Giving Generously

2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6. Now some of

2 Corinthians 9:6

you who are observant might be saying to yourself,

well the last chapter we covered was chapter

7. And you would be correct. But to save some

time, we're just going to look at a few verses

in chapter 9 and talk about what's going on.

Now that can be your homework this week. You

can go back and you can read in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16. There are the first few verses. And

then you can flip over and you can read 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 and chapter 9. And they're all dealing

with this same topic. And that is an offering

that the people of Corinth have been working

on gathering to help the people of Jerusalem.

That's what's being covered. And that's what's

talked about. in chapter 8, and he continues

on in chapter 9. And so just to save time from

reading through all that, there's not really

a lot to break down too much verse by verse.

And so we're just going to combine these two

chapters into these three short verses here and

talk about what's going on. So 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 9:6

9, verse 6. Remember this. The person who sows

sparingly will also reap sparingly. And the person

who sows generously will also reap generously.

Each person should do as he has decided in his

heart, not reluctantly or out of necessity, for

God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to

make every grace overflow to you. So that in

every way, always having everything you need,

you may excel in every good work. Let's pray.

God, we thank you for this simple instruction

that Paul gives to the people of Corinth. And

dear Lord, I believe that this instruction is

good for us too. So I pray that you would help

us to be generous, to be cheerful givers. to

be your people that do good works, to help others

when there is a need that arises. I pray that

you free us from the worries and the distractions

and the thoughts of this world. And I pray that

in these few minutes that your Holy Spirit will

take these words and just plant them in our heart.

Let us think on them, dear Lord. Let your Spirit

recall these words to our mind at the times we

need them. And I pray that these words would

shape... how we live and how we sow and how we

give. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Now at the end of 1 Corinthians, in the

last chapter, chapter 16, I think it's the last

chapter, Paul says, look, you guys need to work

on helping out the people in Jerusalem. And he

begins to talk about that in chapter 8. He begins

to talk about this gift that they have supposedly

been working on for some time, for about a year

now. And Paul starts off by saying, look, I have

told the people of Macedonia how good you guys

are doing, and I also want to tell you how good

that they're doing. Now, he points out in chapter

8 the poverty of the people of Macedonia, that

they have suffered some kind of affliction. But

nonetheless, they are willing and ready and eager

to give to support others, even though they don't

have. They are eager and they're begging Paul,

essentially, don't take this blessing from us.

You ever heard anybody say that before? Maybe

you've said it before. You want to help somebody

out and you try to help them and they say, no,

I can't take that from you. And you say, look,

don't take, this is my blessing to you. Maybe

somebody said that to you or you said that to

somebody. I just shared with y 'all, I think,

a great example of that when we went to New Orleans.

And one of the very people we went to serve handed

me a wad of money. It was $40 that he wanted

to give back to our ministry. And some would

say, how could you take that man's money? He

ain't got anything. Well, if this is what's on

his heart, which is what we see in his scripture,

if his heart, if his desire is, even in my poverty,

I want to be generous to help others. Well, that's

what the scripture calls us to do. And that's

exactly what Paul says of the Macedonians. And

that's what he's calling the people of Corinth

to do. Now, if you go back and you read these

two chapters, I'm not really sure exactly what

Paul's, what he's going for here. Maybe he's

just stating some simple facts. You know, hey,

Macedonia did good. Hey, you need to do good.

Or maybe he's trying to spur them on a little

bit. Hey, look at these people up in Macedonia.

They've done pretty good. Now, don't you think

you can probably do a little better than that

or maybe at least do as good as them? I don't

know. If Paul was trying to spur something on,

as you read on, he says, hey, look, you know,

I've been telling them about all this big offering,

this gift y 'all are working on. Some of them

just to come down here and see it. So y 'all

better make sure that everything's ready. It

sure would be embarrassing for you, Paul says,

if they were to come, if we were to come. and

you ain't going to have much to offer to the

people in Jerusalem. Now, I don't know if Paul's

kind of trying to give them a hint, a little

nudge. Maybe he's just stating facts, and there's

no ulterior motive that he's got going on. But

nevertheless, that's the conversation that's

going on here in 2 Corinthians 8 and into chapter

9. And the main point being this, is that we

don't have to look very far around us to see,

that there are people in need, that there are

brothers and sisters in Christ in need. And the

point that Paul makes is, is that when you have

an abundance and there is somebody else that

doesn't have enough, then it's our duty, it's

our privilege, it's our call by Scripture to

try to help those who do not have from those

who do have. And that's what Paul is talking

about. And that's what we see alluded to here

in these verses that we read tonight, where he

says, remember this. Now, this is good instruction

for us too. Now, we're not necessarily called

to send money to a specific thing as they were

here in Jerusalem. There are many, many, I think,

opportunities that we may be able to give. And

I'm not talking about as a church. I mean, sometimes

as a church, sure. But even individually, just

in our daily life. And these words are good for

us to remember when he says, Remember this, the

person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

Now, if anybody in here has ever planted a garden,

if you plant a small garden, guess what? You're

going to produce a small amount of crops. If

you plant a big garden, you're going to produce

a large amount of crops. Now, the benefit to

a small garden is, well, it don't take nearly

as much work. You don't have to work as hard

at it. It's easy to get out there, do the work.

