Paul, the apostle who championed God's grace through faith, gives this instruction on giving—be it money, goods, or our time:

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

This directive under Paul’s “the dispensation of the grace of God” diametrically opposes any type of pressured giving including the use of Malachi’s OT warning to Israel against “robbing God.” The obvious explanation is that this OT warning was written to Jews who received God’s favor by obeying the Law. It was never intended for Christians who received God’s grace by faith.

Why is it so important to avoid things of the Law?

There is nothing inherently wrong with “the Law” but, “…ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14). Today still, it is the propensity of our sin-nature to use the Law as a measure of our goodness. But adherence to the Law can only affect our behavior, presenting the appearance of holiness, while our heart, the seat of our sin, remains unaffected and unchanged.

We can do nothing of substance to affect our holiness, except to cooperate with God’s work within, changing our heart until the renewal within begins to show without. Relying on or adhering to any part of the Law is dangerous in that it places us within the grasp of our enemy, not our God.

It should however, be our love for God that motivates our giving, our love for those around us that are in need, since we love them as we love ourselves. Since we have no difficulty using money to meet our needs, in exactly the same way we should be motivated to provide for the needs of those around us. Our giving must be lead of the Lord. Sometimes we may give to an organization, e.g. the Salvation Army, or others, even credible non-Christian organizations if so be. Sometimes we may be led to give to an individual or family in need. Obviously, we ought to support the Lord’s work in the preaching of “the gospel of the grace of God” – never to the many money grubbers we may see on so-called Christian television who really do not preach pure grace but “claim to” in order to extort money from gullible saints by using the seed-sowing matter illicitly.

He loves a cheerful giver, so if you have difficulty with giving, determine within yourself what you can give cheerfully and then give that, expecting to see a return which will likely motivate you to give more and more cheerfully. By grace standards even giving little amounts to much when it is given with right motives.

 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed . . . Now He (God) who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your (genuine) righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:8, 10, 11, emphasis in bold are mine)

Now, having understood the aforementioned, consider now what Paul wrote here.

“That Which Was Lacking.” “I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for that which was lacking on your part they have supplied” (I Cor. 16:17).

Sad, was it not, that the Corinthian church, undoubtedly the largest of all the churches founded by Paul, had been so ungenerous and insensitive, even to Paul’s personal needs, that he had to labor at tent making in order to minister among them. They did not even provide for the Apostle’s meager needs. Thus, sadly, he writes: “And when I (Paul) was present with you (Corinthians), and wanted (had want), I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself” (2 Cor. 11:9).

It was no different where the work of the Lord in general was concerned, for whereas the churches of Macedonia had, out of “great trial of affliction” and “deep poverty,” given “to their power” and had desired to give “beyond their power,” the Apostle had to exhort the Corinthian believers to “perform” their promises to help “the poor saints at Jerusalem” and to “prove the sincerity of [their] love” (2 Cor. 8:8, 11).

Those who suppose that men of God should remind believers to live godly lives, to labor for Christ and to witness for Him, but that for some reason they should not remind them of their responsibility to contribute of their means — these should read Paul’s letters to the believers at Corinth and see how much the Apostle has to say about this matter.

It seems that others were always bearing the Corinthians’ financial responsibilities for them, so that he had to write from Philippi with a touch of reproof, that he was glad for the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus, since: “that which was lacking on your part they have supplied” (I Cor. 16:17).

In many ways the Church of today is like the Corinthian church of Paul’s day. This is surely so where financial stewardship is concerned. Again, it is invariably the faithful few who supply “that which is lacking” on the part of the many. These few will be richly rewarded, but it is our desire, as it was Paul’s, that greater numbers of the many may join the few, both to lighten the burden of the few and to help reach the teeming millions of lost and bewildered souls who so sorely need a clear presentation of “the gospel of the grace of God.”