Abounding Grace / Part 3

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Motive and Meaning of Christian Giving

The motive for their giving is revealed here:
And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave themselves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. (2 Corinthians 8:5)

A dedication, or what we might call a consecration service, ought to accompany the offering:
“Lord, I come bringing my heart and my hands as well as my gift unto Thee.” Because, honestly, He is not interested in your gift until He has your heart and your hand.
This is not all. There is danger of our saying, “Well, He means for us to give ourselves and then our substance.” That is not what Paul said. Notice that he said, “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave themselves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.” That is, they not only gave themselves to the Lord, but they gave themselves also to the work of the ministry. This is very practical. Paul was careful in this section to make this clear — “I want you to prove your love. I want you to demonstrate that you are sincere.” He wanted them to prove the sincerity of their love.

My friend, you cannot prove your love to God unless you get attached to some of His work down here. They first gave themselves to the Lord. Then, Paul said, they “gave themselves…unto us” — that is, to the work of the ministry. Give yourself to Him, and then give yourself to whatever the work is. This is the reason we are never to give grudgingly. This is the reason we are to give always with great joy — hilariously! Why? Because we are giving ourselves to something we believe in with all our hearts. We need to be sold out to the ministry to which we give.

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he had just concluded that wonderful fifteenth chapter on the resurrection when he said, “Now concerning the collection…” (1 Corinthians 16:1).
Imagine starting the sixteenth chapter like that! Here he had them up on a very high plane, talking about Christ’s resurrection and the promise of the believers’ resurrection, concluding with Jesus’ return when believers will be changed “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52). I am sure the saints said, “Brother Paul, keep on talking — we love this kind of truth.” But when Paul said, “Now concerning the collection…” they probably cried out, “Oh, Brother Paul, tell us about heaven’s golden streets!” But Paul wanted them to share the gold in their pockets. He knew that the golden streets would not mean very much to them unless they were doing something for God on the streets down here.

We see the same reaction in the average Christian today. “We don’t want to hear about these mundane things. After all, money matters are not spiritual. We are interested in spiritual things.” My friend, there is nothing as spiritual as an offering. Your gift tells the sincerity of your love. It tells whether your life really belongs to God or not.

Therefore, Paul said,

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

My, it is hard for some folk to be cheerful and give at the same time, isn’t it? “Oh, my,” they say, “I’ll have to give something — gotta make an impression.” Oh, my brother, please don’t give like that! Give because you are enthusiastic about sharing the good news. Now, I want you to see how this worked out in shoe leather.

Paul said,

Beseeching us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. (2 Corinthians 8:4)

Here is his word “fellowship” again (the Greek koinonia), which Paul used to speak of practically everything a believer can share. When Paul was ready to read the Bible to them, he opened the Scriptures and said, “We are now going to bow our heads and have the koinonia,” and they prayed together. Anything believers could share together was a koinonia, a fellowship. Then Paul said again, “Now we’re going to have the koinonia.” That was the third time he’d said it in one service, and I imagine the ushers looked at one another and whispered, “What’s he talking about now? Do you think he means the Lord’s Supper, are we going to pray, or do you think he means the offering?” He could have meant any one of them. Paul probably had to coin another word for the Lord’s Supper because the churches were never sure just what he was talking about, since the word koinonia meant anything believers shared together.

Now the churches way over in Greece, where the Corinthian church was located, owed the Jerusalem church everything that was spiritual. The fact of the matter is that they owed these believers their very existence. It was the Jerusalem church that had suffered and been persecuted to such an extent that many, including the apostles, were scattered throughout the Roman Empire — and carried with them the gospel.

Now Paul taught these Corinthians that the time had come for them to share, to have fellowship with the Jerusalem church in material things. Listen to him:

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. (2 Corinthians 8:14)

In other words, “The Jerusalem church has shared with you of spiritual things, now I want you to share with them of material things, that there might be an equality here. You ought not to be continually receiving something without sharing that which you received.” This is exactly what he meant when he wrote to the galatians:

Let him that is taught in the word share with [communicate unto] him that teacheth in all good things. (Galatians 6:6)

That word “communicate” means “to share with.” The believers were to share with each other. When you have received something spiritual, the Word of God instructs you to share material things, that there might be fellowship. This was one of the most lovely things Paul ever did in his life. As he went about preparing to take this offering for the church in Jerusalem, believe me, he was very diligent in collecting the gifts, and he was determined to take them to Jerusalem himself. Do you know why? Because he had wasted the church in Jerusalem. He said:

For ye have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it. (Galatians 1:13)

Paul was partially responsible for the suffering of the believers there. He had persecuted them; he had hated them because he hated Jesus Christ. But now that Paul had been saved, he said, “With my own hand, I am going to take this offering and give it to the Jerusalem church.” Isn’t that a lovely thing? All along the way, the believers attempted to stop him from venturing into Jerusalem, but Paul said, “What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am ready, not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). In effect, he said, “That’s all right, I’m ready to die for Christ. After all, I persecuted the church, and with these hands I’m going to take them this gift.” He was a man dedicated to God. That is what it means to be sold out to God. You don’t prove by your lips that you love, you prove it by your actions. A wife does not prove in the parlor that she loves her husband; she proves it in the kitchen. His favorite apple pie is the evidence. You don’t prove your love to Christ by saying it; you prove it by what you do. “I’m taking this offering to Jerusalem with my own hands,” Paul said, “and I’m willing to die to do it.” So through danger and the threat of death, this man went to Jerusalem to demonstrate his love.

