Introduction:
Cajun humorist Justin Wilson tells the story about two boys who were neighbors. They were best of friends on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but on Sunday they were enemies because one was a Catholic and the other was a Baptist.
Their parents didn’t like the fact that these religious differences were producing such a bad relationship, so they agreed to have their sons visit each other’s church services so that a mutual understanding might foster a better attitude.
On the first Sunday, the Baptist boy visited the Catholic Church. All through the mass, the Baptist boy wanted to know what this and that meant, and the little Catholic boy explained everything very nicely.
The next Sunday it was the Catholic boy’s turn to visit the Baptist church. When they walked in the building, an usher handed them a printed bulletin. The little Catholic boy had never seen anything like that before in his whole life. "What’s that mean?" he asked. His Baptist friend carefully explained. This went on throughout the whole service. When the preacher stepped into the pulpit, he carefully opened his Bible, and conspicuously took off his watch and laid it on the pulpit. "What’s that mean?" the Catholic boy asked.
The Baptist boy said, "Not a darn thing!"
I promise to break this trend tonight and try to be time conscious but I do have some things on my heart that I feel is good to bring to you tonight. To be quite honest, you might be a little surprised at the topic of tonight’s sermon and yet I feel it is completely appropriate for an occasion like this.
II Corinthians 9:6-7
“Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
I have a confession to make. I’m not much of a farmer. If the world depended on me for their food you would all go hungry. I think I’ve passed this bad luck on to my wife. It seems like this woman can’t keep a flower alive. Every year she wants to go out and buy new flowers for the front yard and I’ve actually said to her: “why buy flowers if you are just going to kill ‘em”. But even though I don’t have much of a green thumb I still understand this logical point that Paul makes about farming. A point that these Corinthians would have understood: the more seed that you scatter the greater the harvest is going to be. And the same is true on the flip side that the farmer who refuses to take a risk on his grain will inevitably have a smaller harvest.
Most of you probably know that the Bible gives countless images of a harvest:
• Matthew 9 – With a compassionate heart for lost people Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are so few.”
• John 4:35 – “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
• That parable that Jesus told in Matthew 13 about the farmer who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat came up so also the weeds. The master tells the servants not to pick the weeds because in the process they might accidentally pull up the wheat. Let them grow together until harvest. Later that parable is explained that the harvest is the end of the age and the harvesters are the angels separating the weeds and the wheat, or the saved from the unsaved.
• Revelation 14:14-16 – “I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came to him out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.”
Wouldn’t you agree, and I’m sure all of us would that regardless of all our differences of opinion on different verses in the bible, we would still all agree that in the end when the final harvest takes place we want there to be as much “wheat” as possible? Or let me put it another way: wouldn’t you agree that we want as many people to come to know Jesus and make him their savior? Wouldn’t you agree that we want as many people as possible to share in this salvation that we now have as possible?
Then I think if we are serious about these issues then we really need to pay close attention to this first verse of our text, verse 6 where Paul says, “remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
If you look through this text as we are going to do tonight you know that it is surrounded with the idea of dollars and cents, so it makes sense to me that the bumper crop that Jesus expects and anticipates at the end of all days greatly depends on your checkbooks! That it a very real way how many people are saved will be great influenced by how open our pocket books are.
It’s a lot like the story of the minister who went to preach at the revival and he took his little boy with him. There wasn’t many people there and when the collection plate was passed around he felt that he need to give so he gave what he had, a $10 bill. After the service one of the elders brought him to the collection plates and told him that it’s standard that the special speakers gets what is collected. The preacher looked in the plate and all he saw was a $10 bill, the one that he gave. He was the only one that had given. His little boy, knowing how much his dad gave, said, “You know dad, if you would have put more in you would have got more out.”
The harvest depends on us, on how much we put into it.
And yet sometimes I wonder if the parable Jesus told in Luke 12 about another farmer more accurately describes us. It’s the one of the rich man who produced a good crop and He thought to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops. Then he said, “I can tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for man years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” But God called this man a fool. In the beginning of that story he said that “life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
To be honest this guy really was a sharp businessman. He understood that to increase his business he had to build bigger barns. His foolishness came in the idea that he would just stock it all up for himself with none to give. Completely disobeying what Jesus would talk about in Matthew 19 to not store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
I wonder if that picture more accurately describes us – especially in light that our houses continue to get bigger, our cars continue to get nicer, and our vacations continue to be more extravagant and in the meantime our giving decreases.
