A PARADIGM FOR GIVING.
2 Corinthians 8:9.
This is the key verse in my sermon on 'The Grace of Giving' (2 Corinthians 8:7-15). The Apostle reminds the Corinthians of what they already know: “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” How that He was “rich” but made Himself “poor” that we through His “poverty” might become “rich”. In fact, Jesus in His pre-incarnate glory was ‘equal with God’ but He ‘emptied Himself, took the form of a bondservant, became man, humbled Himself, was obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross’ (Philippians 2:6-8). As the Corinthians had just been reminded, ‘He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Corinthians 5:21). The pattern of Christ's giving (of Himself) is the paradigm for our (financial) giving.