Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9

Theme: Grace in the believer’s life is the source from which all blessings flow.

When I was born again at the age of eighteen I plunged myself into my new faith.

There was so much I wanted to learn about the Christian life.

I had a deep desire to grow in the faith.

I was fortunate in that I was surrounded by a number of godly people who prayed for me, were patient with me, but most importantly modeled Christianity to me.

Two of those believers were my in-laws.

One of the things a dealt with very early in my Christian walk was biblical stewardship.

How much should a believer give to the Church and/or Christian causes.

My father-in-law was the one who really helped me.

I had been baptized in August 1973, and became a member of Calvary Baptist Church.

As a new church member, one of the first things I was given was a box of weekly offering envelopes.

I had been periodically putting money in the offering plate, but now I had official offering envelops ... weekly offering envelops which seemed to imply a weekly offering.

This poor former not-so-good Catholic boy was confused so I went to my then future father-in-law and asked him how much a Christian should give to his church.

To his credit, he never told me this is what you should do.

Instead, he said “This is what our family does,” and he went on to explain tithing — that the bible encourages us to give 10% of our income to our church to accomplish the Lord’s work.

He told me that anything above one’s tithe was considered an offering and included all the special offerings our church took for things like home and foreign missions, world hunger, the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, and love offerings for the revival evangelist.

I always appreciated that conversation.

I started tithing and never looked back.

As I’ve grown in my faith, I’ve since discovered that the believer’s generosity is a gift that comes with our salvation.

It comes with the renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit that allows us to prove the good and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

This is the attitude of the Macedonian believers the Apostle Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians, chapter eight.

They did not think it was too much for God to ask that they become good stewards of their lives, of their time, of their talents, and of their possessions.

The salvific grace of God so overflowed in their lives that an overflowing generosity in their lives was the result.

So what do these Macedonian believers teach us?

I. GRACE MAKES US OVERFLOW WITH RICH GENEROSITY

“And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.

2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.

Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.”

(2 Corinthians 8:1–4, NIV84)

1. God's grace is nothing short of amazing!

a. it is amazing because there is nothing within ourselves that is deserving of God's grace

2. the question is: If God's grace is amazing why do we sell it short when it comes to our material possessions?

a. we trust God with our eternal soul

b. but too many believers won’t trust Him with their temporal blessings

3. Paul speaks here of this amazing grace being bestowed or given to the Macedonian believers

a. he writes, And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches

1) God gave them the grace to live eternally, and with it came the grace to give sacrificially

b. as we shall see, the grace of God in the lives of the Macedonian believers had resulted in a radical generosity of their part

5. the bible says there can be no significant spiritual growth in your life unless you put your money, and your attitude toward it into God’s hands

6. what does the giving of the Macedonian churches teach us?

a. these first four verses teach us about their attitude behind their giving

A. THEIR GIVING WAS AMAZINGLY SACRIFICIAL: THEY WERE IN DEEP POVERTY

“Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.”

(2 Corinthians 8:2, NIV84)

1. no one would have blamed the Macedonian Christians if they had just given a little or not given at all

a. after all they were experiencing great trials of affliction and deep poverty

2. but these Christians were unwilling to use their hardships as an excuse to hang on to the meager wealth they had

a. rather they were dependent upon the grace of God and it was producing abundant joy in their lives

b. that grace allowed them to give sacrificially

ILLUS.

Dr. David Jeremiah writes, "To touch the threshold of sacrifice is giving up something we want to keep."

1) this is what the Macedonian believers did — they gave us an example of sacrifice

2) generosity isn’t measured by the size of the gift, but by the size of the sacrifice

3. too many professing Christians want to give out of the abundance of what they have

a. but the Macedonian believers were giving out of the abundance of grace and gave while trusting God to bless them and meet their needs

B. THEIR GIVING WAS AMAZINGLY SPONTANEOUS: THEY GAVE FREELY AND WILLING

“For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.

Entirely on their own,” (2 Corinthians 8:3, NIV84)

1. the Corinthian Christians had been working on collecting an offering for over a year

a. because of persecution, many believers in and around Jerusalem were desperately needy

b.

Corinth, being a wealthy commercial center, had some wealthy Christians as members

1) and yet a year has gone by and the collection has not gone well

c. and evidently, because of their obvious poverty, the Apostle Paul has not even said anything to the Macedonian believers about this offering

1) he did not want to burden them

2. but when the Macedonian believers find out about the need of fellow believers in Jerusalem, they actually insist that they be given the opportunity to give!

a. I’m sure the Apostle Paul was appreciative of the willingness of the Macedonian believers to give, but I’m equally convinced that the Apostle was expecting much

1) but their generosity left him slack-jawed in amazement

2) they gave spontaneously, willingly, and they gave beyond their ability

b. as the Apostle writes to the Church at Corinth, he uses the generosity of the Corinthian’s poor country cousins to the north, as an example of grace overflowing in the lives of believers

1) he also, quite skillfully, uses their example as an inducement

“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

(2 Corinthians 9:7, NIV84)

2) the word cheerful indicates the heart-attitude in which the Macedonians gave

ILLUS.

One of the lessons that most parents attempt to teach their children from the earliest age is the importance of sharing.

Sharing hugs and kisses, and sharing their toys.

It’s a lesson that has to be reinforced again, and again, and again, because the natural tendency of the human heart is to be selfish, and to desperately want to hang on to what is ours.

We’re not born good at sharing.

Parents long to see that moment in their child’s life when they share their possessions freely and gladly, not reluctantly.

c. the point?

God wants His children to be cheerful givers not begrudging givers!

1) giving ought to be an experience that puts a smile on our lips and joy in our hearts

3. the Scriptures indicate that our giving ought to be spontaneous because we so desperately want to be involved in and a part of God's work!

C. THEIR GIVING WAS AMAZINGLY SELF-LESS: THEY INSISTED ON GIVING

“they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.”

(2 Corinthians 8:4, NIV84)

1. our old fallen nature says we should focus selfishly on ourselves, but our new nature in Christ, encourages us to focus selflessly on other

ILLUS.

At no other time in our society’s history has the culture so relentlessly asserted that, “My life is all about me.”

2. but God's grace gives us a new nature — the very nature of His son into whose image the Spirit is busy conforming us into

a. the result is a nature that naturally desires to give instead of naturally desiring to keep

b.

we see an example of this in the life of the early church

“All the believers were one in heart and mind.

No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”

(Acts 4:32, NIV84)

3. the Apostle Paul tells us that these Macedonian believers urgently pleaded — literally begged — the Apostle with much urgency over and over again to accept the gift they were giving so that they too might be a part of what God was doing — ministering to the saints