Compare that to the story of Charles Feeney
In January of 1997 a mystery was solved that had baffled people for nearly a decade. Someone was giving away millions of dollars! The recipients didn’t know why the gifts came or how to ask for more. But still the money drizzled in, to universities, hospitals and service groups around the globe, paid in cashier’s checks and accompanied by word that the giver wished to remain anonymous.
The giver, it turns out, was Charles Feeney, a 66 year-old businessman from New Jersey. Forbes magazine had listed Feeney as one of the 400 richest Americans. But then it was discovered that Feeney’s wealth was only 1% of what Forbes thought it was. How could they be so far off in their projections? For years, Feeney had quietly been giving it away. Over $4 billion in all. Feeney is known as a “shabby:” dresser who flies coach, wears a $5 watch and doesn’t even own a house or a car.
The richest 1% of Americans give only 2% of their annual gross income to charity. And yet Charles Feeney managed to give away 99% of all he had without anyone knowing. (All above info on Charles Feeney from www.time.com)
What would possibly lead him to do that? Since he won’t give interviews, all that can be figured is that he has a perspective on this life that few people have.
He must realize that this world as the old hymn says is not his home, he’s just passing through.
As the Bible urges us in Philippians - set your hearts, our affections on things above – not on earthly things.
"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot
A timeless hymn says: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
When you have a harvest perspective you begin to realize that there are things much more important then your desires.
It is then that as verse 7 talks about you will be able to give. Not reluctantly or under compulsion feeling like you have to but giving cheerfully because you know that what you are doing is increasing the harvest.
And we are able to give confidently because of what verses 8-11 talk about.
II Corinthians 9:8-11
“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. As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is my own ability to trust God for the big things and yet have trouble trusting him with money.
Have any of your heard of a guy named Randy Reid before? I know some of the people in my church have.
In May 1995, Randy Reid, a 34-year-old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on. The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911.
When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: "Don’t drop me." (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.)
How amazing that we often live out the same testimony with our lives that when it comes to the big stuff such as salvation, forgiveness and that he is the creator of all that we see and yet $20 still looks too small at the mall and too big at church.
I think the greatest irony in the history of the world is that our dollar bills say, “In God we trust.” The thing that strips most of our reliance on him is the very thing that falsely claims our dependence on him.
And yet I know that it really is a very big concern of “will God come through for me”? Can I really trust him to supply?
Let me give you a few verses:
Proverbs 3:5-6 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Psalm 143:8 – “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”
I Corinthians 9:10 – “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed…”
That if God will make a way for your salvation won’t he take care of your basic needs.
One thing I find interesting about this couple of verses is the reason for giving. One that you don’t hear many of the “health and wealth” preachers talk about.
I was listening to one the other day just talk about financial prosperity. I have a hard time buying this argument of we give to become financially successful, especially since in the last couple of years there have been two million Sudanese Christians killed for their faith. These poor Christians have a faith a thousands times greater then mine. A faith so great that they die for it. We don’t give to get.
Here is why we give. We give to get to give again. As verse 11 says, “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.” God supplies the sower so that the sower can spread more grain to increase the harvest.
And are there occasions to give to.
Over 30,000 babies die every day from preventable causes.
In the 90s, 50 million persons were made to abandon their houses because of conflicts and civil wars.
There are 1,000,000 forced into prostitution every year
1,500,000 children are currently infected with aids
Missions that need help:
• Show-Me Christian Youth Home – take care of unwanted kids – they have 70 of them
• Good News Productions International – through film they are reaching millions
• CICM – For $12 a month you can feed a child and give him/her basic medical care
I wonder what these missions could do with more money. Please don’t confuse this message that I’m not asking you to give to church so that preachers like myself can get a bigger income. This is not a salary sermon. This is a harvest sermon. This is a sermon that says our world has needs and if we are going to really get serious about reaching the 4 billion people in the world, the 2/3 of the world that don’t profess Christianity then we are going to help a thousand times more financially.
