2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 8:1-9,
“Giving From The Grace Of God”
By
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at Paul now that he has finished his
argument in defense of himself and his apostleship, and also admonished the
Corinthians to be perfecting holiness, begin to discuss how that he had at
first regretted writing to the Corinthians the ‘severe letter’ since he knew the
pain that it would bring to them, however after Titus informed him that the
Corinthians had expressed genuine repentance after reading his letter, Paul was
now no longer sorrowful that he had written the letter
1.1.1. We took a close look at
“what should accompany genuine repentance” in a believer’s life as we saw how
Paul described the Corinthian’s response of godly sorrow which produced a
repentance without regret on their part
1.1.2. We examined those things
that should be apparent in a person’s life who has truly repented and come to
salvation through Christ
1.2.
In our study today, we see that Paul has gone from writing exhortations
to holiness to the church in Corinth to encouraging them in regard to a
practical consideration, that of completing the pledge that they had previously
made to weekly give towards a relief fund for the mother church in Jerusalem
1.2.1. We will see that Paul uses
the Macedonian church as well as Jesus Himself as examples for the Corinthians
to follow in their giving
1.2.2. Paul had instructed the Corinthians
a year earlier when he wrote 1 Corinthians to begin to give weekly towards the
relief fund for the Jerusalem church, however they had gotten side-tracked and
hadn’t completed it.
1.2.2.1.We learn from the
Corinthians that just having good intentions of doing good deeds and being in
God’s will is not good enough. Christian
people often have grandiose ideas of how they would like to be used by the
Lord, and many times they may even make commitments and pledges towards doing
those things. However, we Christians
will be rewarded by Jesus at that Bema Seat judgment of rewards based not upon
our intentions but rather based upon what we have actually done, for it is a
judgment of works not of intentions
1.2.3. We will look at the fact
that giving comes from receiving the grace of God
1.2.4. Today, as part of three or
four total messages from 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, we are going to look at
some important principles from the word of God concerning our giving
2.
VS 8:1-3 - “1 Now, brethren,
we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the
churches of Macedonia,2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of
joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.3 For I
testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of
their own accord,” - Paul tells the Corinthians
about how the Macedonian churches have given sacrificially towards the relief
fund for the Jerusalem church
2.1.
In our last two studies Paul had been exhorting the Corinthians about
holiness telling them that they needed to be committed to cleansing themselves
from all defilement of flesh and spirit and be perfecting holiness, and then
discussing what genuine repentance consists of and how that godly sorrow
produces repentance. We would have
thought that Paul would have next taken the next step in that theme and
continued either exhorting or encouraging them, however instead Paul now
begins a prolonged very practical encouragement to the Corinthians
concerning their giving.
2.1.1. Proceeding from spiritual
immediately to practical, that is what we Christians often need to do. Spiritual truths must result in practical
decisions in reality on our part or our faith is not genuine.
2.1.2. Paul did this same thing in
chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians as he proceeded from chapter 15 and his long teaching concerning the
resurrection of the dead and the essential truths of Christian doctrine to
instructing the Corinthians that they should begin to take up weekly offerings
for the poverty-stricken mother church in Jerusalem.
2.2.
The church in
2.2.1. There had been a famine in the
2.2.2. Since that time the
church had experienced much persecution from their Jewish brethren, and the
Christians were black-balled from trade and jobs as well. Even though the people in the church in
2.3.
We should examine the apostle Paul’s motives for wanting to enlist
the help of the Gentile churches to send relief to the mother church in
2.3.1. Paul taught and believed
that the Gentile churches were debtors to the Jewish church and thus he sought to
enlist the Gentile brethren to send relief funds to the mother church.
2.3.2. During Paul’s first
missionary journey there arose a controversy in the church in
2.3.2.1.Paul said at that time that
this was something that he was “eager to do.”
2.3.3. Paul saw that the tension
and disunity between the Gentile churches and the
2.3.4. Paul wrote in Gal. 6:10 that
our primary responsibility as Christians is to take care of those of the
household of faith, that is, fellow Christians.
2.3.5. We will see in our next
study that Paul saw that it was the responsibility of those of God’s
household who have been very fortunate to help those in His household who
have not had this same fortune.
2.4.
In this study, we will see that Paul uses the example of the
Macedonian church, which consisted of the churches in Philippi,
Thessalonica, and
2.5.