It's easy to pick what grows. A big garden, though,

it takes a lot of work, but the reward is worth

it. Because if you plant a big garden, you're

going to have an abundance, more so than most

people can eat. Most of the people I know who

plant a big garden give a lot of it away. They

share it with their neighbors. That's a good

thing to do. That's a great thing. And I guess

city folks don't do that because they don't have

gardens. But you see that here at this church

all the time. It's not uncommon when gardens

are growing that people will come in with sacks

full of stuff and sit them back there on the

table and say, hey, I brought squash today. I

brought peas today. I brought whatever it is

today. That's a good example of people who have

an abundance who are sharing with others who

may not have an abundance. And that's what Paul

says. Those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly.

So we need to be generous, not just with our

gardens. It's not just talking about our gardens.

I think it's talking about everything we have.

In particular, I suppose finances would be probably

more specifically what it's talking about. But

maybe there are other materialistic things we

have other than finances. But realistically,

most everything we have is a result of finances.

And so the question is, are we tight with what

we have? Do we hold on to it? Or are we freely

giving to help others? And we have to think about

that. We don't want to be hoarders. We want to

be those that if we have, then we're not stuffing

it under our mattress and going in there and

counting it every day. And we know when one bill

is gone out from under that mattress, we lay

on it at night and we say, man, I'm laying a

little lower tonight. I think somebody took a

$100 bill out from under there. Some people are

just that tight with their money. They're just

that stingy. And they've been blessed, but they

don't use what they've been blessed with to in

any way help somebody. Or maybe they do help,

but just with the bare minimum to get by. And

what Paul is calling us to here, and I think

what God calls us to, obviously through the Scripture,

is if we've been blessed, then we need to bless

others when we have opportunity and the means

to do so. He says in verse 7, Each person should

do as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly

or out of necessity. What does God want us to

do? He wants our heart to be right. He wants

us to give with a good heart. He wants us not

to come to church and say, well, I'm at church,

and I guess the offering plate is coming around.

I guess I should give something. Because the

Bible talks about giving, and I don't really

want to, because I want to buy this new thing,

or I want to save for this, or I want to keep

this for a rainy day, or whatever reason, excuse

that we make. God doesn't want us just to say,

well, I don't want to give this, but I'm supposed

to, so I'm going to give it. God doesn't want

us to give reluctantly. He says he doesn't want

us to give out of necessity. God wants us to

seek him and his word and to grow in him and

to experience his grace and to love other people

like that he loves people. And then when we see

that there's a need, it's not a reluctant give.

It's a, oh no, this person has a need. This person

needs some food. I'm going to give them some

food. Hey, I hear the church is collecting sleeping

bags. Man, I want to help these people. They're

laying out in the cold. They don't have anywhere

to sleep. They don't have anything to eat. I

want to buy some sleeping bags. I want to put

$20 in the pot. I want to put $100 in the pot,

whatever it is. God wants us to love those that

we are serving. He wants us to give. He wants

our heart to be right. And so if you give reluctantly

right now, then that's something you need to

pray about. We need to pray and say, okay, God,

maybe there are times in our life where we don't

want to get rid of that money. We just don't

want to give to that ministry. And we say, golly,

I just gave to this ministry, and now this other

ministry wants money, and now the roof is going

to have to be repaired, and they're going to

be asking for more money, and, well, I don't

give enough. Okay, well, if that's your heart,

so be it. I mean, I'm not telling anybody what

to give or how much to give or what to give to.

That's between you and the Lord. I had somebody

ask me one day about our church. Oh, are they

pretty good givers, your people? I said, I don't

have a clue what anybody gives. Why would you

even ask a preacher that? I don't have a clue.

But that told me where that person's heart was.

The first thing they said to me is they said,

oh, they said, what do you do at the church?

I said, well, I'm the pastor. They said, oh,

you make the big money. I said, what about your

people? Are they pretty good givers? I was like,

dude. But that's where some people's hearts are.

I don't have a clue what nobody gives. If you

are ever wondering, I don't look at nothing.

You, Sonny, can vouch for that. I don't ask.

