How many of you ever heard the phrase, “It’s better to give than to receive!” It’s a very notable saying. The book of Acts tells us In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” This scripture provides a direct view of Gods heart that as we are to receive God’s blessings, in turn, we are to give with just as much enthusiasm as what God did to us. Sometimes we forget that everything God has given to us, is a gift and it’s not ours for the taking. Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe said it this way. "You never actually own a Patek Philippe; you merely take care of it for the next generation." So, it is with what we "own": money, gifts, ministries, time, and our very lives. I couldn’t say it any better. In titling my message today, grace giving stewardship, let us start our journey into what Paul describes to the people of Macedonian as What does it mean to give graciously? Let me start at verse 7. But just as you excel in everything, in faith, speaking, knowledge, and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you also excel in this gracious work. I am not saying this as a command, but as proving, through the earnestness of others, the sincerity of your love as well. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. Theres lots of information here to digest. Let me first point out Paul is not giving as a command, but implying the fruit of our love implies our desire to do Gods work. Second Paul tell us the riches of Christ in His poverty was freely given to us which resulted in our salvation. Nothing we can do will repay that debt. We are reminded this coming week our nation’s independence and what the cost of freedom really is. And although a wonderful blessing independence is, our society seems to be ruled by our entitlements rather than gifts. We desire our government to give each of us maximum room to exercise our inalienable rights, not gifts. In a world such as this, we have very little room for gifts, don’t we? Remember this. If you give me my rights, then you really haven’t given me anything at all! My rights are my entitlements. We don’t feel gratitude because we have only received from the world what deemed us to deserve. When we receive our social security checks, we don’t thank the government for it, we say “I earned it! Its my right!” A gift is something that is freely given that does not merit anything that we deserve. What Paul is trying to declare here at the start of this passage is when we have no sense of our lives as a gift, we have no sense of obligation! To those who have been given nothing, nothing is required. Yet what God is telling us is sternly different than what the world embowels us with. Paul continues at verse 12, For if the willingness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For this is not for the relief of others and for your hardship, but by way of equality— 14 at this present time your abundance will serve as assistance for their need, so that their abundance also may serve as assistance for your need, so that there may be equality; 15 as it is written: “The one who had gathered much did not have too much, and the one who had gathered little did not have too little.” Wow! Paul truly has dived into this realm of stewardship rather deeply. And you know, what makes this even more mesmorizing is just how relevant it is today as it was two thousand years ago! So why did Paul not command us to give? In order for us to truly give, we must desire to do it with LOVE, by choice, and not by command. Thomas Merton wrote an article in 1939 that quoted this. Without love, almsgiving is no more important an action than brushing your hair or washing your hands, and the Pharisees had just as elaborate a ritual for those things as they had for alms, too, because all these things were prescribed by law, and had to be done so. But love does not give money, it gives itself. If it gives itself first and a lot of money too, that is all the better. But first it must sacrifice itself.
When we talk about giving, whether money, gifts, our time and talents, we also need to talk about stewardship. The word steward used here in Greek, oy-kon-om'-os, is defined as the manager of a household who takes care of or manages what was given to him. Stewardship isn’t about “giving back” to God, it’s about using what God has given us to accomplish something that matters for His purpose for all mankind. In addition, not being good stewards comes at a cost. Jesus tells us a parable in Gospel of Matthew chapter 25 about a landowner entrusted his three servants with his possession while he was away. One received 5 talents, one received 2 talents and the last received 1. Upon the return of the landowner, he went to the servants to settle up with what he entrusted them. Two of the three were able to use their talents and earned even more to do good for others and earn more in return. But the third servant did nothing with his and thus was fully rejected by the landowner. What God has entrusted us with we are to use, not hide. We are reminded in scripture where God owns everything. Everything under heaven is mine God says in Job. In the Psalm “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” Everything we have, even our friends and family are here on borrowed time. While we have them, we use them for His purpose that is to excel in greatness for all others to also gain. Without LOVE, we have no desire to do God’s work especially to give. For some of you, giving is a hard subject to swallow. I don’t think God is asking any more from us than we are willing to give except what He can do in us to do even more! In other words, its not enough to just get by with what we think we can give, God has a bigger plan in mind. We are to use all of what he gave us to trust in Him to in turn reap the great reward of His abundances and grace. Let me leave you with a point to ponder on the subject. One adult bird got alongside its chicks and started to shove them out toward the end of the branch. One by one the chicks were pushed to the edge and somewhere between the branch and the water about four feet below, the wings started working and the chicks flew. The third chick was not so easy to experience flying. At the last possible moment his grip on the branch loosened just enough to where it swung upside down with its talons gripping the branch ever so tightly. The parent started to peck at the chicks’ feet until it was too painful to hang on while not wanting to risk the insecurities of flying. The chick released its grip and the inexperienced chick started to flap its wings and actually flew. The parent knew all along the chick had it in him. There was no danger in making the decision to do exactly what it was designed to do. Birds have feet and can walk as they can grasp branches securely. But flying is their characteristic and not until they fly are they living at their best. Giving friends is what we do best. It is the air into which we were born to give, help and distribute. It’s an action we are designed to do, just like the wings of a bird. Some of us try to hold onto ourselves to live for ourselves yet it’s something God did not intend us to do, but to give to others on His behalf. Maybe, we don't think we can live generously to give because we have never truly tried. But the sooner we start, the better, for we are going to have to give up our lives finally, and the longer we wait, the less time we have for the soaring and swooping life of grace. Actor Denzel Washington offered some advice to young actors as he stated this. I pray that you all put your shoes way under the bed at night so that you got to get on your knees in the morning when you wake up to find them. While you're down there, thank God for grace and mercy and understanding. We all fall short of the glory … but if you just start thinking about all the things you got to say "thank you" for, that's a day. That's easily a day! You'll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse … Now, I've been blessed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in my life. I can't take it with me, and neither can you. It's not how much you have but what you do with what you have. And we all have different gifts: some money, some love, some patience, some the ability to touch people. But we all have it. Use it. Share it. That's what counts.
Apostle Peter tells us As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God. Amen.