This section of Paul’s letter ends with powerful words of praise. They could almost be the title of a worship song because they are powerful words of praise, thanksgiving and truth:
“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (9:15)
2 Corinthians 8 and 9 focus upon generosity in giving. The Christians in Jerusalem are experiencing extreme hardship and Paul is making advance preparations to take a gift to provide for basic necessities. More about that in a moment because Paul finishes this section, this ‘chapter’ of his letter with the reason why Christians love to give!
We love to give because we believe and we say this: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
The gift of Jesus – the gift of salvation – is indescribable. It is “too wonderful for words” (CEV). It is the most generous gift that there has ever been and it is the most generous gift there will ever be.
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Verse 6: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
It’s a bit like sending out invitations to a party. Send out 5 invites and you might get 3 or 4 people at your party. Send out 100 and you could easily get 80 or 90 or more.
Paul was a Jewish-Bible believer before becoming a follower of Jesus, so he knew his scriptures and as he wrote these words he must’ve had Old Testament words of God ringing in his ears.
That’s a challenge to us in itself! When we talk, discuss, encourage, challenge, rebuke, build each other up, where do our words come from? Human wisdom takes us only so far, whereas the Bible is God’s wisdom.
So what did Paul have in his mind as he wrote this? Well, in the Old Testament, when God’s people enjoyed a good harvest it was a blessing from God (Gen 26:12) and it was a result of obedience to God (Lev 26:3-5). More than that, disobedience could lead to drought and to a poor harvest (Lev 26:18-20). Now that did not mean that every poor harvest was a result of disobedience; but Paul knew that disobedience led to a poor harvest.
As he wrote to the Corinthians Paul would also have had words of the Lord Jesus in mind:
For example Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
I think Paul also had in mind the Parable of the farmer who scattered his seed (Mark 4:3-8). The farmer didn’t plant a few seeds sparingly. No, he scattered his seed generously, and Paul wants the Corinthian church to have these words of God going through their minds as they hear this letter read out.
Friends, I don’t want you to hear me. I want you to hear the Father of Jesus because “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
At no point this evening will you hear me mention that biblical ‘10%’ T-word. I won’t mention it because Paul wanted the Corinthians to give money to suffering Christians out of a generous heart, “not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7)
In 1996 the Church of England newspaper had a story about the Sweet Haven Holy Church of God in Carrollton, Virginia. The article said that the church had a new way of attracting visitors, and increasing weekly collections. Everyone who put money on the collection plate was given a raffle ticket, and later in the service one ticket number was read out. The winner received $100 out of the collection plate! (Just in case you are wondering, I don’t want to copy that!)
There is great joy in giving to those who are in need, when we give out of a generous heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Are we people who with our heads believe in Jesus, or are we people who love Jesus with our hearts and our minds, and desire to have the attitudes of Jesus. Are we people that desire to become more like Jesus in thought, word and deed? Even with our giving?
The Christians in Jerusalem were in great need. Paul was not going to instruct individual members of the church how much they should give, but he needed them to know in advance that he was expecting each one to make a glad and cheerful decision about how much to give.
You have perhaps heard this before, but when Paul says that God loves a cheerful giver, he literally means that God loves a ‘hilarious’ giver.
At the end of Charles Dickens’ book “A Christmas Carol”, Scrooge has realised the error of his stingy, miserly ways. Scrooge gets converted!
At the end of the book Dickens wrote this: “Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he became a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew.”
God loves a cheerful giver. Scrooge was converted. Have our cheque books and wallets been converted?
Verse 8: “And 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.”
I’m guessing that most if not all of us have what we need plus quite a bit more; and it’s that ‘quite a bit more’ which God has got great plans for! God has blessed us with more not because he loves us more, but because he wants us to give away ‘more’; and can I make it clear that I’m not asking for your money!
When we realise that every penny we have has come from God, it becomes so natural to spend God’s money on God’s work. Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 3:6 to 9 that he had planted seeds. Apollos watered those seeds. God made them grow and it is only God who makes things grow! We are called to sow and to water the seeds but we can’t make them grow; God and only God does that!
What I am about to say goes completely against my prudent, careful, financially budgeted background. Jim and Dave and the rest of the money management team may go very pale: God’s word tells us that as we give with a generous, joyful heart we will always have enough for what we need and there will still be more left over for every good work (2 Cor 9:8 & 9:11).
Benn and Hellen Mugisha in Nairobi with their work amongst orphans, the sick and the needy are an example and a lesson to us, from God!
Benn and Hellen spend massive amounts of money on the needs of others, and yet right now food on the table in their house every day is a miracle. I do not want any of us to feel guilty but the fact is that most of us could last for several days if not weeks on the stockade of food that we have got in our pantries, fridges and freezers.
Psalm 27:8, “Your face Lord will I seek.”
He wants us to be channels of blessing. The problem is that so often we become reservoirs, holding on to what we have, but God wants us to be channels of blessing. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Verse 9, “As it is written: ‘He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever.’”
Paul quotes from Psalm 112 where the psalmist says that the righteous man scatters his gifts to the poor.
Paul now turns to the results of giving. Quite rightly he begins with the attitude of the heart whereas the world of business and performance management tends to begin with the phrase, “What’s In It For Me?” As followers of Jesus Christ I want to say that whilst it is an attractive way of motivating people and motivating giving, it is the way of the world and not the way of Jesus Christ. When we give, our motivating factor is not, “What’s In It For Me?” Our motivating factor is, “What’s In It For Them?”
So Paul begins with the heart attitude of generous, hilarious giving, and then states the results of giving, and of course this has been our experience as we have given time, prayer, people and money to God’s work in Kware, Nairobi.
1. We get blessed; but let’s be clear! We do not give because we want to get blessed. We give out of love for Jesus, love for God’s indescribable gift to us.
Friends, because we know and love Jesus we already are blessed. We don’t need more blessing! However, when we give with a generous heart we are blessed. Praise God. He blesses us with joyful hearts and he blesses us in so many other ways.
2. The needs of God’s people are met. (2 Cor 9:12)
† We, God’s people here at St. Thomas’s Church need to balance our books for 2005. I will say no more about that.
† Benn and Hellen Mugisha need food on their tables and money for school fees right now.
† God’s people around this world have lost houses and church buildings, burnt down because of their faith in Jesus. The Barnabas Fund which supports them needs money to send to them.
The service of giving from a generous heart supplies the needs of God’s people.
3. We get prayed for! (2 Cor 6:14) At different times and in different places as a church, as individuals and as Home churches we pray for our partners in mission. If you’re not sure who they are, their names appear in our weekly news sheet. We pray for them and Benn and Hellen Mugisha are once again great examples. As we supply the physical needs of many people they pray for us. We don’t give to them in order to get prayed for, but they pray for us because they know we love them in Jesus.
Isn’t that wonderful? God gives us a generous heart. We give generously and we get prayed for.
4. The whole church benefits: I believe in the unity of the church of Jesus Christ; and yet we know and we see that there is still so much suspicion between denominations, within denominations and between church ministers. Much of it is sinful; God hates sin.
So how have I jumped from our bible passage to church unity? Well, Paul knew that the gift from the Corinthians would be a tremendous blessing to the church in Jerusalem. It might come as a surprise to them but it would certainly be a blessing.
The Jerusalem church was where it all began and it comprised mainly conservative Jewish Christians who were concerned and somewhat suspicious about the gentile Christians in Corinth. A love gift of money, given from a generous heart, given from a church that loves Jesus, could only benefit the whole church. It would result in the Jerusalem church praying for the Corinthian church, and it would result in hearts going out from Jerusalem to Corinth, because of the surpassing grace God has given to the Corinthians.
How strong is our love for Christians who are suspicious of us? Would we be able to send a love gift to a church that may not wholly agree with us?
5. God will receive praise and thanks! Most important of all, God will receive the glory, not the one who gives the gift. Verses 11 and 13:
2 Cor 6:11, “Your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
2 Cor 6:13, “Men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ.”
The way in which Paul writes this strongly suggests that it will not only be the church that praises God, but people in general will praise him. Why? Others will praise him because they are seeing faith in action.
Paul is very close here to James 2: 17, 20 and 26 because our faith in Jesus is not just a spiritual thing; and our faith in Jesus is not just a decision to believe that the things Jesus did and said are true. No, our faith in Jesus results in obedience to God.
(The following illustration is found at Sermon Central. com, contributed by Melvin Newland). Tony Campolo tells of an invitation to speak at a ladies meeting. There were 300 women there and before he spoke the president of the organization read a letter from a missionary. It was a very moving letter.
In the letter the missionary expressed a need for $4,000 to take care of an emergency that had cropped up. So the president of the organization said, "We need to pray that God will provide the resources to meet the need of this missionary. [Tony], will you please pray for us?"
Tony Campolo, who is very outspoken said, "No." Rather startled, she said, "I beg your pardon."
He said, "No, I won’t pray for that." He said, "I believe that God has already provided the resources & that all we need to do is give.
Tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to step up to this table & give every bit of cash I have in my pocket. And if all of you will do the same thing, I think God has already provided the resources."
The president of the organization chuckled a little bit & said, "Well, I guess we get the point. He is trying to teach us that we all need to give sacrificially."
He said, "No, that is not what I am trying to teach you. I’m trying to teach you that God has already provided for this missionary. All we need to do is give it. Here, I’m going to put down all of my money I have with me."
He wrote, "I only had $15 in my pocket so I wasn’t too worried about that." So he put down his $15 & then looked at the president of the organization.
Reluctantly, she opened her purse & took out all of her money, which was about $40, & put it on the table. One by one the rest of the ladies filed by & put their money on the table, too. When the money was counted they had collected more than $4,000."
Tony Campolo said, "Now, here’s the lesson. God always supplies for our needs, & he supplied for this missionary, too. The only problem was we were keeping it for ourselves. Now let’s pray & thank God for His provision."
Brothers and sisters in Christ, God loves a cheerful giver. To what or to whom is God asking you to give, with great joy in your heart, and a smile on your face?
Shall we pray?
