Grace before Giving

 2 Corinthians 8:1–9

Introduction:

Jesus was on the move again, passing through the city of Jericho.

Word had spread quickly.

Wherever Jesus went, crowds followed.

People pressed in from every side, hoping to see him, hear him, maybe even be changed by him.

Among the crowd that day was a man named Zacchaeus.

Everyone knew who he was. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, which meant he was wealthy and despised.

He made his living by working for Rome, collecting the taxes from impoverished countrymen, and keeping whatever he could skim off the top.

To most people in Jericho, Zacchaeus wasn’t just a sinner, he was a traitor.

And as if being despised in his community wasn’t enough: he was also very short.

And so when Jesus came into town, no matter how much he strained or stood on his toes, he couldn’t see over the crowd.

But Zacchaeus was curious. Something about Jesus stirred him. So he did something no respectable man would do. He ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up into a sycamore tree, just to catch a glimpse as Jesus passed by. A grown man, rich and powerful, perched in a tree like a child.

When Jesus reached that spot, he stopped.

Out of all the faces in the crowd, Jesus looked up into the branches and called Zacchaeus by name. “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down,” Jesus said, “for I must stay at your house today.”

The crowd murmured. “He’s gone to be the guest of a sinner,” they whispered. But Zacchaeus came down at once, filled with joy. And in the presence of Jesus, something broke open in him. T

The man who had spent his life taking from others, declared these words in Luke 19:8

Luke 19:8 ESV

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

And then Jesus responded with words that must have felt scandalous to all who heard them:

Luke 19:9–10 ESV

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

This month, we’re going to walk together through a sermon series called Grace at Work, where we’ll listen carefully to what Scripture says about gospel stewardship—about how grace shapes the way we view, hold, and use what God has entrusted to us.

I want to be honest with you right from the start: I’m naturally reluctant to talk about money in the church.

I grew up in a family that had very little. Money wasn’t an abstract idea or a theological category, it was a constant pressure. Conversations about finances were often tense, and as a kid I learned quickly that money had the power to create stress, conflict, and fear. So when things felt heavy in my house at ten years old, I didn’t theologize it. I problem solved it. I’d grab my little lawn mower, pull it down the road, and mow as many trailer park yards as I could. Money, to me, was something you chased just to keep the lights on, not something you talked about in terms of faith.

And honestly, my hesitation didn’t end there.

I’ve also seen money become a source of conflict in the church. I’ve watched leaders make decisions driven more by financial impact than by faithfulness to God’s call. I’ve seen members pull back, grow guarded, or even grow cynical, believing they were being manipulated for the sake of gain rather than invited into something holy. Those experiences leave a mark. They make you cautious. They make you quiet.

So for the most part, I’ve avoided the topic. And lately, I’ve been convicted about that.

Because the reality is this: Jesus talked about money, a lot. Not because money is the most important thing, but because it is so deeply connected to our hearts. Jesus knew that what we do with our resources reveals what we trust, what we love, and where we believe our security really lies. He spoke about money not to shame people, but to free them. Not to take from them, but to invite them into a different way of living, one shaped by grace rather than fear.

So this series isn’t about pressure or manipulation. It’s not about budgets or building campaigns. It’s about discipleship. It’s about what happens when the grace of God truly gets to work in our lives, even in the places we’d rather keep practical, private, or untouched.

Because if the gospel really changes everything, then it changes the way we think about money too.

And Paul is a primary example and advocate of this change. Paul was unashamed to call the church to radical generosity in response to the radical grace they had recieved. In fact, one could argue that radical generosity was a primary value of the early church. And 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, where we will be spending most of our time this month, is call to return to that value that was established early on.

If we’re honest, when most of us think about Paul, we think about theology.

Justification by faith.

Life in the Spirit.

Union with Christ.

Grace to the Gentiles.

But, as prevalent as each of those messages are, Paul doesn’t give as much time to any of them as he does this call to radical generosity.

In fact, when we really pay attention to the text, we begin to realize his mission to collect funds for the church in Jerusalem was interwoven into most of his writings.

So as we begin this series, let me walk you through just how significant this was for Paul.

It Began at the Very Start of His Calling:

When Paul first met with the leaders of the Jerusalem church, James, Peter, and John, to confirm the gospel he was preaching to the Gentiles, they gave him one primary charge: 

Galatians 2:10 ESV

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

That wasn’t a polite add-on. It was part of the charge. From the beginning, Paul understood that faithfulness to the gospel meant maintaining a tangible bond with the church in Jerusalem, and specifically providing aid and care to those who were struggling. And this charge:

Shaped Years of His Ministry:

This collection wasn’t gathered over a weekend. It took years.

