Grace-Fueled Generosity

From a sermon preached on 2 Corinthians 8:1–9

When we talk about financial giving in the church, it’s easy for our hearts to drift toward guilt or duty. But in 2 Corinthians 8:1–9, Paul offers us a better starting point: grace.

He begins by pointing to the churches in Macedonia—poor, afflicted, and yet overflowing in generous joy. Why? Because God’s grace had been given to them. Not just once, but continually. Paul uses a passive, perfect verb to describe grace as something God gives and keeps on giving. The Macedonians didn’t stir up generosity on their own—it was grace working in and through them.

These churches begged Paul for the privilege of giving. Not because they had a surplus, but because they had experienced the kind of love that changes everything. They gave because they had first given themselves fully to the Lord.

And then Paul turns to the Corinthians. He says: “Just as you excel in everything… see that you excel in this act of grace also.” He’s not comparing churches to shame one another—he’s stirring them (and us) to love and good works. He’s inviting them to step into the cycle of grace: receiving grace, responding with generosity, and experiencing fresh grace as a result.

This is the heart of the Christian life. And Paul grounds it all in Christ:

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (v.9).

Jesus gave more than money—He gave Himself. He left the riches of heaven to enter our poverty, and through His sacrifice, we receive the riches of eternal life. That’s grace.

So what do we do with this?

We must ask: Is God’s grace flowing through me? If we’re like the Dead Sea—receiving but not giving—we become stagnant. But when grace flows through us like a river, others are blessed, and we are renewed.

Here’s the challenge: Look at your budget and ask, What does this say about what I worship? Are my finances shaped by grace, or by comfort? What would it look like to joyfully and sacrificially give—not from guilt, but because I’ve been transformed by grace?

Let’s be a people who overflow with worshipful generosity. Not because we have to, but because we get to. Grace has been given. Let it not stop with us.

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This blog post was adapted from a sermon preached at Knollwood Baptist Church and prepared using AI-assisted tools.