Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Sep 20, 2020: 2 Corinthians 9:5-15 Prepare Your Generous Gift
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. So for those who have been around a bit, those who know me, You know that I typically avoid talking about money and talking about giving as often as I can. If I can take another road, I take another road, because it's a weird subject, and it's a hard subject to discuss and address. People may think that I have selfish motivations and ulterior motives and seeking for my own gain in talking about these things in a church setting, in a church context, but people get, you know, very sensitive about their money. And so it can be a sensitive subject and it's easy to offend people. It's easy to, you know, bring difficulty or conflict within a family. And so, you know, generally speaking, it's just, we don't go out of our way. I don't go out of my way to address it. And so as I'm looking at the chapters for the week and going through the Bible in three years, it's my practice to pick a passage from the reading this week and And there was other passages that I would have preferred to teach. But as I was praying over it, the Lord really put chapter 9 on my heart. And it goes along with something that Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 7. He tells the Corinthians there in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 7, he says, "...as you abound in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also." And what the Lord stood up on my heart was when we talk about giving, we're talking about a matter of spiritual health, that it's important for us as believers to be mature, to be well-rounded in our relationship with God and in our walk with God. We might abound in faith and in speech and in knowledge and in diligence and in love, like Paul is talking about with the Corinthians, but we also need to abound in this grace, which We also need to abound. This is a component of our relationship with God. It's a component of our spiritual health and spiritual maturity. I would encourage you to consider that giving is an indicator of spiritual health. It's an indicator of spiritual maturity. And of course, it can be taken the wrong way, just like the Corinthians, as we saw in 1 Corinthians, they took spiritual gifts and the exercising of spiritual gifts out of context and misused them in a way. Giving can be done in a similar way, just like most of the things that God has given to us. But at the same time, that doesn't mean we throw it out and, you know, just leave that part of our spiritual life out completely. No, it's an important part of the work that God wants to do in us and through us. And so here as Paul addresses this subject of giving, we have an important opportunity for us to grow in this area, to develop and understand what God says, what God desires, and how God wants us to deal with the resources that he has given to us. And so I've titled the message this morning, Prepare Your Generous Gift. And I want to encourage you to prepare. and to be thinking about how you can participate in the work of God in this act of giving as Paul discusses it here. So three points we'll consider in talking about preparing your generous gift, how you can prepare to give generously to the things of God and to the work of God. The first point to consider is here in verses five through seven, and that is decide how much you want to give in advance. If you're gonna prepare your generous gift, It's very important that it's not an afterthought, that it doesn't just happen in the heat of the moment or in the guilt of the moment, perhaps, right? But that it happens deliberately in advance. You make a decision and you choose to give what it is that God has put upon your heart. Looking again at verse 5, Paul says, Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time. and to 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. Now the background to what Paul is addressing here is there were the Jews and the Christians who were in Jerusalem that were in really desperate situations financially. They had gone through quite a bit. Many of them had sold all of their possessions and given to the church, and that was decades before. But now, as it comes out, the people are left really in a situation where they're in great need. There's been great persecution. They've lost homes. They've lost land. They've lost family. And so there's much need there for the Christians in Jerusalem. Now Corinth is, you know, way far away over in Greece, you know, and so it's not near Jerusalem. But Paul, as he's on the missionary journeys that second time around, says, you know, what would be really great is if the Christians here gathered together an offering to take back to the Christians who were in Jerusalem. And it'd be really great for them to be able to minister to them in this time of need and knit the body of Christ together in this way. And so as Paul was making the rounds there and establishing churches, this was part of the things that he was communicating to the churches. And the church at Corinth in particular was really excited about this opportunity. They were excited. Wow, this is such a great opportunity for us to minister to the Christians at Jerusalem. And as the gospel has come forth from there, what a way for us to give back and be part of that work of God in their lives. Now, because of the logistics of the day, you know, Paul is staying in the church for a while. He's moving on. He's traveling, you know, by foot or maybe by boat. And so it takes time to... go to all of these churches and to walk through this process. In fact, this process lasts for over a year. It was a year previously that the Corinthians had been excited about the opportunity to give, but the time wasn't right for them to give. Paul's like, I'm going to come back later. And so now the time is approaching for them to actually give. The time is approaching for, as Paul is making the rounds, he's picking up the funds from the different churches and he's preparing to deliver that there into Jerusalem. And so