The Grace Of Giving Series

June Spivey in Christian Reader writes about how the elementary school in her town collects lunch money from the new kindergartners at the beginning of each year. This solves the problem of lost money during the year, but for nervous 5-year-olds, it can take a few days to understand the system.

One year, the school secretary came into the room two days in a row and asked in a loud voice, “Does anybody have any lunch money for me?” The kindergartners stared at her blankly.

On the third day, one little boy came in at the bell, walked hesitantly to the teacher's desk, held out his hand and whispered, “Here is lunch money from my piggy bank for the poor lady nobody gives money to” (June Spivey, Christian Reader, Vol. 34; www.PreachingToday.com).

You have to appreciate that little boy’s heart. He was willing to give his entire life’s savings to help someone he thought was in need.

Don’t you wish you had a heart like that? Well, by the grace of God, you can! If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians 8, 2 Corinthians 8, where the Apostle Paul describes God’s grace empowering His people to give generously even when they don’t have much to give.

2 Corinthians 8:1-5 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 can 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 (ESV).

Paul was taking up a collection for the poor believers in Jerusalem, not expecting the believers in Macedonia to contribute, because they too were very poor. Even so, they begged Paul for the favor of taking part, literally, for the grace of taking part in helping those in need.

You see, it’s a privilege to give, an unearned blessing from God Himself. So the Macedonian believers, after giving themselves first to the Lord, gave generously to Paul and his companions for the needy believers in Jerusalem.

God’s grace empowered them to give beyond their means, and God’s grace will empower you to give more than you think you can, as well. So, by the grace of God…

GIVE GENEROUSLY.

Give extravagantly. Like the Macedonians, “push your giving past the point where the figures add up” (Randy Alcorn). That’s what Paul urgers the Corinthian believers to do.

2 Corinthians 8:6-7 Accordingly, we urged 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 (ESV).

That is, by God’s grace, give more than expected. Give above and beyond what we asked you to give. After all, that’s what the Macedonian believers did, and that’s what Jesus did for you, as well.

2 Corinthians 8:8-9 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. 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 (ESV).

Paul does not command them to give. He only hopes that their genuine love for God constrains them to give, because God loved them so much!

Jesus left the wealth of heaven to live in poverty, so you could leave your poverty for the wealth of heaven. Jesus left the throne to become a servant (Philippians 2:7). He laid aside all His possessions so that He did not even have a place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20). Ultimately, on the cross, God treated Jesus as a sinner so He could treat you as saints (2 Corinthians 5:21).

So don’t give because you HAVE to give. Give because you WANT to give in response to all that Jesus gave for you.

Scott Lewis attended a conference where Bill Bright [evangelist and founder of Campus Crusade for Christ] challenged people to give one million dollars to help fulfill the Great Commission. This amount was laughable to Scott—far beyond anything he could imagine since his machinery business was generating an income of under fifty thousand dollars a year.

Bill asked, "How much did you give last year?" Scott felt pretty good about his answer: “We gave seventeen thousand dollars, about 35 percent of our income.”