WEBVTT 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.660 Hey all, Pastor John here. Thanks for tuning 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:09.759 in to the weekly sermon podcast. We pray this 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:12.519 message encourages you, strengthens your faith, 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:15.080 and helps you to take your next step with Jesus. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.239 If this content blesses you and you'd like to 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:20.339 be a part of helping us continue to bring the 00:00:20.339 --> 00:00:22.739 gospel to life, we'd love for you to consider 00:00:22.739 --> 00:00:25.739 supporting the ministry of Village. Your generosity 00:00:25.739 --> 00:00:28.339 makes it possible for us to keep creating and 00:00:28.339 --> 00:00:31.510 sharing resources like this podcast. You can 00:00:31.510 --> 00:00:35.250 give safely and easily by visiting sacvillage 00:00:35.250 --> 00:00:39.090 .org slash give or by heading to our website 00:00:39.090 --> 00:00:43.109 at sacvillage .org. Thanks again for listening. 00:00:43.390 --> 00:00:54.130 Now let's dive into this week's message. Amen. 00:00:54.189 --> 00:00:56.630 Well, we're in a series called The Advent According 00:00:56.630 --> 00:01:00.700 to Paul, and we've been looking at how Paul tells 00:01:00.700 --> 00:01:03.640 the Christmas story? How does the apostle Paul 00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:06.019 tell the Christmas story? And that's the question 00:01:06.019 --> 00:01:08.159 we've been asking for the last two weeks. And 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:11.019 today we're coming to a text. out of 2 Corinthians 00:01:11.019 --> 00:01:13.519 chapter 8. So if you have your Bibles, you can 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.159 start turning to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. We'll 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:18.000 get there in just a moment. But I wanted to give 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:21.099 you a little background on that section of 2 00:01:21.099 --> 00:01:24.319 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 is Paul, 00:01:24.620 --> 00:01:27.439 the apostle, he's writing to a church, a church 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:29.439 that he's connected with, a church that he loves, 00:01:29.579 --> 00:01:34.159 a church in Corinth. And Corinth is a prosperous 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:38.480 and a very status conscious city. It's shaped 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:43.980 by wealth and competition and public honor. It's 00:01:43.980 --> 00:01:48.099 a place of great status and of great wealth. 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:51.480 And it's this church that's located within this 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:54.079 region, Corinth, that he's writing 2 Corinthians 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:58.280 chapter 8 to. And the backstory behind where 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:00.099 we're going to dive into the word is that this 00:02:00.099 --> 00:02:03.099 church, Well, this church had eagerly begun a 00:02:03.099 --> 00:02:06.340 collection of funds. It was going to collect 00:02:06.340 --> 00:02:08.560 some money for poor believers who were back in 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:11.500 Jerusalem. And many of those believers were suffering 00:02:11.500 --> 00:02:14.460 because of a famine and persecution. And this 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:16.879 church had begun this collection, but they never 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:19.400 completed it. They hadn't yet brought it to completion, 00:02:19.539 --> 00:02:21.900 this collection of funds in order to support 00:02:21.900 --> 00:02:24.460 these other believers. And so Paul is writing 00:02:24.460 --> 00:02:28.569 to them. not to command them, not to shame them, 00:02:28.689 --> 00:02:33.050 but to frame or reframe for them generosity around 00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:37.830 the self -giving grace of Christ. And so we come 00:02:37.830 --> 00:02:41.550 to verse eight in that section. And Paul says 00:02:41.550 --> 00:02:43.490 something that actually makes me pretty uncomfortable. 