When asked about who are the best presidents in U.S. history, people usually respond with, Geroge Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, Theodore Rosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson. Where I couldn’t disagree with some of those, one of my favorites is Calvin Coolidge. Collage was the 30th president, and he served one term in the 1920s, which ended about four months before the 1929 market crash.
Now it’s because of the market crash that a lot of people sneer at Coolidge, thinking it was his fault. I don’t buy that, because, back in 2002, it was a member of the Federal Reserve that came out and took responsibility for the ’29 crash.
Coolidge’s tenure as president was actually one of the most prosperous times in American history. It was also one of the few modern times that the federal budget was actually balanced, and the debt had shrunk from almost 24 billion, to just over 17 billion. The reason for this was because Coolidge believed that the president shouldn’t do anything to increase the burden on people, and that the federal government should keep itself as much out of American’s way, so that it may prosper. So he didn’t sign a lot of laws, yet worked all the time.
At the end of his first term, he decided to step down, even though he was extremely popular. The reason he did this is because, he didn’t believe that a man should wield so much power as the president did. It’s ironic then that two presidents later, FDR, would be elected three times.
What makes Coolidge one of my favorite presidents, is he had a character that we would all love to see in a leader. He didn’t have a lot to say, but when he said something, it was meaningful. He didn’t horde political power, or try to impose his position on people to gain wealth, instead he viewed his role as one of caretaker and a true civil servant.
Right now in our political world, one of the things that both sides attack the other’s candidate on, is their character. And both sides do have at least some ground to stand on in that case. And the reason why they attack character, is because it’s one thing that we all know a leader should have good character, and if they even have a small deficiency in that area, it is amplified because of the power they could yield as president. Coolidge is one of the few presidents who’s character was so important to the man, that he would rather give up his power to persevere his character, than to mar it by holding onto the presidency.
It’s the idea of character that brings us back to our summer series in the book of 2nd Corinthians, where we’ll be picking it back up in the middle of chapter 8, starting with verse 16. And as we open up to 2nd Corinthians 8:16, let’s look at where we were to get us to this point.
In the first two-thirds of the second section of this letter to the Corinthians, we saw that, as believers, we are called to please God, knowing we’re breakable, handling God’s word correctly, possessing all things in Jesus without obstacles, unrestricted through repentance. All this was written that the Corinthians and every disciple of Jesus, would learn to move forward in their relationship with Christ.
To put this first two-thirds into perspective, when Jesus was asked what the greatest command was in Mark 12, he responded with, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (v.30)” This is what Paul is talking about in the first two-thirds of this second section. This is how we love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength.
But to Jesus’ response, he also added, “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (v.31a)’” It’s this second command, or love, that we began to see Paul deal with last week. He did this using the example of a collection that the Corinthians were taking up on behalf of the Jerusalem Church. Paul uses giving, to help us understand how to love both God and each other.
Yet, we can’t just think that the act of giving is what God desires. No, instead we have to understand the purpose behind giving. If we don’t understand the underlying issues, then giving becomes religious work, that then becomes meaningless ritual that God rejects. So last week we began seeing how there are three parts to giving. What we covered last week, was the theological aspect of giving, which is rooted in God’s love for us, through the work of Jesus’ incarnation. When we understand the height from which Jesus descend to us, then we can understand the reasons for the response of giving.
When we understand that it’s because of what Jesus gave to bring us into a right relationship with him, then we can move on to the next aspect, which is the character of a person who gives.
Let’s read how Paul presents this idea, as we open up to 2nd Corinthians 8:16.
8:16-24
“16 But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. 17 For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord. 18 With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. 19 And not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us, for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will. 20 We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us, 21 for we aim at what is honorable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man. 22 And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. 24 So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.
9:1-5
“Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.”
In verse 16-24 of chapter 8, Paul informs the Corinthians that he is sending three people to prepare the collection. Two of these men are unnamed and because of that we don’t know who they are. One of these unnamed men is a greater preacher, and the other is someone that Paul has tested and found in right standing. The third and named person is Titus. Remember a few verses before this, Titus wasn’t to sure of the Corinthians’ response to Paul’s third lost letter. Yet at the Corinthians’ repentance, Titus came away with a new love for the people. So now, it’s Titus that is eagerly wanting to be the one that returns for this work.
