Amazing Grace

SUMMARY

In this sermon launching the "Overflow" series, Karl Ihfe examines the connection between grace and generosity through the lens of 2 Corinthians 8. He establishes that grace is the source of generosity, pointing to how God always gives first—"For God so loved the world that he gave" (John 3:16). The Macedonian churches exemplify this principle, as they gave generously despite their extreme poverty because they had first experienced God's transformative grace.

Karl highlights Paul's surprising equation: severe trial + overflowing joy + extreme poverty = rich generosity. This counterintuitive formula works because true joy isn't dependent on circumstances but flows from grace. As he states, "Joy doesn't come from what's in our wallet. It comes from who's in our heart." Following Christ's example—who "though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor" (2 Corinthians 8:9)—we're called to let grace overflow into sacrificial generosity that matures us and becomes contagious to others. Karl challenges us to respond not by asking "How much should I give?" but rather "How much have I been given?”

TRANSCRIPTION:

Well, if you have your Bible with you, I invite you to turn over to Second Corinthians. We'll be in that letter together today, but we're launching a new series. It's going to be three weeks during this Thanksgiving series season called Overflow. I'm excited to get to visit with you about a couple of things that have been on my heart, but I'm also excited for you to get to hear a couple of messages coming up these next two weeks from folks I think you're going to be really blessed to hear from. This series is going to be about generosity and grace and how those two are connected.

In fact, we're going to dwell on a couple of points together over the next couple of weeks. The first one being grace is the source of generosity. That's where it all begins. We're going to dive deeper into that idea this morning. We're also going to spend some time thinking about how it's joy that sustains our generosity, that even in hard times, that our joy can be this sustaining force of generosity in our lives.

We'll spend a little time thinking about how generosity is sacrificial in nature, and we'll look to the example of Jesus and the example of the early church. But we'll also look to the church and how the church has tried to faithfully witness and live out that example, which again is the last thing that we'll kind of reflect together on in our last week, is generosity becomes a witness to God's grace. One of the powerful ways that the world around us sees the realities of another kingdom is when they can see it with their eye and hear it with their ears, they can interact with people who are genuinely transformed into the image of Christ. Now, some of you may be thinking, why are we talking about generosity? I mean, this typically leads to a preacher asking for more money.

I'm going to do that, but not for the reason that you think. As you heard just a minute ago, we are as healthy financially as we have been literally in decades. We are 46,000 behind in giving, which we haven't sniffed that at this time of the year in at least three or four decades, which is so exciting because what it's setting us up to do is to look into 26 with some exciting opportunities and initiatives. And you'll hear more about that starting next week. But something I want you to be thinking about this series is why we're generous, why do we live this way?

And my hope is that it will extend beyond just our financial giving, because what I would imagine is that you're going to have some opportunities the next few weeks that may maybe to be financially generous. And if you have that, I hope you'll take it. But my belief is you're also going to have a chance to be relationally generous. Maybe at work you're going to have an opportunity to be generous with your time. Maybe at school you're going to have an opportunity to be generous with your friendship to someone who may be looking for a true friend, whatever it may be.

I want us to be ready to overflow with generosity. Let's jump in together. Have you ever had someone give you something that you knew it cost them a lot to give? Maybe you went out to coffee or to lunch or dinner with that friend who you know is struggling to pay the bills, but they paid for your dinner and you know it cost them. Maybe some of you have been around an office party or a school party, and they gave you that last slice of pepperoni pizza and they were hungry.

Or maybe they gave you that corner piece of the cake, you know, the best one that's got all the icing wrapped around it, you know? You know, it would cost them, but they gave it to you. Maybe it was something a little deeper. Maybe someone gave you an opportunity for a better life. They put their own dreams, their own hopes, their own life on hold to give you a moment, to give you an opportunity to step into something new.

Isn't it amazing? Isn't that powerful when we see that kind of generosity lived out, when we experience that kind of generosity? I think that's what Paul is describing here when he's writing to the church in Corinth in chapter eight. I think he's wanting to give them a new picture. These words that Russ read for us just a moment ago, I want us to jump into them again, because I don't think Paul's trying to describe how to lead a fundraising campaign.

Instead, I think he's trying to show us this portrait of a people who gave because grace had changed them. It had changed how they lived it, changed how they saw it, changed how they understood themselves in relationship to one another. Hear these words again from chapter eight, verse one. And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches in the midst of a very severe trial. Their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

Did you notice how it gets started here for Paul? He says, we want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace God gave. In fact, what we'll discover is that before the Macedonians gave anything, God had already given. Why? Because God gives first.

God gives grace first. Isn't that the testimony of scripture? Maybe you remember the most famous scripture in all of the Bible, John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave. We've been spending a lot of time these last several weeks in the book of Ephesians, you may remember in chapter two, where Paul reminds them, it is by grace you have been saved.

Right? And it's a gift. This is a gift. The gift of God. To you see, God's generosity always comes first.

