Sermon: Sunday, 4th May, 2025
Speaker: Ben Castenada
Scripture: Malachi 3:6-12 and 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
We’re continuing our series walking through KFC’s vision statement, and today we’ll be talking about giving to the church. Here’s what the vision statement says, ‘[We will] be intentional as a Church family with our finances, giving sacrificially to our local church, and to other gospel work worldwide.’
I’m going to say the hard bit up front: we as a culture don’t like to talk about finances. Even under the best of circumstances it can feel awkward and seem indecent; money is intensely personal. What adds an extra challenge is that Scots, for better or worse, have an international reputation for their ability to make a pound stretch, or as some might call it: ‘being economical’.
But there’s another challenge when it comes to the church: some might worry that preaching about money will give the impression that that’s all the church leadership cares about. But if you know the elders at all, you’ll know that’s not true. In fact, I worry we don’t talk about it enough! Why? Because we care about your souls. Billy Graham said, ‘Give me five minutes with a person’s checkbook, and I’ll tell you where their heart is.’
Billy Graham was just paraphrasing the words of Jesus: ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’ Your money matters to God, and this is one of the reasons the Bible speaks so much about it. It’s a barometer for your spiritual health!
We, no less than the Corinthians, are prone to thinking that our money is ours – that it is our personal, private possession. But we need Jesus to flip the tables of our hearts. We need to realise that the economics of this world and the economics of grace are two entirely different things. Our souls, our bodies, and even our pocketbooks have been bought with a price, and that should change what we do with our money.
1. The principle of costly grace
It’s important to set the stage for what’s going on in this chapter, especially since we’ve dropped into the middle of it. Paul was in the midst of a long missionary journey through modern-day Turkey and Greece, and he sent this letter on ahead of him to the church in Corinth to get them ready for his coming. One of the things he was trying to do as he traveled from church plant to church plant was raise money for the mother church in Jerusalem, which was filled with poor and persecuted Christians. Obviously there was no social safety net in those days, and the local church simply didn’t have the resources to help.
The result was an opportunity for other believers to step up and help out, and in these verses we get two kinds of responses: one from the Macedonian churches (verses 1–5) and the other from the Corinthians (verses 6–8). And they couldn’t be more different! Paul heaps up words to praise the eagerness of the Macedonian churches. Maybe you’ve heard of Singapore maths? Verse 2 contains an example of Macedonian maths: great joy + deep poverty = rich or overflowing generosity.
Despite not having much by way of finances, verse 3 tells us they not only gave as they were able, but they gave sacrificially, beyond their means. In fact, verse 4 says they pleaded with Paul to be permitted to give. They were like the people camping out overnight to be the first ones in the queue for the Taylor Swift concert. And Paul states in verse 5 that they went way beyond what he expected – they not only offered their money in accordance with God’s will, but they first and foremost offered their whole selves to God.
In contrast, the fund raising of the Corinthians had gone dormant like a tree in winter, with no leaves and little evidence of life. That’s striking because they seemed to be a much stronger, richer church and the project had gotten off to a good start. Verse 10 indicates that they started collecting money at least a year prior, but things had petered out. As we find out in verse 6, Paul had to send Titus to spur them on and make sure that they actually finished the job.
What happened? Maybe the expense didn’t seem worth it; maybe they did a cost-benefit analysis and discovered there would be absolutely no return on investment. Maybe the Corinthians thought, they’re just too far away! Jerusalem is an insignificant city in a far-flung province of the Roman empire. Or perhaps, as verses 13–14 suggest, they worried about the outlay, how it would stretch and burden and (dare we say it) inconvenience them – we can’t be ‘economical’ and do this.
This obviously isn’t just a Corinthian problem; these verses are like a window into the human heart. Ever since human beings first rebelled against God’s good and wise rule in the Garden of Eden, a place of absolute abundance where there was no lack, we have become curved in on ourselves like a hand that’s misshapen. Our desires have been perverted so that now, instead of looking at the good and beautiful things all around us and worshiping the God who made them and gave them, we prize the gifts themselves. The Bible calls this idolatry, when we worship something God gives rather than God himself. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, even the most generous amongst us has a bent toward selfishness and thanklessness, and the truth of that is perhaps sitting beside you. Did you have to teach your child to be selfish? No! Adults may be a bit more sophisticated with our manners, but we’re no different. We’re like children at the beach desperately trying to hold the sea in our hands. We try to cling to the good gifts of this world, including our finances, hoping that somehow they will satisfy us.
And that’s why we desperately need to be reminded of verse; ‘… 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.’ This is the principle of costly grace. What is grace? At its most basic level, grace is getting a gift which you don’t deserve, a free gift that comes at great cost. And the preeminent display of grace was shown in Christ.
Friends, Christ didn’t ask, ‘What will I get in return if I do this for you?’ He made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Christ didn’t complain, ‘Human beings are so far away!’ Instead, the Creator entered his creation and was born of a virgin, stooping to save selfish, thankless sinners like you and me. And friends, Christ was inconvenienced. He willingly bore our burden, paying the debt for all of his chosen people, standing in their place and shouldering the wrath of God toward sin. The height of Christ’s love can be seen in the depths to which he stooped: though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
There’s a lovely hymn that starts like this:
‘My Saviour left his throne above,
Exchanged his wealth for poverty;
He took my hate and gave his love;
All this and more he did for me.
