(2 Corinthians) ch.8:10-9:15 — Zac Poonen

Giving as an Expression of Christ's Grace

Let's turn today to 2nd Corinthians and chapter 8. We were considering in our last study Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians to share in the abundance that God had given to them materially with the poor saints in Jerusalem.

And he does not challenge them by some Old Testament command to give 10 of their income to God but rather he says, look at Jesus Christ as your example. And we considered that in our last study. Verse 8, I'm not speaking this as a command, but verse 9, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And this is always the way that we are to challenge Christians to give, not by reference to an Old Testament command to take, but rather to the example of Jesus Christ and giving them freedom to do exactly as they feel free to do.

And Paul says further, as we've seen in verse 10, that he gives his opinion, not a command, but his opinion. And he says this is for your advantage. And now that you have begun to do this, obviously the Christians in Corinth have begun to give, he says, complete it according to your ability.

Willingness Rather Than Quantity

And then we come to verse 12, which has an application not only to the subject of giving, but to many other matters in the Christian life. It says in verse 12 that if the readiness is present, in other words, if you are willing to give a gift to God or to do something for the Lord, it is accepted by God according to what a man has and not according to what he does not have.

In other words, God accepts you according to your ability to give, not according to somebody else's ability to give. If there is a desire, that is what God sees first of all. In other words, it's not the quantity that we give, but rather the attitude with which we give, which is important to God.

We must remember this, because very often we think that God's impressed by large gifts. We know that Jesus, when he saw the widow put in her two mites, was more impressed by that because of the attitude with which that widow gave, compared to the Pharisees who gave large gifts.

The same thing we see here, it is the readiness, the willingness, which God sees and not the quantity. As I said, this has application not only to giving, but to many other aspects of the Christian life.

God's Acceptance Within Our Limitations

Very often we may not be able to do all that we want to do for the Lord in terms of service, exterminate. Here is a good verse to encourage people who seem to be limited by their circumstances, perhaps mothers with a number of children who are not able to move out much of their homes like many other people can.

It is the willingness of your heart that God sees, and God knows the limitations that there are in your life because of your circumstances. If the willingness is there, God accepts what you offer according to your limitations.

The man who has been given only one talent is expected by God to produce only one talent. Whereas the person who has been given ten talents, God expects him to produce ten according to what a person has.

To whom more has been given, more will be required, and to whom less has been given, less will be required. And this is why it is foolish to compare ourselves with one another and either feel discouraged because we can't do as much as others, or feel proud because we are doing more than others.

It is impossible to compare ourselves with one another because we don't know how much God has given to the others, and it is according to each person's ability that God is finally going to judge. Therefore there is no need for discouragement, there is no room for pride.

Equality and Mutual Care Among Believers

Further, he says in verse 13, he says I am not saying this so that other people can have an easy time as it were living off your charity and your goodness, and that you have a difficult time because you sacrifice and give to others, but by way of equality.

It is not God's will that a Christian or a Christian worker should live at ease and comfort at the expense of another brother's sacrifice. Now there's a lot of that going on today in Christendom, and that's quite contrary to the spirit of the New Testament.

Paul says I do not desire that other people have a cushy time at the expense of your sacrificing your money in order to help them. That's not what I mean, he says. He says at this present time they are in need, and your abundance, you have an abundance, and that can supply their lack and their need.

And one day you may find that you are in need, and that the turn has come for them to have an abundance, and in such a situation their abundance will be a supply for your need, so that there can be an equality.

As it is written, Paul says in the Old Testament, this is a quotation from Exodus 16 and verse 18, where when the manna was collected by the Israelites, it was amazing to see that the one who gathered a lot greedily did not have anything left over, and the one who gathered little didn't have any lack.

God was teaching them out in the wilderness not to be greedy and selfish. We have a tendency towards that in our flesh, to think in terms of ourselves, to gather much for ourselves and our family. But you'll find in the long run that it doesn't really lead to the blessing of God.

He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack. If we count in terms of money, it is true that there are believers who gather much who have plenty of money, and that there are those who have little money, but when it is a question of the blessing of God, you find that the one who gathers much does not really have much more of the blessing of God, and the one who gathers little has no lack.

And he uses this Old Testament quotation to say this is how it must be among believers. Jesus said all men will know you are my disciples when you love one another. And one of the practical aspects of this love that John himself mentions in 1 John chapter 3 is that if you see your brother in need of food or clothing and you do not help him, how can the love of God abide in you?