As Paul planted churches across Galatia, Macedonia, and Achaia, he consistently returned to this same invitation: set aside resources for the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem.

He organized it carefully.

He gave instructions.

He followed up.

He appointed trusted messengers to carry it.

This wasn’t impulsive generosity, it was disciplined, communal faithfulness.

It seemed so imperative to Paul to continually remind the churches that they were part of something larger than themselves. And so this appeal:

Took Up Entire Sections of His Letters:

In our text this month, Paul devotes two full chapters to this call to generosity.

And it’s worth noting, that this is pretty significant for Paul.

He doesn’t spend two full chapters on the ordinance of baptism or the Lord’s Supper.

But he does here…And so we have to ask why?

And we see in the text that this is because for Paul, this offering was more than just generosity, it was the gospel embodied.

Grace, made visible.

This is why in the Assurance of Pardon read to you today, you see that Paul roots gospel generosity in the incarnation of Christ, saying in 2 Corinthians 8:9

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

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.

For Paul, you cannot cling to the cross while clinging tightly to what you have. Those two grips simply cannot coexist. And this conviction didn’t originate with Paul, but Jesus Himself.

The Gospels give us a striking contrast that brings Paul’s point into sharp focus.

In Zacchaeus, we see what happens when a person is truly captivated by grace. Zacchaeus is wealthy, powerful, and corrupt. He has built his life on accumulation, on taking more than his share. Yet when Jesus calls him by name and chooses to dwell with him, Zacchaeus doesn’t receive a command. Jesus never tells him to give anything back. There is no lecture on stewardship, no demand for restitution.

Grace shows up first.

And when grace takes hold, Zacchaeus stands and says, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” His grip loosens instinctively. What once defined him no longer owns him. His generosity isn’t payment—it’s evidence. Salvation has reached his house because grace has reordered his loves.

Now place Zacchaeus next to the Rich Young Ruler.

This man, unlike Zacchaeus, is morally upright. He has kept the commandments. He is respected. And when he comes to Jesus, he asks the right question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” But when Jesus lovingly exposes the one thing he cannot release, his wealth, the man walks away sorrowful. Not angry. Not defiant. Just unwilling. His possessions still possess him.

That’s the contrast.

Zacchaeus meets Jesus and gives joyfully. The Rich Young Ruler meets Jesus and walks away grieving.

One is exposed by grace and transformed. The other is confronted by grace and retreats.

And this is exactly Paul’s point in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

The question is never how much you have.

The question is what has your heart.

Grace does not demand generosity, it produces it. But when grace is resisted, even obedience becomes a burden and surrender feels like loss.

And Paul is so convicted by this truth, that:

It Reordered His Travel and His Priorities

In Romans, Paul tells the church that before he can come to them, before he can pursue new mission fields, he must go to Jerusalem to deliver the offering. It’s non-negotiable.

Think about that. The great missionary to the Gentiles delays future ministry to finish this act of generosity. He believes this moment matters that much.

And he knows it’s risky.

Jerusalem is dangerous for Paul. Yet he goes anyway, and it ultimately leads to his arrest.

In Acts 24, Paul is standing before the authorities, they are making their case against him, and when Paul is allowed to speak he says in Acts 24:17:

Acts 24:17 ESV

Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings.

This mission of radical generosity puts him in chains.

He suffered for it and is imprisoned by it.

That should frame how we think about its importance, and cause us to consider:

Why Paul Cared So Deeply

At the heart of it all, the collection represented something bigger than money.

It was Gentile churches saying, “We belong to you.” It was Jewish believers saying, “You are our family.”

It was the gospel tearing down centuries of division and replacing it with shared sacrifice.

For Paul, this wasn’t charity. It was reconciliation. It was the church becoming visibly one.

And so we begin today by looking at 2 Corinthians 8:1-2, where Paul opens this section of the letter with these words:

2 Corinthians 8:1–2 ESV

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.

Right away, notice where Paul starts. He doesn’t begin with money. He begins with grace.

Paul wants the Corinthians to know something, to see something already at work among the Macedonian churches.

And what he wants them to see is not financial capacity, but spiritual reality: “the grace of God that has been given.”

He is highlighting churches who had almost nothing:

“Severe affliction.” “Extreme poverty.”

The Macedonians included the church of Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea and they consisted of people who were poor…like, dirt poor.

And they were afflicted for their devotion to Christ, the surrounding culture was squeezing them constantly in order that their faith might be broken.

