Thomas J Parlette
“Paul’s Oxymoron”
2nd Corinthians 8: 7-15
6/27/21
I’m sure most of you have heard of an oxymoron. It’s a Greek word that means “pointedly foolish.” You make an oxymoron when you put two words together that are complete opposites. They contradict each other. Some classic oxymorons include; “clearly confused,” “act naturally,” “open secret,” “jumbo shrimp.”(1)
What’s even better than on oxymoron phrase is an oxymoron statement. Artist Andy Warhol was famous for the statement, “I am a deeply superficial person.” Samuel Goldwyn, the famous movie producer, was also famous for his totally contradictory statements. He would say things like, “Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day,” or “Gentlemen, I want you to know that I am not always right, but I am never wrong.” And one of my favorite oxymoron statements comes from the singer Dolly Parton, who once said, “You’d be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap.”(2)
I wonder if Paul chuckled a little bit when he wrote these words to the Corinthians in this passage for today. He wants to tell the believers in Corinth about the incredible work God was doing in the Macedonian church. So Paul starts this chapter by saying “for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity.” Sounds a bit like an oxymoron. The Macedonian believers were undergoing a severe trial yet experiencing overflowing joy. And even though they lived in extreme poverty, their joy resulted in rich generosity toward other believers who were in need. How often do severe trials and extreme poverty go hand in hand with overflowing joy and rich generosity? Sounds a bit like Paul is creating his own oxymoron statement here.
Let’s put it in the form of a word problem: Severe trials + extreme poverty = what? It equals overflowing joy and rich generosity. Still, kind hard to swallow. What did the Macedonian believers know that we don’t?
Rev. Gary Waddingham, former rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Billings, Montana, tells of serving years ago in a rural community. One Christmas, the church had a lot of food left over after they had packed their annual Christmas baskets. Rev. Waddingham thought he would deliver the extra food to a poor family nearby. But as he drove to their house, he began thinking about how to preserve the dignity of the family to whom he would offer the food.
He arrived at the family’s house, and the mother opened the door. Her children were gathered all around her. Rev. Waddingham explained the situation and asked, “Do you know anyone who could use some extra food? – fully expecting her to accept the offer herself.
But to his surprise, the woman said, “You bet”, and she grabbed her coat and headed to the Rev’s. car. “Come on, I’ll take you there.” And off they went to deliver food to another needy family in town. She didn’t hesitate to help out. In spite of her own poverty, she had a generous spirit and found joy in giving to a family with an even greater need.(3)
In 1847, during the Great Famine in Ireland, the Choctaw tribe here in the U.S. raised $147 (which would be equivalent to $5,000 today) and sent it to Ireland. The Choctaw tribe certainly wasn’t rich back then – but they were generous anyway. They saw others in need, and they sacrificed what they could to help.
In 2020, in response to COVID-19 deaths in the Navajo Nation, the Choctaw and Hopi tribes set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for clean water and medical supplies for Native Americans. Donations to the fund “flooded in” from the people of Ireland. One Irish donor wrote on the GoFundMe page, “Returning your kindness 170 years and 4,000 miles later.”(4)
So, if generosity doesn’t depend on resources, what does it depend on? And why do we keep using the excuse that once we have more money, then we will give more to the work of God?
In our scripture passage from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, Paul praises the generosity of the church in Macedonia. He uses their giving as an example to challenge the church at Corinth. It’s a pretty slick and subtle move by Paul. He says gently to the Corinthians, “But since you excel in everything- in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” You all are so good at everything – I’m sure you will excel at this too. Pretty sneaky, Paul.
Then Paul adds, “I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it to the earnestness of other.” I’m not ordering you to do this, Paul says. But he is hoping that they will see that giving is a natural extension of Christian devotion. Giving is an expression of our love for God. In Paul’s terms, it is a test of the sincerity of our love for God. There are a few reasons why generous giving is critical to the devotional life of a Christian.
One reason is the seductive nature of wealth. There is something a bit dangerous about money – the more you have, the harder it is to share.
A Gallup poll sometime back confirmed what many of us have observed for years. Donations to charity decrease as income increases. The survey found that low- and moderate-income Americans, especially churchgoers, are more generous than upper-income Americans.
