Redeemer reads 2 Corinthians 9

Welcome! Over the next few weeks we are going to be reading 2 Corinthians together as a church, 1 chapter every week day. We’re encouraging everyone to read the passage, pray, and share with a few others what they felt God was pointing out to them in his word. Every day we’re going to be hearing from someone at Redeemer about what they felt God pointed out to them as they read the passage.

This morning Vince is sharing with us, you can watch his video above. Read on to hear some more thoughts on the passage, and to get some ideas for further study.

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This morning as we read 2 Corinthians 9 we continue to hear about the source of genuine generosity, which is the grace that we have been shown by God through his son Jesus.

In the first 5 verses of Chapter 9 we get a glimpse into Paul’s strategy for motivating the Corinthian church to be generous givers. He uses their readiness and eagerness as a central theme, the fact that they have prepared themselves to give way in advance of the gift needing to be given. There is a valuable lesson that we can learn here, that in order to give generously, we need to prepare ourselves to be able to give generously! It is no use consistently finding ourselves with opportunities to be generous, but having nothing to give, we must be preparing ourselves so that when God stirs us to be generous, we have the means to do so. What could you do today to make yourself ready, so that you can be generous at the next opportunity?

Verse 6 is a challenging one, as it lets us know that those who are generous are those who are often the recipients of generosity (be that from others or from God). It also brings to mind Jesus’ words in John 12:24 - Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. - We see this in nature and throughout scripture, that in order to grow, we must sacrifice something. It is not that Paul is saying that to get rich all we need to do is give away all of our money, but instead that as we give generously, we provide ourselves with more opportunities to grow. This may be that giving causes us to be humble, it may be that it means we give our time and learn to find joy in the success of others, it may be that we give our knowledge and see it passed on to others and transform situations. Whatever it looks like, as we plant more seeds in the soil of God’s great plan for our lives we can expect the fruit to be exciting and bountiful!

And let’s not forget the main theme running through 2 Corinthians 8-9, which Paul reminds us of in verse 8.

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

The source of our good works, the reason that we are able to be generous, and to see that generosity bear fruit, is because we have been so blessed by God. The ESV translation uses the phrase - And God is able to make all grace abound to you… - which wonderfully sums up the fact that anything we do as Christians today is in light of the grace we receive daily as we come before our heavenly Father. He is the source of all our good works.

And that’s how Paul finishes the chapter in verses 14-15. As we seek to follow God today, as we read his word and are stirred to be generous with our money, our time, our resources, we are reminded of the only reason that we are all here this morning.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Have a blessed weekend, and see you on Monday.

Redeemer reads 2 Corinthians 8

Welcome! Over the next few weeks we are going to be reading 2 Corinthians together as a church, 1 chapter every week day. We’re encouraging everyone to read the passage, pray, and share with a few others what they felt God was pointing out to them in his word. Every day we’re going to be hearing from someone at Redeemer about what they felt God pointed out to them as they read the passage.

This morning Chris is sharing with us, you can watch his video above. Read on to hear some more thoughts on the passage, and to get some ideas for further study.

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In 2 Corinthians 8 we see Paul encouraging the believers in Corinth to contribute financially to those in the church in Jerusalem (verses 10-11). But he is not just encouraging them to do this out of duty, but in response to the gospel, and the grace that has been shown to them.

We can be encouraged by the actions of the church in Macedonia, that we read about in the opening verses of the chapter. They have clearly understood the grace of God as not just something that they themselves have received, but as something which motivates them to action, and to generosity towards others. How inspiring this is during this time! That even though we face affliction, we are called to respond to the grace of God in our lives by being generous to others!

Also notice what Paul says in verse 8 - I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. We are not to read this passage and feel guilt driven, or that we must give in order to earn God’s favour, but instead we are to give as our hearts are genuinely stirred by the gospel. Paul is also reminding us that there is clearly a powerful witness given to others when we are seen to be generous with that which we have been blessed. As Chris says in the above video, we are never more like God than when we give.

Finally, one of my favourite verses in this passage is verse 9 - 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.
What an incredible picture of the gospel! Paul here is hammering home the point that God has been more generous to us than we could ever be, how could we not choose to respond by pouring ourselves out for others, as Jesus blood was poured out for us.

There is so much incredible truth in this passage, that the above comments only cover the first 9 verses! I would encourage you to read the chapter today - maybe multiple times - and as Chris has challenged us, ask the question - What is keeping me from giving consistently and generously?

Covid-19 - An Opportunity for Generosity

As you will no doubt be aware, the recent covid-19 outbreak has changed everyone’s lives to a greater and a lesser extent. As a church we know that many members of our family will be self-isolating, working from home, or practicing social distancing over the coming weeks. We are hoping that through a series of blogs we can encourage you, and others who might be reading these blogs, to fix your eyes on Jesus, and respond to the crisis in a way which honours his will for our lives.

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In the last 24 hours many of us will have made decisions to work from home, to cancel social events, and to refrain from travelling to visit friends and family in other parts of the country. These actions are in response to government advice which seeks to ‘flatten the curve’ of the coronavirus outbreak, limiting its effects on the health of the general public. But the physical health of members of our church family is not the only thing we need to be concerned about.

The crisis will also have a significant effect on many people’s finances, and as Christians it is important that we step up and support those who are impacted by the virus in this way too. As any church should, we choose to look to the very first church in the book of Acts, for guidance as what to do in these situations. This is my challenge to you today, does your generosity towards others in your community look like the church in Acts? They had everything in common as a church (Acts 2:42-47), they sold land to give to the poor (Acts 4:32-5:10), they distributed food amongst their community (Acts 6:1-7). Your actions may look different to this, but I think you would agree that in times like this it is crucial that we stand up and follow the example of the early church.

It is so crucial to not only change our social behaviour to keep the vulnerable amongst us safe, but to also change our economic behaviour too. This is an opportunity to be known as a church for our love, which will in turn draw others to us and give us an opportunity to preach the gospel, just as it did for the church in Acts.

So, how can you be generous today?

I’ll leave you with a verse which though written to a church over 1000 years ago, speaks directly to us today.

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

2 Corinthians 8:2

This blog was inspired by a similar one on thegospelcoaltion.org which you can read HERE