We've read our text words for the sermon this morning from 2 Corinthians 8. Let's look to the Lord again in prayer and ask for His help now in the preaching of the Word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise and honor You for the unspeakable gift of Your Son Jesus Christ that You've given for us unworthy sinners. We thank you for the great abundance of your grace that you have bestowed and outpoured upon us as your people. We pray now through the preaching of your word, would you cause us to know more of the riches and the depth and the breadth and the height of this love of God that passes knowledge and to reflect that love to you and to our fellow Christians. And we pray, oh God, for the unconverted, that you would draw them into the love of God this day through Christ and save them by your grace, we pray now in Jesus' name, amen. Dear congregation, as Christians here today, I ask every one of you, do you want to just survive through this life to glory? Or do you want to do something more than survive? Do you want to thrive spiritually? Do you want to abound and flourish spiritually? Well, if you do, and I know that is your heart, every one of you believers, If you do, then Paul is laying out something in this text that if you in faith obey what God is teaching us here, it will contribute to your spiritual thriving on the way to glory. Paul here is teaching us and the Corinthians one of our Christian duties that helps us and contributes to our happiness as Christians. And one way that God teaches us to flourish in His Word is by command. We find this all through Paul's writings where he is commanding and telling us bluntly to do certain things. So one way is by command. But another way is by example. So when Paul would teach the Corinthians here concerning new covenant giving, he starts first with two examples. You may have heard or may be familiar with the old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, Paul has given them a picture of what New Covenant giving looks like. And in this, we could also say that an example is worth a thousand commands. People have known this throughout human history, and that's why Aesop wrote that story about the crab. The baby crab speaking to its mother, and you know how a crab, certain kinds of crabs always walk sideways. That's the only way they can walk. And the mother is telling her son, walk straight. Don't walk sideways like that. And the little crab tells his mom, well, show me how. And she starts walking. And all she can do is walk sideways and sideways. And she says, oh, no. How can I teach him to do what I cannot set an example for before him? My words can't teach him to do it if I can't do it by example, as an example to him. Paul knows this, so he sets forth examples. Militaries around the world know this, and that's why with the U.S. Army Rangers, one of their mottos is lead by example. That's why when you go through basic training, ask any Marine in the U.S. Marine Corps, not only do they instruct and teach you the principles and the direct commands of what you have to do as a Marine, but all through those weeks of basic training, they teach you about other Marines that have gone before you, and they set them forth as an example, men of valor, men who gave themselves for their country. Men like Chesty Puller, if you're a Marine, you know exactly who I'm talking about, the most decorated U.S. Marine ever, who was awarded with five Navy crosses, who fought in three different wars, including World War II and the Korean Conflict, and who, they said, was so devoted to his men that even as an officer, he gave up comforts that he could have so he could stay on the level of his men. When they were marching for 28 miles in the Pacific Islands in World War II, he would carry his own pack when he could have had somebody else carry it for him. He would go and march with his men. If they had to sleep on the ground, he would sleep on the ground and give up his cot so he could go through exactly what his men were going through. They will show you examples like Chesty Puller and like many others, and they'll tell you as a Marine, Here's an example. We're going to be calling upon you to give and to give deeply for your country and for your fellow soldiers. And these are examples of what that giving looks like. That's exactly what Paul is doing here. And as he's teaching them on New Covenant giving and teaching us, he's doing this for a special offering. When we study the whole breadth of the New Testament, we find that the Jerusalem church, which was predominantly Jewish, had fallen upon economic crisis. It could have been due to famine that struck. We read about that in Acts. It could have been due to persecution. We read about that in the book of Hebrews, Jewish believers suffering persecution and losing their goods. Or it could have been a combination of both of these. And Paul went around for two decades of his ministry raising funds from the Gentile churches that he had planted to take this offering to the Jerusalem saints to support them in their deep poverty. And now he is calling upon the Corinthians to honor their commitment and to give this offering. This offering from the Gentile churches, these newly converted churches back to Jerusalem, the mother church as it were, the place from where the gospel went out to them. This offering would show the beauty of the unity of Jew and Gentile in Christ as one body. And it was fitting because it would show the Gentiles' gratefulness to Jewish believers that it was from them that this Word of God was