Please turn with me this morning to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 15. As we consider for a few moments today the grace of giving. Paul is calling the Corinthian church back to faithfulness. back to obedient Christian living, and one of the most concrete ways the Corinthians can demonstrate the sincerity of their repentance, the genuineness of their desire to be faithful to the Lord, is by learning to be generous with the material blessings they've been given.
Let's see then what Paul has to say about this Christian virtue of generosity. 2 Corinthians 2. Chapter 8, verses 1-15. We want you to know, brothers. About the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia.
For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty. have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means. as I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord. begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.
And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you. See that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Yet for your sake he became poor.
so that you by his poverty might become rich. And in this matter, I give my judgment. This benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work, but also to desire to do it.
So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has. Not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness, your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written.
Whoever gathered much had nothing left over. And whoever gathered little had no lack. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word. We ask that you would give us understanding of your word today, that we might grow in grace.
and increase in faithfulness to you. Father, how prone we are to wander and chase after idols of our own hearts. But in so doing, we forgo the pleasures, the true joys that you intend your children to experience.
So may we not miss out on any grace that you intend for us. including this often overlooked. neglected grace of giving. Lord Jesus, you have given your very life that we might be saved. May we in turn give our lives.
For the eternal spiritual benefit of others. Holy Spirit, we need you now to give us understanding into things that are only spiritually discerned. Nourish our souls with the manna of your word. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, the first order of business in coming to an understanding of 2 Corinthians 8 is to put these verses in context. Paul seems to have suddenly changed the subject here at the beginning of chapter 8. For the better part of this letter, as we've seen, he's been writing about his relationship with Corinth, specifically their rejection of his apostolic authority. And this topic is suddenly dropped in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 1, where Paul suddenly begins discussing a collection of money that he's gathering in order to help the saints who are suffering in Jerusalem.
Now if we rewind a little bit and take note of where Paul has last referenced this collection, this financial gift, we have to go all the way back to his first letter to Corinth, 1 Corinthians. There in the last chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul concludes that letter by giving instruction about this monetary gift for Jerusalem. And then he mentions his plans to visit Corinth. But as we've learned, there was a terrible falling out between Corinth and Paul after that first letter was written. And as a result, Paul canceled his visit.
This break in fellowship was so disruptive that Paul had had to write two letters correcting Corinth's errors and had had to send Titus to deliver these letters and to arbitrate.
Well, all of that drama was finally coming to an end. Paul had issued his apostolic correction and was ready to move on to the business of what Corinth should have been about, which was service in the kingdom of God. including, among other things, this collection for the saints in Jerusalem. And so in chapter 8, Paul picks up where he left off a year ago and begins to instruct Corinth on their involvement in the collection for the saints. This whole sequence of events kind of reminds me of a story about John Calvin.
Calvin had been pastoring in Geneva when he and the city of Geneva had a falling out. And he was dismissed from his church and spent. Three years ministering in Strasbourg. But in time, Geneva realized that they had made a grave mistake, so they begged Calvin to return, and Calvin agreed to return. And as the story goes, upon his first Lord's Day back in the pulpit in Geneva, he simply resumed his sermon series at the exact text where he had left off three years earlier.
It was as if Calvin was saying Life is short, let's get on with it. One wonders if Paul has similar thoughts in his mind. He's said what needs to be said about his relationship with Corinth. Corinth has demonstrated godly grief and repentance.
Now it's time to get on with the task. of building the kingdom. Whatever the motive was for Paul's abrupt change of topic, chapter 8 marks the beginning of an extended section on Corinth's participation in the collection for the suffering saints in Jerusalem. A collection that the church in Macedonia has already participated in and participated in generously. What we need to be aware of, however, is that even though this seems to us like an abrupt change of subject, Paul's admonition to Corinth in the first seven chapters and his encouragement for them here to participate in financially supporting saints in other places, these two things are not entirely unrelated.
You see, Corinth's willing participation in supporting Christians in other parts of the world. Christians who did not have the material means of a church like Corinth. Was to be a visible demonstration of the sincerity of Corinth's repentance and faith. Their behavior of late was calling into question the legitimacy of their profession of faith.
Now they had begun to demonstrate signs of true repentance. What better way then to continue demonstrating that repentance and sincerity than by willingly and joyfully participating in a tangible act of helping suffering Christians. It's as if Paul is telling Corinth, you say, Corinth, that you're ready to abandon your idols and move forward in submission to apostolic authority.
Well, then here's one way you can show the genuineness of that claim. Participate in the universal body of Christ by giving of your means and resources to meet the needs of your fellow saints. who are experiencing material want. In our text today, Paul is going to make the point that the ability and desire to share in meeting the material needs of the saints is itself a grace. from God.
