Cheerful Givers | 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 | 06/07/26/

Matthew 25:14-30.

Matthew 25:14–30

For the kingdom of God will be like a

man going on a journey, who called his

servants and entrusted to them his

property. To one he gave five talents,

to another two, to another one, to each

according to his ability. Then he went

away. He who had received the five

talents went at once and traded with

them, and he made five talents more. So

also he who had the two talents made two

talents more. But he who had received

the one talent went and dug in the

ground and hid his master's money. Now

after a long time the master of those

servants came and settled accounts with

them. And he who had received the five

talents came forward bringing five

talents more, saying, "Master, you

delivered to me five talents. Here I

have made five talents more." His master

said to him, "Well done, good and

faithful servant. You've been faithful

over a little. I will set you over much.

Enter into the joy of your master. And

he also who had the two talents came

forward, saying, "Master, you delivered

to me two talents. Here I have made two

talents more." His master said to him,

"Well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a little. I

will set you over much. Enter the joy of

your master."

He also who had received the one talent

came forward, saying, "Master, I knew

you to be a hard man, reaping where you

did not sow, and gathering where you

scattered no seed. So I was afraid, and

I went and I hid your talent in the

ground. Here you have what is yours."

But the master answered him, "You wicked

and slothful servant. You knew that I

reap where I have not sown and gather

where I scattered no seed. Then you have

you ought to have invested my money with

the bankers and at my coming I should

have received what was my own with

interest. So take the talent from him

and give it to him who has the 10

talents. For to everyone who has more

will be given and he will have an

abundance. But from the one who has not,

even what he has will be taken away and

cast the worthless servant into the

outer darkness. In that place there will

be weeping and nashing of teeth.

In each of the four sermons that we've

preached that I've preached on giving,

I've begun with this saying, a saying

from Jesus about money because Jesus

talks a lot about money. He knows it's a

big deal to us. I chose this parable for

today because it conveys the very same

principle that Paul will be trying to

convey in his last teaching on giving

and generosity in second Corinthians.

Over the course of the last two

chapters, we've been trying to answer

this question. If Christ is your

ultimate treasure, what does that mean

for your money? If Christ is your

ultimate treasure, what does that mean

for your money? Today, Paul's answer to

that question is this. Giving will make

you happier than getting or keeping.

Giving will make you happier than

getting or keeping.

The real issue with our giving is our

hearts. When we treasure Christ, our

money will reflect that and we will

actually be happy. But if we treasure

anything other than Christ, our spending

will reflect that and we will ultimately

be unsatisfied with whatever that

treasure is. Our dollars don't matter so

much because of their value as much as

what they reveal about our hearts. Where

our money goes reveals what we treasure.

There's a scene in the movie Oceans 11

where Danny Ocean is a professional

thief and he just pulled off this

elaborate heist where he robbed a casino

of millions of dollars. Terry Benedict,

the casino owner, has this confrontation

with Dany after the heist. And there's a

personal vendetta between Dany and Terry

because Terry suspects Dany has just

stolen millions from him. But Terry is

also dating Dany<unk>y's ex-wife, Tess.

And Danny still loves Tess. So during

this confrontation,

Danny and Terry, between Danny and

Terry, Danny asks him, "Hey, if you

could get all your money back, if you

could get all get all your money back,

would you give up Tess?" Without

hesitation, Terry says yes. He doesn't

know that Tess is secretly watching on a

security camera and sees this

interaction.

She sees what each of these men truly

loves. She sees that Terry was willing

to give tests to get millions, but he

also sees that her ex Danny was willing

to give up millions to get tests.

What you spend exposes what you love.

If someone could look at your spending,

your portfolios, your bank and credit

card transactions, if we could just put

them up on the screen up here, what

would people see that you love?

Does it show a love for adventure? A

love for comfort, a love for your house,

a love for vacations, a love for control

and security, a love for an excessive

safety net, or a love for God. What

would it reveal? In the last four weeks,

we've seen Paul try to motivate a

church, the Corinthian church, to resume

the work of generous giving to the

church in Jerusalem. He spent two whole

chapters on this. And today we're going

to wrap up this section with 2

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 9 6-15. If you've

got your Bibles, go ahead and make your

way over there. 2 Corinthians chapter

9:es 6-15.

