Let's turn our Bibles this morning back to 2 Corinthians chapter 8, where we began this chapter last Sunday as we continue through our study in the book of 2 Corinthians. If you remember, the difference between chapter 7 and chapter 8 is quite a difference. Paul has actually changed his topic completely from the first seven chapters of this letter, and now, beginning in chapter 8 and through chapter 9, he deals with the topic of Christian giving. The topic of Christian giving. And one of the reasons why he brings up this topic was, as we looked at last Sunday, because of the incredible generosity of the churches where he was at in Macedonia. These churches, and even though they were experiencing extreme poverty and even severe persecution, these Christians in Macedonia wanted to contribute to the collection that Paul was taking up from all of these other Gentile churches in order to show their love and generosity to the church in Jerusalem, and especially those that were experiencing poverty there. So even though they were poor in Macedonia, they wanted to help out the Christian poor in Jerusalem. And so now that there was reconciliation between Paul and the Corinthian church, and we saw this in the first seven chapters of this book, he now could encourage them to give as well. And it wasn't just giving of their money, it wasn't just giving of their resources, it was giving of their own selves. If you remember from last week, back in verse 5 of chapter 8, Paul was even astonished at this. This they did, not as we hoped, but they first gave of their own selves to the Lord. and unto us by the will of God. And because the Lord had them, the Lord had everything that they had. And so it was no great sacrifice for them to give just a little bit of what they had or even a lot of what they had back to the Lord. And we learn that giving for the Christian really is a sign of God's grace at work in their hearts. It's a sign of God's grace in our church. It's a sign of God's grace in each one of us as individual believers. And so in the verses that we will continue to look at this morning, Paul continues to encourage the Corinthian church, as well as us, to give. And to give in the generous way that we saw in the Macedonians. Beginning in verse 7 through verse 9, this will be our text today. Therefore, he writes, Therefore, as ye abound in everything, or as you are abounding and growing in everything, in faith, and utterance, word, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, See that ye abound in this grace also. What grace? The grace of giving. He goes on in verse 8. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion for the forwardness and the fervency of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. 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." What Paul is doing in these verses is showing how our giving reflects not only our gratitude to the Lord, but even our growth in the grace of God. And so the first thing that we see in verse 7 is that giving reveals our growth in God's grace. Giving reveals our growth in God's grace. Again, there in verse 7, Paul describes the Corinthian church as abounding in everything. Now, if you remember 1 Corinthians, and you remember the first seven chapters of 2 Corinthians, you wonder, how could Paul say this about them? After all, think of all that they did to him, and all they said to him, and even the times where they rejected him. Well, it seems that Paul is describing the nature of their church now. The nature of their church based on the report from Titus on how they finally responded to Paul's letter. And so when he says, I hear that you are abounding in everything, he's talking about what took place after the strife and the sins had been dealt with and reconciled. So their present condition, as he's writing to them, their present condition was now a renewed spiritual growth that was revealing renewed spiritual fruit. And that's why he writes in verse 7 again, as ye abound and are growing in everything, specifically in these fruits of faith and utterance or word and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us, see that ye abound and grow in this grace also. We can learn from this verse that where there is reconciliation in our Christian lives, there can be renewed spiritual growth as well. See, that's one of the reasons why we sometimes don't see growth in our lives as Christians or see growth in the life of our church is because there is still sin and there is still strife. And if it's not dealt with, if it's not reconciled, there's going to be a stunt to our growth. You see, before, there was no way Paul could say these things about them, because they'd stop growing. With that sin in their life and that strife between them, they had stopped growing. Sin will always stunt spiritual growth. That's what happened to the Corinthian church. That's what will happen in our church. That's what can happen in our life, in my life, if there's sin and strife that's not reconciled and dealt with properly. Sin always stunts spiritual growth, but now, Now that they had been reconciled, now that they had responded to Paul's letter, we can see some clear marks of spiritual growth. And here Paul points out five. Five fruits that had been revived and were now flourishing and abounding and growing. And each of these marks, each of these fruits, is really just another evidence of God's grace at work in their lives. So, how were they growing? First, they were growing in their trust. He says, you are abounding in everything, first of all, in faith. In faith. This word is not referring to the content of their faith because it's clear that they knew already a lot about the Lord. They knew a lot about God. They knew a lot about the gospel. They knew a lot about the Bible. It's not talking about what they believed as Christians. Instead, Paul is talking about the confidence of their faith and their trust in the Lord and how they believed as Christians. You see, the Christian faith was always meant to grow. God does not want you to stay in the same level of faith and trust and confidence in the Lord that you even had yesterday. He wants there and designed for there to be a continual growth and abundance of faith. Faith is part of the fruit of a Christian. In fact, in Galatians chapter 5, that's part of the fruit of the Spirit, right? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, faith. And so their personal faith and their personal trust in the Lord, Paul describes as growing again and as abounding. Now this is important because sin and strife in a Christian's life will always destroy faith and assurance in our lives. If you've ever experienced doubt as a Christian, think if you have been a Christian any length of time, you have experienced some doubt in your life. Sometimes that doubt is there because there is some sin that has yet to be confessed and dealt with, with the Lord. When someone is living in sin, and has not confessed that sin to the Lord, or dealing with strife, and is not reconciled with their brother or sister in Christ, guess what? Assurance is something that is hard to come by. It's kind of like a wrecking ball. Sin is like a wrecking ball where the foundation of doctrine can be sound, but the personal and lively faith in that doctrine can be missing. And so that is what took place in the Corinthians' life. But now that they had been restored, their godly sorrow led them to repentance, and that repentance led to confession for their sin, they now could grow again. Their faith could grow, and their assurance in God and His gospel could continue to grow. But we see that their growth didn't stop there. Not only did they grow in their trust, but they also grew in their testimony. In verse 7, the King James says that they were abounding in their utterance. The word translated utterance simply is word. It is logos. They were growing and abounding in word. This is best seen to describe the growth of their word of witness and their word of testimony to the world around them. And that too is important for a church and a Christian, right? Sin and strife in a Christian's life will not just destroy assurance, but will also destroy your testimony. How many times have we heard the sin of a church or a pastor make the news? You know, you turn on the television and you hear some scandal going on. We just heard this this week in the Roman Catholic Church as well. Now, even though that same sin may be prevalent in the rest of the world, it may be something that isn't even accepted in the world, thinking, well, that's just their personal life, that's just private business. Guess what? If it happens to a Christian, it becomes a scandal. And rightfully so. because sin destroys the testimony of a Christian and of a church, and even brings reproach to the name of Jesus Christ. And that is what happened to the Corinthian church. With their sin and their strife against Paul, their testimony before the world in the city of Corinth had stopped. It had stopped dead in its tracks. But now, because of their restoration with Paul and with the Lord, they could grow again. So they were abounding in their word. Their words of teaching and their words of testimony for the Lord started to spread again. The people in the city of Corinth that were known for their sin and known for their misbehavior started to see that there was a difference in the lives of the Corinthians. They're no longer like us. They're living their life in a holy way, a pure way, with a great testimony. And their city and the communities in which they lived started to be influenced once again. They grew in their testimony. But Paul adds that their growth didn't stop there. There was also a growth in their teachability. He goes on in verse 7 that they were abounding also in their knowledge. They were growing again in their understanding of God's Word and God's will for their lives. This knowledge is also another important mark of spiritual growth. Knowledge. Knowledge about God's Word and knowledge about God's will. So often, We live our lives as Christians thinking that we know what God's word has to say. And we don't think that we can hear or learn anymore. And that affects our spirit and our teachability. Are we open to the truth of God? Are we open to what God has to say to us? You see, there are other times in the Scripture that we are told to grow constantly in our knowledge, to grow constantly in our understanding of God's will and Word for us. In 2 Peter 1, verses 5 and 6, Peter says that we are to add to our faith virtue and to virtue knowledge. knowledge about God's Word and God's way. 2 Peter 3.18, Peter says that we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And this is important because what happens when there's sin and strife in our life? It affects our understanding of God's will for our lives. Sin and strife in a Christian's life will always destroy a teachable spirit. And instead of wanting to do things God's way, you'll start to, again, want to do things your own way. But now, what took place in the Corinthians' life? Well, because of their reconciliation, they could grow again. Do you see the difference between someone or a church who's living in sin and has that sin reconciled and restored? Before, the growth stops, and now the growth can continue. And now that they reconciled, they were open to the truths of God's Word. They were growing and abounding in their knowledge. They were willing to acknowledge and apply God's Word to their life. But that growth didn't stop there. It continued, they were also growing in their tone. In verse 7 it says that they were abounding also in all diligence. Another mark of spiritual maturity and of spiritual growth. When the Corinthian church was reassured of their forgiveness from Paul and their forgiveness from the Lord, it changed the very tone of their existence. Now, we've seen this word before in this chapter, as well as in chapter 7. It's the word diligence. It has the idea of being all in for something. It's something that you desire with all your heart. It's also translated other places as singleness of mind, singleness of heart. The idea is that these Corinthians, before church was just something that they could take or leave. It was just something that they could participate in on Sundays. But now they were all in, once again, for the Lord. Why? because their sin and