One of the clearest manifestations of our love is in practical matters where we can help one another when someone in the brotherhood is in financial need or lacking material things. And there we must remember how God intended it to be among his people when he gave them the manna in the wilderness.

That the one who gathered much, if God has enabled you, brother or sister, to gather much financially, remember that is with the intention that you have an opportunity to share that wealth that God has enabled you to acquire with others who are in need.

Of course we need to do this in wisdom so that we don't allow people to exploit us, as mentioned in verse 13 where somebody else tries to live a cushy life at our expense. He's not catering for that. But this principle we must bear in mind.

We must not think that what we have gathered is with our own ability. Just like when the people gathered the manna in the Old Testament, that manna was not produced by them. They collected it, no doubt, but it was given by God.

And every believer must realize that whatever he has of material things or money, though he may collect it with his own labor and his own efforts, it is still given by God as much as that manna from heaven.

And if it is given by God, it must be given with a purpose. And it is not God's will that I accumulate so much that I have no concern for that other brother who has need. The one who has gathered little should have no lack.

Then we can say, why does God allow him to get little? So that you can have an opportunity to manifest the love of Christ towards that brother. That's why God allows such circumstances. So having mentioned that, he goes on to speak about the brothers who are going to come and collect this offering.

Titus and the Integrity of Ministry

He says, thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness, verse 16, on your behalf in the heart of Titus. Titus was the one who was sent by Paul, along with one or two other brothers, to collect this offering of the Corinthians to pass it on to the churches in the Jerusalem area.

And he says, he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord. Paul says, Titus is not coming just because I sent him. He is eager to serve the saints in Jerusalem.

He wasn't collecting that money for himself. Remember this, Paul wasn't asking people to support him. Titus wasn't coming to take a collection for himself. He was eager to take a collection to bless others without touching one pie of it himself.

That was the spirit of those apostles. They never took for themselves. They worked with their hands, Paul did, to support himself. But he was eager that Christians should seek to help one another. And Titus, having lived with Paul for so long, imbibed that same spirit.

And he says here, Titus has come to you with that same earnestness and eagerness to be of service in transporting this collection of yours to the saints in Jerusalem. Let's turn today to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 18.

We were considering in our last study about Paul sending Titus to take the offerings from the church in Corinth not for the ministry of the apostles, but for the poor saints in Jerusalem. And he says in verses 16 and 17 that Titus himself was eager to serve in this way.

And along with Titus, Paul says in verse 18, we have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches. He doesn't mention the brother's name, but he says the brother's fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches.

A good testimony for all to have. One whose life has characterized the good news and recommended it to others. One whose eagerness to spread the gospel to others has been known in all the churches. One who is not seeking his own, but the glory of Christ.

And not only this, Paul says he's not sending this brother just because of his sterling character, but because he's also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our readiness.

Financial Accountability in the Lord's Work

Why does Paul take this precaution of sending a brother with Titus? He says in verse 20, this precaution is being taken so that no one should discredit us in our administration of this generous gift. And there we learn a fundamental principle in the handling of all money connected with the Lord's work.

That when it concerns money related to a church or the work of the Lord, it must never be handled by one person alone. However honest he may be. Because we must not give room for others to suspect. And therefore all financial matters, counting, handling of money, must always be done by at least two brothers.

And not any two brothers, but two brothers who have a very good testimony in the eyes of others. Notice here how Paul describes these people who are going to handle this money. One brother, he says in verse 18, is one whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches.

That's part of his qualification, to be able to handle finances. And secondly, the churches, verse 19, have also appointed him for this task. In other words, the churches also have confidence in him as one who can handle money.

And as far as Titus goes, Paul says, as far as Titus, I can testify, verse 23, he is my partner and fellow worker among you. One who was qualified to be a partner and a fellow worker with the apostle Paul.

And we know that Paul didn't take into his team any brother whom he found. Only if someone measured up to the standards that Paul expected, did he take someone on to his team as a partner. And Titus was one like that.

And it is not only one more brother that he sends. He goes on to say, in verse 22, that he has sent with him another brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

So there were three brothers actually, Titus and two other brothers, who went to receive this collection. And it's very significant to notice in this paragraph that all three of them have such an excellent testimony before Paul and before all the churches.

Paul has full confidence in them. The churches have full confidence in them. He describes them, in verse 23, the last part, as the messengers of the churches and a glory to Christ. It's wonderful if we can have a testimony like that.

That our life and our conduct is an honour to Christ. But the point I want to make here is that it is only such people whom Paul permitted to handle finances. The reason, we see in verses 20 and 21. He says, we are taking this precaution so that no one should discredit us in the administration of this generous gift.

