The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 209

Vil. 'fHEY GAVE THEMSELVES AS WET,L AB TltEm MONETJ,RY CONTRIDUTION. (Ver. 5.) 1. To the Lord. They solemnly dedicated themselves and their belongings to the Most High. ''l'l\·as easy for them to su1Tender a pBrt when they had surrendered the whole. We give haltingly because we do not believe the Scripture which snith, "Ye are not your own." Our gifts cannot be acceptable to God if we withhold our- selves or parts of ourselves. 2. To the apostle. As to a servant of their Lord. For service. "When they surrendered themselves to God they did not surrender themselves to idleness, but to activity. Many present to God a mass of indolence. Some conse- crated people seem consecrated to do nothing. 'l'he Macedonian conduct exceeded the apostolic expectation, not the Divine. This was what God expected, and what he expects from us. It was "by the will of God" (ver. 5). PRACTICAL. 1. Here is an example for us. Though we abound in faith, utterance knowledge, earnestness (ver. 7), yet if we ha,•e not this practical love we are no bette; than "sounding brass" (1 Cor. xiii. 1). 2. We can attain to this only as the Mace- donian Christians attained to it, by" the grace of God" (ver. 1). We do not want more money in our pockets, but more grace in our hearts. God can work this work in us. Let us commit ourselves into his hands, that this miracle may be wrought in us also.-H. Ver. 9.-Tliegreat Example of benevolence. Consider- I. Bow RICH THE SoN OF Gon WAS. 1. In possessions. All things were made by him. All things were his. Not this world only, but all worlds. Not one race of creatures, but all races and orders. 2. In power. Omnipotence untrammelled and unrepressed. 3. In homage. (1) The adoration of the heavenly hosts; and (2) their perfect obedience to e,ery command and wish. 4. In the love and fellowship of the Father. 5. In purest liappiness. II. How POOR HE BECAME. L In conditi-On. (1) The Godhead veiled in humanity. (2) The Divine power restricted. (3) The God of joy transformed into the Man of sorrows. 2. In circumstances. (1) At his birth. His cradle a manger.. An outcast; no room for him in the inn ; a foreshado,ving of the whole earthly life. (2) At Nazareth an artisan, earning bread by the sweat of his brow, standing thus so closely to fallen Adam. (3) ,Ali, a preacher, dependent upon casual charity. (4) As a traveller, journeying in penury. (5) For his triumphal entry, dependent upon strangers. (6) As a prisoner, stripped of the little he possessed. "They parted my garments." (7) His dying bed, a cross; his last resting-place, a borrowed tomb. 3. In surroundings. (1) Instead of homage, mockery and insult, (2) Few friends. One of these a traitor, and the remnant faithless at the supreme moment. (3) Heaven darkened to him. "My God, my Gou, why hast thou forsaken me?" llL THIS MARVELLOUS TRANSFORMATION AND ITS CAUSE. 1. It was purely volun- tary. He gave himself. "No man taketh it from me ... I lay down my life" (John x. 18, 15). 2. It was prompted 'by love. "Ye know the grace," the spontaneous, unmerited love. The compulsion was the compulsion of compassion and affection. 3. It had for its object the enrichment of men. (1) Men were poor. (a) Always dependent. (b) Through sin, had forfeited all title to things bestowed by God, all title to the Divine favour, all title to brighter prospects. (c) 'l'hus were poor deservedly. (2) Through Christ's poverty men are made rich. Those who are redeemed by Christ lose the poverty which is inseparable from sin, and: (a) Gain holiness. (b) Become partakers of the Divine nature. (c) Receive the adoption of children and become heirs of God. (d) Be.come inheritors of the heavenly kingdom. (e) Obtain present and future joy. (/) Become sharers in the glory which Christ for a while set aside. "'l'he glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them" (John xvii. 22). IV. CHRIST IB HEHE OUB EXAHPLE. 1. If Christ did this for us, how ready we should be to do what lies in our power for others I In doing it to them, we show our love to him. 2. How small our sacrifice must be compared to his! 3. Self-sacrifice makes us like Christ. He not only said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive;" he himself tasted this blessedness. And he gave what 1 He gave himself for us.-H. Vers.10-15.-Things that belong to charity. I. To WILL. 1. Charity must be 11oluntar!i, No one can make us will We can be made to give, but such giving is (lit, VIII, 1-24.] THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE comNTHIANS. 20!)