published. It was from them that Christ came according to the flesh. And it was from them that the Gospel had been sent out to their conversion. And now that the Jews in Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians are in trouble, the Gentile believers are contributing and sending offerings to them. What a blessing. What a beautiful Gospel portrayal. But though this was an occasional special offering, the same principles in this passage apply to all New Covenant giving, including our regular offerings today. And in this, I want to commend you as a church, as a whole, here at Heritage Baptist Church, There's so many of you that for so many years have given out of love. You've given so many times until it hurt. Not just of your money, but of your service and your labors and all the work you do behind the scenes and the sacrifices that you make. And I commend you for this. There's some others of us that are much further behind. and that haven't even started to take the baby steps of what it means to do New Covenant giving. And I want to exhort you as well. But as a whole, as a church, I say to you, like Paul said to the Thessalonians, but concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. And indeed, you do so toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more. Paul tells the Thessalonians, and I tell you, you're already doing this. And I urge you for the glory of God to do it more and to abound more in it. So with this in mind, our theme today is simply this. Give like they did. Give like they did. We'll see it in three basic thoughts from this passage. First of all, give like they did in response to God's grace. Secondly, in imitation of Christ. And third, for your own benefit. Give like they did. First, in response. to God's grace. We read this in verses 1 through 7. This is the first example Jesus gives. The U.S. Marines will point you to Chesapeake Polar. Here, the Apostle Paul points you to the Macedonians. Give like the Macedonians gave in response to God's grace. The Macedonian churches were the churches of Berea, Thessalonica, and Philippi. And Paul describes what kind of giving they had done, but before he does that, he reminds them there in verse 1, Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. Why could the Macedonian Christians give like they gave? overflowing with giving offerings even out of their deep poverty, even during a time of persecution. How could they do that? It's because of the grace that God had already poured out so abundantly upon them in Christ. And I want you to remember, dear Christians, the abundant grace of God to you in Christ. How that every one of us were lost in sin. We were not looking for God. We were in darkness and more so we were darkness, Paul says to the Ephesians. We were darkness itself. We're God's enemies. We're ungodly. We're anti-God. Climbing over each other's backs to see who could get into hell first, as it were. God who is rich in mercy. God poured out grace upon grace to you and sending you the Gospel and wooing and drawing you by His Spirit. Oh, what a miracle of God's grace. Charles Spurgeon said that if the whole human race after the fall of Adam would have rallied together and petitioned God and begged God, please send a Savior, please reconcile us back to you. If God would have responded and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, it would have been a miracle of God's grace. But so much more, we were not even requesting a Savior. Rather, we were shaking our fist at God in rebellion against God. And He still sent His Son. And He's lavished upon us grace that we cannot even comprehend. This is the context. This is the way to think when we think about giving to others. God's poured out this grace upon us, not so we can be like a stagnant pond. You children may know what it's like to see a pond or maybe a large puddle and you go near that pond or puddle and it's been sitting there for a while and you see nasty squiggly things growing in there, mosquito larva and things like that, you see leeches. It stinks. It has a nasty smell to it. If you wade and walk in it, it's mucky and murky and nasty and all kinds of slime in that pond. Why is that? It's because it just takes in water but it has no outlet and it stagnates and it rots and it's an ugly, offensive thing. God hasn't poured in His lavish grace to us as Christians for us to hold it to ourselves and enjoy it for ourselves, but rather so we can be like a freshwater river where we receive grace from God and we give, we return love to God, we show love to our neighbor. We reflect this grace that's been given to us. So in giving in response to God's grace, like the Macedonians, Let us give with the right motives, the right motives. They gave out of gratefulness for God's grace. We saw that in verse one. These Macedonian churches gave out of what we would call reflexive righteousness. Now, we rightly, as Reformed Protestants, emphasize the imputed righteousness of Christ, the perfect righteousness of Christ credited to our account. that's outside of us, it's in God's court, and we rightly emphasize that. But we must not under-emphasize that there is a reflexive righteousness whereby in regeneration, in God's work in us, in sanctification, we reflect back God's love for us. We automatically, as Christians, we love God and we love our fellow Christians and we desire to do righteously in relation to God and neighbor. This is what they're doing. This reminds us of the pattern of the Heidelberg Catechism. It's in three sections. And the entire Christian faith could be