What Happens When We Give?

Transcript

I'd like to ask you to turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 this evening, 2 Corinthians chapter 8, and we're going to look at the first eight verses, 2 Corinthians chapter 8 beginning in verse 1. Hear now the word of the Lord. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I testify and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

Accordingly we urge Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for all of the graces that you bestow upon us in the context of our corporate worship, and we thank you as we will consider this evening for the grace of giving. And I pray that we would have a better understanding this evening of what you are doing to and for us when we give to you in worship. We pray this in the name of Christ, amen. You may be seated.

All through this Sunday evening series, we have been asking the question, "What is actually happening when we worship?" And really through all of the sermons that we have been preaching in answering that question, the central theme of this whole series has been that in every element of our worship service, God is the primary actor. He is the one who is initiating, giving, forming, and speaking. We've seen that when we gather on the Lord's Day, God is the one who calls us out of the world into his presence. God cleanses us through confession and pardon. God speaks to us through his word.

God feasts with us at his table, and we've even seen that our singing is God forming us through biblical lyrics and good music. But there's a moment in our service each week where the direction might seem to be in the reverse, and that is our offering. The offering plate comes around, and suddenly it looks like we are doing something for God. We are giving him something. In other words, all throughout the service, in every other element of worship, God is doing something to and for us, but in the offering, we are giving to him, or so it seems.

What I want to show you this evening is that even in giving, God is the primary actor. I mean, think about it. God doesn't need our money. That's not the point of giving. Even in our giving, we'll see this evening, God is doing something to us for his own glory.

God is the one who benefits us through our giving, just like he does in every other element in the worship service. Our text this evening is the beginning of the most extensive treatment of giving in all the New Testament. Actually, chapters eight and nine are all given over to this subject, and don't worry, we're not going to walk verse by verse through all of chapter eight and chapter nine, but what I want to do this evening is to draw out five themes that run through both of these chapters and that answer the question for us this evening, what is actually happening when we give? Hopefully, by the end of our time this evening, we'll have a much better understanding of what we are doing each week when we give. The first thing that we need to see from our text this evening is that our giving originates in God, it does not originate in us.

Notice how Paul begins this chapter. He doesn't say, "Now concerning the obligation of the Corinthians." He doesn't say, "Now let me remind you of your duty." No, what does he say? He says, "We want you to know brothers about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia." The word that Paul uses there is charis, grace, it is unmerited favor from God to his people, and he saturates this entire discussion of giving with that term. In chapter eight alone, giving is called the grace of God, verse one. It's called this act of grace, verse six.

It's called this act of grace, also, verse seven. Paul is making a theological point. Giving is not fundamentally an obligation. Giving is a grace. It is something that God works in his people.

Even the impulse to give is a gift from God. And so this, of course, reframes the entire conversation about giving. A lot of times when we think about giving, the framework is duty. You owe God a tithe. The church has a budget.

You need to give more. And all of those things might be true in their own way, but that's not where Paul begins. Paul begins with grace. What Paul is helping us understand is that giving is not a calculation where we look at our own finances and we make sure that all of our bills are paid. And so now we figure out what we have left over to give back to God because we have an abundance of wealth.

No. I mean, look at the Macedonians. Their situation was quite dire. Paul says in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity. It's not as if the Macedonians had all of this wealth and they decided out of their wealth that they were going to give.

No, they were actually poor. Look at the math in this text. Severe affliction plus abundance of joy, extreme poverty plus wealth of generosity. By every worldly calculation, that math doesn't work. These people should not have been giving at all by worldly standards.

They were poor. They were suffering and yet they gave. Paul says they gave according to their means and beyond their means. There is only one explanation for how the Macedonians could have given so much and that only explanation is grace from God. This originated in God.

And notice how they gave, Paul says they gave of their own accord. Notice this, this is remarkable, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. Nobody pressured the Macedonians. Nobody twisted their arms. It was the opposite.

They had to convince Paul to accept their gift. They begged for the privilege of giving. The word favor there in verse four is once again the word charis. They saw giving as a grace that they had the privilege of participating in. And again, this is the opposite of how most Christians think about giving.

