Proportional, Planned, Graceful
This sermon was based on an outline from www.givingingrace.org

Corinth
Boasting is not a word we would associate with goodness really is it?
We don’t really like boasting we prefer modesty, so it is with some surprise that we find Paul in this passage telling the Corinthians about his boasting about them!
So why has Paul been boasting about the Corinthians?
Well they were some of the first to respond to the needs of the church in Jerusalem and their example spurred everyone else into action, especially the Macedonians.
But unlike the Macedonians the enthusiasm in Corinth faded away.
So Paul has to write to them again with all sorts of detailed arrangements for their giving, and send the boys round to collect it!!
It conjures up a lovely picture doesn’t it: this letter being read out loud to the church.
They hear all Paul’s teaching, his criticism, and his reconciliation then they get hit with two whole chapters on their giving, or lack of it, and the fact that Paul is sending Titus round!
Preview
There are two messages in this passage for us:
First that good intentions aren’t enough;
Second that our ministry of giving is important: not just how MUCH we choose to give as our ministry, but HOW we give!
Good intentions
Inertia is a real problem isn’t it?
Sometimes we just don’t seem to get round to putting our good intentions into practice.
We hear the sermon, we see the need, but then life takes over and action is shelved for the moment.
That's why we've devoted so much time to this teaching programme, just as we did to the teaching on prayer last year.
Each one of us needs to have time to think, pray and finally do something about our ministry of giving.
Good intentions are not enough.
So how should we give?
Paul gives three guidelines: our giving should be proportional, planned and graceful.
Proportional
In his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 16, Paul tells people on the first day of each week to set aside a sum of money in keeping with their income.
In other words our giving is in relation to what we receive from God not what our church needs.
We don’t send the boys round like Paul did, we have no Titus here, but if you get paid monthly make contact with Henry Sanderson, and make arrangements for a standing order.
For those who pay any tax at all, a signature on a simple form means the church gets the tax you paid as well as the gift, so it's far better than simply putting cash in the offering.
For those of you who are not tax payers, and not on monthly pension or wage, then use the envelope scheme.
Just see John Dowlen, our envelope secretary.
Either way the point Paul makes is that our giving should be in relation to what we receive – proportional giving.
His second guideline is that giving should be PLANNED.
Planned
In this passage Paul is clear that he wants the collection to be a gift, the Greek word means literally ‘a blessing’, but how does Paul ensure that the collection is truly a gift and not grudgingly given?
His answer is that it is PLANNING which makes the difference between a grudging duty and a generous gift.
Planned giving is about a conscious decision to be caught up in the overflow of God’s grace.
Our gifts of money are the action of God’s grace taking shape in our giving, almost like a thermometer testing the temperature of our hearts and our faith.
So by planning our giving in advance, in relation to what we receive rather than any perceived needs, we fulfil the first two of Paul's guidelines for giving.
The final guideline is harder to tie down, but is the most important of the three.
Graceful
This last guideline is to do with the importance of our ministry of giving.
Its importance not to the receiver, whether the church or some other good cause, but to us.
Because we are changed by the act and grace of giving if we give as a ministry.
The issue here is our willingness to be caught up in the grace of giving and generosity.
Water illustration
God beckons us to the water, but will not drag us in, or pull us under.
We can choose to stay on the ground never experiencing the exhilaration of the water.
We can choose to dabble, getting our toes wet but little else,
or we can walk in and take his hand and experience the wonder and the joy of joining in his creative, life-changing ministry.
The metaphor of water is OK, but we have waterproof skin, the water doesn’t permeate our bodies.
In contrast, generosity and grace will reach the very heart of us.
Rich young man
There is a story in the bible of a rich young ruler who was ruled by his possessions
Jesus challenged him to take up the one thing he couldn't buy: the grace of giving.
As we know, he walked away from that challenge and, in so doing, walked away from Christ himself.
For that man, good intentions were not enough, nor are they for us.
Conclusion
Paul told the Corinthians that their good intentions had to translate into giving.
Giving which is proportional, planned and grace-filled.
Paul says he wants a gift that blesses, not money grudgingly given.
Frank Lake apparently coined the phrase “hardening of the oughteries”, the Christian condition “I ought to do this, ought to do that.”
For many of us, giving becomes something we ought to do, ought to have envelopes, ought to Gift Aid.
But Christian giving is far more than that.
When we give in a proportional, planned and grace-filled way we receive infinitely more than we let go.
We release God's blessings into the church and the world and God is glorified.
Like the Corinthians, we must turn our good intentions into giving in grace:
Not just reVIEW our giving but reNEW it.