summed up this way. Guilt, grace, and gratitude. Through the law, God shows us our guilt. By His grace, He reconciles us to Himself in Christ. And the whole rest of our life for time and eternity is out of gratitude for God's grace delivering us from our guilt. Remember in the Levitical grain offering that we considered a few weeks ago, given to give back, God gave you all you have to give back to Him. Remember how we saw in Hebrews 13, 16 concerning that grain offering, and now even under the new covenant, Paul tells us, but do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Over and over, the Apostle, in the English and even more times in the Greek, uses the term grace in this passage about New Covenant giving. He brackets the whole thing with grace. He starts it out with grace. In verse 1, in 8, 1, Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. And then he closes it with grace. in 915 where he says, thanks be to God for His indescribable gift, speaking about God giving us His Son. So the context is God's grace and the right motive, the only right starting point and motive for giving financially is in gratefulness for God's grace. The second motive is love to God and our Christian brothers. You find that here in our passage in verse 8. Paul says, I speak not by commandment, but I'm testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. Paul's giving them an opportunity to give and to demonstrate their love. Paul here is not commanding the Corinthians to give this offering. I wish he would sometimes. I wish he would just flat out tell me, do this. OK, Paul, you put this burden on me now. I've got to do it. You said do it. That's really simple. Go ahead and do it. But oh, no. The way he puts it is he puts the burden on you to figure out whether you ought to give. And the only right conclusion is, yeah, you ought to give. He's teaching us to give, but it's not by command here. You know why? Because a forced gift is not a gift. If you make one of your kids give the other kid a toy, it's not a gift. It's by coercion. And Paul is framing it in a way, okay, look how God has loved you in Christ. Look how the Macedonians have demonstrated their love. Now I'm giving you an opportunity to demonstrate your love. In this, I remind you as we consider these right motives of gratefulness and love, I remind you the love of our Lord Jesus Christ to God and to us unworthy sinners. In John 5.30, remember how Jesus said, I can do nothing of myself as I hear I judge and my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. Remember how in John 14.31, Jesus said that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me a commandment, so do I. Oh, what perfect love to God. What perfect love to us, as Paul said, and every one of you believers can say exactly what Paul said, of the Son of God. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Yes, He gave Himself for all of God's elect. Yes, He loved all of God's elect, that vast number that no man can number. But I tell you, dear Christian, every one of you, Christ loved you when He suffered on the cross. He loved you, and He loved you, and you, and you, and every one of you. The eldest of you, the youngest of you, the most mature of you, the least mature spiritually, you. You can say, Christ loved me and gave Himself for me. Oh, what wonderful grace. And now God calls you to give like that out of love. to give like the Macedonians did. And I exhort you out of a grateful heart and love to God and neighbor, give this way. And do this remembering that as you struggle, and as you have to put to death, our selfish tendencies to be like that pond and just hoard up the grace of God and just enjoy it to myself without sharing with others. As we fight that tendency, as every one of us has some sort of tendency of Ebenezer Scrooge within our hearts and we have narcissistic and self-centered tendencies that we have to put to death. I encourage you one day you'll never again have to put that to death and forever you will give with pure motives. You'll give your entire self in worship to God for the glory of God and the good of your neighbor in future glory. This is your hope. Give with the right motives. In response to God's grace, give in the right manner. There are six ways that the Macedonians gave here that instruct us how God would have us to give in New Covenant financial giving. First of all, give sacrificially. We read this in verses two and three. Paul said that in the great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality or their generosity. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing. They gave sacrificially. And we note here that what God expects of us as His people is not a certain amount, but a proportionality. Remember when Jesus talked about that poor widow that gave two mites? And as far as the money amount, she gave far less than the others who were casting their treasures into the temple treasury. And this woman just gave two mites, but Jesus said she gave more than them all because she gave all that she had. It's measured by proportionality, not by amount. And if Paul were writing to us today, he's writing to the Corinthians, pointing them to the Macedonians example. If he were writing to us today in the DFW Metroplex, he'd probably use Pikeville, Kentucky as an example. I spent some time there in street ministry years ago in Pikeville, Kentucky. You talk about extreme poverty in that region. There's the coal mining industry, and that's just about the only kind of career option there is. It's a very deadly and difficult industry. There's