We think of giving as something that is extracted from us, but the Macedonians thought of giving as something that was granted to them as a favor from God. And the key really is in verse five. Paul says they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. And the order there matters. They didn't first calculate their budget and decide what was left over to God.

They didn't try to figure out do I calculate what I give based on net or gross. No, they gave themselves to the Lord first. Their money was an overflow of their prior self-giving of everything to the Lord. And of course, even the money itself is something that God gives to us in the first place. Even the money itself is a grace, is a gift of God.

David understood this and the people of Israel gave lavishly for the building of the temple. David prayed in First Chronicles 29, "But who am I and what is my people that we should be able thus to offer willingly? How is it that we gave so much? For all things come from you and of your own have we given you." Everything we give to God, we know this intellectually, but we need to allow this to sink down into our souls. Everything that we give to God already belongs to Him.

Our giving is simply returning to God what was never ours to begin with. That's why Paul calls it grace. We are not the source of our giving. We are merely the channel of our giving. So the first thing that is happening when we give is this.

God is completing a work of grace in us. He gave the resource. He gave the impulse. He gave the joy, the desire to give. Our giving is an overflow of His prior giving to us.

But the second thing that we need to see this evening is the link between grace and our generosity in giving. How is it that God's grace leads to our generosity? I want to ask you to turn just a few pages back to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 because Paul lays the foundation for this point earlier in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and the 15th verse. Look at 2 Corinthians 4.15. He says, "It is all for your sake," he's talking about the ministry of the gospel.

"It is all for your sake so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God." Notice what Paul is saying here. He is saying grace extends to people and that grace produces thanksgiving and that thanksgiving redounds to the glory of God. He is saying that the link between grace and God's glory is gratitude thanksgiving. This is really what makes giving worship. It's not about the money, first and foremost.

Gratitude thanksgiving really is the center of our worship. We see this throughout the Bible, that thanksgiving really is at the center of our worship. Remember what several scriptures say, for example Psalm 50 verse 23 says, "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me." Psalm 100 verse 4 says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise." Psalm 116 verse 17 says, "I will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord." And Hebrews chapter 12 verse 28 says, "Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship." Gratitude thanksgiving is at the heart of our worship toward God and gratitude comes from grace. Think about what gratitude is. What is thanksgiving?

What is happening when we are thankful? Well, gratitude is the affection that most clearly demonstrates that we recognize grace from God, isn't it? We recognize that every good thing that we have comes from God and that overflows then in thanksgiving. Even the Greek word for thanksgiving demonstrates this. I mentioned a moment ago that the Greek word for grace is charis.

Listen to the Greek word for thanksgiving, eucharistia. The word grace is embedded right in that word for thanksgiving. In scripture, thanksgiving is not a subcategory of worship. It is not separate from worship. Thanksgiving is at the very center of our worship.

It is the affection that most directly and most humbly ascribes glory to God because it most clearly acknowledges that everything that we have comes from God. And again, this is where giving enters the picture. If gratitude is the link between grace and the glory of God, then giving is one of the primary ways that gratitude becomes visible and active. A grateful heart that never gives is like a spring that never produces a stream. It might be real, but something is obstructing the flow.

True gratitude overflows. True gratitude leads to generosity and giving. Paul draws this connection back in chapter 9 of 2 Corinthians in verses 11 and 12 where he says, "You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way." Notice this, "which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgiving to God." Do you notice the double effect here? Paul is arguing in these chapters that giving both supplies needs and it overflows in thanksgiving.

So your generosity doesn't merely meet the financial needs of the church. It also produces thanksgiving eucharistia both in you and in the people that you help. And that thanksgiving is what brings glory to God. It is really that thanksgiving that is at the center and the heart of true worship. So here is the chain and I want you to see how this comes full circle.

This is what Paul is arguing in this section. He is saying God gives you grace, charis, and that grace produces gratitude in you, eucharistia, and then your gratitude overflows in generosity, which Paul also calls charis, grace, and then your generosity produces even more thanksgiving in others, eucharistia. And all of that cycle, that never-ending cycle of grace and gratitude is what gives God the ultimate glory that He deserves. Grace produces gratitude, gratitude produces giving, giving produces more gratitude, and that whole cycle glorifies God, and that cycle never stops as long as we are a thankful people, as long as we are a giving people. This is the grace economy of the kingdom of God.

