When I graduated from high school, I went straight to Louisiana State University to study, and I immediately got caught up in LSU’s bachelor’s degree program in partying.
I eventually dropped out and moved to California where my parents had taken up residence.
While I was taking a break from school, an opportunity arose to work at a beautiful Westin Hotel.
After about a year of gainful employment in the purchasing department, I was asked to help at the grand opening of the Saks Fifth Avenue store in the mall across the street. (The request came under the “Other duties as assigned” part of my job description.)
It was a tony event with celebrities in attendance, and I was asked to be a kind of go-fer for the bartenders.
To my delight, I discovered that among the celebrities attending was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I had watched Lew Alcindor dominate college basketball at UCLA before he changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and after I moved to California, I became a Lakers fan.
Anyway, this basketball legend was scheduled to sign autographs in the store’s shoe department. That evening, I worked hard. When I finally managed to make it over to the shoes—there he was!
When I got close, I appreciated in a new way how big this man is. (Granted, my perspective is tainted since I stand at five feet, six inches tall if I wear my golf shoes with new cleats.)
I moved closer in an attempt to talk to him, and the closer I got, the more my head fell back until I was standing close to him and looking almost straight up in the air.
Next to the table where he was signing autographs, he had parked a pair of his shoes. They were simply enormous. My two shoes put next to each other lengthwise would not have been as long as one of his.
Suddenly it became apparent how different we were. I am white, and he is black. He is seven feet, two inches tall, and I am not. He wears size seventeen shoes, and I do not. He is wealthy, and I am… blessed.
I did find a shared trait, though. I was starting to lose my hair, and so was he—but he was so tall that no one knew! So even that was a bummer. He was better off than I was on that count too.
Mark Twain was right when he said, “Comparison is the death of joy.”
Not familiar with reading Mark Twain 😊, the apostle Paul found an upside to comparison. We see in 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 that Paul used comparison as a rhetorical tool to motivate the Corinthians to give.
Well Done, Corinthians!
Paul begins the chapter by citing the example of the Macedonians and their sacrificial giving.
This is an implied comparison. Paul wanted the Corinthians to give in a manner that would compare favorably to the Philippians who had a lower economic standing than the people of Corinth.
His comparison does not seem focused on the amount given, but rather on commitment, sacrifice, and follow-through. In addition, the Philippians were undergoing some kind of trial, yet they still gave sacrificially.
Comparison is positive when it’s used to motivate, challenge, encourage, and inspire others to good work and spiritual growth. In his lovely little book The Grace of Giving, John Stott said it this way: “Christian giving can be stimulated by a little friendly competition” (pg. 21).
And Paul had this positive kind of comparison in mind when he wrote to the Corinthians about the Philippians and when he wrote the next short section of that letter.
The Gold Standard
In this short section, Paul did not command the Corinthians to give; he wanted them to give willingly.
He wanted to test the sincerity of their love by comparing it to the earnestness—to the zeal and dedication—of other people’s love. Sincerity is translated from the same Greek word (σπουδῆς) used in verse seven.
There it is translated as complete earnestness and is understood to mean “zeal, diligence, eagerness, and a sense of urgency” (W. Mounce, 421). Paul wanted to determine the earnestness of the Corinthians’ love.
Was their love serious? Was there a substance and gravitas to their love? And whom were they loving anyway?
It can be convicting and productive to compare ourselves to other people, but as we follow the flow of Paul’s argument, we do not clearly see whom he was drawing into the comparison.
Specifically, Paul was comparing the Corinthians’ love with the earnestness of others, but who are the others? Join us next week as we answer that question.
Join EGM-US!
If you're serving in a church in the United States, you can be part of the exciting new launch of EGM-US by hosting a vision meeting in your area, attending a training, or just contacting us for more information about how this could benefit your next generation ministries by contacting us contacting our team at (951)587-3825 or USA@egmworld.org.