And yet, paradoxically, they overflowed, not in anxiety, not in scarcity, but in joyful generosity.

Paul is teaching us something before he ever asks us anything: Grace precedes giving.

Generosity is not pulled out of people, it spills out of them when grace has taken root.

Then he writes:

2 Corinthians 8:3–5 ESV

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.

To feel the weight of this verse you have to stop and consider the details. They had nothing...no security, no way to make ends meet, they had every reason to beg! And they did…but they didn’t beg for help, they begged to help!

The implication here, is that while Paul was asking the broader church to participate in this mission of radical generosity, he was reluctant to ask anything of the Macedonians, because he knew they were already stretched beyond their means…and they were aware of his reluctance, and would not have it!

They begged Paul, earnestly, LET US HELP!

And they gave not according to their means, BUT BEYOND THEIR MEANS.

How does someone in extreme poverty give “beyond their means?” That formula is clear:

“They gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us”

This is perhaps the key phrase in the whole chapter :

“They gave themselves first to the Lord.”

Friends the implications of that phrase goes far beyond money, it speaks to the means by which we do anything for God.

The church consisted of people who gave themselves first to the Lord. They sought His presence beyond all else, they put their lives and everything they owed at His feet, and they asked the question daily “Lord, what would you have of me that I might glorify You?”

That is the kind of question birthed from a bold faith, for the Lord will not ask of us what we can produce by our own power, but He will ask of us that which requires an absolute dependence on Him.

Now, I want to be careful here this morning, because this is the kind of verse that has long been used to manipulate people.

There is a long history of wolves in sheep’s clothing using passaged like this to convince someone to call a phone number and give their whole social security check to prove their faith genuine. Prosperity preachers, like Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Paula White, and even Joel Osteen, promise God's blessing of wealth and health in exchange for donations (seed faith), and they heavily targeting financially struggling followers even as they amass fortunes.

The world is filled with charlatans that offer blessings from God in exchange for financial giving…and this is wickedness and nonsense that desperate people fall for because they miss the point Paul is making.

The Macedonians didn’t give in response to Paul (for one, Paul would NEVER have asked for what they gave)…they gave themselves to the Lord, and their generosity came in response to what He asked of them, and because it was from Him, they gave without fear.

Whether your time, talent or treasure, if the Lord is the one who asks it of you, you’ll give it knowing that He provide all you need.

Paul is so stunned by this act of grace in the Macedonians, that he now turns to the Corinthians with a challenge:

2 Corinthians 8:6–7 ESV

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.

Paul loves the church at Corinth, and thus he affirms them.

They excel in faith.

In knowledge.

In speech.

In zeal.

These are deeply theological virtues that the church has prioritized and is thriving in.

But then Paul says something striking: “See that you excel in this act of grace also.”

In other words, generosity is not a side category of discipleship….generosity is discipleship! And for Corinth, it’s an area where grace must mature.

Jesus can have our money and not have our hearts…but He cannot have our hearts and not have our money

This is Grace Economics 101: A man can give massive amounts of wealth in the name of Jesus, but it means nothing if it’s simply a tax deduction and not an act of grace birthed from having first given himself to the Lord. And woman, who has very little, can give sacrificially that which the world would view as very little, but if given in obedience, as an act of worship, it means far more, and is multiplied in the kingdom, far beyond any dollar the rich man gave.

The point is, if you love Jesus, then it’s all His, nothing is held back from being used as He instructs.

And Paul clarifies his heart in this matter, saying in 2 Corinthians 8:8

2 Corinthians 8:8 ESV

I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

Paul refuses to command them as to what to do, which is interesting, because he is more than willing to command them in other areas.

But on this matter, Paul realizes that commanded generosity isn’t generosity at all.

Paul isn’t after compliance, he’s after evidence. Evidence that the gospel has reshaped what they love and trust.

When you become a member of Rooted Church, you commit before the body to give your time, talent and treasure to the Lord, and sometimes…people go through seasons where they don’t fulfill that commitment. And when this happens, nobody shows up at your door with an invoice…because gospel generosity can’t coerced, I have seen churches try to do that…and in the end, it produced costly results.

But what I will do, is declare to you the gospel of a generous King:

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

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.

This is the anchor.

Paul roots generosity not in guilt, not in need, but in Christ!

Jesus emptied Himself, stepping out heaven, and putting on flesh. He did this, so that He might live a perfect life…a life of holiness, a life that fulfilled the full demand of the law.

And He died, as a sacrifice, that our debt of sin might be paid, and we too might be holy.

