2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and we will start our reading in verse 1 and we'll be reading down to verse 15. All right, let's just pray, ask the Lord to help us before we read. Heavenly Father, I do thank you for your word, pray you'd help us now as we come to it and as we read it. Lord, I pray that the Holy Spirit would just guide us and teach us and help us, Lord, to understand all truth, give us the insight and the discernment that's needed to be able to not only hear and understand, but to be able to see and then live out the Scriptures. And Father, I pray that you'd help us to receive it, help us to search it and study it and then do it And Father, I pray that your hand be upon us tonight. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. I heard from Brother Chris as well. He's all back in East Timor and getting settled back in there now and all's well at that end. So that's good to hear. And it was a real blessing for him to be at the church at Catherine. And they're very willing to be involved in the ministry and try and be a blessing. They're going to try and send because it's fairly easy for them to send people up. It's a couple of hundred dollars worth of tickets from Darwin to Dilley, return tickets. It's not much. I think it was $240 or something from Darwin to Dilley. So they're wanting to be able to send people up, different individuals up a few times throughout the year to try and do projects for him and help in the school and different things. And they want to really get behind that ministry. So that's a real blessing. and he really enjoyed his time there. So let's be praying for that church at Catherine, and the brethren there, and the ministry in Catherine, and then as they involve themselves in the ministry there, Brother Chris. So that'll be good. All right. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, We do to wit the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 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, insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye are bound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and approve the sincerity of your love. 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. And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you, who have begun before not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore, perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality. As it is written, he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack. All right. Last Sunday night we considered the first five or six verses. and we looked at these, and we looked at the grace of God and the giving by grace, and we looked at how Paul used the churches of Macedonia as an example, and he set those churches before the church at Corinth and said, I want you to have some knowledge and understanding, I want you to wit of the grace that's been bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, I want you to get a hold of this, and He set them forth as an example, and we looked at that example last week, right? You remember that? Last Sunday evening. So He's walked through that and how they gave, and they gave out of their deep poverty, they gave beyond their ability, they gave sacrificially, they gave supernaturally, and then we see that they gave of themselves in verse 5, and then where we're going to start tonight, basically is verse 7 through verse 15. And if you notice in verse 7, notice what he says here. He changes tact now. In the first six verses, he set forth the churches of Macedonia as an example, but now he turns in these next few verses and he gives some clear instruction as to why they ought to do it. He said, here's the example of how to do it, now here's why you need to do it, why you need to be involved in giving by grace to the poor saints, to those that are in need. Notice it in verse 7, As ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also." This is what he's saying. He's saying, because, or therefore, for this reason, because you're already abounding in everything, look at what they're abounding in. They're abounding in faith. They're abounding in utterance, in being a witness for Jesus. They're abounding in knowledge. They're abounding in diligence. They're abounding in love. He said, you're abounding in all these things. That's good. That's fantastic. But abound in this grace as well. So we see that those first few things that He mentions, those 1, 2, 3, 4, those first five things that He mentions there, He commends them for abounding in those graces, and they are graces. The only way that you and I produce those fruits as Christians is by the grace of God, right? And they're graces that God bestows upon individuals and upon the church. And He said, you're abounding in these graces, and He commends them for that. He says, you're a good church. That's fantastic. That's good. But abound in this grace as well. Right? And so he goes on, and again, it's all about grace. And I was reading through this again this afternoon, and let's see if I can find it. I should have marked it. It just jumped out at me when I was reading through it. No, I don't know if I can find it. Anyway, he's commending them for being the church that they are, but he wanted them to go on and abound in this grace of giving, like the churches of Macedonia. Notice what it says in verse 8. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the fullness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. Number one reason why you should be involved in giving to the poor, and giving to missions, and giving by grace, giving by faith, is to prove the sincerity of your love. You say you love the brethren. You say you love missions. You say you love missionaries. Well, it's all good and well to say you love, but prove the sincerity of your love. Show how real it is. In other words, put your money where your mouth is, right? Talks cheap, isn't it? And he's saying talks cheap. Talks cheap. He said prove, that your love is sincere. Prove that your love for the poor brethren is sincere. Show that it's real. Have a look in Romans chapter 12 and verse 9. I like this verse and I've preached from it a number of different times and there's a number of good truths in this verse. But the first portion of the verse is what I want us to get a hold of tonight. Romans chapter 12 and verse 9. It uses a word that we don't use on a regular basis in our everyday language, in modern English, but it's a good word. Romans chapter 12 and verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation. I pour that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. It's talking about the love for God here in