The key word in chapter 8 here is ‘grace’ which comes from the Greek
word ‘karis.’ This word is found 7 times
in the chapter, and even though it is not translated ‘grace’ each time its
use shows us that the giving that Paul is referring to in the chapter is the
result of the ‘grace’ of God working in people’s lives, in particular the
Macedonians.
2.5.1. We normally think of God’s
‘grace’ as being defined as “undeserved merit and favor” with God, and
that it is. However, in verse 4
the word ‘gift’ is found, however the Greek word that is used there is
‘charis.’ You see, God’s gifts are works
of His ‘grace!’
2.5.2. J. Vernon McGee has written the following
about how the New Testament writers took the secular Greek word ‘grace’ and
adopted it and transformed it to be used to describe how God deals with us, “I
studied classical Greek before I studied Koine, the Greek of the Scriptures,
and I found that the Greek word charis means an outward grace like
beauty or loveliness or charm or kindness or goodwill or gratitude or delight
or pleasure. The Greeks had three
graces: good, fine, noble. The Greeks were missionary-minded about their
culture, and they wanted to impart this to others. The Holy Spirit chose this word, gave it new
luster and a new glory, and the Christian writers adopted it…The grace of God
is the passion of God to share all His goodness with others. Grace means that God wants to bestow upon you
good things, goodnesses.”
2.5.2.1.Thus, we can see how in the
scriptures a gift, as in spiritual gifts or in monetary giving, in the New
Testament was called a ‘charis.’
2.5.3. The giving of the
Macedonians was the result of their responding appropriately to the ‘grace’ of
God in
their lives. It was God working through
them in His grace, and it was them giving freely and unconditionally as they
were being made like Him, transformed into Christ’s image.
2.6.
After Paul had written the letter of 1 Corinthians and in
chapter 16 instructed each of them to weekly put aside an amount designated
for the church in
2.7.
Paul sets before the Corinthians the example of the Macedonians to
encourage them in their giving, for their giving was a remarkable testimony to
what the Lord was doing in their lives. Paul
gives an incredible equation to us, for he says concerning the Macedonians
that: “a great ordeal of affliction
plus deep poverty plus the joy of the Lord resulted in a an overflow of wealth
in the liberality of their giving:”
2.7.1.
2.7.1.1.I have heard several
testimonies in my lifetime of Christians going over to some of the poorer
places in the world to minister to the people and then ending up being humbled
because of the generosity of the people towards them.
2.7.1.1.1.For instance, several years
ago my father-in-law and a group from his church went to a rural mountain
village in
2.7.2. It was more than mere
poverty
however that the Macedonians were experiencing, for Paul records that they
were going through a great ordeal of affliction, which is most likely a
reference to their also experiencing much persecution.
2.7.3. The Macedonians were
filled with the joy of the Lord in the midst of their deep poverty and
the great ordeal of affliction that they were experiencing. They met the ‘God of all comfort’ in the
midst of all that they were going through and as a result of how the Lord
had ministered to them, both in bringing them to salvation as well as meeting
them where they were, the Corinthians were overflowing with God’s ‘grace’
themselves and thus their giving resulted in a ‘wealth’ of ‘liberality.’
2.8.
Paul writes here that the Macedonians had given according to their
ability, which of course we would expect to be a very limited amount
considering the fact of their ‘deep poverty.’
However, they went way beyond that and gave ‘beyond their ability.’
2.9.
In the New Testament, the word ‘tithing’ (which means a 1/10th)
is not found,
and we have to conclude that since ‘tithing’ is not mentioned that the church
is under a different standard than that which the Law of Moses required of
everyone. In the New Testament, we read
that each one is to give “according to his ability,” or in proportion of how
the Lord has blessed. For some, a
tithe may be too much. For others, a
tithe is much too little.
2.9.1. J.C. Penney, when he started building
the first of his stores, he made a decision that instead of giving God 1/10th
of everything that he made he instead chose to give 9/10ths, or 90%,
of all that he ever made. We can see the
blessing that he attained as a result of a determination to give sacrificially
to the Lord in this way.
2.9.2. For well over 10 years, the
church that my wife and I attended in
2.10.
We are to give in accordance with what we have, or in proportion with how
we have been blessed. In the Matt.
