SOWING SEEDS OF THANKSGIVING
2 CORINTHIANS 9:1- 9:15
Introduction:
Beginning a sermon on Thanksgiving is much more difficult than it looks.
This is not unsual, in that most holidays are difficult to prepare for.
There are only certain passages that deal with Christmas and Easter for example.
Thanksgiving is different from most of the traditional Christian holidays in that there are several passages dealing with giving thanks, but the central theme is the same for all of them, giving thanks.
There is nothing new about giving thanks, except maybe giving thanks.
The essential questions are still the same.
What have we got to give thanks for?
Do we give proper thanks to God, or just pay him lip service as we get ready for a turkey dinner and a football game.
When you stop to think about it we do have a lot to be thankful for.
Think about the following situations:
1. The constant fears of a coal minor’s family. While a minister was preaching a note was passed to the chairman of the deacon’s board. He glanced over the congregation and went to the pew where the woman was and passed the note down the long pew through several hands. The heartbeats of the entire congregation quickened as the note came closer to the woman. Her face was white as she received it. You could cut the tension with a knife, as so many times these notes carried news of tragedy in the mines. She opened it, read it and relaxed, and so did everyone in the church.
The coal minor’s families always lived with the terror of injury and death for their loved ones--that the world might have coal.
2. The dangers for a power lineman. Last year there was a story on the news about a lineman who was electrocuted and lost his life. There are people who put their lives in danger, just so we can turn the lights on in our homes, in our businesses, and in our churches.
3. We are looking at the possibility of a natural gas line for the Maritimes. What of the dangers for a Gas plant mechanic. Once the line is in or even in its construction, you could read headlines about a man who is killed and another permanently injured just bringing natural gas to our homes. These men will put their lives on the line so that we cn have heat in our homes.
4. We need to be grateful to those who are employed in dangerous lines of work on our behalf. Think of the police and firemen who put their lives on the line for us daily.
5. The luxury of natural resources. We have plenty of land, woods, fish and other natural resources. Think of water as I tell you this story of a World War II pilot. He brought many men to Europe from the Sahara desert. They were amazed to see the trees, a rose, but most of all a flowing river. They were amazed when they were shown a waterfall, because to them water was a precious commodity. The guide was ready to move on, but they insisted on waiting. They were waiting for the waterfall to stop. When they returned to the desert, they never mentioned the waterfall. They figured that no one would believe them.
Many times we only think of immediate family and blessings at Thanksgiving.
But as you can see we have much more to be thankful for than just those in our immediate surroundings.
Often these people and blessings are so common to us that they go unnoticed.
Or we begin well but in the end fizzle out.
This was the problem at Corinth as we shall see.
They were giving well to Jerusalem at the beginning, but did not finish well.
Scriptural Background:
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 speak about the rewards for giving generously and seeing a project through to its completion.
Paul is sending brothers to the people of Corinth to make sure that they are continuing to give as in the beginning.
Paul had been speaking about their eagerness to the Macedonians, and he wanted to make sure that they were continuing to give generously and zealously should the Macedonians check it out.
Now this was not a selfish type of boasting.
Paul was suggesting look and see what a people committed to the Lord and eager to serve can do when they are determined to do it.
He offered this as an encouragement and a challenge to the Macedonians.
Let me illustrate
Consider yourselves while I make the following statements:
1. The U.I.M. budget is projecting a 10% shortfall this year.
2. Sunday School enrollment is down in all churches in the convention.
3. Membership in the convention has been declining rapidly for the last ten years.
4. Small churches are closing left and right.
5. The numbers of baptisms are down.
Not all of these statements are true.
In hearing them though, don’t you find that your heart sinks, and you feel discouraged, maybe a little scared.
It’s hard to continue to work in the church when you feel discouraged isn’t it.
But suppose I come to you when you are discouraged and say this:
1. The United Baptist Church of Minto had over two hundred people out for their friend day Sunday.
2. Green Hill Lake Camp had an increase of 12% in attendance from last year. They also had over 100 counselling inquirires.
3. Greenwood Drive Baptist Church just celebrated their mortgage burning burning, three years early.
4. Our joint musicals are averageing in attendance between 150-200.
You feel uplifted and encouraged by the success of other churches.
And it can spur you on here.
That is what Paul was trying to do.
Offer the Macedonian Christian encouragement by what the Corinthian Christians were doing.
The only thing thing is he had to be sure that they were continuing what they had started, and he had to be sure why they started in the first place.
This brings us to our passage today.
We are going to consider why and how we give rather than just being thankful for what we receive.
There are two ways of looking at Thanksgiving.
Most of the time we give thanks for what we have received and been blessed with.
This is good and proper to do.
But this season also refers to how we minister to others, not only at this time of year but all through the year.
The order of words in Thanksgiving is important.
It is made up of two words thanks giving, or the giving of thanks, but also thanks for giving the opportunity to give.
