2 CORINTHIANS 9: 8-15 [GAINING PERSPECTIVE Series]
THE SURPASSING GRACE OF GOD
[Psalms 112]
Christian giving always rebounds with multiplied blessings for the giver. But not only is the giver blessed, the recipient is also. With so many unselfish blessings flowing around, thankfulness and glory to God abounds from all quarters.
Here again we are reminded that Christian giving is a gift of God’s grace. We give cheerfully because we have received the grace of Christian giving. When we give we can do so with a heart full of joy and thanksgiving because of the gift that we have received when we confessed Jesus Christ as Lord.
One can also give generously because God supplies the means. God gives to the giver so he can give or sow. Although the Bible assures us that God will abundantly provide our needs and many of our proper desires the idea is not that God will make as economically wealthy. God abundantly supplies so that we having been blessed can in turn bless others which results in everyone blessing God (CIT). The grace of Christian giving pours the blessings of God on all involved, the giver, the recipient, those concerned, and God.
I. SEED FOR THE HARVEST SUPPLIED, 8-11.
II. OVERFLOWING THANKSGIVING PRODUCED, 12-14.
III. GOD’S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT, 15.
Verse 8 encourages the giver by promising that God will make sure the cheerful giver has all that is needed to be involved in every good work. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.
Verse 9 enlists the support of the OT for assistance in understanding the duration of the blessings that are returned to the cheerful giver. “As it is written, ‘He scattered abroad, He gave to the poor, His righteousness endures forever.’”
Verse 9 is closely connected with verse 8 which expands on the promise that he who gives shall have an abundance to give. But the abounding grace mentioned in verse 8 refers to more than provision for one’s momentary or earthly needs. Giving reaps eternal reward also (Prov. 19:17; Mt. 25:40). By quoting from [the LXX version of] Psalm 112 Paul is showing that He is teaching what is already taught in the Law and the Prophets. This Psalm described a righteous man who has no fear of the future (112:1) because his heart is devoted and obedient to the Lord. Part of that obedience is that he gives gifts to the poor or hungry.
The term He scattered abroad is the same as the sowing of verse 6 and is a picturesque expression for openhanded generosity. The sower may have to deny himself some earthly amenities to scatter abroad but God’s grace will allow him to enjoy life more without them than he would if he possessed them. The main implication though is that vindicated will be his on the last day (Mt. 6:1). For one who gives to the poor gives to God.
The over-all thought is that the righteous scatter or sow. Here though the concept of sowing and reaping takes on richer and fuller meaning. This sowing is not a suggestion that we earn our righteousness by giving, for our positional righteousness comes from Jesus, but giving allows God to develop our experiential, conditional or daily righteousness. God develops our character in righteousness by our scattering spiritual and physical seed to the physically and spiritually poor and affected (Eph. 4:28). The cheerful givers gifts can be used by God for the opportunity or the raw material which He can work with to develop righteousness or sanctification. This practical righteousness endures forever. It is not simply the deed enduring but, more importantly, the doers transformation into greater Christ-likeness (2 Cor. 3:18). Though human riches pass away with the world or with death, personal righteousness, or sanctification, will endure forever. Through our giving God provides greater opportunity for us to accrue righteousness which will be to our eternal advantage.
The gracious end result of grace giving is an increase in the givers harvest of righteousness as verse 10 promises. “But the One who is supplying seed to the one who is sowing and bread for [into] eating He will supply and He will multiply your seed and He will increase the yields (harvests) of your righteousness”
Not only is Christian giving a sign of God’s grace but the supply of seed for sowing and bread for eating is supplied by God’s grace. God supplies the sowing seed and its yield [or return] so that we might share in God’s miracle of multiplication. What God initially gives is called seed because He wants it sown before He multiplies it. Thus those who participate in grace giving find that they always have spiritual and material seed for sowing and spiritual and material bread for eating because of God’s supplies of sowing seed and the seed it yields.
Seed outwardly seems small and insignificant but inwardly its potential is immense. Some of the seed God supplies must be scattered, it must be sown or invested in the ground, in God’s field, and by all appearances it is lost before its potential can be realized [through germination] and the manifold blessings of harvest enjoyed. A single seed contains the germ of a whole tree which in turn bears many fruits and in each is fresh seed.
