Study 65

The Grace of Giving

Grace naturally overflows. It’s more a gushing river than a stagnant pond. The evidence that we’ve been touched by grace is seen in the transformation that it brings to our lives. Once we’ve felt its releasing power we can’t remain unchanged.

Great Rebellion, Great Grace, Great Transformation

An amazing outpouring of grace took place in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. Crowds gathered, as they had a few weeks earlier for the Passover feast. On that occasion they’d turned on Jesus and cornered Pilate into crucifying him – surely the greatest act of wilful rebellion in world history. Now, forty days later, the angels were probably wondering what terrible punishment God had planned for these guilty rebels.

I’m reminded of the time when Moses climbed Mount Sinai to meet with God. The Israelites grew impatient and forced Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship. When Moses eventually returned, he was carrying the Old Testament tablets and God was quick to judge the rebellion. Three thousand people died in a single day. Now, at Pentecost, Israel hadn’t merely rejected Moses and made a golden calf, they‘d actually murdered their Saviour. How would God respond to such gross wickedness?

The disciples could have come down from the upper room proclaiming a message of God’s awful judgment. They didn’t. Instead they proclaimed a gospel of wonderful grace and three thousand were saved. People who deserved condemnation were freely forgiven and flooded with the Holy Spirit.

Great grace was with all the believers who relinquished their exclusive right to their own possessions and shared with others everything that they had. As a result, there were no needy people among them (Acts 4:32-35). An outpouring of grace resulted in the transformation of an entire community.

Motivation by Grace

Some years later Paul wrote to the Corinthian church urging them to respond in a similar way. He wanted to gather an offering from them to share with the poor believers in Jerusalem. It’s instructive to observe his approach, recorded for us in 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 and 9:6-15.

First notice what Paul didn’t do. He didn’t lay down the law and order them to give. In fact he was quite explicit, ‘I am not commanding you’ he said (2 Cor. 8:8). He wouldn’t compel them or even say that God required the gift. There’s no mention of the Old Testament rule, ‘You must give a tenth’.

On the other hand, Paul didn’t simply leave things to their own spontaneous motivation. He wasn’t content to assume that, if the Holy Spirit wanted them to give, they would automatically respond to their own inner promptings. Clearly he didn’t share the frequently expressed Christian attitude: ‘It isn’t right to speak about money’. So what was the apostolic method? Paul highlighted the example of others, but introduced the theme in a fascinating way.

First, he told them about ‘the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches (2 Cor. 8:1). Before speaking about the Macedonians’ extraordinary giving, he pointed to the mighty grace that had been given to them. It takes God’s grace to release you to give extravagantly, to liberate you from a natural tendency to cling to money and put your own needs first. Grace has to break through and set you free.

Grace so liberated the Macedonians that, ‘Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints’ (2 Cor. 8:2-4). So Paul didn’t start by saying how impressed he was with the Macedonians. First he drew attention to the phenomenal presence of the grace of God.

To Meditate On

God gives grace in abundance.

‘From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another’ (John 1:16).

‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding’ (Eph. 1:7).

‘And God raised us up with Christ … in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 2:6,7).

To Be Inspired

The New Testament does not teach a doctrine of tithing (i.e., the mandatory giving of 10 per cent of one's income.) Nor does Paul define what constitutes giving generously. He does not even provide a target number or general guidelines. The only rule is to give freely and generously as an expression of our continuing trust in God's grace (9:5-8). Paul simply assumes that believers will give all they can to meet as many needs as they can in order to glorify God as much as they can.

Scott Hafemann, Second Corinthians, NIV Application Commentary, Zondervan, 2000, p. 381.