Paul writes this.

The point is this. Whoever sws sparingly

will also reap sparingly. And whoever

sws bountifully will also reap

bountifully. Each one must give as he

has decided in his heart, not

reluctantly or under compulsion. For God

loves a cheerful giver. And God is able

to make all grace abound to you, so that

having all efficiency in all things at

all times, you may abound in every good

work. As it is written, "He has

distributed freely. He has given to the

poor. His righteousness endures forever.

He who supplies seed to the sewer and

bread for food will supply and multiply

your seed for sewing and increase the

harvest of your righteousness.

You will be enriched in every way to be

generous in every way which through us

will produce thanksgiving to God. For

the ministry of this service is not only

supplying the needs of the saints but is

also overflowing in many thanksgivings

to God. By their approval of this

service, they will glorify God because

of your submission that comes from your

confession of the gospel of Christ and

the generosity of your contribution for

them and for all others. While they long

for you and pray for you because of the

surpassing grace of God upon you,

thanks be to God for his inexpressable

gift. This is the word of God.

For the last two chapters, Paul's been

trying to motivate Christians to be

generous. And today, we're going to look

at the three results of generous giving.

What actually happens when you're

generous? The three results are joy,

blessing, and glory. So, we're going to

look at those one at a time. First, the

joy of giving. Notice the first phrase

in verse six. Paul starts by just kind

of summarizing everything he's been

getting at for the last two chapters. He

says, "The point is this. Here's the

point of it all. How simple he makes it.

Don't you wish that Paul did this all of

the time in all of his writings? Like

after all of his famous run-on sentences

and theological treatises, don't you

wish he would just say, "Here's the

point." It would make our job of

interpreting so much easier.

He puts it on the bottom shelf for us.

He makes it easy for us so that we can

access it. And the point of all that he

is saying about generosity is in the

rest of verse six. The point is this.

Whoever sws sparingly will also reap

sparingly. And whoever sws bountifully

will also reap bountifully.

This is perhaps the most simple

statement on giving in the entire book.

And yet it is so hard to believe. It's

so hard to believe these words. So

here's the image of what Paul is saying.

He's using agricultural language, farm

talk. He's talking about sewing seeds in

a field. In ancient Corinth, they would

have been accustomed to farmers going

out and sewing wheat seeds to create a

wheat field. And his logic is kind of

like, no duh. Like, we know this even

though we're not farmers, but we might

might need a little bit of help with

this imagery. So, a few months ago, I

was out in my backyard and I was

planting grass seeds in my pathetic

excuse for a lawn. And it's really just

weeds that we get to mow in the

springtime and call it a lawn. But I'm

out there sewing grass seeds and I got

to use one of those little, you know,

hand crank things that just spreads the

seeds so it goes pretty evenly. And I

was trying to be generous with my

seeding and I was thinking about this

language of Paul in second Corinthians.

Like what if I was out there with just a

closed fist full of seeds and I was just

trying to like you know grind my fingers

together until a seed falls out and then

I walk a little further and grind a

little bit and you know you get a seed

every couple of feet. Would that be a

good lawn?

Would that be a good harvest of wheat?

If you planted a seed, a field like that

with your seeds with a closed fist,

if you go into a field and drop one seed

every couple of feet, you might have

enough wheat at the at the harvest time

for a fall arrangement of flowers,

but you will not have a harvest. You

will not have anything to go to market

with. You won't be able to feed your

family.

On the other hand, if you open your

hands wide,

if you cast your seeds out liberally,

scatter them far and wide and thick upon

the soil, your wheat harvest will come

in so full you won't even see the soil.

Paul applies this farming analogy to

financial generosity. He says, "If you

have a closed fist with your money,

nothing will flow back to you. If on the

other hand, you give your money away

with great generosity and wisely, you

will have a great harvest.

Now his point is simple enough but we

have to ask one more question before we

can fully believe this. Clearly Paul is

talking about sewing financially. Is he

also talking about reaping financially?

We have to be careful with this one.

Like is Paul saying if I give away my

money generously to God will God make me

wealthy?