now that it's the appointed time to pick up the funds that they had talked about giving, that they were excited to give a year earlier, Paul says, you know, before I just show up in Corinth, it'd probably be really good if I sent some guys ahead so that they could prepare the offerings. So if I show up and catch him off guard, and then all of a sudden, you know, here we are, time to give, and you're like, what? Oh, I totally forgot about that. And nothing is prepared. Paul says, that's going to put us in a bad situation. And so I thought it was good to send these guys, to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and to prepare your generous gift. And so here is Paul is addressing the Corinthians. He's reminding them of their previous promise. You promised previously to give, right? You promised to come to the aid and support the Christians at Jerusalem in this way. And Corinthians, listen, you really need to be faithful to that promise that you made. You made that commitment and you need to be faithful to honor it. It shouldn't be a grudging obligation. So if I show up and you're not ready, then now you're expected to give and it can easily be this grudging obligation. But instead, I want you, you promised beforehand, now prepare beforehand so that when I come, well, then it's a matter of generosity and a matter of joy for you to be able to give. And so there's the balance here. You made the commitment. You need to honor the commitment, but make sure that you don't do it grudgingly. Now to help with this balance, Paul reminds them of some of the principles of giving as far as God is concerned. In verse 6, he says, Here's the perspective that we need to have as far as God is concerned. God has made a promise. that giving to the Lord and serving the Lord in this way, much like serving the Lord in other ways, it's a lot like farming. If you plant few seeds, well, the way that God works this out is you're going to get little harvest. And that's just a very practical way to look at it. If you go plant one avocado seed, you get maybe one avocado tree, right? And you get a lot of avocados from that one seed, but you only get one tree. But if you plant a field of avocado seeds, well, you get an avocado grove, right? It's abundant because it's proportionate to what you sowed. You plant many seeds, you're going to get a bountiful harvest. And if you plant few seeds, you're going to get a little harvest. And God promises this is the way that serving him works. Now, we just spent a few moments here praying for students and teachers and parents and You know, the work of God is similar in all of our service to the Lord. If you pray a little, you get to be part of the work of God. You get to be part of the kingdom of God in that way. And there's reward for that, but it's proportionate. And so if you pray a little, well, there's little reward. But as you pray a lot, well, there's more reward. It's a bountiful reward. The more seeds you sow of prayer. The more seeds you sow of your spiritual discipline, such as spending time with God and his word, the greater harvest you receive, the greater benefit, and the greater reward in eternity for your service unto the Lord. And so Paul is saying, look, giving is just like the rest. Again, in all these other graces, you abound in faith and love and so on and so forth. But Paul says, it's really important that you understand this is another part of your spiritual health and your spiritual life. And so these are the principles that God has established for serving him and for giving to those who are in need. And so verse 7, he says, So let each one of you give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. So Paul says, this is the principles of God. So therefore, give as you've purposed in your heart. Again, you made the promise. You committed to give this amount. So now... Give as you've purposed in your heart. And don't do it grudgingly or of necessity like, oh man, I have to do it. Paul says God loves a cheerful giver. God wants you to purpose to give and then to follow through with that cheerfully. God is not pressuring you to give more than you want to give. He's giving you opportunity to participate in his work in a way that's good for you and good for the kingdom of God. But he wants you to to approach it in a manner that is cheerful because you've purposed in your heart. Again, referring back to 2 Corinthians 8, these chapters go hand in hand. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 12, Paul says, For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has and not according to what one does not have. If you want to give, if you have a willing mind, God accepts that according to what you have. He's not saying, go into debt and Or put yourself at risk, put your family at risk in order to give. He's not saying that. Now, sometimes God does call us to do that individually and in certain moments. And so we respond as the Lord speaks to us directly. But generally speaking, that's not the rule. No, according to what you have, purpose, decide in your heart how much you want to give, how much you're able to give and how much you want to give, or maybe two different things, right? Decide how much you want to give individually. and then give that cheerfully. God loves a cheerful giver. How can I be a cheerful giver? Again, this is one of those subjects that can be difficult for us because being a cheerful giver, well, at different points in our lives, that may seem as an impossibility, not only because of our financial situations perhaps, but just because of our fleshly nature. I never want to do yard work. But sometimes I do it because, well, it needs to be done, right? Well, how could I prepare myself to be a cheerful gardener? I don't know. You can prepare yourself to be a cheerful giver, right? Now, you may think of it like yard work. Like, there's just no way. I'm never going to want to do that. Well, the best way that I could think of to help prepare yourself to be a cheerful giver is point number one. Decide how much you want to give in advance. Think ahead. Plan ahead. Plan