poverty throughout those mountains there that you wouldn't believe unless you saw it, stark poverty. And imagine if the Kentuckians there in Pikeville, Kentucky and their economic climate with their economic setbacks had already given and given much more sacrificially than those more well-to-do in an area like ours. This is the thing Paul is doing here with the example. He's challenging the Corinthians. And in this passage, we find these comparisons between the Macedonians and the Corinthians. The Macedonians were poor. The Corinthians were well-to-do. The Macedonians were persecuted. The Corinthians were not suffering persecution. The Macedonians were in distress, but they were still focused outward on helping others. The Corinthians weren't in distress and persecution, and yet they were turned inward, only thinking about themselves. The Macedonians begged Paul to take their offering. Oh, please, they implored him urgently, we read. Please take our money to give to the Jerusalem churches. But as for Corinth, Paul had to remind them. They were so reluctant and forgetful to give to this offering. Paul uses the example of the Macedonians as a weaker and poorer group of churches to encourage the Corinthians to give. Reminds me of a young man I knew years ago in the Philippines in the Bible College there in the mountains of North Philippines. His name was Raul, but everybody called him Armstrong. All the people, the other Filipino students there called him Armstrong. He was missing one arm. Only had one arm. But in those construction projects and in the evangelistic outreach and whatever work there was to be done there, Armstrong outworked them all. He outworked a man with two arms. He was a pattern, an example for them all. And when you see somebody with a disability and that man is working harder with one arm than I am with two arms, isn't that motivation for you? Reminds me of my dear grandfather when he was in his seventies, and we were having an evangelistic meeting there in my home county of Henderson County, North Carolina, and we were setting up that big tent to invite people to attend and preach the gospel to them. And on that Saturday morning, while there were strapping young men, strong, robust, strapping young men that just stayed home so they could just hang out and sit around, my 70-something-year-old grandfather, with all of his weaknesses, was out there doing what little bit he could to help us. And I thought, what a convicting thing that so many times those of less means and less opportunity outdo us that have more means and more opportunity. They gave sacrificially. They gave eagerly. We read that in v. 4. Paul said that they were imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. They didn't give this offering grudgingly. Paul didn't have to twist their arm He just mentioned the opportunity, and they're jumping at the chance. I like the way one pastor put in a missions conference one time. He said, I want to thank you missionaries for taking our money. It's our privilege and our honor to support and invest in the work of God that you're doing. And I want to thank you for giving us opportunity for that investment. This is the Macedonian's mentality about giving. It was with eagerness. It wasn't a mere duty. It was a privilege. They gave not only sacrificially and eagerly, but they gave thoroughly. We read that in verse 5 that Paul said, and not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God. They gave their whole self to God. And when you've given your whole self to God, it's a lot easier to give Him any of your stuff, isn't it? including finances. They gave thoroughly. They gave joyfully. We read that in verse 2, where it said of them that in great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. Joyful giving. That when Paul, as it were, passed that plate and let them know about the collection for the Jerusalem saints. And they're giving. They're struggling just to make ends meet, but yet they're giving. And they're bubbling over with joy. And they're so excited at the opportunity to get to help someone else in need. This is the right manner, remember. Scripture tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. They gave not only joyfully, but they also gave freely. We read that in verse 2. That in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality or generosity. It wasn't a forced or a grudging giving, but a free giving. And sixthly, they gave in the right manner, and so should we, in that they gave generously. This gift abounded in the riches of their liberality. You might have experienced something like this with your children, where you get your little toddler a bag of potato chips and open up that bag of chips, and they're eating it. And you say, can Daddy have one? And they don't even want to let you have one chip out of that whole bag. And you think, you little stinker, I begot you. I fathered you into this world and your mother birthed you into this world. I've given you everything you've ever had in your entire life. The shelter, the food, everything you have provided for you, I provide. And you won't even share back with me one of your potato chips? It seems kind of silly, but really that is grieving and vexing the depth of our depravity. And all of us have that sinful tendency to be like that. But you not know what it is, too, when your little child gets a bag of candy, something they really love, and they offer to give you the whole thing. You take it. You have it, Daddy. And of course you don't take it. Of course you want them to have it. But the