Will God make me wealthy? Because we

have to be careful with this because it

sounds like the prosperity gospel. that

evil heresy that says give money to God

and he will make you healthy, wealthy,

and comfortable and that flies in the

face of everything we've taught at this

church for decades.

So if he doesn't mean the prosperity

gospel, then what is this harvest that

will come back to Christians? What do we

reap for our financial generosity?

Well, the scriptures give us a great

number of things that we will reap in

our financial sewing.

And we'll get to more of those in just a

few minutes. But let me just give you

one that's not in our text. It was in

our text last week. You get treasure in

heaven.

You get treasure in heaven.

If you give generously here on earth,

you store up for yourself a rich harvest

in heaven. Now, we don't know what that

is. We don't fully understand what

that's going to look like. But we know

it will be worth it. that it will be far

more valuable than everything that we

give up here in this life. I'm inclined

to think that it is the pleasure of God.

I think it's the hint that's given to us

in the parable when the master says to

the servant, "Well done, good and

faithful servant. Enter into the joy of

your master to hear those words and to

spend an eternity

basking in the pleasure of that

wellpleased Lord."

But we should keep moving.

Notice verse seven. Each one must give

as he has decided in his heart, not

reluctantly or under compulsion. For God

loves a cheerful giver.

A few important things to notice in this

verse. First, Paul says, "Each one must

give." Each one

each one of you must give.

Each one must give. He doesn't say each

one must give the same amounts, but each

one must give. This is a call to all

Christians everywhere in all times to be

givers.

It's not optional. Now, there will be

seasons in some of your lives, sometimes

long seasons, where you can only

receive,

where you have nothing to give. You're

in incredible need. But when you come

out of that season, each one must give.

And that's actually not where most of us

are in this area of the world.

Last week I was talking with one of my

daughters about the building project and

she said, 'I'm really sad that I can't

give to the building project. I said,

'Why can't you give to the building

project? She said, I only have a bunch

of quarters.

It won't make any difference, Dad.

I said, that will make all the

difference. That will make all the

difference because whatever you can

give, you are showing that God has your

heart. and she lit up.

Remember how the widow put two pennies

in the offering and she gave more than

all those who were giving great sums of

money. If you're a low income person

here, don't think, well, because I can

only squeeze together $10 a month, it

won't make a difference. It will make

all the difference. It will make all the

difference. It will make all the

difference if God has your heart. In

God's eyes, you may outgive some who

give five-digit gifts annually.

So, how much do you give? That's the

age-old question.

I wish I could give you an answer.

Finish verse seven.

Each one must give as he has decided in

his heart.

Each one must give as he's decided in

his heart. As I've mentioned in past

sermons, there is an Old Testament

precedent for giving 10% of your income

for the general maintenance of the

temple and the priesthood.

Then there were special offerings on top

of that like for the building of the

tabernacle or the building of the

temple. For a few of you, 10% would be

far too painful.

For many, 10% is not painful enough.

If we are striving to live our lives

after the model of Christ, we are to

live sacrificially. And what does

sacrificially mean? If not painfully,

we are to give painfully. We are to give

to the point where we feel it, where it

hurts,

where we can't buy things that we wish

we could buy because we were too

generous. Where we can't go on vacations

that we wish we could go on because we

were too generous.

But this is important.

We must do it because we want to. We

must do it because we want to. If you

feel guilted into giving because of this

sermon, do not give. If you feel guilted

into giving because of this series, do

not give.

God doesn't need your money. He wants

your heart. He does not need your money.

He owns all of the money. All of it is

his. Including what sits in your

account, it's his. He doesn't need your

money. But he wants your heart.

And he wants you to be generous.

And you prove your generosity. You prove

that you have a heart for him by being

generous.

Giving should never feel like paying

taxes. There should never be a fear of

punishment.

You should always feel the joy for the

reward for the cheerful harvest.

And so if you feel convicted by the Holy

Spirit, if you feel motivated by love,

if you feel inspired by God's grace

towards you, then each of you must give

according to what you decide in your own

heart.

I can't tell you what your number should

be, but I can tell you you should

challenge yourself.

I can tell you you should stretch your

faith. You should risk.

You should risk.

