Radical Given-ness in the midst of scarcity.

Oh- hey friends.

Have you ever felt like you have nothing left to give?

I giggled when I typed that.  I know…an offensive question at this point in time.  Don’t be mad it was more a rhetorical one anyway.

We all feel some sort of stretch right now.  Most of us feel stretched past what we feel we can handle.  Most of us feel as if we have nothing we could possibly give right now.

I mean I don’t know about you but just putting regular clothes on feels like an Olympic sport on most days…oh that’s just me…mmmmk.

Well, in God’s Kingdom, which is ALWAYS upside-down, there’s room to give even when we feel like we’re coasting on fumes.

There’s this quirky little story in the New Testament, told by Paul, that most of us have probably whizzed by without even noticing.

This story, short as it may be, holds so much truth and a resounding call that we desperately need right now.

Let’s look at it together  (2 Corinthians 8:1-4 MSG):

“Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians…”

Paul was reporting to the Church of Corinth about a rag-tag group of believers who were under extreme affliction.  In fact, “the severe trial that the Macedonian churches experienced was of a sort that left them in a condition of extreme poverty. The phrase is literally “down-to-the-depth poverty.”* 

Circumstantially, the Macedonians were in shambles.  They had very little in their hands to give.
Impoverished and stretched by adversity.

Yet, we see them here held as an example.  An example of what? Not an example of surviving their circumstances.  Not an example of fear. Not an example of bargaining their way out of a season of life they hated..

They are held high as an example of GENEROSITY. 

Generosity and poverty don’t belong in the same sentence.  The two words don’t seem to be friends, in my opinion.

But in God’s Kingdom, generosity can dwell inside of poverty.

The Macedonians are used as an example not simply because they gave, or even that they gave out of their abundance, but because they gave when they had nothing to give.

“The Macedonian churches are a testimony that it is possible not merely to experience joy but to have it “overflow” in the midst of trials. Even more, just as persecution did not take away from their joyfulness, neither did poverty diminish their ability to be generous.” * 

How could they have given with such generosity under such great pressure??

Well Paul tells us… (2 Corinthians 8:5-7 MSG)

“This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives.”

What came first?  They gave themselves UNRESERVEDLY to God.

The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives.

The natural byproduct of giving themselves to God was generosity in the midst of scarcity.

It was not a heavy burden for them to be generous.  It simply flowed from their given-ness to God.

They lived given to Him, and as a result, the overflow they experienced impacted everyone around them.

Friends, we are called, we – His body, to live RADICALLY during this season.

We have the ability to live given to God and given to others, even in the midst of our own great need and affliction..

We must look at the “shut-down” and the “stay-home” messaging and choose to remember that the need has not, in fact, shut down.  The world is still hurting, still in desperate need and the vulnerable before are even more vulnerable now.

Can we, like the Macedonians, give ourselves UNRESERVEDLY to God, turn our eyes outward and GIVE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY.  

Give when it doesn’t make sense to give. 
Give because we remember that the need is still great. 

Faith in this season is sowing when we only have a few seeds left to sow.

That radical generosity WILL reap a harvest, not only in our own lives, but in the lives of the most vulnerable among us.

Let’s LIVE GIVEN and GIVE.

 

Bible Commentary Reference:
https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/2Cor/Macedonian-Believers-Model