fact that they're willing to give such a good gift that they love and enjoy, but they want you to have it. I want you to have it, Mama. I want you to have it, Daddy. Isn't that such a joy? That's how God calls upon us and teaches us through the example of the Macedonians to give, give generously. And in this, I remind you of your Lord Jesus, who gave himself for us. The New Testament tells us, and who Paul says of him to the Ephesians that Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her. He gave Himself for you, church. The church universal, yes, but He gave Himself for you, Heritage Baptist Church, and every one of you as individuals. He gave Himself sacrificially at the cross. He gave Himself eagerly He gave Himself thoroughly as He offered Himself up for us all, both as priest and offering. He gave Himself joyfully, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame that is set down at the Father's right hand. He gave freely, not grudgingly did He go to the cross, but He went there freely for you, dear Christian. And He went generously as He gave His all for you. Oh, what grace! Oh, what giving! And now, by the power of His Spirit and looking unto Him by faith, He calls you to give like that out of those same motives. And to give knowing that there's coming a day when you will know and you will comprehend insofar as is possible this great love of Christ. and the enjoyment of sharing that with others. You will know that in final glory. So the sum of this point is this. Give like the Macedonians in response to God's grace. Look and remember how gracious God has been to you in Christ. See God's heart of love for you and let this enlarge your own heart. out of the overflow of that grace to give to others. Give like they did, not only in response to God's grace, but secondly, in imitation of Christ. We saw the Macedonians as a brotherly example. Now we see Christ as the ultimate example. Paul told us here in verse 9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. This is what Paul is saying, that since Christ made himself poor to save you, you ought to give sacrificially to help others. Now before I expound this to you, dear Christians, Let me tell you and spend a little time telling you what Paul is not saying here. When Paul says that Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, though He was rich, yet for your sakes became poor. He was rich. for your sakes became poor, let me expound to you carefully what he is not saying. This deals with the doctrine of the incarnation, and it is one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith, like the doctrine of the Trinity. We must have very careful precision in it, or we'll be stepping into heresy on either side of the road. must use extreme caution and precision and devote our heart and mind, love the Lord with all our mind, we're commanded in this. Why is this so important to understand what Paul means and doesn't mean here? Well, if we misunderstand what he's saying here, that Christ became poor, and we take this to mean what some people today say, then we end up with a Christ that's not even the Christ of the Bible that we're talking about and that we're trusting in. A Savior that cannot save us. This is why it's so important. And I declare to you under the authority of God's Word, when Christ, who was rich, became poor for us, He did not, quote, divest Himself of His divine attributes, or any of His divine attributes. There are men today, popular Bible teachers, there are men who call themselves reformed, and they are not reformed. They're actually teaching heresy when they tell you that Jesus divested Himself of His divine attributes. Another way they say it is, they'll say He gave up the exercise of His divine prerogatives. And in saying this, they are saying that Christ the Eternal Son of God became poor by changing. But we know this is impossible for Christ the Son of God, the Eternal Son of God, to change. Why is that? Why is it impossible for God the Son to change in the Incarnation? because He's God and it's impossible for God to change. That's the only hope of our salvation. The prophet Malachi told us, Malachi 3, 6, I, the Lord God, change not, and therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. God cannot change. Christ who is God, according to His divinity, cannot and did not change. And part of the error is They read Scripture like this when John 1.14 tells us, "...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." It's told us that the Word was with God and the Word was God. It's speaking of the eternal Son of God. That He became flesh and dwelt among us. When they hear became, they think, oh, He changed into man. But oh no, as impossible as it is for God to change, it is impossible for God the Son, according to His divinity, to change. And we'll confess in a little while in Nicene Creed that He is God, very God, God, truly God, of one substance with the Father. Is the Father unchangeable? Just as much as the Son. Is the Father impassable? Just as much as the Son according to His divinity. But I tell you, what Paul tells us here that although according to His divinity, Christ did not and does not change. Yet when He took unto Himself our true human nature, He took our humanity unto Himself and is born at Bethlehem in the mystery of the Incarnation, I tell you absolutely on the authority of Scripture, according to His humanity, He experiences change. Christ, according to His humanity, and only according to His humanity, experiences change and did experience change. That one person who is as to his