Kampala Int. Church (zone meeting), 19th December 2011
Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Theme: Being a generous people
Some combinations are just beyond doubt: Uganda andmatoke is one and another one is: Christmas and giving. Christmas and being generous are a strong match. In the West this comes out in the classic tale ‘A Christmas story’ by Charles Dickens. It is a story about a greedy and stingy business man, named Scrooge who is visited by three Ghosts of Christmas on Christmas Eve. Because of that dramatic experience he wakes up at Christmas morning with love and joy in his heart and he is transformed into a kind and generous person.
Well, I don’t think that Dickens’ solution is a normal recipe for becoming generous, so we leave that for what it is. But it raises the question: what is it about being generous at Christmas time? Why should we be generous as Christians? And how can we be generous?
We can relate a number of tough questions to this topic of giving, such as: how can you be generous in a situation where we can always see more needs? And does an expat need to be more generous than an Ugandan citizen? Well, I won’t be answering all those questions this morning but the passage we read will help us to discover a few principles which should guide us. We’ll discover that being generous is all about the Christ of Christmas.
[Situation]
Let’s first look at our bible reading from 2 Corinthians a bit more closely. The relationship between the church in Corinth and the apostle Paul was not an easy one. Paul had established the church there but now in his absence there were people accusing Paul that he was not a genuine apostle and even that he was putting the money they had collected for the poor in Jerusalem into his own pocket! In this letter (2 Cor.) Paul is defending himself against these accusations and he urges the church in Corinth to finalize the collection for Jerusalem before his next visit to Corinth. To help that process Paul sends his co-worker Titus to Corinth with this letter.
[Chapter 8]
In chapter 8 we see that Paul presents the church in Corinth with the example of the congregations in Macedonia (i.e. in the North of Greece). He is saying: the folks in Macedonia have done really well, what about you? Why are you lagging behind? Now comparing is always tricky. I am sure that a number of us wouldn’t be too impressed if our pastor would tell us: the folks in Bugolobi congregation have raised 30% more than we did in Heritage last month.
But Paul’s does more than making a simple comparison. He is talking about the motivation to give. We often put giving in the category of things you have to, or ought to do. Tithing is frequently used in the sense of: this is a rule. Paul uses different words. He says: ‘I am not commanding you…’Why not? Because giving is about grace. These four words (giving is about grace) would be quite a shock to stingy Scrooge on Christmas Eve. He didn’t know about grace, so he didn’t know about being generous. He first needed to discover grace before he was able to give.
Grace is a key word that is mentioned 4 times in this passage:
- Verse1: the grace that God has given to the Macedonian churches
- Verse 4: [them] begging us with much entreaty to receive this grace (to contribute) [NIV has ‘privilege’]
- Verse 6: to bring to completion this act of grace on your part
- Verse 9: For you know the grace of our Lord (so therefore…)
So Paul is saying: since you have received God’s grace, his love, his forgiveness, his care… for free, you should be a generous people, sharing the grace that God has given you. In this way you show that you have given yourself to the Lord.
And the Churches in Macedonia are a special example of this:
Let’s look at verse 2: ‘out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity’. This is a kind of mathematics that I still have to learn:
- amazing joy plus extreme poverty = rich generosity
I am teaching at a bible school in Southern Sudan. I am also very much a learner in that environment. When we were doing a bible study in class the question came up: are we willing to give up everything for God? One student said: “Everything that I have [which is not much!] is God’s gift to me. I must be willing to give it back to God gladly and share it with people in need”.
From extreme poverty to rich generosity, that is what grace can do and this grace is the fundamental reason for being generous. But Paul has more reasons (he always has more reasons!). I list 5 other points:
Why are we generous?
- Because of the example of Christ who became poor for our sake (verse 9). I’ll come back to this.
- As a proof of the sincerity of our love for others in need (verse 8). [“I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others”]
- So that there might be equality (verse 13-15). [“At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality” (14)]
Here Paul refers to the gathering of manna by the Israelites in the desert. After gathering they all got 1 omer (measurement) per person. In that way everyone had enough.
- (jumping to chapter 9) It shows that we are trusting that God will provide what we need. (9:6-11)
- (this one I like a lot) Because men will praise God (9:12-13). Our generosity make others glorify God!
Let me summarize that: We are a generous people because of grace, the example of Christ, love for others, equality, trusting God for the future and that his name will be glorified.
Example of Christ
Let’s go back to verse 9 where Paul gives us the example of Christ as a reason for being generous. This is what Christmas is about: ‘though Christ was rich, yet for your sakes be became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich’. He went from richness to poverty so we could go from hispoverty to richness!
So we become rich! That is not bad. But what is meant here with rich and poor? What is the currency here? Are we talking money or something else? We need to ask this question because the thinking that God provides material prosperity for those he favours is wide spread, also in Africa.
Example: I read a story in New Vision newspaper some months ago about a pastor in Kampala with 2 cars. This was in the section of the newspaper about cars and the topic was: how wonderful it is to drive a Mercedes. There was this pastor giving testimony how wonderfully God had blessed him that he now owned a 4x4 and a Mercedes! I have lots of questions about this (probably because I am a bit jealous) but we must be very careful with making God’s blessing equal to having a Mercedes. But this thinking is spreading. (By the way: nothing against pastors in Uganda, just an example, have the same questions with huge salary of US pastors in mega-churches).
Femi Adeleye, a Nigerian leader in IFES (student movement), said this about the 'prosperity gospel': ‘The prosperity gospel is a “false gospel,” that makes money, material possessions, physical well-being and success an end in themselves. Why should we align with a gospel that deprives the poor of the dignity they deserve? It is a seduction that has spawned divisions in the Church. Our pilgrimage is between two points of nakedness [birth and death], so we should travel light and live simply’.
So, this verse 9 is not about money. Christian faith is not an ATM that provides cash on demand. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about overflowing joy even in the midst of severe trials and extreme poverty, like the churches in Macedonia had experienced.
How then was Christ rich?
- He was rich in power...He created the world and all that is in it, but He gave that up and became a man.
- He was rich in love...all the hosts of angels in heaven worshiped and adored Him, but He came as a man and was despised and rejected.
- He was rich in resources... everything was His, and yet He was born and lived in poverty. He had to borrow a manger to be born.
This verse reminds us of Philippians 2:6-8: “Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!”
Christ left all this riches behind for our sake, to make us rich. We become rich in a relational sense, something money can’t buy: We have God! We are in Christ! We are guided by the Holy Spirit. We are no longer separated, but are restored to full fellowship with the King of the Universe.These riches are much more valuable than any gold or silver. We have a treasure in heaven. We are adopted into the family of God. We have eternal joy.
So how does knowing all this makes us generous?
Well, knowing the riches we have in Christ (forgiveness, love, grace, joy), our material possessions become less important to us.
- Our security does not depend on our money
- Our self-worth does not depend on our possessions
- Our happiness does not depend on our finances
So, knowing that, we can step out in faith – and give generously.
We are willing to give up all that we have to bring honour and glory to God.
Realistically & practical
This sounds wonderful, isn’t it, but how does it work in the real world? Well, I have discovered that the less my focus is on God and his immeasurable grace, the more I am checking my bank account and the more I worry about being too generous! To say it the other way around: the more we focus on all that God has given us, the less we are worried about our material possessions. Someone said: “I have tried to keep things in my hands and lost them all, but what I have given into God's hands, I still possess”.
And yes the needs are always bigger than our generosity. I feel it is much easier to be generous in Europe or in the US than in Africa. In the West needs are often far away or abstract. You do your tithing and you give an extra donation for helping people after the earthquake in Haitiand you feel good about yourself! But it is much harder in Africa and in Uganda. Needs are everywhere, they are at your doorstep. But we have to realize time and again that we can’t save the world by ourselves and we as KIC can’t save Kampala. Just as our Lord Jesus healed relatively few people during his ministry on earth, we are called to do what we have to do to those few people we know or those who are brought to our attention.
And yes, we do feel guilty sometimes about our nice house or our nice 4x4 (or Mercedes) or that we are able to study or eat in a restaurant but that is part of living in a broken world. If you never feel guilty about the brokenness & inequality in this world, then you’ll need to worry.
This is important: We won’t be able to deserve grace by being generous but we do need to be generous because we are people of grace.
And being generous is not only about money or stuff. I was reminded of that when reading a book by Duane Elmer about cross-cultural relationships. Now the following part is especially for expat missionaries or aid workers. Elmer talks about the complications of generosity. He is saying: missionaries give a lot of stuff to people but they find it difficult to receive. Christians in Africa desire a real relationship with their missionary colleagues but that is very difficult if there is no reciprocity, no real sharing. I quote Elmer:
“When I led workshops throughout Africa, comments heard repeatedly were: ‘The missionaries do not show us what is in their hearts’. These Africans were saying that they were not allowed into the pain, frustrations, anxieties, heartaches or even the joys of missionaries’personal lives. Often missionaries share their personal lives only in missionary prayer meetings, carefully concealing them from their host-country brothers and sisters. One furloughing missionary reported in a moment of extraordinary insight and honesty: ‘I only let them look at my life, as it were, through a keyhole. They saw only a small part of me, and only what I wanted them to see”
This struck me and I think there is a lot of truth in it. It is probably more difficult to be generous in sharing our lives and struggles then to give some money to someone. But as followers of Christ this is the challenge before us.
I’ll finish with this little story. This is for all of us (I’ll stop picking on missionaries).
A missionary working somewhere in North Africa became aware that very few people in his village knew about the real meaning of Christmas. While he was sitting in a restaurant he started a simple conversation with a man waiting on his order about December and the festive season. At the end of the conversation the man – mixing up the words Christian and Christmas - asked the missionary: “Are you a Christmas?”
Isn’t that a great question? Are you also a Christmas? How does it show that you follow the Christ who came down from heaven to make us a generous people? I hope that this question stays with you as you celebrate Christmas this year.
Jacob (Jaap) Haasnoot