Bless Your Heart: Love Kindled In You (MPLS)

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Now as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you — so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something — now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has — not according to what one does not have. I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance.

As it is written, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.”

Dear beloved of God, grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus who is the Christ, Amen.

Sometimes it’s fun reading other people’s mail. I mean, sometimes I imagine it would be fun to read other people’s mail, not that I’ve ever done that. This is not one of those times. All of the epistles, the letters that are gathered together in the New Testament, are challenging because it is like we are picking up a letter that was written to a group of people at a particular time and a particular place and it’s all very one-sided and we can’t know all the details.

But this is like we’ve opened someone else’s pledge statement. Hey, thanks for making a commitment to supporting the work of the apostles church in Jerusalem. You pledged $500.00 to the Building the Church from Scratch campaign, to date we’ve received $10.00. Thank you for your ongoing support of our work at Christ’s church together. Signed Paul, Peter and the other guys.

Look, Paul’s doing it in the nicest possible way, with the most beautiful imagery and theological prose. But at the end of the day, this part of the letter is telling the folks in Corinth, the people he’s been working with and doing ministry with for years, you made a commitment and we’re in this together. Now’s the time, pony up.

So what do we do with this? Why are we reading it today? Why does it matter?

I’m not sure I have completely satisfactory responses to these questions, but I want to throw a mix of observations and promises at you.

First, did you notice? Money has always been a part of the church’s conversation. From the beginning. Even in the earliest moments of the church’s existence, because it was even called the church, the earliest followers of Jesus were trying to figure out ways to support the work of the church and make it grow and flourish. And that always included the collection of financial resources so that those resources could be put to work to further God’s work in the world.

Second, testing seems to be a critical part of the life of faith. I hate that. When I hear the word test in the context of scripture, I get all anxious. Getting tested doesn’t fit with my theological framework, because I know that I’ll fail. I know I won’t measure up, that I will fall short that I won’t be able to deliver. I don’t want to be tested. I don’t want to be put through trials just to confirm what I already know. I’m not good enough. And yet. There are plenty of things that I think and believe and aspire to become that need to be tested. Right?

I mean, if I say that as a church we believe that all are welcome here. How are we doing on that front? Is that what people are experiencing? Does what we do, how we worship, the words we use, the paintings we display match our desire to welcome all people? How do we know if what we say matches who we are? Well, we test it, we ask, we try it out and we listen. Does our picture of who we believe ourselves to be align with how people experience us?

This kind of testing isn’t to prove our worth and value to God, but rather how well and faithfully we are living as God’s people. This is about living the life, and moreover living the love that’s been given and entrusted to us.

Third, there’s a powerful reminder in this letter that we are connected to one another. Or put even more strongly, that we belong to each other. On one level Paul is collecting money for a group of people that the church at Corinth will probably never see. Jerusalem is nearly 1,000 miles away from Corinth. The Corinthian church is likely never going to be able to see the fruit of their generosity. They’re not going to be receiving impact reports or video updates from Jerusalem. But Paul is making the argument that what they have, their abundance can be used to meet the need of the church in Jerusalem and in so doing create a kind of balance in the church. It’s a difficult concept for our ears to hear. In a culture that is perilously committed to the myth of rugged individualism, this claim that you need me and that I need you doesn’t fit.  We desperately want to believe that we are independent from one another, not deeply dependent.

But Paul is urging the Corinthian church to see that what they have; all the riches they possess, both material and otherwise, are to be used for their well-being and the well-being of others. So that what others have, may in time, meet the fullness the Corinthians need.

Why? Why would the Corinthians want to live like this? Why should we, nearly 2,000 years later care? Why does it matter?

You know. You do know. You know the grace-filled act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

Why? Because you and I, and the whole church that transcends time and space are recipients, inheritors; we are a part of God’s grace-filled act in Jesus Christ who just gave it all away, gave his life to us and for us so that we might have it all. 

We are a part of a story, a promise, a life that is different than the one that surrounds us and permeates our day to day existence. We are a part of the generous life of the creator of the universe. You know this.

But it’s hard to remember and it’s easy to forget.  So we gather together each week in a variety of ways to have the love of God kindled within you again. We come together to hear, to taste and to see that we are not an army of one but a part of the whole company of God’s saints that enfolds all of creation.

We will fall short. We will fail in our attempts to live generously and courageously. We won’t meet our own expectations of who we think we are and who we want to be. Our lives will get small and ambitions will be more parochial. But just as we’re about to collapse in on ourselves, Jesus shows up and draws us together for the sake of others who need us and have so much to share with us.

Jesus has pledged his life for you. It’s a commitment that has been made in full. Each day is a gift. Each new day is an opportunity to respond. Amen.