For, he says, we have regard for what is honourable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. It's not enough to say that we are honest in the sight of God, particularly in financial matters.

We must not even appear to be dishonest in the sight of men. There must be a clear honesty that men can see in our attitude to money and in our handling of finances, particularly the finances of the church and connected with the Lord's work.

If Christians through the ages had followed these simple principles in the handling of finances, there would have been far less of disgrace and dishonour to the Lord's name through the scandals that have spread in so many churches and Christian organisations because of the misappropriation and the mishandling of money.

Money is not to be handled by a person merely because he has financial ability. There are many worldly people who have excellent financial ability. Paul is not speaking about the financial ability of these men.

He is saying that their lives are a glory to Christ. The churches have confidence in them. He says, I have confidence in these brothers and in spite of that I still do not send one of them alone. Three of them.

Paul never believed in having just one person as a treasurer handling money, always more than one keeping a check so that other people could not accuse him of anything. And Paul was very careful himself not to touch that himself for Paul was a target for accusation.

Being the leader of that team of ministers, he sent others. It is good for those who are called to full time Christian work not to handle finances themselves. It is good for those who are called to the ministry of the word to an apostolic or prophetic or teaching or evangelistic ministry or a shepherding ministry to concentrate on their ministry and to leave the ministry of handling money to others in the church who do not have the ministry of the word.

It is far better. That is what Paul did and that is the safe thing for us to do as well. And so he sends these brothers who may not be excellent preachers but who are excellent Christians. He says in verse 21 a principle that we need to bear in mind not only in relation to money but in relation to many other things.

He says we have regard for what is honourable not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men. In other words he says I want to be above reproach even in the eyes of men. It is not enough for us to say God knows my heart and I know I have done the right thing.

We have also got to be careful that we do not do anything either in the financial area or take for example the matter of relationships between the sexes. What an opportunity there is for scandal in this area if a person is not careful.

It is not enough for a person to say my motives are pure and my heart is pure. Here is the principle. We must be above reproach, verse 21, not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of men. And if we follow this principle then we shall protect ourselves from disgrace and also the Lord's name from reproach.

Proving Love Through Generous Service

And having given details about these brothers who are coming to take the collection on behalf of the churches in the Jerusalem area he says to the Corinthians therefore, verse 24, openly before the churches show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you.

He says I have told these brothers how good and how generous you are and therefore he says give them proof that my boasting was not in vain. And he goes on in chapter 9 to give the example of the churches in Macedonia, Philippi and other places in Macedonia who had given generously.

He says it is superfluous, chapter 9, verse 1, for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints. He says it is really unnecessary. I am sure you are eager to help. I know your readiness he says.

I have boasted about you to the Macedonians. I have boasted about you to others. That Achaia, that is Corinth, has been prepared since last year and your zeal has stirred up most of them. He says I have told the people in Philippi and Macedonia that you are eager to give and your zeal has stirred them to give.

And now I have sent these brethren, he says in verse 3, so that our boasting about you may not be made empty but that what I have said may be proved before them. Let us turn today to 2 Corinthians 9, verse 3.

Paul is saying here to the Corinthians that the reason why he is writing concerning the giving of money to the saints in Jerusalem and concerning the collection that has to be made in the church in Corinth for this purpose is so that they may have a chance to get the money ready before Titus and the other brothers come to collect that money.

He says so that as I was saying, verse 3, I have sent the brethren that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case but as I was saying you may be prepared. He had boasted to Titus and the others and to the brothers and sisters in Macedonia, Philippi and the regions surrounding that, that the saints in Corinth and the whole of Achaia were eager and ready to give.

And he is saying lest if any Macedonians come with me, verse 4, and find you unprepared, that means you are not ready to give, he says then we should be put to shame and of course you will be put to shame too by this confidence that I have shown in you.

And so he says I thought it necessary to urge Titus and these brothers that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift that the same might be ready as a bountiful gift and not affected by covetousness.

Giving Freely Rather Than Under Pressure

Here Paul is saying I want you to give this gift spontaneously and not money that is squeezed out of you by what I have said. That's how J .B. Phillips paraphrases it and that's really the meaning of that verse.

And here is a fundamental principle that all who urge Christians to give should bear in mind. Christians must be urged to give their gifts spontaneously. It must not be squeezed out of them. It must be a free offering, not something that is forced out of them under pressure.

And yet when we look at the way Christians are urged to give money nowadays for the Lord's work, alas, this principle is not followed. It is a far cry from the practice of the apostles. What we see in the raising of finances in Christendom today.