divinity, who is God according to his divinity, was incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And in doing so, he remains God, truly God. now united to our nature in one person forever. We confess this in the Creed that He's God of God, very God of very God. We confess it in our confession of faith in Acts 2 that in the Incarnation that Christ became man without conversion, composition, or confusion. Nothing changed about Him. His divinity, substantial with the Father, and He's as unchangeable as God is because He is God as to His divinity. But we also confess, and we state it this way in our catechism in question 25, how did Christ, being the Son of God, become man? Christ, the Son of God, became man by taking to Himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And thus, according to His Godhood, Christ is without body, parts, or passions. But according to His manhood, He has taken unto Himself a true human body with parts and passions, and a reasonable soul. able to experience passions. And according to His humanity, He is as human as you are, yet without sin. According to His Godhood, He's from everlasting to everlasting, above and beyond time and space. But according to His humanity, He was born at Bethlehem and began His life as a man there. And so that that baby conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit according to His manhood is man truly man, but according to His Godhood is God very God. And this is the only reason that you're saved. Mary gave birth to God incarnate at Bethlehem. He who is Creator according to His divinity, who created all waters, cries at the cross according to His humanity, He cries out, I thirst. He who according to His divinity is the Prince of Life, according to His humanity, dies for sinners. He who is as to His divinity is equal to God. is, according to His humanity, inferior to God because Jesus says, the Father is greater than I. That is only according to His humanity that He says God is greater than I. According to His divinity, He is equal with God the Father. In no way inferior. Christ, according to His divinity, is omniscient. Not just knowing all things as if by human learning to see what happens, but knowing all things into existence. This is the divine, omniscient knowledge of God. According to His divinity, Christ is omniscient. But according to His humanity, He could say things like this, that I don't know the time of my return. The angels, nor does the Son of Man know the time of my return. There are men today who will take a verse like that and say, Jesus, even according to His divinity, limited His omniscience. This is impossible because God cannot change. But for us to see it in light of the whole teaching of Scripture and according to the true Orthodox Christian faith confessed down through the ages, we know that limitations like this are only concerning His humanity. And I remind you, there's not a divine Jesus that's a person and then a person who is a human Jesus. Two persons, oh no, He is one person with two natures united forever. Divine nature and human nature united in one person forever. And since the incarnation, the one person or subsistence of the Son, The one person of the Son, who according to His divinity just is God, truly God, as much as the Father is. According to His humanity is man, truly man. Divine nature and human nature united in one person forever, not mixed, but distinct, yet not separated. You say, explain that. You say, can you understand that? I can understand the doctrine. I just explained the doctrine and you can understand the doctrine of the Incarnation. But if you ask me, can you understand that or explain that as to the depths of it? Absolutely not. This is the holy mystery of the incarnation that no creature will ever fully comprehend. But we bow before the mystery, and we bow before Christ, who is truly God and truly man, and we worship Him and give glory to Him who suffered and died for us according to His humanity, and who still, according to His divinity, cannot suffer or die. And we confess this with all true Christians in all of church history. And I don't preach to you a savior that you can figure out and put under a microscope like the saviors of world religions, but I preach to you the incarnate Son of God and the holy mystery of His incarnation that evokes our deepest reverence and awe and worship and is infinitely above our finding out. We confess with Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 3.16 that God was manifest in the flesh. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. In doing this, we confess this and we reject this modern, canonic heresy as heresy that claims that God the Son somehow changed according to His divinity at the incarnation. Here, Paul is laying out for us Christ's poverty for us. In the Incarnation, as Christ is born at Bethlehem, He is King of kings, and you would expect a king to be born in a palace. But he's born in the lowly manger and I challenge you to eject the images of the Christmas nativity scenes of this cute little barn with these cute little animals and it's so clean and pristine. No, our Lord Jesus Christ was born in a nasty barn right alongside animals, stock animals. His parents were poor. When they came to offer the sacrifice, remember, for Mary's purification after the time of childbirth, according to Levitical law, they brought birds, which means they were too poor to afford a proper sacrifice. Throughout his life, he literally became poor. Jesus warned a would-be disciple and said, before you follow me, know this, the birds