2 Corinthians 8:1-5

The Collection for the Lord’s People

1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian
churches.
2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich
generosity.
3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,
4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.
5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of
God also to us.
What happened?
About two years earlier (Acts 16:6-10), the Apostle Paul had stopped for the night in Troas, on the eastern coast
of the Aegean Sea. His travel plans to visit churches in Asia were interrupted by a vision. A man from
Macedonia was imploring him, “Come to Macedonia and help us.” The Holy Spirit wasn’t allowing Paul and
his travel companions to go anywhere else, but the way to Macedonia opened up, so they left Troas.
They sailed across the Aegean Sea…
They we’re supposed to help the Macedonians in need but as they reached Macedonia, they found out that they
will instead help the people who were also helping those in need.
More remarkable (talagsahon) than the gift they made was the way it happened. Paul writes about it (verse 1) as
a special “grace” given by God.
So they began planting churches around Macedonia. Macedonia became home to a number of the early
churches – Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea.
These young Macedonian churches were sorely persecuted from the time they came to faith, and it had left them
financially bereft. The Bible says (2 Cor 8:2) the Macedonians were experiencing “down to the depths” poverty,
yet they became an example of generosity to the whole body of churches.
The Macedonians’ pockets were empty, but their hearts were full. They were overwhelmed with gratitude to the
believers in Jerusalem who had thrown off their distaste for the Gentiles in order to bring them into the family
of God.
(Segue worldly perspective of utang-na-loob)
In fact, the Macedonians may have seen the support they were sending to Jerusalem as something they owed
(Romans 15:25-27). The Jews had given the Macedonians the most precious thing they had – the gospel of
Jesus Christ. Now the Macedonians were eager to help the Jews in return.

God has his own economy

How could it be that people with nothing had so much to give?
It starts with plain common sense (2 Corinthians 9:6) “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and
whoever sows generously will also reap generously,” and expands like the Fibonacci sequence.
The Creator God, who formed this world with incredible mathematical complexity, doesn’t play by his own
mathematical rules. In this world God created, 10 – 1 = 9. If we needed all 10 of something, there would be a
problem in giving one away. But in God’s economy, the economy that fed 5,000 with five small loaves of bread
and two fishes, 10 – 1 = 10+. When we give something to God, we don’t lose. We gain something – the
privilege of participating in his work, the sheer joy of giving, and, ultimately, the blessing of fellowship in
eternity with those who benefitted from our gifts.
We do best when we remember that all the resources in the world belong to God, he is generous, and he desires
not only to provide for our needs (Matthew 6:31-33), but even to reward our generosity with the ability to be
more generous. What God calls us to do, he also empowers us to do:
 For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
– Philippians 2:13
When Paul explains the Macedonian story to the Corinthian church, he explains a principle to them: Sow
generously, and you will reap generously. That’s simple. But then he goes on: Give more than is easy to give to
God’s purposes, and you will likely be able to do it again. The grace God gave to the Macedonians? He has
more of it (2 Corinthians 9:8). And he frequently gives it to those who live life with an open hand:
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for
sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be
generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
– 2 Corinthians 9:10-11
This welling up of generosity (8:2) is a pattern. We saw it with King David and his people (1 Chronicles 29),
and we see it in the Macedonian church. It spread to the other churches in the first century. Maybe it could
spread throughout the church in this critical time, so that the world sees Jesus because of our love and support
for each other.
Anyone can be generous
Jesus says that when we help others, especially our brothers and sisters who are struggling, we are actually
doing something for him (Matthew 25:40). And we know for sure that he doesn’t forget (verses 37-40). When
we give to the church, we show love to Jesus’ body and are ultimately loving Jesus himself.
And anyone can do it. The Macedonians were what we would call “dirt poor,” yet they were still able to give.
God fulfilled their desire. If you are feeling a pull to give more, he may fulfill your desire too. We pray this,
along with the author of Hebrews, for you:
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd
of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may
do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen.
– Hebrews 13:20-21

For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own
accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints – and this, not
as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

– 2 Corinthians 8:3-5