THEY FIRST GAVE THEMSELVES

2 Cor. 8:5

Morning Meditation 7/1/16

Verse 5 says, “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”

Paul is complimenting the Churches of Macedonia for the generous gift they have given for the special offering to help the poor saints at Jerusalem. They had given during a time of what Paul calls “a great time of affliction” (verse 2). They had given out of “deep poverty” (verse 2). They had given “beyond their power” (verse 3). They had given willingly and this is brought out in the words, “Paying us with much intreaty that we should receive the gift.” So, verse five is giving the reason for their generosity. The Churches of Macedonia are being used as an example to motivate giving in Corinth. What is the reason for this generosity in the Macedonian Churches?

It is stated in the words, “First gave their own selves to the Lord.” There is something that comes before giving to others. It is giving ourselves to the Lord. The word “first” means “the first in time or place.” It is like in ball. When you make a hit, you must go to first first. You can’t skip first. There are people out there who will disqualify you if you do not observe the rules. I saw a little boy make a hit, threw down his bat and took off in a dead run to the base. The only thing is that he started running for third base. He was running the bases the wrong way. The coaches knew this was something he did not understand. But they did not bend the rules for him. He suffered the embarrassment of the laughter and the loss of the run. He had to be trained to run the bases correctly. Well, the Churches of Macedonia were running the bases right. They did first things first. They bowed their knee to the Lordship of Christ. They said, “Lord we want to give in this offering for the poor saints at Jerusalem. But when we got to thinking about giving, the first thing we thought of is that we should give ourselves to you.” Paul says this is the right way to do it. He says this is what made their giving so great.

They did this out of gratitude. No one has ever or could ever do what Jesus has done for us. On the subject of giving, he is the great example. The Bible tell us what he gave up: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Phil. 2:5-6). This means that Jesus did not feel that he was being robbed when he left heaven and came to earth to be our redeemer. This he did willingly. The Churches of Macedonia had this in mind. Their hearts were filled with gratitude as they thought on the subject of giving. So they said something like, “Lord, this offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem has brought back to our minds that we are saved and are your children because you gave. As we thought on this, we could go no further in our consideration of this offering until we had first given ourselves to you. Lord, we first offer ourselves to you for you to use anyway you want. If it is in this offering or whatever, we give ourselves to you.” Paul said this is what happened.

This they did out of a new mind-set. Repentance is not just an act that takes place at a point in time. It is a state into which we enter. It changes the way we think about the world, the flesh and the devil. Someone has said repentance is a return to the authority of the throne. Adam threw off God’s authority when he sinned in the Garden of Eden. Salvation is where we return to the authority of his Lordship. Jesus is an absolute Sovereign in his kingdom. He said, “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). So, anything you do without him is nothing. That’s not much is it? Just as Jesus did nothing without the Father (John 5:30), he says we are to do nothing without him. This is Lordship. This is a Sovereign ruling in his kingdom. He is walking in the midst of the “seven golden candlestick” in Revelation two and three. When we repented of our sin and trusted Christ for salvation, it was a return to the absolute authority God’s Throne. The very most important thing in the Christian’s life is to stay in submission to the authority of Christ.

When a Christian sins, it is because he has renounced the Lordship of Christ in a certain matter. Did Jesus allow me to do this or that? You say, “I had to do this.” As a Christian you didn’t have to do it at all. You are no longer a helpless slave of Satan. Paul says in Colossians 1:13, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” We are out from under the sovereignty of Satan and under the Sovereignty of Christ. Romans 6:14 says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” We will sin as Christians. We know this from the Scriptures (1 John 1:8) and from our own experience. What happens when we sin? We return to the throne and come back under his authority. This is what 1 John 1:9 is saying: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” To confess means “to agree with.” For a moment we disagreed with God. We did what he said we should not do. When we repented of our sins we said God was right and we were wrong. When we sinned we said, “God I disagree with you in this matter. I’m going to go ahead and do this.” When we did it, we did something without Christ. We were on our own. This is the very root of sin. It is thinking our thinking is better than God’s thinking. So we act on our disagreement with God and when we do the Bible calls it sin. Then the process of chastening begins. The first step in conviction is the feeling of the loss of fellowship. Then it proceeds with the Word of God piercing into our very souls and becoming a judge of our wrong act (Heb. 4:12). Confession is simply saying, “God you were right, I am wrong about this.” At this point we are cleansed and forgiven. This is a new mind-set that we as believers have once we come back under his Sovereign control. This new mind-set caused the Macedonian Churches to come before God and say, “Lord, before we give in this offering, we want to give ourselves anew to you. We are yours Lord. If you want to give in this offering then we offer ourselves to you as instruments through whom you can give. Lord we don’t have much (remember the little boy with the five loaves and two small fishes) but what we have is yours. We don’t own anything! So we just give ourselves.” And when they did this, God started in his multiplication business again. I won’t go into that other than say they gave beyond their power. That is miracle giving!

What they did next. They first gave them selves and then Paul says, “and unto us by the will of God.” You can never give yourself to others if you have not first given yourself to the Lord. And you can never truly give yourself to the Lord and not give yourself to others. When we give ourselves to the Lord, we are the branches, he is the Vine and the Father is the Husbandman. What comes out of our lives to be enjoyed by others is the fruit of that experience. When the offering was given to the poor saints in Jerusalem, it was a result of believers who bowed to the Sovereign Lordship of Christ, giving themselves to him, exalting him as the absolute Lord, and having him give through them. He enabled them to do what they could never have done without him. For we can do nothing without him.

So in conclusion. We first give ourselves to the Lord, then we are able to give ourselves to others. Just remember, you can’t run the bases backwards or skip first base. And Paul adds, “and unto us by the will of God.” What Paul has stated in this verse is the will of God.

May the Lord bless you.

In Christ

Bro. White