May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us - see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich...

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality. (2 Corinthians 8:1-9,13,14)

In Christ's name and to his glory, dear friends: As you can see God's Word to us today is about Christian giving. You do realize, don't you, that I did not plan this? I didn't see that our church's surplus is gone and think: we better talk about giving. It is coincidence, I guess you could say, that this reading came up when it did. But then I also remember a little saying I read not too long ago, something like: coincidence is a word people use when they cannot see the working hand of God. No matter who we are or how long Jesus has walked with us in faith or what financial situation our church family happens to be in, God made things happen so that this Word would come to us today. It is the saddest of happenings when souls think that God is not talking to them. He who has ears let him hear, as Jesus often said. Today the Lord calls to us saying: SEE THAT YOU ALSO EXCEL IN THIS GRACE OF GIVING.

The background of these words is this: The Christians in Jerusalem were suffering terribly. There had been an extended drought and famine in that part of the world. Plus the Christians continued to be persecuted for their faith, so they weren't high on the list for getting help from their fellow citizens. Paul had been asking people wherever he traveled to help their fellow Christians in Palestine. In this letter he asks the Christians in Corinth, southern Greece, to join in to help with their offerings. He does so mentioning the exemplary giving of the Macedonian Christians, the people north of Greece. Though the needs may change, the wonderful principles of Christian giving outlined here are timeless and "coincidentally" timely for us.

"Grace" is the key word in these verses. It appears five times in nine verses. The Apostle begins by saying: we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. This is a divine choice of words. We might expect Paul to say: I want you to know about the wonderful support that the Macedonian Christians have given, but he doesn't. He says: I want you to know of the grace God has given them. He calls their generosity "grace" something given God had given them.

These words remind us of something that we must never forget-we cannot give unless God gives to us. Being able and willing to give is part of, is caused by, God's grace to us. It's not even accurate to say giving is our response to grace, because that gives the impression that we are doing something when in reality God is doing something through us. In one of the Psalms it says: I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free (Psalm 119:32) Or, as God says to us in Philippians: it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Christian giving is grace-something God gives to us.

And what God must give us is here described. Certainly he must give us the means, the cash, the time, the talents to offer. But these he gives even to the wicked and ungodly. What is even more important than the means is the heart. Paul says the Macedonians urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of giving. They found great joy in giving. They gave themselves first to the Lord meaning their giving was a matter of their love for God, not a matter of having more than they needed. In fact, Paul implies that the Macedonians maybe needed help themselves, but their poverty welled up into generosity. So you can see, more important than having lots of money is having the heart that is willing. And that too comes alone from God. Especially so since it is a matter of faith, hope and trust in God. Only a Christian can truly be generous because only a Christian has been given the heart to love God and neighbor unselfishly.

Now God does not keep a secret of how he creates and bestows this willingness. In fact, he has his Apostle creating it and instilling it in the Corinthians and in us when he says: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Every time the Lord calls us to repent of our selfishness and renews in us the faith that clings to forgiveness in Christ he at the same time makes us want to love him and our neighbor. For us Christ became poor. Yes, he was born in a barn, didn't have deed to property, had to borrow a donkey for a ride, and depended on others to supply his need. But his greatest poverty was his willingness to be poor before the judgment throne of God and be cursed and God forsaken as totally lacking all that God demands. But it was our poverty of holiness that he assumed. He did that so we could be rich before God, lacking nothing, clothed in righteousness and the graced children of God. No one could ever ponder that and not say, "What can be done to thank you?" To which our Lord says among other things: "Be generous as I am."

The projects and plans to help others come and go. We shall never run short of good projects in which to exercise the grace of giving. The ministry of St. Paul's is such a worthy project. Go make disciples...baptizing...teaching them. Everything we do as a church school, high school, and synod is wrapped up in this task the Lord has given us. But he hasn't just given us a job. He also has given us the means. Even in this time of a floundering economy the combined net worth those sitting here is staggering.

But even more, God has made known to us the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and thereby given us the heart and desire to be generous. I dream about this sometimes; how about you? I wish God would let me fall into big-time money. Maybe I could buy an old painting at a garage sale and find out that it's worth $25 million as happened to a women we read about in the news recently. Boy! If I fell into $25 million St. Paul's problems would vanish. Our Synod wouldn't be $9 million in the red. HVL could start building the gym tomorrow. But then I come to my senses and realize that statistics show that our church family has an annual income of more than $20 million! That's every year, not just once in a life time! Do you see? God has already given us enough to do all we planned and more. We don't need to fall into more money. We need that other part of grace-the gift of the heart that gives generously. I think that this is one of those times in our life that we see the need or challenge and keep asking God to do something about it, but fail to notice that, if we look about us, we will see that God has already provided what will calm the need. We really only need one thing-hearts that are willing. See to it, he says since you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you also excel in this grace of giving, and all will fall into place. May God's grace be seen in us.   Amen.