2nd Corinthians 8:6-24 | An Exhortation for Generous Giving
Last week we talked about 1st Corinthians 8 and 9 are about the subject of generous giving. The Apostle Paul was taking a special offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem. Turn to Romans 15. Romans 15:25 “25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. 26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.”. Paul is taking on this special offering for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. He’s telling the Church at Rome about the Churches in Macedonia and Achaia and how they are giving this certain contribution. If you remember from last week, Paul used the Churches in Macedonia as an example of generous giving as he was speaking to the Church of Corinth. In tonight’s sermon, we will start where we left off in verse 6 and finish the chapter. In verses 6-24, he shifts gears and encourages or exhorts the Church of Corinth to be a generous Church.
As I mentioned last week, it’s interesting to me that the Apostle Paul is dealing with the subject of a special offering and we will be taking a special offering in a couple of weeks on March 27th. I believe the Lord worked that out and I would not have been able to do that myself. Paul is encouraging or exhorting the Church of Corinth to be a generous Church.
2nd Corinthians 8:6 “6 Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.”. I want you to notice how he uses the word “grace” in this chapter. 2nd Corinthians 8:7 “7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.”. Often we use the word “grace” in regards to salvation. We talk about how grace simply means to receive something that we don’t deserve. It is a gift. Here he is using it in the context that they are giving a gift.
Notice verse 7 “7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.”. He tells them that they are abounding in everything or in all areas. He mentions “utterance” which is a reference to soulwinning. He mentions “knowledge” which is a reference to understanding scriptures. These people are a soulwinning Church which are doing great things for God. They understood the Bible, they were serving, have a good work ethic and were doing well in all areas.
Then he says this “abound in this grace also”. What is he referring to? He is referring back to the grace mentioned in verse 6. Paul is teaching this Church that in the Christian life, giving is part of discipleship. Of course we need to read our Bibles every day, go soulwinning every week, be faithful to Church and many other things. I hope you’re growing in those areas. I hope you’re growing in your faith and diligence. However, if you are growing in all of these areas then that includes giving. Giving is part of the growth in the Christian life. Paul says that he is glad they are abounding in all of these areas but abound in this also. Make sure that you don’t skip giving when it comes to your growth and your discipleship.
Go to Luke 3 in your Bibles. God does not want you to be this unbalanced Christian. I always think of Job in the Bible where it says he was a perfect and an upright man. Perfect does not mean sinless in the Bible but it means complete or whole. Job was balanced in all areas. He wasn’t lacking any area. He was faithful to Church, soulwinning but also giving. He was reading his Bible, praying and doing all of the things in the Christian life. We should want to be whole and complete and not be lacking in any area. If you are lacking in the area of giving then you are not right with God and need to get right with God. Jesus taught that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. If your treasure is not with the things of God then it shows that your heart is not with the things of God.
Luke 3:10 “10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?”. They are saying, we just got saved and baptized so what is the next step? John the Baptist gives 3 answers to 3 different groups. In verse 11 he says “He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.”. “Impart” means to give or bestow. Here is a group of new believers asking what they should do and John tells them to be generous. We need to be balanced in all areas of the Christian life. Paul gave an example of the Churches of Macedonia and he wants to give an exhortation in regards to giving. This is part of the Christian life. This is part of discipleship.
Paul is going to give 5 different exhortations or encouragements in regards to giving. I’ll give these to you as quickly as we can tonight. First Paul exhorts them regarding the proof of their giving. This goes back to the idea we were just talking about. 2nd Corinthians 8:8 “8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.”. Giving is the greatest proof of love. It goes back to the same idea of “where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”. If you’re not giving to the things of God then you’re not in love with the things of God. He is encouraging them to give by telling them they should give to prove the sincerity of their love. If you love the Lord Jesus Christ and you love God and love the Church of God then put your money where your mouth is.
Go to verse 24. “24 Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.”. He says he wants them to show the other believers that they love God. He says to give the special offering to show to them the proof of their love. Let us see the context though. Verse 8 “8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.”. Here’s a reason why you should give to prove the sincerity of their love. Verse 9 “9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”. He tells them he wants them to give to prove their love. When you give to something, you are proving that you love it.
Paul is saying that the greatest example of that is the fact that Jesus who when he was rich yet for your sakes became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich. He says the great example of giving is the Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:16 “16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”. You can give without love but you cannot love without giving. I want to encourage Verity Baptist Church for our upcoming vision offering. Why should we give? I’m just going to copy the reasons that Paul says for why we should give. Number 1 is giving proves the sincerity of your love.