12:42-44, there is the story recorded of Jesus commending the
giving of the widow who gave only two mites and Jesus telling His disciples
that this woman had given more than all of the rest because they gave
out of their surplus but she gave all that she had, “42 And a poor widow
came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent.43 And calling
His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put
in more than all the contributors to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their surplus,
but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.””
3.
VS 8:4-5 - “4 begging
us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the
saints,5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to
the Lord and to us by the will of God.” - Paul
writes to the Corinthians that the Macedonians begged to be allowed to give
towards the relief fund
3.1.
At some point in the past year when Paul had been with those in the
Macedonian churches, the churches had expressed a desire to give towards the
relief fund for the poverty-stricken mother church in
3.2.
Paul writes here that the Macedonians gave, ‘not as we had expected.’ That is, they gave far beyond what Paul
thought that they might give towards this relief fund.
3.3.
Jim Elliot, the missionary that was martyred in
3.3.1. We as Christians should be
encouraged by the Lord, and by faith choose to give as He leads us, and not be
afraid to give. After all, “You cannot
out-give God.”
3.4.
There are a couple of beatitudes spoken by Jesus that are not found
recorded in His Sermon On The Mount. One
of them has to do with giving and is found in Acts.20:35, "Remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give
than to receive'".
3.4.1. This is such an incredible
truth, isn’t it? What a blessing it is
to give!
3.5.
I do believe that the scriptures indicate that we as Christians need to
give to the church first, and that our primary giving needs to be through our local
church. This is what Paul instructed the
Corinthians to do in chapter 15 of 1 Cor.
I think that it is wrong for a
Christian to have his primary giving be to a para-church ministry, or some sort
of charity organization, even if it is a Christian organization.
3.6.
Paul writes here that the Macedonians, ‘first gave themselves to the
Lord and to us by the will of God.’
He is saying that they had come to the place that they accepted the
fact that everything that they owned and possessed really belonged to the Lord. It was His to use and dispense of as He
desired. Thus, they were simply following
the revealed will of God in giving as they had for the mother church in
3.6.1. Many times we Christians
tend to hold on to certain things in our lives, not giving them to the
Lord or allowing Him to use and dispense with as He wills. For instance:
3.6.1.1.I used to have a problem
lending people my car because I was afraid they might wreck it if I do so. However, God got me past that by making me
realize that my vehicles belong to Him.
3.6.1.2.I used to not allow other
people to touch or play my guitars for fear that they might do something to damage
them. However, the Lord reminded me that
they also belong to Him.
3.6.1.3.Etc., etc.
3.6.2. Do you hold all of your
possessions with an open hand before the Lord, as did the Macedonians? Is your house God’s house? Is your car God’s car? Is your jacket God’s jacket, etc., etc.?
3.6.2.1.The Lord does not force us
to give, and Paul did not force the Corinthians to give. He merely gives them His advice about their
giving. He knew that they would be wise
to have an open hand before the Lord and give as He had blessed them and led
them to give.
3.6.3. A few years ago now I had a
neighbor in Seattle who sold sport’s-memorability sweatshirts for a living. These were the highest quality sweatshirts
that sold for $50 and up. Each year he
would have to get rid of all of his demo products so that he could begin
selling the next year’s sweatshirts, and one year I had the ability to buy any
and all of them from him that I wanted for $5 each. I was really financially bound at the time so
I only managed to buy about four of them.
I really loved wearing these sweatshirts I bought because they were so
soft and yet very warm, that is, with the exception of one the sweatshirts
which I just couldn’t seem to bring myself to wear. However, this sweatshirt was the very best
quality of material, and it was probably sold for $75. One day, I felt the Lord telling me that He
wanted me to give this sweatshirt to a friend of mine who happened to be a
major fan of the particular team displayed on the sweatshirt. In my selfishness I was reluctant at first
because this was a very nice sweatshirt.
But, I finally invited him over one afternoon and I told him that this
was kind of weird but it was kind of a “God-thing” that I felt that the Lord
wanted me to give him this sweatshirt.
His eyes really lit up when he saw it.
It was just the kind of sweatshirt that he had always wanted but could
never afford. He later started to tell
me about several of the “God-things” that the Lord had put upon his heart to do
for others, and I was a little embarrassed that I didn’t do this sort of thing
more often. It was just a good time for
the both of us fellowship in Christ and talking about how God was working in
our lives.
