Text: 2 Corinthians 8: 7-15

We are working on identity. Last week, I began a sermon series titled 25/2 and I asked the question, “Who or what defines you?”  I’m asking the same question about our congregation. If you were here last weekend, you know that the first definition was growing. If there is one word that clearly identifies Geist Christian Church it is growing. In 25 years, we’ve grown from a very small congregation without a building to a large congregation that is one church in two locations. That’s what that big 2 behind the 25 represents--one church, two locations, celebrating 25 years.

We are growing in total membership, serving over 700 families. We are growing in attendance, averaging over 1000 in worship. We are growing in our ministry to children, youth and adults. If we are to be successful in the next three years, we need to grow not just in numbers, but spiritually. We need to grow like the amazing Macedonians.

Our lesson for the sermon series comes from 2 Corinthians, specifically the 8th and 9th chapters. Paul is challenging the Corinthians to be like the amazing Macedonians. Macedonia was the location of the first churches of Europe, churches planted by Paul on his second missionary journey. They were Philippi, Thessaloniki and Berea, but in this letter to Corinth, he calls them collectively “the churches of Macedonia.”  The area was and still is very poor but what they lacked in resources they made up for in generosity. Paul asked them to participate in an offering for the financially distressed church in Jerusalem, what he called “the ministry to saints.”  Despite the Macedonian’s “severe ordeal of affliction” and “their extreme poverty”, they “have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means. (2 Corinthians 8: 3).

Paul uses the Macedonians to motivate the Corinthians. In an earlier visit, the Corinthians promised to support the offering. But for some reason, when it came time to make their gifts, they were at best meager, paling in comparison to the generosity of the Macedonians, even though Corinth was a very affluent, very successful congregation. In fact, they were the type of people that are good at just about anything that they set their minds to. They excelled “in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness….” so Paul says, “we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.” (2 Corinthians 8: 7).   

Why does a very poor church give generously while a wealthy church gives hardly at all?  It’s about identity. The Corinthians are defined by what they have, not who they are. The Macedonians on the other hand, are defined by who they are.  They are growing Christians who are giving themselves to Christ. Paul puts it this way: “they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us,” (2 Corinthians 8: 5b).  They committed their heart, mind, soul and strength to Jesus. They gave themselves first to Christ and they were growing in their relationship with the Savior. Because they had given themselves first to Christ, they were able to respond with amazing generosity. Growing Christians are generous Christians. What the Macedonians lacked in the resources they made up for in generosity.

To motivate the Corinthians to do their fair share, Paul turns to a tried and true method. He offers role models. He suggests that they follow an example. In the Greco-Roman world, most learning took place by imitating people. If you wanted to learn to be a carpenter, you worked alongside a carpenter. It’s what Jesus did with Joseph. If you wanted to be a philosopher, you modeled your life after a philosopher. Plato was the student of Socrates, then Aristotle the student of Plato.  Modeling your life after another was the way people were educated; it was also the way character and behavior was formed. Think of it as a positive form of peer pressure.  Paul encourages the Corinthians to follow the example of the Macedonians in their giving, and even more so, the example of Christ, who “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9).  This is an important theme in the early church, that Jesus humbled himself and took the form of a servant. Do you remember how it is written in Philippians? Jesus didn’t exploit his wealth in heaven “but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness…” (Philippians 2:5).  Paul is calling them to be like Jesus, to be a servant. Serving Christians are giving Christians.

Geist Christian Church is a serving church. If you are new to our community, it won’t take you long to understand that serving is woven into our identity. It’s why the second 25/2 image is serving. We serve in many ways.

We serve each other in our care ministries, offering support and encouragement during times of need and joy. Our ministers and elders make over 500 hospital calls a year. We have an active prayer ministry that seeks to care for each and every member with a need, offering intercessory prayers through prayer groups, the elders, and the ministers. Two hundred plus prayer letters and cards are written each week. Our Stephen Ministry program offers one on one service and support to those who are going through difficult times. We serve one another as a prayerful, supportive congregation.

We serve our community through a variety of small group ministries and outreach ministries. We support food banks in Indianapolis, Lawrence and Fishers. There is a community garden at the north campus that will raise fresh produce for the Fishers food bank. We have small group ministries that support the Ronald McDonald House, Dayspring Homeless Shelter and Compassion4Kids Caring center.   We just held our first successful drive to support Dress for Success and Danny’s Closet of Hope. We have an active prison ministry and are involved in Habitat for Humanity in both Marion and Hamilton County.  We serve our community.