There is something more here, another factor that has to do with both motive and method:

But thanks be to God, who put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. (2 Corinthians 8:16)

Paul sent Titus to get their offering, but it was already a grace in his heart. Titus wanted as much as Paul did to take up an offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem.

And we have sent him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches; 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 to show our ready mind. (2 Corinthians 8:18, 19)

You see, Titus and his companion had this grace in their hearts. The giving was to be for the glory of God. Paul said that the primary reason he was taking that offering was for the glory of God. When our offering is not given for the glory of God, there is no other motive entering into it that could please Him.

Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered
by us. (2 Corinthians 8:20)

In other words, “We are going to be honest in the use of the money we collect from you and in the way we handle it.”

Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men. (2 Corinthians 8:21)

He said something here that we don’t want to miss: This is the business aspect of church finances. I did not know, until I read a statement by Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, that General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, was ever charged with dishonesty. He was. But that man was a real Bible student, and he had been very careful to heed this admonition. In handling the finances of his organization, he had faithfully rendered a financial statement. It was not long until all the charges of dishonesty were answered, because he was providing “honest things” in the sight of all men. Part of doing things for God is to be honest, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men for the glory of God.

The Method of Christian Giving

For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that which a man hath, and not according to that which he hath not. (2 Corinthians 8:12)

Christian giving is not mechanical. Hear me now very carefully. I do not believe that any believer today is under the Old Testament tithe. We are not under the percentage basis at all. Giving is not mechanical. Nowhere in the New Testament does God specify that the believer is to give a tenth of his income. But wait a moment — for some people it may be a tenth, but I honestly believe that for others it ought to be more.

During the Depression, I was pastor of a church in Texas. In this town, the only people who actually were able to give during the Depression were the doctors and the man who owned the Coca Cola plant. That gentleman was a personal friend of mine, and we used to hunt and fish together. He had a big ranch down on the river, and one day while he and I were fishing down there, he said to me, “Preacher, why don’t you preach on the tithe?” I passed it off because I didn’t think he was serious.

But every time we’d go fishing or hunting, he would say to me, “Why don’t you preach on the tithe?” Finally, one day I said, “I’m going to tell you why.” You see, he was giving more than anyone in the church. He was giving over $2,000, and I take it that
was pretty close to his tithe — and in the days of the Depression, $20,000 a year, as you may remember, was a lot of money. So I said to him, “Look, I do not think we are under the tithe today. Paul said that as a man is able, so let him give. If he has it, then let him give. If he does not, he’s not able to give. There are some people here in this town who get only about $1000 a year now, and they’re living on it. I personally believe that God does not ask those families to give a tenth. I don’t really think they should. But the man who is making over $20,000 a year ought not to give only a tenth, he ought to be giving half.” He never did ask me to preach on the tithe after that. He dropped the subject.

My friend, today giving is in proportion to the way God has prospered you and blessed you. There are some who ought to give a great deal more than the tenth; there are others who perhaps should not give that much.

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. (1 Corinthians 16:2)

These instructions are clear — we are to give as God has prospered us. Paul was not appealing to the Corinthians to give. If you read that into this passage, I think
you’ve missed it. He knew that they would give.

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. (2 Corinthians 8:7)

The thing Paul was interested in was that they gave scripturally — not just because it’s an offering. In effect, he said, “I don’t want you to give because I come and tell you a sad story. I want you to give because the grace of God is working in your hearts, the same grace that saved you.”

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. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

If you are looking for a standard for giving, here it is: the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He was rich, but He became poor. He came down here and took a place of poverty. Imagine leaving heaven and coming down to this earth to be born in Bethlehem, living in Nazareth, dying on a cross outside the walls of Jerusalem, and being put into the darkness of a borrowed tomb! He was rich, but He became poor for you and me.

Paul concluded by saying:

Thanks [grace] be unto God for his unspeakable gift. (2 Corinthians 9:15)

My friend, if you are without Christ, God is not asking you for a thing. Not a thing. Instead, He has a gift for you that is so wonderful, I do not have words to describe it. It is called “his unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15), the gift of His Son. The Father gave Him gladly. He didn’t hold back a thing. The Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, and He gave Himself for the “joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). He did it gladly, because He wanted to. If coming back to this earth and dying on a cross this very day would save you, He would come, because He loves you that much. And if you ever get saved, you’ll have to come to Him and receive
Him. After you do that, He wants this same wonderful grace to work in your heart.
Grace be unto God for His inexpressible Gift!