You see, these verses are not primarily about our giving per se. They're actually about God's grace to us, God giving to us. When Christians give of their money and time and energy and of themselves for the sake of others, that generosity is actually an evidence, a symptom, a consequence of God's grace in their lives. If I have a generous heart, I have that generous heart because God by his grace has given it to me. And in fact, generosity is not Some sort of peripheral grace that only a few elite expert Christians exhibit.
No, generosity is a divine grace that is actually central to the gospel itself. It's at the center of what Jesus Christ has done in the saving of sinners through his atoning work of redemption. Redemption is at its core an act of gracious generosity. And if generosity is a divine grace that is this central to the gospel, then Christians ought to pursue that grace. with zeal and persistence and sincerity.
So let's see how Paul goes about exhorting the Corinthians, and by extension us, to pursue the grace. Of generosity. He begins by making the point that generosity is not something we do for God or for other people. On the contrary, a generous heart is a grace that God gives. Look with me at verse 1.
Paul says, We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches. of Macedonia. And Paul goes on to describe Macedonia's generous giving, but he calls this generosity on their part first a grace that. has been given to them by God. Christians are generous to others because God has been generous to them.
Paul's entire discussion about giving is framed by the truth that our ability to give something to others. is predicated on the fact that God has already given something to us. Human givers are first receivers, recipients. of grace.
So this is not then about Macedonia's generosity, it's about God's generosity.
Well, how did that divine generosity play out in Macedonia? Verse 2. For in a severe test of affliction, Their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. Verse 2 is interesting. It contains some striking paradoxes.
There's affliction alongside of joy. Those two experiences aren't supposed to go together, and yet God's grace is being showered on his children. There can be joy in the midst of affliction. We also see extreme poverty alongside a wealth of generosity. Once again, poverty and generosity don't typically go together.
But once again, when God's grace is steering the ship, Poverty is no obstacle to generosity.
So, these Macedonians, who were simultaneously afflicted yet joyful, poor, yet generous. Gave verse 3 according to their means and beyond their means of their own accord.
Now, the phrase beyond their means does not refer to financial indebtedness. I've heard people claim that these Macedonians were trusting God so much that they were willing to promise more than they had to give, or that they were eagerly going into debt to demonstrate their faith. in God. Financial indebtedness is generally foolish, not wise.
So we shouldn't read this as Paul praising financial indebtedness in the name of generosity. Paul uses the phrase beyond their means to highlight the fact that sinful people left to themselves don't give. They hoard. Generosity is not a natural attribute of self-centered sinners. The fact that Macedonia gave anything at all.
was an indication that they were giving beyond their means. That is beyond their moral means. They were giving over and above their natural inclinations precisely because of the grace. of God. A generous heart is not the disposition of selfish sinners.
Rather, it is a grace that God gives. God's grace to Macedonia was in fact so thorough that they were eager to be generous. Look at verse 4. The Macedonians were begging Paul earnestly for for the favor, the privilege. of taking part in the relief of the saints.
Speaks to the sincerity of this grace in their hearts. It's important that we read verse 5 in light of the way Paul has framed this Macedonian testimony in terms of divine grace. When Paul says in verse 5 that they gave themselves first to the Lord, And then by the will of God to us, he's not suddenly making this testimony about the Macedonians, as if by their strength of will and resolve they have surrendered themselves to Christ's lordship, allowing God now to use them to do amazing radical things. No. Remember, this passage is about God's grace to the Macedonians.
A grace that not only enabled them to be generous with their money, but also generous with their lives. One pastor said, in giving themselves to the Lord, they were only affirming that which Christ had done for them. They had been possessed. By God.
So, Paul is about to call the Corinthians to get on board and join the Macedonians in financially supporting the suffering saints in Jerusalem. But first, he has established the fact that generosity is a divine grace that God gives. We know that the Corinthians had a propensity to love the impressive, the credible, the flashy. Had Paul launched into his exhortation for them to be generous with their money, no doubt Corinth would have gladly complied, so long as they thought of generosity as a self-affirming virtue that would make them look good. Paul was very wise then to begin.
by establishing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the fact that generosity, wherever it exists, is a virtue that is given by divine grace from a God who is himself generous and gracious.
Well having established that, Paul then is now in a place to call for the Corinthians to pursue the grace of a generous heart. And so we see next that a generous heart is a grace that Christians ought to pursue. It's a grace that the Christians ought to pursue. In verse 6, Paul addresses the Corinthians directly. Accordingly we urged Titus Paul's ministry helper, that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act.
Of grace. And there it is again, Paul insisting on framing Christian giving as a grace from God. What we notice in the next few verses is that even though something is a divine grace, it does not mean that we should not actively pursue that grace. The Christian life is not a life of passively waiting for God to do something. It is an active life of pursuing grace and obedience and faithfulness.
