Cheerful Giving
2 Corinthians 9:6-9:15
Good morning everyone- Glad you are here
This morning, we are going to look at giving!
Not only giving, but what the Bible calls hilarious giving! Yeah!
I see all your excitement.
I sparked some people’s attention, some because as soon as you talk about giving, there are some people who conclude, there goes the pastor, and then they tune me out.
Another group, all they heard was cheerful giving. They said to themselves, that’s right, if you think I am giving one more penny that is hilarious!
But what does God say about giving! Is He only talking about money?
2 Corinthians 9:6-9:15 Read from Bible
Whew! This is not a tithing message. This is a message about sowing and throwing seed- sowing and reaping!
Sow sparingly- reap sparingly.
Sow generously- reap generously.
Fits with last week’s message on sowing seeds and the planting of His word in our lives and other lives.
There is the law of planting!
You don’t plant anything- don’t go looking in your garden for a harvest when you did not plant anything.
(7) “Each man (women) should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or compulsive, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
In God’s law of planting, if you do not plant, don’t look for a harvest.
What you sow you reap. If you plant bad things, you will reap what you have sown.
You don’t plant things in the kingdom of God; you will not harvest anything for the kingdom of God.
Paul tells us…Give what we have decided in your heart.
You are going to do what you want. (only you know)
Don’t do it under guilt, don’t do it reluctantly, and don’t do it with attitude.
Don’t do it just because the pastor said you should.
Do it because God loves a cheerful giver and it is the right thing to do.
In fact, the Greek word for cheerful here actually means hilarious.
God is looking for people who want to give to Him not only cheerfully but hilariously.
There are People who have mini heart attacks every time the offering is taken.
Oh, no…it is offering time again.
Some come late to avoid offering time
Some are gone for weeks and they don’t catch up
Not oh no, but it should be praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord I have a chance to give back to the Lord a portion of what He has given me.
Praise the Lord, I cannot wait!
I see some of you guys sitting on your wallets and some of you ladies closing up and holding your purses for dear life.
Listen, it is more than that!
God’s word says that we are to give back to God 10 % of what he gives us.
He gives you 100%, you keep 90% and you give back 10 % cheerfully back to Him.
You can do more with the 90% than if you kept the whole 100%
God is not expecting a tip; He is expecting God’s people to be tithing.
That is not His suggestion; it is His instruction on what we are to do as a believer with our money.
Generosity is more than money, you are not off the hook, but it is more than money.
You get some of the other directives right and you will not have as much trouble with the money.
Examples
Generosity defined in the dictionary is:
“The habit of giving without expecting anything in return, it can involve an offering, assets or talents, to aid in helping.”
Generosity is not based upon our economical statue, but instead is based upon one’s pure intentions for common good and giving is from the heart.
Our tithe does not go to God out of our abundance. (Repeat) It is based upon God’s Word.
Our generosity to others is not based upon our abundance.
We don’t help others only out of abundance.
We do not only help other people with our money.
Words of generosity include:
Charity
Goodness
Hospitality
Kindness
Compassion
Good will
Sympathy
Friendliness
Spirit of giving
I have not even used the word money yet.
If we do not have a right perspective of money, it affects every avenue of our generosity.
1 John 3:17
“If anyone has material processions and sees his brother in need but has not pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?”
James tells us that faith in God will cause us to do good deeds
Jesus himself tells us “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.”
What we do in secret for God is rewarded by God.
Money and things are blessings from God.
They belong to God.
If you are here thinking…if I had material things in abundance, I would share with God and others.
If I had more money I would give to the church.
I would help others.
God is looking for hilarious givers- that will take God at His word. Not only for the money, but in every aspect of their lives.
If you can’t give God your time, talents.
You cannot be determined to be in His house on a regular basis, I would guess that you can’t give him your money either.
You will be closed fisted instead of open handed.
God loves a cheerful giver!
(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.”
We are going to see in God’s word that there is a special blessing that comes from the Lord to those that are obedient in their giving to the Lord.
We live in a day and age that we pirate movies that we shouldn’t be watching without paying for them.
There are people who hack into systems to get information that they should not have.
We steal the cable from our neighbors.
We jump on someone else’s WIFI because we figure out their password.
We borrow things that never come back to the person we borrowed it from. We actually think we can borrow without asking someone…I think they call that something else.
The same God who is the ultimate source of the physical food that sustains us is the same God that enables us to meet our spiritual needs and enables us to serve and help others.
Sow a little- reap a little.
It is a principal of God.
God giving shovel is bigger.
You will never be able to out give God.
So here we go, some things that you need to write down and apply in your life.