3.6.3.1.We are all so blessed when we
are simply obedient to God’s leading in regard to our giving and blessing
others out of the grace that the Lord has given to us!
4.
VS 8:6 - “6 Consequently
we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also
complete in you this gracious work as well.” -
Paul tells the Corinthians that he had urged Titus to complete this
offering to the mother church in behalf of the Corinthians
4.1.
Titus had had a very good reception with the Corinthian church and had gained their trust
and confidence in the Lord. Plus, he had
a very fond place in his heart for them.
Therefore, it was only appropriate that Paul should enlist Titus in this
work of getting together this collection from the saints in
4.2.
Paul knew that Titus would also delight to do this work.
4.3.
Titus along with a couple of other brothers trusted by the Corinthians
would then take the gift to the mother church in
5.
VS 8:7 – “7 But just as you abound in everything, in faith
and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired
in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.” - Paul recounts for the Corinthians the fact
that the grace of God had been poured out into them, and they abounded in it,
and for this reason he encourages them to also abound in this gracious work
5.1.
In the Greek this verse ends with Paul telling the Corinthians to
abound in this ‘charis’ also. You see as they
had also been overflowing in the grace of God because of all of the wonderful
things that the Lord had been doing in their lives, Paul tells them to
abound in this ‘grace’ (translated ‘gracious work’) also! They were to give from the grace of God.
5.2.
Paul had mentioned in the letter of 1 Corinthians how that the church
had every spiritual gift and were not lacking in anything (1 Cor. 1:7). They were fat cats because of the
Lord’s blessings in their midst, and therefore deeply indebted to the Lord for
His grace in their lives. The Lord had
poured out His wonderful blessings and ‘graces’ (gifts) upon the Corinthians, now
they could not but reciprocate in gracing (giving) to the mother church in her
need. Paul tells the Corinthians that
they abounded in:
5.2.1. ‘Everything.’
5.2.1.1.In every blessing in Christ
they did not have just enough to get by, they abounded!
5.2.2. ‘Faith.’
5.2.2.1.The Corinthians were filled
with ‘faith’ (or trust) in the Lord
because of His faithfulness to keep every one of the promises of His word.
5.2.3. ‘Utterance.’
5.2.3.1.The Corinthians were graced
by God in the gift of tongues. They
had been so blessed by the gift that they had gotten off balance and
overestimated the importance of that gift over other spiritual gifts.\
5.2.3.2.The Corinthians were graced
by God to be able to preach the gospel and expound upon the word in
teaching and exhortation also.
5.2.4. ‘Knowledge.’
5.2.4.1.The Corinthians had been
graced by God with good teaching during the time of their existence, first
from the year and a half that Paul had been with them after planting the
church, then later as Barnabas pastored them and was mighty in the
word. As a result they were filled with
the ‘knowledge’ of God.
5.2.5. ‘Earnestness.’
5.2.5.1.This Greek word ‘spooday’
which is translated here as ‘earnestness’ implies that the
Corinthians had a diligence or carefulness in doing what is right before the
Lord. The Corinthians had been
graced by God with this ‘earnestness’ and zeal before the Lord to serve and
honor Him with their life.
5.2.6. Agape ‘Love.’
5.2.6.1.The Corinthians had been
graced by God with His love. They
were filled to overflowing with the love of God. They had stumbled after the ‘super-apostles’
had come in amongst them and deceived them, however they were now seeing the
error of their way and attempting to make the proper amendments to their
spiritual walk with the Lord.
5.2.6.2.The ‘love’ which the
Corinthians were graced by God with was inspired by Paul and those with him. Paul is not bragging about how much he had
shown the Corinthians the love of God in practical ways, he was just being
honest.
5.3.
Now, for a point of application in our lives, I would like you to think
just for a minute. If the apostle Paul
said that the Corinthians abounded in everything through the grace of God that
had been working in their midst, I wonder if he were to come among us here
today what he would say about how we in the church have been blessed by God’s
grace?
5.3.1. Have we not available to us
fabulous fully printed New and Old Testament scriptures, not to mention the
many Bible helps books, computer programs, and preaching? Have we not been blessed greatly in
prosperity here in
6.