And when that truth really grips us, it changes us. It changes how we see ourselves. It changes how we see others. It changes how we relate to our school and our work because we recognize it's not something we have to do, it's something we get to do. In fact, because it changes us.

It forces us to ask some different questions. Instead of asking, well, how much do I have to give? Instead, we might ask, how could I not give? I mean, God has been so good to me. How could I not respond in kindness, just like him?

You see, for the Macedonians, God's grace had changed them. It had impacted them and it left them in a different place. In fact, Paul will tell us. He'll go on to tell us, they pleaded with him, don't keep us from giving. Don't keep us from engaging in this incredible opportunity.

He uses this just fantastic equation. He says, if you take a severe trial, an overflowing joy, and extreme poverty, what does that lead to? He says it leads to rich generosity. Isn't that amazing? True joy isn't dependent upon our circumstances.

It actually flows out of grace. It flows out of generosity. Paul's equation is shocking because in our culture, it doesn't add up that so often joy and poverty don't usually go together. This was a lesson that was just impressed upon me. Again, even most recently as Gary Baccus and I got to travel to Kenya and we got to engage with folks who, from our standard, the US Cultural standard, we'd say they’ve got nothing.

I mean, dirt floors and cinder block homes, and they got nothing. And there was incredible joy coming from these men and women and children. Why? Because they understood the equation that joy isn't based on the stuff we have, it's based on who's in us. See, they had joy in Christ, the Macedonians.

And because of that, their joy led to generosity. Why? Because grace always leads to joy. That's just the reality of it. Joy doesn't come from what's in our wallet.

It comes from who's in our heart. When your heart's full of Christ, you can't help but have open hands. When it comes to opportunities around you. Listen again. Paul says, 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.

Rich Jesus becomes the standard then the one who came in grace, the one who gave up his riches, his place in heaven, that we who were poor might become rich in God. As the Hebrew preacher reminds us about Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He says, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. It wasn't begrudging. Jesus didn't walk to the cross going people.

They only knew no what else would he have done but to give? That's who he was. Jesus, full of grace and joy, served us. And we see that same reality here in second Corinthians 8 with the Macedonians, they followed his lead. Paul says, for I testify that they, the Macedonians gave as much as they were able.

In fact, even beyond their ability. Why? Because grace leads to sacrifice. This amazing grace welled up into their life. They couldn't help but give, and not just a little bit.

And Paul's not saying they were reckless. He says they were faithful. They were responding to what God had been doing to them. Instead, they turned and did it to others. The grace they experienced led them to be gracious beyond all they could have imagined.

They just kept giving. They didn't give because they had plenty and abundance. They gave because they had been had been given too. And they trusted in the One who provided. And so they had this mindset of God always provides.

So why wouldn't I give? When I have an opportunity to give, why wouldn't I give? They believed not only Jesus example, but his words. Remember back in Matthew chapter 6, Sermon on the Mount? Jesus said, Seek first the kingdom, seek it first.

Everything else will take care of itself. If we'll trust Jesus, if we'll seek his kingdom. He says, you don't have to worry. Macedonians understood what we give isn't about what we lose. It's about what God can do.

When we're willing to let go of some things, what might God do in our lives if we approached him with that same kind of faith? And again, the example is Christ. As they started to follow in his footsteps, they discovered that grace is contagious. Grace is contagious. When people start sharing and allowing grace to flow in the situation, it's hard not to be overcome by that.

Verse four, he says, it's just amazing to me. Listen to these words again, entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people. They urgently pleaded, Paul, don't take this away from. I know we don't have. That's why we have to give.

Don't take this, don't rob us of this opportunity to give. Paul. They didn't see giving as a burden. They saw it as a blessing, as something they get to do. In fact, it's something they didn't want to miss out on.

And I love in this translation we lose a little bit moving from Greek to English. But when it says for the privilege of sharing in the service, that word sharing, that's koinonia. Some of you may be familiar with that word. It's fellowship to share in the fellowship of this giving. Giving isn't just financial.

We're reminded giving, it's relational. It has to do with community and connection. It's how God is at work in the world and how we get to join him in that service. When we give to others, it's like us saying, God, I want to be a part of your story. God, I want grace to flow through my life and into the world just the way that you allowed it to flow through Christ and into my life.

I want to join in your story. I don't know about you, but when I read stories and I hear stories about incredible grace, it just inspires me. It inspires me to want to go deeper, to dig a little deeper, because grace is contagious. Maybe you heard of this story from the Olympics. In 2020, there was a Polish Olympic javelin thrower named Maria Magdalena Adrajik.

Now, she had been training her whole life, and just days after winning a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics, she went online and she auctioned off her silver medal. Now you may be thinking, well, just trying to capitalize on this opportunity. No, no. What she heard about was there was an eight month, eight month old boy in her hometown who needed a surgery in the US and so this Olympic athlete who'd spent her entire life training for this moment, not only does she show up in the moment, she shows up in the moment and wins a silver medal. And without hesitation, she auctions it.