ahead. How can you decide ahead of time how much you want to give if you don't know what needs are going to come up? That might be something we wrestle with, right? And it might be our own needs that we're thinking about. Like, I don't know if I can give this because, well, you know, I might get a flat tire next month. And so I need to be prepared for that. And so I don't know about my own needs. I don't know if I could be a cheerful giver because I might have needs that come up. Or we might be thinking about, I don't know what needs other people are going to have that I'm going to be able to participate in. And so how do I decide ahead of time how much I want to contribute? I didn't know there was going to be an earthquake and there was going to be donations needed for people. And I didn't know there was going to be a fire. So how can I prepare for that ahead of time? You don't have to know the future to decide in advance how much you want to give. You just have to do something. It's really difficult, but it's a simple word, budget. Budget. And again, this is one of those things where I think it's important for us to consider our spiritual maturity and our spiritual health. Think about this gift that Paul is addressing the Corinthians with. This was a gift that was planned a year in advance. This wasn't like overnight, you know, Paul's there and then suddenly, you know, they never heard of it before. And now he's like, all right, empty your pockets. We got to help the saints in Jerusalem. You know, he's saying, look, I'm going to come back in a year and And you'll have the opportunity to contribute to the need that is there in Jerusalem. That's budgeting. That's preparing in advance, thinking in advance. Okay, how much am I willing to give? And I would seriously ask you to consider that. How much are you planning to give to people in need in 2021? Don't start thinking about that in 2021. Start thinking about that now. How much are you planning to give? How much are you prepared to give? What will you decide now? will be the givings that you will have in this coming year. It's time to think about that right now. So that when the opportunity comes, you may not know what the need is. You may not know how the Lord's going to direct those funds. You may not know how the Lord wants to work in the year ahead. But as you've made the plan, you've made the decision, you've set aside that money for the work of God that he's going to reveal to you, then when the opportunity is there, it's cheerful. It's like, all right, God had this money set aside for this situation and I can't believe it. It's like the exact right amount that this person needs and I'm gonna be able to help and bless them and be part of that work in their life. How much are you planning to give to those in need next year? How much are you planning to give to God next year? Now, Paul here is addressing this situation, which is helping those who are in need financially, the church there in Jerusalem. It's not primarily talking about giving to your local church. The principles are the same, but that's not the subject that Paul's addressing. But it's important for us to have that same mentality, that same approach. Decide in advance how much do you want to give of what God is going to be giving to you in in this coming year. Now, not a lot of people do that. Not a lot of people give in those kinds of times. Not a lot of people tithe to their local church, their local congregation, because that would require living on 90% of what we bring in, or less, depending on how much we decide to give, right? Most of us live beyond our income as Americans. A study back in 2018 showed that 54% of Americans spend more than they make. That's the norm. That's more than average. We spend more than we bring in. And so we're always reactionary. We're strapped. It's hard for us to give. Again, it speaks of our maturity and our spiritual health. And we need to learn to decide in advance how much we want to give. It's easy for us to think, well, it's because I don't have that much. Other people who have more, they should give, right? You know, the reality is, another study that... was done a little bit back, showed that if you make less than $20,000 a year, you're eight times more likely to give than someone who makes more than $75,000 a year. Think about that for a second. If you make $20,000 a year, you're eight times more likely to give to a situation, to a time of need, than someone who is making more than $75,000 a year. The one who makes little is more likely to give. And so you might think, well, later on when I have more, then I'll give. But the reality is a lot of times we have more and then we have a hard time letting go and a hard time being generous when we're making more. And so I share that with you to kind of challenge you. I don't know where you're at. Maybe you're in the 25,000, maybe you're in the 75,000, but whichever way you are, whichever place you find yourself, you need to be thinking about and deciding in advance how much you want to give. Be thinking about and be preparing for how does God want you to participate in his kingdom in that way? Well, moving on to verses eight through 11, we get the second point this morning, and I promise I won't spend as much time on the next two points, okay? But looking at point number two in verses eight through 11, trust God to provide when giving is hard. Trust God to provide when giving is hard. Verse eight says, 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. As it is written, he has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. Now may he who supplies the seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. Verse 11, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving... through us to God. Here as Paul continues on, he encourages the Corinthians to give and to trust God in the midst of it. He says, God is able to make all grace abound toward you. God is able. Now think about it this way. If you had committed a year ago to give a generous amount, but then you didn't set aside that money as the year went by, And now it's time