Make the commitment to God. Set up the

recurring giving. Loosen the grip and

begin to be a generous farmer who sws

bountifully. And you will see in time

the incredible harvest that comes back

to you more bountifully than you could

have imagined.

Giving requires risk. Like the servants

in Jesus's parable, they had to go and

do business. They had the five talents

and the two talents. They had to go to

the market and risk it. They had to

invest it in something. They had to lose

it momentarily in order to gain it back

with more. It does require risk.

We have to let go of the seeds in faith

in hope for the harvest, trusting that

God will bring the harvest and the

blessing back on us. And that leads us

to the second result of giving.

Blessing.

the blessing of giving. In these next

verses, Paul unpacks more of what you

reap when you have sown generously. He

starts to get into what you get in your

harvest as a result of your open-handed

seed sowing. Look at verse eight and

notice how many times Paul uses words of

abundance.

And God is able to make all grace abound

to you so that having all sufficiency in

all things at all times, you may abound

in every good work.

I love this verse so much, church. Let

me ask you a question. Let me ask you a

question.

Would you rather be rich?

Would you rather be rich or have the

grace of God showering your life?

Would you rather be monetarily rich or

rich in the grace of God?

Which would you rather have? Answer

honestly in your own heart. Which would

you rather have?

It's harder than you think, right?

That's a hard question.

And when I say the grace of God, I don't

just mean that you were forgiven of your

sins. That is magnificent, amazing

grace. When Christ died on the cross and

forgo forgave your sins, that's a

tremendous amount of grace. But I'm

talking about all of the good things

that you have ever received and ever

will receive. that kind of grace.

It is the grace of God that he chose you

before the foundation of the world and

adopted you as his child. It is the

grace of God that keeps you as his

child. You are prone to wander, prone to

leave the God you love, but it's his

grace that seals you for his courts

above. It's the grace of God that brings

you peace when you're anxious. It's the

grace of God that brings you purpose

when you're aimless. It's the grace of

God that brings you comfort when you're

afflicted. And it's the grace of God

that brings you joy when you're

grieving. It's the grace of God that

brings you light when you're in

darkness. It's the grace of God that

brings you repentance when you're in

sin. It's the grace of God that brings

you rescue when you're lost. Grace is

everything good that God is doing for

you all the time.

It's every spiritual blessing in the

heavenly places constantly being

showered upon his people.

And so when we ask if I sow bountifully,

what will I get? More money?

Maybe,

not a guarantee.

But what you're guaranteed in verse

eight is to harvest more grace. More

grace. And God is able to make all grace

abound to you in all things at all

times. West Hills, here is the promise

of our text. Rather, here is the promise

of these five weeks. If you give

bountifully with a loose hand, you will

reap the grace of God bountifully. You

will be spilling over with grace. God's

blessing and mercy and goodness will be

spilling over in your life. Don't we

want that more than money?

But there's an important caveat.

Look at the end of verse eight. Why does

God give bountifully to generous people?

so that you may abound in every good

work. There's a purpose and he's

blessing you. If he gives you

financially financial blessings, there's

a purpose to it. And I want you to

listen closely to this, West Hills. Pay

attention to what I'm about to say

because this is the nuance that is that

makes the difference between the true

gospel and the prosperity gospel. So

listen closely.

If you give generously, you prove that

God can trust you with his money and he

will likely give you more money. Now,

the prosperity gospel stops there and

says, "Great. I gave money to God,

therefore I'm rich. I win." And it ends

right there.

The true gospel keeps going.

If you have been faithful with a little,

God will entrust you with more so that

you may abound in every good work.

Here's how it works. God gives you gives

to you. You generously give a portion

away. God sees your heart, your

generosity. He sees that he can trust

you with more. So, he gives you more.

You give even more away. God sees you

can really handle his wealth. So, he

gives you more.

This is his way of pumping resources

into his kingdom through the open hands

of faithful servants.

This is how he funds his work. Now, you

can't trick God. God cannot be mocked.

If you're like, "Well, I want to be

rich, so I better give money to the

church and then God will make me

wealthy." It doesn't work like that. He

sees our hearts.

He knows what you're doing.