1st Chronicles 29:3 “3 Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house.”. Affections means feeling of love or feeling about caring about something. David says that he loves the house of God and the people and the work of God. He explains that he gives because his affection is toward the house of God. Why does he say that? Because giving proves the sincerity of your love. How you spend your money proves the things that you care about. In a kind way, Paul states to put your money where your mouth is.
The first exhortation of giving is to prove the sincerity of your love. The 2nd exhortation is regarding the performance of their giving. 2nd Corinthians 8:10 “10 And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.”. Paul states this is expedient or good for them. What is he talking about? Here’s what Paul’s talking about. Paul’s saying that 1 year ago, when he was with them, some of them had committed to give toward a special offering. How did he know that? Maybe they had a vision offering and handed out communication cards where people committed to certain amounts. However, some people never actually gave what they committed.
Look, I don’t look at the numbers or the names but I would not be surprised if over the years there have been people at our Church who committed to give a certain amount at the vision offering and never followed through with it. Maybe you say “Pastor, that’s me.”. What should that person do? Follow through with the commitment. Paul talked about the proof of their giving but also the performance of their giving. By the way, it’s just good character to keep your word.
First he talks about the proof of their giving, to prove the sincerity of their love. Secondly he talks about the performance of their giving, to follow through with it. Thirdly he talks about the power of their giving. Verse 12 “12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.”. We talked about this verse last week when we were going through the first 5 verses. However, I want you to just notice again the power of their giving.
The word “power” is used by the Apostle Paul in verse 3. 2nd Corinthians 8:3 “3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;”. When he uses the word “power”, he is referring to their ability. Now he begins to talk to the Church of Corinth about their ability to give. Verse 12 “12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.”. What is Paul referring to or what is he explaining to the Church in Corinth? He is telling them that they aren’t expected to give what they don’t have. He says it is accepted according to that a man hath. Don’t worry about trying to give more if you are not able.
If you ever do public speaking or a lot of public speaking like I do, you’re going to have to say the same thing in different ways. People take it differently. You can make the exact same statement and flip the positive and negative around and it causes people to feel completely differently. When Paul says that we are not expect to give what we don’t have, that is reassuring to us. However, here is the flip side to that statement. You are expected to give what you do have.
1st Corinthians 16:1 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.”. Remember, Paul spoke to them a year earlier. Maybe some of you will stop criticizing me for taking yearly offerings when you realize that it is pretty similar to what the Apostle Paul did. 1st Corinthians 16:2 “2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”. Notice how it said “lay by him in store”. Remember, they aren’t expected to give what they don’t have. However, they are expected to give from what they do have. What that means is that you’re supposed to take what you do have and then prepare and purpose in your heart to lay up in store. That means take some of the money you make and purposely set it aside and decide not to spend it on Starbucks or whatever entertainment or toys. Paul said “Look, I’ve already written to you. Why don’t you just decide that you’re going to give now.”.
Go to 1st Chronicles 29. You say “I don’t have much.”. What you need to realize is that anything that you do have came from God. This is why when I preach on the subject of giving and when the vision offering comes up, I like to focus on this point. In 1st Chronicles 29, David is preparing a special offering. Here is another special offering for those that are critical of special offerings. We have a special offering for the temple of God.
1st Chronicles 29:14 “14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.”. See, David said that all things come from God. Whatever you give at the vision offering is between you and God. Here’s what I know. Whatever you give was given to you by God. God has given you the power to make wealth. You say “I went off to work and earned that money.”. You earned that money because God let you wake up and gave you the strength, intellect and ability. God gave you a job. God also allowed you to live in the United States of America. Don’t misunderstand me. You’re not expected to give what you don’t have. However, the flip side is that you are expected to give what you do have. You are expected to prepare and lay aside and give you on purpose. Whatever you have been given came from God so you are simply giving back to God of his own.
Paul talks about the proof of their giving, the performance of their giving and the power of their giving. I’d like you to make certain sacrifices. Give to your power and beyond your own power. Here is what I am telling you. If the Holy Spirit is moving you to give then don’t fight against it. Perform the doing of it. Why would you do that? Because God has given you the power. Paul explains the proof, the performance and power of giving. However, fourthly he talks about the parity of their giving. Parity means equality in reference to an amount, status or character. It means equivalence or similarity. Paul speaks to them of the parity of their giving or the equality of their giving.
