Week of May 11, 2008

2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Why We Give

Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart; not grudgingly, or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work. As it is written,

      "He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor.
            His righteousness remains forever."

Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness; you being enriched in everything to all liberality, which works through us thanksgiving to God. For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through many givings of thanks to God; seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all; while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you. Now thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!

World English Bible

In the excerpts we have of Paul's letters to the church in Corinth, we have wonderful concise explanations of some of the basics of our faith. In this passage, he explains why giving offerings to God is so important.

Because the foundation of giving is faith, we can see quickly that the obvious and practical reasons for giving are not as important as we would think. Paul does acknowledge that their gifts to help other churches "makes up for lack among the saints". Like Paul, those strong in their faith will remember how God fed the freed Hebrew slaves in the desert with manna, and how Jesus multiplied one boy's bread and fish lunch to feed thousands. God is not dependent on our money to carry out the work of the Kingdom because this is not a question of economics.

We see from the first verse in this passage that our attitude towards giving is an indication of how much our faith can sustain us. A strong faith is evidenced by an openness and willingness to give and trust God to provide for us. Hesitations about letting go of our money are an indication of wanting to trust ourselves rather than to trust God. The story of Jesus walking across the sea to his disciples demonstrated both a strong and a weak faith on the part of Peter. We remember that at Jesus' invitation, Peter climbed out of the boat and took several steps toward the Master, showing a strong and courageous faith, at least for a moment. Then Peter started looking at the surging waves, began to doubt his faith, and he began to sink. When we "sow bountifully", we take those bold steps in following God, but when we "sow sparingly", we cling fearfully to the boat, because we would rather rely on what we can touch than on what we cannot understand.

The second principle in this passage is that our attitude towards giving is crucial. We should give because of our love for God, not because we are giving in to pressures or avoiding feeling guilty. Our attitude toward our possessions is at the heart of this instruction, for if we have placed all of ourselves at God's disposal, we will be happy that God can use our funds. If we still believe our possessions are our own, we will be seeking some sort of compensation or reward for parting with some of our funds, and we will miss this fundamental point of cheerful giving.

Paul's next comment is practical, a reminder that God will certainly equip us to carry out the mission God has assigned to us. More than that, Paul wrote that God's grace will "abound" in us, using the Greek word perisseuo, meaning something is over and above what is considered merely sufficient. When we are acting on our faith, God will bless our faith far beyond what we are offering. This is why we can give enthusiastically instead of stoically, because God has promised that we will do more than "get by" when we are obedient to God.

Towards the end of this passage, Paul wrote about how giving money to help others strengthens the bonds between Christians. What Paul describes is an abundance of reciprocal giving that blesses all the churches involved, far beyond a mere transfer of wealth. By investing financially in another congregation, the church in Corinth was also investing emotionally and spiritually, and in turn, the congregation receiving the monetary gift was investing emotionally and spiritually in the church in Corinth. Because of their mutual love and prayer support, God was able to give more blessings to both churches, increasing their faith and enhancing their ministry to others.

Paul offers a beautiful blessing in the sentence following the quotation to reinforce the right focus for the topic. Our giving is all about God, who already gives to us in far greater measure than we could ever return. To give back is simply to use what God has given to us for the purpose that God intended. In doing so, we are finding our true purpose and experiencing the joy of being who we were created to be, and out of that joy we offer our sincere and enthusiastic thanksgivings to God. Paul did a wonderful job in explaining this marvel of blessings that God has given to us, but he recognized that what God has done is far too wonderful and amazing for words. Why would we deny ourselves the awesome blessings of giving?