00:02:43.830 --> 00:02:46.490 And I bet it makes you uncomfortable too. He 00:02:46.490 --> 00:02:51.050 says, I am testing the genuineness of your love. 00:02:52.050 --> 00:02:56.110 Testing the genuineness. Now, I don't think we 00:02:56.110 --> 00:02:58.909 like that language. Like, testing my love? Like, 00:02:58.930 --> 00:03:02.349 test my theology, fine. Test my knowledge, fine. 00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:08.229 But test my love? That feels intrusive, offensive 00:03:08.229 --> 00:03:12.889 even, right? We prefer our love to be assumed, 00:03:12.949 --> 00:03:17.409 declared, and felt internally, not examined. 00:03:18.810 --> 00:03:23.500 But Paul isn't trying to shame Corinth. or to 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:26.879 exert authoritarian control over them, what he's 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:29.139 trying to do is he's trying to reveal something 00:03:29.139 --> 00:03:34.039 in them. So he takes them from verse eight to 00:03:34.039 --> 00:03:37.419 verse nine, where he says, for you know the grace 00:03:37.419 --> 00:03:42.330 of our Lord Jesus Christ. He redirects their 00:03:42.330 --> 00:03:45.189 focus. So in the ancient world, especially on 00:03:45.189 --> 00:03:48.930 ships and boats, ropes were very, very important 00:03:48.930 --> 00:03:51.110 to getting the job done, whether it's tying the 00:03:51.110 --> 00:03:54.610 mast or hitching things down, or even the anchor 00:03:54.610 --> 00:03:57.870 on ancient ships were made out of rope. And so 00:03:57.870 --> 00:04:00.310 rope was an important feature of being on a boat, 00:04:00.349 --> 00:04:02.909 but you had to trust the ropes. And ropes weren't 00:04:02.909 --> 00:04:05.789 trusted just because they were brand new, right 00:04:05.789 --> 00:04:09.289 off the line and clean looking. No, no, no. But 00:04:09.289 --> 00:04:12.060 before a rope, would be used to secure a sail 00:04:12.060 --> 00:04:15.099 or hitch down a load. It would be tested. And 00:04:15.099 --> 00:04:17.220 the way that they would test these ropes is they 00:04:17.220 --> 00:04:19.740 would pull them against a rope that had already 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:23.399 proven itself reliable. And by testing it against 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:25.240 a rope that had already proven itself reliable, 00:04:25.540 --> 00:04:27.660 they could look and see whether or not it could 00:04:27.660 --> 00:04:31.019 bear up under the strain just like the trusted 00:04:31.019 --> 00:04:35.180 rope. The trusted rope became a sort of standard 00:04:35.180 --> 00:04:39.199 against which other things were examined. And 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.250 before Paul, asked the church in Corinth to look 00:04:42.250 --> 00:04:45.230 at their own generosity, he asked them to first 00:04:45.230 --> 00:04:51.110 look at Christ's. Why? Well, because he will 00:04:51.110 --> 00:04:55.370 examine their love against the grace and giving 00:04:55.370 --> 00:04:59.410 of Christ. Christ will be the standard bearer. 00:04:59.470 --> 00:05:03.230 And Advent shows us what real love looks like. 00:05:04.329 --> 00:05:09.490 And in doing so, it quietly exposes our own love. 00:05:10.250 --> 00:05:12.230 And so let's look at that text really quick out 00:05:12.230 --> 00:05:15.810 of 2 Corinthians chapter 8, beginning in verse 00:05:15.810 --> 00:05:21.269 7. It says, now as you excel in everything, in 00:05:21.269 --> 00:05:25.110 faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, 00:05:25.170 --> 00:05:28.889 and in your love for us, excel also in this act 00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:32.410 of grace. I am not saying this as a command, 00:05:32.589 --> 00:05:35.430 rather by means of the diligence of others, I 00:05:35.430 --> 00:05:39.769 am testing the genuineness of your love. For 00:05:39.769 --> 00:05:41.970 you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:05:42.110 --> 00:05:45.670 Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor 00:05:45.670 --> 00:05:49.829 so that by his poverty you might become rich. 00:05:51.230 --> 00:05:56.310 This is God's word. This morning I have four 00:05:56.310 --> 00:05:59.490 fairly short points. The first one is this. We 00:05:59.490 --> 00:06:05.069 resist having our love tested. Paul says, I am 00:06:05.069 --> 00:06:08.110 testing the genuineness of your love. And I think 00:06:08.110 --> 00:06:10.939 that lands, pretty hard because most of us don't 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:14.220 think our love needs testing. We assume it's 00:06:14.220 --> 00:06:16.720 there. We feel it. We mean it. We mean well, 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:22.779 