2 Corinthians 8:8

Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit the grace of God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality... Therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge, in all diligence and in your love toward us, see that you abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity of your love. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes became he poor, that you through his poverty might be rich.

Giving is grace in action—and the truest test of whether we have known the grace of Christ ourselves.

Foundations for Gracious Giving

We are currently studying through 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9, two chapters that deal entirely with the subjects of treasure, wealth, and giving. Last week, in the opening of chapter 8, Paul set forth the churches of Macedonia—specifically Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea—as examples of a pattern of gracious giving. They gave in the midst of severe difficulty, they gave joyfully, they gave in spite of deep poverty, they gave in abundance and beyond their ability, they gave willfully and eagerly, they considered it a privilege, they gave as unto the Lord, and in accordance with the will of God—becoming an example for the last twenty centuries of what it means to be a gracious giver.

Those are foundational principles for New Testament giving. New covenant giving is not a mandate or a tax—a couple of words that have been in the news this past week—as it was under the old covenant. New Testament giving is wholly, completely a giving of grace. Paul uses the Greek word charis, translated grace, seven times in chapter 8. In verses 6 and 7 he uses it specifically to identify the offering being received for the church at Jerusalem, a church in need.

We must give graciously and faithfully. We give not because we have received anything, nor because we intend to receive anything. We give as motivated by the grace of Christ and seeking to show His grace. The amazing thing is that, scripturally, God does bless this kind of giving.

Giving Is Not Prosperity Theology

In my first study three weeks ago I made a long point that we do not hold to what is commonly called prosperity theology—giving for the purpose of getting something from God. There are passages that, taken out of context, would seem to teach it. Jesus said in Luke 6:38, "Give and it shall be given to you. Good measure, pressed down and shaken together, running over, shall men give unto your bosom." God said through Malachi, "Bring all your tithes into the storehouse... and prove me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out upon you a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Solomon said in Proverbs 3, "Honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your increase, so shall your barns be filled with plenty." And Proverbs 19:17: "Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed."

When taken out of context, these verses seem to validate health, wealth, and prosperity teaching. But if you are giving for the purpose of receiving the praise of men or the blessing of God, you are giving by carnal means. If, however, in the process of giving you are blessed of the Lord, then know for certain that God is blessing you for the purpose of making you a greater blessing. God loves to give through people because He is the great giver. "For God so loved the world that he gave." And He desires that we, having freely received, freely give.

Blessed to Be a Blessing

The principle we see throughout Scripture is that we are blessed to be a blessing. We see it with the first man of God by faith, Abraham. In Genesis 12:2 God says, "I will make you a great nation and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing." God blessed Abraham so that people would see in him that here was a man who truly knew and followed God. Ultimately the blessing spoken of there is that the Messiah, Jesus Christ the righteous, would come through Abraham's line. So the greatest blessing we could ever give is to extend the gospel of grace to those in need—and we live in a world desperately in need of it. We must walk circumspectly, eyes open and ears listening, looking for opportunities to give forth the good news of Christ, because that is true riches that extends into eternal life.

At the same time, we sit here in a room of great wealth. Across the span of humanity, just the people in this room comprise the top ten percent, even the top three percent by some statistics. You may say, "I don't have a lot, it's been a hard time," but we still have more than most of the world. When the Occupy movement keeps talking about "we are the 99%," I keep thinking, you're the 10 percent of the world that holds 80 percent of the wealth. We need to recognize what we have and recognize it as coming from God. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Even the ability to make wealth, Deuteronomy says, comes from God.

The Greed of the Human Heart

Those who teach "give so that you can get" are simply preaching greed, inspiring Christians to continue in greed, which is our natural tendency. How many recognize that in your own heart? We are greedy and selfish, and we live in a culture that fuels the little coals of selfishness in children by saying, "You need to look out for number one." We don't need to be told that—that's what we do by nature.

It's mind-boggling to me when people say you need to learn to love yourself before you can love others. There is not a single person on this planet who is not deeply in love with themselves. Who's the first person that comes to mind when you wake up in the morning? This is why kids are such a challenge to our selfish nature—they come running in at six in the morning needing to be fed, clothed, and changed, and immediately you are forced out of yourself to care for them. I'm convinced God created it that way. You don't even realize you're selfish until you get married, and it compounds with each child, because you see your selfishness reflected in them. The only people convinced that children are born inherently good are college students who don't have kids and read it in a psych book—then they have children and realize everything they read was wrong. The gospel of Christ transforms an individual at the heart level first, and then begins to permeate the entire life. Giving, in one sense, represents that change.