of the air have nests, the foxes have dens, But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." When it came time to pay the temple tax, Jesus didn't even have that small amount to pay, and He had to send Peter to go and obtain that money, remember, by that miracle from the fish's mouth. And all the way to His death, remember, how that when Jesus was on the cross, one of His cries from the cross, one of His seven cries from the cross, is entrusting his mother Mary into the hands of the disciple John to take care of her. He was not able to leave behind. the funds necessary to take care of his mother and had to trust her into another's hand. Literally, financially, in His incarnation and throughout His life, He became poor for us that we might become rich spiritually in Him. And all of this literal poverty was just significant of a much deeper poverty of our sufferings, the sufferings we deserve that He took for us. And He suffered for us at the cross. indicates His humiliation as He gave Himself for us, as He became poor for you, that you might become rich in Him. So give in imitation of Christ. Give graciously. He wasn't forced. He says in Scripture, it says here in verse 9, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He did it graciously. And I remind you how that in John 10, Jesus said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And he said, no man takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and power to raise it up again. Jesus willingly laid his life down for you. And now he calls on you to give graciously like your Savior did. And I remind you in this, that one day you will do this perfectly. You will live in perfect self-giving as perfectly as your Savior, Jesus Christ. You will be as sinlessly perfect and righteous as He is in glory. You will love like He loves. You'll love God and neighbor perfectly. This is your hope. give an imitation of Christ, not only graciously, but selflessly. He told us there in verse nine, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor. Remember how our Lord tells us, John 15, 13, greater love has no man than this, than to lay one's life down for his friends. We're reminded in 1 John 3.16, by this we know love because He laid down His life for us. This is the ultimate example of sacrificial love. And God calls us to live that way because that verse goes on to say in 1 John 3.16, we know love, Christ's love for us, and this is how we know love. And then He says, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So give selflessly till the day in glory when you will experience pure, perfect, selfless happiness. You'll never again wrestle with that Ebenezer Scrooge mentality and that selfish mentality that we all have to put to death. Oh no, you'll enjoy the full happiness of full and free selflessness and glory. given imitation of Christ graciously, selflessly, and for the benefit of others. In verse 9 we read that for our sakes he became poor. Why? That you through his poverty might become rich. Paul tells us of this in 2 Corinthians 5.21, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Like one of our church fathers Irenaeus said, Christ became what we are so that we can become what He is. He was treated as the sinner we are at the cross so that we might become the very righteousness of God in Him. He did it. for our benefit and now He calls you to give for the benefit of others. And I'll remind you in this to look ahead and to see those others in future glory. You're giving for the benefit of others? Look ahead to future glory and see them by the eye of faith. When we give to the Cuban offering, It may be people that you've never met before, churches that you've never attended before. Look ahead in future glory when you will meet redeemed Cubans that you gave to help. And you'll experience the joy of knowing that you had an investment in that work. Think of the joy of it. When you meet converts from mission fields around the world, you never knew them. You didn't even know they existed, but you sent money to support that missionary, and then you get to meet those converts in eternal glory and enjoy worshiping God together with them. What a joy. You who support the seminary and desire to see men trained for the ministry. Those men go on and pastor and preach and centers are converted and saints are edified and you get to glory and you worship with them and you see those whom you invested in. When you give and you support your pastors as you do so graciously, dear congregation, and you reap the fruit of their labors. Like Paul told the Thessalonians, not that I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. And when you get to glory and you reap the fruit, you gave sacrificially and you supported your pastors and they fed you the Word of God and supported you and strengthened you by the grace of God all the way to glory. By the grace of God, may it be that your children were converted and your grandchildren and others, and you get to see the end result that was partially helped along by your giving. What a joy. Oh dear sinner, see what a Savior Christ is? You see how willing He was to give Himself for guilty sinners, sinners like you? Oh, trust in Him now. Trust in Him now. And He'll save you this very day. So give like they did. Give in response to God's grace. Give in imitation of Christ. Third and lastly, give for your own benefit. We read this in verse 7. He said, but as you abound in everything, in faith and speech and knowledge and all diligence and your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also. There