but think about it. If I said to my wife, in 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:27.259 a moment of the maximum height of sentimental 00:06:27.259 --> 00:06:29.720 feeling that I had for her, I went to her and 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:34.800 I said, baby, I love you. Imagine if she said, 00:06:35.019 --> 00:06:41.269 okay, prove it. You can imagine how you might 00:06:41.269 --> 00:06:44.029 feel in a moment like that. Maybe some of you 00:06:44.029 --> 00:06:45.509 have experienced something like that where your 00:06:45.509 --> 00:06:48.790 love was challenged and you were asked to prove 00:06:48.790 --> 00:06:53.089 your love. You see, a moment like that when someone 00:06:53.089 --> 00:06:56.149 suggests that our love should be proven, most 00:06:56.149 --> 00:07:00.290 of us would stiffen up, right? Well, it's because 00:07:00.290 --> 00:07:03.870 testing confronts the difference between who 00:07:03.870 --> 00:07:08.850 we think we are and how we actually live. It's 00:07:08.850 --> 00:07:11.769 one thing to say, I feel this way toward you 00:07:11.769 --> 00:07:16.970 because feeling and intention are all self -defined 00:07:16.970 --> 00:07:21.250 and self -verified. I felt this way towards you 00:07:21.250 --> 00:07:23.810 and I intended to do this for you. I intended 00:07:23.810 --> 00:07:25.870 to do it out of my love, but see, it's all self 00:07:25.870 --> 00:07:31.610 -defined and self -verified. But will that feeling 00:07:31.610 --> 00:07:34.149 of love stand the test of examination? That's 00:07:34.149 --> 00:07:38.300 the question. Because prove it, It means our 00:07:38.300 --> 00:07:41.100 love is now subjected to someone or something 00:07:41.100 --> 00:07:45.740 else's definition. And it's much easier to claim 00:07:45.740 --> 00:07:50.920 love than to demonstrate love. We prefer intentions 00:07:50.920 --> 00:07:56.259 over actions, words over cost, feelings over 00:07:56.259 --> 00:07:59.620 sacrifice. But scripture never lets love remain 00:07:59.620 --> 00:08:04.060 just abstract. Love in the Bible is always revealed 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:09.089 under pressure. 1 John says it this way, let 00:08:09.089 --> 00:08:13.110 us not love in word or speech, but in action 00:08:13.110 --> 00:08:20.110 and in truth. Testing doesn't create love, but 00:08:20.110 --> 00:08:24.089 it reveals the quality of it. And that's what 00:08:24.089 --> 00:08:26.410 makes us uncomfortable, that this discomfort 00:08:26.410 --> 00:08:30.189 with tested love isn't something new. We've always 00:08:30.189 --> 00:08:33.929 known that love by its very nature is risky. 00:08:35.210 --> 00:08:39.289 C .S. Lewis once put it in this way. He said, 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:43.789 love anything with your heart. Love anything 00:08:43.789 --> 00:08:46.909 and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. 00:08:47.730 --> 00:08:50.470 The only place outside of heaven where you can 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:53.149 be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love 00:08:53.149 --> 00:08:59.929 is hell. What Lewis is saying is that untested 00:08:59.929 --> 00:09:04.419 love isn't safe love. protected and unproven 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:08.240 love. And protected and unproven love is never 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:14.740 real love. You imagine a teen, maybe it's a boy 00:09:14.740 --> 00:09:19.720 who caught an eye for a gal and he loves her, 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:22.899 right? He loves her and he's overwhelmed with 00:09:22.899 --> 00:09:26.360 this feeling of love toward her. But he refuses 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:28.399 to ever talk to her out of fear of rejection. 00:09:29.659 --> 00:09:33.049 He won't. cross the room and go and say hi. He 00:09:33.049 --> 00:09:35.730 won't go and engage because he doesn't want rejection. 00:09:35.990 --> 00:09:40.590 Well, that's not love. That's maybe infatuation 00:09:40.590 --> 00:09:44.370 or maybe some sort of self -delusion, but that's 00:09:44.370 --> 00:09:50.230 not love. If love is never exposed, never stretched, 00:09:50.409 --> 00:09:53.789 never asked to give something up, it may feel 00:09:53.789 --> 00:10:01.909 sincere, but it has never taken on weight. And 00:10:01.909 --> 00:10:05.789 that's Paul's point. God doesn't test our love 00:10:05.789 --> 00:10:09.090 to destroy it. He tests it because real love 00:10:09.090 --> 00:10:12.190 always costs something and real love is always 00:10:12.190 --> 00:10:17.409 willing to pay the cost. Paul isn't questioning 00:10:17.409 --> 00:10:21.029 whether the Corinthians feel love for God. He's 00:10:21.029 --> 00:10:24.070 asking whether that love has taken on weight. 