Psalm 1 describes the blessed person as one who has dug deep into God’s Word, making it the source of his daily meditation. In pursuit of this kind of blessed life, we briefly review the sermon from the previous Sunday. May you be like a tree planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in its season (Psalm 1:3). This week we look back at Pastor Kim’s sermon on 2 Corinthians 8:7-15.
An excerpt from “Gospel Giving – Daily Devotions in Materialism”
“By the end of the week, you have spent countless hours fueling your love of money. In a sense, through what you watch and what you click and what you have meditated on, you have sometimes hourly poured fuel on your faith in money. We really should not be surprised that the god of money holds such a place in our hearts – we have spent the week worshiping at its alter, doing daily devotions in materialism.”
Question: What are the things that fuel your materialism and how can you avoid them? What can you do to fuel your faith in Christ the great Treasure?
“[Paul] is not asking the wealthy Corinthians to be destitute. It was ok to enjoy what God has given them. That being said, Paul does say that the love of money is a deadly danger. And the danger for us is that we would misuse these verses to justify our materialistic lifestyle, “I don’t have to give too much away, because God wants me to enjoy my stuff…” But they key is this, you should find peace and comfort ONLY if you are generous. He says you shouldn’t give until you are destitute but you are still to be generous in proportion with your wealth, and if you are not, there should be guilt and conviction as the Holy Spirit impresses upon your heart a need to change. If you are wealthy and get to enjoy a nice meal or take your family on vacation, enjoy it; let it point you to a gracious God who provides us with things to enjoy… but only if you are living a life of proportional generosity.”
Question: Are you living a life of proportional generosity? How might you be more generous?
“The gospel and faith allow us to see things differently. Through the eyes of faith we realize that this world economy of life is a ponzi scheme offering small payouts with the promise of bigger reward when in reality it is a mirage of fortune. Through the eyes of faith we realize that the gospel means the economics of God are different. In the economics of God the last shall be first and the first last; in the economics of God what matters is not treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven; in the economics of God the things that are seen are transient, but the unseen things are eternal; and from this passage, in the economics of God giving is about love and worship, not decimal places and dollar signs… Beloved, let us pray that God would allow us to see money not as a god, but as a means to worship the true God and love others.”
Encouragement: Spend time in prayer asking for the grace to see money as a gift but not a god and to see it as a means to worship the true God and love others.
