We Give Ourselves to Christ and then to Others

2 Corinthians 8:1-15

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.

• Grace and joy lives through burdens of affliction.
• We give ourselves to Christ and then to others.
• Grace grows in our words, knowledge, and love.
• The Spirit of Jesus Christ makes us rich in God’s grace and Holiness.
• We must hold on to Jesus and continue growing in Him.
• We give according to what we can afford to give.

Grace and joy lives through burdens of affliction. “Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.” 2 Corinthians 8:1-2 The grace and joy of God can flow through us during affliction and poverty. Today, living for Jesus Christ means suffering burdens in many various forms mentally, emotionally, physically, and materially.

We walk on the narrow way, and mainstream society is the broad way. The social network is dominated by those who live by the mark of the beast, and they have no desire for mingling with Christianity. They have money, possessions, authority, and physical comforts while Christians are suffering bare minimums and afflictions. Even then, the grace of God flows through us for others, we maintain joy instead of bitterness and anger, and we are rich in the Holy Spirit.

We give ourselves to Christ and then to others. “For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.” 2 Corinthians 8:3-4 There is nothing more we would rather do than to help fellow Believers in whatever way we can within the ministry of Jesus Christ. That is why those who govern by the mark of the beast keeps Believers segregated and with minimal cash resources. With that, the churches are no longer a gathering place for fellowship in the Spirit of Christ, and no longer shares the need to come to Christ.

“And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.” 2 Corinthians 8:5 The first thing we want people to do is give themselves to Jesus Christ and then to others according to the will of God. We are first to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and then to love others as ourselves.

Grace grows in our words, knowledge, and love. “So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well.” 2 Corinthians 8:6 When we come to Jesus Christ, the work of God’s grace becomes a part of our life, and that grace grows in us towards others. That is the work of Holiness in us, and in that process the ugly attitudes, ugly spirits, and ugly physical behaviors towards others fade away. We distance ourselves from the ways of the world to be set apart for the Gospel of Christ.

“But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.” 2 Corinthians 8:7 The grace we receive from God when we come to Jesus for the remission of sin should show as part of our faith, words, knowledge, diligence, and love. It’s obvious that grace is not seen in those who live by the thing that forms what they think, feel, and do, but they are synchronized to the mark of the beast.

The Spirit of Jesus Christ makes us rich in God’s grace and Holiness. “I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.” 2 Corinthians 8:8 Commanding or ordering someone to live by the Spirit of Christ can’t be done, either He is part of your life, or He is not. However, there is an obvious contrast between those who live in God’s grace and Holiness and those who don’t. In the same way, there is an obvious difference between the ministry of the “democratic” society of this world and the ministry of God’s grace through Jesus Christ.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9 When was Jesus Christ rich? He was living in the riches of the Paradise of God before He was sent to this world. He left His riches in Heaven to live amidst the sin-sick poverty of this world. It’s like those who leave the riches of a wealthy nation to do missionary work in the jungle of cannibals. Jesus came to make us rich in God’s grace, in the Holy Spirit, and in the riches to come in the New Jerusalem.

We must hold on to Jesus Christ and to continue growing in Him. “And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have.” 2 Corinthians 8:10-11 John gives this same advice, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” Revelation 2:4-5 After the churches fall away from the Gospel of Christ, the Seven Seals begin to open, as seen in Revelation 4. As individual followers of Christ, we must continue to hold to His testimony, our reward is eternal life in the Paradise of God.

We give according to what we can afford to give. “For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.” 2 Corinthians 8:12 What we give through the Spirit of Christ is not to put us in debt, nor to make us short in living expenses, but according to what we can afford to give. If all we have to give is the Gospel of Christ, that is all that is expected of us to give.

“For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality.” 2 Corinthians 8:13-14 Jesus does not expect us to put ourselves in arrears in order to enrich someone else, but from any extra we have we help those in need. If someone has an extra package of crackers, then give to someone who has an extra package of cheese. And the person who has an extra package of cheese can give to the one with extra crackers. Likewise, we share the Gospel of Christ with one another to enhance and benefit each other’s walk in Christ.

“As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.” 2 Corinthians 8:15 Those who gathered little is because that is all they needed, probably living alone. Those who gathered much is because they probably had a family of four to feed. Giving is for the purpose of making sure everyone has what they need to survive. That scripture refers to gathering the manna from heaven when the Israelites were starving in the wilderness. It also refers to every person having enough of the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, to give us what we need from day to day to be nourished in His Spirit. That scripture is found in, Exodus 16:18.

“Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites (very small copper coins), which make a quadrans (a 1/4 of a penny). So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” Matthew 12:42-44

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1