2 Corinthians 8:1-5 “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then to us in keeping with God’s will.”

Did you ever observe some idiosyncrasy in your parents and promise yourself you would never do that yourself? Then one day as an adult you catch yourself doing exactly the same thing. You realize that you have become your father or your mother. Or perhaps you were working on some project with a brother or sister, an aunt or uncle, and they comment that you do something exactly the way one of your parents used to do it. Our habits, behavior, and mannerisms are often more than a reflection of self. They are a window to the generation before us.

The Apostle Paul observed a similar truth at work in our spiritual lives. As he looked at the Christians who lived in Macedonia and in Corinth, he noticed that their giving was more than a revelation of the kind of people they were. It pointed beyond them to the grace of God that made them that way. The same is true of our Christian giving today.

Examples drawn from life are powerful teaching tools. Even though we may not feel so comfortable with using the example of real live people to teach about Christian giving, that is exactly what Paul did for the Corinthians. He wanted them to learn from the example of the Macedonians.

There is much in these Macedonians to admire, and much to prick our consciences. Paul refers to their “severe trial,” and their “extreme poverty.” The opposition to Christianity was strong in Philippi, Berea, and Thessalonica, the cities of Macedonia that had Christian congregations. The book of Acts tells us Paul wasn’t able to stay in any of these cities more than a few weeks before he was chased out of town, leaving the new Christians there to deal with their hostile neighbors. History tells us that years earlier, when the Roman army went marching through, they followed a “scorched earth” policy. Macedonia as a whole was not the richest part of the world, and the Christians who lived there were particularly poor.

Not exactly the recipe for making people generous, is it? You know how the tension that is created when money is in short supply around the house dries up all your patience with the people who call during supper asking for a donation to some cause. It makes us feel sorry for ourselves. It makes us look for someone to blame for our predicament.

But the Macedonians? They were overflowing with joy. Their joy was like a can of Coke dumped over ice, and the bubbles come foaming up and spill over the top of the glass. What came spilling over the top of these Macedonians was a rich generosity that gave more than their poverty would suggest they were capable of giving. They weren’t afraid that Paul was going to ask them if they could contribute something to this special offering for the poor in Jerusalem. They went to him and begged to be a part.

Undoubtedly, what made the Macedonians this way is that they kept their focus straight. They weren’t just giving money. The gift was a whole lot bigger than that. They were giving themselves. The money was just a token, a sign that their lives, their hearts, their souls had been given up.

They weren’t just paying bills or supporting an institution or doing a favor for an old friend. They gave themselves first to the Lord. This was an act of worship, something that is easy for us to lose sight of when we are faced with the urgency of all our bills and obligations.

Paul holds up their example not so much as a pattern for us to trace, or as standard by which we should be measured. Rather, it is an example of the wonderful difference that can be made, the beautiful things that can be produced in the lives of people by the love and forgiveness that God has impressed upon their hearts. The incredible generosity of the Macedonians assures us that God’s grace is real, and that it really makes a difference. Their giving was evidence of God’s grace. That grace can still make us generous givers, too.