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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.’

 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. ESVUK

“If I and a need meet, God must have had in mind my filling it.” Jack Hyles

In writing to the Corinthians, Paul wanted to ensure that by the time he arrived in their city, they would have set aside the full amount of money that they were going to give the impoverished Jerusalem church (see 1 Cor.16:1-4). Surely the example of the Macedonian churches would spur them on? These believers had done something remarkable. They were terribly poor, and had suffered great persecution. Indeed, these two things may have gone together, as the persecution might have entailed loss of jobs and income for some of them. Yet in spite of their dire circumstances, they had given with almost reckless abandon For Paul, it was a work of ”grace”. It was nothing less than God at work in their hearts.

I heard Jim Graham preaching on this passage some years ago, and I remember him saying that in the contemporary church we don’t lack resources, but we do lack joy!

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia…

Somebody said that there is no greater test of a person’s spirituality than their attitude to their possessions.

This, of course, includes money.

Two great New Testament chapters about Christian giving begin with the above statement. It is an important reminder to us that giving is itself a gift of God. It is a manifestation of His grace in human lives.

I love this paragraph from Tom Wright’s commentary:

‘Some years ago I heard of a church (I’m not making this up) where the pastor once got into the pulpit to give his people a severe lecture about the level of giving in the church; not because they weren’t giving enough but because they were giving far too much. He knew that most of his people weren’t well off. He knew that the amount of money that had been coming in was way beyond what most of them could afford. He was genuinely worried that they were pushing themselves to the point of serious personal problems in order to support the work of the church.’

It reminds me of the story found in Exodus 36:2-7:

 Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab along with all whom God had gifted with the ability to work skillfully with their hands. The men were eager to get started and engage in the work. They took from Moses all the offerings that the Israelites had brought for the work of constructing the Sanctuary. The people kept on bringing in their freewill offerings, morning after morning.

 All the artisans who were at work making everything involved in constructing the Sanctuary came, one after another, to Moses, saying, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing this work that God has commanded us to do!”

 So Moses sent out orders through the camp: “Men! Women! No more offerings for the building of the Sanctuary!”

The people were ordered to stop bringing offerings! There was plenty of material for all the work to be done. Enough and more than enough. The Message

Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right. ¹² My purpose, then, was not to write about who did the wrong or who was wronged. I wrote to you so that in the sight of God you could see for yourselves how loyal you are to us. ¹³ We have been greatly encouraged by this.

In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was about the way all of you welcomed him and set his mind at ease. ¹⁴ I had told him how proud I was of you—and you didn’t disappoint me. I have always told you the truth, and now my boasting to Titus has also proved true! ¹⁵ Now he cares for you more than ever when he remembers the way all of you obeyed him and welcomed him with such fear and deep respect. ¹⁶ I am very happy now because I have complete confidence in you. New Living Translation

The above passage shows Paul’s integrity in ‘grasping the nettle.’ In his ministry he had to ‘die’ in multiple ways. This was one of them. He was prepared to address problems, and cause pain (if necessary) in order to resolve them. It wasn’t that he wanted to hurt anyone, but he knew that his directness was likely to create waves, and he was prepared to take the repercussions.

But lying behind all that he had said, he actually believed the best about them, and his faith had been well and truly vindicated. Titus could now see for himself that what Paul had told him about the Corinthians was correct, much to the apostle’s great delight.

Tom Wright’s words are helpful, I think: ‘In particular, he wants to assure them, as he did in chapter 2, that they have acted properly in relation to the matter of discipline. (I wonder how many Christians, when teetering on the brink of some sin, think of the problems they will cause, not only for themselves and any other people immediately involved, but for the whole church as it faces the question of how to deal with that sin? Not many, I fear; which may be a sign, not only that Christians are careless about the effects of their sin, but that the church is by no means always eager to exercise appropriate discipline.)’

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. ESVUK

Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets. The Message

Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot stand out as working models-respectively illustrating ”godly grief” and ”worldly grief.”

‘On the night of the Last Supper, Peter followed Jesus to the high priest’s house, where he proceeded to deny three times that he’d ever known Jesus. On realizing what he had done, Peter went out and cried like a baby. That was the first step towards the restoration that came with Jesus’ appearance to him (Luke 24.34; 1 Corinthians 15:5) and the remarkable conversation with Jesus by the lakeshore (John 21.15-19). His sadness led him to repentance, and that was a cause, ultimately, for rejoicing. On the other hand, Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, showing the high priest’s servants where to find him in the dark, was plunged into the darker depths of the world’s way of sadness. In Matthew’s account, he flings down the money he’d been paid at the feet of the chief priests, and goes off and hangs himself (Matthew 27.5). Two types of sadness; two end results.’ Tom Wright.

 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. ⁹ As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. ESVUK

 I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don’t feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I’m glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss. The Message

Why do we discipline our children when it hurts us so much? Because we know it is for their good. So we are prepared to absorb the pain if only we can get them back on track and lead them in the right direction.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:7-11.

Of course, the application of discipline will reveal what is in the heart. Will there be genuine contrition and repentance, or superficial remorse?

Maybe only time will tell.

But Paul could rejoice that the Corinthians had responded well with godly sorrow that leads to repentance.

 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. 

Paul had feelings! He wasn’t made of steel.

He had written a ‘painful’ letter to the Corinthians regarding a matter of church discipline. Sometimes hard things have to be said (and done) to be able to restore godly order to a church – or to an individual life.

But Paul did not revel in confrontation; he didn’t enjoy rebuking. This cost him something. He regretted having to do it. He had a tender, pastoral heart.

Yet at the same time, he didn’t regret it because the church responded well. He saw that the unpleasant tasting medicine had a healing effect.

 I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don’t feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. The Message.

When church leaders have to be involved in a disciplinary process, all-be-it reluctantly, they can’t always explain everything to everyone. We need to understand that they are human too, and probably have hurting hearts. They will be paying a price. They carry burdens we may nothing about.

So let us pray for them.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. ⁶ But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. ESVUK

To summarise: we have seen that

• God comforts people;
• God comforts people by using people. But also, we now see that
• God comforts people by using comforted people.

Comforted Comforters!

This takes us back to chapter 1. Do you remember this?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

God puts good things into our lives that we can then share with others. We are to be ‘channels’ of blessing, rather than ‘reservoirs’.

Philippians 2 opens like this:

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then…

In essence what comes next is the message, ‘pass it on’; ‘share it around’; let it flow outward to others in Christ-like humble loving service.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. ⁶ But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. ESVUK

Yesterday, I commented that God comforts people. This is a marvellous truth.

But we also find, as we go further into our passage, that God comforts people by using people.

God comforts people by using the words of people:

”…he told us…”, writes Paul. The words of Titus on this occasion were a great help and encouragement to the troubled apostle. (‘Take my lips and let them be, filled with messages from thee’).

Furthermore, God comforts people by using the presence of people:

 ”But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus…” The presence of Titus made a difference. Sometimes, we may just need to go and be with a brother or sister in need – even if it involves miles of travel. We may not have the answers to all (or any!) of their questions, but our presence will speak volumes. Remember, Job’s comforters started out well:

 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. ¹² When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. ¹³ Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. Job 2:11-13.

Sadly, it was when they opened their mouths that they undid their good work!!

Thankfully, Titus was both a bringer and speaker of encouragement.

PRAYER: Enable me, Lord, to be an encourager of others, both by my presence and my words