He says a similar thing down in chapter 9 and verse 12 where he says, "For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the need of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgiving to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others." So your giving does, of course, meet financial needs. It has material effect, but that's not the greatest effect that your giving has. Your giving also overflows in many thanksgivings to God. That's the doxological effect.

The recipients of your giving will glorify God because of your generosity. Your giving becomes an occasion for worship. When you place your offering in the plate, you are doing the same thing that you are doing when you sing a hymn of praise to the Lord. You are expressing your thanksgiving to God as an act of worship. When you place your offering in the plate, you're not interrupting worship.

You're participating in this doxological cycle. You are being carried up in the very movement of grace and gratitude that glorifies God. And again, if we understand this, this reframes giving. It's why Paul says in verse 8, "I say this not as a command." He's telling them to give. I want you to give, but he says, "I'm telling you this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love is genuine." Notice what Paul does not do in this text.

He doesn't directly command them. He doesn't guilt them. He doesn't pull apostolic rank. He could have. He had the authority, but instead he says, "I say this not as a command." This really is the biblical model for how we ought to think about giving, not as a command, but as an overflow of our gratitude and, as Paul says here, as a test of the genuineness of our love.

A command just requires compliance. "Okay, I'll do it out of duty. I'll pay my tax." But Paul is asking for something much deeper than just compliance to a command. Paul is asking for genuine thanksgiving and love that shows itself in action, the overflow of gratitude because you recognize the grace that you have received. The absence of giving is not merely a failure to obey a rule.

The absence of giving actually might reveal something about the condition of our hearts. Do we truly recognize the grace that we have received from God? Are we truly a thankful people? Are we truly a people who love God for what he has done for us? Gratitude naturally flows into generous giving.

The third thing that we need to see this evening is the foundation of it all. Where does that grace and gratitude come from? In verse 9, Paul gives the foundation on which everything else rests. Chapter 8 verse 9, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." Though he was rich. Think about this for just a moment.

Think about what Christ possessed before his incarnation. The riches of divine glory. The worship of 10,000 times 10,000 angels. Unbroken eternal communion with the Father and the Spirit. The splendor of the Godhead in all of its fullness.

Christ lacked nothing. He needed nothing. He was infinitely immeasurably inexhaustibly rich and yet for your sake he became poor. He emptied himself. He was born in a stable to a peasant girl.

He had no place to lay his head. He lived as a carpenter in an insignificant village. He was despised and rejected. He was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. He died naked, gasping for breath on a Roman cross.

The one who owned the cattle on a thousand hills became poor. Not merely poor in possessions, but poor in the deepest theological sense. He bore the poverty of sin for us. He took upon himself the bankruptcy of our guilt. He experienced the ultimate poverty of feeling separated from his father.

So that you, by his poverty, might become rich. The purpose of Christ's self impoverishment was the enrichment of his people. He did not become poor so that we could stay the same. He became poor so that we might become rich. Rich in grace, rich in forgiveness, rich in communion with God, rich in an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading.

And so this stresses that the very foundation of our giving is what God through Christ has done for us. Christ had everything. Christ gave everything. And in that giving we who had nothing received everything. And so every act of Christian generosity flows from that.

That is the grace. That is the source. Every act of Christian giving is a small echo of this great self-giving of the Son of God. So Paul is saying you want to know why you should give? Don't look to the church budget.

Don't look to the needs list. Don't ask does the tithe still apply? Don't ask these things. Don't look at the tax deduction. Why should you give?

Look to Christ. Look to the grace that comes from him. He is the reason. He is the ground. He is the pattern.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know that it is grace. You have tasted it. And if you have tasted of it, if it has broken you and remade you in the image of Christ, and giving is not a burden to bear, it is a privilege to embrace. That's what the Macedonians experienced.

It's what people who have been loved, people who recognize the ill-deserved favor from God, the grace from God, it is what people like that naturally do. And again, if you find giving difficult, if it feels like an imposition, if it feels like something is being extracted from you against your will, then the issue might not be your wallet. The issue might be how deeply you have grasped the grace of Christ, because the Macedonians grasped it, and out of their poverty, they begged for the privilege of giving. They recognized its source. So this is why the foundation of Christian giving is not the tithe.

