First Things First (Giving)

I believe that today could be one of the most significant days that you have ever lived. I believe that this could be an hour in which you make decisions that will shape the remainder of your life. And, this could become a place to which you return again and again to remember the significance of what happened here.

I believe this because there have been those “life changing” days in my life, days that are marked as none before and none after. Pentecost Sunday was that kind of day for Jane Cuerie. She made a striking impression on me for two reasons, her hair hung a foot below her waist on her 5' frame and she had never been to church until she was 29 years old.

As she sat in that small group on Saturday afternoon, she told a story that moved me deeply. She related how she had gone to a lawyer to make a will. He gave her a form to fill out and at the bottom was the question: "to whom do you wish to leave your earthly possessions?" This question shocked her beyond her power to cope. She had never faced her own death before.

The questions depressed her so deeply that she needed therapy. After treatment, she experienced improvemen and then her husband gently suggested that she might like to attend church with him and their daughter.

She attended! She felt the ministry spoke directly to her. Her life changed and she was baptized on Pentecost Sunday.

Do you know why she had never been to church before she was 29 years old? Her parents had told her, "The church is only interested in your money!" But that Pentecost Sunday she discovered that the Church was interested in “her,” not her money!

You’ve heard that statement, haven’t you? “The church is only intrested in your monety!” Don’t you think it is time to get “First things First?” Is it Cash or Christ? Is it dollars or devotion that interest us today?

Listen for God in the reading of the text today:

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints--and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you. 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.

I chose this passage today because it is about a Preacher urging a congregation to take up a special collection. Paul is about to make good his promise to visit the Corinthian Church a second time. He has boasted to his companions of the Corinthian’s ability to give. He is most eager for them to show their generosity to the "poor Christians" in Jerusalem. He does not wish to be embarrassed, so he is writing this second letter and sending it by Titus to prepare them to make their offering when he arrives.

He holds up the Macedonian Churches as a sparkling example of giving -- though suffering extreme poverty, they gave liberally. Paul wants the Corinthians to follow their lead.

I wish you to pay special attention to the priority Paul sets in giving. In one brief statement by Paul cuts to the core of the issue of money and the church, "...but first they gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.” This speaks volumes to the issue “the church is only interested in your money!”

To the parents of the woman I met in Virginia, to all the churches in this city and to those among us who protest that all the church wants is your money, I want to set the record straight: “First, the church is intrested in you, not your money.” First things, first.

I speak with all the conviction that I can muster, Christ is not interested in your money, nor your assets, nor your borrowing power. He is interested not in net worth but in you! The First Presbyterian Church in Gainsville, Georgia is interested in YOU. CHRIST is interested in YOU First...second...third. First things, first.

First, give yourself to the Lord, then you are to 'give' to others according to the will of God! First things, first!

Until you have given yourself to the Lord, the will of God makes little sense -- it is either hidden, or rejected or irrelevant. It is the married person that is deeply concerned with chastity; the parents who are committed to parenting; the true citizen that is concerned with patriotism. When you are a given person, you are concerned about what you have given yourself to.

When we have given ourselves to the Lord, nothing concerns us as much as the will of God for our lives. Our giving, then, is to please God, not the church.

St. Paul draws three governing principles about our giving from the Macedonian Church: (they voluntarily gave according to their means and beyond their means)

1. Give according to your means. We are to give of what we have and not what we do not have. Do you recall the widow at the temple casting in two coppers which add up to a penny. In contrast, the wealthy were giving large sums of money.

Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.” (Matthew 12:43)

If you make $100,000 per year, you should give more than the family making $20,000.

2. Give voluntarily, of "your own free will." We are under no external demand. We give because our heart has been touched. Because of God's gracious gift to us, we want to participate in the mission of Christ.

Think of all the external constraints that make people give up there money!

Robbery at gun point – fear of losing your life.

Blackmail -- fear that someone will tell your secret.

Paying a ransom to regain what has been taken from you.

A tax imposed upon you.

Robbery, Blackmail, Ransom, Taxation -- all of these demands would take away your freedom. They would be not a free gift. Giving is free and motivated by love.

3. You are to give with excellence. "Now as you excel in everything ... see that you excel in this gracious work also." (8:7) To excel means to go beyond, to be superior to, to "go all the way." Paul shifts from the Macedonian model and appeals directly to the Corinthians. The Macedonian congregation gave out of their poverty to the cause of Christ. Beat that! Paul says. Be superior to that.

Perhaps an illustration will make even clearer the meaning of this “First things, first giving!”

Victor Hugo in his famous novel, Les Miserables, illustrates the point I am trying to make about “Self first giving” and then giving to the mission according to the will of God. It must have been nearly 40 years ago that I began watching a black and white movie late one Saturday night. I intended to watch until I fell asleep but I couldn’t go to sleep during or afterward.

Jean Valjean, the main character in the novel, was an escaped galley slave. In the opening scene, he made his way through the city seeking food. Nobody gave to him. He was turned away at every door. Finally, someone suggested that he try the Bishop's house. A rap at the door brought a warm greeting. He was received warmly, fed, and bedded down for the night. To the dismay of the Bishop's housekeeper, this man, who in every way looked the part of a runaway, was given a room. But he rose before dawn, packed the Bishop's silver in a knapsack, and left.

Next Scene. He is standing helplessly in the Bishop's dining room having been apprehended by the police. "This man was leaving town; he had a knapsack of silver with your initial on it."

Before he was asked if the silver belonged to him, the Bishop went to the mantle, took the silver candlesticks and thrust them into the visitor's hands: "Jean, don't you remember, I gave you the candlesticks also?" He was too startled to speak. The bishop added, "Remember, Jean, I have discovered that life is to give and not to get!"

On his way from the city, knapsack over his shoulder, Jean has a conversion experience. Here, the story skips to several years later. Jean Val Jean has changed his name. He is Monsieur Madeline, and has become a successful business man who owns a spinning mill. Three vignettes from his life demonstrate this "first things first," right priority giving.

First, a woman who works for him in the mill has a sick child; she pleads for help. He responds with money and care.

Second, a man is being crushed under the wheel of a carriage and Monsieur Madeleine takes off his coat and gets down in the mud and with his shoulders made strong from rowing in the galley, lifts the carriage from the man who is being crushed.

Third, a report is circulated declaring that Jean Val Jean, the runaway galley slave, has been apprehended; he is being tried for desertion and will be executed! Just as the poor soul which has been mistaken for Jean is ready to be condemned, Monsieur Madeleine strides down the aisle to the judge's bench.

"I am Jean Valjean," he says. Then he taps the shoulder of each of the gally slaves with whom he rowed in the galley. "Don't you recall when ... " and renames the incidents.

He first gave himself to the Lord! He gave according to the will of God. He gave to the woman according to his means, to the man under the carriage he gave freely, and he gave with excellence to the demented man who stood before the judge. Ah! He was willing to take his place and give his life, if needs be.

At the outset I promised you in a way that this could be a day that you will always remember, a time that changes your outlook on life, and a place to which you will return again and again to recall what happened here today. So I invite you, "Give yourself to the Lord, then to the mission of Christ according to the will of God!"