HIS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT!

2 Corinthians 8-9

Key Verse 9:15 

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Not all gifts are indescribable. If I give you a gift, like a cup of water, that gift is very much describable. But it is not so with the gift Paul is talking about, and by this gift the Apostle might have meant Jesus Christ and [the gift of] the Holy Spirit.  This observation indicates that all who believe in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior are given this indescribable gift, so that a believer is in a position to be filled with the Spirit of thanksgiving.

Once upon a time, while the Apostle Paul was preaching at a church building until after midnight, a young man who was seated on a window sill on the second floor dozed off and fell out of the window. The people went down and took a look at him, and said, "Oh, my God. He is dead." The Apostle Paul went down, took a look at him and found that he is not dead but still asleep. So he said, "He is not dead; he is alive!" In today’s passage the Apostle Paul found the members of the church at Corinth in a similar situation. The Corinthians were all believers. They were children of God. As God's children they were supposed to be filled with the spirit of thanksgiving. But it turned out that they became like a dead man, just like the young man. Out of a broken shepherd's heart, in two epistles, now known as first and second Corinthians, especially in the two chapters for today, he gave them a special Bible study on the thanksgiving. In order to help them to come back to life and function as normal children of God. Let us come to the passage and see how the bible study proceeded. 

First, the problem [of the members of the church of Corinth].

The Apostle Paul wrote many epistles, arguably 14 of them. He wrote them in an attempt to resolve the problems that existed in the churches the Lord enabled him to pioneer. In a way the churches he pioneered were like his own children. Of all the churches he served, the church of Corinth troubled him the most. 

The Bible says, "If you are in the Lord, you are a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come." Yet, why is it that the believers in the church of Corinth remained problematic? 

Most likely it was because they were still worldly. The world made its way so deep into the constitution of their lives that they did not bear good fruit, such as joy and thanksgiving. 

In Roman times the city of Corinth was notorious as a place of wealth and indulgence, so that "to live as a Corinthian," meant to live in luxury and immorality. As a seaport it was a meeting place of all nationalities and it offered all of the attendant vices. The temple of Aphrodite on Acrocorinth was unique in Greece. Its priestesses were more than a thousand hierodouloi 'sacred slaves' who engaged in prostitution. At its height it probably had a population of 200,000 free men and 500,000 slaves! It is very likely that a lot of them (even some of the priestesses, along with slaves) made their ways into the church earning church membership, even filling important positions. 

No wonder that the church of Corinth was infested with all sorts of evil such as debauchery, mutual lawsuit, forming factions, orgies, sexual sins such as incest, the examples of which are rare even among unbelievers. 

One of the greater signs that they were overcome by the world was their lack of respect for God’s servants, for some of them called the Apostle Paul a 'crafty fellow' saying, “This guy tries to catch us by 'trickery'”. They also looked down on Paul saying, “His letter sounds impressive, but his speech is weak.” No wonder that they lost the spirit of thanksgiving. Because the world made its way into their lives, they came to be filled with the unclean spirits of the world. Although they were called "believers" and therefore the Apostle Paul still bothered to call them 'saints', they remained very much deceived, defeated, depraved, and spiritually dead. 

It is then very interesting to note that they were materially wealthy and yet spiritually remained poor. When Jesus came he said, "Spirit gives life, but flesh counts for nothing." The Corinthians became so poor that they have nothing to give thanks to God for. Even if one is poor materially, with no money in his pocket, when his spirit is richly anointed, he can sing for joy. With songs of praise he or she can praise His name with music and dance. So regardless of circumstances, his mouth will be filled with songs of praise. But it was the opposite with the Corinthians.

 

Second, the remedy

What then is the remedy? In the passage for today, especially in Chapter 8 and in the first part of Chapter 9 (1-5), the Apostle Paul comes up with the remedy. We can divide the passage in to two parts – 1) the principle of thanksgiving; and 2) the practice of thanksgiving.

1) Principle (8:1-5)

When one is sick, the way to help him out is to ask him to go see a doctor 

In the passage, the Apostle Paul saw the same thing with the Corinthians. So what did he ask them to do? Let us read vs. 1-5. Pay special attention to v. 5, "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." The remedy is to give yourself first to the Lord, then to the servants of God such as the Apostle Paul. "They gave themselves first to the Lord." This expression shows both the cause of the problem and the solution to the problem. The cause is that they did not give themselves to the Lord. They came to the church. They listened to the messages. They participated in the programs such as prayer meetings, eating fellowships, communion services etc.. They also must have given their time and maybe some of their possessions. But they reserved to themselves what is the most important: themselves. The result? They still remained sick. If you go to a hospital, you need to keep yourself at the doctor's disposal. You know one of the reasons why I hate to go to a hospital is that I hate to be told to do this or that. The nurse comes out, asks you to sit down there, or here, stand here or there. When they ask you open your mouth you need to open. Once you are at the x-ray lab, the x-ray lady keeps control on you: she says stand up, you stand up. Breathe and hold your breath you breathe up. She says "Don't breathe out", you do not breathe out. But that is a good thing. Otherwise, they cannot come up with correct diagnosis and treatment. Yet, the Corinthians still retained themselves. They kept their sinful self all to themselves. But it was not so with the Macedonians. Since they gave themselves to the Lord and to the servants of the Lord, the Lord, the divine healer, healed them up. The Lord siphoned out all the worldly waters. The Lord rinsed them of unclean waters of the world and filled them with His Spirit. So they became a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come. They became so joyful, that in appreciation of the joy of salvation and the brand new life in the Lord, they joyfully and sacrificially participated in the act of giving. And they did this out of extreme poverty. 

So today here is a question for you: are you truly joyful? Are you really ready to say, "Happy thanksgiving"? If you do not feel like giving thanks to God as fully as you ought, just think about what happened to the Macedonians vs. the Corinthians. Remember: Materially speaking, the Macedonians were very poor, yet they were filled with the Spirit of thanksgiving; conversely, the Corinthians were wealthy; they were sleek, and fat. But they were very unhappy. They felt grumpy. They were filled with bitterness. Why? It was because they did not turn themselves over to the Lord. The Lord is not in need of you. Rather it is you who is in need of the Lord. The Lord does not want you to turn you over to him because he is in a needy condition. Rather, he wants you to turn you over to him for he wants to heal you up, inside out! He is going to fill you with the Spirit of thanks and praise!

2) Practice (8:6-9:5)

One of the cardinal principles in terms of the way Jesus helps his children is that he wants his children to come to him, and learn of him, not for him to run the lives of his children, but to help his children to run their own lives, all according to Jesus' blessed precepts, and thereby they themselves can grow strong, bearing good fruit, first to the glory of God then to the complete joy of their children. Repeat: Jesus wants you to turn your life over to him, not for him to run our life. He never runs anyone's life. He lets you run your own life. The Apostle Paul explained this concept when he said in 1 Thessalonians 4:11, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you," 

Now in regard to the way of thanksgiving, the way to practically experience in our life the spirit of thanksgiving is to practice the life of giving. The Bible says God is love. And as the Bible teaches, love is not just a fuzzy feeling; it is an action, particularly, giving, especially money which we call offering, for as we say, "Money talks." 

For this reason in 2Co 8:6-9:5, we see the Apostle Paul helping the Corinthians to practice the life of giving, taking baby steps, then striding in giving, as seen in the following expressions:

* Just as you excel in everything (like in speech), excel in [the grace of] giving (8:8); 

* Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means (8:11);

* show these men the proof of your love (8:24);

* finish the arrangements for the generous gifts you had promised (9:5)

These statements indicate that the Corinthians had the desire to give sacrificially. But they were unable to do so. They were like a man wanting to go out and play basketball just like Kobe Bryant. But if you asked Kobe, he will certainly say that he was not a born basketball player. 

So is the case with the spirit of giving. Since they have the image of God, the Corinthians wanted to live a life that gives and gives more. But since they were so steeped in the habit of hoarding things up only for themselves, although their inner persons became as stinky as a septic tank, still they were not able to keep the pledge they originally made to give due to the old habit which dies hard. So what is the solution? Practice giving, beginning with what is small. At first their hands of giving might be trembling: "Urrrg! This is my money. Why does the Apostle Paul urge me to give my money? Urrrh, I hate to give." Again, the old habit of the desire to receive and receive and receive, never giving, dies hard. So in the business of reaching the perfection in the spirit of giving, there is no king's way: practice, practice, and practice. 

Third, the fruit. 

How then will the Lord bless those who keep giving? Let us read 9:6-15. We can categorize the good fruit the spirit of thanksgiving helps us to bear in three categories:

The rate of return will be the rate of reaping coming out of sowing (9:6). According to the key verse the gift of this grace of giving is “indescribable.” One of the meanings of the word “indescribable” is in the area of the rate of return, that is, indescribably great. Imagine one seed falling to the ground, and out of it comes out an apple tree which in turn produces millions of apples. The process can continue on, so the rate of return is millions times millions times millions, and in this way the process continues, until finally one can say, “It is impossible to grasp the bigness of the outcome.” This principle of sowing vs. reaping is the key to one becoming abundant in all things (9:8).

The duration of the return: Quoting the Old Testament Scriptures (Psalm 112:3,9), it is said,  “his righteousness endures forever.” The expression ‘righteousness’ refers to the fruit of the investment (giving as an act of righteousness), which lasts forever. This expression alludes to the truth that giving to the needy is the key to building a lasting security of life. The security lasts forever because the giving done while on this side of the grave is harvested in the next life to come, so that when one comes back to life in a perfected world, he will find that the act of giving while in a mortal body is going to pay him off for good. Jesus explained this concept when he said, “Store up your treasures in heaven where moss and rust do not destroy” (Matthew 6:20).

The joy of thanksgiving will spread throughout the community of believers and thereby strengthen the body of Christ. (9:10-14) “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. (12-14) Believers (in all different corners of the world such as Corinth of Achaia, or Jerusalem) are all members of the body of Christ. All believers in all generations sojourning in all different places are all the members of one body of Jesus Christ. We are to spend eternity in the context of the same family. So it is critical to build this body, and willing and sacrificial giving with many thanks builds this body, making the members of the body go deep in love.

In conclusion, let us read v. 15 again. “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” On this Thanksgiving Day, we thank God for the opportunity to delve into the indescribable gift of giving. As we accept our Lord Jesus as the source of thanksgiving, and as we keep sharing his love, and the grace of giving, the Lord will surely help us to personally experience the blessedness of the life of giving, so our day to day life while on earth would be filled with the joy of thanksgiving. 

One word: the wonder of the thanksgiving

 In the Greek concordance (KJV, New Testaments) the word ‘gift’ (“Dorea” in Greek) as used in 2 Corinthians 8:9 is repeated 11 times including John 4:10 where Jesus used the word ‘gift’ to describe himself (and the Holy Spirit called  the “living water”).

 Zondervan’s Pictorial Dictionary