Why? Because she saw an opportunity to give. Now, we found out the following week, this was back in 2021, a Polish convenience store chain, Zabka. Sounds like place you'd want to go get something, zabka. They paid $125,000 for this silver medal.

That's really cool. Until they heard why she was gonna. Why she was getting rid of her medal. And they said, you know What? Here's the 125 and keep the medal.

And they asked, why did you do this? And they said, because we were inspired. We were inspired by one of our country women who took it upon herself to take something she had worked her whole life for and didn't think a second about sacrificing and giving it so that another child might have a life. Like, that's inspiring. We want to be a part of that.

We want to help. So here's the money, and keep the medal. Way to go. I don't know about you, but that just puts chills down me to think about this incredible sacrifice. They're inspired.

Why? Because grace is contagious. When people encounter a life of grace, it makes us want to be better. It makes us want to do better. I mean, that's why we talk so much each week about our presence in the world, in the community, in our families, in our schools.

Why? Because people are watching. And if we're people of grace, it's contagious. It's amazing. Paul said the same thing about the Macedonians.

They exceeded our expectations because they gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God, also to us. Again, notice the pattern. They gave themselves first to Christ, first to God, then to others. That's the way of Jesus. Why?

Because that's who Christ was, and that's who he calls us to be. And so Paul says, we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a. Made a beginning to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness, and in the love we have kindled in, you see that you also excel in the grace of giving. Why?

Because grace is mature. Grace matures us. It grows us up. It helps us to see things the way they actually are. You know, Paul's writing to a church that's you can hear.

And in his words, they understand some things, right? They pray and they study and they read and they worship. They have faith. They're wise with their words. Paul says they're sincere and they're loving.

And he says, so complete that picture. Then by adding this one other Mark of maturity in your life, Excel. Excel. Don't just do the minimum amount required. Excel in this grace of giving.

Be generous. Just be the best, most generous person you can be. It's not about the amount, he says. It's about the alignment. Are we aligned with Christ?

Are we faithful to. To the calling he's put on our life? Are we being kind and gracious, just the way that Jesus was?

So imagine, if you will, your cup. God has poured into you life and hope and love and peace and joy and relationships, and it just overflows. It just can't help but overflow. That overflow becomes generosity, not because of pressure, not because we have to, but out of joy. See, when grace takes root in our life, we begin to see the fruit of generosity.

So this week you're gonna have an opportunity to be generous. Church. Now, perhaps it'll be financial, but maybe it'll be relational. Maybe it'll be with your time. How will you respond?

I want to encourage you to just stop and ask yourself a question. Not what should I give? How much time? How much money? How much friendship, how much?

Fill in the blank instead.

How much have I been given?

What have I been given?

As you consider what you might offer up, just start with what's been given to me. And may you respond out of that. May the grace of God fill you up once again to where you overflow, that you overflow with joy that would lead you to sacrifice, that it would grow you up and mature you into Christ and just let grace overflow. As we finish, I want to invite you to stand. We're going to pray in just a moment, and the team will come and lead us in the song.

Invite you to stand and close your eyes for just a moment. I just want you to think about what God has done for you. How gracious God has been to you. Our God, who was rich and yet for your sake, became poor so that you too, might become rich in him. How has God shown you grace?

Maybe it's been through salvation, rescuing you out of the darkness and into the light. Maybe it's been his provision, providing for you what you could not provide for yourself. Or maybe he's transformed you into a new person, someone you weren't before. Will you allow it to overflow into the world around you this week?

Will you allow God's grace to overflow into your work or into your school, or into your family or into your marriage or into your friendship. God, would you overflow in us this week? Would you remind us of your incredible love for us? A love so deep and so pure that Jesus didn't think twice about leaving his place in heaven to come to earth? That he didn't begrudgingly go to the cross.

It was for the joy set before him that he gave. Oh, God, that's who we want to be as your people. We want to be Overflow people who understand just the beauty and the depth of your goodness and that we would respond in kind. God, we're going to have opportunities this week to be people who can respond to generosity. It may be financially given to someone who doesn't have enough.

Yeah. Would you help us to be generous? Overflow God, it may be an opportunity in a relationship in our home with one of our kids or a parent or grandparent, maybe in our marriage, maybe a co worker or a classmate. God, would you help us to overflow?

There may be a moment this week where we're asked to be generous with our time and that's maybe the most precious commodity we have. God, would you remember? Would you help us to remember? May we, Overflow God, thank you for the witness of the church here in second Corinthians. Thank you for the witness of Paul, the reminder of what can happen when a life is changed.

God, thank you for examples like Maria who just willingly give to be a blessing. God, wherever it may be, whatever it may require of us. Would you give us courage, help us to be faithful to Overflow with your love and grace? We pray in Jesus name. Amen.