Sermon Title: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, Kingdom Stewardship, Part 1
What we do with our resources on this earth tells us a lot about the actual condition of our heart and relationship to God.
Matthew 6:19-24 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
…Here’s the motivation and power to excel in the grace of giving generously: to know the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, in that Christ was rich in heavenly glory, and yet became poor by means of this world, in order by that his earthly ministry, those who trust him might have heavenly glory. That grace compels our own grace of giving. And the person who refuses the grace of giving, does not know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That grace of God to us in Christ compels all our love and obedience in every way to God. Every act of obedience and good work we carry out ought to done because of what God has done for us, and empowered by that same grace. If it is not, then what you have is works of the law trying to earn God’s righteousness through the flesh.
