grace. I can imagine Paul saying, “OK Corinthians, those Macedonians up there gave more than they could afford and are doing a happy dance. They are not complaining because they love God and are excited in doing their part to help establish God’s Kingdom.”
Next, Paul butters them up by praising the Corinthians for their faith, gifted speakers, knowledge, enthusiasm, and love for the church, and he wants them to excel in “this gracious act of giving.” Paul encourages them to finish what they started last year in their giving. But Paul says that there should be equality in their giving. Give what you can afford. Pay it forward now because you may need help in the future. What you give now will come back to you in the future.
This reminds me of the giving we do through our Church Apportionments, now called a Conference Tithe. When funds are tight for our church, it is difficult to send a check to the district when we have no understanding of how it is used and we see a need in our own church. By paying our monthly tithe, we support other churches’ programs, and now we are being helped by other churches. There are many ways our monthly church tithe is used to help with God’s kingdom. Here are some examples:
The conference uses a small percentage for administrative cost.
The money we send is used to help start and support new churches both within our district, in our country, and worldwide.
We support missionaries throughout the world spreading the Good News of God’s love.
Support is also given to people working to become ordained pastors in the church through scholarships. Our own Pastor Charles has been the recipient of some of these scholarships.
Our church is also receiving support through a grant program that is helping smaller churches pay pastors’ salaries. We currently receive $1,250.00 a month to help pay Pastor Charles’ salary.
There are a wide variety of grant programs in our own conference to help local churches recover from fires and floods as well as to start new ministries.
Paul’s letter centers on financial giving as a mean of sharing God’s grace. Financial giving can be expanded to include other areas in how we give. There are numerous ways to be good stewards. When we join the church, we are asked to contribute our prayers, presence, gifts and service to benefit our faith community. So what does being a good steward involve?
I thought it would be fun to looked up “steward” in my 1913 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary; here was the definition. “Literally, a sty ward: his first duty having been probably to attend to the domestic animals.
1. A man employed by a large family, or on a large estate, to manage the domestic concerns, supervise other servants, collect the rents or income, keep accounts and the like: “Worthy to be stewards of the rent and land.” From Chaucer. “a good steward of the manifold grace of God” 1 Peter4:10.
2. A person employed in a hotel, or a club or on board a ship to provide for the table, supervise the culinary affairs, etc.
3. A financial agent of certain bodies: as, a steward in a Methodist Church.
4. In some colleges, an officer who provides food for the students; also one who attends the accounts of the students.
5. In Scotland, a magistrate appointed by the crown to exercise jurisdiction over royal lands.”
So, simply put, a steward is someone who loves God and responds to Gods call to serve and care for others. How do we serve God’s kingdom and others? How can we share God’s grace? We can do this through our prayers, presence, talents, and gifts.
First, we serve and care for others with our prayers. God invites us to be in a relationship with Him, and we can do this through daily prayer. We can pray for others. What a great opportunity to be able to intercede with God for someone else! In church every Sunday, we pray for others in need of God’s healing, comfort, and grace. There are prayer requests in the pews that are passed on to our awesome prayer team. They meet on Monday’s via Zoom and share prayers for specific requests. There is a place on our website for people to submit their prayer requests confidentially to the prayer group. Anyone is welcome to join the prayer group. The Upper Room is a daily devotional, which is available in the Narthex, includes a short, specific prayer for each day of the week. Anyone and everyone can serve and care for others through prayer.
Second, we serve and care for others with our presence. How do you ask? Simply by showing up. In Matthew18:20 Jesus says, “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them”. By coming to church, we can offer someone hospitality and fellowship. We can listen to joys, cares, and concerns and offer love and support. You can also join and participate in small groups such as Choir, Handbells, Bible Study on Zoom, the United Methodist Women (UMW) group, Volunteers In Mission (VIM) Team, and even Thursday night’s “Coffee with the Pastor” on Zoom. You can help by volunteering at the Hope Food Pantry, bringing food or serving at a Crossroad dinner, participating in fundraising activities, being a part of the prison ministry, selling fireworks, and serving as a greeter or hosting a coffee fellowship. In all these activities there is happiness in the love and joy of serving. Volunteering at our Hope Food Pantry on a Friday brings me a great deal of joy and happiness. I look forward to the time I spend there. I may go home tired, but feeling happy I have made a difference for some people. I also enjoy seeing and getting to know our regular guests. Through me, God is present in their lives. There is also the fellowship with other volunteers and the sense of accomplishment that adds to the happiness at the end of the day. People are fed food and my spirit is fed with joy.
Third, we can serve others through the use of our gifts and talents that God, by His grace, has blessed us with. When Scott Wylie was pastor here, he gave a class on recognizing our own special gifts and talents. What people thought was something they just did was actually a special gift God had graced them with. We can respond by using God’s gifts to serve our church and community. We are blessed that we have people with a wide variety of gifts. If you haven’t noticed, many here have the gift of music. Some have the gift of organization, hospitality, nurturing, accounting, baking, and fundraising. Others have mechanical and construction gifts. We are one church with many gifts to offer and we serve in many different capacities. It is through using our gifts that we can put our faith into action, serve others and offer God’s grace to them. I encourage you to pray about what special gifts God has blessed upon you and then put your faith into action. 1 Peter4:10 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
Fourth, your financial support allows our church to support many of these ministries I have mentioned. Just keeping the doors open, and the insurance and utilities paid sounds dull and boring, but our church is an essential presence in our community. Within our church building we offer many ministries both to our own congregation and to our Susanville Community.
In 2 Corinthians 9:7 Paul writes, “We all should give what we have decided in our hearts to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” A “cheerful” giver is one who give out of love. The Macedonian churches and the Corinthian church were happy to give all they could, and they did so because they loved God. Giving and serving from love brings happiness. In giving financially and of ourselves we extent God’s blessings and grace to others. Our resources are not infinite, whether it is money or time, but everyone can experience the joy and blessings of generosity; because everyone has something to give. Whether it is giving financial, being present, sharing your gifts and talents, or serving others, “Let all that you do be done in Love” 1 Corinthians 16:14.
Amen? Amen!