An Audacious Exhortation

Let's pick up at verse 7. After giving the Corinthians the pattern of gracious giving, Paul says, "Therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge, in all diligence and in your love toward us, see that you abound in this grace also." These are the kind of words the sinful heart loves—you abound in everything, you're so good, so faithful, you speak so well, you have such knowledge and love. You can imagine the Corinthians eating it up. Then comes the turn: "See that you abound in this grace also." The church at Corinth boasted in their gifts, their knowledge, their skillful ministers, their love—and now Paul challenges them to abound in giving too.

This is, in all seriousness, an audacious exhortation. If Paul preached this in a 21st-century American church, he'd certainly get some emails afterward. In context, Paul is clearly challenging the Corinthians to outdo the Macedonians in their giving. Look at verse 8. The New Living Translation puts it plainly: "I'm not commanding you to do this, but I am testing the genuineness of your love by comparing it with the eagerness of other churches."

I was a bit in awe as I connected the dots this week. Paul is essentially saying: the Macedonians have very little, and they have willingly and joyfully given a lot; you have far more, and you say that you're loving—so let's see it. Imagine someone saying that today in a Calvary Chapel church. "Listen, that church down in Escondido has outgiven you the last few years, so step it up." I guarantee some people would get up and walk out.

Does God Compare Offerings?

We start to wonder, how can it be okay to compare one person's offering to another? Before you disregard this, remember that God did exactly this with Cain and Abel in Genesis 4. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground; Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock. "The Lord had respect unto Abel's offering, but unto Cain's offering he had not respect." God compared the two.

Jesus compared offerings as well. In Luke 21 He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box—isn't that uncomfortable, Jesus watching people give?—and He saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. "Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. They all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

Now, I don't believe Scripture supports fostering competition within the body over giving. We are to give as unto the Lord, not to show up others. We won't keep a running total here. But apparently God does take notice. In the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, God keeps a record. To one He gave five, to another two, to another one. One squandered what he had; the others used it for God's glory. To the faithful the master said, "Well done, good and faithful servant"; to the one who squandered, "You wicked servant." So God measures both what is given and the proportion of what is given to what a person has. John Calvin said, "Rich men owe God a large tribute, and poor men have no reason to be ashamed if what they give is small."

Giving Is a Test of Our Love

Paul says he speaks this "to prove the sincerity of your love." Giving is a test—on at least three levels. First, it is a test of our love. First Corinthians 13, the love chapter, makes clear an individual can give without giving of love. Verse 3: "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing." Some give not motivated by love or grace but driven by a desire for the praise of men. You can give without love—but you cannot truly love without giving.

The most common word for love in the New Testament is the Greek agape, used 116 times. Twenty-seven of those times the King James translates it "charity," because that kind of love is demonstrated in giving—in reaching outside ourselves, a sacrificial love that expects nothing in return. This is not just our finances; it's our time and our talents. But it is also our treasure, to which our hearts are inordinately attached. Gallup has tracked a downward trend in American happiness over the last five years, paralleling the downward trend of people's pocketbooks. Our happiness is affected by what we have, which reveals how connected to our treasure we are. As Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." This is an uncomfortable message to hear—and I promise you, an even more uncomfortable one to preach.

Giving Is a Test of Our Faith

Second, giving is a test of our faith. Many say, "I can't give because I won't have enough to meet my needs." In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Therefore take no thought saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we wear... for after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." It sounds so bad when we say, "I can't just trust the Lord," and yet we're told, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding."

Consider the widow of Zarephath in 1 Kings 17. Elijah, in the midst of a famine brought by drought as God's judgment on the northern tribes, finds a widow about to make one last meal with her remaining flour and oil for herself and her son before they die. Elijah says, "Make me thereof a little cake first, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth." Do you think that took faith—to cook the prophet a meal before your own dying son's last supper? Verse 15 says she did according to the word of Elijah, "and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days," and the meal and oil did not fail. When we give of our first fruits, we are tested to trust the Lord.

