When the Apostle Paul was looking for an example of generous giving, he pointed to the Church at Macedonia. He then established a test to help assess the sincerity of each believer's love. So what does your giving reveal about you?
We'll find out today on Truth for Life Weekend. Alistair Begg is teaching from 2 Corinthians 8. We're focusing today on verse 7. We're considering the example that he provides.
What is this example? Well, it's the example of the Macedonian churches. You will see that in verse 1. These Macedonian believers have operated in a certain way in relationship to giving, and Paul holds them up as an example.
Now we'll begin not with verse 1, but what is said in verse 5, because this is a foundational element, although he doesn't mention it until the fifth verse. Number one, they gave themselves first to the Lord. They gave themselves first to the Lord. In other words, their money was simply an expression—one expression—of their devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Since they had, if you like, put themselves in the offering plate, then the money followed naturally.
Now you see, this is of foundational importance. Because the person who comes in from outside who is wondering about Christianity, who is considering the claims of Jesus or perhaps has been invited along, and happens on a morning like this and finds that there's a Scotsman of all things with a name like Begg talking about money, and says, How did I get myself in such a dreadful predicament? They may be forgiven for simply assuming that what this is about is because every so often you have to talk about money and so on, and what the person tries to do is manipulate and cajole and encourage and so on and try and drum it all up.
Nothing could be further from the truth. But when a person understands that becoming a Christian is the giving of themselves to the Lord, then all of the other stuff follows in line. But until that is understood, until point one is in place, they gave themselves first to the Lord, then all the other stuff is out of whack. William Booth was asked on one occasion how did he explain the peculiar usefulness that God had made of him in the founding and framing of the Salvation Army. And he replied without any pride, Jesus Christ has all of me.
None of us can get beyond the starting block in the issue until this is resolved. They gave themselves first to the Lord. Secondly, and we'll go back up the text now to verse 1, they gave in response to the grace of God. They gave in response to the grace of God. That's why he's able to say, now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Now, this should be no surprise, because any consideration of giving inevitably begins with the fact of God's giving. And here, actually, in verse 9 of the passage that we read, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Now, what you need to notice is that there is a direct correlation, a direct line. And I drew this line in my notes, and if you want to put this in your notes, it may help you, between three words all beginning with G—grace, gratitude, giving. Any attempt to encourage ourselves or anyone else for that matter to give to the work of the gospel with any kind of mechanism that does not begin with the grace of God is a flawed mechanism. The starting point is not the needs of the world.
The starting point is not the peculiar concerns of this or this. The starting point is the grace of God. God is a giving God. Because he is such a giving God, we should be grateful that he is. And our gratitude should then release itself in our own giving. You see, the more we become aware of God's grace in our lives, in our circumstances, the more we will respond with a thankfulness which produces itself, as did here in verse 2, in overflowing joy. You see, when by grace we become more like our heavenly Father, then we will become more generous in our giving. Because our heavenly Father is really generous. And if we are his children, and we are going to take on the family likeness, then one of the characteristics of God's children is generosity. Notice in verse 2 that their generosity was unhindered, uninhibited, by two things—severe trial and extreme poverty. What? Who does he use as an example? The Macedonian churches.
Why? While they had tons of money, everything was going really nicely for them. So he chose this group and said, Look, here's a group of people. Everything's going great over there. They're full of cash. And so, just be like them.
No. He looks across at the Macedonian churches. They face extreme trial. They face at the same time particular and peculiar and extreme poverty.
But notice the terminology. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity—grace, gratitude, and giving. Overflowing joy bursts the banks in a tidal wave of generous giving. Now, you see, that is why—some of you will have read this Time Magazine—that is why you will find in here, reference being made directly and tangentially to a famous Old Testament verse, which is Malachi 3 and verse 10, where God says to his people, Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.
Why? That there might be food in my house, the tithing of grain and cereal. Do what I'm asking you to do, he says. And then look at what he says. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. Maybe the Macedonian believers were reading that. Maybe they sat down to one another and they said, You know, we have a severe trial here.
We have peculiar poverty. And somebody said, Yeah, but what about Malachi 3.10? What about what God says there when he issues the test? Test me and see.
Put me to the test and see if I won't burst your banks with my overflowing generosity. Now look at verse 10 of chapter 9. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. Grace, the generosity of God, granted to the people of God so that the people of God may then manifest the grace of God in their generosity so that that generosity may not be an end in itself but may result in thanksgiving and praise to God.
You see, the cycle starts and finishes with God. This is not a quid pro quo. This is not a motivational speech. This is not try and do this so that you can get that.
