DESCRIBING GOD’S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
2 Corinthians 9:1-15 (NIV)
INTRODUCTION: God’s indescribable gift is something we would not often; if ever define with the word indescribable. God’s indescribable gift is giving! For many of us, giving, finances, etc. are quite describable. We can describe them in a variety of ways; bank statements, checking accounts, the jingle in our pockets, etc. We can talk about them in relation to what we can do with it, or not do with it. We can even reduce the description to those that have and those that do not have. Yet, God, in all of His glory has declared that the very act of giving is something indescribable. This means that biblical giving is something that unable to recount or tell fully. And that is exactly the essence of biblical giving. It is an activity of the believer that we cannot fully understand, or fully describe, except to say that here as with every other area touched by the Word of God, the Scripture rings true!
1. DESCRIBED BY ACTIVITY – v.1-2
a. Service to the Saints
i. Paul is recounting activity between believers.
ii. Believers meeting the needs of other believers through financial means.
b. Eagerness to help
i. One of the things we need to develop is a perseverance for eagerness
ii. Easy to get excited at the beginning of something.
iii. Easy to get excited at the end of something
iv. Easy to lose excitement in the middle
c. Ready to give
i. H. STEVENSON, BEATRICE VAN said, “In time of peace prepare for war.”
ii. Preparation is the foundation of readiness
1. Are our hearts open to what God wants of us.
2. Is our faith secure enough to look beyond our fears to what could be the result of our action
3. We will never be ready to give anything but excuses if our hearts are not right with God.
d. Enthusiasm in action
i. Enthusiasm is contagious!
ii. If you want others to be excited about something, YOU need to be excited about something.
A guy drives into a ditch, but luckily, a farmer is there to help. He hitches his horse, Buddy, up to the car and yells, "Pull, Nellie, pull!" Buddy doesn’t move.
"Pull, Buster, pull!" Buddy doesn’t budge.
"Pull, Coco, pull!" Nothing.
Then the farmer says, "Pull, Buddy, pull!" And the horse drags the car out of the ditch.
Curious, the motorist asks the farmer why he kept calling his horse by the wrong name. "Buddy’s blind," said the farmer. "And if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn’t even try."
2. DESCRIBED BY ACCOUNTABILITY – v.3-5
a. Accountability to another
i. We need accountability towards each other.
ii. Accountability is one of the reasons we publish an annual report, and have quarterly business meetings.
b. Valid testimony
i. This is why we encourage people to come in and ask questions about areas we are accountable for as a church.
ii. Paul tells us in this passage that accountability prevents us from “proving hollow”, or in other words, being empty.
c. A valid description of God’s gift of grace in giving is that we are walking the walk, not just talking the talk!
d. Sound preparation
i. Accountability helps us prepare.
ii. Just like tests in school are meant to encourage preparation, so accountability is meant to encourage regular growth and preparation in giving.
iii.
e. Assured confidence
i. Accountability assures confidence in each other
f. Completed tasks
i. Accountability assures assistance in completing tasks
g. Positive attitude generosity
i. One of Paul’s greatest concerns is that what should be a joyous event, will become a grudging activity
3. DESCRIBED BY GENEROSITY – v.6-7
a. Understand the principles of Biblical giving
i. Giving, just like scattering seed ALWAYS involves risk
ii. The people of this time were intimately familiar with the principles of an agricultural economy. Planting, weeding, and harvesting were common, everyday tasks. Everyone would have known of a foolish neighbor who had used too much of his grain instead of saving it as seed for his fields. Lavishly scattering seeds all over one’s fields was a risk. What if birds ate it up? What if the soil was inferior and wouldn’t produce a harvest? Keeping more seeds in storage might appear to be wise, a way to ensure against future disasters. But the farmer who scattered his seed meagerly inevitably would have a small harvest. A farmer who refused to risk his grain on the next year’s harvest would lose. Life Application Bible Commentary - Life Application Bible Commentary.
Proverbs 11:24-26 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. 26 People curse the man who hoards grain, but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell.
Proverbs 22:8-9 He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed. 9 A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.
b. Understanding the personal aspect of Biblical giving
i. Giving is a choice, just as many things are in the Scripture, yet choices have consequences!
ii. We must first choose to give
iii. We must then choose what to give.
iv. We must finally choose how to give
c. Understanding God’s desire in Biblical giving
i. Those who refuse to trust God with future financial security lose God’s blessing.
ii. Giving generously is to see a harvest beyond expectation!
iii. God’s desire is that we give out of gratitude, not personal expectation!
1. God measures the giver far beyond the gift
Mark 12:41-44 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. 43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on."
2. God loves the attitude of our giving more than the gift
a. God owns it all
b. Responding to God’s gift of grace in giving is responding to God’s call to be personally involved in the work He is doing!
c. We need to be careful that our giving does not fall into this category, …
Fresh out of gift ideas, a man buys his mother-in-law a large plot in an expensive cemetery. On her next birthday, he buys her nothing, so she lets him have it. "What are you complaining about?" he fires back.
"You still haven’t used the present I gave you last year."
4. DESCRIBED BY GOD’S PROVISION – v.8-11
a. God is able to meet our needs.
i. Literally – Able is God!
ii. There is nothing that can ever hinder God from meeting our needs, but our own actions and desires.
Just like Pharaoh, and just like those of the Romans Chapter 1, when we resist long enough, God gives us over to our hardheartedness, and then it is a downhill slide till we repent and restore ourselves through confession (1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.)
b. God responds to our needs in every area.
i. God is able to meet every need, not just a few or only some
c. God supplies the treasure to give and the resources to live
i. We need to remember this!
ii. God supplies what we need for ourselves.
iii. God has also supplied what we are to give
d. God considers our action of and attitude toward giving a spiritual issue.
i. Biggest obstacle to giving is WORRY!
ii. Worry is a spiritual problem, condemned by Christ Himself.
1. It is wasted energy
2. It is wasted passion
3. It is wasted spiritual effort
e. God informs us that our giving does not happen without impact on others
i. Positive giving has an impact on the spiritual life of others
ii. Negative giving has an impact on the spiritual life of others too
5. DESCRIBED BY THE RESPONSE OF OTHERS – v.12-14
a. Biblical giving meets the needs of others
b. Biblical giving has a spiritual impact on others
c. Biblical giving is a hand and hand activity with our salvation, and is visible to others.
d. Biblical giving brings spiritual intercession on our behalf
6. DESCRIBED BY INDESCRIPTION – v.15
a. The process of Biblical giving cannot be explained.
b. The process of Biblical giving defies explanation
i. You must risk what you have to receive what you do not.
ii. To retain what you have results in losing what God has for you.
iii. To hoard what you steward is to condemn your future.