On Good Friday, He wrote a check to cover our debts…and on Easter Sunday, that check cleared.

For Paul, you cannot talk about the cross without talking about radical generosity, because the cross was the most radical generosity the world has ever seen.

And so, as a people of the cross, if we believe what Christ has done, then our time, talent, and treasure must reflect that.

Closing:

As we close this morning, I hope you see that this collection was never just about money.

It was Gentile churches saying, “We belong to you.” It was Jewish believers saying, “You are our family.” It was the gospel tearing down centuries of division and the church operating as one family with one Savior.

So when we read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, we’re not reading a fundraising letter. We’re watching grace go to work.

Not in theory. Not in abstraction. But in the real, costly, joyful way God’s people care for one another.

Church, I believe that in 2025, you acted with radical generosity.

One year ago, we had an interest meeting to gauge how many people would be interested in going to start a new church in Pittsburg, and I will admit, I remember feeling the weight when I saw how many people joined together in the fellowship hall.

God was moving and I knew it, but I also knew that He was calling us to sacrifice…and we did.

We saw 1/4 of our church sent out to plant, and with them, about 1/3 of our total tithes from the year before.

And you didn’t let that get in the way of God doing His will, and I can’t tell you how proud I am of that…God will bless your faithfulness and trust.

And in 2026, that same kind of generosity will be needed to sustain the mission God has placed before us, and I believe that through sending, He is providing an opportunity for others to step up and join in the work. We sent some of our best leaders and most faithful contributors, and in doing so, I believe God is going to call some of you to get off the bench.

We are committed to being a generous church, but to do that, we have to be committed to that together.

You might not know all the ways we seek to live out radical generosity as a body, so let me share some:

We help fund efforts to feed and cloth the hungry through organizations like Crosslines and Missouri Baptist Children’s Home

For several years we have been a primary funding source for Faith Bible Church as they seek to reach the Rendille tribes in Kenya

We support and sent our own members to go to China as witnesses of the gospel

We have sought to bless other smaller churches in our community as needs arise

We have invested heavily in the benevolence needs of our own body when heavy financial burdens are placed upon them.

We invest in the learning center, where nearly 100 kids are cared for and hear the gospel each day. (Rising costs - we subsidize)

We host the HUB in Liberal, allowing a food pantry to operate out of the building free of charge.

And we are generous with our staff (Brian - Counseling SRBA, Me - On my way to Lawrence today)

My point is not to boast of all our church does, to help you realize, that when you take part in giving to the church, your are demonstrating the same unity, and the same overflow of generosity that Paul is appealing for here in this text. And in the year ahead, having sent so many out, everyone will have to participate in this effort in order to sustain and advance the ministry that God has put before us.

So as much as I don’t like to talk about money, I am appealing to you to partner with us in God’s call to radical generosity.

I am not asking you to give a percentage, to fund a new building project, or to make a pledge.

I am asking you to give as an overflow of the grace you have been given, and that’s not just about tithing, it applies to every area of your life.

I am asking you, to trust Jesus enough to give whatever He asks of you, and to do so from a place of faith, because the gospel is true.

And I ask you this not for selfish gain, I don’t have a raise on the horizon and I am happy to work PT at Best Buy if the Lord would have me too (an actual day dream of mine).

But I ask this of you, because I believe it’s critical for your own soul.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:24:

Matthew 6:24 ESV

You cannot serve God and money.

Jesus is unapologetic in saying that generosity, is a mark of the christian life.

If you think about it, what Jesus is saying is incredibly controversial.

I would contend, that Jesus makes the case that a man unwilling to let go of his treasure, is a man who does not know grace.

That does not mean that being a christian means generosity is easy…I can contest to you that it’s not. Every time I give, whether to the church, or to someone in need, it pains me a little bit, because there is still a 10 year old boy inside of me that believes money equals security. But more and more, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to be honest…the spiritual maturity of my wife, it has become an act of sacrificial worship.

Not because it hurts less, but because it means more.

And that’s really what Paul is inviting us into in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

Not guilt. Not pressure. Not fear-driven obligation.

But participation.

Participation in the self-giving life of Christ. Participation in a gospel that does not cling, but gives. Participation in a grace that moved Jesus from riches to poverty for our sake.

So the question I leave you with this morning is not, “Are you giving enough?” The question is, “What are you trusting?”

Because where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. And when grace truly gets to work, it always leaves evidence, open hands, loosened grips, and hearts learning, slowly but surely, that our security is not found in what we keep, but in the One who gave Himself for us.

Let us go to Him together now.

Communion - Our true riches on display at the table