Introduction

In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul has a difficult task. He’s responsible for encouraging a church to give to a very important cause. But here’s the deal, they are a pretty dysfunctional bunch. They have tons of problems. He tried addressing these problems in the past and received mixed reviews. There are some people in this church who don’t like him, that’s kind of the theme of 2 Corinthians. Others who love him deeply. Yet, there are those in need in Jerusalem and Paul believes this church is uniquely positioned to meet that need. In fact, he kind of put himself out on a limb. He has confidence in the Corinthians giving to inspire smaller churches to give. If they don’t give, he’s going to have a fair amount of egg on his face.

How do you think he will inspire them? Will he guilt them? Will he passionately remind them about God’s commandments to give? Will he try to shame them into giving? Will he start up a capital campaign? Or will he try a different strategy?

Paul’s strategy wasn’t to shame them. Paul likely knew then what we know today-- when people feel pressured by shame or guilt, they don’t give more. They give less. And they despise it.

But here’s the thing: this is not God’s plan for giving. We’re not supposed to give based on guilt or shame. Instead, God has a better path: “Decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. ‘For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.’” Wait. Does the Bible actually say to not give reluctantly or because we feel pressured? Does it say we are to give cheerfully? Yes. Yes, it does. At the grocery store or anywhere else.

That is our goal for today. I want to show you how we can cheerfully give away as much as possible.

We’re not supposed to give based on guilt or shame. Instead, God has a better path: “Decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. ‘For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.’

Main Teaching

We give out of hope for the future

Let’s pretend you’re stranded on Mars. All you have is a little freeze-dried food and a dozen potatoes. How long do you think you could survive? If you eat all the potatoes, you probably could make it a month. Or two. Max. Then you learn that a rescue mission is on its way but it’ll take 18 months to arrive. How do you survive in the harsh Mars environment for 18 months with only 12 potatoes?

Instead of eating all 12 potatoes, you could plant them. That simple act could result in a harvest that would feed you and give you more potatoes to plant. A one-time decision to plant could make all the difference to your stranded-on-Mars-with-no-other-options self.

If you read the book or saw the movie The Martian, you will know this is essentially the plot. Mark, from the story, plants potatoes and survives until rescuers arrive. He wards off starvation not by eating first but by planting first. And when giving seems like the last thing you should do, it’s often exactly what you need to do to set things in motion.

This is Paul’s point in 2 Corinthians 9:6. He used a principle that those in an agrarian society would readily understand. If you only plant a few seeds into the ground then you are only going to harvest a little. But if you plant several seeds into the ground then your harvest will be more plentiful. The same is true of our giving. Paul made it plain and simple for us: we reap what we sow with our giving.

Some of our income is bread for us to eat. And some of our income is seed to be planted through giving. We are not meant to keep all the blessings. Instead, God blesses us with a harvest in order for us to be a blessing to others. We are created to be conduits. The blessing is meant to flow through us to the world around us.

If you believe that all the money you have belongs to God, if you believe God is in charge of your future, if you believe God is good, and if you believe God loves a cheerful giver, then why would we not try to give away as much as we possibly can?

We give while looking for God’s blessings

In a 2013 Harvard Medical School experiment, radiologists were asked to detect lung nodules. Basically, they were asked to do what they did all the time: examine some CT scans and look for abnormalities in the lungs.

In the experiment researchers added a matchbook-sized dancing gorilla to one of the images. The gorilla was 48 times the size of the average nodule. The purpose of the experiment was to see how many of the radiologists noticed it.

Let’s just think about this for a minute ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium