2 Corinthians 8:10-15 – Giving: A grace-consumed life (Part 2)

Introduction

There is a story that goes like this, “During a Scottish worship service in Edinburgh, it is reported that one member of the congregation accidentally put in a crown piece (maybe $100) instead of a penny ($1.66), and winced at the realization of what he’d done, and quietly asked for it back. But the usher answered, ‘In once, in forever.’ ‘Oh well,’ groaned the giver, ‘I’ll get credit for it in Heaven.’ ‘No,’ said the usher, ‘you’ll get credit for only a penny!’”

What I want us to see today is that our attitude in giving is more important than the amount we give, but giving is important and it should be done wisely out of a heart that is full of God’s grace, not empty.

By way of reminder

What we saw last week in verses 1-9 of this chapter was that Jesus himself shows how grace expresses itself in love to give up one’s own rights for the sake of meeting the needs of others. He considered the needs of others more important than his own. Jesus was rich but became poor to make us rich.

Jesus was rich because his divine pre-existence and his equality with God. Jesus became poor in his enfleshment, earthly poverty, experiencing the wrath of God. His birth, life, death.

We were poor because we were under the wrath and judgment of God, without hope and God in the world. But in Christ we became rich as we have been declared righteous by God, united with Christ, forgiven and adopted, and given the Spirit.

And so, because of this, authentic salvations changes our orientation toward wealth. If our professed salvation has not loosed our grip on material things, and made us giving people, we need to ask whether we truly know Christ.

Why do we give? Out of delight. We don’t give because we must, but we give from joy. We give ourselves as Christ gave himself. 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.

Exposition

The reality of our giving though is that there are very real benefits to it.

The benefits of giving (10)

In Paul’s judgment, it is profitable for the Corinthians to finish what they wanted and had started a year ago, to give to the needy in Jerusalem. Finishing this giving would be continued evidence of God’s Grace in their lives. But to not complete it would show they had turned back on their earlier profession of being members of God’s people.

So why would it be profitable for them? The Corinthians must see their money differently. Because of God’s Grace their resources are an opportunity to do good works and glorify the Lord.

The reality is that it is not possible to grow in spiritual maturity if we have not given our finances to the Lord. Jesus can have our money and not our hearts, but he can’t have our hearts without our money.

Money is tied up with our soul. The love of it is the root of all kinds of evil. Our handling of money defines our affections, the things we treasure, how tightly we are bound to the world. What really matters for them is whether their giving is an act of grace toward others, like Christ’s becoming man, flowing from God’s Grace.

Our giving comes from our joy, not the other way around. The flow is: Grace brings joy which leads to giving. Giving is not a way to show how much we can do for God, but illustrating how much he has done for us.

Connection to Christ

And so, why is giving profitable? It keeps us connected to the heart of Christ. As we saw in verses 5 and 9, as we give ourselves to the Lord first for the sake of others we connect with the heart of God. We connect with the purpose of Christ’s mission and work, to give himself away for others to allow them to experience the riches of the grace, mercy, and kindness of God. As we do this we demonstrate Christ to others and drink deeper of Christ ourselves. We come to know and experience his love for us in a deeper way as we live out that same love.

Witness to the world

Jesus made it clear in John 13 and in 1 John that love toward our brothers and sisters in Christ is one of the primary ways that we witness to a watching world. Our love is a very real demonstration that we are true disciples of Christ. It shows that we have been changed by Christ into people who are like Christ. We have been made into a family of people who are tightly bound to Christ. We love one another enough to get out of our self-centered and self-consumed little worlds. As we love one another in very tangible ways, Christ is seen and known in our community and in the communities that surround us. The world then says, “See how they love. That is what Christ did. They are like their Christ.”

Protection from the world

But more than this, there is a very real danger for us to be caught up in the love of money, which is the root of all sorts of evils, and the love of this present world, which is the cause of many falling away. The love of money is idolatry and so is the love of this present world. When we do either of these things, we put something above God, we worship something else in place of God. But, when we give, we put to death a very small piece of our affection for money and the world. We make a statement to ourselves that money is not where our hope and confidence is. Christ is.

These are some pretty powerful benefits to giving. After setting out such a powerful motivation for giving, the love of Christ himself, and the benefits that flow from it, it might make us want to give away the farm.

And so, one question that often comes up in topics concerning money, is the question of what are the limits of giving?

The limits of giving (11-15)

Give out of desire and out of what you have, not what you don’t have (11-12).

Paul’s judgment, as we see in verse 10, is his own inference of what the reality of the gospel should do in us and to us and for us. But he tells the Corinthians in verses 11-12 that they are to give out of their desire and out of what they have, not what they don’t have.

In other words, Paul in verses 11-12 tells them that they shouldn’t be giving more than what they have, making themselves poor, rather they should be giving out of what they actually do have. In essence he is saying to them, don’t give away the fountain or source of your giving, give out of that which you have available.

He, however, is not saying just give a little either. He is saying give out of the riches of your heart, but that giving should not destroy you financially.

Think of it this way. After giving an example of the Macedonian churches and their abundant giving, even more than they could afford, and showing how Christ became poor to make us rich, I think he could see how quickly people might do this out of duty or emotion in order to prove something, and do it without thought.