I’ve heard people say, “well, the Bible does say that the poor will always be among us.”
And yet have we forgotten what Luke 12:48 says, “Form everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
• If you can attend a church meeting, without fear of harassment, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep…you are richer than 75% of this world.
• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace…You are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.
Makes you think those who will have the judgment with the most expectation will be the American Christian.
Have we forgot about what Matthew 25 talks about that when I was hungry you gave me something to eat and when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink.
It’s like what one of my professors used to say. “When you are standing before the judgment seat of Christ one of the only questions he is going to have for you is, “Did you give a cup of cold water to someone who was thirsty.”
On my door there’s a cartoon of two turtles. One says, "Sometimes I’d like to ask why he allows poverty, famine, and injustice when he could do something about it."
The other turtle says, "I’m afraid God might ask me the same question."
Citation: Peter John Kreeft, quoted in Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith (Zondervan, 2001), p. 50; submitted by Aaron Goerner, Utica, New York
My gut tells me Jesus will expect and answer and I hope that what we have for him is not, “you said the poor would always be with us.”
Instead we could say that we did all we could with the resources you gave us to increase the harvest. And in the end did you read verse. And because of all this our generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. Verse 12-14 – “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing withy them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.”
That reminds me of that Ray Boltz Song. “Thank You.”
I dreamed I went to heaven
and You were there with me
We walked upon the streets of gold
Beside the crystal sea.
We heard the angels singing
Then someone called your name.
You turned and saw this young man
And he was smiling as he came.
And he said, "Friend you may not know me now"
And then he said, "But wait"
You used to teach my Sunday School
When I was only eight.
And every week you would say a prayer
Before the class would start.
And one day when you said that prayer
I asked Jesus in my heart."
(Chorus)
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave.
Then another man stood before you
And said, "Remember the time
A missionary came to your church
And his pictures made you cry.
You didn’t have much money
But you gave it anyway.
Jesus took the gift you gave
And that’s why I am here today."
(Chorus)
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave.
One by one they came
Far as the eye could see
Each life somehow touched
By your generosity.
Little things that you had done
Sacrifices made.
Unnoticed on the earth
In heaven now proclaimed.
And I know up in heaven
You’re not supposed to cry.
But I am almost sure
There were tears in your eyes.
As Jesus took your hand
And you stood before the Lord.
He said, "My child look around you.
Great is your reward."
(Chorus twice)
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave.
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave.
Is there anything that should be more exciting for our souls then the thought of others lifting up thanksgiving to God because of our generosity?
Conclusion:
Paul wraps up this particular section in II Corinthians by giving us this one last word of thanks, one more appeal to our giving in verse 15 when he says, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
Paul suddenly shifts from our gifts to God’s gift and he calls it an indescribable gift. I can’t help but think of Romans 8:32 that says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all…”
The argument that Paul makes is simple. If God can give his best, should we in thanks to him be able to give our best. We give because he gave. We our sacrificial with our money because he was sacrificial with his life. We are generous because he was generous.
Conclusion:
The point is further illustrated with an old story which describes the scene shortly after Christ’s return to heaven following his death, burial and resurrection. The angel Gabriel came up to him and said, "Lord, you suffered terribly for men down there."
"I did." he replied.
Gabriel continued, "Do they know all about how you loved them and what you did for them?"
"Oh, no," said Jesus, "not yet. Right now, only a few people in Israel know."
Gabriel was puzzled. "Then what have you done to let everyone know about your love for them?"
Jesus said, "I’ve asked Peter, James, and John, and a few of their friends to tell others about me. Those who are told will in turn tell still other people, and my story will be spread the farthest corners of the Earth. Ultimately, all mankind will have heard about my life and what I have done."
Gabriel appeared a bit skeptical. He knew how little mankind could be depended upon. "Yes," he said, but what if Peter, James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget or simply don’t follow through? Haven’t you made any other plans?"
Jesus answered, "I have no other plans. I’m counting on them." Two thousand years later, he still has no other plan. He is counting on us.
