2 Corinthians 8:1-9:15
The Fruit of Your Giving
Woodlawn Missionary Baptist Church
January 15, 2006
Introduction
Have you ever wondered how much of your finances you ought to give to God? A man once asked his pastor how much he should be giving to the Lord. The wise pastor replied, “How much do you want to receive from the Lord?” I believe there is much we can learn from that. The conscientious child of God will spend much time considering his giving to the Lord through the years, but perhaps a better question for us to ask ourselves today is “What do we want in return from the Lord?”
It is not a health, wealth and prosperity gospel that I preach, but a simple truth of Scripture. Paul will say in our text today that the man who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, but the man who gives liberally will be blessed liberally. Let me state emphatically that we do not give to get. We give because it is an expression of trust and worship; it just so happens that when we are faithful to give from hearts of love and trust that God blesses in great measure.
Last week I challenged you to give yourselves to the Lord. Remember that God is more interested in having you and your heart than your wallet. But I also said that whether or not He has your wallet is a reflection of whether He has your heart. If we are stingy in our giving in relation to our ability to give, it is an indication that we have been stingy in giving our lives to God. The man who gives much in relation to his ability to give is a man who has given himself wholly to God.
Now, having said all that, I realize that the bottom line for many people is still “What’s in it for me?” It is natural for us to ask questions. “Why should I give liberally to God?” “What will happen if I increase my giving?” “Will my family suffer if we give like you are telling us to give?” In response to these questions I want to make two comments. First, I understand that it is natural for us to ask these and other questions. But I submit to you that that’s precisely what gets us into the most trouble with God. We cannot pattern our lives after what comes naturally to us. The natural man doesn’t care for the things of God. The natural man questions and doubts and given the opportunity will convince you to do nothing and trust little. On the other hand God is working to create in your life a longing for that which is spiritual. He wants to lead you to the place where you are Spirit-led; not carnally led.
Secondly, while all of that is true, I will not dismiss our desire to know what’s in it for us, so I want to attempt to answer that question by giving you eight results of your giving. What is in it for you? What’s in it for me? What’s in giving for our church? I believe that from 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 we can find eight results of giving sacrificially to God.
I Will Experience Abundance of Joy & Freedom
Last week we read chapter 8:2 which says,
“How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.”
We won’t spend much time here since I already preached this last week. But I think it’s worth repeating that when we are giving to God the way His Spirit is leading us to give we are going to experience an abundance of joy and we’ll experience the liberating effects of that giving. Do you know why giving what the Spirit says to give brings you joy? Because joy is not really a fruit of giving – it is a fruit of the Spirit. When we are walking in the Spirit; when we are doing what He says; yielding our lives to Him, then the natural result of that will be joy: a great abundance of joy.
What about freedom? Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:24.
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (money).”
Who will be your master? When you cling to one you let go of, are set free from, the other. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth is Jesus Christ. You cling to Him and make Him your Master and the grip your money has on you will cease to be.
I Will Grow In Christian Maturity
In 2 Corinthians 8:7 Paul said,
“Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.”
What was he saying to them? They were doing well in many areas, but they were falling short in this one area of giving. The amount of your offering in relation to your earnings is a reflection of your Christian maturity. It is not the all in all measurement of it, but it is a reflection of it. You see, we’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. None of us are perfect; not one of us measures up to the fullness of Christ in every way.
The Corinthian believers had grown in so many areas, but theirs was an incomplete faith because they were neglecting this one area – and that is a mark of immaturity. All of us have these areas of our lives, and for many believers giving is that area. Yours may not be – it may be some other area of your life that you have not yet surrendered to Christ. The point is that we can never be content to say to God, “Look God, I go to church, I witness to my coworkers, I don’t cuss or lie or steal and I teach a kid’s class. You’ll just have to overlook this area of giving because other than that I’m doing all right.”
As we grow in Christ-likeness we are going to surrender every area of our lives – even the area of finance.
I Will Prove That I Have Love For Others
Verses 8-9 continue by saying,
“I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”
Paul said to these Christians that if they really loved other people, they would give of their money to help them. You can say you have a heart for missions. You can tell me and God and everyone else that you love our missionaries and hope that they bring many lost souls to Christ, but if you won’t help to support them then your actions speak otherwise.
Now in my opinion the Lord has you right where He wants you on this matter. If you say you do not love missions or missionaries, then you are in effect saying you do not care about what is important to God. “For God so loved the world…but I do not.”
