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I perhaps need to explain to visitors today that we are in the middle of a programme called “Growing Through Giving”. We have plans to extend our building and this is the main part of our fundraising. However, we are more interested in faithraising than fundraising. We have asked all of our members to spend 3½ weeks listening to God. We have study material that helps people think through the issues from the sermon. That is part of hearing God. We are asking people to pray. That’s part of hearing God. And then we invite people to respond to what God is saying in terms of how much He is leading them to give over the next 3 years. Maybe a gift now and a dollar a day for the next 3 years. Maybe half of that. Maybe several times that. Or maybe we can actually work on the building or provide baking each day. But, we believe that through this, God will challenge some issues in our lives and we will have the opportunity to grow – or not to grow, if we avoid it. That choice is ours but the opportunity is here to move on to a new level of faith as we ask God how much He would have us give.
Last week Rhonda Hanna told me a little of her own experience. She agreed to share that today.
There’s a saying that you can’t out-give God. You’ll never win. God always gives us more than we can give Him. There are hundreds of stories about God honouring those who have been generous givers – including those who perhaps have very little but still give sacrificially, and God honours it.
Think how God gave back to the wee boy who gave his lunch to Jesus to feed the 5000. He could have held onto his lunch for himself and ensured that he had plenty to eat but gone away perhaps feeling guilty. He probably could have gone away a worse person than he had been – reinforced in his selfishness. Instead, by giving, he was central to one of the world’s most amazing miracles. God used him. He must have felt God smiling on him. He learnt a lesson in giving. His gift is recorded in the Bible. How much more God gave him because he gave.
There is a principle stated in the first verse of our reading today that it would be worth writing on a sheet of paper and pinning up in a prominent place in our homes.
READ 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
It seems to me that there is one point stated three different ways in that passage. The point is this:
God gives generously and makes us rich, so that we can give. And as we give, God gives more. It becomes a cycle. God starts it. He gives first. Then He expects us to give. And as we give, God gives more.
It is stated in v.6: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. The more we give, the more we get back. Isn’t that an amazing promise? If we sow generously, we will reap generously.
It is stated in v.8: 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.
Isn’t that an amazing promise? God is able to provide richly so that we have everything we need, but he does it so that we might respond by giving. It is not talking only about giving money. God will give so that we will abound in every good work. Whether our giving is visiting people or providing food for a family in need or letter writing to encourage Christian workers or making music to lead worship or simply to cheer people up or inviting people for meals or praying or a combination of several things, God will give so that we can give. God will provide so that we can give.
It is stated in v.11: You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.
Isn’t that an amazing promise? You will be made rich – so that you can be generous. If we are willing to give, God will provide so that we can give.
Three times it is virtually the same thing: God gives generously but if we are also willing to give generously, then God will give even more and the more we give the more God will give.
There is a real emphasis here on God’s generosity.
9:8 God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all you need…
9:9 He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor; His righteousness endures for ever
9:10 Now, He who supplies seed for the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness
9:11 You will be made rich in every way
9:14 …the surpassing grace God has given you
9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.
What is that gift? The gift of salvation, possible only because of the gift of His Son. The starting point of all of this is the generosity of God, but God, having been generous, calls us to follow suit.
Sometimes, for us, it is a struggle because there are competing voices. God says, “Give away and you will receive more” but other voices say, “Don’t give away. You’ll be poor.” Which is true? A) If I give away what I have, I’ll be rich. B) If I give away what I have, I’ll be poor.
B sounds logical. A sounds illogical, but A is what God says.
Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Will we believe something that sounds illogical but God says is true? It is a question of trust, isn’t it? God says, “Be generous and I will be generous to you.” Will He really? What if I believe Him and give away a large part of my savings and nothing happens. It’s too late then, isn’t it? By then I’ve burnt my bridges. No, I’m not taking that risk. I’ll hang on to what I’ve got.
Or will He? Would I be far better off giving away? Would I receive back far more, just like the boy who gave his lunch rather than hold onto it?
There are reasons for trusting God.
1) He has already demonstrated His generosity.
2) He has promised
3) Many people can testify to mind-boggling miracles of God’s provision.
Margaret Currie, a missionary in Mongolia, spoke here on Thursday and said that time and time again they have been unable to pay their staff wages, but every time God has provided that money just in time.
Now, we know that if a farmer sows only a little seed, he can expect only a little harvest. If he sows more generously, he can expect a more generous return. It’s a law of nature and put that way it sounds more logical. The more you give away, the more you get back.
Are you a generous sower of a sparing sower and consequently a sparing reaper?
