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Father,Like we’ve sung, we can never repay you for all you’ve given us, but we pray that you would work in us to give like you.In Jesus name, Amen

For a wedding present, one slightly distant friend promised Tess and I a voucher for his favourite hotel but it never came and we didn’t really know how to contact him about it. A bit later, the hotel folded, and he got in touch to say he’d send us some money for a meal out instead, but he never did. And again, we didn’t really know how to contact him about it. So we went out for a meal and then dropped him a line to say we really appreciated him paying for it, in the hope that it would prompt him to, but he never did. So we chalked it up as a business loss and never mentioned it again.

It’s a delicate situation, isn’t it, when someone has said they’ll give something, and then don’t, because on the one hand, they’ve said they want to. But on the other hand, you can’t make them because giving by definition has to be voluntary. And that’s the delicate situation Paul was in when he wrote what we’re going to look at this week and next in a letter called 2 Corinthians. Because the Corinthians (Christians in the Greek city of Corinth) had told Paul they wanted to give to a collection he was making for the hard-up Christians in Jerusalem. And they’d started putting money aside but then they’d stopped. And Paul needed to motivate them to finish, but knowing that real Christian giving has to be voluntary – from willingness, not pressure. And that’s the challenge for us, as we aim to motivate giving to Christian ministry here and world wide. So the way we do it is to have this Giving Review, as we call it, when we talk about the financial needs of our church and our mission partners, and when we listen to where God’s Word speaks to this area of living for Jesus. So would you turn in the Bibles to page 967. That will get you back to 2 Corinthians 8. Which is the point in this letter where Paul changed the subject to ‘Motivation For Giving’ and how he motivated them then is good for all time, including for us, today. So I’ve got two headings. And the first is:

1. Amazing grace

Look down to 2 Corinthians 8.1:

We want you to know, brothers [and sisters], about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia

So the churches of Macedonia included the Philippians and Thessalonians – who also got letters into the New Testament. And Paul held them up as an amazing example of the grace of giving (2 Corinthians 8.2-5):

for in a severe test of affliction [persecution], their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave [that is, to Paul’s collection] according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favour [the word is literally ‘grace’ again] of taking part in the relief of the saints [ie, the Christians in Jerusalem] – and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

One of our mission links is with a church and community centre and clinic in Kenya, in a place called Mburi. And by our standards, most people there have nothing. For example, when I’ve done pastors’conferences there, many have said they can’t afford pens and paper, so they prepare everything in their heads. And when I’ve asked who owns at least one Bible commentary, most hands have stayed down. They have nothing, but visit, and they give and give and give. For example, some are coffee farmers and when I asked if I could get any of their coffee to take home, they said, ‘No, it all goes to the mills in Nairobi.’ But one did a day trip to Nairobi to buy me four packets of coffee from their patch. I’ve no idea how many times his weekly budget that cost. And these Macedonian Christians were the same, 2 Corinthians 8.2 again:

…their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part

And the joy there is the joy of knowing Jesus. It’s the joy of knowing he gave himself on the cross to forgive us back into relationship with him forever – Whoever we are, whatever we’ve done, whatever we still do wrong. And that makes you want to give. And it’s the joy of knowing he’s risen and alive and that having died to meet our greatest need, he won’t let us down on our other needs. And that frees you up to give. And that’s why in 2 Corinthians 8.1, Paul calls it:

…the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia

Because grace is God’s completely voluntary, completely undeserved, completely unexpected love shown to us in Jesus. And Paul says, those who live on the receiving end of God’s grace inevitably show grace to others. Because what flows into them from God overflows – even when, by our standards, they have nothing. 2 Corinthians 8.3-5 again:

For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the [grace] of taking part in the relief of the saints [so we didn’t ask them –they asked us] – and this, not as we expected, [you’d have expected them to say, ‘We’d love to help, but haven’t got enough ourselves’] but [amazingly] they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

So that’s where Paul begins – with amazing grace. Because if we’re going to give to ministry here and elsewhere, and to the worldwide relief of the needs of Christians, it will only be as the result of freshly appreciating God’s grace to us, and finding that makes us want to overflow with grace to others. So if we don’t really feel like giving, step one is to think what Jesus did for us on the cross, until we do. So that’s amazing grace, as seen in the Macedonian Christians, but the other thing here is:

2. Arrested grace

As seen in the Corinthians. Look on to 2 Corinthians 8.6:

Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace.