00:10:26.269 --> 00:10:32.149 Whether it moves beyond intention and into, Is 00:10:32.149 --> 00:10:35.909 there love like a ship that is still in the shipyard, 00:10:36.070 --> 00:10:39.850 still up on the stands being built, never experiencing 00:10:39.850 --> 00:10:42.009 the pressure of the water surrounding the hole? 00:10:42.389 --> 00:10:45.509 Or has it gone to sea? Has it triumphed over 00:10:45.509 --> 00:10:52.830 wind and wave, proven genuine and true? Paul's 00:10:52.830 --> 00:10:55.730 not testing their love because he doubts it. 00:10:56.590 --> 00:11:00.129 He's testing it because love that is never tested, 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:06.159 is never formed. He tests to reveal, to refine. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.620 And Advent reminds us of this because before 00:11:10.620 --> 00:11:13.860 Christ ever asked anything of us, he reveals 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:16.179 what love truly looks like. And that's where 00:11:16.179 --> 00:11:18.440 Paul takes us next. If you're taking notes, number 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:21.679 two, write down the incarnation is God's testimony 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:29.860 of love. Verse nine says, for you know the grace 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:32.679 of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:36.379 for your sake he became poor, so that by his 00:11:36.379 --> 00:11:42.779 poverty you might become rich. In other words, 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:46.159 before you examine your love, Paul says, look 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:51.960 at his. When Paul says Christ was rich, he's 00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:55.710 not talking about money. He's talking about glory. 00:11:55.950 --> 00:11:58.750 He's talking about status. He's talking about 00:11:58.750 --> 00:12:00.610 what we talked about last week in Philippians 00:12:00.610 --> 00:12:05.049 chapter two, being in the very form God, he emptied 00:12:05.049 --> 00:12:10.350 himself of the riches of heaven itself. And yet 00:12:10.350 --> 00:12:14.210 Paul says he emptied himself and became poor. 00:12:14.889 --> 00:12:18.570 He took on flesh. He embraced obscurity. He entered 00:12:18.570 --> 00:12:23.500 suffering and he walked toward the cross. This 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:27.960 isn't sentimental love. This is love demonstrated. 00:12:29.860 --> 00:12:34.159 God does not merely tell us he loves us. He proves 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:41.039 it in history. The incarnation is God's answer 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:44.100 to that question, what does real love look like? 00:12:45.179 --> 00:12:48.159 And the answer is it looks like self -giving. 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:53.820 It looks like dissent. It looks like sacrifice 00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:58.220 for the sake of another. And notice the direction 00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:01.399 of the movement. Christ doesn't give out of a 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:03.200 surplus. This is something that I was thinking 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:06.080 about this week, contemplating on after last 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:09.019 week's sermon and just meditating on this week's. 00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:13.659 That the infinite God, the God abounding in love, 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.919 no end, right? If he was to say he loves us, 00:13:17.379 --> 00:13:22.950 that's awesome, that's great. But that's a love 00:13:22.950 --> 00:13:25.549 without cost. He's the infinite God with abounding 00:13:25.549 --> 00:13:29.450 love. What does that tell us? It's hard to imagine 00:13:29.450 --> 00:13:32.049 that kind of love. So what does that God do? 00:13:32.110 --> 00:13:35.250 Instead, he says, I'm going to take my infinite 00:13:35.250 --> 00:13:39.070 attribute, who I am, the infinity of my love, 00:13:39.169 --> 00:13:43.509 and I'm going to limit it, put it within limitations 00:13:43.509 --> 00:13:49.970 in flesh, a boundary that can be met and crossed. 