December 18, 2005

NOT YOURS, BUT YOU

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

 

   Our title is from 2 Corinthians 12:14, "I seek not yours, but you." This truth is also found in chapter 8. Paul sought not what people possessed. He sought them, to win them for Christ through the gospel. The preaching of the cross means that when Christ died, the believer also died, and that we "who live should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto Him Who died for us and rose again."

   Paul opened this section referring to "the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia ." This is not the grace of the gospel in salvation when we first became Christians. This is the grace of God sustaining these saints in the midst of deep persecution and poverty, the grace which was working in their hearts and evidenced in their lives such that they were models of Christian conduct.

   In spite of their "great trial of affliction," they exhibited an "abundance of joy" in the midst of "deep poverty." Their joy in this situation "abounded to the riches of their free-hearted liberality" in giving to help others. These fancy words mean that they were not thinking of themselves or of their needs. They were contributing heavily, beyond their means, to relieve poor saints at Jerusalem . They might well have wondered if their own deep need did not exceed and take precedence over Jerusalem . It seemed they took no account of themselves but only "looked on the need of others."

   The secret of such giving was they "first gave their own selves to the Lord" (2 Cor. 8:5). And even "beyond their power, they were willing of their own accord," begging Paul "with much entreaty that [he] would receive their gift (grace)..." and distribute it according to the greater need at Jerusalem . What an expression of God's grace in action in the lives of dedicated saints!

   It is easier to give something we have than it is to give ourselves. Consider that we "are not our own." We have been "bought at a price," we have been redeemed from the slave-market of sin. We belong to Another. Shall we then rob our Owner of that which is His due? If we are not our own, then why all the fuss about possessions? They "...first gave their own selves..." Little wonder that Paul wrote the Corinthians, "I seek not your possessions, I seek you"!

 

Ivan L. Burgener