2nd Corinthians 8:13 “13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened:”. He’s saying that he doesn’t want to go easy on other people and then burden them. Verse 14 “14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:”. When Paul is talking about equality here, he is not talking about equality of amount but equality of sacrifice. Because if I tried to motivate you to give a set amount for the vision offering then for some of you it would be really easy and others really difficult. If I said “Everyone give $1,000”. For some of you that is a big sacrifice and you might not be able to do it. However, for other people it might be really easy. Here’s the point. Paul is not asking and we are not asking that everyone give the same amount because everyone’s power or ability is different. He says we don’t want equality in amount but we want equality in sacrifice. Remember we talked about last week that everyone should stretch themselves where it hurts a little bit.
2nd Corinthians 8:14 “14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:”. He is saying that he wants them to sacrifice equally or stretch themselves equally. The truth is that nobody knows that amount except you and your spouse and God. You should honestly look up to God with this mindset.”. This is why one of the things we ask during the vision offering is that you actually pray about what God might have you to give. This has been a theme with our vision offerings. Would you take time to pray? Would you consider praying about what the Lord may lead you to do? Why? Here’s why. I believe that if you genuinely looked up at God and said “God everything I have you gave and everything I have came from you. Lord would you lead me in what you might have me to give.”. The truth is that we want 100% participate. We want everyone who calls Verity Baptist their home Church to give at the vision offering. Why? If you aren’t giving then you aren’t participating and we want equal sacrifice.
2nd Corinthians 8:15 “15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.”. Whenever Paul says “as it is written”, he is quoting from the Old Testament. Here Paul is quoting from Exodus. This in the context of equal sacrifice. We want to hurt equally. We want to feel it equally. We mean not that other men be eased and ye be burdened. We want to have equal sacrifice equality in the vision offering. Paul brings this up from Exodus to describe the idea of equal sacrifice.
This is a reference to the children of Israel in the wilderness and God was supplying their needs by having manna come down from heaven. God was supplying their needs by having manna come down from heaven. They were supposed to go out every day and they were supposed to pick out the manna. There is an application of salvation with Jesus being the bread of life. Another application is of discipleship and Bible reading because the Bible is the word of God. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”. In the same way that they were supposed to go out and gather the bread every day, we’re supposed to go out and gather the bread of life, the word of God every day. There are a lot of applications.
Here is the application that Paul is making. God had the children of Israel going out every day and God provided their needs. When we go out and work and get a paycheck, it is still God providing that bread for you. That income is coming from God. God gave you that job. God gave you that bonus. God provided the bread that came down from heaven and God is also providing your needs now.
Exodus 16:16 “16 This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.”. They were supposed to count the number of people in the house and gather 1 omer per person. If it was just a husband and wife, the husband would get 2 omers. Exodus 16:17 “17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.”. Some gathered more because they had a bigger family and some gathered less because they had a smaller family.
Look at verse 18 “18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.”. What the Bible is saying is that God gave them just what they needed. Here is what Paul is saying. God has provided you an income. God has given you the amount that you need. Maybe you would want to live in a nicer house but God doesn’t agree. God has given you want you need at this time. He’s provided you what you need. Aren’t you glad that God gives you the amount that you need? Aren’t you glad that as your family grows, God gives you the ability to make more money and provide for their needs? God gives equally but based on what people need.
In the same way, our giving should be proportionate to the blessings that God has given us. If God has given you much then you should make sure that you are giving based on the blessing of increase and income that God has given you. God gives us what we need. Let’s make sure that we give what is needed and let us give equally or an equal sacrifice. Starting in 2nd Corinthians 8:16, Paul shifts gears and talks about financial accountability. He talks about how he is gathering this money for this special gift. He tells them that they are doing their due diligence to make sure the accounting and finances are being taken care of.
2nd Corinthians 8:16 “16 But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. 17 For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you. 18 And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches; 19 And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:”. Paul is saying that he didn’t want anybody to blame them of stealing anything in the abundance which was administered by us.
Verse 21 “21 Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. 22 And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you. 23 Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ. 24 Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.”.
I want you to understand something. In verses 16-24, Paul is taking time to explain that he has chosen faithful men that he trusts to administer the offering of the abundance of grace so no blame can be given to them. Let me just echo the same words. At Verity Baptist Church, we take professionalism in regards to the financial accountability of this Church seriously. We are highly professional here when it comes to regarding the receiving of the offering and how it’s received and how many people need to be with the offering at any given time. There’s never a moment ever where any one person is by themselves with the offering. There are always multiple people and from different ministries overseeing the receiving of the offering, the putting away of the offering, the counting of the offering, the depositing of the offering, how the offering gets deposited, how it gets counted, how it gets tracked, and how it gets accounted for.