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:55.779 Instead of the limitless eternality of who God 00:13:55.779 --> 00:14:00.720 is. Humanity creates limits for the limitless 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:03.779 God and Jesus doesn't enter into those limits 00:14:03.779 --> 00:14:05.559 and say, you know what, I'm gonna adjust a little 00:14:05.559 --> 00:14:07.840 handicap, put a little margin in there, a little 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:11.360 me time on the sides, you know? But he pushes 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.919 all the way out to the very edge of the limits 00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:17.779 of what it means to give himself as a human to 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:25.919 the point of death. And now we can see. Now we 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:31.720 can see a love that goes all the way. He gives 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:36.279 at cost. He doesn't remain distant. He draws 00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:39.840 near. He doesn't protect his status. He lays 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:44.159 it down. This is God's answer of what does real 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:50.379 love look like. This is a love that's been tested 00:14:50.379 --> 00:14:55.240 and proven. And the results will, so that by 00:14:55.240 --> 00:15:01.220 his poverty, you might become rich. Not rich 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:06.639 in money, but rich in grace, mercy, rich in forgiveness, 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:13.879 rich in the very life of God. If we want to know 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:17.240 what love truly is, we don't look inward, we 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:22.700 look to Christ. And once we see his love clearly, 00:15:22.740 --> 00:15:25.840 we begin to understand why our own love must 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:29.779 be more than words. So number three, if you're 00:15:29.779 --> 00:15:33.779 taking notes, grace does not coerce, it forms. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:40.240 Some of you guys who are around every week, you 00:15:40.240 --> 00:15:42.100 know we're flying now. We're on number three 00:15:42.100 --> 00:15:44.460 already. You feel that? You feel that momentum? 00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:48.580 We're going places. I said four, we're on three. 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:53.279 You're going to get to lunch today. Just you 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:55.700 wait for number four. No, I was just kidding. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:16:03.100 I'm joking. Grace does not coerce. It forms. 00:16:03.980 --> 00:16:06.240 So after anchoring everything in Christ, Paul 00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:09.379 returns to the Corinthians and he says this carefully. 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:13.679 He says, I'm not commanding you. Remember, he's 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.779 talking about them fulfilling their promise to 00:16:16.779 --> 00:16:19.059 give this gift, to finish this gift of generosity 00:16:19.059 --> 00:16:21.360 to the church. And that's all frontier. And he's 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.980 saying, I'm not commanding you. And that matters. 00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:27.440 Paul has authority. He could have commanded them. 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:30.000 Hey, you said you're going to do this. Come on, 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:33.480 get it done. But he doesn't because coerced obedience 00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:39.000 is not what grace produces. Grace doesn't work 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:43.500 from the outside in. It's a really good litmus 00:16:43.500 --> 00:16:46.639 test for us, especially in a day and age of self 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:48.840 -help. Because a lot of self -help is, here's 00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:50.679 a brand new book, or here's a brand new structure, 00:16:50.820 --> 00:16:52.840 or here's a brand new system or framework that 00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:54.759 you