Giving is more than money
If the only thing you have heard so far is God is after your money- you have not gotten it.
If you think, I have no money so I’ll leave the giving to those that have “an abundance and more than me,” you have missed His word here.
Giving originates with God. God gave and His people are to give.
“God is able to make all grace abound in you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
When we give time, talents and money, it moves God to provide for our needs.
It opens our hearts to the things of God and the people of God.
Giving is an important topic throughout the Bible. Scripture connects giving with worship of God and also love of others, addressing both of the Great commandments. It is a great way to store up treasures in heaven rather than on earth and we choose to serve God rather than money.
There is giving that honors God and there is giving that doesn’t.
Some give for men to see, the hypocrites (Mt. 6)
Others out of pride like the Pharisees.
Some gave like Ananias and Sapphira…to win the approval of men. Acts 5
(10) Says he will increase your store of seed- your throwing seeds and the shovel of God is replenishing it.”
Give is a 4 letter word that is good- give is not a bad word!
It is offering time! Praise the Lord
It is time to help someone- praise the Lord!
It is time to serve the Lord- praise the Lord!
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsions, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
God is the creator of everything!
God tells us to be good stewards of what he gives us.
Steward means “taking care of what God has given us, so that we can also take care of what he has entrusted to us.
Illustration
“W.A. Criswell tells of an ambitious young man who told his pastor that he’s promised God a tithe of his income. They prayed for God to bless his career. At that time he was making 40.00 per week and tithing 4.00. In a few years his income increased and he was tithing 500.00 a week. He called his pastor to see if he could be released from his tithing promise, it was too costly. The pastor replied, I don’t see how you can be released from your promise, but we can ask God to reduce your income back to 40.00 a week, then you have no problem giving 4.00.
Illustration
You’re probably not going to believe this, but the utility companies, and the people who do work for the church want actual money from us. Can you believe it? They don’t want our prayers; they don’t want our good intentions. They want cash. Are they being unrealistic??? I bet some of you here this morning actually believe that your boss should pay you every week when he is supposed too!
Repeat – I. Giving is more than money… it is doing what we are suppose to do with our money, talents, resources that have 100% been given to us from the Lord!
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also
Mt 6: 19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your hear t will be also.”
The dangers of riches,
The dangers of stuff,
The danger of your heart not being in the right place.
Again, Jesus words to us-
If we are building and storing all our treasures here on earth, and if we are not willing to invest in the kingdom of God. It is a heart issue.
When Jesus spoke these words to the people, they lived in mud houses. It was easy to be robbed of their treasures. They did not have security systems to protect their stuff.
“Freely you have received, freely give”.
It is not about giving everything you own to someone else, it is your acknowledgement that God gave you everything and you are not going to hold unto it with a death grip.
Is your heart willing to give these things up?
Corrie Ten Boom-
“Hold everything in your hands lightly; otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.”
There is a reason they call it hoarders.
They are by definition pathological compulsive collectors of everything they can get their hands on.
Celebrity hoarders (according to the show hoarders)
McKenzie Phillips- every family memorabilia since she was a kid.
Linsay Lohan- Shoes, enough that it takes a warehouse to store them.
Paris Hilton- 17 dogs
Lisa Kudow- paperwork and documents back to 1980
It is a heart issue!
Giving and releasing things back to God tells us where our heart is at.
Giving is an indicator of how much we trust God.
If you believe that you have to do it yourself, you will not be able to release things to others.
2 main thoughts this morning
Giving is more than money
Where your treasure is, there is also your heart.
Almost everything said about money in the Bible is negative, unless it is talking about giving it away. (Rod Buchanan)
John Wesley-
“Get all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”
There is nothing wrong with preparing for retirement.
Nothing wrong with saving for a rainy day.
Absolutely nothing wrong with not spending every penny you have.
Nothing wrong with not spending more than you make.
The problem lies in a wrong heart.
Generosity is a habit. It looks for ways to be kind.
The opposite of generous is greedy, mean, selfish, stingy
Closing
Showing others acts of kindness; not out of your abundance, but out of our love for others and our faithfulness to God.
Giving is a vital part of serving God, and it is not limited to a few but to everyone that calls Christ Lord.
Close by reading a verse of our text
(6) “Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man (women) should give not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
To some this morning, it will hurt you and hit you in the wallet. God knows, he see your checkbook and He knows what belongs to Him.
To some this morning, it is with our time. We have been too busy for God.
To some others, it is using our talents, God gave us these talents and we are only using them to make a living.
It is offering time! What part of your life is God saying you needs to be more generous with?
What’s in your wallet?
Amen.