Don't hoard – share
This sermon was based on an outline from www.givingingrace.org

Introduction
Last week I spoke about giving as a spiritual discipline which is part of our ministry within the worldwide church.
St.Paul wrote to the Corinthians to encourage them in their giving by pointing to the example of the church in Macedonia who, despite their poverty, still wanted the privilege of providing for their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem who were in even worse difficulties.
Spiritual issue
Within the world there will always be inequality, but it is the responsibility of Christians to use responsibly what we have, to share with those in need and to include decisions about money as part of the outworking of our faith.
Money is a spiritual issue and we shall be accountable, not just for what we give, but for all we have been blessed with in this life and how we have used it.
Manna – hoarding doesn't work
In this passage from his second letter to Corinth, Paul quotes from the Old Testament account of the manna in the desert. "The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little."
The manna in the desert reminds us that God's abundance is there to provide our daily bread – enough to thrive daily in God's blessing.
Those greedy enough to attempt to collect too much manna could not hold on to their surplus because it rotted overnight; those who could not collect enough found to their surprise they had plenty to eat.
They had all they needed through God's grace.
The Christian life is different to the world’s economy because hoarding God-given blessings does not work.
We are given these things to share with others, not to hoard for ourselves.
Illustration of the two Seas
The Sea of Galilee teams with life.
The Dead Sea has no life in it at all.
Yet the same river feeds them both.
The only difference between them is that there is no outflow from the Dead Sea.
The water evaporates away but the minerals stay put and build up, poisoning the sea and rendering it lifeless.
When we try to hold onto everything for ourselves the joy and blessings soon evaporate and our lives are poisoned.
We need to be channels of grace not pools of stagnant water.
But this means being prepared to join in God's economy of grace.
It means not hoarding but sharing.
Voluntarily and joyfully: sharing what we have in order to benefit others.
As we let the blessings flow out from us, so God is glorified in our church and our world.
Challenge
So we need to recognise that the need of the church for financial support is only half the story.
Our NEED TO GIVE is greater than the need of the church to receive our gifts.
Giving is an invitation to invest in God’s economy of giving and receiving.
To be caught up in the flow of God’s gracious giving is a blessing in itself.
Illustration of power boat course
As part of my work with the Junior Sailing at the yacht club I have to learn how to drive a motor boat.
These things have very powerful engines and can smash through the waves and into the wind.
But when we come to rescue a little boy or girl who is in the water, all that power is worse than useless.
We have to work with the wind and the tide to drift gently down to where they are.
Similarly we can use our energy and resources fighting against God, trying to go our own way, or we can be carried by the wind and tide of God's will to bring salvation to others.
Hard questions
Thinking about our giving is a challenge because it asks hard questions about how much we keep for ourselves and how much we share.
We can't have our cake and eat it, so to share more, through the church or in other ways, means that there will be less for us to hoard.
The seductive nature of money and possessions makes it really hard to choose to trust God and share with others.
Martin Luther said that there are three conversions necessary for the Christian; the heart, the head and the purse.
As part of your response to 'Giving in Grace', think through your ministry of giving.
Conclusion
It is no good us sitting in church, dreaming about being channels for the grace and generosity of God, if when we get home we don’t do anything about it!
In our living and giving, let's go with the flow of God's economy, not hoarding but sharing.

The Gift of Grace
This sermon was based on an outline from www.givingingrace.org

Introduction
Today begins a five week series of sermons to support our 'Giving in Grace' programme about money and giving.
We've decided to run this programme for two reasons.
One is that we believe that the issues of money and giving are challenging in this materialistic culture, and ones which can lead us into a closer relationship with God.
Another reason is that we have an exciting vision for growing our church into the future; a vision that will require significant extra income to achieve.
Clearly the first reason is far more important: our relationship with God strikes to the heart of our reason for being alive.
Sadly the second, a vision for the future, is often required before people will take seriously God's call on their possessions.
People's concerns
Why is it that people find it so hard to think about giving generously?
Some will shift their unease onto others, perhaps citing, for example, poor pensioners on a fixed pension.
An interesting fact is that if every one of our church members were on the minimum state pension and was tithing his or her income to the church our income would more than double.
Of course the vast majority of our members have incomes well above that minimum level so what is going on?
Low priority
The obvious answer is that we put a low priority on giving to the church.
Perhaps that's for selfish reasons – I want a better holiday, nicer clothes or whatever.
Perhaps it's for other people – I want to pass it all on to my grown up family.
Or maybe it's fear – I'm saving for a rainy day.
Whatever the reason we get quite defensive about our use of money and I expect these next five weeks might be quite difficult for some people and stir up some strong feelings.
Hard to talk about money
In our NT reading this morning we heard Paul's wonderful way of approaching these difficult subjects.
He concentrates on the need of Christians to give - NOT the need of the Jerusalem church to receive - even though they were in desperate straits!
Paul very clearly defines the act of giving as an act of grace that both reflects and participates in God’s incredible and overwhelming generosity to us.
The poor are often more generous
Paul also uses the example of the poor but generous Macedonian church to spur the Corinthians on.
Not by writing about how much they gave, but by writing about HOW they gave.
Macedonians remain with us still in spirit.
It is still true that those with least often demonstrate God’s generosity far more than those who are well off.
The anointing at Bethany in our gospel reading also demonstrates this grace, this selflessness, and gratitude from someone poor but generous.
We should ask ourselves, not 'what can I spare?' and give our excess; but ask 'what do I really need?' and give away the rest.
The challenge to us is to reflect and review our giving not based on what we currently give, or what the church needs but in the light of God’s grace and generosity to us.
Biblical attitude to money – discipleship
This is a very different way of thinking about money!
To achieve what Paul strives for we need do encourage biblical thinking.
How we handle all our money is primarily about discipleship.
If this was true for Paul 2000 years ago then it is even more so now.
Our attitude towards money in the western world is like trying to drink seawater.
Far from satisfying our thirst, the more we drink the thirstier we become till finally it poisons us!
We will never have enough money to buy all we want, holiday all we want, protect our future lifestyle and do all we want.
As our income grows so will our aspirations, and it will “shrink” the space available for grace, and generosity.
Paul urges his readers to “excel also in this grace of giving” and that is what we hope to achieve with this teaching, prayer and the Giving in grace programme.
Privilege of giving
Paul uses three key words in verse 4,to sum up the right attitude to giving.
Firstly 'Privilege' the Greek word .
It shows how important it was to the Macedonians to be able to share in this ministry to Jerusalem.
They considered it a privilege.
Wider church
The second word 'Sharing', or , indicates that the Macedonians saw themselves as participating in the wider church.
Similarly, our contributions here help fund mission and ministry throughout the Church of England, not merely in Lymington.
On our PCC prayer day yesterday we had a talk from one of the sisters at St.Dominics who reminded us that our prayers affect not only us, not only those for whom we pray, but the whole church.
When YOU pray for YOUR friend, you affect ME – and every Christian on the face of the earth. We are one body in Christ.
Being part of the whole church that is one of God’s gifts to the world and we should rejoice that in this church we are part of something bigger.
All the richness and the cost that it brings are part of the tapestry of faith in the world wide Church.
Ministry of giving
So: Privilege and Sharing.
The final key word from verse 4 is ministry.
The Greek word is  from which our word 'deacon' comes.
Giving is an act of ministry.
Your giving through the envelopes or standing orders is an important part of your ministry.
Like all ministry it is a privilege to exercise that ministry and, through it, we share in the life of the whole body of the Church.
Conclusion
Each one of us here has the opportunity to increase our ministry and see this bear fruit in our church, and in our world, through our giving.
We shall see ourselves change too:
The grace of giving helps transform us into more contented, more joyful and more trusting disciples of Jesus Christ.
And we shall drink, not the poison seawater of materialism, but the living water of Christ, who gives not as the world gives, but gives in grace.