can put on your life and improve. And as 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:56.799 long as you stay within the bounds, you're going 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:59.580 to be a better person. And so we put that framework 00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:01.480 on, and we stay within the bounds, and we go, 00:17:01.559 --> 00:17:03.299 wow, look at the grace of God. Is that working 00:17:03.299 --> 00:17:05.440 in our lives? No, that was an external, that 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:09.670 was outward in. The kind of work that the grace 00:17:09.670 --> 00:17:15.410 of God does is always inside out. At a desire 00:17:15.410 --> 00:17:21.650 level. At a will level. And that's why Paul calls 00:17:21.650 --> 00:17:26.970 generosity an act of grace. Because giving isn't 00:17:26.970 --> 00:17:29.990 a transaction. It flows out of transformation. 00:17:32.779 --> 00:17:35.359 Paul's saying you excel in everything, excel 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:40.500 also in this act of grace. In other words, if 00:17:40.500 --> 00:17:44.900 grace has truly taken root in your life, it won't 00:17:44.900 --> 00:17:49.339 stop at beliefs or words. It will reshape how 00:17:49.339 --> 00:17:55.240 you hold all your resources. How you view your 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:58.500 security, how tightly you cling to what you call 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:07.529 mine. Grace forms a new posture. Not obligation, 00:18:07.549 --> 00:18:13.329 but joy. Not pressure, but willingness. Not out 00:18:13.329 --> 00:18:17.430 of fear, but freedom. And this is where the test 00:18:17.430 --> 00:18:20.609 of love becomes an invitation. It's not prove 00:18:20.609 --> 00:18:25.670 yourself, but instead it's let grace show what 00:18:25.670 --> 00:18:30.049 it has already begun to do in you. Let grace 00:18:30.049 --> 00:18:36.680 be put on display. In your giving. Because when 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:40.039 Christ's self -giving love grips our heart, generosity 00:18:40.039 --> 00:18:43.660 cannot be hidden. It's not a burden. It's just 00:18:43.660 --> 00:18:50.940 simply a response of worship. Number four, we're 00:18:50.940 --> 00:19:02.920 there. Advent is a mirror, not a sentiment. Before 00:19:02.920 --> 00:19:08.940 Paul presses any further, it might help to name 00:19:08.940 --> 00:19:11.539 some of the tension that we actually live in 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:14.119 because we are being shaped by powerful cultural 00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:18.319 currents. Our culture doesn't tell us not to 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:21.599 love, but it does redefine or define love in 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.339 its own way. And some of what it says is that 00:19:25.339 --> 00:19:28.579 love should never cost you your sense of self. 00:19:31.549 --> 00:19:37.329 Love should never disrupt your inner peace. Love 00:19:37.329 --> 00:19:40.130 should never threaten your margins. Love expressed 00:19:40.130 --> 00:19:44.950 in giving. They might say, give, but only from 00:19:44.950 --> 00:19:51.750 excess and don't forget yourself. Care for others, 00:19:52.029 --> 00:19:56.329 but not to the point of inconvenience and don't 00:19:56.329 --> 00:20:01.160 forget yourself. Have you noticed even as we 00:20:01.160 --> 00:20:05.099 talk about generosity today, someone might say 00:20:05.099 --> 00:20:08.519 something like, I decided to give myself a little 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:13.619 gift. I decided to give myself a little gift, 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.940 which usually means I bought something that I 00:20:16.940 --> 00:20:20.380 wanted. I treated myself or I finally pulled 00:20:20.380 --> 00:20:24.140 the trigger on that thing, right? And no one 00:20:24.140 --> 00:20:27.279 finds it strange. We all know exactly what. They 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:29.660 mean, and what's interesting is how naturally 00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:33.960 we've come to describe consumption as generosity. 00:20:36.779 --> 00:20:41.299 Because if generosity is defined as out of self 00:20:41.299 --> 00:20:45.220 -giving love, how do you self -give yourself? 00:20:47.259 --> 00:20:56.519 How do you lay down yourself for yourself? We 00:20:56.519 --> 00:21:02.819 don't say, I indulged myself today. Or I prioritized 00:21:02.819 --> 00:21:08.420 my desires over every other desire. We say, I 00:21:08.420 --> 00:21:11.880 gave myself something. And it sounds generous. 