Sermon for 8/5/2007
2 Corinthians 9:7-15
A New Vision for Giving
Introduction:
A. Visualization is so important these days. Basketball (shot like James) , baseball (hit like Bonds), football (pass like Manning).
B. Visualize success in our lives. If we are successful what will it look like?
C. Visualize the future for Mount Airy Church. New building!
D. Visualize the North Pointe Church in Statesville. Church of 200!
E. Give us a picture for the future. So many cannot visualize things and so I and others try to give pictures of how things could be to inspire and motivate!
WBTU:
B. Yes, this morning we are talking about money. Why now? So many job losses.
C. many times when the offering plate is passed we think: Show Cheerful Giver video (Sermon Spice Video)
D. We have many images, pictures, visions for communion, the Lord’s Supper, but we are lacking when it comes to visualizations for the offering. A dollar bill is not very inspiring.
Thesis: This morning let’s see a better and clearer picture, vision, of the results of genuine Biblical Christian giving.
For instances:
I. Pleases God (God loves) 2 Corinthians 9:7
A. Now God loves everyone but it seems that it puts a smile on his face for us to give.
B. (2 Cor 5:9 NIV) So we make it our goal to please him.
II. Manifests Righteousness 2 Corinthians 9:10
A. The essential idea with righteousness is rightness. Only through Christ are we made righteous. Only through Christ can we display righteousness.
B. The health and wealth gospel. If you have enough faith, you will always be healthy and wealthy. Give so that you will be blessed 3 fold.
C. Ray Stedman shares the story of a man who lived in Houston that received a letter from a large international radio broadcast seeking support from Christians for their broadcasting. The appeal of the letter was the God cannot be out given, that if you give to God, he will give back to you. They announced that they needed a certain tremendous sum of money to maintain their broadcast. They had figured the number of their listening audience and they said in the letter that, if every person who heard their broadcasts would send in $76, this need would be met. Furthermore, they would guarantee, on the principle that God cannot be out given, that he would find a way to give that $76 back three times over. This was, therefore, the appeal of the letter: Send us the $76 and God will give back to you; just watch how he does it. Well, the man in Houston said he wrote a letter back which said, “Sir, I believe what you have written; I believe it is true that God cannot be out given; and I believe you have a tremendous need for funds. But I would like to suggest that you send me the $76 and God will give back to you three times over. You can get rid of your debt a lot faster that way.” I’m told that they took him off their mailing list.
D. These teachers are right that God will give back to you but he doesn’t give back to us so that we can indulge ourselves. God is generous to us so that we may be able to give generously to others.
E. It is for a harvest of righteousness, not a harvest of selfishness.
III. Meets physical needs 2 Corinthians 9:12
A. I had a need at one time. Went to leadership and they said, “The Lord will provide.” Didn’t give me any money or help. The Lord did provide; not through them. May the Lord work through us and not have to work around us!
B. Our benevolence ministry.
C. A church once sent a box of new toys to a small town in India. When the missionary received this box of toys, it caused him to have an idea. He thought of how some Indian children in a nearby orphanage were without any toys. His idea was to take that same box, have the children take the new toys, and then refill the box with old toys given by the children, and then the old toys would go to the orphanage. He told the children of the village and they loved the idea. So one week later the missionary came to collect the toys and found the box full of the new toys exactly as they had left them. The children simply gave him the box they had received a few days earlier. When asked why they did this, a little girl said, “Think what God did when He gave his Son, could we give him less than our best?”
D. (Mat 25:40 NIV) "The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
IV. Causes thanks to God 2 Corinthians 9:11-12
A. The person who gives is not thanked, but God is thanked.
B. We have had the joy on many occasions of having people stand up and publicly give thanks, for the response to needs of people in this church. To see people moved and touched and blessed and helped and giving thanks is wonderful repayment.
C. When people receive a gift from Christians, whom they do not even know by name, they recognize that God is the source of the gift.
V. Encourages more affection 2 Corinthians 9:14
A. When this gift came from the Gentile Christians to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, there would be much affection between them. Many of these Jewish Christians had trouble accepting the fact that Jesus Christ came to save Gentiles and to make them all one in Christ.
B. I just give and it goes in the church budget. I don’t know what it goes for. Let me tell you a few of the things it goes for. (Talk about your own church’s giving here)
C. Not just giving money to the church budget. Bob Pierce challenges us to do something on top of this. Pray for these missions. Pray for your ministers. Pray for the leadership here. Pray for the new Christians here.
D. When we give money and when we pray for people, it causes us to be knit together. Some might want to say, "You give, I’ll just pray." No, when we give money it will usually lead to more earnest prayer. The more we give, the more involved we become in what is going on, and the more we will find ourselves praying. It’s hard to pray when we are not involved. The right kind of giving will motivate prayer.
E. The word translated sharing is koinania. It is the same word that is used for fellowship. I would have to say from experience, both as a giver and as a recipient, that giving creates a special bond. The fellowship is not what it used to be. Give!
VI. Magnifies God’s grace 2 Corinthians 9:14
A. Grace is receiving a gift we do not deserve. God’s riches at Christ’s expense
B. Ernie Pyle was a WWII correspondent. Pyle was known for writing about the average GI. In one of his books, he tells the story of a German soldier who had been taken prisoner. This German soldier had been told horrible stories about what the Americans would do to POW’s and so he was scared. This German was taken to a medical station to tend to his wounds. The medics tried to give him a shot of morphine so they could help him; but the German objected furiously, afraid that he was going to be tortured. After some time, after observing the attention give to the other wounded, and the other POW’s, this soldier became amazed. Finally, the chaplain, making his morning rounds, gave the German soldier candy, tooth powder, and soap just like everyone else. The German soldier started to grin and sat up playing with his new possessions like a little boy with new toys.
VII. God will be glorified 2 Corinthians 9:13
A. Know what the problem is? Our desire for God to be glorified is not great enough to force us to give biblically. We want to be glorified and not God
B. Giving is evidence of our obedience to our confession of the gospel of Christ. If a person does not have a generous heart, there is a sense in which they are not obedient to the confession of the gospel of Christ! If we’re living in light of the gospel and giving properly, that results in God being glorified. We need to put our money where our mouth is!
C. Years ago soldiers would often be baptized in mass. As they marched down into the water they would hold up one hand with their sword and they said they could then feel no guilt in going into battle because their sword hand had not be baptized. Many do the same today, only it isn’t a sword they’re holding out of the water, it is their wallet.
Conclusion and invitation:
A. This morning we have been given several pictures, visions, to think about during the offering time. May they inspire you to give!
B. 2 Corinthians 9:15
C. This is the gift of Jesus Christ and his salvation. No matter how generous our giving might be, it is nothing compared to the generosity of God, who saved us through the sacrifice of His Son. Our gifts are a drop in the bucket compared to the gift of salvation.
D. Greatest picture, visualization, is the cross and the empty tomb, much like communion.
