Category: Generosity / Giving

Posted on

Unregulated Joy

One of my favorite memories is Christmas morning at my Aunt Eunice’s house. Maybe it was because a child’s memory is bigger than the event itself, especially on Christmas. Or maybe it was because Aunt Eunice served us Danish sweet rolls and hot chocolate out of her Santa Claus mugs. And those sweet rolls were like a delicacy eaten only at her house on Christmas morning. And just thinking about them right now, my mouth is salivating, and I’ve gained five pounds.

You should know two things about Aunt Eunice. First, she never married, never having children of her own. Her nieces and nephews were her children, and I’m not sure she understood children. Secondly, Aunt Eunice was not my aunt but was my dad’s aunt. By the time I knew her, she was more like the stately and reserved grandmotherly kind, and was certainly not the “cool” aunt who wanted to take you on the wild trip against your parents’ wishes.

This leads to a pet peeve of Aunt Eunice. She meticulously wrapped each present, and before people thought about recycling, she was into saving wrapping paper to use again for another occasion. Thus, she wanted everyone to unwrap the present just as meticulously as she wrapped it. For an adult that’s easy. For an eight-year-old boy, impossible. And that’s what I mean by her not understanding children. As I was about to tear into the present, you can almost hear her yell, like Elsa Raven from Back to the Future, “Save the paper! Save the paper!”

There’s something about a child’s joyful enthusiasm for life that gets chaffed as we age with time. Such gusto cannot be regulated or shaped by rules but is a natural expression of a wholesome outlook on life.

If you have never seen a child,
               Tear wrapping paper to shreds,
               Or jumping up and down on their beds,
Then you have never seen one embrace the wild.

If you have never seen a girl,
               Splashing around in rain puddles,
               Or spend an afternoon chasing bubbles,
Then you have never seen one give it a whirl.

If you have never seen a boy,
               Play with a truck or a car,
               Or watched him as he ran really fast and really far,
Then you have never seen one in pure joy.

If you have never seen a kid,
               Ride the bus for the first time,
Or dress up for Halloween as a superhero to fight crime,
Then you have never seen really go off the grid

Children capture the enthusiasm and joy of life. They are all in all day, and either fight sleep with just the same effort used throughout the day or embrace sleep and are out all night.

Embracing the enthusiasm and joy of life as a child is one thing. Maintaining the enthusiasm and joy of life throughout adulthood is something else altogether. We get blunted. Or worse, we want to regulate and contain the gusto, only to realize too late that such regulation siphons whatever joy remains.  

As the apostle Paul was motivating the Corinthian church to fulfill their commitment to complete the collection for those suffering under drought conditions in Judea, he could have brought the hammer and forced them to give. He could have regulated an amount for them to give. He could have guilted the church and shamed them for failing. He could have sung all 147 verses of Just As I Am. Instead, he went for the enthusiasm of life where regulation has no place.

First, he drops some bumper sticker statements. He says, “Whoever sows sparingly, reaps sparingly” and the opposite is true too, “whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Cor. 9:8). Drawing from the farming analogy, however much you are willing to plant, it will determine how much you will harvest. There is no guarantee of a bumper crop just because you plant generously. The fact is too many uncontrollable factors are in play like the amount of sunshine and heat versus rain and cold. That said, if you are not generous in sowing, the planted harvest cannot be generous.

The other bumper sticker statement is a classic, “God loves a cheerful giver” (v. 7c). The total times this verse has been quoted before praying over a church collection cannot be numbered. Despite its overuse, it does not negate the fact that God adores the childlike innocence of a person sharing what they have. Instead of Paul forcing the people to give, his desire is that they give without feeling reluctant or under compulsion (v. 7b).

Secondly, Paul enmeshes his exhortation to give with Scripture. In verse six, when Paul talks how sowing generously leads to reaping generously is likely a reference to two verses in Proverbs (11:24-25; 22:8-9). There the passages speak of generosity and a willingness to help others. While neither passage speaks directly to raising funds, both passages lay the groundwork for Paul exhorting generosity with others, especially for those lacking daily needs. In verse seven when Paul mentions giving what his heart has purposed, he likely has in mind Exodus 25:2. With Israel at the base of Mt. Sinai, construction on the tabernacle was in play. Instead of taxing the people and forcing them to give, Moses leaves the amount open based on what each person’s heart prompts him/her to give. This was a freewill offering from Moses, which Paul draws from to motivate the Corinthians to give. Then, Paul directly quotes Psalm 112:9. The Psalmist is extolling the virtues of the righteous man, who is generous and lends generously. While the Psalm lifts God up as this “righteous man,” Paul hopes the Corinthians will follow God’s lead and emulate his generosity.

Finally, Paul avoids mandating or regulating generosity by omitting passages from the Old Testament about giving God a percentage of the income to help others. This is a freewill offering, and regulating percentages prevents it from becoming one’s free will. Also, Paul not only may be trying to avoid limiting Corinth’s generosity but fueling a joyful enthusiasm for being generous. Thus, binding and regulating an amount may very well get the funds collected, but it will be devoid of the cheerfulness God is seeking.

One of the many lessons Dad taught me was to “lay by in store” (1 Cor. 16:2). Every week he gave me an allowance and told me to take ten percent of the allowance as a gift to God. I remember my starting pay level was ten pennies as I put nine of them in my little piggy bank. One penny was placed next to the bank as a visual reminder that that money belonged to God. Looking back now, I wonder what would have happened if Dad had said to me, “Here is your allowance. Decide in your heart how much to give to God and how much to keep.” I’m pretty sure the lesson of saving for the future and regulating gifting to God would have been lost on the five-year-old. I would have dropped all ten pennies into the collection plate, for no other reason, because it made a loud noise. More so to the point, the joy of a child’s generous heart would overshadow the need to regulate giving.

The story is told of a wife who for thirty years suffered abuse at the hands of her husband. Every morning, her husband wrote a “to do” list out on paper before going to work, expecting his wife to complete the list in his absence. Wash the dishes, do the laundry, make up the bed, do work in the yard, pay the bills, and have dinner on the table when he walks through the doors at night.

Out of fear she completed the list the best she could. Sometimes she was successful. Other times she failed. When she failed, he verbally attacked her, and at times physically attacked her too. When she completed the list, it was rarely completed to his satisfaction. Thus, he humiliated her for a lack of competence. Simply put, he was a mean person. And over time he drained the joy out of her.

After thirty years, the man suffered a heart attack and died. He wasn’t a good husband, but he was her husband. Mourning her husband, she packed everything away and put it in the attic.

Time passed. Scars heal. Memories soften the pain.

The woman met man who was anything but her husband. He was kind and gentle. He encouraged her independence and appreciated her as a person. They fell in love and married, and they were both very happy. She found a deep contented peace in her husband and all the hurt and pain were washed away. Joy began to return to the woman.

Years later, it was time to downsize. As they were going through their things, she grabbed a box forgetting it was her first husband’s things. Opening the lid, she saw a piece of paper sitting on top of his things. It was one of his lists. Why she kept it she had no clue. She read the list. Shocked at seeing the list, she read it again before a flood of emotions swept over her. The dams broke and the tears fell like a waterfall. When she finally gained composure, she realized that all the things she did for her first husband, she was doing for her second husband. Only this time, she was driven by joy, not anxiety. She had enthusiasm, not terror. She wanted to make the bed, do the laundry, cook the meals for him. She was no longer driven by fear but compelled by love. She now realized this truth that when she gave of herself first, everything else falls into place, including an enthusiastic joy.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

Posted on

The Giving Me

In the backyard of my childhood home – the purple house for those who know – was a some forty-foot-tall cherry tree that in my memory stretched to the highest peaks of the sky. For a hundred years the tree produced the best Rainier Cherries, provided shade from the heat, and offered a home to the birds that nested in her branches. To everyone who saw her, she was a magnificent tree of great beauty and strength. To me, she might have been my closest friend.

She was the home-base when the Partlow children were playing hide-n-seek. She was a secret hideout for our G.I. Joes to climb in their latest adventure. She was a refuge to get away from life. Sitting on her branches we could read, think, dream, and pick her sweet cherries to snack on through the summer months. She was trusted with our deepest secrets, like hiding our baseball cards and candy that David and I bought before sneaking them past mom into the house. And to be sure, she allowed Patches, our dog, to mark her as his territory.

I remember the day my sister, Deanna, and I were in the tree, and got stuck. We called for dad who grumbled under his breath as he got the ladder out of the shed and came up to retrieve us like some old lady’s cat needing rescued by a fireman. I remember when bees made a hive in the trunk of the tree, and dad had to evict them. I can still hear mom’s promise that if we kids would pick and pit the cherries, she’d bake the cobbler. Mom made the best cherry cobbler. Ever. Yes, I recall the day Lehman Hall, being forewarned of the possible pits in the pie because elementary kids pitted them, bit into his serving only to discover the pit. He laughed and spat the seed out and, without reservations, finished his pie.

Years after selling the home, we found out that the owner had the tree cut down and removed. It was a sad day. She was old and her limbs were frail and known to fall, so I understood the rationale. But never once did she think of her own needs as she selflessly produced fruit, welcomed children to play in her branches, and even allowed a dog, and some boys, to pee on her. But that is, by her own nature, who she is.   

If you crossed the bridge to Shel Silverstein and his beautiful story, The Giving Tree, then you’re probably not a bridge too far. In the story Silverstein walks the reader through a lifetime relationship between a boy and a fruit tree. The boy has wants and needs, and the tree’s only longing is to give the boy whatever he desires: shade in the hot sun, fruit to satisfy his hunger, branches to build a house, his trunk to build a ship, and finally a stump as a place to sit, to think, and to reflect on life. While some might criticize the book for the selfishness of the boy, the focus is on the selflessness of the tree. It is called The Giving Tree for a reason. The tree gives the boy everything, because the tree gave of herself first. It is, by nature, who she is.

For a tree to grow strong, it needs sunshine and rain. Trees also need pruning and for their fruit to be picked for consumption. Giving is an essential purpose, not only for life in general, but specifically trees. Jesus once condemned a tree for acting like it was willing to give its fruit, only to discover it was not bearing any fruit to begin with.

Paul very well could have used the analogy of a giving tree to underscore his message to the Corinthians. He didn’t, but he could have.

The Corinthians needed to make good on their promise to collect funds for the Christians in Judea suffering under a great famine. The church had promised but was now backing off from their commitment. Paul wove some beautiful words together to help motivate them to jumpstart the collecting process. In his first move, he linked grace and joy together as if they were best friends (2 Cor. 8:1-2). He says, “the grace that God has given has welled up into overflowing joy.” Grace and joy in the Greek language were homonyms as they sound alike. By linking joy and grace together with giving, the message is clear in that giving is not only a joyful expression of grace, but that it is rooted in God’s character.

As I reflect on God’s gracious giving, I cannot help but be drawn to Deuteronomy 8:3-4. Moses is preparing Israel to enter Canaan after their forty years of wandering. Those wandering years were driving by Israel’s defiant lack of faith. They constantly tested God’s mettle, even at one point revolting against Moses to elect new officials to return to Egypt. Nevertheless, for forty years they woke up every day to find bread, or Manna, on the ground to collect for their daily meal. Every single day. Then, at the end of their forty-year journey, Moses noted that their clothes never wore out. Sure, children would grow out of their sandals, but they never wore out. Both are signs of God’s gracious giving, for he offered to Israel not what they deserved but what they needed. One could say that because God gave of himself first to Israel, the gracious gifts followed with joy.

Back to Corinth, Paul propped up the churches in Macedonia, not only as an example of those who give, but also as an example of those who allowed God’s joyful grace of giving to work through them. Comparatively, the Macedonians were impoverished. Yet, they begged Paul to participate in this ministry (2 Cor. 8:4). Paul was not about to burden them with this gift, but they forced Paul’s hand. When they did give, they shattered the glass ceiling of expectation, giving far more than even Paul expected.

Paul attributes the key to their generosity in 2 Corinthians 8:5 by saying, “. . . they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.” When one empties of him or herself, filling themselves with God’s Spirit, what follows is gracious generosity of giving which becomes second nature.

A couple of Scriptures highlight this principle. For instance, when Lydia opened her heart to the Lord, she opened her home to Paul and the others with him (Act. 16:15). When Paul outlines the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, one of the qualities is “Goodness.” Suffering from the tradition of an early and weak translation, the word rightly means “Generosity.” We might say a good person is a generous person. Paul might say that someone filled with the Spirit is a generous person. When Jesus saw an impoverished widow giving her pennies, which was all she had, into the temple collection, he noted that she had put more in the collection than the wealthy who gave simple leftovers from their abundance (Lk. 21:4). The often-overlooked indictment from this story is that Jesus accuses the wealthy teachers of the law of devouring the homes of the widows (Lk. 20:47).

I remember my Kentucky church hosting a fish fry to raise funds from a flood that wiped out homes and devastated the community. We raised a lot of money because people arrived with open generosity. One elderly couple came to the fish fry. As he wheeled his cancer-ridden wife up to the table where we had a collection box, I watched him pull out a couple of twenty-dollar bills to drop in the box. We should have given him some money as he was in dire need. But his heart was too big, and his generosity had overcome his own needs. For when we open our hearts to the Lord first, then generosity has no limits.

My wife is known for her homemade sourdough bread. It tastes like bread from heaven, and the biggest complement we’ve been given is that it was coined “Jesus Bread” by some in the office when I began working at hospice. Some have asked why we haven’t marketed the bread and sold it. We could have, and that option is always on the table. But here’s the thing: we love giving away the bread. We love the joy of blessing others with our gift. We don’t want to take that away from us or from those we give the bread to.

Wes and Kelsey started dating in high school. On their one-year anniversary, Wes chose not to bring her flowers. Instead, he brought a tree sapling that he planted in Kelsey’s mother’s backyard. Every year, the tree grew and so did their relationship, posing before the tree for an anniversary photo opt. When Wes proposed, he did so at the tree. When they got married, they took wedding pictures with the tree. When they renewed their vows, they did so at the tree. When they were expecting their first child, a photo was taken at the tree. And now with the tree grown, dad Wes hung a swing to its branch to swing their daughter from the tree. With all the changes that are thrust upon us, and the world pulling us in all directions, Kelsey’s comment about the tree says it all, “It’s the roots that give us the wings.”

Did you catch that? The tree is all about giving because when you give of yourself first, then giving anything is easy. With the Spirit’s help, it is who we are by nature. No, we are not a giving tree, but we are a giving me.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

Posted on

The Measure of Sincerity

Nine years into Charles Schultz’s Peanuts strip, he introduced us to an off-panel character who captured the imagination of his readers. While this character never made an appearance in the strip itself, nor did he have any speaking or trombone lines, he inspired many strips and even one TV special. The part religious messaging and part myth-making character was the Great Pumpkin. And Linus Van Pelt was at the center of the story telling as the Great Pumpkin’s greatest advocate and prophet.

Sure, the whole world held onto Santa Claus; Linus held onto the Great Pumpkin. The world embraced Christmas; Linus embraced Halloween. The world looked to the North Pole; Linus looked to the pumpkin patch in his own neighborhood. Santa never disappointed; the Great Pumpkin . . . well, he kind of smashed the hopes of Linus like the comedian Gallagher smashing pumpkins.

You likely know his story. On Halloween night the Great Pumpkin rises from the Pumpkin Patch to deliver toys to all the good little children of the world. The line between Santa and the Great Pumpkin is razor thin, but brilliantly written. The key difference between the two is “sincerity.”

The Great Pumpkin chooses the “most sincere” pumpkin patch from which to rise and then to deliver his gifts. Sincerity. It’s not the most measurable attribute. If Linus told us that the Great Pumpkin chose his patch from the biggest pumpkins, then size is measurable. If he told us that The Great Pumpkin chose the patch with the most pumpkins, then volume is measurable. As it stands, sincerity is difficult to measure, even if Linus claims otherwise, as he says, “I don’t see how a pumpkin patch could be more sincere than this one. You can look around, and there’s not a sign of hypocrisy.” Yea, I’m convinced, and I’m sure you are too.

Sincerity is the absence of hypocrisy, deceit, and pretense. Sincerity is infused with genuineness. A small child wraps their arms around you, or offers you a bite of their candy, or invites you to a tea party is working from a place of sincerity. We don’t question motives. We don’t wonder if there is an agenda. However, when a child starts to grow and mature into adulthood, depending on our perception of the child, when they do something that looks kind, we start to wonder if there is some hidden motive.

In the TV show, Leave it to Beaver, no one really questions if Beaver did something nice or said something kind to someone. Beaver had a tender heart and wasn’t poisoned by hypocrisy, or deceit, or pretense. That said, when Beaver’s brother’s best friend, Eddie Haskell, smiled and schmoozed adults, his hypocrisy was like a flashing neon sign. He had an agenda. He was covering up something. We knew it and the adults on TV knew it too, they just allowed him to play out his plan. Normally, we can spot a fraud. Normally.

The Corinthian church was infiltrated by a group of outsiders who attacked Paul’s credibility. They, the antagonists, leveled accusations against him that he lied, had broken his promises, and was untrustworthy. Paul pushed back. He wasn’t the one lacking sincerity, they were.

Paul tells the Corinthians, “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God” (2 Cor. 2:17). It’s clear that the “so many” is the antagonistic group that had infiltrated Corinth. The phrase, “peddle the word of God for profit,” is an afront to the deceptive practices of these people. It’s hardly flattery. His insult was a backhanded compliment.

“Peddling” holds a negative connotation for Paul. He is not against someone selling his wares, as even Paul himself worked as a tentmaker in Corinth (Act. 18:3). Earning an honest wage is commendable. That is not what is happening with these outsiders getting access to the church. What they are doing is darker. A lot darker. “Peddling for profit” was an ancient marketplace term for vendors who tipped the scales or water downed their wine, employing fraudulent means to increase profits. For the antagonists, they were hawking their wares and using their ministry as a cover for shady business practices – it was a sham. What they were peddling was not tents or dry goods, but the gospel itself. They were compromising the gospel of Christ, and at its root of such insincerity was greed. It’s always greed.

We’ve never quite gotten past Gordon Gekko’s 1997’s Wall Street soliloquy,

“The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all its forms. Greed for life, money, love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind.”

I’m not sure Hollywood was trying to push the greed agenda or was simply acknowledging the elephant in the room, regarding Wall Street and the American mindset. They don’t need to. Society seems driven by the belief that greed really is good. Look at today’s inflation and compare it to the record profits in the gas and food industry; their profit margins seem to be fueled by greed at the expense of consumers. Note that the financial rift between the workers’ pay benefit to their CEO’s counterpart has widened since 1965. It’s grown some 350%, and whose paying for the chasm? The American worker is. Our TV airways are filled with charlatan preachers bilking their audience for wealth beyond measure, not to further their ministry, but line their pockets. Such preaching ministry is not limited to the big, fancy Televangelists or Mega Church leaders, but includes anyone who holds their naïve followers in the palm of their hands. When the core value is greed, can you really trust their sincerity?

While Paul undermines the antagonist’s sincerity, he reinforces his own integrity. By offering four simple statements, he not only distinguishes himself from his opponents, but also underscores the seriousness of his own calling. First, he speaks before God “with sincerity” as his agenda is pure. He has checked his motives at the door, they have not. One source of conflict between Paul and the Corinthians was his refusal to accept financial pay from the church. Reaching back to his first letter, Paul hints that money was coming between him and the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:6). In the Greco-Roman world, Sophists went from town to town to share their philosophy of life and were financially supported by their followers. Paul’s refusal to accept support caused a rift filled by the antagonists who expected pay for their services. They passed themselves off, not only as preachers, but as sophists selling a philosophy. Paul was redefining the modern Sophist by refusing a salary. All they were doing was exploiting the church, something Paul never did (e.g., 2 Cor. 12:14-18).

Secondly, he speaks as “from God,” which means his message is not his own, but its source derives from God. Beyond modern day issues of inspiration, Paul may have in mind his ambassador image from 2 Cor. 5:20. He is God’s ambassador, and his role dictates the message he is commissioned to speak. He does not speak for himself, but for God. In the case of 5:20, it’s the message of reconciliation.

Thirdly, he speaks “before God” and “in the presence of God.” Paul is very much aware and in awe of who is present when he speaks to the Corinthians. Throughout this letter, Paul self-discloses his awareness of God in his words. In 4:2 he shares, “We renounce secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor distort the word of God.” In 5:10 he reveals, “For we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him . . ..” And in 12:19b he articulates, “We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ . . ..” Paul is acutely aware of God’s presence in his life and how it shapes not only his messaging, but his integrity.

Finally, he speaks “in Christ” which may very well draw him back to the Acts 9 conversion on the Damascus Road which subsequently united him in Christ. He speaks out of that unique experience.*

These four simple statements reinforce Paul’s integrity, who has no agenda but is sincere when dealing with the Corinthians. The opponents, significantly less sincere, if not plain shysters, cannot be trusted.

During the 1980’s I knew a preacher who was in high demand. He spoke at all the popular gatherings, authored multiple books which were popular among my tribe, preached for a large influential church, and was a leading voice of hope by guiding churches away from legalism and into grace. For that, he wore a target on his back and was often verbally abused by dissenting voices. One time I witnessed a speaker at a forum harshly address him. When I looked to see his reaction, he was smiling and shaking his head. No anger and no thought of revenge. I saw the grace he preached materialize under fire. More importantly, at his large and influential church, he could have written his own check and demanded a greater pay package. Instead, because of his book deals and a family farm income, he refused multiple pay raises from his church, opting for those monies to be redistributed elsewhere. Say what you will, but if greed is the measuring tape for sincerity, he measured up.

The key to measuring one’s sincerity may not be revealed by any one specific action of the person. It may be measured by what a person is willing to give or share verses what they are willing to take or extort from the people around them. One thing for sure, it certainly cannot be measured from a pumpkin patch.

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

*These four statements are influenced by Paul Barnett, The Second Letter the Corinthians, New International Commentary on the New Testament.

Posted on

Endless Generosity

Living in an affluent society does not mean we enjoy an endless reservoir of resources. Such is the disparity of our lives. For example, consider our school system. Evidence of affluence is demonstrated by clean and modern buildings, children are bussed from home and returned at each day’s end, and an assortment of extracurricular activities are provided. In spite of affluence, the lack of an endless reservoir of resources is felt when our children are often forced to share textbooks with limits placed on who gets to take them home each night. The disparity is present when facilities are not always maintained; we find potholes in the parking lots, dated bathrooms, and crowded classroom space. Copy paper is rationed throughout the year, often running dry before year’s end. And then there’s the pay grade of teachers, who are expected to do more and more on less and less pay.

Churches feel the same disparity. Ministries are created with the vision of an “all-you-can-eat” smorgasbord. We see the possibilities, generate the excitement, and believe the new ministry will add strength and vitality to the church. Then reality sets in as they begin placing the resources on the table. Instead of the “all-you-can-eat” buffet, it feels more like the meal prepared by the mother in Jack and the Beanstalk; the one bean is hardly enough resource and nourishment for an entire meal. 

God expects his people to carry out his ministries. Given the available resources, such expectations don’t always seem possible . . . or seem fair. Compared with the job in front of us, we lack the number of people, and those that do volunteer sometimes burn out. We find too few gifts to accomplish the tasks while feeling the financial burden of the job. We know that people are overextended at home, not to mention at work, for them to give their time and energy. With so many demands, we wonder where we will find the resources for ministries.

The Corinthians had committed to a ministry; Paul persuasively convinced them to collect funds as relief-aid for the church in Jerusalem. Palestine was suffering from a severe famine, and many were suffering in an impoverished land. Prayerful and financial support collected and distributed by Gentiles churches for the Jewish church would aid in the recovery, while helping bridge Gentile and Jewish church relationships.

Unfortunately, along the road to completing this ministry, the excitement wavered, the ministry slowed, the interest waned, and they finally stopped collecting the money. Why they were failing in this ministry is multi-faceted. For one, the initial excitement faded as the discipline needed for setting the money aside each week turned from joy to drudgery. The layaway plan became harder and harder to maintain. For another, people stopped talking about the need for the collection as fewer and fewer words were spoken of the ministry. If the church must be reminded of its vision once every three weeks for them to carry out their obligations, then they had all but forgotten about their promise to Paul. Speaking of Paul, the relationship between Corinth and the apostle impacted the ministry. Since Paul originally invited them to participate in collecting the funds for relief aid in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16:1-4), their relationship experienced a falling out. No doubt, some were withholding their funds because they no longer trusted Paul. 

To combat the fledgling ministry, Paul shifted focus to encourage joyful generosity among the Corinthians, for “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). Drawing the analogy from agriculture, the amount you plant is in direct proportion to the harvest; they needed to sow generously (9:6). If they decide to cut corners with their planting, the result will be seen in their harvest. Generous planting leads to a bumper crop. The result of their generosity was seen in people offering thanksgiving to God (9:11). Our generosity leads to people praising God. Regardless of his words, you can almost hear their skeptical rebuttal, “But Paul, where are we going to get the necessary resources?”

Somewhere along the way, all of us have had to answer that question, whether as individuals, a family, a service organization, or especially a church. We look at what’s on the table, and then wonder how it can be stretched to feed so many. 

By faith we focus, not on what is on the table, but on what God can do with what is on the table. The Israelites wander in the wilderness, a wilderness filled with limited resources. Yet, every morning when they step out of their tents, laying on the ground is a honey tasting wafer provided by God. They fill their baskets in the morning and whatever is leftover at days end is thrown out because God will provide more manna the next morning (Ex. 16:1-36). 

Elijah finds himself in Zeraphath, the heart of Baal’s domain. He’s following God’s Word to seek out a pagan widow. When he finds her and asks for food and water, he learns that she has only enough oil for one last meal. Hearing her dilemma, Elijah promises that God will provide enough oil for herself, her son, and himself. God will provide that oil every day until he sends rain upon the land (1 King. 17:7-16). And he did.

A creditor is about to foreclose on a widow for her late husband’s debt. To recoup his losses, the creditor threatens to sell her sons into slavery, a dehumanizing but common practice. The widow seeks help from Elisha. With barely a drop of olive oil to her name, Elisha tells her to go to her friends and neighbors and collect as many jars as she can find. He stipulates not to collect a few, but as many as possible. Then, behind closed doors, he instructs her, to take the jar that holds the one drop of oil and start filling all the empty jars with the oil until every jar is filled. Then, sell the oil to pay the debt and keep the rest to live on (2 King. 4:1-7).

A small boy’s lunch is insufficient to satisfy the hunger of an adult, or a family. Five cakes of bread and two small fish will fail to feed five thousand hungry people. Andrew was right, “How far will they go among so many?” Well, the obvious answer is, “Not far.” However, Jesus takes the limited resources to provide enough, more than enough food for the people. When the feast was finished and the people were satisfied, twelve baskets full of leftover scraps were collected (Jn. 6:1-13). 

When I grew up, Mom and Dad made deliberate choices that cut into their finances. They raised five kids and sent us to a local Christian school, a cost that ate into their money belt. To cut expenses, we did without a lot of luxuries. Mom was a creative cook who had the knack to stretch a meal.  To make her spaghetti feed seven, she went to the cupboard to see what she could use to pad the sauce. Green beans, black olives, green olives, peas, carrots, and canned tomatoes found their way into the spaghetti sauce. With seven at the table, mom always had more than enough to feed us, and to feed anyone else who happened to have showed up that night. Our table always had room for one or two more. Always. And like Elisha’s widow, the pantry never seemed to empty.

Steve Birley tells of a church comprised of retired members trying to keep their church alive by reaching out to the young. They added ministries and changed their worship style to attract the youth. Disappointingly, the more they worked the less success they experienced. They were attracting members, but the new members were all retired people. Their “graying” church wasn’t getting younger, and worries intensified because they believed that within a generation closing their doors was inevitable. Conversely, their worries dissipated when they realized that God was using them to reach a segment of the community largely ignored by the big, “growing churches” in the area.* What looked like limited resources was actually God providing more than they needed. 

The central nerve of Paul’s thought is found in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11,

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

Paul says that if we trust God’s provisions, then we can join God in this cycle. God provides the resources. In doing so, we’re (expected to be) generous with what he’s shared with us. When we are generous, then God increases our resources so that we can continue being generous. We stop hoarding and start sharing. As someone said, “We build longer tables, not taller walls.” The result is a praise of thanksgiving to God.

The affluent society does not mean endless resources. We could make numerous contrasts between the school system and the church to highlight their differences. But do you know what the real difference between the school system and the church is? It’s not the available resources. The real difference is that when God provides the resources for ministry, he gets the credit. If he wants that credit, don’t you think he’ll provide the resources? Yeah, so do I. 

Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)

*Steve R. Bierly, Help for the Small-Church Pastor: Unlocking the Potential of Your Congregation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 67-68.