is a thriving, there is a flourishing, there is an abounding that you will not experience as a Christian until you've given like this. Paul is teaching us here. And he's teaching in this passage that stunted giving tends to stunted joy, but abundant giving tends to abundant joy. Stunted giving tends to stunted Christian happiness, but gracious giving tends to abundant Christian happiness. Stunted giving tends to stunted spiritual growth. But abundant giving tends to abundant spiritual growth. This is exactly what Paul is teaching here. And in this, he reminds us that this giving is for justice, not oppression. He told him that in Verse 12 and verses 13-15, He's not asking that the Corinthians become dirt poor so the Jerusalem saints can become rich. No, He's asking them to give some of what they had so that the Jerusalem saints don't starve to death basically and don't have to live in total poverty. He's not asking them for bankruptcy. Paul tells us elsewhere that if a man will not provide for his own household, he's worse than an infidel. He's not saying give to the extent that you can't take care of your family. It's not at all what Paul's saying. But this is one implication of it. That in our determining and accounting to see if we have enough money to give others, I wonder how much we spend on our favorite luxury or hobby. Here Paul has mentioned their love, that their checkbook ledger speaks louder than words, and this is an opportunity to demonstrate their love. And while he's not asking us to starve our family or ourselves, he is calling on us to starve our lusts. and to starve our self-centered, ambitious desires, so that if God has given us ability to give, that we make sure we do practice this giving. Do it for your own benefit. When you give like the Macedonians and you give in imitation of Christ, you benefit first. While that offering is on the way to the Jerusalem saints, it hasn't even gotten there yet. They haven't benefited from it yet. You're already benefiting because you're the one who gave it. You benefit first. In verse 7, He teaches us that it's necessary for our increased happiness. As you abound in everything, so abound in this grace also. It's for your spiritual growth. The Corinthians had grown in a number of ways and they excelled. You read through the 1st and 2nd Corinthians, you'll find Paul tells them they excelled in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and while others were turned away from Paul, they even excelled in zeal and love. They stood above others in these five graces. And yet Paul says they need to abound in this one too, this grace of giving. Not only will you benefit first, you'll benefit most when you give to somebody else. In love to God and imitation of Christ, when you give, you benefit most. Isn't that what our Lord Jesus said that Paul reminds us of in Acts 20? That it is more blessed to give than to receive. They get a physical blessing, but you obtain a spiritual and physical blessing in that gift. and you're practicing that virtue in giving and growing spiritually in it. It's like the boy sitting out on the front steps of the church building and the preacher came driving up in a brand new Cadillac and got out to go into the church building and preach and the little boy said, hmm, how did you afford that Cadillac? He said, well, boy, I wouldn't have been able to afford this, but I've got a brother that struck it big in the oil business, and he bought me this Cadillac. What do you think that little boy said? Oh, I'd like to have a brother like that. No. That little boy said, I'd like to be a brother like that. Oh, dear Christian, he's teaching us to seek to be a brother. like that. And in doing so, you get the benefit of giving. You benefit even more than the recipient. And in all this, I remind you that in all His giving for us, our Lord Jesus enjoyed and reaped the benefits and the joys that He set out to accomplish. In Isaiah 53, 10-11, where it tells us, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, He has put Him to grief. When You made His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed and shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied. By His knowledge, My righteous servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Christ has finished His sufferings and entered into His glory and the satisfaction of it. And He calls you to enter into that. Through the way of sacrificial giving, through the way of suffering in this life, into eternal glory in the next, He calls on you to follow your Savior in this. And for your own eternal good, whereby for eternity you, by the grace of God, will reap the fruits and the benefits of this grace of giving. Give like they did out of response to God's grace and imitation of Christ. And for your own benefit. And their center this day received this free gift of Christ and be saved and reconciled to God. Amen. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we confess as Paul did here. that Christ is the unspeakable, the indescribable gift. Oh, we thank you for Him. We thank you for giving your Son for us, for us unworthy sinners. We thank you for the privilege and the holy opportunity that we have to call you Father and to live out of the overflow of this grace. We ask you, would you further and deepen our love for you and for our neighbor? And we pray, would you help us all as your people to imitate our Lord Jesus Christ and these faithful believers in all of our giving and to give our whole selves afresh to you this day, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.