[Paul referred here to Isaiah 55:10-11, a passage that uses “seeds” and “bread” to refer to both the Word of God and to the literal harvest in the field. There is no such thing as “secular” and “sacred” in the Christian life. The giving of money is just as spiritual an act as the singing of a hymn or the handing out a Gospel tract. Money is seed if we sow it according to the principles of grace. It will multiply to the glory of God and meet many needs. If we use it in ways other than God desires, the harvest will be poor. Wiersbe, Warren. The Bible Exposition Com. Victor Books. Wheaton, IL. 1989. Vol. 1. p.661.]
Again, God is the one who supplies man with the original seed for sowing. If one will heed God’s Word and sow what God has supplied for sowing, then God will see to it that it multiplies. [Not only will God multiplied the seed or usefulness of the gift, more importantly for the giver, God will return not only more seed, but also return an increase of righteousness or sanctification in the giver. In other words] God will not only multiply the gift, He will wondrously bless the giver.
Let’s look at that [second] promise to those who practice gracious
giving in the concluding thought of verse 10. And He will increase the yields of your righteousness. By wisely scattering the seeds God has given us, He multiplies it and increases the yields or harvest meaning the rewards or blessing that result from your righteous generous sowing. Notice this yields not simply fleeting wealth but it yields the eternal blessing of righteousness. The riches of this righteousness are inestimable (6:10). For as verse 9 promises this harvest or increase of righteousness will endure forever. Will you trust Him with your five loaves and three fishes? There is no greater, longer lasting return on investment possible to man or mankind.
God promises in verse 11 that He will enrich the cheerful giver in ways which will produce thankfulness. “being enriched in everything into all sincerity (liberality) whoever produces (achieves) through us thankfulness to God.” [“You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. (HCSB)]
Here an underlying theme of this section surfaces. Those who give generously are enriched by God so that they may give still more (v. 11a) with the consequence that their increasing generosity redounds to God’s glory (v. 11b). The more one practices grace giving the more God [spiritually] enriches him until he can be generous on every occasion. God enriches us so that we may give even more bountifully. One of the joys of grace giving is the joy of giving more and more. [Everything we have, not just a tenth of our income, belongs to God and if we give it to God He will bless it and use it to accomplish His Work.]
Now I have seen Christians and others who prospered materially that did not give, but their income did not enrich them. Actually it was their down fall. They never grew in the spiritual things which are the true riches of life. It is this spiritual enriching that makes money a blessing and not a down fall.
Being enriched into Christian giving comes prior to thanksgiving to God. Once one learns to grace give, God returns a harvest and he/she become enriched in everything and he/she become thankful to God that they had learned the lesson of grace giving. But not only is God thanked by those who learned the lesson of grace giving. God is also thanked by the grateful recipients of grace giving.
Grace giving means that we truly believe that God is the great giver, and we use our material and spiritual seed accordingly. You simply cannot out give God!
II. OVERFLOWING THANKSGIVING PRODUCED, 12-14.
The result of this blessed ministry of giving stated in verse 12 is that it will produce abundant thanksgiving to God. “For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgiving to God”
Two additional outcomes of grace giving are mentioned here. It supplies the means to minister [to the saints,] and it “overflows into many thanksgivings to God.” [The final result (v. 13) is that God is glorified.]
Notice that Paul introduced a new word for the offering: service. It means “priestly service,” so once again, Paul lifted grace giving to the highest level possible. He saw this offering as a “spiritual sacrifice” presented to God, the way a priest presents a costly sacrifice on the altar.
Christians no longer bring animals as sacrifices to God, because the work of Christ on the cross has ended the levitical system (Heb. 10:1-14). But the material gifts we bring to the Lord become “spiritual sacrifices,” if they are given in the name of Jesus (Phil. 4:10-20; Heb. 13:15-16; 1 Peter 2:5). (Wiersbe, p. 662).
The emphasis here is the fact that their ministry or offering would supply the needs of the saints. The word fully supplying (προσαναπληρουσα) is literally “fill up by adding to.” The need of the saints was what needed filling up (Gal. 6:10). Our giving ought to provide for necessities, not subsidize luxuries. There are many needs to be met and our limited resources must not be squandered. It is true that the need itself is not the only reason for giving, for there are always more needs than any one Christian or church can meet; but the need is important. Some needs are greater than others, and some needs are more strategic than others. We need accurate information as well as spiritual illumination as we seek to meet the many needs that are pressing on us today. (Wiersbe, p. 662).