But if you're like, I want to give a the

little that I have, God sees your heart

and he will usually add more. And as

God's wealth is flowing through you to

other recipients, you are the recipient

of tons and tons of grace and you will

be among the happiest people in the

world.

So that's the first blessing that you

receive when you're a generous giver.

But there's another blessing in verses 9

and 10.

Paul quotes two Old Testament passages

in these two verses. As it is written,

he has distributed freely. He has given

to the poor. His righteousness endures

forever. He who supplies seed to the

sewer and bread for food will supply and

multiply. Your seed for sewing and

increase the harvest of your

righteousness. In verse 9, Paul is

quoting Psalm 112 where the psalmist is

describing the righteous the the the

life of a righteous man. Now, you might

think at first, like I did when I first

read verse 9, oh, he's talking about

God. He's actually not talking about

God. In Psalm 112, he's talking about

righteous people, the saints, the

children of God who obey God, who give

generously.

They give to the four, the to the poor.

They're freely distributing.

But then in verse 10, Paul quotes a

different passage of the Old Testament.

This time from Isaiah 55. And this time

it is talking about God. God is the one

who supplies the seed to the sewer,

bread for food, and increases the

harvest of our righteousness.

So in quoting these two Old Testament

passages, Paul is saying, "You righteous

ones, you children of God, you

Christians, as you are distributing the

wealth of God, as you are sewing

generously with an open fist, God will

simultaneously be supplying you with

seed to keep on sowing.

Your hand is open and the seed is

passing through.

He is the one supplying the seed. You

are the one distributing. You are the

hands of Christ.

So that the more generously you sow, the

more bountiful your harvest will be. And

you will harvest more righteousness.

That's what he says. More righteousness.

That means you will grow in holiness.

You will be growing in godliness. You

will be more like Jesus by your giving.

That's a blessing of generosity.

You change, it changes you. You become a

certain kind of person.

The image of the two Old Testament

passages in verses 9 and 10 to summarize

is this. As you keep your hands open

generously and spread the seeds, God

keeps filling your hands. Verse 10, this

will lead to a harvest of righteousness,

a harvest of abundance.

Then Paul mentions one more blessing.

You're blessed with grace. You're

blessed with righteousness. And there's

one more in verse verse 11. You will be

enriched in every way to be generous in

every way which through us will produce

thanksgiving to God. You will be

enriched in every way financially.

Does that fall under the category of

enriched in every way? Sure it does. But

why?

in order that you may be generous in

every way. That's what he says in verse

11.

You're you're enriched in every way. You

get more money. Sure. Why? To be

generous again and again and again.

I can say from watching Christians give

for 38 years, you see patterns. You see

patterns with Christians and with God.

People who hoard their money might

become rich, but they do not become

righteous and they definitely do not

become happy.

But Christians who give their money away

generously usually get everything. They

get righteousness, they get happiness,

and usually a lot of money flows through

them. They are a pipeline of God's

resources instead of a storage tank, a

conduit to flow through rather than a

vessel to fill up.

Usually the generous are enriched

financially as well because they keep

sewing and God keeps trusting them and

keeps filling their hands because they

are being the hands of Christ.

Okay. So we've seen two results from

giving. First joy, second blessing. Now

here's the third result, the glory of

God.

We see this first in verse 12.

For the ministry of this service is not

only supplying the needs of the saints

but is also overflowing in many

thanksgivings to God. Paul is saying

that the fact that the Corinthians

committed to give so much to the church

in Jerusalem resulted in the Macedonians

thanking God. They thanked God for the

Corinthians as we saw last week. In

fact, last week as we saw, they were so

inspired by the Corinthians financial

promise that they were motivated to give

beyond their means in order to help the

church in Jerusalem.

So the first thing that happens when you

give is that it it moves people to give

praise and thanksgiving to God.

They see your gift as God's provision

and their answer to their prayers.

They rightly see it as God's provision

for them. And they thank God for you and

for your generosity, for your heart.

They will praise God for his grace at

work in you. They will thank the spirit

for prompting you to give.

So you are increasing the thanksgiving

that flows towards God by your giving.

Paul keeps going with this thought in

verse 13. By their approval of this

service, they will glorify God because

of your submission that comes from your

confession of the gospel of Christ and

the generosity of your contribution for

them and for all others.

