God Grants Grace in Giving
2 Corinthians 9
I saw a single frame cartoon once that had two men standing outside after church services. They were standing there in their underwear and one says to the other: “That was the best sermon on giving I ever heard!”
Today we will see part two of Paul’s message to the Corinthians on giving. I’ve divided the chapter into three sections and entitled each section with a sentence with lots of “P’s.”
1. Prepare and Perform on Previous Promises
9:1 Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you;
2 for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority.
3 Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready;
4 lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting.
5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.
Remember Ananias and Sappharia? The Bible tells us about them in Acts 5. They seem to have made a promise to give the proceeds of a sale of land to the church. Perhaps the land sold for more than they expected, or they changed their minds, but they kept back some of the money and with his wife’s full knowledge Ananias brought the rest to the church and gave it as if it were the full amount promised. Peter speaks to Ananias and asks him, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.” And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of it. Later Sapphira came in and the same thing happened to her when she lied. The moral of the story? Don’t play games and make false promises to God. He will hold you to it.
These Corinthians have made promises about an offering a year earlier. Paul has told others about their plans and boasted about the zeal that they showed. That was last year. Now the fire of their zeal is at least in question and Paul wants to see them finish what they started.
Have you made any promises that you are struggling to keep? How many here have been baptized? Did you know that you made a promise to God in that act of faith? God made some promises to you then too. You entered into a covenant with Jesus Christ, through his blood by his act of sacrifice and by your act of faith. The name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were invoked upon this spiritual rite of passage into the kingdom of God. You confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and called upon the name of the Lord. You were buried and raised in the name of Jesus. This was not a mere symbolic religious expression. This was a divine and human agreement enacted in water and blood. How is it going in your relationship with Jesus these days? God takes very seriously his promises to us. But listen to me now, He also takes very seriously our promises to him.
Eccles. 5:4 When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it, for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a mistake.
How many here are married? Did you make any promises before God in your marriage? God expects us to keep our promises. Marriage as an institution made by God is not to be entered into lightly. The Old Testament warns: Mal. 2: 13 "And this is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
14 "Yet you say, ’For what reason?’ Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. God expects us to honor our marriage vows. 1 Peter 3:1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. 7 You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
Past promises before God don’t expire. We must keep them. In this matter of giving, have you ever made a promise to God about your offerings? God blesses us abundantly and we have a great opportunity to use the material blessings he has given us to show his love to others. Each of us should prayerfully consider the promises of God and purposefully commit a portion of your income as an offering to him and then keep that commitment by performing our promises. This leads to our next point…
2. Purposeful Participation Produces a Providence of Plenty
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
9 As it is written: "He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever."
10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
Did you know that one good sized oak tree can drop over 50,000 acorns a year? A single dandelion flower produces over 200 floating seeds. God believes in building things that sow bountifully. He built this into nature so we would learn to apply it in our lives. I heard about a successful farmer who used to save his best harvest seed for planting every year. He was pretty careful about how he spent his money and someone once suggested that he could save by cutting down on who much he spent on selecting seed and sowing. He said, “Of all the places to cut back and save that one is out of the question, this is one thing I’ve learned in farming, never be stingy with the seed!” He who sows bountifully shall reap bountifully. He who sows sparingly, shall reap sparingly! It is a law of God. It was written into nature and is also written in the law of the spirit and we can read it right out of our Bibles. Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap! Do we believe this? I love this church. I’ve seen some generous offerings over the years from this congregation and just look at how God continues to bless us! Now is the time to start praying for God to help us sow spiritual seed of the gospel among friends and family who are not in Christ. Let us be generous in sharing our faith as well as in sharing our material blessings.
I challenge you to do this with me. Those of you who may feel that you can’t answer all the questions that someone may ask can still sow bountifully. Here’s three things you can do that I heard on a tape recently. First, bless people. Just say, “The Lord bless you, or God bless you.” Now do it seriously or don’t do it at all. Sow the blessing and see what harvest God gives. Second, take your Bible with you everywhere you go and leave it where people can see it. It may amaze you to see what God can do with just that little act. I was working in Memphis, TN in 1977 in a company called Dixico. They made candy wrappers and potato chip bags. I worked in the quality control office, usually the 11 PM to 7 AM shift. At times the machines would be down and I had nothing to do, so I brought my Bible to work. A couple of men came into the office and noticed my Bible and began asking questions and I found out that one was a deacon at the church of Christ and the other was a Bible teacher. These men had worked side by side for a few years and didn’t know that they were brothers in Christ. Why? Neither showed any signs of who they were beyond honesty and hard work. Our lives need to be examples and show Christ, but faith still comes by hearing the word. Unless a person hears the word, they will not believe and come to Jesus for salvation. We need to sow the word and the works. Bringing my Bible opened the door for many other conversations in that office on break time. There is no law in this country that would keep you from doing that… yet. Now there may be teachers who can’t open their Bible in class and teach from it at school, but you can bring it and keep it on the desk and read it as an example to the kids just as you would any other book. I challenge you.
Sow.
God may just be waiting on us to do the simple things. And pray for his increase. Third, do random acts of kindness in the name of the Lord. This is like the blessing, but it is more aggressive. You give a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus, and there is a reward. If you help someone out, don’t forget to bless them. Are we poor in this area because we have not been sowing enough? The more you sow God’s blessings and holding out the word of life and doing good works in the name of the Lord, the more God will increase our store of these things too! We can become generous givers of God’s treasure! You don’t need all the answers to all the questions someone may have. All you need is to put in a good word for the Lord.
Now I realize the passage we are studying is about giving, but the principle of sowing applies here too. Jesus even told a parable about it. When we do what we are supposed to do in the kingdom of God we find that we not only are blessed ourselves, but others receive a blessing as well. This leads to the last point…
3. Another Positive Product and Proof of your Profession are the Prayers and Praises of the Poor
12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God,
13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,
14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.
15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
From promises to preparation to performance to prayers and praise, God is glorified and everyone is blessed! God’s word calls this act of giving an indescribable gift! It shows the grace of God in you! And again let us remember the greatest giver of all is God! The greatest blesser of all is God. The greatest keeper of promises is God. The greatest teacher of truth and righteousness, the one who sent the word to us in flesh and blood so we could not only hear and see heavens truth and love, we could be joined with him!
God’s gifts are indescribable! When we partake of the grace of God and begin to become like him, we find indescribable and surpassing love, joy, peace, hope and faith in Jesus. All of heaven’s best is God’s gift to you! God’s gift to you. As the Psalmist said, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Ps. 73:25-26.
