One saying I heard growing up was "Many hands make light the work" and another, "put your money where your mouth is." There were many others that took years before I understood what they meant (a stitch in time saves nine).
Paul tells the Corinthians a new saying about giving. But first, What would happen if we as a church asked everyone to give their complete paycheck to the Church each week so that it could be distributed for all of the members’ needs? What solutions would this bring? What problems would this bring? They did this in Acts 4:32-37.
In 2 Corinthians 9:8-15 Paul tell the Corinthian believers that God is able to make all grace abound to them. Grace is unmerited favor, unentitled assistance. The result of God’s abounding grace is for His people to have all sufficiency and contentment in all things. Contentment is not luxury.
The purpose for God’s abounding grace is managed as a pass through account--God gives his abounding grace to you and you abound in every good work to others. God's supply will multiply through you! You are blessed to be a blessing!
As God enriches you and you give to others, God is glorified. Glorified means in part “seen for what it is.” How is God “glorified” and “seen for who he is” by his people giving and being generous?
God is seen for Who He is because of your submission that comes from your profession. This sounds like that if we really believe God will supply, we need to be giving things away (generosity) … a lot of things! What does the saying, “put your money where your mouth is” mean? I think it means, “your submission that comes from your confession.”
If you look back through this passage, you will see who God is to Paul. Let me try to describe Him:
v8 God is able, He is all-powerful, God is all gracious, He bounds to the rescue to supply just in time, He sufficiently supplies, He is the Contentment Giver, He has your best in mind because He is The Best for you, He wants to bless you to be a blessing, He wants to reveal himself to others through you! His giving changes you! v9 His distribution center is never closed, works overtime, and gives away freely regardless of your class or circumstances. He is God. v10 He is the Great Supplier, never the liar, and the hybrid of his seed no one can match! This Supplier God is the Multiplier God, and the math in his books cannot be figured out by human minds, it blows your mind! Your checkbook can’t harness His power. His seed germinates with glory inside and praises outside! v11 The DNA of his seed is set for enrichment in every way, and is a contagion to those who eat it. You can’t out give God but it makes you want to try while saying “Thank you, God! Thank you God!” while you do, and this thanksgiving v12 is itself a contagion causing others to join in the ranting and raving of this crazy-giving God! v13 This is God’s Gospel gone viral = His generosity in Christ! God gave His Son, the SuperSeed and the firstborn fruit of us all! v14 Nothing compares to the surpassing grace of God upon us! There is nothing like our God! Never has been and never will be!)
God is at the center of this passage and needs to be at the center of our lives! You have been praying for God’s supply > God gives abounding grace generously to YOU > you thank God! > others have needs and are praying for God to supply > you give generously to them > they give thanks to God!
Also at the center of this teaching is cultural or an American mindset versus a Christian mindset.
Instead of this being a stress to the Corinthians Paul puts the stress on God! We do not give in order to get, but because we have already received. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Galatians 6:7 ("A man reaps what he sows"). The teaching of Jesus: "Give, and it will be given to you; With the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Lk 6:38). We get as good as we give!
When you give God’s blessing away they just keep blessing! They bless you because you give, they bless others because you give, they bless the church because you give, and they bless God because you give. You can’t out give God! Whenever what is God-given is given away it is the gift that keeps on giving! That’s what abounding grace does! It has a Tigger tail that just keeps bounding!
Autarkeia ("all that is needed") means to be self-supporting but not self-sufficiency which produces indifference to others and their circumstances. Instead God’s supply produces contentment—contentment with little. And the less one wants, the greater the means for relieving the needs of others. This is counter-cultural Christianity at its best! This is not American. We need reminded of this at this season! While Paul aims to be free of his circumstances, he does not aim to be free of people. The Christian’s resources are replenished so that we, in turn, can abound in every good work (v8). Americans hoard; Christians give freely.
Generous hands come from generous hearts; Openheartedness from openhandedness.
Paul pursued God-dependency rather than self-sufficiency, also very un-American. The more we give, the more we will get from God. And the more we get, the more we are expected to give. John Bunyan wrote, "A man there was and they called him mad; the more he gave, the more he had." Of course Bunyan was writing of the Christian. To the world such a principle of giving is nonsense. But to Paul it is a reality of the Christian life.
The church at large recognizes collection for what it is: God's grace at work in the lives of the contributors. While the immediate aim of the collection is to relieve want, the ultimate goal is to bring honor to God—the Enabler and Provider of all that we possess. Jehovah Jireh!·
"for the obedience of your confession" could be better translated "the obedience that comes from your Christian profession" or "your obedience to your profession." The Gospel carries the burden of living up to what we profess. To not do this is to break the 3rd command and take the Lord’s name with us in vain.
Paul's point is that to be vital and living, profession of faith must issue in works. The Corinthians' willing contribution to the Jerusalem collection shows that they possess a faith that accepts the claims of the gospel and obeys its dictates as well. You profess to believe? Show it! By faith AND works!
Generosity of the heart, not the pocketbook, is what counts. The recipients will praise God not merely for a gift of money but also for the fellowship in Christ that the gift expresses. Koinonia ("sharing"), found four times in 2 Corinthians, refers to that which is held in common. In the New Testament it comes to denote the close union and caring concern of the members of Christ's body, the Church It is a union that is forged by the Spirit (13:14) that finds concrete expression in the contributions of the Gentile churches to meet the physical needs of their fellow believers in Judea.
For the most part, the recipients were conservative Jewish Christians who still regarded the Gentiles with a certain amount of fear and suspicion. For them the collection proves the Gentiles' profession of faith (v. 13). In this case the collection serves as the test by which the Gentiles' faith is shown to be genuine. The offering will impact the church in prayers for the Corinthians by the Jews will be offered, and a closer relationship between the Jewish recipients and the Gentile donors will be forged (v. 14). It is not enough to feel grateful for what others do for us. Heartfelt gratitude issues in prayer on the person's behalf. Prayer, in turn, has a way of bringing us into a closer relationship with those for whom we intercede. As the recipients pray, Paul says that their hearts will go out to the contributing churches (v. 14). As the Jewish recipients pray for their Gentile patrons, their hearts will be warmed toward them, and they will long to see and have a closer relationship with them.
An “indescribable” gift denotes something that is beyond human description--God's indescribable gift with Jesus Christ. We can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving. God so loved us that he gave the ultimate gift, whose cost can never be matched: the gift of his only Son.
So what kind of a giver will you be?