All types of pressures are applied to squeeze money out of Christians and non-Christians under the guise of the Lord's work needing money. And yet look at the principles that Paul adopts in these two chapters.

He says I want it to be a bountiful, generous, spontaneous gift, not something that is squeezed out of you under pressure. Having said that, he says now I'll tell you something. There is a law in God's dealings that a man reaps what he sows.

And he says in verse 6, he who sows sparingly, and that is grudgingly, scantily, will also reap sparingly. That is he'll reap a scanty harvest. But he who sows bountifully, generously, plentifully, will get a plentiful harvest.

He will reap bountifully. That's a law of God that we cannot change. It is more blessed to give than to receive. We read in Acts 20, verse 35, the words of the Lord Jesus. There is a blessing in giving.

Jesus himself said give and it shall be given to you. In the same measure in which you give, it will be measured back. God is never in debt to those who have given sacrificially, generously for his work and his service.

We have seen examples of that again and again. Those who have sacrificed and given of themselves, their time, their money, their energy, for the Lord and his people and his work. Unselfishly, sacrificially, God has taken note of it.

And he has paid it back to them and to their children in abundance. And those who have been stingy and miserly and very tight-fisted, have experienced that God is also stingy and miserly and tight-fisted towards them in their time of need.

That is just a fulfillment of this law. He who sows sparingly, reaps sparingly. He who sows bountifully, reaps bountifully. But having said that, Paul says, I am not saying this like a sort of a threat or like holding a carrot on a stick in front of a donkey to lead it on.

No, he says you must give as you decide in your own heart. Every one, verse 7, 2 Corinthians 9, 7, must do just as he has purposed in his heart. In other words, whatever you have made up your mind to give, give.

That's all. There should be no sense of compulsion or constraint. No, not grudgingly, not reluctantly. God doesn't want anyone to give money reluctantly or grudgingly. A pastor may be happy with a member of his congregation giving 10 of his income grudgingly, but God is not happy with such a person giving even 10 grudgingly.

God would be happier if that person gave 1 cheerfully. Notice the difference between old covenant giving of money and new covenant giving of money. In the old covenant, the emphasis was on the quantity.

It must be exactly 10%. It can't be 9 .5%. It must be 10%. And whether you give it grudgingly or happily makes no difference. You jolly well give the 10%. But in the new covenant, it's not like that. God loves, it says here in verse 7, a cheerful giver.

God is not looking at the quantity in the new covenant, but the quality of the giving. This is the fundamental difference between old testament giving of money and new testament giving of money. And we need to understand this.

And we must not allow any so-called teacher of the word to put some pressure on us to give when God himself has said that we are to give freely, cheerfully, according to our ability. Never in the new testament from the day of Pentecost onwards in Acts chapter 2 do we read a command to type.

That is an old testament command never repeated in the new testament. In the new testament the emphasis is always on giving cheerfully as we read here in chapter 9 verse 7. According to how much we have earned as we read in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 2.

And secretly as we read in the first five verses of Matthew chapter 6. New testament giving must be secretly done according to our ability with no percentage mentioned, but cheerfully. That's very important.

God's Grace for Every Need

God loves a cheerful giver means he doesn't love those who don't give cheerfully. He doesn't want any giving that's given under pressure. But if you give, God is not going to be in debt to you. As it says here in verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound towards you so that you always having all sufficiency in everything may have an abundance for every good deed.

That applies to finances. What it means is that God has the power to supply you abundantly with every kind of blessing. So that you have sufficient not only for your own need, but also to give away to other people in need.

You see when we give generously to the Lord and to his work and to his needy people God blesses us in such a way that we have enough for our own needs and also sufficient to bless others with. This is a manifestation of grace.

God is able to make grace abound towards you. Grace has many possibilities in our life. Grace is that which leads us to victory over sin, Romans 6 .14. Grace is also that which gives us a sufficiency for every situation in life, 2 Corinthians 12 .9.

My grace is sufficient for you. And here also it speaks about that grace making us sufficient in the realm of finances. God is able to make all grace abound to you in this area. And we can apply that verse to any circumstance we can find ourselves in at any time in life.

The grace of God is sufficient for every need that we can ever face in any time of our life. This is the teaching of 2 Corinthians 12 .9 which the Lord told Paul. And here also to all the saints, God is able to make all grace abound to you.