But what he is saying is that we need to give out of our heart’s readiness and our ability, not out of some other deep, dark lurking motive, or out of what we don’t have. Giving should be done liberally out of your actual means.

Giving should bring to equality or fairness to those who need it, not to poverty (13)

This is why he tells them in verse 13 that giving should bring equality or fairness between the giver and those receiving, not poverty. In other words, what would be the point of giving so much that when one thing bad happened to you, you would need people to give to you as well.

You see, Corinth was a prosperous city because of its success in trade, commerce, and agriculture. Many were probably living in a similar situation as us here in the US. And so, Paul is looking at them and saying, “Hey, you guys are living in an abundance, and many other Christians aren’t. Think about that when you are giving.”

The reality is that one of the duties of churches is to care for the poor and help them improve their lives. This is clearly seen in the Pentateuch, Jesus’ teaching, and in the book of James.

There is a need to give, and give richly or hilariously, because God loves a cheerful giver. But not to give beyond what we can afford. In other words, we don’t give in a way that dries up the source of our giving.

Though it appears that the Macedonians may have done this, this is not necessarily what everyone should do. The point here is the heart. The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. Give what you are called to give. Consider your heart and your life circumstances.

It is not about how much you give, monetarily, God doesn’t “need” your money. It is about how you give in relationship to what you have been given, or what you have.

This is why Paul speaks of the idea of a proportional balance. Not as a legal principle. There is no number, per say, just give out of what you have from the heart.

When we find we have plenty, we can help others who don’t have enough. God wants us to give out of our heart, that is where his focus is. He doesn’t want us to live with the root of all kinds of evil in the seat of our hearts. We give out of what we have from the heart. Thus, both the rich and the poor can give proportionately great gifts to God.

A gift is acceptable to God when it comes in accordance with our means, not an amount. In other words, give what you can when you can. The size of the offering isn’t what matters, the size of your heart is what matters.

Even the poor can give a great offering. This is the point of proportionate giving. The point is to create equality or reciprocity in meeting each other’s needs. Don’t compare yourself to others, after all, remember the widow’s mite from Mark 12:41-44

What will be the reciprocity then to Corinth? They receive rich spiritual blessings from the covenant that was originally given and held by the Jews. He brings this up in verse 15.

Giving and receiving (14)

The idea here is that we can have reciprocal giving. The Corinth church gave to Jerusalem, and Jerusalem could one day give back. This giving back does not necessarily mean financial remuneration. It could be a spiritual giving back as well.

It is important here, however, to not think that this is some, “You scratch my back and I will scratch yours.” It is a side note that he wants them to keep in mind, not to be the primary motive. The motive is clear…Jesus Christ.

The reality is that in some way, the Jerusalem church has already given them a great gift, the new covenant. The Jerusalem church is the bridge between the blessings of the old covenant and the riches of the new covenant. Thus, they already have their reciprocity to some extent.

The redemptive historical understanding of giving from Ex. 16:18 (15)

It is interesting to think about verse 15. In the OT this reciprocity was by a miracle, mana. Under the NT it is also by a miracle. God provided for everyone just as much as they needed. God controlled how much each one received. Now, as we are in the new covenant and have received the miracle of redemption, forgiveness of sin, our giving to bring reciprocity is no longer by the miracle of mana and quail, but by God’s grace in our hearts, which produces a normalcy in giving. Our giving is produced from a heart that was reborn by a miracle.

The equality of provision in the Exodus should be matched in the new covenant, the greatest and truest Exodus of all time. God’s provision in the manna and quail is reconfirmed in Christ, our true bread, our true food. The major difference now is that it is provided by God himself through his people as he lives in them!

Application

And so, what do we learn from this? The quantity of your giving is up to you. As one commentator said, “I am convinced that the quantity of your giving will match the quality of your changed hearts.”

It has been said that ‘One preacher sent out an appeals letter that stated, “You can’t outgive God. We have figured out that if everyone who hears our program sends $67.00 , we’ll have all the money we need, and God will give it back to you five times over.” An astute listener wrote back, “I believe you can’t outgive God. So here’s my deal: you send me $67.00 and I’ll have the money I need, and then God will give it back to you five times over.” Predictably, that was the last appeal he received.’

But, we can’t forget that we are also told that by giving we will store up treasure in Heaven. And I am sure that giving out of the abundance of the grace that has been given to us out of the heart will. However, if we are giving to get credit in Heaven for it, we need to remember the Scottish usher, “You will only get credit for the penny.”

Paul is teaching us and the Corinthians what Zacchaeus experienced when he came to Christ. People who truly experience the extravagant saving grace of God in Christ give. The reality is that giving itself is a grace that is given to us by God. God’s grace was given to the Macedonians, who begged for the grace of helping to meet the needs of the saints. This example is given to us and the Corinthians to urge us to complete the grace of God in our lives.

But most of all it is the grace of Christ that we should look to: “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” (v. 9). We as God’s people give from a joyful heart according to what we have and do not bankrupt ourselves.

Let’s reconsider how we live in this world. Let’s look to the joy we have in Christ Jesus as we have experienced his grace. Let’s live out of that grace.