In the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who is our perfect example of grace and giving, my dear friends:

Do you abound in the grace in which the Apostle Paul urges the believers in Corinth to abound? Paul is writing this letter to his congregation in Corinth to report to them the success of a special offering that had been gathered among the churches in Macedonia. The offering was being gathered to help the believers in Jerusalem who were suffering, because they had just experienced a famine. Paul has some good news for the Corinthians. It’s news, not about some strangers, but about their own brothers and sisters in Christ—news about fellow servants of their Savior.

These Macedonian congregations had been touched by God’s grace. They had come to understand the rich outpouring of God’s undeserved love. And they had come to realize that they were still on the receiving end of a rich measure of God’s blessings.

And in that grace they had responded in the way Christians always respond to the grace of God. In spite of hardship and severe trials in their own lives, in spite of extreme poverty and need, in spite of any burden that their offerings might bring them, they had given freely as Paul says, “in the riches of their liberality.”

Notice the wonderful truth of Paul’s words about these Macedonian offerings. Their gift and their giving of that gift must be seen as a part of God’s grace. It was a grace these Christians had experienced and were still experiencing.

The success of this offering was not the result of their personal effort and sacrifice. God’s grace alone had brought it about. Paul doesn’t even say that their gifts were given in response to God’s grace. These Christians were actually on the receiving end as they gave. This grace of giving was actually another gift that God was presenting to His people. The Macedonian Christians who made such generous offerings were not just givers but they were receivers too, receivers of the grace of giving.

What a beautiful truth that is for us! As we give, as we offer, as we, in response to God’s love, share with others, we are in fact once again receiving from God. We are being given to, even as we ourselves give.

Our sinful nature would like us to believe that any offering we make is a personal sacrifice worthy of great merit before God. Our self-centered natures would like us to believe that to give anything away is actually a big loss for us. But our new man is different. He knows the nature of God. He knows that it is God’s very nature to give.

And so, by God’s grace, His people have that same nature. It is a believer’s natural response to give. Like the Macedonian believers, we have been, and still are, on the receiving end of God’s grace. Paul reminds the believers in Corinth that God’s grace has allowed them, as it has also allowed the Macedonian believers, to abound in all areas of Christian living--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all diligence.

The Macedonians had responded to God’s gracious giving with their own gracious giving to the offering for the believers in Jerusalem. They had shown that, just as they abound in other areas of Christian living, they also abound in the grace of giving. And now Paul encourages the Corinthians and us to ABOUND IN THIS GRACE ALSO!

Paul says about the Macedonians, “The abundance of their joy abounded in the riches of their liberality.” Everyone has heard that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. The joy of giving is real. Most of us have experienced the satisfaction of seeing the joyful response that others have to an unexpected gift. There is joy in giving and that joy is real. Paul wants us to remember that it is one of the many blessings we have as followers of Christ.

The grace of giving had greatly affected the hearts of the believers in Macedonia. Even though they were far from being wealthy—in fact they lived in extreme poverty—that didn’t stop their generosity.

These believers had endured real pain. They knew from everyday experience the hardship of being Christians in a non-Christian world. They had felt the cutting remarks. They had experienced discrimination. They had endured taunts. Yet, although their lives were not filled with joyful events, they were still joy-filled. They had something else that gave them joy—something far better than position, power, or possessions. They had God’s grace. The undeserved love of God gave them peace of heart and true happiness that were far stronger than any trial, no matter how severe. In fact, it was the trials themselves that made their joy and peace even more precious.

These Christians literally had nothing. But that didn’t take away their joy. Their joy was not in material possessions. It wasn’t due to success or achievement. Their joy was due only to the grace of God. Their joy came in Christ, came through Christ, and existed because of Christ. And that joy focused their eyes on Christ.

Their joy in Christ opened their hearts to the needs of others. Their joy, because of God’s grace, overflowed with a desire to give and to help in whatever way they could.

What a wonderful way for every Christian to live! To our world, that so often judges a person’s life only by his position or his possessions, these believers in Macedonia provide an example of true faith in action. They show us the things that really matter. And they provide us with the only proper motivation for giving.

The response of the Macedonian believers to this special offering is almost unimaginable. Can you imagine a congregation today begging for an opportunity to make a generous offering to the Lord? Can you imagine a congregation pleading with their pastor to pass the offering plates around a second or third time so they could give more?

Well, that’s exactly what the Macedonian believers did. Paul says, “They were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.” And the gospel still affects people that way, maybe not in extra Sunday morning offerings, but in countless other ways that are often unseen and unheralded.

God’s people look for ways to serve their Lord, often giving beyond their ability, because they know they can never out-give God.

Paul continues, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”

There is a reason for everything Paul has said up to this point. There’s a message Paul wanted the Corinthians to get. The reason and focus is Christ. He is the one and only power for achieving all that a believer achieves. The Macedonian believers had found great joy in Christ. Even in the midst of poverty, affliction, hardship and pain they had reason for joy. That reason was their Savior Jesus Christ. And even though Paul didn’t ask for much from them, they still had a burning desire to give far beyond anyone’s expectations. And that reason was also Christ.

And today we Christians have the same Christ. We have also experienced His love for us. We also “know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our Lord has given and has given fully. That Lord, who had everything, gave everything away. The Lord of all became the servant of all. And the simple reason for it all was us. He did it all for us, so that we could experience His wealth, be rid of our tremendous debt of sin, and be rich in His righteousness.

It was that rich gift, that glorious blessing through Christ, which moved the Macedonians to give generously. And today and always Christ remains the only reason to give.

What a blessing it is to be able to help others by giving, and then to be blessed in the giving—to give, only to be given to. That is the Christian way. That’s the way things are in faith and fellowship with our Savior Jesus Christ. That is the true grace of giving. Just as you abound in everything by God’s grace, see that you abound in this grace also!  AMEN