Tag Archive for: sacrifice

The Sacrifice of Christ Encourages Our Offerings

“Why will [the Corinthians] want to ‘excel in the grace of giving’ just as the Macedonians are doing? ‘For,’ says Paul, and then he gives the reason why the Corinthians will want to do this. They have personally experienced the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ . . . ‘For your sakes,’ says Paul, Christ, though he was in a continuous state of being rich from all eternity, became poor. Paul uses a form of the same word he had used to describe the abject poverty of the Macedonians (2 Corinthians 8:2). But it was a much deeper poverty than that. With these words all of Christ’s state of humiliation is projected before our eyes, culminating in his suffering and death. Its purpose? ‘So that you through his poverty might become rich.’ ‘We are rich, for he was poor. Is not this a wonder!’ Christ, who traded unparalleled riches for abject poverty so that we might become rich, is a wonderful example of giving for the Corinthians; but he is much more than that! He is first of all Savior. We love, because he first loved us. We give, in fact, we cannot help but give, because he gave first.”

David J. Valleskey. Laying the Foundation: The Scriptural Basis for Godly Giving. Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Essay File. Pages 6-7.