No, we cannot say such a thing and be in right relation to God. If you do not love missions or missionaries then you do not love God. Those are not my words, but the words of 1 John.
On the other hand, if you say that you love missions, then one of the greatest proofs of the sincerity of your love is your willingness to support them. Do you love what God loves? Then support it. Our example is Christ Himself. He didn’t just give His leftovers on the cross of Calvary; He gave His all! He gave up His life for you and me and in that act of sacrificial death He proved the sincerity of His love for you! He didn’t just talk about love - “He demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Now, since our time is short today, let me quickly give you these and trust that you will work on them on your own:
I Will Relieve Those Who Are Burdened
Let’s read verses 13-14,
“For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality.”
God’s plan for the support of any ministry, missions or otherwise is for shared financial responsibility. If we all give what we can give and if we will all give sacrificially and generously then we will never have a lack for any need we have.
I Will Provoke Others To Greatness
Chapter 9:2 says,
“For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.”
If you will be generous in your giving and give God the praise when He blesses you, you will inspire others to do the same. Let me just give you a quick example. When I moved here I decided on an amount to give to Faith Promise. I didn’t know where to start, but I wanted to be generous and to sacrifice, so I set the amount and began giving it. I felt pretty good about what I was giving. Then one day I accidentally found out what one of our members was giving who was less fortunate than I was, and I became ashamed of what I was giving. I was not sacrificing the way she was, so I went to the Lord and asked Him to forgive me and I committed to giving more.
Do you see? That member’s faithfulness to give sacrificially and generously provoked me to greater faith in God. She still does not know it, and will not know until she stands before God where I will leave the reward up to Him.
I Will Reap Bountifully
Paul said to the Corinthians in chapter 9:6,
“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”
Here is the Law of the Harvest. Dad is teaching me how to garden this year. We have tilled the ground, worked in the mulch, hoed up some rows and we will plant seed this week. I am not a gardener yet, but I am smart enough to know that I cannot plant one or two measly seeds and expect to get a truck load of food from them. If I want a lot of food then I’d better plant a lot of seed.
The same is true with your money and God. The more you give in relation to what you are able to give, the more God is going to bless you in return. That doesn’t mean you’re going to get a million dollars in your bank account, but God will bless you.
I Will Cause God To Delight In Me
The last result I want to share with you is also my favorite result, and it is found in chapter 9:7. It says,
“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
When you settle on what God wants you to give, then give it. Don’t give it with a grudge. Don’t write out your checks on payday and complain about what you could be doing with your money if God wasn’t taking it from you because He’s not. Perhaps today that’s how you’ve been giving. When you write out your offering check or when you get out your cash, let me give you an example of how you might pray.
“God, I love you. It is my privilege to give this offering to you as an act of worship. I need this money, but I trust you, so I give it to you to use as you see fit. May your kingdom grow and may my church be blessed because of it. I love you Lord.”
Do you know what will happen when you will give to God sacrificially and generously from a heart of love and adoration for God? He is going to take great delight in you. In other words, you’re going to make God happy. Regardless of how old I get, there are few things that make me happy like doing something and knowing that it has brought joy to my father. There are few things that satisfy my heart like knowing that I have said something or have done something to make him proud of me or happy with me.
The same is true of our relationships with our heavenly Father. Because we love God we should want to make Him happy; and when we do, there is no greater joy we can experience than to know we have brought Him pleasure. It is the greatest relationship in the world.
Conclusion
It is with that thought that I want to ask you: do you have that relationship? I consider myself privileged to have a great relationship with my earthly father. There are many in this world who will never know what it is. But we can all have that relationship with God. He longs for it. He works in your life to lead you into it. He offered His Son Jesus Christ so you might have it. Do you? You can, but the choice is yours. Today I want to plead with you to enter into a personal relationship with God by admitting your need, believing and confessing Jesus Christ.
I am aware as well that there are many of you here today who know Christ as your Savior, but there is something missing in that relationship. It is not a relationship of intimacy, joy or delight. You know Christ as your Savior, you go to church and do all the “Christian stuff,” but there is something missing. If that is you today, let me invite you to simply confess that to God today. Tell Him what you feel and ask Him to reveal to you what you stand in need of.
Today as we close, I want to invite all of you to join our church in supporting the missions ministries of our church through Faith Promise giving.