The last line of verse six is the key.
"Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given."
Verse six through fifteen deal with the rewards for giving with a generous heart.
They can be broken down into three points:
1. The givers are enriched (vv.6-10)
2. The receiver’s needs are met (vv.11-12)
3. God, the Source of all blessing, is praised (vv.13-15)
Point One: The Givers Are Enriched (vv.6-10)
Paul is very careful to deal not with the gift, but with the attitude of giving.
Gifts to the church for example are sometimes done for the wrong reasons and should be refused.
These gifts are usually selfish or have selfish motives.
In verses 6-7 Paul gives two reasons why the Christian should give generously:
1. If you sow sparingly you will reap sparingly, the opposite is also true.
Proverbs 11:24-26 states: One man gives freely, yet gains even more, another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. People curse the man who hoards grain, but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell.
As a Christian we are called to give, and to give with a good heart.
Now our gifts will be physical in nature.
Our giving may even be done in secret, without the receiver ever knowing who gave the gift.
It is true however that gifts given from a pure heart to the best of our ability will be sewarded spiritually if not physically.
2. The Lord loves generous gifts given in sincerity not reluctantly, spontaneity not under compulsion, and willingness as a cheerful giver. Acts 11:29 tells us that they laid aside gifts such as they could.
In our giving we need to realize that the only thing that makes the gift a good gift, is the enabling power of God to transform it for His use.
We can only give that which we have received.
When Jesus fed the 5000 they came to him with only five loaves and two fish.
It is when Jesus took that which they had and blessed it, did it multiply.
Our gifts will only multiply if they are given with the right attitude for the furthance of God’s Kingdom. 2 Cor. 3:18 states:
" And we who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
Charity produces an eternal reward.
Matthew 25:40 states: "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.’
We give our gift, such as it is, and God will empower it.
He will also take care of our needs, because our gift goes to glorify Him, by helping others.
POINT TWO: THE RECEIVER’S NEEDS ARE MET (VV.11-12)
We can give thanks to God that he allows us to be the agents for Him to help others.
We must be careful as well.
Being morally, materially, or physically better off than someone else, does not make us right with God.
J. Wesley Wilkey realtes in a sermon:
Some time ago there appeared an article in which the author imagined himself speaking before a group of 100 persons gathered to hear a Thanksgiving message. The treatment of the theme was memorable and went something like the following.
"I thanked God for abundance, and 40 persons lowered their eyes for they were hungry and in need. I thanked God for health, and 40 other persons were excluded from sharing my praise, for their health had failed. I thanked God for homes and family and a dozen rose to leave, knowing that their homes were faltering. I thanked God for sparing my loved one in an accident, and tears fell from the cheeks of some who had thus lost loved ones...."
We do not thank God for the misfortunes of others as an avenue for us to help them.
We thank God for others, and thank Him for the opportunity to help others, and see their needs being met.
Our thanksgiving is not what we recieve, but in what we can give, and show God through giving.
Our thanksgiving ought not be about the things we have that others don’t have, or about our good fortune as compared to other people.
That is a Pharisee’s Thanksgiving.
Our thanksgiving is much stronger than this.
It is the recognition of the power of God.
We give thanks that He can take our gifts and use them to meet the needs of others.
And God gives us the rare opportunity to witness this.
Point Three: God the Source of all blessings (vv 13-15)
Verses 13-15 remind us of the basis of our giving.
The things that we have, be they physical possessions, talents and abilities, all these things come from God.
Our doxology is "Praise God from whom all blessings flow".
It is because God has blessed us with all that we have, or will have, that we in return can show His grace to others.
God’s blessings on the Corinthian people for their giving was expressed in the intercessory prayers by the people they were giving to.
The spirit of selflessness in their giving was an example of the surpassing grace of God in their lives.
Look at 2 Corinthians 8:1-7
Conclusion:
We give thanks to God for the gifts he has given to us.
We express that thanks by giving to others in the same way.
How and what did God give to us?
Yes he gave all our material needs.
But his greatest gift is indescribable.
His greatest gift is eternal salvation, spiritual riches, through his son Jesus.
We express our thanks to Him by helping others.
Thanksgiving is not just a time to concentrate on the things we have been blessed with.
It is a time to concentrate and thank those who risk their lives for us to have the things that we have.
It is a time to think of others and their needs, and to give thankfully that God has put us in a position to give.
The Corinthians finished this work of giving that God gave them (Romans 15:26)
They were thankful for the joy of giving.
Jerusalem was thankful to recieve, and offered up spiritual thanksgiving for the Corinthians.
The measuring rod of our thankfulness to God is the way that we minister to others.
Those who have benefited from the gifts of God’s riches, should not hesitate to benefit others with material gifts.
Thanks be to God for the gifts that he has given us.
Thanks be to God that we can offer those gifts to others.