Is your need financial or physical or material or spiritual? God is able to make all grace abound towards you so that you have an all-sufficiency for that area of need in everything. So that you may have an abundance, not just that you can somehow scrape through, but that you can go through as a conqueror, more than a conqueror.

Having an abundance for every good deed, particularly if we are eager to make our lives a blessing to others, God's grace is more than sufficient. We turn today to 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 8.

We were looking at this very wonderful verse which says God is able to make all grace abound to you. That always having all-sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. And we considered in our last study that this is a verse that can have application to any situation of need that we can ever face in our life, not merely financial.

That the answer to all that need is a supply of God's grace. God's grace is sufficient for us and at all times it can make us completely sufficient and capable of overcoming, of meeting that need in everything.

That we can have an abundance for every good task that God wants us to do. And then he gives an Old Testament quotation from Psalm 112. Here in verse 9 he says, as it is written, Psalm 112 verse 9, he scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, his righteousness abides forever.

In Psalm 112, this is a verse that is written about the man who fears the Lord, Psalm 112 verse 1, who greatly delights in his commandments. Such a man gives freely to the poor and his righteousness endures forever.

God takes special care of those who have been concerned about the needy. There is another verse in Psalm 41 which reads like this, verses 1 to 3. How blessed is he who considers the helpless, that is the poor, because the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble.

The Lord will protect him and keep him alive. He shall be called blessed upon the earth. And do not give him over to the desire of his enemies. That means the Lord will not give him over to the desire of his enemies.

The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed when he is sick. And in his illness thou dost restore him to health. Or as the margin says, the Lord will make your bed when you are sick and raise you up from that to health.

What a number of promises in those three verses and the only condition mentioned in verse 1 is to consider those who are poor and needy. This is the attitude of God himself. We know that the attitude of Jesus Christ was this, that he could not sit in heaven and enjoy the comforts of heaven as long as he saw man suffering here on this earth.

And so great was that compassion that he gave up all that and came down here in order to lift us up so that we could enjoy what he was enjoying all the time. My dear friends, this is the spirit of Christ.

When you have this spirit that you cannot enjoy what God has given you all by yourself when you see your brothers and sisters in need but you want to lift them up and help them and sacrifice yourself in order to help them so that they can have what you have received from God, then you have the spirit of Christ.

And when we evaluate ourselves by this standard, we don't have to evaluate others, we are not to judge others, but we can evaluate ourselves. We see how far short we fall of the spirit of Christ. God is not in debt to anyone.

When we give to those who are in need, our righteousness, this generosity of ours will abide forever. It will never be forgotten. It stands as a lasting testimony to the glory of God, what we have done.

Sowing Generously and Reaping Thanksgiving

And so he says in verse 10, May God who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, may he supply and he will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

Here Paul says, your giving money is like sowing a seed. Just like the farmer, suppose he gets a huge crop of wheat. He doesn't eat it all up, neither does he store it all up. He eats some, stores some and sows some.

There are three things he does. He uses it for his family's needs, he stores a little for the future and he sows so that he can get a harvest next year. And he says it's exactly the same with money. You must be as wise as that farmer.

You need money to use for your own needs, sure. You probably need to lay some up for emergencies in the future. But you also need to do that third thing which that farmer does and that is to sow some of it.

And he says when you give to somebody in need, when you give to God and his people, what you are doing is sowing in God's vineyard. And if you don't do it, next year at harvest time, your fields are going to be empty.

A foolish farmer who eats it all up or stores it all up will have no harvest next year. A wise farmer, and all farmers are wise in this area, they sow because they know that they will have nothing next year if they don't sow.

And that's what we must do with money too. Remember this, dear friends, that what you give to God and his work is always like money sown. It will come back to you as a harvest. And you will be enriched in everything for all liberality which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.

He's saying, I pray that God will make you rich. Not just rich materially, but rich in generosity. That's a wonderful thing to be rich in. To be rich in generosity. If you are rich materially and you are not rich in generosity, you are actually poor in God's eyes.

It's the man who is rich in generosity who is rich in God's eyes. And so he says, may God give you enough for your needs and make you rich in generosity. For the ministry of this service, verse 12, is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.

He says, there are two things that happen when you give like this. First of all, it meets the needs of the saints. And secondly, there is an overflow from it. That when these saints who are in need suddenly find their needs met through others of God's people, they turn around and give thanks to God.

And so a dual blessing comes out of your generosity. Their needs are met and thanksgiving goes up to God, flows out to God, because of the proof given by this ministry. That means when they experience the proof of the success of this ministry of the gospel, the evidence afforded by the service that you have thus rendered, for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ.