A Handful of Peanuts
(The Law of the Harvest)
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Introduction
(As people enter the worship center, let them take a handful of peanuts from large containers.)
Amedeo Obici was born in 1876 in a small village near Venice, Italy. His widowed mother read him letters
from his uncle in America, and Amedeo told everyone he was going to America one day. Everyone knew he
was an exceptionally bright and enterprising child. By the time he was 11 years old, his family had helped
him save enough money for an immigrant's ticket to America, and he set sail by himself.
One story says Amedeo had no money for food, so his mother gave him a bag of peanuts which was all he
had to eat for the 10 day trip across the ocean. In this land of opportunity, Amedeo, at 11 years of age, went
to work as a bellhop and a helper at a fruit stand. He worked hard and saved his money as he had promised
his mother.
Amedeo soon learned that Americans liked the peanuts he shared with them; but few, if any, were growing
them here. So, he found a place to plant the handful of peanuts he had left. While his peanuts were growing,
he saved enough money to buy a horse and wagon. When his peanut crop came in, he drove around calling
himself "The Peanut Specialist" selling roasted peanuts. By 1906 he had developed his own method of
blanching and roasting peanuts and founded Planters Peanuts headquartered in Suffolk, VA. He became
wealthy enough to send money to his family in Italy; and, years later, he gave to the city of Suffolk the
Louise Obici Hospital named after his wife.
Now, Amedeo had only a handful of peanuts; but he had the choice of what he could do with them. He could
have eaten them or sold them, but he wisely chose to plant what he had so that, in time, he would have
enough to eat, give away, and sell to send money to his family. I don't know if Amedeo knew about the Law
of the Harvest in the Bible, but he certainly practiced it! Look at 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.
When you came into our worship center you reached into a bowl and got a handful of peanuts. Some of you
took a large handful; others took just a few.
That's alright, because each of us is different. Keep those peanuts and let them represent the resources God
has given you. Like Amedeo, you have choices to make with what you have: You may eat your peanuts.
They'll taste good for the moment, but then you won't have any left! Or, you may just hide them in your
pocket and keep them. You, also, have the choice to divide them: You could eat some and sell some. We all
need to eat and pay for our basic necessities. You might share some with others. A wise choice would be to
give the first 10% to God knowing he will honor that and bless what you have left.
The Biblical practice of tithing is connected to the Old Testament covenant with Israel. Jesus renewed the
tithe in the New Testament when he spoke with the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23. However, the New
Testament goes further under our new covenant of Grace. Under grace, when we're saved we give
ourselves and all we possess to God. When we say Jesus is our Lord, it means that we should consult him
about everything! When we're thinking about giving to his church, we ought to ask him how much he wants
us to give.
Personally, I don't believe God will lead Christians to give less under Grace than he asked the Jews to give
under the Law. I believe the tithe is the minimum every child of God should give. My family's practice is
that we give 10% right off the top of our salaries to this storehouse, and we add some to that for an offering.
Then, we're free to give above that to our work in Jamaica and to a few other charities. We can't give to
every worthy cause, but we do try to give regularly to two or three additional ministries the Spirit has laid
on our hearts.
1. The Principle, v. 6
Now, I want us to look again at the Law of the Harvest to see the Principle, the Practice, and the Produce
we're promised. The Law of the Harvest is a principle stated in 2 Corinthians 9:6. I can summarize that
principle in 8 words: "Plant little, harvest little; plant much, harvest much!" Unless some other
circumstances take their toll, that principle will work. If you invest a little bit, you can only expect a small
amount in return. We also say it another way: "You reap what you sow!" This principle will work with any
resource - time, talents, or tithe; but I particularly want us to think about the advantages of investing in
God's work.
I can also give you 3 axioms that accompany this principle of sowing and reaping: (1) You will always reap
what you sow. That means you won't get beans if you plant peas. If you want high grade peanuts, you must
plant high grade peanuts. If you want God's best blessings, then give him your best.
In just about every prayer, we ask God to bless us. But, do you know that you, yourself, determine how
much God will bless you? Jesus told us in Luke 6:38 how the Father decides the measure of our blessings.
"If you give, you will receive. Your gift will be returned to you in full measure, pressed down, packed
together and overflowing. Whatever measure you use in giving will be the measure used to give back to
you." Invest the kind of seed-faith offering in God's work that you need back from him. If you need money,
honor God with his tithe even when you don't think you can afford it. He promises, "Seek first the Kingdom
of God and his righteousness and all other things will be added unto you."
(2) The second axiom is that you always reap more than you sow. One peanut planted can grow a bush with
many roots full of peanuts. One corn seed can produce a stalk with 2 or 3 ears having hundreds of grains of
corn. One dollar given to God to purchase 10 gospel tracts can result in thousands of saints thanking you in
Heaven. One life lived for God can influence hundreds, even millions, to imitate that life.
(3) The third axiom applying the principle of the harvest is: You always reap later than you sow. Sowing and
reaping don't usually happen on the same day. It may take months or years to see your harvest, and you
may never see all of its results until you get to Heaven.
