2 Corinthians 9:1-5 NIV
1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. 2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we — not to say anything about you — would be ashamed of having been so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
As Christians, when we give offerings (money) to another person or a ministry for whatever reason, we should always be encouraged by the Holy Spirit to do so and be well informed of how to do it. Our giving to the needy should not be entirely emotional. Yes, we give out compassion with the earnest desire to be used by God to monetarily assist with what is His. We must not forget that everything we have materially and monetarily is His and He has given us the responsibility to steward or be manage. However, our generous giving should also be accompanied with discernment, wisdom and humility that comes from God. These next two verses teach us this very clearly.
James 3:13, Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
Matthew 6:2-4, 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
In relation to our giving offerings to others, the apostle Paul makes the following point clear in his instructions to the Corinthian congregation with the offering they were going to give to the needy Christians in Jerusalem. When there are others also giving to the same need as we are, as in this instance with the churches in the Roman province of Macedonia, it should never be competitive, but instead it should as Paul states, “your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.”. In other words, our sincere enthusiasm “can be the means of stirring up a church and motivating people to pray, work, witness, and give.”.
Dr. Stanley Horton gives us another explanation to what Paul’s purpose was by saying what he said to the Corinthians in verse two. “Just as Paul had used the example of the Corinthian believers in a positive way to motivate the Macedonians, so now he was using the Macedonians in a positive way to encourage the Corinthians. Positive examples are usually more effective than negative examples.”
In addition, what the writer of Hebrews tells us in 10:24 also applies to what Paul is telling the Corinthian church and to our giving to others who are in need. “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
When we read 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, of how Paul is encouraging the Corinthians by telling them about the Macedonian Churches, he is not trying to generate a spirit of competition, but he is motivating the Corinthians.
It is important to notice what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9:1-2, 1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. 2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. About a year before writing his second letter to the Corinthian church which was in the Roman province of Achaia, Paul used the Corinthian’s “enthusiasm” to encourage the Churches in Macedonia to give to the needy church in Jerusalem. Paul’s concern was that “the Macedonians had followed through on their promise, and Paul was afraid that his boasting would be in vain” if the Corinthian church did not fulfill their promise by giving their offering. What Paul was referring to of what he said the year before is found in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 1 Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
As we had studied last week (2 Corinthians 8:16-23) the reason why Paul sent Titus ahead of him to Corinth along with the two unnamed brothers who represented the Macedonian churches, was to prepare the Corinthian church’s offering to be ready when he arrived to take it to Jerusalem. Paul did not want to cause the Corinthians any embarrassment when he arrived if the offering was not ready to be sent. Paul’s primary interest was not the offering, as important as it was, but it was the Corinthians commitment by promising to give an offering for the needy in Jerusalem. What was important to Paul was the heart or motives of the Corinthians behind the giving of the “generous gift you (they) had promised”. That is why he said at the end of verse 5, “Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.”
Generosity is a very important aspect in the personal spiritual maturity and faith in God of every believer in Christ. If you remember Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8:7, “But just as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us — see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” Paul pointed out that they excelled “in everything”. However, in addition he also wanted them to “excel in this grace of giving.”
We do not know what challenges or difficult situation the Corinthian congregation could have been encountering that would cause them not to be ready with their offering. But whatever it was, Paul’s desire was that they would mature and grow or excel in the “grace of giving”. If there was some financial hardship caused by a number of possible reasons, the Corinthians needed to learn to have faith in God in being the supplier of what they wanted to give towards the offering that they had promised to give. That is why Paul told them before in 2 Corinthians 8:12, Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.
Another point Paul wanted the Corinthian church to learn in relation to the last sentence of verse 5, “Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.” In which he was careful and clear of his intentions. He did not want to put any pressure on them to give the offering. Asking for an offering should never be from pressuring, causing guilt or a sense of obligation. Giving an offering to the needy is always a matter of generosity.
2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 is the only portion of scripture in the New Testament that mentions generosity or being generous to a congregation concerning giving an offering to others in need.
Next week we will conclude our study looking at Paul’s instruction of the benefits of generosity to the Corinthian congregation, comparing their offering to a farmer sowing seed in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.
Pastor John
