Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2234
“And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave themselves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” 2 Corinthians 8:5.
HERE we see the Apostle Paul disappointed, though he was never discontented. God had taught him how to abound and how to suffer need. In the School of Grace he had learned contentment, but at this time he had met with disappointment. Things had not happened as he thought they should have done and now he tells the Corinthians how the Churches of Macedonia have disappointed him. “This they did, not as we hoped.”
Paul’s disappointment, too, was concerning money, although that was a thing the Apostle never cared about at all. He never lived with any idea of gain—he held it almost in contempt. Yet here he is disappointed about money matters and he is writing of his disappointment. But do not run away with a mistaken idea of what Paul meant. Though this is one of the many unexpected things which happened to him, it is different in its character from most of his other disappointments. His expectations were not realized on this occasion because they were exceeded! He was disappointed with the Churches of Macedonia because they did a great deal more than he ever expected them to do. “This they did,” he says, “not as we hoped.” He had only hoped that they would give a little, for they were not rich people—and a little would show their generosity to the poor saints in Jerusalem. And he was ready to make much of that little and thank God that they were willing to remember those who were more in need than themselves. But they went far beyond anything he expected of them. Paul bore record that their liberality was up to the utmost limit of their power, “yes, and beyond their power.” A little from them would have been more than a much larger sum from richer people. Our gifts are not to be measured by the amount we contribute, but by the surplus kept in our own hands. The two mites of the widow were, in Christ’s eyes, worth more than all the other money cast into the treasury, for, “she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”
Not only did those Macedonian Believers give much, but they gave it willingly. “They were willing of themselves.” This added fragrance to their gift. They needed no pressing or urging—the Apostle did not have to organize a “Fancy Fair” to wheedle the money out of them, nor even to preach loud and long to awaken them to their duty. “They were willing of themselves.” I thank God that you, my people, have always abounded in “the same Grace, also.” Still, what we have done is nothing compared to the need which lies before us. May those who have, up to now, been ready to bestow their goods, be found even more willing now to contribute to the cause of God and generously give towards the spread of the Gospel, the education of ministers and the needs of the orphans! Let there be no necessity laid upon you except the sweet compulsion of love, remembering that “God loves a cheerful giver.”
But these Macedonians gave more than money—they gave themselves. Paul writes, “They first gave themselves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” This was the best donation—better, even, than the two mites of the poor widow. She gave her living, but they gave their lives, their very being! They also gave the best donation in the best way. They did not stop with giving themselves to the Lord, they also gave themselves to the Lord’s people. This is the will of God, that those who yield themselves up to Him should join those who are already His.
In speaking to you concerning these Churches of Macedonia, I would say, first, that these people are an example to us in several particulars. And when I have spoken a little upon that subject, I will say, in the second place, Let us follow their example.
I. First, then, THESE PEOPLE ARE AN EXAMPLE TO US. The Grace of God seems to have been so largely bestowed upon them that they, of whom but little was expected, sprang at once into the chief place of honor. Sometimes we see this in Churches today—poor and despised communities suddenly excel all their Brothers and Sisters. “The lame take the prey.” The great works of the world are not done by the great people of the world, but as the tiny coral insects, patiently working unseen, produce large results, it often happens that the weakest Brothers and Sisters bestow a large legacy of blessing upon us! This was the case in Macedonia—“The abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.” As an ounce of example is worth a pound of precept, let us study the conduct of those early Christians very carefully.
First, they are an example because they followed the right order. They did the first thing, first. Paul says, concerning them, “This they did, not as we hoped, but first gave themselves to the Lord.” You know that it spoils even good things when you reverse the right order in which they should be done and, as we commonly say, put the cart before the horse. Did you ever hear of the servant who was told to go and sweep a room and then dust it, who went and dusted the room and then swept it? She did not obey her orders because she did not observe the right order. Her work might as well have been left undone! Great mischief always comes of departing from God’s method in spiritual things. When the Lord tells you to believe and be baptized, if you are baptized, first, and believe afterwards, you have upset the Scriptural order and have practically disobeyed it! You have not kept to God’s Word at all. There is nothing like doing the right thing in the right order. Do what Christ tells you and do it as Christ tells you. These Macedonian Believers put the first thing, first. They first gave themselves to the Lord and afterwards they gave themselves to the Church of God!