Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – 2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Grace, peace and mercy to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Pastors and preachers have been guilty of seizing on this reading from Paul, and the reading that follows entitled, “A cheerful giver” as being an opportunity to preach on Christian giving in order to boost the congregational coffers. You know how the sermon goes, ‘God loves a cheerful giver so you really aught to give generously because God has done sooo much for you – you really owe it to him. And besides it’s halfway through the year and we are thousands of dollars behind in our budget…’ A friend mine who is a pastor describes this as the “Sermon on the amount”! Today I have no intention of preaching a sermon on giving money as an expression of Christian stewardship.

So if this sermon isn’t about giving, just what is its emphasis? It is on trust. Trusting God enough to let go of the control you think you may have over your life. It means trusting God enough to ask and to accept the help that is offered when you need God’s love and care for you.

Heavenly Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Download and read the whole sermon as a pdf here