We recognize that grace precedes obedience. We understand that grace drives the Christian's ability and even desire to pursue faithfulness, but we also recognize that God uses means and secondary causes to bring about his grace in the lives of people. One of the means God uses is our pursuit of His grace. Every command in Scripture, in fact, assumes this. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
So there's no inconsistency between Paul insisting that a generous heart is a gift of divine grace while at the same time exhorting the Corinthians to pursue generous hearts, to be generous when a need arises, to complete this act of grace, as he says.
So church, we ought to learn. To be generous, recognizing all the while that the virtue of generosity will only come by God's grace. Paul exhorts Corinth in verse 7. But as you excel in everything, And then he names the virtues that they prize the most highly in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you. See that you excel in this act of grace also.
Corinth excelled in visible gifts. Faith. and speech and knowledge. But unselfish giving was a gift they did not as readily excel in. Verse 8 tells us why Corinth needed to learn to excel in this virtue of giving.
It was in order to prove that your love also is genuine. Remember Paul's love chapter in his previous letter in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul had told the Corinthians that speech and knowledge and faith are all wonderful gifts, but they're rendered ineffective and pointless without love. And so he exhorted them to desire and pursue the greater gift of love.
Well, here in 2 Corinthians 8, the perfect demonstration and proof of that greater gift of love would be a generous heart that gives to the needs of others without taking credit. And in so doing, they would be proving not simply their love for other saints, but also God's love for them. Because after all, generosity is something that God alone can give. In verse 10, Paul gives us a peek into the history of his interaction with Corinth regarding this collection for the saints. He tells us that Corinth had had intentions of financially helping the suffering saints in Jerusalem for an entire year.
But they had not yet acted on that intention. presumably because of the falling out they had had with Paul.
Now there's some irony here that kind of makes us chuckle in that the Macedonians, as we will see in a subsequent chapter, were originally motivated to give by the Corinthians' willingness and intention to give.
Now the Corinthians, who haven't yet acted upon their intention, are being motivated by the generosity of the Macedonians. I once heard the testimony of a man who shared the gospel with a friend before he himself even believed the gospel. The friend got saved and ended up evangelizing the friend who had evangelized him. Here we have Corinth's generosity, in words only, being used by God to develop the grace of generosity among the Macedonians, who in turn encouraged the Corinthians to follow through on their original intention to generously give to the saints in Jerusalem. It's God using imperfect means and secondary causes to bring about his perfect purposes in such a way that he gets the glory.
Now we don't fully know why Corinth had delayed their giving for a year. But perhaps verse 12 gives us a clue. Verse 12 says, for if the readiness is there, It is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. Corinth clearly had a desire to give. And in that sense, they were ready to give, but it seems they maybe felt like their gift would be too small to matter.
Paul here in verse 12 seems to be giving them a bit of a pep talk to go ahead and give of what they have and stop waiting to acquire what they wish they had or what they do not have. Readiness or a willingness to give is more important than the amount of the gift. It's the love and the intention behind a gift that gives it its true value, not the amounts. of the gift. The story of the widow's might in the Gospels comes to mind, doesn't it?
It wasn't the amount of the widow's offering that made it of such great value. Rather, it was the amount of sacrifice and joy and willingness behind the offering that made it of such great value. Paul is calling the Corinthians to stop procrastinating over the size of their gift and get busy giving. Because the value of it would be in the doing of it willingly and joyfully. Corinth, you always want to be flashy and noticed and impressive.
Just give out of what you have. Nobody is calling you, Corinth, to take upon yourself the role of absolute benefactor. That role belongs to God alone. Just get in the game. Start pursuing a generous heart by giving out of what you have.
Paul continues to make it abundantly clear that he is not calling the Corinthians to be the hero or to come to the rescue. He says in verse 13, For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness or equality, your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. Paul is saying, no one is asking you, Corinth, to shoulder everyone else's burdens. In fact, you have burdens of your own that the impoverished saints in Jerusalem will meet for you. Your abundance will supply their need while their abundance will supply your need.
It's a two-way street. This is not a scenario in which Corinth will bail out the saints in Jerusalem today so that the saints in Jerusalem can bail out Corinth tomorrow. No, this mutual benefit happens simultaneously. It was to be in the act of giving that Corinth's needs would be met.
So what was this need among the Corinthians to which Paul alludes? It was their spiritual need for hearts of generosity. The Corinthians were Evidently, financially prosperous, but spiritually starved. The saints in Jerusalem and the saints in Macedonia were perhaps financially impoverished, but their spiritual health, their generosity and gratitude and example of grace would become a spiritually beneficial gift for the Corinthians. As it would be God's means of teaching Corinth how to love, how to be generous, even as Christ had been generous to them.