Through the descriptions of these three men, Paul is showing their character. These are people who have been tested by the work of the Gospel, and who have proven themselves of good character and faith.
It’s then that Paul turns his attention to the Corinthians. He boasts about them and their zeal and readiness for this collection. This is one area they take pride in themselves because they are a wealthy bunch. However, Paul includes a subtle warning in verse 3 of chapter 9, “…so that you may be ready…,” and in verse 4, “…we would be humiliated…” Though the Corinthians have the money, they need to actual fulfill their commitment. This is their testing, this is their call to action.
See in the first part, Paul is talking about the character of those who have been tested, now Paul’s talking to the Corinthians telling them, this is your character being tested. Are they going to be known for good character, in their faithfulness and in their pursuit of God, or not.
It’s the faithfulness, the character of a believer who fulfills the call of God, that is important. The gift helps, the giving helps, doing good is good, but that doesn’t matter as much as the character of the person who is faithful to Jesus.
When talking about giving, the story of the widow’s mite is usually brought up, and for good reason. The story is found in Luke 21:1-4. The Gospel reads, “Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, 'Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’” There’s more to this story and it’s placement within the greater context of Luke’s Gospel than we have time for right now, so we’re only going to focus on these four verses, with just mentioning what came before them.
So Jesus is in the temple and as he is finishing up a teaching on being aware of how the scribes are devouring the property of widows in Israel, a widow walks up to give her offering to the Lord. Now Jesus might have seen this woman in line and that’s what sparked his initial warning about the scribes, but it’s her action that elevates her to be an example of character and faithfulness.
The widow was obviously poor, that means that her appearance, clothes, body posture, face, all showed that she didn’t have any wealth. She might not have been clean and she might have smelled. However that is, she was noticeable poor. Then she takes out to copper coins, which to us would equal about 2/8 of one modern penny in her hand, an 1/8 each. She then proceeds to place the two coins in the offering box. The implication of this is, that the scribes took everything from this woman, yet in her character, she is faithful to God because she knows God is faithful to her.
It’s here the Jesus shames every wealthy person around him. The widow, in her faithful character, is greater, because she gives out of what she doesn’t, while all the rest give out of what they have. The amount is shown to mean something because, the character is what’s important. The wealthy who were giving that day, were not giving from a character of faithfulness, they were giving out of a religious duty. The widow was giving, not out of religious duty, but out of a desire to be faithful to God. And it cost her, her last penny.
Counting the cost is a huge theme in the Gospel of Luke, this widow counted the cost and faithfully gave.
And this is the point, God desires the character of the person to be given over to him first, rather than an amount of possessions. This is why when the rich younger ruler comes to Jesus, the Lord tells him to give everything away and follow, yet the man turns away from Jesus, because his character was one of self-centeredness. The amount wasn’t the point to Jesus, it was the following that mattered, but to the young man, the amount was the point, and it was too much. The widow in fact did give everything to God, to the point where she had nothing left.
This is what God is calling from us. He is calling us to faithful character. Giving is just an extension of that character in physical means. This is why Jesus said this Matthew 6:19-21, “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.” God wants our heart, giving shows what the character of that heart is. Is it with Jesus, or with the money?
This is why at this church we try to avoid asking for money. We try to avoid making that the reason for all that we do. We error on the side of not asking rather than on the side of asking, because we want you to grow in your walk, that the character of your heart would align more with Jesus all the time, and that giving would then be an extension of that. Which is where Paul is trying to get the Corinthians to go. It is the finally step that comes out of character that we’ll talk about next week.
So my challenge for this week is this, to memorize Matthew 6:21 like this, “For where my treasure is, there my heart will be also.” Inserting yourself into the text, as if Jesus were saying it directly to you. And then say the verse anytime you deal with money this week.
Once you say the verse, I want to then challenge you to follow it up with, “Jesus, make my heart be with you.”
Let us be a people who’s heart’s are with Jesus, that our character is faithfully with him, and that no matter what he calls us to give, both physically and spiritually, we would be ready to give to our last. Amen.
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