1It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints, 2for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for the past year. Your zeal has stirred up very many of them. 3But I have sent the brothers so that our boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, just as I said, you may be prepared, 4lest by any means, if anyone from Macedonia comes there with me and finds you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) would be disappointed in this confident boasting. 5I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.
6Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work. 9As it is written,
“He has scattered abroad. He has given to the poor.
His righteousness remains forever.”
10Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11you being enriched in everything for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. 12For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through much giving of thanks to God, 13seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of Christ and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all, 14while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you. 15Now thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!
Sow Generously
6 Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
In this chapter, Paul urges the Corinthians to fulfill the commitments that they had made in their giving. Paul was proud of their desire to give and their follow-through on what they had promised. Paul often collected offerings and gifts from the more wealthy Greeks and he would send those gifts back to Jerusalem to help the poor Jewish Christians who lived there. In these few verses, Paul tells us a great deal about grace giving. The old system of the coercive tithe didn’t belong in the new churches of the Gentiles. Gone with the keeping of the law went the model for giving in the synagogues. Paul sets forth a simple principle that exists and works in God’s economy. It is the principle of reaping and sowing. Acts of kindness that are sown reap kindness. Generous acts of giving bring generous dividends. Stingy giving brings stingy results. Some so-called preachers on TV make it sound like an investment scheme. If you give so much, then God is obligated to provide you with so much in return. That is not giving. That is treating God like He is the big money market in the sky.
God’s model is simple: let us each give as it is “determined in our heart” not “grudgingly or under any kind of pressure”, because “God loves a generous, cheerful heart that desires to give." 2 Cor. 9:7. Giving includes our time, talents, and treasure. As opportunities to give of those three come our way, we should be careful to lay that opportunity before the Lord and ask Him to what degree He desires that we participate. Err on the side of generosity. I once heard an old friend who was speaking about giving in the church. He said, “Until I gave God His 10% nothing in my life went right. You need to give till it hurts”. I thought for a long time about what he said, and although he was a kind soul and very well-meaning, he was wrong. His view wasn’t biblical. We need to realize that God doesn’t own “His 10%”, He owns it ALL. We shouldn’t “give till it hurts”; we should give till our generosity surprises even us. God loves generous hearts. Be a cheerful giver.