We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 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. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favour of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected… ESVUK

“Giving is true having.” – Charles Spurgeon

The grace of God in our lives enables us to do and to be so much more than we could left to our own devices. This can show itself in numerous ways. Here, in our passage, it particularly relates to giving.

Some people seem to think that money should never be mentioned in church. It appears to be an embarrassment to them. But I would ask, ‘Why should we mention money (and material things) less than the Bible does?’ It actually speaks about them quite a lot. This is one of the values of working systematically through Bible books in a church’s preaching programme. It means we can deal with these matters, in context, and hopefully treat them in the way Scripture does – rather than feeling the pressure to produce a sermon on giving because the offerings are down!

It is interesting, though, that Paul does not use any of the Greek words for ‘money’ here. He handles the subject diplomatically, and somewhat indirectly. Rather he speaks about ‘grace’. This puts the focus on God’s work in human hearts. Look what generosity He inspired in the Macedonians. Tom Wright says that ‘…under an impulse that came from God himself, they gave money with almost reckless generosity.’