to give the money. Now it's time to complete the thing that you had committed to. How much of that money would you have left? If you weren't setting it aside as the year progressed, how much would you have at the end when it was time to give? And if you're like most of us, right? Well, that money was spent. I didn't set it aside. So it went to jack-in-the-box or to administration stuff or to the electric bill. We spent it because we didn't set it aside. And so how hard would it be now to give that generous gift that you had previously promised? It'd be really difficult, right? And perhaps we would be scared to give what was promised because, well, we spent that money. Where's that money going to come from? If I now give this generous gift, now I'm going to be in a potentially dangerous situation because that's coming out of my savings. That's coming, you know, from somewhere else that needs the funds. And here's what Paul is saying. Look, God put the amount on your heart. You committed to give it. Now trust God to provide as you honor your commitment. God is able to make all grace abound toward you. That you having sufficiency in all things may have abundance for every good work. I know, yeah, you didn't set aside. You spent the money that you were supposed to be saving for this gift. But don't let that be an excuse to not follow through on the commitment. No, God's able to abound in his goodness towards you. Again, in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 10 and 11, he says, That as there was a readiness to desire it, so there may be a completion out of what you have. Paul says, look, you wanted to do it, you started to do it, you desired to do it a year ago, but now you must complete it. It's a difficulty, perhaps, because, well, things have changed and you spent the money you were supposed to be saving for that purpose, but that doesn't mean you should just bail on the commitment. You need to trust God and follow through with what he put upon your heart last year, Paul says. He quotes from Psalm 112 as an example. As it is written in verse 9, he has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. Who is this guy that's being addressed here? He has dispersed abroad. Psalm 112 is about the man who fears the Lord. I would encourage you to take some time later on and read Psalm 112. Verse 1 says, blessed is the man who fears the Lord. And it goes on to document and list many of the attributes and characteristics of the life of one who fears the Lord. One of the aspects of the life of someone who fears the Lord is they give to others who are in need. This dispersing abroad, giving to the poor, this is the generous support of those who are in need around us. Again, it's a matter of spiritual maturity and spiritual health. When we fear the Lord, when we walk with the Lord, it results in generosity in our life. It's a part of our relationship to God and a part of his work in us. And so Paul says in verse 10, So in a similar way, may the Lord just bountifully bless what you give unto him. He says in verse 11, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality or generosity, you're enriched. God's blessed you, he says. And the reason that God has blessed you, well, there's probably many reasons that God has blessed you, but one of those reasons is to enable you to be generous. But it's interesting that many times when we're in that state of blessing and that condition of, wow, the Lord's given and the Lord's taking care of us, It still can be so difficult to follow through on the commitment and to give to the needs that are there and to bless those who are around us. It's basic math for us, right? If I have 10 apples and I give Pastor George 5 apples, well, I have 5 less apples. Now I only have 5 apples. But that's our perspective without trusting God to fulfill on His Word. And if I'm trusting God to fulfill on His Word, then when I give those 5 apples, I'm I understand, yeah, I might be limited to the five apples here right now for the moment, but there's the promise that God's going to provide for my needs. And so if I need six apples in the future, God's going to take care of that. He's going to find another apple for me. And the reward that God promises for the life that is to come for all of eternity is abundant and it's guaranteed. Proverbs chapter 11, verse 24 and 25 says, "'There is one who scatters, yet increases more.'" And there's one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. There's one who scatters, who gives, who's generous. And somehow they increase more. And so I give Pastor George five apples and suddenly I have 12 apples. I'm like, how did that happen? I subtracted five. How do you get 12? God's math is a little bit different than ours. He works out things according to his purposes. And so we need to trust God to provide when giving is hard. Trust God to meet our needs as he gives. has led us and prompted us to give that we can trust him in the reality that in those needs that come and those surprises that happen, he's going to take care of those as we trust in him and walk with him. Well, finally, verses 12 through 15, we get point number three, and that is know that your giving is productive. You need to know that your giving is productive. As you prepare your generous gift, And you decide in advance how much you want to give and you're going to be trusting God to help you through those times when giving is hard. One of the things that you can hold on to is the reality that what you give in the name of the Lord, as he prompts your heart, it's accomplishing many things. It's very productive. In verse 12, Paul says, "...for the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God." 