The foundation of Christian giving is the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ. So we've seen here that everything about giving is sourced in God, from the money itself, to the impulse to give, from the gratitude and love in your heart, to the work of Christ on our behalf, and this then leads us to our fourth point, and that is this, and this might be a surprising point, but this really is where everything is leading, giving actually benefits the giver. Paul says this in chapter nine, verse six, "The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." Paul is using here an agricultural image, and it's an agricultural image of common sense, of sowing and reaping. A farmer who scatters a handful of seeds should not expect a bumper crop.

A farmer who sows generously can expect a generous harvest. You can't harvest what you have not planted. And notice that the seed here in this text, Paul uses that imagery, but the seed is not really about the money, the seed is about the disposition of the heart. We are to give not reluctantly, not under compulsion, but cheerfully. The Greek word for cheerful here is hilaros.

We get our English word hilarious from it. God doesn't want us to give un-cheerfully. He doesn't merely accept a dutiful offering. He loves a cheerful giver. Think about that statement.

God loves a cheerful giver. The heart behind the gift matters as much as the gift itself. Reluctant giving reveals a heart that has, again, not yet fully grasped the grace that it has received. He says in verse 8 of chapter 9, again, using this sort of sowing and reaping imagery, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. In other words, when we give, we reap bountifully.

God makes grace abound even more, but of course we need to be careful here because this is not a prosperity gospel. It's not that the more money we give will lead us to luxury, no. God promises sufficiency, all sufficiency in all things at all times, not monetary extravagance, not excess, but sufficiency, enough to abound in every good work. Verses 10 and 11 really deepen the point here. Anybody who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

Notice how much the language here is how giving benefits us. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way. That's the key purpose phrase here. Enriched in every way to be generous in every way. The enrichment is for generosity, not accumulation.

God doesn't fill your barns so that you can build bigger barns. He fills your hands so that you can open your hands even wider in generosity. But the benefit here goes even beyond provision. It's not just that as we give, God will give us more so that we can be even more generous, although that's what he's saying in this text. So there's an even deeper principle that the Bible teaches about cheerful giving.

And that is that giving is actually what forms the heart of the giver. Jesus said in Matthew 6, verse 21, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." And often when we read that statement, we usually read it backwards. We assume Jesus is saying, "Your money follows your heart." That's not what Jesus says here. What Jesus says here is that your heart follows your money. Where you put your treasure, your heart goes after it.

The treasure leads and the heart follows. This means that giving is a means of grace. It is one of the ordinary means by which the Spirit of God loosens our grip on mammon for the benefit of our soul. Every time you write a check to put in the offering plate, every time you give back to God, every time you open your hand instead of clenching your fist around your resources, God is training your heart to value what God values. God is forming your affections of generosity and weakening your affections of greed.

God is giving you a formation and transformation of your heart. Giving is a spiritual exercise. It is formation for our souls. This is why regular, disciplined giving matters. Not as legalism, not as a tax that we have to pay, but because it is formative for us.

Just as the weekly observance of the Lord's table forms us through repeated practice and the weekly observances of the entire service forms us by the gospel. Just as singing great hymns week after week forms our affections, so regular giving trains us to hold this world loosely and to treasure what is eternal. Giving forms our hearts. Giving is for our sanctifying benefit. The fifth and final point this evening is this.

Giving points us back to the ultimate gift. Paul ends this entire two chapter discussion in chapter nine. The only way he could with a burst of doxology. And the object of his praise is not the Macedonians generosity or the Corinthians generosity. The object of his praise bringing the whole discussion full circle.

The object of his praise is God's gift. Chapter nine verse 14, "While they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you, thanks be to God for this inexpressible gift." What is this inexpressible gift? It's not what the Macedonians gave. The inexpressible gift is Christ himself. The word that Paul uses here is a word that literally means unable to be fully told.

