Shameless Plug

Passage: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

The Apostle Paul is not known for his subtlety. In his letters to various churches he is confrontational and blunt about all kinds of issues: church order, marriage, sexual ethics and tepid faith. Paul is as honest about his own needs and struggles as he is about his churches’ problems. In 2 Corinthians 9 he exhorts his church to give. This is a practice that is, apparently, as old as the church, and has always rubbed people the wrong way. “I don’t go to church anymore because I’m tired of getting hit up for money”; “All those televangelists want to do is line their own pockets.” It’s easy to be cynical about the shameless plugs religious types make in order to fill the coffers. And it would be easy to dismiss Paul’s plug in 2 Corinthians as more of the same.

We’re remiss to do so. Paul’s appeal to the Corinthian church is about much more than helping a sister church in need. It’s about more than just funding a ministry or a pastor’s salary. What Paul highlights is the fact that giving is an essential ethic of the Christian life. It’s a response not primarily to a pressing practical need, but an appropriate response to God’s abundant generosity. Paul tells his church that they’ve all been the recipients of an invaluable gift. Paul reminds his church that their needs will always be met by their generous God. In response, says Paul, it makes sense to share of the overabundance we’ve all received from God. Using the metaphor of planting and harvesting, Paul argues that the more his church gives, the more they’ll get. It’s apparent that the return to which Paul refers here isn’t primarily financial. This isn’t some supernatural investment scheme. Paul and his church are invested not in their own 401K’s, but in the Kingdom of God. The fruit of their labors is the mission of the church – a world transformed, one person at a time, by the love of Jesus Christ. This, says Paul, is what you’re investing in. You can never invest too much.