This is do this because you should. God blesses this. When he does, he wants you to be generous, and when you're generous, God is glorified. So it's all God. The God who gives everything is the God who made everything. He's the God who requires everything. He is the God who owns everything. And he is the God who ultimately gets the praise for everything—rich in every way so that you may be generous on every occasion. We'll come back to this.
Come back to this. Thirdly, they gave even beyond their ability. They gave even beyond their ability.
Well, it's quite striking, isn't it? Verse 3. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able. And then he says, in fact, even beyond their ability.
Now, what are we supposed to do with this? This is the kind of verse, incidentally, where silly people tell folks to borrow money on their credit cards, and they use a verse like this to try and substantiate it. They gave beyond their ability, you don't have enough money but you have a big line of credit, so why don't you do this?
And this is the kind of thing that God honors. No, it's not. That's just stupidity. The best I can understand of this, the best I can do with this, is the notion of their being willing to forgo a legitimate want in order that they might be able to supply a legitimate need. You get it? That they were prepared to squeeze themselves so that others might not feel the pinch. We needn't say more about that. If you and I are simply given within the realm of our comfort zone, we've never understood giving.
I don't care what it is. I've got five hundred bucks a month. If you're outgoing or whatever they are and you're able to give whatever it is and you still get enough money for the New York Times every day or the Wall Street or whatever else it is or whatever you decided to do with whatever discretionary funds, then you and I, we're both in the exact same position.
We're not doing anything with a squeeze to prevent others facing the pinch. That's why Jesus pointed to the lady, remember, and he says, that little lady there that put in the two pennies, she's to be commanded way beyond those guys because those fellas gave out of their wealth. They simply dipped in and took whatever it was. It didn't matter to them one way or another.
They could give it here or give it there. And if they gave it or kept it, it didn't matter. But she put in all that she had. She gave beyond her ability. Her only hope now was that the God who saw her would provide for her needs, since he is the God who sees the sparrow fall to the ground and close the grass of the field, which is today, here, and tomorrow, is thrown into the oven. She was, if you like, entering into a Malachi 3.10 test. Fourthly, and this is an important point in light of what I've just said, because some of you perhaps feel the very antithesis of what I'm now about to give as a fourth point, which is there in verse 3. Actually, it's the bridge.
It's the phrase that almost begins verse 4, doesn't it? They gave without being prompted and prodded. They gave without being prompted and prodded. Notice the phrase, entirely on their own.
Entirely on their own. Well, because someone was telling them what to do, and I'm not here telling you what to do. I'm here trying to expound the Bible, which tells all of us what to do.
We're all in this together. Look at verse 7 of chapter 9. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give. That's what you should give. Well, you've decided in your heart to give. I don't know about your heart.
I have enough problem with my own heart. I'm going to have to leave your heart to God. Fifthly, they clamored for the privilege of ministering to God's people. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. Who are the saints? God's people. 1 Peter 2.9.
For you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God. It's just another way of saying they pleaded for the opportunity to be involved in the lives of all kinds of folks in all kinds of places. By their giving, they were supplying the needs of God's people.
You'll see that again in verse 12 of chapter 9. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people, which is what it does, but it is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Incidentally, when you give anonymously, there's no possibility, then, of anything coming back your way or my way, is there? If I give you something, you may feel a sense of deference towards me or gratitude towards me.
It's not all wrong. But if I send something to you by an anonymous carrier and you were in need and your need was met as a result of an envelope that came underneath your door, the only place you can go is the only place you need to go, which is to God, who supplies all your needs and who knows you. Not only, he says, has your giving met the needs of the people, but it has resulted in a sense of overflowing thankfulness to God. You see how God-centered all of this is?
The example is there. Comparisons are said to be odious. Sometimes they can even be dangerous, especially if our motive in comparing ourselves is pride.
But we also recognize the benefit in assessing ourselves by the good example set by others. And remember what Paul is doing here. He says in verse 8, I want to test the sincerity of your love.
Here, he says, is my desire. I'm providing you a very practical, personal, necessary, challenging test. Now, you have the test in front of you, don't you?
Because you simply need to take the statements and make them interrogative. So the first one reads, Am I giving myself first to the Lord? Can I come anywhere close to William Booth? Jesus Christ has all of me. That's the test. Eventually, we will stand before God without anything that represents security to us in earthly banks and portfolios.
Absolutely zero. All that we will have on that day is the treasure that has been laid up in heaven. Am I giving myself first to the Lord? Secondly, am I giving in response to God's grace? Is that why I give? Is that what constrains my giving? Is that what determines the extent of my giving? Thirdly, am I giving beyond my ability? Am I giving beyond my comfort zone? Or is my giving simply within the orb of what is secure and handleable and really doesn't affect my ability to make my other payments?