Giving Is a Test of God's Faithfulness

Third, giving is a test of God's faithfulness. Malachi 3:10: "Prove me now herewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." In Philippians 4:19 Paul says, "My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Every one of you who has taken that test has found Him faithful. I've seen it repeatedly.

Taken out of context—and this is broadcast on TV—this can sound like other preachers on TV. If we give for the praise of men or the blessing of God, we're merely seeking something carnal. But if we give in faith as unto the Lord, we can trust He will meet our need. That does not mean He will meet our greed. He will meet our need. And every one of us has an area of greed easily tickled in this culture. When the Super Bowl lottery gave away hundreds of millions of dollars, there were lines of people standing two hours for a ticket, even driving from Nevada to California to get one. Why? Because there's greed in our hearts—"it's just a dollar, and I might win millions." Yet you're more likely to be struck by lightning, more likely to be murdered, more likely to die in a plane crash. It doesn't matter, because of the greed in our hearts. Many even say, "If I win, I'll give a lot." It's a test.

John MacArthur said giving "verifies the level of your love." Our actions, not our intentions, are the true test of our love—we know that in every other area of life. God sees both the gift and the motivation behind it, and apparently keeps a record where comparisons are made.

The Ultimate Comparison: The Grace of Christ

Paul compared the loving liberality of the Macedonians with the Corinthians, but in verse 9 he makes the ultimate comparison. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." After urging them to make good on this grace and to abound in it, considering all the Macedonians have done, he raises the bar still higher.

The word "know" here is ginosko—experiential knowledge. Have you experienced, have you come to know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ as displayed in the gospel, that He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him? Have you laid hold of the gift of God's grace—you who were once dead in trespasses and sins?

Ephesians 2 describes it: you were dead, walking according to the course of this world, by nature children of wrath. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; by grace ye are saved." He raised us up and made us sit in heavenly places, "that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace." As if salvation were not enough, He promises ever-expanding riches of His grace toward us. Why? "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." We who were once aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants, having no hope, "are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

Though He Was Rich, He Became Poor

Paul is specific: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are other lords in this world that people bow to. Other masters may have impoverished themselves giving to those under them, but it is the Lord Jesus Christ who gave everything for us so that we could be eternally rich in Him, knowing the exceeding riches of His glory forever. "Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich."

Where and how did He do this? Philippians 2: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant... and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Notice He desires that we be like-minded with Him in this. We could spend years on the grace of Christ, for the Scriptures say its riches are unsearchable. Throughout eternity God will be revealing the exceeding riches of His grace toward us in Christ Jesus.

Knowing Grace Is Showing Grace

Paul's logic is clear. The offering he requested of the Macedonians and Corinthians is a gift of grace—not a payment, because the gospel is free, and not given to receive anything in return. The Macedonians gave graciously out of poverty for the church in Jerusalem. The Corinthians had more, so Paul says they ought also to give graciously, remembering that Jesus is the supreme giver, having given everything to make us rich who were once poor in spirit—dead, without hope, estranged from the covenants and promises of God.

If you know the grace of the Lord, then motivated by His grace you will show the grace of the Lord. If you know it, you will show it; it will be evident in a transformed life. We are transformed at the heart level from being greedy, selfish sinners, completely renewed because He has given us a new heart. Yet there is still a conflict, because we bear in our bodies the dying of the old man. I experienced it just this week—someone presented a need, and I thought, "Why should I give to that?" That old man needs to be crucified.

Knowing grace is showing grace, and it is not an easy principle to live, because our hearts are bound up with the treasures of this world. We need to ask the Lord to uproot that. Every time I extend myself in giving of my time, talents, and treasure, He builds in me a deeper trust and the recognition that whatever I have is His. It's challenging to the depths of our old nature, but would to God that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ would be seen in us, His church. The world can't understand it, because this kingdom of God principle is so counter to the economy of 21st-century Western civilization. And so it sticks out as a bright shining light—may it shine all the brighter as the darkness of this world grows darker.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for this great passage of Scripture. I thank You, Lord, that You speak tough, hard things to us because You are desiring to transform us. Lord, work through us, Your church, to extend Your glory by showing Your grace in this world, by sharing the truth of the gospel with people we come in contact with, by sharing the goodness You've given us with others we meet. May it be that this world will know that we are Your followers by the love we have one for another—an agape love that is self-sacrificing. In Jesus' name, amen.