2 Corinthians 8:1-9 – Giving: A grace-consumed life

Introduction

Let me tell you at the outset that this sermon is about giving. My goal is not to see more money coming into the church, but for you to live in the fullness of joy that God has for you. I want you to live out of his riches, in the wonder of his infinite grace. I want you to live a grace-consumed life.

The world tells us that life is good when we have everything we want. And so, we shell out money, if we have it, for whatever we think will do this. How is it that Christ followers have gotten caught up in this?

In the church, the topic of giving does not always include the talk of God’s extravagant grace, or only incidentally so, as much as it holds out what we will get out of it. Giving is talked about in terms of multiplication rather than subtraction, because nobody really wants to have less. Why is this?

I think it is because we have lost the understanding of where true joy and fulfillment come from. We are consumed with ourselves and are satisfied with whatever paltry joy we can create for ourselves. Our problem is that our desires aren’t too strong, they are too weak and focused on what can never satisfy…us.  C.S. Lewis said, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

The reality is that giving will not satisfy us, nor will anything apart from being consumed by the extravagant grace of God and being led deeper into him by the Spirit of Christ. When we are consumed by God’s grace, we will live a life of extravagant giving because we have experienced and are found in the extravagant Giver, Jesus Christ.

Before we begin, let me summarize the sermon in one brief sentence: “Giving is about God’s grace from beginning to end.”

Background

In his last letter to the Corinthians, Paul had challenged them with several corrections for their erring behavior, and encouraged them to start a collection for an offering for the poor in Jerusalem. It seems that because of this, the Corinthians had a little falling out with Paul. But now, Titus has returned from a trip there and given Paul some good news of their repentance. So now, Paul sets the record straight about his call as an apostle and tries to get them focused back on Christ. Among other things, he calls them again to give. He wants them to contribute generously to the poverty-stricken church in Jerusalem.

Why is this important? He wanted them to evidence their faith and grow in grace. Also, he wanted them to show the unity between Jew and Gentile believers.

The Corinthian’s giving would be an expression of the gospel that aligns with their already repentant hearts. Their giving would prove that they have not pushed Paul away, but had realigned themselves with him and his ministry, especially his effort to get the Gentile churches to give to help the impoverished Jewish church. It would be the capstone of Paul’s apostolic ministry to the Gentiles, showing they are united with the Jews in the one true universal church.

The reason for the poverty of the church in Jerusalem is unknown. Perhaps it was persecution and/or a series of bad harvests during the mid 40s of the first century. Whatever the reason, it looks like this collection was needed to give relief to the Jewish Christians there.

The point of the collection, however, was not just charity. It was their path to becoming more conformed to the image of Christ. It showed solidarity in Christ, and unity between God’s children. It would demonstrate the new covenant and the new creation all in Christ.

Exposition

Though today we are going to be focusing on verse 1-9, within verses 1-15, the word grace occurs 5 times (hough one is tricky to spot). This is important, because Paul is telling the Corinthians that giving is about grace from beginning to end. So, what does this word mean?

In the Scriptures we see two ideas that run along similar lines. Mercy and grace. Mercy is that we deserved God’s judgment for our sin, but Christ had pity on us and took that judgment upon himself, i.e. he had compassion on us and didn’t give us what we deserved.

Whereas grace carries the idea of God giving us unmerited or unearned favor, i.e. he gave us what we didn’t deserve. He has given us the blessing of forgiveness, adoption, peace with God, purpose for living, etc. He saved us by giving us his grace.

Now, let’s see what Paul has to say about giving and grace.

In verses 1-5, we see God’s Grace shown through generosity.

Paul’s primary concern was not budgets and finances, but the fruit of a true work of God’s grace in believer’s lives. His focus is not on what others have or will do for us if we give, but rather what God has already done for us in Christ. He is establishing through the Macedonian church’s example that the foundation of giving is God’s grace.

Giving because of grace (v. 1)

Notice how the Macedonians gave because of God’s grace. You see, God gives us many gifts, but all of them flow from the ultimate expression of grace found in Christ who reconciled sinners to himself. God’s rich grace has been poured out on us so that we can in turn pour it out on others.

Thus, grace is rooted in our response to God. We must give ourselves to God as he has given himself to us. Our giving comes from inside us, it cannot be external only, it must come out of a gospel root, grace, because giving is actually a gospel fruit.

Living in joy (v. 2a)

Paul reminds us that giving comes out of a heart that is delighted in all that God has done for us in Christ. The Macedonian example is super challenging. Why? They joyfully gave during their poverty and suffering. Who does this? This shows God’s very real grace. Their joy simply existed. They even had it during their time of suffering. But notice, it wasn’t just a little joy, it was a whole bunch, abundance, of joy.

Giving in joy with a wealth of generosity (v. 2b-3)

Notice that in our example, the Macedonians weren’t just poor, they were dirt poor. They lived in extreme poverty. But more than that they were also probably being crushed by life through persecution because of their devotion to Christ.

Their situation was not good, but they still gave out of an abundance of joy with a wealth of generosity. In other words, they weren’t just giving; they were giving more than anyone would reasonably expect from them. God gave his grace to his churches so that even in adverse circumstances and affliction, even to the extent of their poverty, they were joyful and rich in generosity. God lavishing his abundant undeserved favor produces a mirror of his generosity in his people.

The Macedonians gave according to and beyond their capability without compulsion.

Giving desirously to participate in the ministry of the gospel (v. 4)

In verse 4, it literally says, “…begging us earnestly for the grace of taking part in the relief of the saints.” They want grace so they can give grace. They gave because they wanted to, not because they were “made” or compelled to. They pleaded or begged that Paul would let them give! Wow! To them, giving was not something that was required, but something that was a great privilege.