It’s not true for everyone, though. Pastor Brian Kluth tells about a friend of his named Don. Don is a wealthy businessman who gives generously to those in need. When Brian asked Don about his giving, Don responded, “It helps me slay the dragon.” He went on to explain that our greatest temptation is to believe that our happiness or identity can be found in buying newer, better stuff. He pictures materialism as a dragon that he has to fight against every day. And the only way to fight the dragon is to be a “faithful and generous giver.” Every time he wrote a check to fund the work of the church, it was like wielding a sword to slay the dragon.(5)
Country music star Ricky Skaggs and his wife believe strongly in tithing 10% of their income to the church and charities. As he says, “If I believe anything about the Bible, I have to know that God wants my money because God knows my money wants me. God doesn’t need my money, but God wants whatever I want more than God.”(6)
God doesn’t need the money, but God wants whatever we want more than God. Giving generously helps us to slay the dragon of materialism, of pride, of greed, or self-centeredness that stands between us and finding our true happiness and identity in God.
John Wesley, the preacher who created the framework of the Methodist church, used four criteria for measuring any purchase. Before spending any money, he would ask himself:
- “Am I acting as a steward of the Lord’s goods?
- Am I making this purchase in obedience to the Word of God?
- Can I offer up this expense as a sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ?
- Do I have reason to believe that this purchase will bring me a reward at the resurrection of the just?”(7)
Pretty tough questions. I admit, I can’t pass all those on most of my purchases. When I buy gas and some corn muffins at Kwik-Trip, I’m not sure I can offer that up as a sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ. I need gas to go places, and I like to have a corn muffin with chili sometimes. But Wesley’s questions are a good reminder that the dragon of Materialism is getting larger and larger in our society’s value system. It’s not easy to live by God’s value system in a society that values image and appearance and status symbols. It should work the other way around. It should get easier to give as our wealth increases, but it usually doesn’t. There is something about money that hardens us. No wonder Jesus talked more about money than any other topic.
So you see, giving is a spiritual question. Another reason generous giving is critical to the devotional life of a Christian has to do with the wonderful things that money can do. Regardless of our circumstances, we have to admit that there are some things that only money can buy. Like braces for you children’s teeth and a good education. Like quality healthcare and a worry-free retirement. Like dependable transportation and a warm house on a cold night. In a society such as ours, money is a very valuable commodity.
British pastor Charles Spurgeon was one of the most famous and influential preachers of the late 1800’s. In addition to his church ministry, Spurgeon founded an orphanage in London. He preached a special service once each year to raise money for the orphans. One year at this special service, a man approached Spurgeon and accusingly, “Why, Mr. Spurgeon, I thought you preached for souls and not for money!”
To which Spurgeon replied, “Normally I do preach for souls and not for money. But my orphans can’t eat souls and if they did, my brother, it would take at least four the size of yours to give one of them a square meal!”(8)
Our giving is a spiritual matter simply because there are some things in this world only money can do. It takes money to help the homeless and feed the hungry. It takes money to provide clean water and warm blankets. It takes money to provide counselors to young people in runaway shelters. It takes money to provide a place of worship to draw our eyes and hearts up to experience God.
Giving is a spiritual matter because of the seductive nature of wealth. It is a spiritual matter because there are some things only money can do. And finally, giving is a spiritual matter be we worship a giving God. Paul says, “For we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” Jesus gave up everything he had and took on human form to show us the unlimited, overwhelming riches of God’s love for us. We worship a giving God and our God says to us there is only one way that we can become truly rich. That is by giving – all we have and all we are.
Christian author Randy Alcorn writes, “Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive, but he never says why. Here is my own why behind his statement. When you give, two people are blessed by ‘your’ money – you and the recipient. Keeping blesses one – giving blesses two. People never discover the second blessing until they actually do it, and I have learned the more they do it, the more addictive giving becomes.”(9)
God is love, and out of that overflowing love, God is continually giving good gifts – blessings – to us. And God wants us to share in the joy of giving by giving generously to others. Love is the true sword that slays the dragons of materialism, greed, pride and self-centeredness. Love sets us free to be a blessing to others. We think more money will set us free, but that is rarely the answer. Love for God and trust in God’s blessings set us free to be a blessing to the world. That’s the answer to our word problem from the beginning of this meditation – Severe trials + Extreme poverty + Love for God + Overflowing joy and rich generosity. It’s sounds like an oxymoron – but it is the truth.
Paul said to the Corinthians that they were doing great in every area except one. If they really wanted to excel – if they wanted to know what rich really is – they would need to learn to give.
When you keep what you have, only you experience a blessing. When you give what you have, the blessing is multiplied and the joy overflows. Do want to experience the richness of life? Generous giving to the work of God is the best way to experience how rich life can be.
May God, the giver of all good gifts, be praised.
Amen.
1. Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVII, No. 2, p43.
2. Ibid… p43,
3. Ibid…. p43.
4. Ibid… p43-44.
5. Ibid… p44.
6. Ibid… p44.
7. Ibid… p44.
8. Ibid… p45.
9. Ibid… p45.
