Suggestions for leading a study:

• Familiarize yourself with the passage in context, including the book itself.  Who wrote it to whom, and why?
• Read through the study guide a couple times to get the “big idea” as well as the flow of the argument
• Have the group read through the passage in it’s entirety before beginning the study.  One of the goals is to try to get your members to learn how to study Scripture methodically, and this is an important step.
• Be prayed up
• Have fun!
  

To Give or Not to Give

⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written:
   "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
      his righteousness endures forever." ¹⁰Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

 ¹²This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. ¹⁴And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Discussion Questions

-In verse 6 Paul uses an image from farming to illustrate a spiritual principle regarding giving.  Try re-stating that in your own words. 

 -How do you think this principle actually works itself out in our lives? 

 -Re-read verses 6 and 7 together.  How might what is stated in verse 6 effect what we are encouraged to do in verse 7?

 -What kinds of things make us reluctant to give?  What kinds of things make us feel compelled to give?  How do these things prevent us from being cheerful givers?

 -In verse 8 we read that God will make his grace about to us in order that we, in turn, might abound in something.  What is that?  Is that different from what we usually think the results of grace are?   Skip to verse 13.  Does that verse add anything?

 -In the context of this discussion, what do you think Paul means by “good works” in verse 8?  How can receiving the grace of God help us abound in that?

 -What promise are we given in verse 10?  Does that match what we expect to receive, if anything, from our giving? What do you think it means?

 -According to verse 11, why would God make us rich?  How does that relate to the usual motivations for accumulating wealth?

 -When have you been generous and received a thank you for that?  Did you (or would you) enjoy that?

 -According to verses and 12, who should get the thanks for our generosity?  How can we make sure that happens?

 -Read verse 15.  What is our ultimate motivation for giving?

Leaders' Guide

This is a lesson about the grace of giving and how we can motivate ourselves to abound in it.  

-In verse 6 Paul uses an image from farming to illustrate a spiritual principle regarding giving.  Try re-stating that in your own words. 
This is the sowing/reaping principle of giving that is common in Scripture.  Encourage people to take it out of the agrarian context and re-state it in terms that relate to their own experience.

-How do you think this principle actually works itself out in our lives? 
            This will be explored further in the study, so make this a point of discussion without trying to come to any specific conclusions.

-Re-read verses 6 and 7 together.  How might what is stated in verse 6 effect what we are encouraged to do in verse 7?

The fact that we will, in fact, reap rewards from God (whatever and however those may be) should at least have a positive impact on our ability to give cheerfully, since we know that we aren’t just “kissing it goodbye”.  It should also help us give generously, since we know that what we receive back is proportional to what we give.

-What kinds of things make us reluctant to give?  What kinds of things make us feel compelled to give?  How do these things prevent us from being cheerful givers?

What things make us reluctant and feel compelled to give are not itemized in this text, so this is one to kick around.  Our reluctance can come from our selfishness, of course, as we prefer to spend our money on ourselves.  It can also come from a sense of fear if we are concerned about making ends meet.  A sense of compulsion is a result of guilt, something which Christians should be free of in their relationship to God.  That is still a common motivator for people’s giving, but it is not one that God wants for us.

-In verse 8 we read that God will make his grace about to us in order that we, in turn, might abound in something.  What is that?  Is that different from what we usually think the results of grace are?   Skip to verse 13.  Does that verse add anything?

God causes his grace to abound to us so that we would abound in good works.  Sometimes we believe that the result of grace is that we bask in the opportunity to do nothing at all.  Scripture soundly rejects this notion and always assumes that if we understand God’s grace rightly and accept in completely, we will respond to it appropriately.  Verse 13 notes that when obedience accompanies our confession of faith, that is what proves that it is real for us.  That is the relationship between grace and works in our lives:  our works are both the response to, and the proof of, the fact that we have really embraced salvation by grace.

-In the context of this discussion, what do you think Paul means by “good works” in verse 8?  How can receiving the grace of God help us abound in that?

This term can mean a lot of things in the Scripture; from our service to God and others, to the day to day work we perform to supply our physical needs.  In this context, it is clearly referring to the good work of generous giving.

-What promise are we given in verse 10?  Does that match what we expect to receive, if anything, from our giving? What do you think it means?

The promise is that God will increase the harvest of our righteousness.  No room here for a “health and wealth” gospel, where God responds to our material giving by giving us more material things.  What that means is not clarified precisely, but the bottom line is that God will enhance our character in response to our giving.  We trade that which is material and temporal for that which is eternal and truly meaningful.

-According to verse 11, why would God make us rich?  How does that relate to the usual motivations for accumulating wealth?

God makes us rich so that we can be generous with our wealth.  Obviously, this is not the usual motivation for making money in people’s lives.  Give people time to get past the obvious societal critique that comes with this and explore how their own motivations are prone to succumb more to the world’s framework than to God’s. 

-When have you been generous and received a thank you for that?  Did you (or would you) enjoy that?

Everyone loves a kudo.  If no specific situation comes to mind, or people don’t feel comfortable sharing one, then ask what kinds of things people might expect to be thanked for and how that makes us feel. 

-According to verses and 12, who should get the thanks for our generosity?  How can we make sure that happens?

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the gratitude of people for your generosity, but the greater good is if God can receive the glory.  Making sure that we point to God’s grace and provision in our lives as what enabled us to give is clearly called for.  There can be (and many times no doubt should be) times when we give in such a way that people will not know that it was us being so generous, and will be left with only God to thank.

-Read verse 15.  What is our ultimate motivation for giving?

The indescribable gift that Paul mentions here can be none other than God’s only son.  Ultimately, the best source of motivation for giving is that God himself has given to us more than we can ever repay.  You cannot out-give God.  He has already given more than we could earn or deserve, and will continue to do so in response to our own cheerful and generous giving.