Giving in the Lord (v. 5)

Notice what is important here. Is it the amount of money they gave? No. Though they probably gave a small amount of money which they were strapped for, the primary thing was that they gave their lives to God even when it hurt. Their allegiance was to God. They were bought with a price, the life and death of Christ. They were Christ’s. If our life is not our own, then our possessions are not our own.

They saw the greater treasure of God and his kingdom. It freed them from clinging to the world’s values and treasures. As we look to the grace of God in Christ, it drives us away from our self-supporting impulse. But we can’t give ourselves away when our security is not firmly rooted in Christ. He has met our needs and spent himself for us.

Note how Paul hints at how the collection is a reflection of God at work in their lives and even gives a stamp of approval on Paul as God’s minister of the new covenant, “they gave themselves to us”. You and I don’t need to hear more reasons why giving is good for us. What we need is a bigger picture of God.

One thing that is important to note is that giving doesn’t follow the principle of multiplication. It follows the principle of subtraction. If I have $1,000 and I give $100, how much do I have? $900. We must not forget this.

In verses 6-8 we see we should excel in God’s Grace by giving (6-8).

Paul told Titus to make sure they finish the work of grace God had started in them a while ago. They started giving in the past, in 1 Corinthians, but their rebellion ended it. Now that they have repented, they have the opportunity again to give themselves to God and to Paul.

Next in verse 7, Paul is telling them that their giving should match their other spiritual giftings, or the graces they have already been given by God (faith, speaking, knowledge, love, etc.). These gifts are the abundant spiritual giftings that God had poured out on them. These giftings seemed to show that they lacked nothing from God, but it seems that there is something missing, the grace of giving generously.

Paul is telling them that giving is as much a spiritual gift of grace as any of the other charismatic gifts the Corinthians had received.  This spiritual gift of giving should reflect their own joy in the greatness of God’s gift to us in Christ. Receiving gifts from God, like spiritual gifts, should lead to expressing grace to others.

What is Paul saying? Giving is simply the right response to how God’s Grace should work out in our giving.

In verse 8, Paul mentions that he didn’t have a direct command from Christ to give, just two examples, the first was the Macedonians, the second was God himself! I think Paul is saying, “Look, I can’t give you any greater motivation or reason for giving other than God himself.”

This is why we see God’s grace in Jesus’ giving of himself (v. 9).

Paul wants us to see that the source of this grace of giving is Christ’s giving of himself. Jesus himself showed how grace expresses itself in love as he gave up his own rights for the sake of meeting the needs of others. Considering the needs of others more important than our own is the heart of Christ! Jesus was rich but became poor to make us rich.

What were Jesus’ Riches? His divine pre-existence and his equality with God. What was Jesus’ poverty? His incarnation, earthly poverty, experiencing the wrath of God, dying, and being buried.

What is our poverty? Condemnation; being under the wrath and judgment of God, without hope and God in the world. What are our riches in Christ? Righteousness of God; being declared righteous, united with Christ, forgiven and adopted, given the Spirit, eternal life.

In Luke 19:1-8, Zacchaeus demonstrates grace empowered repentance, and giving. This is contrasted with the rich young ruler in Luke 18:22. By grace Zacchaeus was changed from a man controlled by a passion to get to a man with a passion to give. Authentic salvation changes our orientation toward wealth.

If our professed salvation has not loosed our grip on material things, and made us giving people, we are not acting as if we have been saved, despite whatever our mouths say.

This whole sermon is really about delight-driven duty. We don’t obey because we must, but we do it from joy, giving ourselves to the authority of Christ as given through his apostles.

We become like Christ as we act in the same way that he did: giving up our physical resources for others because of the spiritual riches in God.

Application

Let’s make sure we get this right in the application. This is not a moralistic sermon. It is a sermon about Jesus and him crucified. I am not saying, “Give because you must. Or give or you aren’t really saved.” I hope you didn’t hear that. Please don’t hear me say, “WWJD!” What would Jesus do? Or don’t even hear me say, “Do for others what Christ did for you.” Rather, hear this, “Do what makes sense according to your status as a child of God who has been made rich by the grace of Jesus Christ showered and lavished upon you.”

This is what I am saying, “Give according to the riches of the grace of God that you know.” I’m not going to tell you an amount, that’s not the point, is it? The Macedonians didn’t have any money, and they gave more than they had. If we followed their example, we would probably be eating beans and rice if there were people who were starving that we could help. Let me try to illustrate this with the Macedonians. Maybe they had some, a little, a small piece of chicken, but when they saw that they had brothers and sisters in need, they would give them their chicken and would be happy to eat beans and rice so their brothers and sisters wouldn’t go hungry.

The reality is that the amount of money you give doesn’t mean anything. Do you understand this? Jesus was clear about that when he showed the disciples the widow with her mite.

The motivation behind your giving means everything. Even if you give away everything that you have, as Paul told the Corinthians in his last letter, it means nothing if it is not coming from a heart motivation of love. If your motivation is not a love for God and all he has done, your giving is as empty as your heart. Thus, your motivation is everything.

What if you aren’t giving at all right now or haven’t given for years? Well, you must look at Christ. He was rich, but he became poor. Here is a question to ask yourself: Am I willing to give up my goods and myself as Christ did?

If you give and you give above the tithe. How can you make sure that you are not living for the world, but rather are living for Christ and living out of his grace?

You see, I can give X amount of my income and still be living out of the world and not out of grace. For people that do give, they need to look at their lives and say, “God, what are you asking of me.” Look at how you are living and ask, “Am I wasting money on stuff? Do I need to replace stuff that works just to have something new?” Sure, I give, but what am I doing with the rest? Am I giving out of everything, or am I simply giving out of surplus?