13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that
same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know
that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with
Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your
benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving
to overflow to the glory of God.
- 2 Corinthians 4:13-15, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.
Dear Friends in Christ,
During the thirteen years that I was serving as your missionary to Brazil, there was one comment that I heard again and again from many of Brazilians that I met. As I would get to know new people there, many would ask me, just as we do here, "Where are you from?" When I would say, "From the United States," the reaction I heard surprised me at first, but I heard the same response repeatedly. "You’re from the United States, and you’re living here? Here in Brazil, we all want to move and live in America. But you left there to come here!"
So many Brazilians said the same thing to me when they met me that I learned to use the opportunity to witness to my Christian faith. I would say to people: "I like it here in Brazil, although it’s true that America has many things that we don’t here. The reason I came was to work for the church, and that’s one of the reasons I enjoy it so much – I enjoy telling others about Jesus." Very often my first opportunity to meet someone resulted in that person’s hearing the saving message of the gospel.
The reason I tell you this is to introduce an important point, a point that St. Paul makes in our text when he says, "All this is for your benefit." I would like you to believe what I believe: that it is to our benefit to support mission work, and even more to our benefit to actually do mission work, that we are actually doing ourselves a favor when we get involved in the work that the Lord Jesus gave to his church. Yes, today I want to urge you with all my heart to DO YOURSELF A FAVOR! By supporting mission work – support it more and more.
I guess if I want to convince you to do yourself a favor by growing in your support of mission work, I should follow the apostle’s thinking here and first tell you about the favor that you did me. During thirteen years, you gave to me what I consider to be the best job a person could ever have, the job of being a missionary for Jesus in a different country.
Someone might disagree with that. But Pastor Marggraf, someone might say, You had to give up root beer for thirteen years. You didn’t get to see your parents and other family members very often. And all the wonderful electronic gadgets we have here – you had to do without some of them.
Do you know what my answer to all those arguments is? Jesus said it best: "A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15). A person’s true life consists, not in the amount of things he owns, but in the amount of God’s Word that he owns. Real life comes from the Word of God.
On another occasion Jesus went even further. He said, "No one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life" (Luke 18:29-30). Now I didn’t leave everything on Jesus’ list there, but some of them I did leave behind in a sense, and the promise Jesus made has come true for me. I received a hundred times the blessings for every small sacrifice I made. That’s why I can say to you today, You did me a favor by making me your missionary, and I thank you for it.
But there’s more. You did me a favor by giving me so many opportunities to explain the Christian faith to those who don’t understand it. That, too, might come as a surprise to you. Brazil is a Roman Catholic country and has been for five hundred years. There are more Catholics in Brazil than in any country in the world. You’d think that everyone would know about Jesus and what the Christian faith means.
But it’s not the case. A couple years ago, I started an outreach program in a new neighborhood of the city. On the first day I offered Sunday School class, over twenty children showed up. When I asked them to raise their hands if they knew who Jesus was, not one hand went up. Not one. You gave me the privilege to tell them.
Why is spiritual ignorance such a problem in Brazil, even though eighty-five per cent of the population is Roman Catholic? Because only one in ten go to church and because there is a serious shortage of priests to serve Brazil’s growing population.
The great missionary Paul felt it was the most important topic of conversation possible, the message of forgiveness full and free through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Paul felt it was his great treasure, that he could tell many people about their Savior from sin. You can almost see the value he placed on his mission ministry as he says, "It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ With that same spirit we also believe and therefore speak."
Even when people rejected the gospel message, even when Paul had to suffer because people didn’t like or want to hear what God says, Paul still felt his ministry was a treasure, and he kept on speaking, as he explains, "Because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence." No matter what happened as Paul made use of his treasure, even if someone would kill him because of it, he knew he would live forever with Jesus and all believers in heaven one day. You gave to me that very same treasure.
But you did yourselves a favor, too, by sending me to be a missionary. And the more you keep on sending missionaries in the future, too, the more you will be doing yourselves a favor. That’s what St. Paul meant when he said, "All this is for your benefit."
Again, someone, could disagree with that. Come on, Pastor Marggraf, someone might think, how do we get any benefit when you’re telling people about Jesus six thousand miles away from here? In fact, we gave up things, too, so that we could put money in the offering plate and pay for your work. We didn’t gain, we lost.
But it’s just not true. You do gain when you support mission work, and the more you support the more you gain. To those who sew the seed of the gospel generously, God himself promises that you will reap generously. He promises to enlarge your harvest of righteousness. He promises to make you rich in every way so that you can always be generous. You gain so much!
And there’s more. Paul says in our text, "All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God."
Have you ever thought about that? Just how many people are now thanking God for you Christians in America, because you sent the gospel to them? Have you ever thought about the number of people who are in church on Sundays, singing hymns of glory to God because of your support of mission work? Have you ever thought about the great number of new friends you have made through your offerings, friends who enjoy the same Savior you do, friends who speak all sorts of different languages, friends whom you will get to know in heaven one day and who will glorify God together with you? Just in the thirteen years I was in Brazil, you gained so many new Christian friends.
Friends like Regina, Jurandir, Keila, Marcella and Diego, friends like Ildo and Ivone, Linda and Jonas. Friends like Susi and Airton and their son Rafa. Friends like Joao and Susana, Aron, Igor and Etiene. Friends like Maria de Lurdes, Cenilda and her daughter Nara. Friends like Mano and Laize and Adriana. How you will enjoy meeting them all some day. Such good friends you have made.
I realize that you haven’t met them yet. I realize that you just have to believe me when I tell you about them, just like the Corinthian Christians had to believe Paul when he wrote about the grace that was reaching more and more people. Just like the Brazilians had to believe me when I told them that I enjoyed living in Brazil and thought it was a privilege to spend my life telling others about Jesus, no matter where it would be. Just like you have to believe me when I tell you that you’re doing yourselves a favor by supporting mission work, and that the more generous you become in your support, the bigger the favor you do yourselves.
Don’t believe it because I said it. Believe it because God said it. "All this is for your benefit," God inspired Paul to write. Do yourself a favor. Support your missions more and more. Do it to the glory of God. Amen.