I’m not going to take the time to go through all of these things but I will tell you that recently I spent time speaking to a professional in regards to this. I walked them through the steps we do and it was a long conversation. I walked them through every step that we take here at Verity Baptist Church in regards to the offering. The response was “I think you might have the most financially secure Church in the country”. This is what a professional said to me. I appreciate that. He told me that I would be surprised at the kind of garbage that a lot of Churches do. I’m just here to tell you that we take this seriously. We have men taking the offering, counting the offering, depositing the offering. They don’t often get credit for the work they do but let me just say that I really appreciate it.
Paul chose Titus because he was faithful. To be honest, the men that I pick to help with these ministries are men that I trust. We want to provide for honest things and to be very honest with you. There are all sorts of checks and balances and ways that we do the counting and double counting to make sure that what came to the bank was counted and locked and secures. There are all sorts of procedures that we have in place. I want to encourage us to keep up the professionalism. As our Church grows and as we’re more blessed with these finances, we need to make sure that we’re taking it seriously. We need to make sure that we can look up to God and say we are being mindful to be honest and provide accountability with the money that’s being brought into this ministry. I can tell you right now if some IRS agent ever showed up here and said we want to see the books for whatever years, we are willing and ready to pull out whatever receipts and everything is completely accounted for and tracked. We spend a lot of time and effort doing that. I don’t talk a lot about that but Paul’s talking about it so I just want to let you know it’s a big process that we have here at our Church.
Recently it was reported that Joel Osteen’s Church had lost $10,000. It was a big ordeal and they had to report it. They just found that money in one of the bathrooms that they were remodeling. Of course that means that something shady was going on and I would start with that guy Joel. My point is that Churches should be very careful with the money that they handle.
Go back to 2nd Corinthians. We talked about the proof of their giving, performance of their giving, power of their giving, parity of their giving. Let me give you one last one, number 5. The predisposition towards giving. What I mean is their willingness to give. 2nd Corinthians 8:2 “2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”. The word liberality basically means generosity. Verse 3 “3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;”.
Notice verse 8 “8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.”. Why is Paul saying “not by commandment”?. Paul is telling them that he isn’t commanding this. This isn’t the tithe. The Bible teaches that the tithe belongs unto the Lord but there is also an offering or free will offering. We are supposed to give 10% off of our increase. However, with the offering it is something that we choose to do which is why we call it the free will offering.
Go to Malachi 3. Malachi 3:8 “8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.”. So God expects you to give an offering. However, he doesn’t command when you should give an offering. Just like Paul the Apostle, I am not commanding you to give to the vision offering. That’s between you and God. Just to be very honest with you, you don’t have to give. I don’t want you to feel like your Pastor guilted you or manipulated you into giving. This is a free will offering.
2nd Corinthians 3:12 “12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.”. Verse 19 “19 And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind:”. He speaks toward their predisposition towards giving. He says you don’t have to give. I want to be clear. You don’t have to give. I said it last week and I say it every year around this time. We want happy money. We don’t want you to give grudgingly. We don’t want you to give and be all bitter and angry about it. If you love your money that much then keep it and thy money perish with thee. It’s corrupt. It’s a tool that God allows us to have in order to accomplish things that need to be done.
I do pray that there will be many of you willing to give. I’ll just be honest with you. Recently I heard of this Pastor recently telling the story about how they wanted to build a building and they were trying to save up money for this property. Then something happened and they got it for a really cheap price. I also heard of a liberal Church that got a 50 million dollar building for 10 million dollars. I’ll be honest with you though that nothing like that has ever happened to us.
Everything we have at our Church we have worked for. We started in our living room then moved to an 800 square foot building that had to be remodeled. We outgrew it and moved into a 1600 square foot building that had to be remodeled. We outgrew that and moved into a 4200 square foot building. Now we have a building with 12,000 square feet. What I’m telling you is that everything we have has been done by our people. Our people have been willing to sacrifice and to say we’ll do our part. You aren’t expected to give from what you don’t have. I’m not expecting a big donation from someone. It has been a lot of people making a bit of sacrifice. It’s a willing mind, a ready mind, a free willing offering to prove the sincerity of our love.
Let’s pray.