If you say, "But I've tried tithing, and I still haven't caught up on my bills," don't give up. Sowing calls for
patience and faith in the principle of the harvest. It will work. In Malachi 3:10 God invites you to test him by
returning all the tithes to his storehouse, which is your church, and see if he doesn't open the windows of
Heaven with more blessings than you can handle. Understand that all your blessings will not be in the form
of material things, and God doesn't give a time table for those blessings. He will do it when it's best for you.
But, you can bet on this: God would not issue that challenge if he didn't want you to try it and if he didn't
intend to bless you in more ways than you can imagine!
So, what do you do if you're tithing and still having financial problems. You pray to see if there is another
lesson God wants you to learn. Have you first dedicated 100% of your resources to God? Are you willing to
give more than 10% if God lays in on your heart? Are you giving for the wrong reason just hoping to get
more from God? Is there another area of your life he wants you to commit to him?
Then, when your motive is pure, what do you do while you're waiting for God to provide some relief? You
continue to sow more seed! Farmers stagger their planting in order to have a continual harvest. You keep
trusting and investing, and all you invest will be growing with interest until God starts the pay-back flowing.
But, remember that most of your dividends will be laid up for you in Heaven with compound interest!
2. The Practice, v. 7
Now, look at the practice in verse 7. This tells us how to use the principle of the harvest. Do you know how
farmers decide how much seed to plant? They first decide the harvest they want to reap; then, they plant
accordingly. They don't just plant haphazardly. They have a plan. That plan begins, not with the amount of
seed they buy; but, before that, they decide what size crop they want to produce. If they need a large
amount of oats to feed the livestock, they get a lot of seed and plant a large field of oats.
Here, I can give you some practical suggestions about giving: (1) Give generously. If you want to produce a
lot, you invest a lot. (2) Give cheerfully. Farmers don't begrudge the amount of seed they have to buy. They
do it cheerfully because they anticipate a bountiful harvest. That's why verse 7 says God loves a cheerful
giver. That word actually means a hilarious giver. You should be hilariously happy that you're able to invest
in God's work. Thank him for the ability to give because you know God is going to repay you many times
more than what you gave. (3) Give prayerfully. Ask God how much his work needs and what your
responsible share is. And, (4) give logically. Determine that it is your best choice to honor God first.
The Jews gave the first fruits of their harvest to God in anticipation that he would bless the rest of the crop.
Some of our people still practice this. Awhile back, Elmore and Dorothy Buffkin gave us the first tomato on
their vines. It was a big, juicy tomato. I told them to keep it because they had been waiting anxiously for
their tomatoes to ripen, and the first ones are the best ones. But, they put me to shame when they said they
give away their first fruits in thankfulness to God; and he always blesses them with many more.
3. The Produce, vs. 8-15
Well, we've looked at verse 6 to see the principle of investing abundantly if we want to reap abundantly.
From verse 7 we talked about the practice of giving in cheerful expectation. Now, from verses 8-15 let's
consider the produce. What kind of crop may we expect if we plant our handful of peanuts in God's field?
Look at the superlative words in these verses: "All grace...abound...all things...at all times...all you need for
every good work." God is repeating himself to impress upon us that we can't out-give him. He doesn't need
our gifts; he owns everything. We need to learn to turn loose our material possessions, learn to obey God,
and then we'll learn how he can be trusted to bless us super-abundantly.
Also, look at the benefits this passage promises: The benefits to you and me will be "increased seed and
harvest...righteousness...made rich in every way...a generous spirit." And, look at the benefits to others from
our faithful giving: They'll be blessed by our generosity; they will praise God; and they'll pray for us. Even
God benefits when we give: He gets thanksgiving and praise. When we give, God's work grows; missionaries
and ministries are supported all over the world; and Jesus gets the credit. Hey, it's a win, win, win situation
when God's people support God's work the way God's Spirit leads us to do.
I challenge you to give at least the tithe, 10%, undesignated to your local church and see how God will bless.
There's nothing God won't bless if you give it to him first. He can bless your finances, your fitness, your
family, and your future. The produce you reap will be directly received in proportion to how much you
plant. Your blessings are in your own hands!
Application
Now, to apply what God's word says, I want you to take a few minutes to decide what you're going to do
with the peanuts you have. Think of those peanuts as your money because, after all, money and peanuts can
both be tools to honor God. Both of them come from God and both of them must be planted somewhere in
order to grow. The most foolish thing you could do would be to keep all your peanuts and hide them under
your mattress. On the other hand, because they're only peanuts, it would be easy to give them all to God;
but that wouldn't be very practical, unless you have some other support in order to eat and pay your bills.
Prayerfully, first give yourself to God. Ask Jesus to save you if you aren't sure you're saved. Then, letting
your peanuts represent your life and your possessions, give your peanuts to God and pray about how he
wants you to divide them. When you're ready, come forward and place some of your peanuts in the plates
on the altar table. This will be between you and God. You decide how many peanuts to give based on how
much of your time, talents, tithes, and offerings you want to give to God this coming year.
Your Budget Committee would appreciate an estimate of how much you hope to give each week or month. If
you brought the commitment card that was mailed to you with our budget, you may leave that on the table
unsigned. Or, get one off the table and return it in an offering plate tonight or next Sunday. Joe and I and
some of our Deacons will be here to pray with anyone who wants our prayers.
