Sunday, November 8 · The Presbyterian Church of Wyoming
Sunday Worship - November 8th, 2026
Paul holds up the poor churches of Macedonia as an example of generosity to a wealthier church, tracing their giving back to joy, to grace, and finally to Christ, who became poor so that others might become rich.
The passages
You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop. You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance. The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness. The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy! They also sing.
Psalms 65:9–13
Moreover, brothers, we make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the assemblies of Macedonia, how in a severe ordeal of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their generosity. For according to their power, I testify, yes and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty to receive this grace and the fellowship in the service to the saints. This was not as we had expected, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God. So we urged Titus, that as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you this grace. But as you abound in everything—in faith, utterance, knowledge, all earnestness, and in your love to us—see that you also abound in this grace. I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love. 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. I give advice in this: it is expedient for you who were the first to start a year ago, not only to do, but also to be willing. But now complete the doing also, that as there was the readiness to be willing, so there may be the completion also out of your ability. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have. For this is not that others may be eased and you distressed, but for equality. Your abundance at this present time supplies their lack, that their abundance also may become a supply for your lack, that there may be equality. As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
2 Corinthians 8:1–15
Go deeper
Why does Paul point an affluent church to poor churches as the example for its giving?
Paul needs the Corinthians to give, and instead of appealing to their wealth he tells them about a group of churches that had nothing. The Macedonians gave out of affliction and poverty, and Paul reports it as a marvel rather than a strategy.
…how in a severe ordeal of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their generosity. For according to their power, I testify, yes and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty to receive this grace and the fellowship in the service to the saints.
2 Corinthians 8:2–4
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
Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. A poor widow came and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin. He called his disciples to himself and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”
Mark 12:41–44
What does it mean that the Macedonians gave themselves to the Lord before they gave their money?
Paul says the gift that surprised him was not the money but the people. Before the offering ever reached Jerusalem, the Macedonians had handed themselves over to God, and Paul treats that as the thing that made the rest possible.
This was not as we had expected, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God.
2 Corinthians 8:5
Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:1–2
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36–40
Why does Paul describe the gift of Christ as a becoming poor that makes others rich?
Paul reaches past the collection entirely and lands on Jesus, who had glory and set it down. Calvin called it a magnificent exchange: Christ takes what is ours and gives what is his, and Paul uses that as the ground under every other act of giving.
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
Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.
Philippians 2:5–8
For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:16