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Colin Smith: Our God he's in heaven and he does whatever he pleases. God does not owe salvation to the world. God does not have to forgive. God is absolutely under no obligation whatsoever to a sinful world. Nobody forced Jesus to come. He chose to.

Steve Hiller: This is open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith and Colin basically it sounds like you're saying God has free will.

Colin Smith: Absolutely. In fact I like to put it this way grace means that God has free will and you know what you never understand the love of God until you really grasp this truth.

Steve Hiller: What do you mean by that?

Colin Smith: Well God is under no obligation. God is in heaven he does whatever he pleases. God isn't like the government. He's not constrained by public opinion. He doesn't have to operate under laws. He's God. Nobody can say he has to send his son into the world. Nobody can say Jesus has to die on the cross, that he has to love us. He does this freely from himself spontaneously because of who he is. That's the measure of the love of God that it comes freely, unconstrained because of who he actually is. So this is a marvelous marvelous truth that God in himself freely loves us with an everlasting love.

He doesn't owe me a thing. In fact if I start talking about what I deserve, the only thing that I could possibly deserve from God is an eternity in hell itself. So thank God for his freedom to do something else that is other than what we might deserve. And when we see that it'll lead us to worship.

Steve Hiller: Well let's worship together in second Corinthians chapter eight as we continue a message entitled a generous God. Here is pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Money. I want us to see how the apostle Paul takes the gospel and applies it to the whole area of our money and of our giving. I want you to notice as we get into this then the particular circumstances in which the Holy Spirit moves the apostle Paul to write perhaps the most significant passage in the New Testament applying the gospel to the subject of money. The reason that these verses were written was that Paul was actually raising money. He was raising funds to bring relief to Christian believers in Jerusalem who had come on particularly hard times.

And if you look at second Corinthians chapter eight and verse 10, you'll see that the folks in Corinth had responded to this appeal for funds to help poor believers in Jerusalem. They responded with initial enthusiasm. But putting together the pieces here it becomes evident that after a time there was a growing reluctance. The Corinthians had promised to give generously, but they had been slow to follow through on their promise. And so in verse 11 of chapter eight Paul says now finish the work so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it according to your means.

He always ties giving to what God has first trusted to us. Verse 12 if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. Now what I want you to notice is this. How does Paul tackle the problem? That's the key thing. Let me suggest to you following the pattern that we've already seen that there are actually three ways to give money or three ways to raise money. They all have different effects and the one that you follow will have a distinct shape upon your character.

And that's true not only for individuals, but it's true for us as a church. You'll know what I'm going with this if you've been following so far. There's a guilt way of raising money and of giving money. This one basically focuses on the need. What you do is you show people an extraordinary need and having depicted the need as vividly as you possibly can, you then pull the heart strings and then you say now what are we going to do about this? And then you say now for the price of one cup of coffee you could change this.

And now everyone feels guilty about drinking a jolly cup of coffee. You appeal to conscience. You put people in a position saying boy I don't know I I suppose I really ought to do something about this. Honestly I I I've tried to think over these last months quite deeply about my own giving. And I have been able clearly to identify times when I have written a check largely out of guilt. I was moved by a need, but the truth was I just felt better when I'd written a check. And that was probably the primary motivating drive.

And you know that's okay. But Paul wants to show us something better. I want you to notice he doesn't go there when he's raising funds and asking for money. Because he doesn't want us to go there where we're giving money. There's a second way of course and you know where I'm going here. There's a pride way of either raising money or giving money. This one focuses on the opportunity. You lay out a great project and you say to people now look what we can accomplish. Look what we can do and look how you can be part of it.

And if you'll give a certain amount we'll we'll etch your name forever on a stone or we'll put your name in a a published roll of honor. And what what is that doing? You see it's working on pride. It's appealing to self-interest. Pride drives a lot of giving. And you know what every Christmas there are families that get themselves into debt for precisely this reason. And I try to speak about this in the run-up to Christmas most years hoping that a pastoral world will guide and help some of us particularly. But here's how it works.

You're in difficulties financially, but you don't want other people to know it. You want to give the impression that you are really doing very well. And because you want to give that impression perhaps even to folks who are close to you, you buy at Christmas what you cannot afford. And having given the impression you wanted to convey, you strap yourself and your family with a financial burden of debt that goes on for months into the coming year. I want to say don't do that. Because if you think about what really happening there, it's giving that's driven by pride.

And a proper grasp of the gospel will save you from doing that and from its consequences this Christmas. So there is a kind of giving that is out of guilt. And there is a kind of giving that is out of pride. I want you to see as we've seen is the pattern of the New Testament that Paul doesn't go to either of these places. He wants to introduce us to a gospel kind of giving which is focused on the person and work of Jesus Christ. I want you to notice here how the emphasis while he's raising money is not even either on the need or on the opportunity, but on the person of Jesus Christ.