00:21:13.019 --> 00:21:16.599 It even sounds justified. It certainly feels 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:19.079 justified, but that's not how Paul talks about 00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:24.619 grace. Because grace, by definition, moves away 00:21:24.619 --> 00:21:30.460 from the self. In the Advent, the coming of Christ 00:21:30.460 --> 00:21:33.279 tells us the same thing. Jesus didn't give himself 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:38.240 comfort. Jesus didn't give himself security. 00:21:39.740 --> 00:21:46.000 He didn't give himself what he deserved. Paul 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:49.500 says, though he was rich, for your sake he became 00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:54.940 poor. And that's the difference. Our cultural 00:21:54.940 --> 00:22:00.079 instinct is to give to ourselves. The gospel 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.900 says Christ gave himself away so that others 00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:10.480 might become rich. Love that is costly. Faith 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:13.759 that is embodied. Grace that reshapes what we 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:20.099 cling to. Love isn't proven by what we affirm. 00:22:21.230 --> 00:22:27.789 It's revealed by what we release. Love doesn't 00:22:27.789 --> 00:22:30.750 stay internal. It takes shape in real, concrete 00:22:30.750 --> 00:22:33.430 decisions. And listen, generosity shouldn't be 00:22:33.430 --> 00:22:38.750 reckless, but it should be risky. Advent doesn't 00:22:38.750 --> 00:22:42.089 just comfort us, it confronts us. When the grace 00:22:42.089 --> 00:22:45.329 of Christ comes into focus, it doesn't just affirm 00:22:45.329 --> 00:22:51.559 us, it reorders us. It doesn't just invite us 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:54.980 to admire Christ, but it invites us to see ourselves. 00:22:56.700 --> 00:23:00.900 Christ, the standard. See ourselves against the 00:23:00.900 --> 00:23:03.200 standard. And when that grace, the grace of Christ, 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:06.680 comes into focus, it inevitably becomes a mirror. 00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:11.579 And Paul doesn't use all the Advent language 00:23:11.579 --> 00:23:14.079 we're used to out of the Gospels, but this is 00:23:14.079 --> 00:23:17.000 exactly what he's saying. He's saying, if this 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:19.599 is what love looks like in Christ, then Advent 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:23.259 asks us this question, what does love look like 00:23:23.259 --> 00:23:28.859 in us? What does love look like in us? Not what 00:23:28.859 --> 00:23:31.980 we intend, not what we say, but what our lives 00:23:31.980 --> 00:23:38.250 reveal. Advent exposes our attachments. what 00:23:38.250 --> 00:23:41.849 we rely on for security, what we protect instinctively, 00:23:41.910 --> 00:23:47.710 what we struggle to release. And that exposure 00:23:47.710 --> 00:23:50.509 isn't meant to shame us. It's meant to free us 00:23:50.509 --> 00:23:53.990 because Christ didn't become poor to make us 00:23:53.990 --> 00:24:00.829 guilty. He became poor to make us new. And so 00:24:00.829 --> 00:24:03.930 Advent doesn't end with self -examination alone. 00:24:04.089 --> 00:24:08.250 It ends with this sort of reorientation. we begin 00:24:08.250 --> 00:24:12.690 to see that generosity isn't a seasonal virtue 00:24:12.690 --> 00:24:17.829 or a financial category even. It's so much bigger 00:24:17.829 --> 00:24:21.490 than that. I know some of you probably have thought, 00:24:21.529 --> 00:24:26.609 he's talking about money. That pastor's talking 00:24:26.609 --> 00:24:30.009 about money. I came to church and he's talking, 00:24:30.089 --> 00:24:34.140 I'm talking about generosity. Oh, it certainly 00:24:34.140 --> 00:24:36.880 includes the financial category, but it goes 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:40.660 so much further than that. You know there's a 00:24:40.660 --> 00:24:44.140 lot of stingy people in this world? There are. 00:24:44.859 --> 00:24:50.000 No. Stingy with their time. They're always too 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:55.480 busy for others. The stingy, only available when 00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:58.140 it's convenient for them. Or they've scheduled 00:24:58.140 --> 00:25:01.670 their life so tightly that any interruption feels 00:25:01.670 --> 00:25:04.869 literally like an atomic bomb blowing up, an 00:25:04.869 --> 00:25:07.890 offense. Like, how dare you interrupt my perfectly 00:25:07.890 --> 00:25:13.109 curated schedule? There's people who are stingy 00:25:13.109 --> 00:25:15.910 with attention, only half ever listening to the 00:25:15.910 --> 00:25:17.490 person who's standing in front of them talking. 