VS 8:8 - “8 I am not
speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others
the sincerity of your love also.” - Paul tells
the Corinthians that he is not speaking to them concerning the keeping of this
pledge that they had made for the mother church out of a commandment
6.1.
There is a very important principle concerning New Testament giving in
this verse and chapter: the Lord does
not command us as to how much we have to give, rather we are to give as much as
we desire and determine to Give!
6.2.
Giving for the Christian is from the grace of God, and thus it is like
love. God does not demand our love, we
choose whether or not we will love God or not.
We Christians determine how much we want to respond to the grace of God
that He has poured into our lives through all of the blessings that we have
received. The Lord will lead us in
our giving, but He will not force us to give because He would rather us not
give if in doing so we would be giving grudgingly...
6.3.
God overflows our lives with His grace, and then it is up to us whether
or not we will allow ourselves to overflow in generosity in giving back to the Lord
and towards others who are in need.
7.
VS 8:9 - “9 For you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” - Paul tells the Corinthians to consider the
Lord Jesus Christ as their example in their giving
7.1.
I thank God for the example of people such as the Macedonians, who will give
sacrificially of their substance to the Lord.
We all need to have those kinds of examples for encouragement in our
Christian life. However, always and in
all ways the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate example for us Christians
to follow!
7.2.
Let’s think for a moment about the Lord Jesus Christ and all of the
riches that He gave up for us:
7.2.1. Paul is of course taking it
for granted here that the Corinthians understood the pre-existence of Jesus
Christ before His incarnation. He
existed for all eternity as the third person of the Triune God. He was God the Son.
7.2.2. Being God, Jesus Christ
before coming to earth had all of the wealth of the universe at His fingertips, for not only does He
possess the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10), He possess all of the
hills, valleys, rivers, oceans, etc. on the earth, not to mention every planet
or celestial object and every creature whom He has created.
7.2.3. Jesus Christ also possessed
all of glory and power of God before His incarnation. He was willing to lay aside all of that to
become a human and dwell among us so that He might qualify to become our
kinsman redeemer and procure salvation for the sins of man.
7.2.3.1.In Phil. 2:5-11, Paul
wrote to the Philippians to consider Jesus’ having laid aside all of His glory
and might to become man, and have the same attitude in themselves which He had,
“5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,6 who,
although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a
thing to be grasped,7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant,
and being made in the likeness of men.8 And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross.9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name
which is above every name,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,11 and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
7.2.3.2.There is a sense in which
Jesus, you see, had to lay aside not only the glory of the godhead in becoming
man, He also laid aside some of the power and attributes that He had as God
in doing so.
7.2.3.2.1.He could not have been our
perfect sin offering nor our example in how we respond to all of the
difficulties and suffering that we experience if He utilized all of His powers
and privileges as God while on earth!
7.2.4. Not only did the Lord Jesus
give up all of His glory as God when He became a man, Paul writes here that
He became ‘poor.’ Jesus lived in a
household that existed at the poverty level, and He never possessed this
world’s riches during His lifetime.
7.3.
Why did Jesus lay aside His glory, riches, privileges, and power as God
to become a man? Paul tells us that it
was so that He could make you and I rich.
So
that we might become rich!
7.3.1. You and I as Christians are rich
in the grace of God.
7.3.1.1.We’ve had all of our sins
forgiven and atoned for through His cross.
7.3.1.2.The penalty of our sin which
we owed to God He himself paid.
7.3.1.3.God has poured His grace
into each and every one of us who are believers today, and thus we are rich in
the grace of God.
7.3.2. Through Jesus the scriptures
also teach us that we will be kings and reign with Him when He sets up
His kingdom. See 2 Tim. 2:12 and Rev.
20:6.
8.
CONCLUSION:
8.1.
How has the Lord poured His grace into your life child of God? Are you not full to overflowing with the good
things that the Lord has done in your life?
8.1.1. You know, we in the church
here in
8.2.
Will you respond to God’s grace as is appropriate and have an open hand
concerning your possessions and the things that you give back to God and His
work and give as the Lord leads and directs you?
8.2.1. God wants to show you how
blessed it can be when you simply give as the Lord leads you
8.3.
One day you will all meet these Macedonian brethren who were greatly
afflicted in their ordeals and in deep poverty and yet gave beyond their means,
will it be your legacy that you also responded to God’s grace with your giving
so that you also gave with a wealth of liberality?