their strife had been resolved, they've been forgiven and reconciled and restored, and they had a renewed passion, a renewed zeal for the Lord, His will, and His work. And now they didn't want anything else to get in the way of their growth. Is that something that can be said of you in your heart today? where you are growing and abounding in all of these things. In verse 7 again, in faith, and in word, in knowledge, and even in your own diligence. You can say again with Paul in Philippians 3.13, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, that is what it means. to grow and abound in all diligence. There's one thing that you do, forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That's what spiritual growth and maturity is all about. It's dealing with a renewed fervor and fervency for the Lord, but their growth didn't even stop with this. He goes on in verse 7, because they further grew in their tenderness. Their tenderness not just for the Lord, but even for Paul and his associates. He goes on that they were abounding in their love to us. That is, their love for Paul grew, even though he was the one who caused them pain for a little time. If you remember, he had written a letter. Not necessarily 1 Corinthians, though some people see it as 1 Corinthians. I think there probably was an intermediate letter, a letter of great pain and a great sorrow. It was a difficult one for him to write, but it was a letter that he needed to write to confront them once again of their sin and their strife against him. Now, when someone confronts us for something that we've done wrong, it's not something we enjoy. It's not something that you want to listen to sometimes. It's something that you want to ignore. And sometimes if you don't have the right teachable heart, you can resent them for saying those things to you. And that is exactly what the situation was for Paul and the Corinthians. They could have resented Paul for confronting them about the sin again and again and again. But instead, what happened? They responded. and they repented, and they were reconciled, and now they grew in a greater love for Paul and even for the Lord. So now the love that they had for Paul grew into the kind of love that Paul had for them, and the kind of love that Paul had taught them in his very first letter, in 1 Corinthians 13. They grew to have a love that suffers long and is kind, a charity that envieth not, a charity that vaunteth not itself and is not puffed up, it did not behave itself unseemly and seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, and it bears all things and believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things, and charity never fails." This is the kind of fruit that was born out in the lives of those Corinthian Christians. Why? Because there was forgiveness and there was reconciliation and there was restoration. And what we learn from this is those five things are all marks of renewed spiritual growth in the life of every Christian who has reconciliation from sin, faith, growing in their word and testimony, growing in their knowledge about God's will, growing in diligence and fervency for the Lord, and growing in love for God and His people. Is there growth in your life in these areas today? Is it something that can be seen and noticed by others? If there's not these kinds of fruit in your life, perhaps there might be some unconfessed sin that you need to deal with. Or maybe there is some unresolved strife in your life between a brother or sister in Christ or someone in your family that is preventing this fruit from abounding and growing and flourishing. If this is the case, if the fruit has stopped and your growth has been stunted, what do you do? What the Corinthians did. You repent and confess and return to the Lord. when He forgives you? As we sang and read from Psalm 103 and He casts that sin as far as the east is from the west and we receive His pity and mercy and compassion, what happens? You can start growing again. You see, a Christian life ought to be a desire to grow, to grow in fruit and to grow in holiness, to grow more and more into the image of our Savior Jesus Christ. And if there's sin and strife in your life, you will stop growing. But once that's resolved, you will grow in these ways and in many others. Because when God's grace displays itself in these ways, His grace will then become the motive for spiritual growth in one more way, and that is giving. Again, he's dealing with the idea of giving. Look at verse 7 again. Paul writes, therefore, as, in other words, in the same way that you are abounding and flourishing and growing now in these qualities, as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance, knowledge and all diligence and your love to us, see that you abound and grow and flourish in one more thing, in one more way. And what is that way? In this grace also. the grace of giving. He's talking about the contribution and the collection for the saints in Jerusalem, and he describes that collection as grace, because that's what it is. When you give to someone out of your willing heart and a generous spirit, you're doing so because of grace. And so Paul turns back here to the grace of giving. As you're growing, don't forget to give. giving of yourself and giving of your resources in a generous way. What we learn from this is that giving is a living expression of all these other spiritual fruits. Here is another way, another living expression that God gives to His people to express all of these spiritual fruits. You see, when your faith in the Lord is renewed, and when your testimony for the Lord is renewed, when your knowledge about the Lord is renewed, when your diligence for the Lord is renewed, and even when your love for the Lord and others is renewed, how can you express that renewal? Through generous giving. Generous giving. Giving is an expression of what God is doing in your life. It's a spiritual fruit. In fact, most of the time, the reason why Christians don't give is not because there's a lack of resources. It's not because they don't have anything, but rather, it's because there's a lack of this spiritual fruit. Growing Christians are giving Christians. Growing