The God Who Gives: What 2 Corinthians 8 Teaches About Generosity

Most of us follow a Savior who gave up everything while spending our own lives holding on to everything. If you want to become more generous, start with your heart, not your budget. Biblical generosity begins when you give yourself to God first. Giving then becomes a test of how sincere your love for Him is, and it loosens money's grip on your life.

Why does generosity matter if you follow Jesus?

Generosity matters because it is part of Christ being formed in you. Paul describes himself as a mother in labor for the believers he loves:

My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.

Galatians 4:19

Spiritual formation is Christ being formed in you over time, and it touches every part of life. You should be able to look back six months and see something that has grown. As Pastor Marty Sloan put it in this message, "The Christian life is not a buffet you pick and choose from." If you want to look like Jesus at home, at work, and in your neighborhood, your money and possessions are part of that picture.

We hold on to money, opportunities, and comfort. Someday all of it stays behind. "There are no U-Hauls on the back of your hearse." You can't take it with you, but you can invest beyond your own life by giving to others.

What does 2 Corinthians 8 teach about giving?

It teaches that real generosity starts with surrender and overflows with joy, even in hard circumstances. Paul tells the church in Corinth about the poor churches in Macedonia:

In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

2 Corinthians 8:2

Poverty and generosity don't usually go together, but in God's kingdom they can. The Macedonians gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability, entirely on their own. They pleaded for the chance to take part. Few people beg to be allowed to give.

Verse 5 explains where that came from: "They gave themselves first of all to the Lord." Everything else followed.

Is generosity a command?

No, Paul doesn't frame it as a command. He frames it as a test of love. He tells the Corinthians they already excel in faith, speech, knowledge, and earnestness, and asks them to excel in giving as well. Then he adds:

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

2 Corinthians 8:8

Corinth was a wealthy commercial city, and Paul compares it to a poor church that gave joyfully. The comparison lands close to home in a place like Naperville. In wealthy places, giving tends to go down over time, because money becomes a god and a fortress instead of something used to glorify God. Data also shows Americans give less today than they did during the Great Depression.

Pastor Marty summed it up this way: "Generosity is not a commandment, but it is a sincerity of our love for God test and a condition of our heart test."

Think about why that matters. In a marriage, a list of ten things your spouse must do each week to prove love wouldn't make anyone feel loved. Human nature always asks, "Do I have to?" Until your heart changes, giving stays a sticking point. Once love is there, giving gets a lot easier. As a teenager, Pastor Marty loved money and kept it close. Then he fell in love with the girl who became his wife, and suddenly he would buy her anything. Love changed how his money moved. When your heart is given to God first, the money "just falls out."

Where does generosity start?

Generosity starts with God, who gave first.

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 through his poverty might become rich.

2 Corinthians 8:9

Paul is writing about an offering, and he points to Jesus before he says anything about an amount. God never asks you for anything He hasn't already modeled. He gave before you ever gave Him anything. John 3:16 says God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Generosity starts with God and flows through you. You are blessed to be a blessing.

That also means the amount is never the main question.

For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

2 Corinthians 8:12

Remember the widow who gave two small coins. She gave little, and it said a lot.

What does it mean to give yourself to God first?

It means handing God all of you before you think about any dollar amount: your time, calendar, finances, house, vehicles, and conversations. "It's possible to give money and not give your heart," Pastor Marty warned. For example, he described the check he writes every April. He is grateful to live in this nation, but there is no heart in that check. He just gets it done and moves on to next year.

Generosity, in this sense, is not a transaction. It is the overflow of a life that already belongs to God. When you trust Him to supply every need, you can give with a smile, even quietly and anonymously.

How does giving loosen money's grip?

Giving loosens money's grip by dethroning it. Jesus could have named any of the gods of His day, and He chose money:

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Matthew 6:24

Money is a counterfeit god: it promises things only God can give, like security, identity, and hope. It can't guarantee a long life or a happy marriage. Timothy Keller's Counterfeit Gods describes how a good thing becomes an idol when you ask it to give what only God can. So ask yourself the question this message leaves you with: what am I asking money to do for me that only God can do?

In Acts 4, the early church lived open handed because the Spirit moved among them.

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.

Acts 4:32

Calvary has seen small pictures of that. In one past service, Pastor Marty handed out $100 bills for people to give away. Afterward, a man walked up and handed him $600 more for six more people in the next service. Nobody asked him to.

Pastor Marty and his wife, Becky, are giving to Calvary's kids facility offering. Their own children are grown, but they want other families' kids to experience God in a real way. "Whatever you hold on to, it stays here. Whatever you invest, it goes beyond yourself."

What happens to what you give away?

What you release can bear fruit beyond you. Jesus said, "Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds" (John 12:24). A seed held in your hand stays a seed. Think about the people who made room for you to hear the gospel. Someone taught a class, prayed faithfully, or welcomed your family, and their gift traveled further than they could see. As Pastor Marty put it, "What we give in obedience to God can serve people we will never see." For more, he points to The Paradox of Generosity by Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson and Infectious Generosity by Chris Anderson.

Does this mean going into debt to give?

No. This is no call to go into debt or be a poor steward. Calvary isn't in need, and no offering followed the message. The challenge is about your heart. If you've lived with a tight hand on your finances, open it and see what God does.

Common questions

What does 2 Corinthians 8 teach about giving?

It holds up the Macedonian churches, who gave joyfully out of severe poverty and pleaded for the chance to give. They gave themselves to the Lord first. Paul points to Jesus, who became poor for our sake, and says a gift is acceptable according to what a person has.

Is generosity a command for Christians?

In 2 Corinthians 8:8, Paul says he is not commanding the church. He is testing the sincerity of their love. Generosity grows out of a changed heart, an "I get to" instead of an "I have to."

How can I be generous if I don't have much money?

The Macedonian believers were in extreme poverty and still gave. Generosity is measured by willingness and what you give from, so even a small gift given with your whole heart matters to God, as the widow's offering shows.

What does "you cannot serve God and money" mean?

In Matthew 6:24, Jesus names money as a rival master. Money promises security, identity, and hope that only God can give. Giving regularly loosens its grip and keeps your trust in God.