The word “generously” raises a question of attitude. “Generous” doesn’t just mean to give lots. In fact, if you look up the dictionary definition – at least in my dictionary – it says nothing about quantity. To be generous means to be magnanimous, noble-minded, not mean, free to give, munificent.
Someone could have very little to give but still be generous. In fact, often that is the way it is. Those with the least are often most generous.
I read of a lady called Hetty Green who died in 1916 leaving a fortune of over $100,000,000 – comparable to more than a billion dollars today. But she was a miserly woman. She ate cold oatmeal because she resented the expense of heating the water. When her son suffered a serious leg injury she spent so long trying to find a free clinic to treat him that the leg had to be amputated. She is said to have hastened her own death by bringing on a seizure because she was arguing about the merits of skim milk because it was cheaper than whole milk.
When I was younger I often went door-to-door collecting for charities. It was very clear that those in expensive houses were less generous. The statistics bear that out. Most money is given to charities by people on relatively modest incomes. Comparatively little is given by the rich. Generosity is an attitude. It is not by accident that the word “miser” is at the root of the word “miserable”.
God says each person should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. Not because of pressure and not resenting it but giving because he has chosen to give and wants to give. God loves a cheerful giver.
I’m sure you’ve all heard before that the Greek word for “cheerful” is hilarion from which we get hilarious and so we should all give rolling around on the floor with laughter. Actually, I wonder if we couldn’t paraphrase it as say, “God loves an enthusiastic giver” or “a keen giver” – like the Macedonians we read about last week who pleaded for the privilege of giving.
This is a heart thing. Where is your heart on this? People might think we are being very generous but inside we are muttering and really resenting giving. Or we might be giving only because we feel we have to. There is a car bumper sticker that says, “God loves a cheerful giver but He accepts from a grouch” That’s funny but it’s not true. God doesn’t want your money if you give it grudgingly. God doesn’t want your time if you give it grudgingly or your talent if you give it resentfully. Why? Because He doesn’t need it. He wants what it represents – your heart. God is more interested in the attitude of our giving than the amount of our giving. If you ever feel pressured to give or pressured to do something and you resent it, God says, “Don’t bother. I don’t need your money. I don’t need your talent. What I want is your life.”
When we want to give and we give cheerfully, God loves that.
The cycle of generosity doesn’t work when we give resentfully or we give with a mercenary motive thinking that we will get rich by giving. It works when we give generously – when we just love giving.
I wouldn’t want anyone to feel compelled to give to the building programme. If you don’t want to give, please don’t give. I give you permission to not give. On the other hand, if you know how generous God has been to you and you want to give, then your giving will bless God’s heart.
One last thing: look at the results of cheerful giving.
v.10 says that God will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. Our righteousness means our right living and in this context it means our generosity. God will enlarge the harvest of our generosity. We will see results we never dreamed of. God will multiply it. God will do things with it we wouldn’t have believed possible – just as it was for the boy who gave his lunch and then stood wide-eyed when he saw what God did with it. God will enlarge the harvest of your generosity.
v.11 says that our generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. When we give for the sake of other people, those people will recognise the sacrifice made and will give thanks to God. V.12 says that. We not only supply the needs of God’s people but our serving is overflowing with expressions of thanks to God. Think of the people who will thank God for your generosity.
Think of the people in this community who will one day thank God for the people who sacrificed to provide a church in this place – not just the building but the people who sacrificed so that we might be able to provide an after-school programme for kids or health care for the elderly or our Youth and Families Pastor or we cared enough to share the good news of Jesus or whatever. One day people will look back and say, “I am so grateful that God led his people to do this because it has changed my life.”
v.13 says that it is by our service that we prove ourselves. Jesus said, “By their fruit you will know them.” We are seen to love God when we willingly serve God and we are seen to be compassionate when we meet people’s needs and we are seen to trust God when we give generously believing that He will give generously in return.
They will praise God for our obedience that goes alongside our confession of the gospel. It is one thing to talk, but it says a lot more when we act. People see that and praise God. When they see that our love for them is proved by our generosity to them, they will praise God.
We talk about a God who provides. Our words will have credibility when the community sees that God has provided. I don’t know if it is possible or not but I think it would be a huge testimony to the provision of God if we could open our building debt-free and without having gone begging to the community. Let people in Gore see that God is good because they see our obedience accompanying our confession of the gospel of Christ.
Lastly, the last result is that people will pray for you. V.14 says, “And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.” There’s a whole list of results, but one of them is that people will love you and pray for you.
In the first place, God is generous to us. Think of how generous God has been to you. In the last place, God will be generous to us. We can never have the last word in this. Whenever we give, God will give more. There are lots of blessing that come to those who are generous. God always has the trump card up His sleeve – heaven. In the middle, God asks us to be generous – to be cheerful givers.