Sacrificial Grace

Today's Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:3
"They gave . . . beyond their means."
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When Paul wanted to challenge the Corinthian Christians to give generously toward the need of poorer believers in Jerusalem, he held up as an example the Macedonian churches: "We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints" (2 Corinthians 8:1-4).

The generosity of the Macedonians was indeed remarkable. They gave out of poverty; they gave beyond their ability, in disregard of their own needs. What was the secret of such an outpouring of generosity? Paul said the secret was the grace of God (verse 1). Here Paul used grace to mean a working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers—as a concrete expression of God's unmerited favor.

Charles Hodge commented on this work of grace: "The liberality of the Corinthians was due to the operation of the grace of God. The sacred writers constantly recognize the fact that the freest and most spontaneous acts of men, their inward states and the outward manifestations of those states, when good, are due to the secret influence of the Spirit of God, which eludes our consciousness."

So it was the grace of God, not the superiority of their own character, that caused such an abundant outpouring of generosity from the Macedonians. God intervened in their hearts by the power of his Spirit to create this amazing generosity.