Chapter eight and verse nine for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich for your sake he became poor so that through his poverty you might become rich. Or chapter nine and verse nine he has scattered his gifts to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Or chapter nine and verse 15 thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. In other words as you read the passage and I encourage you to read the whole of the two chapters because we're trying to get it into our mind and heart, the central focus is on the generosity of God.

And the point that Paul is making is simply this, you know him. You know this God of incredible grace in Jesus Christ who made himself poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. And since you know this generous God and since his spirit lives within you, you are in the process of becoming increasingly like him. The character of Jesus is being reproduced in you and guess what that includes this that God's kind of giving can be reflected in your giving as well.

Steve Hiller: What a great thought as we pause our message. You're listening to open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith and the message is called a generous God. If you want to go back and listen to this broadcast or any previous broadcast, you can do that when you visit our website that's openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again that's at openthebible.org. Back to the message here's pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Let me give to you two very simple distinguishing marks of Christ-like giving. Christ-like giving is distinguished. It is marked by freedom and by joy. Notice freedom. I want to draw your attention to chapter nine and verse seven. Paul says there each man should give what he has decided to give in his heart not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. Now notice that phrase. Paul says and it's in the very act of raising money that he says it. He says I do not want anyone to give reluctantly. I do not want anyone to give under compulsion.

It's a very important word. No one he says in the church should ever feel forced to give. Now we come from very different church backgrounds and some of you will have experienced church world that's very very different from that. Some of you will have come from backgrounds where churches set rules for giving. They ask you to commit a tithe. They say you must give 10 % of your income if you're a member here. I want you to notice that Paul doesn't do that when he's writing to the Corinthians. He could have said the Old Testament teachers tithing that means you give 10 % of your income.

But you see the problem with applying a rule to this area of life or any other area of life. What happens is if you don't do it, you're burdened by guilt. And if you do do it, you're sliding into pride. And so Paul absolutely refuses to give a rule in regard to this matter of giving. It's fascinating. Do you notice here in a verse eight he says I am not commanding you. It is a most unusual phrase for an apostle to use. He says just as you excel in faith, he says I want you to excel in giving, but I'm not commanding you.

See Paul was an apostle. All he needed to do was give an instruction and honestly these people would have followed it because he was an apostle. But he refuses to use that kind of authority. Verse 10 he says here's my advice about what's best for you in this matter. He will not make it a matter of law because gospel giving must be free. Second not only must Christ-like giving be free, but it must be marked by joy. Each man should give what he's decided in his own heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.

I'm old-fashioned enough still to be paying my bills by writing checks, at least most of them my day off is Monday. So uh I'll be doing it again. The gas bill, the electric bill, the telephone bill, the television bill. You know when the estate taxes bill comes you go how long how much is it going to be, you know. Paul will not have Christian believers giving to the work of Christ as if it were paying taxes. Don't do that he says. If that's how you feel that that's not gospel giving. Because gospel giving is not just writing one more check on the list, fulfilling one more obligation.

You say that's guilt, isn't it or pride? What he's saying to us is this that our giving if it is to reflect Christ's giving must be marked by freedom and it must be marked by joy. Giving out of guilt and pride is like writing out the checks for the bills. But gospel giving is very different. Paul says decide in your heart what you want to give and then give it with freedom and joy. For God loves a cheerful giver. Now here's the most important question. We got these two anchors in our minds. Gospel giving is not driven by guilt.

It 's not driven by pride, but it is anchored by these two principles freedom and joy, not reluctantly, not under compulsion. Why are freedom and joy the essential qualities of gospel giving? And the answer is because freedom and joy are the way God gives to us. Therefore when we give with freedom and joy we are reflecting the way in which God himself gives. And you see that takes us right to the heart of the Christmas story, which is where the apostle Paul goes with it in the verse that we know so well. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor.

Think about this. He left the riches of heaven for poverty. He left the honor of heaven for humiliation. He left the love of heaven for hatred that he experienced in this world and nobody forced him to do that. Nobody puts pressure on the son of God. Nobody in heaven was in a position to say now you're the son of God so this is your job. Nobody forces the arm of Christ. God does not have to do anything. Psalm 115 verse three our God he's in heaven and he does whatever he pleases. God does not owe salvation to the world.

God does not have to forgive. God is absolutely under no obligation whatsoever to a sinful world. Nobody forced Jesus to come. He chose to. And he chose to because of the eternal love that throbs in his heart for you and for me. And when you see the freedom of Christ coming into the world you will have a whole new level of grasp of the amazing love of God Controller for you without anyone leaning on him without any compulsion or any reluctance. The son of God who though he was rich became poor as freedom. Why did he do it?

He did it Paul says so that you through his poverty might become rich. There's the joy. Christ knows what eternal joy is. He's experienced it with the father since all eternity. But the riches of fellowship with God and the eternal joy of his fellowship do not belong to us by nature. The way in which these riches come to us is how through Christ's poverty. It is through his poverty that we become rich, which is why he chose freely to come into the world so that we may enter into his joy. Here's what that means. Through his poverty we might become rich.

What it means is this. If Jesus Christ had not come into the world if Jesus Christ had not endured the cross I would have been lost in hell forever without a hope of forgiveness or new birth or peace with God and everyone of us would be in the same position. Because eternal joy isn't ours by nature, it is through his poverty that we become rich through his birth, through his death, through his life, through his resurrection, through his ascension through his coming again in power and glory. That is how we are made rich in every blessing through Jesus Christ.

And you see that is why the angels appeared the night that Christ was born and they are celebrating with joy. Glory to God in the highest because there is good news of great joy is for all people today a savior is born to you and he is Christ the Lord. There's great joy because not millions but billions of people from every culture and every generation are going to be swept up into the eternal joy that Jesus Christ has always known. Though he was rich he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich.

And the reason you see that God loves a cheerful giver is that God is a cheerful giver. And here's the very last thing today. You notice how Paul says you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's writing to Christians. The distinguishing mark of a Christian believer is that you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for your sake became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. You know that grace. And he means by that not simply that you have some intellectual comprehension of it, but that grace has touched and changed your life.

So I end today by asking this simple question do you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you seen his kindness and his generosity? Have you been gripped by the extraordinary kindness of God in sending a savior into a world when he didn't have to. He could have made another world. Have you seen that it's through his poverty through all that Jesus endured and supremely through his cross that you have the hope of entering into everlasting joy. See when as a Christian believer you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit begins teaching you progressively just how rich you are in him.

You'll begin to think like this. You'll be saying Lord now I see that you have blessed me with every spiritual blessing in Christ and that these blessings are mine. Now I see that from the fullness of your grace I have received one blessing on top of another. Now I find within me such a gratitude that I have a genuine growing desire to reflect the goodness and kindness that you have shown to me out into the lives of others. That's how the gospel works. And that's how it touches not only your marriage and your freedom and your forgiveness and looking after the needs and interests of others, but it touches our money as well.

For a truly generous life does not flow out of guilt and it certainly doesn't flow out of pride. But it does flow out of knowing Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. And when you see the freedom and joy of his giving and its effects in your life for all eternity, you will find a new freedom and joy in desiring to be increasingly like him.

Steve Hiller: A great reminder today that in Christ we have freedom and joy and generosity flows from that. You're listening to open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith and our message is called a generous God. It's part of a larger series called the generous life. And if you want to go back and listen to this program or any previous program in our series, you can do that when you visit our website, come to openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. Again that's at openthebible.org. You can also listen if you have the open the Bible app.

The app is free. You'll find it at your app store and that's a great way to listen to pastor Colin's teaching on demand as it fits your schedule. We'll open the Bible is able to be on the station because of your generosity. So thank you for supporting open the Bible with your financial gift. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a book called what is wrong with this world. It's written by Tim Keller. And Colin why would we need this book?

Colin Smith: Well I think because diagnosis has to come before prescription. I mean you know if you went to the doctor and said I have a pain in my stomach and the doctor immediately just said oh well I'll give you these tablets, you would immediately say well wait a minute have you paused to diagnose as to what the problem actually is. And it strikes me that we have so much conversation that's going on all around us about how to put the world right. Who's asking the question what's wrong with the world? That's the question that's at the heart of this book.

And really until we've understood accurately what the core of the human problem actually is, conversation about what's going to be the answer is going to float above the realities that we're dealing with. So this book by Tim Keller it's a wonderful read. It is a thoroughly biblical examination of what is wrong with the world. And he puts it like this if we are to stand any chance of answering the question of what is wrong with the world, we must begin with sin and end with the unfailing love of God who chooses to save us from it.

I think that encapsulates something really important that every Christian wants to grasp.

Steve Hiller: Well we want to send you a copy of this book. Again it's called what is wrong with the world is our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give your gift online. Come to our website openthebible.org or call 1 877 673 6365. That's 1 877 open 365. Or again the website is openthebible.org. For pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener supported production of open the Bible.

Colin Smith: At open the Bible, we're grateful for like-minded organizations committed to sharing the gospel around the world. And to that end, I'd like to commend the work of global fingerprints. You know in the book of James, God calls us to help orphans in their distress. That's a clear command, but it's not always clear how we should obey it. And this is where global fingerprints comes in. Through global fingerprints, you can sponsor a vulnerable child to help meet their physical needs and ensure they hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to commend global fingerprints to you.

They're focused on equipping the local church to care for children. And where there is no church, they help to plant one. If you'd like to help a vulnerable child, you can find more information on global fingerprints at our website openthebible.org/gf. That's openthebible.org/gf.