bdavidc
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When people think of giving, they think of slipping money into a collection plate or getting scolded about owing ten percent. But that’s a shallow and distorted picture. Sadly, it’s what so many churches focus on as if financial obligation is the heart of belonging to the Church. But the Bible paints a very different picture in 2 Corinthians 8. The Macedonians did not invest in high-profile, comfortable buildings that would make a statement about them. The Macedonians “gave of their own accord…begging us with much entreaty…to minister to the saints” (2 Corinthians 8:3–4). Their love for Christ overflowed in joyful giving to actual people with real needs. This was not money used to prop up programs or finance monuments for their own pleasure. This is the kind of biblical giving Paul commended in 2 Corinthians 8.
Alas, today many churches have this exactly backward. Instead of sending resources to the poor and needy, the widows and orphans, missionaries and struggling believers, many churches invest in bigger and fancier buildings, more expensive programs, and more comforts for themselves. Leaders squeeze people with guilt and use force to get tithes and offerings, yet the very people Christ commands us to care for get token handouts at best. Jesus Himself denounced this hypocrisy. He scolded the religious leaders who “devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive a more severe judgment” (Luke 20: 47–48), and warned the Pharisees when they tithed yet “neglected the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23). Biblical giving was never meant to build empires, it was to meet the needs of the saints and display the grace of Christ.
Rather than giving only when it made them more comfortable, these saints first gave themselves to the Lord, then cheerfully met the needs of others (2 Corinthians 8:5).
That is the heart of biblical giving. It flows not from guilt or obligation, but from grace. Paul reminded the Corinthians, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). When you grasp what Christ gave up to save you, generosity becomes not a duty but a joy.
Paul nowhere commanded a set percentage. Instead, he said, “If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not” (2 Corinthians 8:12). God is not asking you to give what you don’t have. A small gift given from a willing heart has equal weight before God as a large gift from someone who is wealthy.
Paul also made clear that giving is to be an act of justice and meeting needs, not a means to create personal empires. “That now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality” (2 Corinthians 8:14). Giving is not to enrich church leaders or fund personal extravagance. It is to meet the needs of the saints, advance the gospel, and care for the poor, the widow, and the oppressed (James 1:27, Galatians 6:10).
This matters because so many churches pervert giving into a matter of pressure and manipulation. Rather than following Paul’s example of sacrificial generosity that flows from grace, they demand tithes from people, overspend on buildings, and neglect the poor and vulnerable the Scripture commands us to help. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for tithing while neglecting mercy and justice (Matthew 23:23). He overturned the tables in the temple when God’s house had become a marketplace (John 2:16). When giving is used to fuel pride and greed, it no longer reflects the heart of Christ.
Generosity for believers today, especially those on fixed incomes, can take many forms God honors as much as money: a prepared meal for a neighbor, giving someone a ride, praying faithfully for others, sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, sending encouragement, or just being present for the lonely. These are the treasures God values because they flow from a surrendered heart.
The lesson of 2 Corinthians 8 is simple: true giving begins with giving yourself to the Lord. From there, every act of generosity, financial or practical, becomes a testimony of Christ’s grace at work in your life. In a world obsessed with self-preservation and greed, that kind of giving shines as evidence that Jesus Christ really transforms lives.
Why Should You Not Feel Guilty for Withholding From Rich Churches?
If you have felt guilty because you don’t give money to churches which spend large sums on buildings, programs, and image but give very little to the poor and hurting people for whom Scripture so clearly commands us to care, the Bible says you shouldn’t feel guilty.
The goal Paul had in mind for giving in 2 Corinthians 8 was simple: to supply real needs. “That now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want” (2 Corinthians 8:14). The Christians in Macedonia gave cheerfully so that “they gave themselves first unto the Lord, and unto us by the will of God” for the purpose of ministering to the saints (2 Corinthians 8:3–4). That is the biblical pattern of giving.
Jesus was stern in His judgment of religious leaders who “devour widows’ houses” and at the same time “make a pretense of prayer” (Luke 20:47). He rebuked the Pharisees who tithed while neglecting “the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23). When churches today put lavish amounts of money into buildings that sit empty most of the week, while they neglect the poor, the widow, the orphan, the homeless, and the gospel mission, they are guilty of the very same sin.
God is not calling His people to fund greed, waste, and pride. He is calling us to give cheerfully and wisely and to direct our generosity where it will truly honor Him: to the poor, to missionaries who proclaim Christ, to widows, orphans, to the spread of the gospel (James 1:27, Galatians 6:10, 2 Corinthians 9:7). That kind of giving pleases the Lord.
Grace that Drives Giving
In the end, giving isn’t about percentages, or pressure, or propping up a religious system. It’s about mirroring the grace of Christ. Paul exhorted the Corinthians, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Generosity flows out of that reality. Jesus gave Himself up for us. When our hearts are gripped by His love and sacrifice we want to give as well. Not to buildings or ego, but to people and purposes that really count in eternity. Money or time or prayer or a simple act of love…every gift given in His name is a living testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed us.
