Dig Deeper - Sunday 18th May 2025
Sermon Reflection Questions - Graced Filled Generosity: ‘Prepared and Cheerful Giving’
2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5
Dig Deeper notes from Sunday 18th May service:
Paul is writing his letter to the church in Corinth from Macedonia. A year previously Paul had been in Corinth where the church had promised to make a collection for the Christians in Jerusalem who were struggling. When Paul explained about the Corinthian collection, those in Macedonia immediately started a collection of their own.
Paul suspects that the Christians in Corinth hadn’t completed their collection so in Chapter 8 he addresses this. So, this is what Paul wrote in Chapter 8 v 10,11
Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.
The practical advice about what it means to give ‘according to your means’ is that our giving should be proportionate, in proportion to what we receive.
Paul sent Titus and two unnamed brothers to Corinth to help with the collection. Titus was well known, so Paul highlights the qualities and credentials of the unnamed brothers in v19 & 23. Notice that they are sent in a spirit of encouragement, to avoid embarrassment and not to pressurise them into giving. In v5 Paul writes
So, I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
The collection would almost certainly have been in cash, probably Roman coins. So, for safety it would have been necessary to have a number of people transporting the cash to Jerusalem. But Paul has another reason for sending this team and that was to ensure the money was being handled with integrity. So, in v20 he writes
We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. 21 For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.
That’s the approach we take here at St John’s having processes to handle cash safely. And when it comes to how we spending, we are careful here too. It’s the PCC who have ultimate responsibility for how the money you have given is spent, with delegated powers for smaller amounts to be spent to allow smooth day to day functioning. Furthermore, it is only the treasurer who knows what amount any individual person gives. Like the church in Paul’s time, we seek to act with complete integrity.
We don’t pass around a collection anymore because we believe that if you are part of the fellowship here at St John’s, then we would encourage you to make what you give intentional. In 2 Cor. 9:7 we read;
‘Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.’
Notice that as well as being intentional (what you have decided to give), there is another characteristic here. It is being a cheerful giver.
So, the principles we see flowing from our sermon series is that our giving should be generous, proportionate, intentional and cheerful. We can add to this list ‘regular” from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church.
‘On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.’ 1 Cor.16:2
Our preferred way of receiving donations is via the Parish Giving Scheme. You can set up a payment plan into the scheme for the benefit of St John’s Church. PGS recover the Gift Aid for that donation and add that to the amount they then transfer to our Church bank account. It’s straightforward, can be inflation linked and St John’s pays zero transaction charges. You can find out more on the church website.
The beauty of this is that there are no transaction charges and so we get the full amount of what you have donated. Another feature is an optional annual inflation increase which mean you don’t have to worry about keeping your donations in line with inflation.
Finally, of course, there’s that really embarrassing thing about how much should you give. Because everybody’s financial situation is different, we each need to make our own decision in the light of those biblical principles.
(generous, proportionate, intentional, cheerful and regular). Many Christians use the 10% figure from the Old Testament tithes. The Church of England guidance is for 5% of take home pay to made to your local church, leaving room for gifts to other causes.
Paul sent Titus and the brothers to the Corinthian Church, because he wanted to avoid any embarrassment should they come and find that the promised collection had not been made. The equivalent for us may be that, when we meet Jesus, would we be embarrassed about showing Him our bank account and how we have used the money with which through God’s grace we have been blessed.
Discussion Questions:
1. In Acts 20:35 Paul quotes these words from Jesus. ‘It is more blessed to give than receive.’ What was Jesus getting at here?
2. It seems likely that the Corinthian church needed encouragement to complete their promised collection for the poor Christians in Jerusalem. Do we need to reprioritise how we use our money to support God’s work?
3. These are the principles that about Christian giving that we can find in the New Testament. Generous, proportionate, intentional, cheerful and regular. Are any of these more important than others on the list?
4. What does cheerful giving look like in practice?
5. How embarrassing would it be if you were to meet Jesus unexpectedly and He asked to see your bank statement?
Prayer:
Father God, we know that you are the creator of the world in which we live and the resources we have at our disposal. When we give money for you work here on earth, we acknowledge that we are only giving back to you that which you gave us in the first place. Help us to be good stewards of the resources you have given us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
