CULTIVATING A GENEROUS HEART - Sowing Generously
2 Corinthians 9:6-11 (p. 807) July 9, 2017
Introduction:
Let me show you a picture of the Dead Sea
SHOW PIC OF DEAD SEA
It’s also called “The Salt Sea” and it’s at the lowest elevation on earth. It has a salt content of almost 35%…and because of that the human body can easily float on top of it…It’s 9 times saltier than the ocean. Nothing lives in the Dead Sea!
Anybody know what body of water feeds The Dead Sea? The answer is the Jordan river…one of the most beautiful and abundant rivers on earth…filled with life…fish, trees, plants…it’s an aquatic paradise.
Why is one dead and one filled with life…because the Jordan River is constantly being replenished…fresh water feeds into it and flows out of it…Once water flows into the Dead Sea…it stays…It never escapes and it stagnates and it becomes lifeless.
Healthy water is constantly flowing, giving and receiving. Water becomes stagnant and unhealthy when it only receives.
The same is true with people…As someone said, “There are givers and takers in this world. Takers may eat better but givers sleep better.”
The Apostle Paul shares why he works hard and then quotes Jesus at the end of it in Acts 20:35.
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
There’s a serious question I have to ask myself and other Christians. “Why do we work?” What is the purpose for me to make money…and there are several common sense answers: To pay my mortgage, car payments, food. I need to work to support my family. And those are important reasons.
But, for the Christian I believe there’s another important reason…To help others…and to show the world that my priorities are not the same as it’s priorities…That God isn’t just God over everything but my paycheck…He’s God over my paycheck as well.
I do this because “every good and perfect gift in my life comes from my Father…and I will not become the Dead Sea where only gifts flow in…I’ll be a river of life like the Jordan where gifts flow out as well.
It’s important we remember:
I. THE LAW OF THE HARVEST
“Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” (2 Cor. 9:6)
Here’s Rick’s translation: Plant a bunch of seeds…get a bunch of tomatoes…plant just a couple seeds…get very few tomatoes.
This law of the harvest is about generosity. It’s not just about our money…but it does include our money as well.
It’s not a scripture to be taken out of context like so many health and wealth preachers do. This scripture is not about a one time gift…like buying a “lottery” ticket…“OK…I gave 100…now God give me back 1000!”
It’s more like this…I choose to live a cheerful life of generosity. In faith I will tithe to honor the giver of all good things and I will look for opportunities to bless others with my giving…In so doing, in faith I believe…“God will bless me abundantly, so that in every single way I can serve Him. I’m not God so I cannot tell you how He will bless you abundantly…whether it’s financially or even better…what could be even better…Here’s one small story from my life.
[I was out shopping one day and I found these four cases of golf balls with a picture of the symbol of the Ryder Cup that was supposed to take place at the Belfry Golf Course in England in 2001. It was postponed a year because of 9/11. These golf packages were from an event that never took place. And I bought all four because I thought they were collectible and cool. I gave 1 to my best friend…one to my brother in law…and one to my father…and I kept one.
Pretty soon after that, I was sitting in my office with one of our leaders names Gen Bratcher…Gene and I loved each other and worked close to each other as we built our new facility in Louisville. Gene and I had played golf together a bunch and he loved golf. I looked at my desk and there was that last packet of Ryder Cup golf balls. And I thought about giving them to Gene…but part of me really wanted to keep them. I chose generosity and he was thrilled.
Gene was diagnosed with lung cancer that month and was gone in three.
I came into my office after the funeral and on my desk sat this package of Ryder Cup golf balls with this note:
Dear Rick,
One day Gene asked me to bring to him the dresser drawer that had his personal items in it, so that he could give a few things to Darren & Krista, to each of the grandchildren, and to Domery & Laura. He had one item left. He knew you would like the golf balls and asked that I give them to you.
I’m sorry, Rick, that I could not give them to you in person, but I remember too well the day we did this. I was OK with it that day, but it’s just the memories.
I believe Gene’s passing has been a witness to a lot of people, and I am so blessed that God gave me such a wonderful man for 38 years.
You, Michael, Jeff & Steve have been such a support to me as well as many of my Fern Creek family.
I love you and Kari and especially for what you meant to Gene.
Love in Christ,
Brenda
Here’s my point…Do you think when those golf balls come back to me that they were worth more or less? Much more…and I firmly believe that’s how our abundant God rewards those who live generously for Him and others.]
“Now he who supplies seeds (or golf balls) to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. YOU WILL BE ENRICHED IN EVERY WAY so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
It’s important that we remember who gives us those golf balls, or that paycheck, or the health to work, or the time we have to live. All seeds to be used for His glory and for His Kingdom…not ours.
You cannot seek first His Kingdom and yours at the same time.
That’s why all this is:
II. A MATTER OF THE HEART
Satan wants us to be our own gods. Independently trying to provide for ourselves…Independently trying to find our own happiness.
And whether we like it or not, money has a lot to do with this scheme.
[I had this guy get really mad at me one Sunday when I preached on loving God more that we love money. He was in my face with a finger in my chest…and He said, “It’s none of your business what I do with my money and you need to keep it out of the pulpit.” And I said, “You’re right, it is none of my business…and I’d of had no idea this was a struggle in your life…until now…I”m sorry if someone uses you or took advantage of you…but where do you think the intensity of your anger comes from?
He looked at me…and walked away. He left the church to find a more comfortable place to worship.]
Money gives us power…or so we believe. If I have it I can control my own destiny. I can purchase what I need. But money will never buy you joy, or peace, or friendship. “The love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Tim. 6:10)
Money isn’t evil…It can be used in amazing ways for good…but when your heart starts to love it…and begins to believe it’s the answer for your life…all kinds of evil take root: Pride, greed, jealousy, self sufficiency.
No wonder Paul says “Give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion…for God loves a cheerful giver.”
When Jews talk about the heart they use the word “Leb” and it’s the place where your emotions and intellect sit.
Generous givers begin to feel and think like God…They begin to have His heart…and the reason God loves a cheerful giver is that He is the most cheerful giver…EVER!
“For God so loved the world…HE GAVE.”
The New Testament gives us four guides to giving: We are to give freely, we are to give generously, we are to give regularly, and we are to give cheerfully.
All these are faith issues for the heart, because there’s always a battle in our hearts when it comes to money…Do I use it to buy things for me…or do I sacrifice some of “me” and invest it in others?
None of us are immune to this struggle and it doesn’t matter if we are millionaires or we live paycheck to paycheck.
Selfishness is the biggest battle we each face as sinners…and it’s a battle even for those who have been born again through Christ.
ROMANS 7:14-21 (p. 786)
The greatest missionary who ever lived, struggled daily with selfishness…should it surprise any of us that we do as well?
But, when we realize that which we want to hold on to for God’s Kingdom and for the needs of others…something beautiful happens in our souls…It doesn’t happen when we realize it out of guilt or “duty” but it does happen when we realize it freely, regularly, generously and cheerfully…and that wonderful thing is “joy.”
Joy if found when we are in the will of God…it’s different than happiness…happiness depends on circumstances and outside influences joy comes from within…joy is an attitude of the heart.
Happiness can be purchased…a new toy, a new thing…Joy cannot be purchased…it’s a fruit of the Holy Spirit…Happiness doesn’t last very long…joy lasts a long time.
D.L. Moody has expressed it so well: “…joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the dark; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all through persecution and opposition. It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart; a secret spring the world can’t see and doesn’t know anything about. The Lord gives His people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to him.”
You see joy is the byproduct of obedience!
The Dead Sea is dead because it only receives and nothing flows out…The Jordan receives…but it is also constantly giving…It’s a river of life.
The opposite of joy isn’t sorrow…it’s unbelief…either we believe God is the supplier of every good and perfect gift or we don’t, but if we do, His gifts must flow through us…generously, freely, regularly and cheerfully.
Let’s pray.