So, they’d started putting money aside for Paul’s collection – which was grace. But then they’d stopped – which was arrested grace. So now they needed to complete what they’d said they’d do, and Paul needed to motivate them, but knowing that real Christian giving has to be voluntary – from willingness, not pressure. So he says three things to them and to us:

i. Give because you want to

Look on to 2 Corinthians 8.7-8:

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 [literally it says, ‘may you excel’ – it’s a wish, not a telling-them-to, because verse 8:]. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

So Paul wasn’t commanding them, telling them to give, because real Christian giving isn’t something you can command – it’s an overflow from our experience of grace. Which is why 2 Corinthians 8.9 comes next:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich [in the glory of heaven], yet for your sake he became poor [he became human and became your sin and your substitute under judgement on the cross], so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Which is why I said earlier if we don’t really feel like giving, step one is to think what Jesus did for us on the cross, until we do. Let’s read on, 2 Corinthians 8.10-11:

And in this matter I give my judgement: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have.

So you see what he’s saying? ‘I know you already want to give. So I’m not commanding you. I’m just trying to help you do what you want.’ And that’s the spirit of this Giving Review. If we’re spiritually healthy, we’ll want to give. And a Giving Review just provides the help to put that want into action. For example, the help of encouraging regular, planned giving through a standing order – which is best for avoiding just giving in response to appeals, and it’s best for financial planning at church. So, give because you want to:

ii. Give proportionate to what you have

2 Corinthians 8.11-12 again. Paul says to them:

So now finish doing [your giving] as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

So that’s talking about what kind of giving is acceptable to God, pleasing to God? And one thing that might have stopped some of the Corinthians giving (and might be stopping you) was the fact that they couldn’t really afford much because we know from Paul’s letters that a lot of them were relatively poor. And they’d have looked at the more well-off minority in the church and thought to themselves, ‘Well, we can’t possibly give like them. So how can our measly gifts be acceptable to God?’ And the answer’s there in 2 Corinthians 8.12:

For if the readiness [the willingness] is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

In other words, forget about everyone else. Just think about what you have, about your income – even if it’s just a small pension, or part-time student job pay and give a proportion of that. And at Giving Review time we suggest, as a starting point, giving 5% of whatever you have to support the ministry here, and 5% to support world mission. But that’s just a suggestion – some of us may not be able to afford that. And it’s just a starting point, for many of us, we can give much, much more than 10%. So, give because you want to; give proportionate to what you have. And lastly:

iii. Give to see no-one in need

I guess the Corinthians might have been alarmed at Paul’s example of the Macedonians giving:

according to their means…and beyond their means

In other words, beyond what they could really afford. And that might have left the Corinthians thinking, ‘Hold on, do you want us to give to the point where we’re in need, where we’re in financial trouble?’ To which Paul says, ‘No,’ Look at 2 Corinthians 8.13-15:

For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that [in future, if the situation’s reversed] their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

So Paul’s not saying he wants to see every Christian with exactly the same income and possessions and so on. But he is saying God wants to see no-one in need. And if he’s given us more than we need, one big reason is so we can give to those who have less than they need. And that starts with our fellow-believers in Jesus world-wide – like our brothers and sisters in Mburi. Partly because if we don’t give to them, often no-one else will – especially where they’re being persecuted. But mainly to express the fact that we are family, and so we do have special responsibility for them that the world doesn’t. So at the start of this Giving Review, I think Paul might say, ‘Why don’t you re-name it the ‘Grace Review’?’ Because what will motivate us to start giving or keep giving or re-start giving isn’t looking at the budget for next year or looking at our bank statements. It’s looking at the cross. Which is what we’re going to do now as we stand and sing, My heart is filled with thankfulness. Let’s stand.