Because he chose the lowly way,
And bowed before his Father’s will,
I can with all assurance say:
My God is near and loves me still.’
Has costly grace captured your heart? Only when the principle of costly grace captures your heart can our perspective on money change.
2. The practice of costly grace
We could spend all day thinking through the implications of costly grace for all of life, but for just a few minutes, I want us to think about four ways it should shape the way we give our finances.
Firstly, our fundamental mindset should be that of generosity, not scarcity. Or to put it another way, Christ has freed you to be a flight attendant, not a hoarder. You may have seen some of those shows on tv about hoarders, where a team goes in and helps them clear out the house. Every room is packed full with stuff, some of which is rotting, some of it’s broken and unfixable, and some has never been opened. I once went to help clear out a hoarder’s house, and what was striking to me was how normal the person was. They were kind and caring and seemed just like you. But what’s the problem? At some level, they have a scarcity mindset: ‘I will not be okay if I don’t have this.’
Now think of a flight attendant on an airplane. What is a flight attendant there for? Not to hoard the coffee and snacks! They are literally paid to give things away, to distribute them equitably and wisely for the benefit of others. In the same way, friends, Christ has saved you to be a steward of God’s good gifts. Your job isn’t to hoard your time, talent, or treasures––after all, they’re not actually yours! They’re his! And as Jesus taught in the parable of the talents, we’re not supposed to hide these gifts in the ground––instead he calls us to put them to work by distributing them in wise ways that will bring back eternal returns for God’s glory.
Secondly,generous giving involves sacrifice. Verse 2: In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. The vast majority of people in the ancient world lived day to day; hunger, poverty, and squalor were nothing new. In absolute terms, we are far richer than they are. And yet the Macedonians, not out of their excess, but out of their poverty, verse 3, ‘gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.’ Why? Because they realized the extent of the love of Jesus for them. Christ did not count equality with God something to be grasped but humbled himself and became a servant so that you might share in the Son’s inheritance. In light of his sacrifice, they were willing to sacrifice their finances and go without for the building up of Christ’s church.
You might be thinking, but I don’t have much to give! I’m barely making ends meet as it is. Of course we must make sure that our families have enough to eat and that our rent is paid. You don’t need to go into debt to financially support the work of the church. As Paul says in verse 12, the gift is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have.
But I would guess the problem most of us have isn’t feeding our families, but being far too quick to jump to a scarcity mindset. If there’s no money left at the end of the month to give to the church, a simple solution is to give at the beginning of the month. Make it the first piece of your monthly financial pie, not the last. And this corresponds to the Old Testament principle of the firstfruits. The first and best part of the harvest was supposed to be brought to the tabernacle and offered to God. Just like a dinner guest, God doesn’t want your leftovers. Give God your best, not your leftovers.
Thirdly, we give gladly and voluntarily to support the needs of the church. Paul says in verse 8: ‘I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.’ Put another way, John will never send Elijah to your door with a cricket bat or crowbar to collect! And unlike some cults, you don’t have to turn over your tax forms to the church so we can make sure you’re paying your ten percent. Instead, our giving should stem from the overflow of our hearts.
One of the things we would do as kids is take a bottle of soda and drop in a mentos; if you’ve never done it before, it immediately erupts in this gush of foam. That’s a bit like how Paul talks here about the giving of the Macedonian churches; it wells up within them like a geyser. It’s impossible to cork it up.
This is how God’s people have always reacted in the Bible to God’s acts of grace or forgiveness. After defeating four Canaanite kings and rescuing his nephew Lot, Abraham gave a tithe of the spoil to Melchizedek the priest. After God forgave Israel for their idolatry with the golden calf, they took a freewill offering for the construction of the tabernacle, and they gave way more than was needed. Over and over and over again we see this pattern take place, where God’s acts of grace motivate his people’s joyful and voluntary giving.
And friends, what greater act of grace can God give than the gift of his beloved Son? As the hymn goes: ‘There is no more for heaven left to give.’ That gift is greater than anything God did for his people in the Old Testament and so it makes sense that our giving too should be greater than theirs too. I know some don’t like the principle of a tithe – giving a tenth of your income – because it seems too formulaic or legalistic. It’s fine if you have those concerns, so friends, give more! If nothing else, it’s a good benchmark for our glad and willing giving.
And our generous, sacrificial, and voluntary giving leads to the fourth and final practice: give in faith. In verses 13–15 Paul deals with the objection that he’s being oppressive or unfair to collect from the gentile churches support for the Jewish church. Why should we help people somewhere else? Paul’s response is simple – it’s because God is blessing you now. Verse 14 tells us that ‘your plenty will supply what they need.’ And Paul points to a future time in which the situation might be reversed. The question for us is this: do we trust God to supply what we need today and tomorrow, however he may supply it? Or to put it very simply, do we trust him to ‘give us this day our daily bread’?
Israel faced this very practical question every day as they gathered manna because the manna would spoil if it was left overnight. They were daily dependent on God’s provision. So friends, here’s the question for you: do you trust that God will enable you to live on less than 100p per pound? Do you believe that he’s going to give you your daily bread, whether by your own hand or the hand of another?
The answer is yes! As Paul says, ’He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’ (Romans 8:32)