It's a very challenging question. Fourthly, am I giving without external compulsion? Am I giving without being prodded and prompted? Because, frankly, if anyone, your pastor or anyone else, has to prod and prompt in order to achieve this end, then forget it. God knows the needs.
He knows the ends. There's all the difference in the world between our children when they're tiny, when someone comes into the house and they're eating candy, and all of a sudden we hear their little voice saying, Would you like some? And we smile.
Perhaps our tears smart to our eyes. We think, What an unprompted expression of tiny generosity, as opposed to, Come on now, Tilly. Give your Uncle Jimmy a sweetie. Give him some candy.
Go on, go on, give him the candy. Which do you want? Which kind of child do you want? You want a child, it says. Would you like some?
Not a child that's like, Would my mother say I'm supposed to give you a candy? What kind of congregation do you want? You don't want a congregation that's responding to the manipulations and promptings of a vehicle of a man's voice or whatever else it is. No, it's all grace. It has to be all grace. They gave themselves as a result of his grace.
And finally, am I clamoring for the privilege of serving the saints? Saying, You know, I got this, and I don't know what to do with it. I think I could give this to somebody. Is there a place that I can give this?
Is there a place that I can share this? Is there a place… I got so much junk now. At this stage in my life, I might as well start offloading most of it. I mean, if I drop dead today, I got a problem for my wife and everybody else.
It's so much junk. Am I clamoring for opportunities to give to the saints? That's the test. But here's the wonderful thing that Paul does on both occasions, both in 8 and then in 9. You can see what he does.
Although he sets a test, and he says, I hold up to you, the Macedonians as an example, to test the sincerity of your love, he doesn't end there. Where does he end? He ends with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where does he end at the 15th verse of chapter 9?
Same place. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. But you see, if we want to grade on the curve, we can set ourselves up or down depending on who we want to sit next to. It depends if you go in the A-stream or the C-stream. I mean, if you're in the C-stream for Greek, you may be at the top of the C-stream and feeling good. But you should be thankful you're not in the B-stream, because you get in there, you stink.
And in the A-stream, you can't even exist. And we can look around and find a way in the packing order of humanity, even in relationship to Christian things, to determine that we're fine. Paul doesn't do that. He holds it up as a test, but then he turns their gaze to Jesus. Do you realize what we sang in that song, I Found a Friend, to the tune of How Deep the Fathers Love for Us? Let me finish by quoting to you the verse that we all sang together.
This is what we said in our song. I found a friend, O such a friend, he bled and died to save me. And not alone the gift of love, but his own life he gave me.
Then it turns, responsibly. And we said, Not that I have, nothing that I have, my own I call. I hold it for the giver, my heart, my strength, my life. Let's just make it even more telling.
Not that I have, my own I call, I hold it for the giver, my house, my cars, my portfolio, my all, are his and his forever. That's what we sang. God heard us. Generous giving that advances the work of God's kingdom begins with God's grace and it ends with God's glory. You're listening to Truth for Life Weekend. That is Alistair Begg with a practical, personal, necessary and challenging test for giving.
Alistair returns shortly to close today's program. Often here on Truth for Life, we invite you to open your Bible. And the reason for that is because our mission is straightforward, to teach the Bible without adding to it or taking away from it.
The teaching is grounded in Scripture so you can trust it to be true. If you benefit from listening to the teaching you hear on Truth for Life, you can read insights from God's Word using the Truth for Life Daily Devotional. This newly released volume is now available and the title is Truth for Life 365 Daily Devotions Volume 2.
This second volume follows the same pattern as Volume 1, which was published last year. Each day there's a brief passage of Scripture for you to reflect on, followed by Alistair's commentary that explains the passage in more detail and that ties it to everyday life. Truth for Life 365 Daily Devotions Volume 2 can be viewed on our website.
You can find out more about it when you visit truthforlife.org slash 365. Now here's Alistair to close with prayer. Father, I pray that you will write your word in our hearts as we ponder these things. We want desperately to be those who give ourselves first to you, to give in response to your grace, to give beyond our comfort zone, to give without coercion, and to be actively looking for ways to express our generosity. Please help us to this end as we take these matters to heart in our individual and family circumstances and as they spill into our responsibilities as a church family too. May the grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God our Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with each one today and forevermore. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine.
Thanks for listening. Does tithing still have a role to play in Christian giving or was that simply an Old Testament practice? Is there a different pattern we are to follow as Christians? Find out as you join us next weekend. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