Notice that this giving also causes an overflowing that brought about many thanksgivings to God. The needs of the saints were filled and like a vessel they overflowed with thanksgiving. Heart touched responses to God’s leadership produce expressions of thanksgiving to God.
Christian giving does the double work of relieving godly needs and generating thanksgiving. A generous spirit results in more and more people giving thanksgiving to God. Note that it is God that gets the glory (Mt. 5:6). We may not hear thanksgiving for our generous giving until we hear it expressed in heaven when the church is gathered together.
Thus Paul enthusiastically but tenderly leads the Corinthian Christians on until they can see with him Christian giving in its true perspective, not as a burden which cramps life and causes regret but as a privilege of grace that enlarges and enriches the soul of the giver, relieves the needs of the recipients, and its outworking causes many to return praise to God.
Verse 13 indicates that God is glorified when we give in obedience to His leadership. “because of the proof given by this ministry they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the Gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contributions (fellowship) to them and to all, [“They will glorify God for your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with others through the proof provided by this service (HCSB)]
The effect of the offering, though it has not yet been collected is seen by the apostle as though it were already completed and over. Not only does He see the Christians in Jerusalem thanking God for His help in their need but also glorifying God over the proof of genuineness of the Gentile believers. One’s obedience and confession of the Gospel of Christ is always suspect unless it is accompanied by grace giving.
Faith that does not manifest itself in works is dead, an empty profession, for works are an evidence of faith as the leader of the Jerusalem Church taught. This collection will be a “work” which will give concrete evidence to the Christians at Jerusalem of the reality of the faith of the Gentile converts.
Their giving was looked upon as their confession of the Gospel of Christ. They were declaring publically that Christ was their Lord through their giving. Their support of the saints was because of their obedience to Christ. Their confession in Christ was real and their obedient giving was proof of that reality. The act of giving is evidence of obedience to the gospel. This tested obedience brought glory to God.
Verse 14 expresses the deep affection and response that result from the grace of giving. “while they also by prayer (supplication) on your behalf yearning for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.
Here Paul continues envisioning with the eyes of faith the effect of the collection upon the Jewish saints in Jerusalem from the Gentile Churches. He foresees a spontaneous expression of love, praise and prayer as he shares the offering in Judea. The overwhelmed Jewish Christians would begin to offer up prayer on behalf of those they had formerly shunned. They would pour themselves out in prayer or supplication for the Gentile churches having directly evidenced the love and support of their ministry because of the surpassing grace of God upon them. Once again the Bible emphasis that all is of grace.
III. GOD’S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT, 15.
Verse 15 proclaims the motivation and the reason for all grace giving. “Grace be to God upon His indescribable Gift!
God’s “indescribable gift” is His own precious Son (John 3:16). It is an inexpressible gift that God gave to them and to us in bestowing His Son to die for us.
Giving is again directed to the cross for its proper motivation. God gave His best. He gave His all. All our giving is to be done as our expression to God for what He has given us when He gave us Christ. All Christian giving should be a humble and joyful response of praise, worship, thanksgiving, and gratitude for God’s wonderful gift, which human words are truly inadequate to describe.
Blessed be God throughout all eternity for Jesus Christ, that inestimable gift of His love, through whom every other good thing pertaining to life and godliness, are freely given unto us, beyond all expectation, measure, or limits.
IN CLOSING
God gives us resources to use and invest for Him. The illustration of seeds and sowing are used to describe the resources God gives us. These resources are not to be hidden, foolishly devoured, or thrown away. Instead, they should be planted in the kingdom so that they produce a greater harvest, a harvest of righteousness, in our life and the lives of others. The grace of Christian giving pours the blessings of God on all involved, the giver, the recipient, [those concerned,] and brings thanksgiving and glory to God.
As we obediently invest what God has given us in His work, He will bless us, not only with even more to give in His service, but with a greater opportunity to become more like the greatest giver, Christ Jesus. Jesus gave His all that we might be transformed out of a life of selfishness into a life of sacrifice.
One of the signs of a maturing grace giver is a life that gives more & more thanksgiving to God. Is your thanksgiving abounding to God? Are we meeting the needs of others so that they may abound in thanksgiving to God? Are others glorifying God for your obedient giving? If not try becoming a cheerful giver and let the grace of God overflow in you life.
Those who receive your gifts will be helped, they will praise God, and will pray for you. As you bless others, you will be blessed far more than financially, you will be eternally blessed as your righteousness or Christ-likeness grows.