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. And by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. Paul gives us four things here to think about and consider in what giving produces and how productive it is. It's productive because it supplies practical needs. It's productive because it brings about many thanksgivings to God. It's productive because it causes people to glorify God. And it's productive because it stirs up people's prayers for you. And so just think about those things for a moment. First of all, it supplies practical needs. In verse 12, he says it supplies the needs of the saints. If that was all that giving did, that would be sufficient, a good enough reason to give. Because God says, hey, when you lend to the poor, you lend to me. It's part of your relationship to me. It's part of your walk with me. When you see those practical needs and you step in to help meet those needs, that's a good thing and it will be rewarded. Proverbs chapter 19 verse 7 says, He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and he will pay back what he has given. God will reward and pay back as you give to meet practical needs. It's effective. It's productive. But that's not all that giving does. Giving to those who are in need also produces thanksgivings. Again in verse 12 he says, It's also abounding through many thanksgivings to God. Here's what Paul's saying. Look, you gave to this person who is in need and it met their need and that's good. But not only that, but it caused that person who is in need to look to God with gratitude and it caused them to thank God. And because you prompted that, you're the one who stirred that up. There's a benefit to you. You get rewarded because you helped someone else set their eyes on God and be thankful to God. You helped someone else put their attention on the Lord. And so there's an abundance of what God produces as you give because now there's this perpetual thankfulness on this person's heart and they're thanking God, they're thinking about God. And not only that, but they glorify God. He says, through the proof of this ministry. Now, when Paul says this ministry, he's talking about the giving of this gift. The result of the giving of this gift is that they glorify God for your liberal sharing with them and all men. for your generosity. They glorify God for your generosity. So not only do they thank God because of how God has provided for them, and you got to be part of that because you were the one who gave, but you also prompt them to glorify God, to magnify God in their minds, to lift up God in their hearts. You help them to trust God for future things. You help them to put God in his rightful place in their lives. And so giving to a situation where there's a need not only supplies the need, but it stirs up thanksgivings, it prompts people to glorify God, and then it also prompts people to pray for you. In verse 14, he says, by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. This generous gift, this generous provision, the way that you have helped meet the need causes them to pray for you. And it stirs up within them the desire to pray for you. And so you've helped their prayer life. You've helped them in thanksgiving. You've helped them to glorify God. And then also now, not only are they praying, but they're praying for you. So you benefit from them spending time in prayer on your behalf, interceding on your behalf, asking God to work in your life because you have blessed them in this way. There's all these things that God is doing here. in the giving. And I would suggest to you, this is just a sampling of what God's doing. There's an abundance of fruit that God brings forth. We don't always get to see it right away. But again, it's a lot like prayer. We spent time in prayer. And why do we pray? What does it do? We don't get to see the results necessarily. It's a step of faith. We trust God to hear. We trust God to work. We trust God with the results. Giving to the Lord and giving to situations that the Lord puts upon our hearts is It's the same thing. It's a matter of faith. We trust God to use it to work. We trust God with the results. It's all up to him. It's not up to us. And so we get to be part of God's work in other people's lives. It's productive. It does so much. Supplies need. Stirs up thanksgivings. Causes people to glorify God. And increases prayer. And you benefit from the prayer as they pray for you. And so this morning I would ask you to consider... What does your generous gift look like? What is it that God wants to do in your life, in your financial situation? Now, giving is one part of the finances. It's one piece. There's a lot that you could delve into, but let it be, if you need to, let it be kind of the thing that stirs you up to look at your budget, to look at your finances, and to learn how to handle them in a way that, well, reflects spiritual maturity, spiritual health. to do the work of God, to walk in the way that he's called you to, to handle yourself as a steward, as a good and faithful steward. One aspect of that is giving. Decide in advance how much do you want to give and then prepare yourself to trust God to provide when giving is hard. When what he's put upon your heart doesn't seem to match, you know, what you might be able to afford or maybe you blew it, but you can come back now and trust God to provide. knowing that it's productive. God does so much with the little seeds that we plant. He who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Let's pray. God, I pray for each one of us that you would help us to be good stewards of the resources that you've given to us. And Lord, a piece of that you've declared to us is the matter of giving. giving to those who are in need, giving to those who are poor, giving to those who are in desperate and dire situations. I pray that you would put upon our hearts, Lord, ways that we can help, ways that we can support, ways that we can give, Lord, that you would stir up within us a clear call to be generous, to be like you, and to see the resources that you provide as tools to do your work and to accomplish your purposes in us, and through us. We thank you, God, for the opportunity. And Lord, as Paul says at the end, thank you for your indescribable gift. Lord, we thank you for your goodness and grace to us and the opportunity to be part of your work in the lives of the people around us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. 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