The collection for the impoverished Church at Jerusalem was near and dear to Paul’s heart.  Not only because it was an opportunity for his Gentile converts to learn and develop the important grace of giving, but because it was also the occasion for the Lord to work in healing one of the deepest and longest-standing animosities of all time, the enmity between Jew and Gentile.  What Paul described in his own words as, the dividing wall of hostility (Eph. 2:14).  As much as we might like to believe that such prejudices suddenly vanish upon our conversion to Christ, the New Testament is sure witness to how pervasive and persistent they truly are, even among professing believers.  2 Corinthians 9:11-15 is a much-needed word for our times, as we look at one man’s tireless commitment and unyielding effort at “Bridging the Social and Ethnic Divide”.

It is not uncommon for our giving to be tied somehow to our getting. Whether it’s a premium in return for a donation, some kind of tangible honor or recognition in return for our support, or the confident assertion that God promises that we’ll always get more in return than we could ever possibly give to him. That giving to him is in fact the very pathway to getting. Why should we give? And what exactly are we promised when we do? Paul’s excursus on giving ends with a concluding exhortation in 2 Cor. 9:6-16 on “The True Riches of Generosity”. It is his most definitive answer as to what we can expect to get in return for what we give.

The reputation of the gospel has suffered some of its greatest harm through the financial improprieties of Churches and Christian ministries. One of the most frequently cited reasons the unchurched give for their unwillingness to attend our gatherings is that “the church only wants our money”. How unfortunate. Yet the fact is that we have a lot of responsibility to take when it comes to earning that reputation and we have no one to blame but ourselves. In 2 Corinthians 8:16 – 9:5 we’ll take a close and needed look at the painstaking lengths to which Paul went in order to ensure the highest levels of integrity and accountability in both his approach to giving, as well as his administration of what was given, in an important message entitled, “Avoiding the Pitfalls of Money and Ministry”.

Sincere faith has often proved to be a soft target for less than honest and truthful means of raising money.  Jesus on one occasion, point blank, specifically accused the religious leaders of his day of “devouring widows houses” (Lk. 20:47).  The spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation was the church’s selling of indulgences, whereby believers, through giving to the church, could purchase merit for their departed loved ones, thus lessening their time in purgatory and hurrying them on to heaven, which the Reformers rightly saw as an affront to the work of Christ on the cross, and spiritually debilitating to our understanding and experience of grace.  Many Protestant traditions have and continue to teach the obligation of storehouse tithing, the requirement to give a tenth of one’s income to the local church, ensuring that giving for missions and charitable causes is over and above that, a practice which simply lacks any scriptural warrant or basis.  Given all that, the question remains, “How Should We Then Give?”.  In 2 Corinthians 8:8-15 we’ll take a close look at Paul’s honest and truthful answer.

Paul’s sudden and abrupt change of subject to the matter of giving might come across to us as just another standard, run of the mill, giving appeal. The unpleasant but necessary side of ministry to which all of us submit in order to keep the wheels of ministry turning. Even so, in a letter deeply concerned about the proper spiritual development of believers, it would still come as a shocking surprise that he would make such a sharp and sudden turn to the crass business of raising money. But in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. As we’ll see over the next several weeks, Paul’s careful instruction in chapters 8 – 9 is part and parcel of the loving concern and painstaking pastoral care he exhibits toward them throughout the remainder of the letter. His one, singular, aim and purpose being their spiritual good and well-being. In 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 he puts his finger on a vitally important but seriously under-developed aspect of their spiritual life, in a message entitled “The Grace of God To Give”.

Ours is not an age known for noteworthy demonstrations of repentance. In response to the preaching of Jonah, The King of Nineveh left his royal throne, removed his royal robes, put on sackcloth, sat down in the dust, and ordered everyone else to do the same. In addition, he ordered them not to eat or drink, call urgently upon God and turn from their evil ways and violence (Jonah 3:6,7). The Ephesians responded to the preaching of Paul by bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of books on sorcery and burning them publically in the city square (Acts 19:19). Accounts and descriptions of the Great Awakening in America include numerous examples of significant public displays of contrition and confession. In our day, when a public figure falls from grace, they hire a team of PR experts to manage the fall out with carefully crafted and strategically placed words of apology primarily intended to soften the impact on their favorability ratings and commercial endorsements. As a result, few have even an inkling of the nature of true repentance. Paul’s urgent message of concern to the Corinthians had elicited a response of contrition and change, to such a depth and degree, that not even Paul himself had been fully prepared to receive it. In 2 Corinthians 7:2-16, Paul gratefully and joyfully recounts that response, in a valuable and much-needed example we’ll consider together this morning, in a message entitled “A Notorious Repentance”.

Christian faith does not lend itself to half-measures. In response to the covenant of promise that God made with Abraham, God told him, “walk before me faithfully and be blameless” (Gen. 17:1). God’s command to his people through Moses, later echoed by Peter was simply, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2). On one occasion Jesus turned to the crowds who were following him and said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes even their own life — such a person cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:25). Christian faith, by its very nature, is not compatible with either lukewarm commitment or half-hearted obedience. And yet we try. Like many others, both before and after them, many of the Corinthians were attempting to straddle the illusory fence between belief and unbelief. But Paul lovingly, and yet firmly, calls them out. As we’ll see this morning, he concludes his lengthy appeal in 2 Corinthians 6:14 – 7:1 with an important and needed reminder, to them and to us, of “The Call to be Wholly Holy”.

Today it is a commonly accepted belief by many, if not most, that the success and well-being of the church lies in our ability to understand the needs and desires of the surrounding culture and adapt ourselves accordingly. Allowing the culture not simply to inform, but actually dictate our commonly held beliefs and practices. Many of the Corinthian believers were being drawn to just such a suggestion, and as a result, reluctant to affirm and embrace the truth as it was understood, lived out and taught by the Apostle Paul himself. Why are we, like them, so eager and willing to embrace that approach? And why do so many seem oblivious to the scriptural contradictions and spiritual ramifications of such a decision? In 2 Corinthians 6:14 – 7:1 we’ll take a good hard look at Paul’s answer, in a message entitled “Taking the World out of the Church”.

2 CORINTHIANS 6:1-13. It is not uncommon for those who are caught in sin to find refuge in the realm of indecision. It is one of the most common human techniques of avoidance, dodging the full impact of our guilt, and sidestepping the full responsibility of our actions. Though Paul had implored the Corinthians, on Christ’s behalf, to be reconciled to God, he knew that they were likely to continue to defer that decision for just as long as they possibly could. Why do we do that? Why does it matter? And what exactly do we need when we do? 2 Corinthians 6 is a cogent reminder that sometimes love must be tough.

One of the most significant threats to our faith is the subtle temptation to go soft on the truth of scripture. It isn’t an outright denial or rejection of God’s Word, it’s a shaving off of the hard edges and an easing up on the personal demands in order to make it more accommodating to our lifestyles and conducive to our material aspirations. What Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace. How serious is that threat to our faith? How concerned ought we to be about it, both for ourselves and others? If 2 Corinthians 5:11-21, “Reconciling the Reconciled”, is any indication, the tenor and strength of Paul’s appeal ought to make us sit up and take notice.