context here. But all our love, whether it be for God, or whether it be for the brethren, or whatever it be, it ought to be without dissimulation. And dissimulation is the same as hypocrisy. It's ungenuine, it's an act. And you ought to let your love, your love for the brethren, my love for the brethren, my love for the church, my love for missions, my love for missionaries, ought to be without dissimulation. There ought not to be hypocrisy attached to that love. It ought to be genuine. It ought to be sincere. It oughtn't be an act. It's easy to say, love your missionary when they come through, and when the missionary comes through, pat him on the back and tell him we love him, and praise God, we love missionaries here at this church, and then give him nothing. That's not proving the sincerity of our love. Is it un-genuine, in-genuine? What's the word? Un or in? Or un? In-genuine? You sure? We'll go with in? In-genuine. Sounds good to me. Pardon? Fake. It's a fake love. Non-genuine. Cheap. It's hypocrisy. It's an act. And he's saying to the church at Corinth, prove the sincerity of your love. Get involved in this, like the churches of Macedonia. Do it to prove the sincerity of your love. Go with me now to James chapter 2. And this, in context, is talking about faith without works. But there's a good lesson here in this for us when it comes to giving to missions, when it comes to giving to the poor, the poor saints. And you understand there's a difference between giving to the poor saints and giving to brethren, right? And giving to the poor in the lost community. There's a difference. You know, as a church, And I was thinking about this today, as a church, and it doesn't happen in our culture of independent Baptist churches, but if we hear of a church in Australia, an independent Baptist church in Australia, or a church of like faith in Australia, that is in financial hardship, and if we have abundance, we as a church ought to be willing to help them. That doesn't happen any other you don't you don't really hear that happening within churches in Australia But that's what's happened. That's what's happening in this and we'll see that as we walk through here It's not just about giving to missions. It's not just about giving to a poor individual, but it's about being benevolent towards the brethren and That's very important. Okay, James chapter 2 and verse 14. I What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he have faith and have not works, can faith save him? And this is a really good passage of scripture. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled. Notwithstanding, you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so, faith, if it have not works, is dead, being alone." So the argument here in context is about you say you have faith, but your faith produces nothing, it's a dead faith, right? There's no profit to it. But here, if you look at this in context to what we're talking about, so you've got a brother or a sister, that's in destitute, in need, and they come in here and we say, God bless you, sister. Hope you're warm tonight and hope your belly's full, praying for you. And they go out there and they go out cold and they go out hungry. What have we done? We've done absolutely nothing. Talk's cheap. We've not proven the sincerity of our love whatsoever. We've just said, God bless you, be warmed and filled and go in peace. And it's done nothing. And that's the same when it comes to missions. It's the same when it comes to a church. If we hear of a church in financial hardship and we have the ability to be able to be a blessing to them, well, it's pointless in saying, oh, God bless you and may all the abundance of finances come your way and give them nothing. What's the point of that? You might as well keep your mouth shut, right? That's not real. That's not genuine. That's dissimulation. That's hypocrisy. So he's saying, be real. I came across this in my study and I think it's good. He said, I came across this. It says, you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. And I think that's pretty good, isn't it? You can give without love being attached, but when you really love, you will give. And when we really love the brethren, when we really get a heart and a love for missions and missionaries, we will give. You don't have to pound it into people. If I get a heart for it, I don't have to be hounded by it all the time to be able to give. I just give because I love. So the first reason to be involved was to prove the sincerity of their love, and we saw that in verse 8, but go with me now to verse 9, back in our passage of Scripture, 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9. 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. Now Paul sets forth Christ as the example. What's the other reason to be involved? It's to be like Christ. Not only to prove the sincerity of our love, but to be like Jesus. To be like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Look at verse 9 again. Let's see if I can read it properly. 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. So here's Christ. He's rich in all that He has and all that He is. Not in worldly riches, but He has what we need. We're in poverty and we're in need. He's rich. He gave what He had so we could get a hold of what we needed. Right? He gave out of the abundance of His riches that we might have and might be able to fulfill the need that we have in our poverty, spiritually speaking. Christ is set forth as the example. And in 1 John 2 and verse 6, it says, He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also to walk, even as He walked. You call yourself a Christian, you say you follow Christ, you say you abide in Him, well, walk like He walked. Do what He did. Follow His example. Christ set the example. You know, they'll call Christians first where? In Antioch? That's where they'll first call Christians. And to be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus, to be a follower of Christ, right? So if I'm going to be a follower of Christ, if I'm going to be a Christian, that means I have to follow His example. And when He sets forth that example for us, I need to follow that pattern. And you need to follow that pattern that He sets forth. And now you and I, we do not have to, as Christians, we do not have to die in order for sinners to be saved. Right? You don't have to die. I don't have to die in order for sinners to be saved. Christ has already died. But we, the riches that we have, the abundance of wealth that we have, we have the ability to be able to give out of our riches, out of our excess, we're able to give so somebody that doesn't have the gospel, that does have that need of the gospel, can get the gospel. Do you see that? Christ, he gave what he could so we could have what we needed. And you and I, we have the ability to give what we can so others can have what they need. So a missionary can go and take them the gospel to people that don't have it. Do you see that? Go with me to Philippians chapter 2. And verse 1, If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, in any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. We ought to be of one accord, oughtn't we? Be of one mind, that's unity. There ought to be unity in the church, unity amongst the brethren. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, Let each esteem other better than themselves. You better get your eyes off yourself and get your eyes on others, right? When Christ came, he didn't have eyes on himself. He was looking at others. He was looking at you and me and our need. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. You know, this passage of scripture has been ruined for me. Because I can't help but reading this and remember the first time I ever heard it preached. And it was pretty woeful. But anyway. I just keep going back to it every time. It was just not long after Leanne and I were married, we were actually on our honeymoon. And the title of the message was, I want to be like Christ, I think was the title of the message, something like that. You know, I want to be like Mike? Was it Michael Jordan? Yeah. Anyway, now I'm getting sidetracked on that poor message. We ought to have the same mind as Christ had. The mind that Christ had, his mind was others. It was others. And our mind ought to be others. We ought to be esteeming others above ourselves. We ought to be looking to others' needs above our needs. And praise God, I've got the gospel. You've got the gospel. Right? Now we have the privilege to be able to give, to be able to take the gospel somewhere else, where they don't have the gospel. And that's a great blessing to be able to be involved in that. In 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 33 it says, Even as I please all men in all things, this is what Paul said, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 33, Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, and that's the direction we often go, that's the direction the flesh often goes, is what's profitable to me. What's best for me? What would be most profitable to me as an individual? But Paul said, even as I please all men and all things, not seeking my own profit, I wasn't seeking my profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved. And that's where our focus ought to be. So, first of all, is to prove the sincerity of our love, to be like Christ, and then have a look with me in verse 10, in our text, in verse 10. And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you who have begun before not only to do but also to be forward a year ago. Have you heard of and I've not used this term and the reason I've not used this term I've not been preaching along this angle, but some of you would have would be familiar with the term faith promise You're familiar with that with the term faith promise offering faith promise giving And this is this is where they use it. I Myself have struggled. I struggle seeing faith promise The way it's often preached, but I do see giving by grace and giving by faith And this verse does suggest that they made a commitment for a year. They were forward a year ago. They were willing and are involved in giving for a year. They made a commitment for that year to give by grace, to give by faith for that 12-month period. They were forward a year ago. But notice what it says. He said it's expedient. This is expedient for you. To be involved in this, to abound in this grace, is expedient for you. It's profitable, it's good for you as an individual, it's good for us as a church. It's for our benefit. Yes, others will be blessed, but we'll be blessed as well, because it's expedient for us. And then fourthly, notice this in verse 13 through 15. Jump with me to verse 13. that other men be eased, and ye burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want. that there may be equality. As it is written, he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack. So the fourth reason to be involved in giving, as the Macedonian churches were giving, is to prevent equality. To prevent inequality. I'll get it right. That's why I've got some funny looks. To prevent inequality. I was just seeing if you're all awake and paying attention to what I was saying. To prevent inequality. It's a common practice. Go back with me to the early church in the book of Acts. We'll just have a look at this first. Keep your thumb there in 1 Corinthians 8. Book of Acts chapter 4. Let's have a look here at the early church in verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And notice what happened. And a multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. There was unity there. Notice this. I didn't notice this until today, and I couldn't tell you how many times I've read over this passage of Scripture, but notice what it says, "...neither said any of them..." It's got to do with their words. "...neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common." They didn't go around saying, this is mine, this is mine. They didn't go around as a church saying, this is ours, this is mine, this is ours. No, the spirit, the heart, the attitude was, it's everybody's. Because they come to a realisation and understanding that it's all God's anyway. Right? But I noticed that, I'd never noticed that before. Neither said any of them. There's a lot of saying goes on. And notice verse 33, And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all, neither was there any among them that lacked. For as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made under every man according as he had need. So I wanted to point that out to you. It was a common practice in the early church, and Paul was promoting it again here in the book of Corinthians. And he's saying to them here, notice verse 13 to begin with, For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened. He said, look, the purpose of this is not to place a great burden on the church at Corinth and have you overburdened financially and everybody else just skipping easy and having no burden and them just be eased. He said, that's not the design of it. That's not what it's about. It oughtn't cripple the church. It oughtn't overburden us and everybody else go easy. Notice verse 14, but by inequality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want. So the church at Corinth had an abundance and he knew they had an abundance at that time. And he's saying, in your abundance, You give to those that are in need, that are destitute, that are in poverty. You give to supply their need. And then what's going to happen is, in the providence God and in time, things will turn around, and you'll find yourself in want and in need, and they'll have abundance, and they'll be able to give back and help you. You see, it's a back and forth thing. Let's read verse 14 again carefully. But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be supply for their want. You have abundance at Corinth, they have a need, a want, and you can supply it in Jerusalem. And then it turns around, the second part, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality. So there ought to be equality between the brethren, between the churches. And we see that, I'll read a couple of verses to you out of Romans chapter 15 and verse 26. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily, and they're dead as they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty also is to minister unto them in carnal things." So Jerusalem went out there to Macedonia with the gospel. The churches out there in Macedonia and Achaia heard poor saints in Jerusalem are doing it tough, so they took up an offering and ministered to their physical carnal needs after they'd been out there ministering to their spiritual needs. And that's where the emphasis comes in that the saints in Jerusalem were doing missionary work. They'd been out there planting churches in Macedonia. And because of that, they were stirred and forward and willing to give finances back to the poor saints there in Jerusalem. Notice verse 15. As it is written, he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack. Now this is a direct reference to Exodus chapter 18. Go there with me, would you please? It's talking about the manna in Exodus chapter 16. So God has supplied. That's who supplied the manna, wasn't it? Was it God? It wasn't man. God supplied it. Exodus 16, and well, let's start in verse 16, we'll read those couple of verses. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, gather of it every man according to his eating, and Omer for every man, according to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less. And when they did meet it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating. So what happened here? The manna came down, God provided the manna, they went out and they collected it, and they brought it all into a common place, and I didn't see this until today, I don't know why, but it seems to suggest here that they went out, they gathered all, brought it into a common place, and then they measured it out with an omar. Out of all that was gathered in, they measured each man out what was needed. Some gathered a lot, some gathered a little. But when they measured it all out, everybody had what they needed. Now God provided it, number one, right? It was a provision of God. And that's how we need to understand, we need to see, we need to remember that the riches, the wealth, the money that we have, it's not yours, it's provided by God. It's not mine, God provided it. And what I need to do, I need to be ready, I need to be forward, I need to be willing to give to the benevolence, to the need of the poor saints, those that are in need. They didn't go out there and just pile it all up to themselves, did they? What happens when they did that? It went rotten, did it? It started to stink, get worms and maggots. The book of James talks about if you gather up wealth under yourself, it'll do the same thing as that. Our wealth that God grants us, God gives us the wealth that we have. And it's not for us to consume it on our lusts and pour it on ourselves. It's ours to be able to give back out where it's needed and to be benevolent with and to be gracious with and give by grace. Do you see that? We need to remember that. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 24. You want to have a look there with me? We've just got a couple of verses to go and then we'll finish. 1 Corinthians 10 24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. Do you want me to read that again? Let not man seek his own, but every man another's wealth." Don't seek your own wealth. Don't seek to pour it on yourself. Seek to make someone else rich. Seek to be a blessing to someone else. That goes contrary to the flesh. I don't even like the sound of it, to be honest with you. Right? That's difficult to read. Let alone obey and put in practice. God doesn't give me the wealth that He gives me, the blessings, the financial abundance that He gives me. He doesn't give that for me just to consume it upon my lusts and just to glory in. He gives that to me to be able to give out to others, whether through the local church, whether it be to missions, whether it be to poor saints, whether it be to a poor church, whether it be whatever it is. It's not for me to gather up to my own wealth. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 17. Have a look there with me. First John 3. Christ is set forth as an example, God sets forth here in verse 16, have a look at verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God, this is what love is, because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. That's a good verse for those that want to do away with the deity of Christ. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, God laid down His own life for us in the person of Christ. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, you've got it, you've got goods, you've got this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? You look at the love that God displayed in verse 16 for you, and you say you love the brethren and you've got all this that you've got, but you're not willing to give it to someone that's in need, a brother or a sister in need? Well, how dwells the love of God in you? That's not the love of God, that's selfishness. Right? God help us. So he sets forth an example of the Macedonian churches and then he sets forth four reasons here why to be involved. What was the first one? Can you remember? Prove the sincerity of our love. What was the second one? Anyone remember? To be like Christ. Follow Christ's example. Third one, it's because it's expedient, it's good, profitable for us as individuals and as a church. And then fourthly, it's to prevent inequality. To prevent inequality amongst the brethren. God's not pleased when one group of the brethren are flourishing in abundance and another are squalid and in poverty and destitute. No, we ought to be aware of it and take care of it where we can. Prevent inequality.