There was no place here for the Corinthians to feel high and mighty and superior over others, because in the giving up of the very thing that made them look heroic, They would come to see their great spiritual lack. The recipients of Corinth's benevolence would actually be Giving far more back to the Corinthians in terms of spiritual benefits than Corinth could have ever given financially.
Well, then Paul concludes with a reference to the Old Testament story of God providing manna in the wilderness for Israel. Verse 15. As it is written. Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. This is a reference to Exodus 16, 18, in which Israel was hungry from their wilderness wandering, so God promised to feed them with miraculous bread from heaven, only God commanded that each Israelite only take a specified amount.
Some Israelites gathered more quickly than others, and so they ended up with more manna than others.
However, when the time came to eat the manna, if some had gathered more than their share, the extra, the surplus, would be spoiled. God supernaturally ensured that everyone had exactly what he needed, no more, no less. The comparison then is clear. God provides what every one of his children need, and he provides exactly what every one of his children need. If Corinth had material excess, he would ensure that that excess got to someone who was lacking.
If Corinth had a spiritual deficiency, God would ensure that someone else's spiritual abundance found its way to help the Corinthians and mature them in the faith. And so, by this arrangement of mutual dependence and generosity, God's children all over the world. can rest assured that their needs Of giving and receiving will be met. They can and should pursue the grace of generous giving. Knowing all the while that every good and perfect gift comes from God the Father.
Who gives and distributes with all wisdom as he sees fit and in such a way as to receive all the glory that's due to his name.
Well, this brings us. To the last point I want to draw our attention to, and it's right there in the middle of our text this morning. Paul was a Hebrew, and the preferred Hebrew structure is often to put the most important truth in the middle, not at the end, like us Westerners are prone to do. Look with me then at verse 9. Paul says For you know The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
that though he was rich, Yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. This verse tells us that generosity of heart. This grace of giving is not some sideline optional trait that Christians may or may not pursue. No, a generous heart that seeks to give itself away is actually at the center of the Christian faith. because it is at the center of Christ's atoning work.
on our behalf. a generous heart. is an essential element of the gospel. You know the story. God the Son, who existed before the foundations of the earth, and who dwelled in perfect fellowship within the Godhead.
Emptied himself of that glory and honor and happiness. Though he was rich, Yet he became poor. Or God became a man, putting himself under the limitations of being human and under the hardships of living in a fallen world and under the condemnation of God's law. He became Yeah.
so that we could become Rich.
so that we could receive the washing away of our sin. and eternal life. and joy unspeakable, and an eternal weight. of glory. In Christ's poverty, we become kings.
Corinth. who so loved the finer things of life Human wisdom, prestige, credibility. Was saved through the condescension of God Himself. God became poor. in order that they might become eternally rich.
And if God would become poor for their spiritual good, Corinth's self-absorbed preoccupation and procrastination in giving needed to be overcome. by the generous grace of God, who gladly gave himself away for them. When I was young, my favorite possession. in the whole world was my big wheel. Don't know if you remember big wheels.
I don't know if they still exist or not. It was my prized possession. Uh one day I Left my big wheel out in front of our house. It got stolen. My heart was broken.
But either we found it again or my parents bought me a new one. I don't remember. Needless to say, I was all the more attached to my big wheel after that.
Well, we ended up moving to the mission field, and I was allowed to bring my big wheel with me. I can remember I can remember riding that blue, red, and yellow trike with the fringed handlebars all over the neighborhood, showing off my drifting skills with the handbrake, riding down hills with no hands, steering with my feet. It was fun times. But the day came when I outgrew my big wheel. I think my mom must have noticed that my knees were hitting my earlobes when I pedaled.
So she approached me one day and said, Eugene, we're going to be moving to a new home in another city soon. There's not really room for the big wheel. And what do you think about giving it to the boy next door who doesn't have any toys? He literally did not have any toys. We were in a very poor area of Latin America at the time.
I didn't want to give away my big wheel. But I knew it would make my friend incredibly happy. And so after much turmoil in my own heart, I finally resolved to do it. I would give the big wheel that I love so much to the boy next door. You can imagine how excited he was when I...
handed over the keys and told him it was his to keep. Church We who struggle to let go of our plastic tricycles. And of our money. End of our time. and of our prestige.
and reputations. and free time. and leisure. have been made made rich through the poverty of Jesus Christ. And this same God, who made himself poor for our sakes, calls us to pursue the grace.
of a generous heart. As we learn the grace of generosity, we are giving evidence of the sincerity of our profession of faith. We're proving that we are the children of a God who is infinitely and eternally generous. By this We know love. that He laid down His life for us.
We ought to lay down our lives for each other. Let's pray. Lord, help us. To be not only hearers, but doers of of your word. to the glory of your name.
I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Yeah.