It's a word that reaches for something and can't fully grasp it. Here the Apostle Paul, the master theologian, the man who wrote Romans and Ephesians, the man who could articulate the doctrine of justification with surgical precision looks at the gift of Christ and he says, "I cannot find words to adequately describe it." And that's the fitting climax. That brings everything full circle. Everything Paul has said about the grace of giving, about gratitude as the center of worship, about the pattern of Christ, about the benefits upon the giver, all of that flows from this one gift. Christ is the headwaters.

He is the source of the stream. We give because he gave first. We are generous because he was generous beyond all telling. Our small act of financial faithfulness is an echo of the great self-giving of the Son of God. So what's actually happening when we give?

Well a couple things, couple applications here that ought to motivate us to give because we recognize what is really happening. First what is happening when we give? When we give, God is completing the circle of grace in your life. That circle is not complete until you give. He gave you grace.

That grace produced gratitude and now your gratitude is overflowing with generosity. When you give, you are participating in the very pattern of the gospel, the downward motion of grace that lifts others up and provides for their needs. That's the full circle that you are missing out on if you don't give. The second, as we've mentioned this evening, what happens when we give? When we give, God is forming you.

Every time you open your wallet for the kingdom, your heart follows your money there. You are being trained once again to hold this world loosely and to treasure what is eternal. Giving is a means of grace. Don't miss the blessing of giving. It is one of the ordinary means by which the Holy Spirit shapes you into the image of Christ.

If you participate in every other means of grace but you don't participate in the grace of giving, you are missing out on something that God has meant to be a gracious gift to you. And then third, what happens when we give? When you give, this might seem oxymoronic, but it is true as we've seen tonight. When you give, God is providing for you. Not prosperity, but sufficiency.

He who supplied seeds to the sower will supply and multiply your seed. Giving does not impoverish you. It positions you to receive more grace so that you can give more generously. Let me speak for a moment just very directly this evening. I'm not saying this as a command.

Paul did not and I won't, but I will say what Paul said. The genuineness of your love, the genuineness of your thanksgiving, the genuineness of your recognition of the grace of God for you is proved by your giving. The abundance of your gratitude is demonstrated by your giving. If you're a member of this church and you do not give, the offering plate passes you week after week and your hands just remain in your lap. I'm not here to guilt you this evening, but I am here to ask you a question.

Have you grasped the grace of Christ? Are you a thankful person? Do you recognize what God has done on your behalf? Do you know, really know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich for your sake, he became poor? Because the Macedonians knew it.

And even out of their extreme poverty, you say I have a lot of bills and I don't have a very high paycheck. So, even out of their extreme poverty, they begged for the privilege of giving. If that grace has truly taken hold of your heart, then giving is not a problem. Giving is the overflow of a heart that is filled with gratitude. This is why in our church we follow what really is the ancient practice of the historic church of collecting the offering in conjunction with the Lord's table.

That happens that way on purpose because it makes sense for our expression of Eucharistia to take place during the Eucharist, which is just a word that means Thanksgiving. That makes sense, right? Giving and feasting belong together. Both are expressions of the same grateful heart responding to the same lavish grace. So I ask you this evening, do you recognize the grace that you have received?

Are you filled with gratitude because of grace? Well, if so, then the Bible says that a significant way to demonstrate that gratitude is to give. As Paul says in verse 7, "See that you excel in this act of grace also." Do you view giving that way as an act of grace? And do you seek to excel in this act of grace? That's what Paul says.

Again, not as a command. It shouldn't have to be a command. This is a blessing. See that you excel in this act of grace. Give sacrificially, give bountifully, give cheerfully, give so that God can continue to form your heart and work further grace and gratitude in you.

Give as an echo of the self-giving of Christ. Give to complete the circle of grace that God began when he gave us his inexpressible gift. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you would reorient our thinking about giving, that we would see it not as a duty, not as a tax, not as something we have to do, but we would see it as a gracious gift.

We would see it as something that overflows in blessings upon us, as something that flows out of our hearts of gratitude because we recognize the great grace that has been bestowed upon us, and something that actually forms our hearts and helps us to remove the allurements of the world and to long for the kingdom of Christ. Reorient our hearts this morning, this evening, and help us to be a people who are cheerfully giving. We pray this in Christ's name, Amen.