And we serve beyond. We are a leader in mission support to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Our congregation is known as a compassionate church, recognized as a “go-to” congregation when responding to natural disasters like Katrina or the recent Haiti earthquake. We are known for following our dollars with willing workers as Geist groups go to provide reconstruction when the disaster-stricken area is ready for rebuilding. We have a heart for people, not just in this community but throughout the world.  We are defined by serving.     

How about you? Is that one of your definitions? If I’d asked you to fill out a 3 x 5 card at the beginning on worship, passed them in and then read your card during this message, would serving or servant be at the top of your definitions? Would it have even shown up on the list? Do people see you serving? Do you have a servant’s heart?

If you were here last weekend, we talked about your definition as being heavily influenced by families, both the family circumstance but even more powerfully by our family of origin.

Sometimes, it is hard to have a servant’s heart when you grow up in an environment where you are constantly served.  A mother voiced her frustration to her pastor about her grown children who were self-centered and narcissistic, spending all of their money and free time on their pleasure and meaningless pursuits.  “They never lift a hand to help someone else,” she said. “I can’t understand it; they were raised better than that.”  So the pastor couldn’t help but ask. “How were they raised?”  “I waited on them hand and foot, day in and day out from the time I brought them home from the hospital until the day they left home. They saw how I slaved over them.” “With all due respect,” the pastor said, “you shouldn’t be surprised. “You raised them to be served, not to serve.” [1]

Were you raised to be served, or to serve? When it comes to your identity, are you a donor or a donee?  Are you a giver or a taker?  What about in relation to your faith? When you are here on Saturday or Sunday, are you looking to serve God, or be served by God?  It’s important to find a church that meets a spiritual need – that’s how we all got here. But we can’t only be here to be filled and satisfied, to use the church solely to be fed. 

It’s actually something of a prevailing view, a misunderstanding of church.  I call it the health club mentality of church. There are lots of health clubs in our community and some of you belong to them. Some of you belong to the Y, either in Fishers or at Fort Ben. I know we have members who’ve worked out at Lifetime Fitness for a long time and some of you just joined LA Fitness, that big facility that opened up halfway between our campuses. I belong to Geist Fitness and I think a third of the Geist Fitness membership is made of members of our congregation. And another third of Geist Fitness is made up of people who used to be members of our church! 

When you join a gym, you pay your fee and use the club in order to invest in your personal fitness and health. You are there to keep your heart strong and to get in shape. While it’s nice to see someone you know, a fitness center is a tool for individuals.

“The church is not a spiritual fitness center. The church is not a tool. The church is a body. It is the body. It is Christ’s body.”[2] And we are called to serve the Body of Christ because Christ, “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Serving Christians are giving Christians.

Last weekend, we launched a new capital campaign to sustain our congregation, to protect our capital assets and build capital by reducing our debt.  Three years ago, we had truly sacrificial giving to expand our south campus with a choir rehearsal suite and the ALTARed worship center and to become one church in two locations with a second campus in Fishers. But something happened along the way, between the 3.1 million we received in pledges and the 2 million we received in actual dollars toward those pledges. The economy happened. People who had made pledges expecting to pay them from their year-end bonuses didn’t get those bonuses. People who expected to stay employed lost their jobs. People who had planned generous stock gifts saw their stock values, and their giving capacity, drop sharply. It was no one’s fault – we built based on what people had generously promised in their pledges, but the global financial crisis intervened. So now we are playing catch-up. Now, to continue serving, to serve one another, to serve our community and to serve the world that so much needs our compassion and care, we are asking you to make new three -year commitments, over and above your weekly offering.

Some of you have asked why the church needs this now. That’s not the right question, because it’s not “we” who need – it’s the people we serve. The people who need Christ’s touch, in our congregation, our community and around the world, they are the ones who need us to be as strong as we can possibly be. They need us to be unencumbered and free to serve. We are building up our fitness and our capacity not because we want to look better, but because we want to serve better. The world needs us, God needs us, to be as strong as we can. We are God’s body in the world and He needs our strength to do the work He has called us to do. We have been blessed with an amazing gift of service. You are invited to prayerfully consider how you can participate in making us strong enough to serve those whom God has entrusted to us.

Like the church in Corinth, we must finish what we started.  Or as Paul put it, “it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something— now finish doing it.” (2 Corinthians 8: 10-11a.)  Actually, many of you haven’t started. More than half of the congregation doesn’t have commitments to our building fund. The biggest reason is, many of you weren’t around 3 years ago. Now is your chance to get on board. To sustain our ministry, to continue to serve well, we invite your support. This week, packets of information will be sent to you. I ask that you prayerfully consider the material and like the apostle Paul, “… as you excel in everything….excel also in this generous undertaking.”