Christians are giving Christians. because we have a reason for that giving. It's not just to better someone else's life, but because of the fruit that God has placed in our own life. And we want to express that fruit to the world around us. And that is why we see that, again, growing Christians are giving Christians. So are you growing and abounding in this grace of giving in your own life? And as you ask that and ponder that question, you need to remember, it's not the amount of your giving that God is primarily after. Right? It's the heart of your giving. Again, that's why Paul writes in verse 8, I speak not by commandment. In other words, he's saying, I'm not commanding you to give a certain amount here. He could have said, the Macedonians gave, you know, however many dollars, whatever that would be back then. And you have to come up with a saying. Because that wouldn't be a generous heart. That would be, okay, we've got to strive, we've got to meet this obligation. No, the Lord loves a cheerful giver. It's not about the quantity, but certainly the quality and the heart of your giving. He's not commanding them to give them a certain amount, but encouraging them to give according to their own growth. He says he was writing to them because simply of the example of the Macedonian Christians. They were so blessed by giving that he wanted them to be blessed by giving as well. He was also writing to prove them, it says, in order to examine their sincerity and the genuineness of their love and their spiritual fruit. He did wonder, I think, was their renewed growth real? Is it something that would last? And he knew that if they gave as the Macedonians gave, and they gave from a heart of spiritual gratitude to the Lord, it would show their fruit. It would show their love. for Paul and, of course, for the Lord and for other Christians. But Christian giving reveals our growth in God's grace. Growing Christians are giving Christians. But then, Paul gives us another great reason for giving, and this all leads up to verse 9, which is such an amazing verse. Because giving also reveals our gratitude for God's grace. our gratitude for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he points us to in verse 9. Paul writes, For ye know, again, context of giving, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you, through His poverty, might be rich. The Macedonian Christians, even though from the world's perspective they had nothing, yet from the Lord's perspective they had everything. They were rich. And so it was no great sacrifice for them to give of the resources because God already had them, right? If you are a true child of God, you have personally experienced the goodness and the grace of Christ in your life, and you know His grace. You know about it. You don't just know about it by instruction because you've heard it in Sunday school class or you've heard it in sermons, but rather, you know it by conviction and by personal experience. You know His grace, and Paul appeals to that knowledge. You know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know it! And in this verse, we're reminded of the direction of Christ's grace. What do we know about His grace? It was for your sakes, he says. the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that was for you and for me. Now that is a humbling thought, isn't it? A humbling thought, especially when you remember the sin and the strife that exists in your heart and life even after you're saved. Yet God still pours out His grace upon you and me. It's a humbling thought when you remember, as the song goes, that it was for me, he, Jesus, cried for me. He died for me. He shed his blood upon the tree. It was for me. He came for me. His shame for me. Oh, praise his name. It was for me. This is the grace that God wants to affect our lives so that we, too, would have that same gracious, generous heart. But we also see the depth of Christ's grace. How gracious is the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, he puts it this way in verse 9. Though he, Jesus, was rich, he became poor. though Jesus was rich." Or that could also be translated, being rich. Jesus was still rich even when He was on earth, yet He became purposefully, intently poor. So even though Jesus Christ retained His claim on the divine nature and resources, yet He left those resources, He left heaven itself, He veiled His glory to reveal His grace to you and to me. Poor. The one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills became poor. He became poor in his possessions. This is sometimes the first thing we think of when we think of poverty. We think, well, they don't have anything, right? No money in the bank account, no possessions around the home. Well, Jesus still had a home in heaven. We know that because eventually he would return there, right? But for your sake, Jesus had no home on earth. That's grace. Luke 9, 58, Jesus says, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man have not where to lay his head. He had no permanent home. He had no house with a white picket fence around it. He didn't have a place to call his own in this world. Now granted, those who loved Him and those who followed Him and those who served Him, in fact, many of the single women and widows actually cared for Him and provided for those needs. He had roofs over His head, but they weren't His roofs. He came to be poor. But even further, He became poor in His position. You see, even though Jesus Christ was still sovereign God, yet for your sake, He came down from that throne room in heaven and became a servant What grace! This is an echo of what we read later in Philippians 2, verse 5, where Paul writes again, "...let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God..." In fact, He is God! He is the very nature of the sovereign God, yet he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. It wasn't something that he had to hang on to, but rather, He made Himself of no reputation voluntarily and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men, of you and I, His own creatures. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. He who was rich became poor for your sake. That's grace. He also became poor in his perception. You go back to the Old Testament and you see what God experienced in heaven with all of the angels shouting and crying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. And even Isaiah, when he was there in the vision of that throne room of heaven, he bowed himself and said, Oh, woe is me or I am undone. He could not bear to look on the glory of God. That was the glory of Christ also. He had all of this glory in heaven, all of this majesty, and though He still had this majesty and glory, yet for your sake and my sake became meek and lowly. Now that's grace. Matthew 11, 28 says, Jesus said, Come ye unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. and ye shall find rest into your souls. You see, the people of Israel back in that day were not looking for a leader that was meek and lowly, but rather someone who was majestic and powerful. Even our own president, when he had the show on television, he was looking for someone that showed their strength and power and their cunning. And sometimes he would take them into the boardroom and he would pit them against each other, and the person that would stand up for themselves, and the person that had the qualities of leadership, as far as he saw it, would be the one that would go on through the next round. That's what the world thinks is great. But Jesus said, I am meek and lowly at heart. He gave up that majestic position where people would bow down to Him for a time where He would come and show His meekness and lowliness and His grace. You see, He became poor in that perception. He also became poor in that purpose. Even though Jesus was life itself, yet for your sake, why did Jesus come? To die. Even the death of the cross, it says in Philippians chapter 2, and that is grace. When we think about all that Jesus had, He had all. And yet He left all, according to this verse, for your sake. What grace is there? What grace in the Lord Jesus Christ? He gave Himself. Though He had all, He gave Himself for you. And we also see what happens with this. We see the demonstration of Christ's grace. Why did He do all this? Verse 9, so that ye, through His poverty, in His possessions, in His position, in all of these things, might be rich. Not just become rich, but be rich. You see, by means of His homelessness on earth, His humility and humiliation, and even the pain there on the cross, when you trust in Jesus Christ, you become rich. You become rich and wealthier than any other person on the face of this earth who does not have Christ as their Savior. Your wealth as a Christian reflects the wealth of Christ Himself. And of course, that wealth is far greater, far better, Longer lasting than the wealth of this world. Do you realize money can be gone in an instant? Wealth can be gone in a moment. I shared before the lady that I worked with who had over $100,000 in the walls of her house. All that had to happen was the house burned down and she would be out all of that money. Even on Thursday, there was some information that came out about Facebook and their earnings report. Of course, this is earnings season for a lot of these companies. The CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, actually lost in one day $16 billion in stock wealth. $16 billion. Now, as a stockbroker, you don't lose it until you sell it. But still, that's a lot to drop. $16 billion. Easy come, easy go. That's the way wealth works in this world. Easy come, easy go. But for every true Christian, the resources of Christ are now your resources. You have the resources that will last for eternity. 1 Corinthians 3.21 says, Let no man glory in men, for all things are yours. If it belongs to God, it belongs to His people. The life of Christ is now your life. The home of Christ is now your home. The glory of Christ will be your glory. And the things that we are blessed to have in this life and in this world, we now don't have to hold on to so tightly. Do it. Because we have all. Because we have Christ. Think of what James says in James 2.5. He says, Hearken, my beloved brethren. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world? rich in faith, and heirs, heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him. When we think of an heir of a kingdom, we think of a prince or a princess. We think of those who are in the United Kingdom who may become a king later on in their lives. And we think, whoa, they are so lucky, right? They can have so much. They have not a care in the world or so it seems because they haven't made And yet, what does God tell you? As a princess or a prince of God, you are an heir to His kingdom. And His kingdom is one that will last forever. I know that the monarchs of Great Britain can trace their lineage back to 1,000 AD, so 1,000 years plus. But you know what? We can trace our ancestry back to the ancient of days. the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and His kingdom belongs to us simply by faith in Him. We are an heir of His kingdom, and that is true wealth. Now, how should we respond to this grace-filled, generous giving of our Lord Jesus Christ? With gratitude and with giving. You see, We can be eternally grateful for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to verse 9, though He was rich, He gave Himself. He gave Himself for you and for me. Why did He leave a heavenly mansion? Why did He choose a simple stall? Why did He wander, poor and homeless, the King and Lord of all? Again, that chorus. It was for me, He cried. For me, He died. For me, He shed His blood upon the tree. It was for me He came. For me, His shame. For me. Oh, praise His name. It was for me. And now, since we have received the grace of the Lord, this abundant grace, where though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, since we've received the grace of the Lord, what should we do now? reflect the grace of the Lord. And we do that especially in how we give. Giving will reveal our growth in God's grace, and giving will reveal our gratitude for God's grace. Growing Christians are giving Christians. Grateful Christians are giving Christians. So when we give, let's remember all that the Lord Jesus gave for us, and to us. Let's close in prayer.