The Joy Of Giving

SERMON OUTLINE:

(1). Generous Sowing (vs 6)

(2). Cheerful Giving (vs 7)

(3). Abundant Blessing (vs 8-11)

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• The Inuit people live in the northern part of Alaska,

• When missionaries first tried to translate the Bible into their language,

• They found they had a problem with certain words.

• Whenever you translate the Bible in any culture,

• There will always be difficulty in translating some words,

• Because cultures and languages don’t always share the same words.

• e.g., The phrase “White as snow” was a problem to people who had never seen snow.

• Translators use the alternative rendering, “White as cotton wool.”

• The word may be different, but the truth is not lost in translation.

• Now back to the Inuit people.

• There was no word in the Inuit language for the word, ‘joy’.

• So, the Bible translators had to seek out an alternative word.

• And as they watched the Inuit people,

• They saw that the happiest, the most joyful moments in those Inuit village,

• Was in the evening when they fed their sled dogs.

• The men would go out with the food,

• And the dogs would jump & yelp & wag their tails & get all excited.

• And so, out of that experience, they discovered their word for ‘joy.’

• e.g., the well-known Christmas verse, in Luke chapter 2 verse 10.

But the angel said to them,

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

• Translates in the Inuit Bible as,

• "I bring you good news, all people will wag their tails.".

• TRANSLATION: I have been asked to speak on, ‘The joy of giving.’

• And those two words, ‘joy & giving.’ don’t usually go together.

• The last two weeks I have been in a Church,

• Were each week they pass around a collection/offering bag.

• When that bag went around from person to person,

• Not once did I see anyone’s tail wagging!

• Verse 7 tells us that, “God loves a cheerful giver.”

• “God loves a tail-wagging giver.”

• The word that is translated “cheerful” in our text is the Greek work, ‘hilaron’.

• It is the word from which we get our English word, ‘hilarious’.

• The apostle Paul declared that “God loves the hilarious giver.”

(1). Generous Sowing (vs 6)

“

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”

Ill:

• Last week I was listening to the audiobook of Daniel Defoe's book, ‘Robinson Crusoe’,

• It was first published in 1719.

• But it has stood the test of time and it is still a great read,

• And it contains some great insights concerning, life & God.

• On one occasion Robinson Crusoe returns to a particular place on his island,

• To his amazement he finds corn and rice growing there.

• And he comments that this was a miracle of God,

• Because this corn & rice is in a climate which was so alien to the grains,

• These had been just a few seeds he brought onto the island,

• From the ships wreckage.

• They had fallen on the ground when he rummaged through sacks and boxes,

• As he searched for food, gunpowder,

• And anything else that might help him survive in the island.

• Crusoe sees this as a miraculous gift:

• He feels blessed that God has reached out to assist him in his time of need.

• And his thoughts turn towards God, and he says…

“But after I saw barley grow there, in a climate which I knew was not proper for corn, and especially that I knew not how it came there, it startled me strangely, and I began to suggest that God had miraculously caused His grain to grow without any help of seed sown, and that it was so directed purely for my sustenance on that wild, miserable place.”

• TRANSITION: Robinson Crusoe unconsciously discovered the law of reproduction.

• What you reap what you sow,

• But the principle of multiplication says you will also always reap more than you sow.

• When you put one kernel of corn in the ground, you don’t get one kernel of corn back.

• You get a cornstalk with multiple ears on it,

• And hundreds of kernels on each of those ears.

• This is the mathematical power that God has established the universe to handle.

• You always get more out of it than you put into it.

Note:

• The principle of sowing and reaping applies to every area of life,

• Not just your finances.