00:25:20.210 --> 00:25:23.890 Always distracted, always blaming an acronym 00:25:23.890 --> 00:25:29.150 for their lack of love. Sorry if you didn't get 00:25:29.150 --> 00:25:34.619 that. Oh, I'm sorry. I lost attention there because 00:25:34.619 --> 00:25:39.099 I'm dot, dot, dot. Letter, letter, letter. Letter, 00:25:39.140 --> 00:25:45.359 letter, letter. Letter, letter, letter. It's 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:49.160 dingy because they make people feel like they're 00:25:49.160 --> 00:25:52.960 always in competition with their phone. You know 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:57.420 those people? Like I'm always competing for your 00:25:57.420 --> 00:26:03.289 attention with that thing. There are stingy people 00:26:03.289 --> 00:26:06.190 who guard their personal space rigidly and they 00:26:06.190 --> 00:26:11.190 will not let anyone into it. Home is a refuge 00:26:11.190 --> 00:26:13.410 for me to go close my door and not be around 00:26:13.410 --> 00:26:17.809 anyone. There are people who are stingy with 00:26:17.809 --> 00:26:20.529 the truth. They avoid hard conversations at all 00:26:20.529 --> 00:26:23.730 costs. They will not speak the truth honestly 00:26:23.730 --> 00:26:32.089 for their own comfort. There are fathers. who 00:26:32.089 --> 00:26:34.329 are stingy with the words, I'm proud of you. 00:26:35.670 --> 00:26:38.190 I'll say that when he does something worthwhile. 00:26:41.569 --> 00:26:43.670 There are folks who are stingy with their prayers. 00:26:44.390 --> 00:26:47.430 I'll pray for you. Does that make me look good 00:26:47.430 --> 00:26:50.809 that I said that? I'll pray for you. Does that 00:26:50.809 --> 00:26:53.950 make me more Christian and holier? I'll pray 00:26:53.950 --> 00:26:56.789 for you and then forget that I even had that 00:26:56.789 --> 00:26:58.750 conversation two seconds later and never pray. 00:27:02.420 --> 00:27:05.380 Generosity isn't just about what we give away 00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:07.759 financially, though I will say it certainly is 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:12.920 central in the grace -shaped life. But generosity 00:27:12.920 --> 00:27:16.359 is about how we hold everything God has given 00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:21.839 us. Generosity is the shape of a life formed 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:26.079 by grace. It's a life that reflects the downward 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:29.420 movement of Christ not clinging, not hoarding, 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:34.000 but open -handed. And that's why Paul places 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:36.079 this right at the center of the Christian life, 00:27:36.119 --> 00:27:38.359 right at the center of Christian discipleship 00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:42.359 is generosity here in the text in 2 Corinthians 00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:47.339 8. The grace that came down at Christmas is the 00:27:47.339 --> 00:27:50.859 same grace that now reshapes our loves as we 00:27:50.859 --> 00:27:56.019 look to his generosity. And so in conclusion, 00:27:56.319 --> 00:28:00.240 the good news of the Advent is not that we passed 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.089 the test. The good news of the advent is that 00:28:03.089 --> 00:28:09.250 Christ passed it for us, amen? Hallelujah. He 00:28:09.250 --> 00:28:13.410 did not merely intend to love us. He did not 00:28:13.410 --> 00:28:17.609 merely feel compassion toward us, but he entered 00:28:17.609 --> 00:28:20.990 our poverty. He became poor so that we might 00:28:20.990 --> 00:28:24.190 become rich, rich in mercy, rich in forgiveness, 00:28:24.390 --> 00:28:27.789 rich in the life with God, rich in generosity. 00:28:29.289 --> 00:28:37.750 Rich in hospitality. Rich in loving others. And 00:28:37.750 --> 00:28:40.049 now by that same grace, our love is no longer 00:28:40.049 --> 00:28:44.170 meant to remain theoretical. It takes on flesh.