A Wealth of Generosity
February 9, 2011
During the Discipleship Hour this past Sunday, we continued to think through what it means to be content. We considered what it meant to be content in abundance and content in want. This naturally led Paul to commend and thank the church in Philippi for their partnership in the gospel. No other church partnered with him when he left Macedonia, but the church in Philippi did.
The church in Philippi was quite an amazing church. In his second recorded letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote of the generosity of the churches in Macedonia,
“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 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. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us” (2 Corinthians 8:1-5).
They were poor, wrestling through a severe test of affliction, and yet they gave generously. They gave like their Savior – sacrificially. They gave for the same reason their Savior gave – for the good of others. Join me in praying that our congregation would be marked by such giving, not only in financial giving, but also in the many other opportunities that are before us. Let’s pray that God would make our church like the amazing church in Philippi that Paul held so dear.
“A Wealth of Generosity” is a post from the Grace Baptist Blog by Mike Law
Share 
Under Blog, Church, Grace Happenings, Reflections