"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE ABOUT GOD'S GRACE AND GENEROSITY IN OUR LIVES"
2nd Cor 8:1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia:
2nd Cor 8:2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
2nd Cor 8:3 For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing,
2nd Cor 8:4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
2nd Cor 8:5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.
Some explanatory thoughts, application and a prayer:
1. Paul was actually speaking to the church in Corinth, telling them about God's grace in and upon the churches in Macedonia. That's an area of Greece. God had bestowed His grace, His unmerited favor upon them. And, it showed up in the way that Paul describes in the next few verses after verse 1.
2. Those Macedonian churches were in a "great trial of affliction", but they also had "the abundance of joy" and, they were in "deep poverty" yet, they "abounded in the riches of their liberality" Wow. That's a whole lot said about them. Paul was holding them up as an example to the Church of Corinth. An example to test the sincerity of the Corinthian Churches love and commitment to Christ.
3. Paul was bearing personal witness of them, that they were giving financially to help the poor saints in Jerusalem, "according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing" So, they were in affliction, yet had joy, they were in deep poverty, yet they were freely giving, not only what they could, but in some way beyond what they could give.
Grace made them this way, that is what Paul was saying. They could not take the credit for being this way, except for the grace of God upon them.
4. The believers in Macedonian were imploring Paul or begging him with much urgency to take their gift, which Paul calls, " the fellowship of the ministering to the saints" They really wanted to give these funds to the other churches that needed it. They were actually urging Paul, "hey Paul, please hurry up, take this money and get it to the people there" kind of thing.
5. Here in this verses is the real secret of how God's grace works through people. 2nd Cor 8:5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. Notice what they had done first, that is first before the giving of monies.
They had first given themselves to the Lord. They committed themselves to God. They were living sacrifices to God. They were disciples of Jesus Christ. They were "all in" as we like to say.
6. Do You know that God's grace can be bestowed upon you also? Do you know that you can give yourself to the Lord in the same way these people did? Do you know this truly what the Lord desire for you to do? And, do you know that when you do, that You become a vessel that God Himself can work through to touch other lives,
A prayer:
Lord, we are going to meet these people face to face someday in glory, when we get to heaven. Just hearing about them, elevates You as the one who worked in their lives, and it shows us how they did not take Your grace in vain, but responded to it, and look at the fruit it produced in their lives.
In fact Lord, we will meet the people in heaven who benefited from the monies that were given by these Macedonian Christians. Lord, may we follow the example given us here, and be like them in our day and age.
In Jesus name, amen
Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia.
