Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
The context of chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians is about how the Gentile churches were called upon to collect funds to help the struggling and needy Jewish church in Jerusalem. In these two chapters, we are going to learn important and timeless biblical principles of financial stewardship. But beneath the surface of biblical principles on giving is the deeper subject of sacrificial, Christian living. Our example of course is The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)
When Jesus spoke about giving financially, He referred to the sacrifice that was made by a poor widow. “And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.” (Luke 21:1-4)
Real giving costs something. That is the essence of Christian living. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1) Sacrificial giving, be it the giving of service or the giving of money, will always cost you something, for sacrificial giving will always be the overflow of sacrificial living.