Zero information. Zero information. Because if

you want to give, that's between you and the

Lord. If the Lord calls you to give, then praise

the Lord. If he doesn't cause you to give, that's

between you and the Lord. God wants us to give

from the heart. And if that means giving to 17

different needs that come up throughout the year,

then so be it. That's between you and the Lord.

But what the Lord wants is for our heart to be

right. And if our heart's not right, then we

need to pray that God would help change our heart.

Because it says that God loves a cheerful giver.

Not a stingy giver, not a reluctant giver, not

a giver out of necessity, but God loves a cheerful

giver. So we're not earning God's favor. We're

not earning God's favor. It's not like God's

got a thermometer in heaven with our name on

it, and every time we put some money in there,

that thermometer goes up until we've reached

the top of it, until we're hot. Boy, God says,

all right, they're ready to go. They put a 20

in here and a 100 in there, and they put 500

in one day, and boy, they're really doing good.

That's not how God works. God would rather us

put two cents in with a pure heart, then put

a million dollars in reluctantly. Because that's

what God looks at. God loves a cheerful giver.

And there is great blessing when we give from

the heart. Listen to what he says in verse 8.

And God is able to make every grace overflow

to you, so that in every way, always having everything

you need, you may excel in every good work. Now

he says grace here, but... But I think he's just

talking about blessing in general. That when

we give, God takes care of us. He gives us what

we need. Now, I'm not one of those folks that

believes that the Bible teaches that, boy, if

you give a bunch of money to God, then God's

going to give you a bunch of money back. Now,

I'm not saying he doesn't do that sometimes.

I'm not saying that God doesn't bless us in that

way sometimes. But I'm also not saying that the

Scripture guarantees that, boy, if you put $100

in the plate today, you'll get a $1 ,000 check

in the mail next week out of the blue. Maybe

you will. I don't know. But I know that God blesses

us in whatever way He chooses to, and maybe that's

materialistically, or maybe it's not. But God

provides what we need, and sometimes provides

abundantly above and beyond what we need. And

for what purpose? So that we can excel in every

good work. Well, what's a good work? We just

talked about one of them tonight. If it's giving

to other people who are in need. Now, maybe there's

been times in your life where you were reluctant

to give. I suspect if we're honest, we've probably

all had some times where maybe there was some

ministry or maybe there was some person on the

street and you were reluctant to give for whatever

reason. You said, I don't know about that person.

I don't know what they're going to do with the

money. I don't know about this thing at the church.

I don't know if I want to give to this. There's

probably been times in our life that we have

been reluctant to give. But in my experience,

and I would venture to say probably in everybody's

experience, I don't know of any time that I have

ever made the decision to give that afterwards

I felt worse giving. Now, I've had times that

I didn't give or didn't help somebody that was

in need. And man, that's a hard thing to have

to live with when you pass somebody by and you

think, man, should I help that person? And you

don't help that person. But I venture to say

that for most of us in here, for those times

that we do help, that we don't go away saying,

man, I wish I hadn't helped that person. We just

don't do that because there's great blessing

in knowing that we've done the right thing. And

that's what Paul's calling the people to here

in Corinth. He's saying, look, there's a need

among the people in Jerusalem. And you have an

abundance. You have an ability with what God

has blessed you with to be able to help these

people. And so through the blessings that God

has given you, give back to those who are in

need. And know that when you give from a good

heart, that God is going to take care of you.

His grace is going to shine down upon you. There's

going to be a great blessing that you receive

from God. And that's good instruction for us

today. That God wants us to be a cheerful giver.

What better example do we have to give than Jesus

Christ? He gave his life so that our sins could

be forgiven. And that's our example. That's the

one that we look to. We are only forgiven through

Jesus Christ because he has given his life for

us. So that when we repent and ask for forgiveness,

our sins will be forgiven. And so when we receive

such a great grace and such a great blessing

from God, then that should motivate us to be

able to bless those we come in contact with in

whatever ways we may be able to bless them. Let's

pray. God, we thank you for this good word. I

pray that you would help us to be a people that

give from the heart. Maybe sometimes we do and

maybe there are some times that we don't, dear

Lord. Maybe there are times that we are greedy

and that we are reluctant and that we are selfish.

So I pray that you would help our hearts to change,

that we wouldn't give out of necessity or from

an unwilling heart, dear Lord. But that through

your word and through Jesus Christ, our hearts

would change in such a way that we would have

a heart and a desire to give to help others in

whatever way we can. So help us to take these

words of Paul and learn from them tonight. And

help us, dear Lord, as individuals and as a church,

be a given church, dear Lord. We pray that you

continue to meet our needs. And help us to have

an abundance so we can continue to help the needs

of others. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.