This means that you are also increasing

the glory that goes to God by your

giving. When people see your generosity,

they see that the gospel is real. That

it changes people. That Jesus actually

transforms hoarders into givers.

That he he transforms stingy people into

generous people.

That he makes givers out of keepers.

And people give glory to God because the

gospel is real and powerful to change

people.

But Paul goes on, look at verse 14.

While they long for you and pray for you

because of the surpassing grace of God

upon you, Paul's telling the Corinthians

that their commitment to be generous has

increased people's affection for them

and their prayers for them.

In other words, giving increases love

and prayer.

Did you know that giving has this much

of an impact on the kingdom? Look at all

the things that Paul is saying is

produced by generous giving.

If you're a kid who gives away your

quarters, you increase the glory of God.

You increase thankfulness to God. You

increase the love of Christians for each

other. You increase people's prayers to

God

because of your quarters.

All of that happens because of your

heart.

Because it's clear that God has your

heart when your giving reflects that.

And then Paul himself has his personal

praise increased because of the

generosity of the Corinthians. Look at

the last verse in our text, verse 15.

Thanks be to God for his inexpressable

gift. The gift he's referring to is the

surpassing grace of God that fell upon

the Corinthians for making the financial

commitment and then as he trusts as he

expects them to fulfill that commitment.

I hope you can see the point, West

Hills, that when you give, you're doing

far more than just paying your pastors.

You're doing far more than keeping the

lights on in the sanctuary. You're doing

far more than feeding the poor. You're

sewing seeds of worship.

You are yielding a harvest of glory that

will be so bountiful, you can't even

imagine it.

All of that by giving,

you're sewing seeds of affection among

the people of God in the church, which

yield a harvest of camaraderie and unity

and love and partnership.

Let me give you one secret to giving to

the church that has really helped me. A

number of years ago, one of my best

friends asked me to make a promise to

him. He said, "If I die, I need you to

promise that you're going to make sure

that my wife and my kids are okay. I

need you to promise me that they'll be

okay.

Now, that's a huge request, but I have

the same expectation of him.

The church is Christ's bride

and the church and Christ has gone to

heaven for a time and he has entrusted

the church

to us, to each other. We are the church.

We are to take care of his bride while

he's away. Should

we not care for her? Should we not bless

her?

If Jesus left his bride and said, "Take

care of her and bring her safely home."

Will we abdicate that responsibility?

Or will we care for her for Christ's

sake?

The question is, do you love her? Do you

love her?

Christ loves her so much. Loves us so

much. Do you love her?

When you're generous with your church,

you increase affection. You will be more

affectionate with people in the church

because you're invested.

But people who benefit from your

generosity will also grow an affection

for you. There's a tenderness. There's

an affection that you feel when someone

has been overwhelmingly generous to you.

Last week, I shared that when my wife

and I first got married, we were trying

to put these giving principles into

practice. But we were also incredibly

broke.

In fact, we were so broke that about a

year into marriage when our first son

was about to be born. We were out of

money and rent was due.

We were at the West Hills San Jose

campus at the time and the Kamachos

before Pastor Josh was a pastor somehow

caught wind that we didn't have rent and

they paid our rent for us. They were

broke too, but they managed.

The next month I was hired at Kaiser and

the financial pressure finally lifted.

But that act of generosity increased our

affection for them. Not because we knew

we could use them,

but rather we always wanted to bless

them in any way that we could. It

established a level of trust with them

that these people have our backs. Let's

have their backs, too.

These people will sacrifice for us.

Let's sacrifice for them. We wanted to

be the same kind of people to them that

they were to us.

Imagine the strength of unity from a

whole church acting like that with each

other.

Your generous giving is doing so much.

So much more than you thought. Your

little gift, your big gift, especially

your heart behind the gift, it results

in your joy, your blessing, and God's

glory through the building up of his

church.

Now, I just want to get really practical

here at the end.

In giving, attitude is everything.

Attitude is everything. Maybe you look

at our numbers in the bulletin. You

think, "What's what's the problem? Our

budget is great.

Our budget is great. I don't I don't

have to give because our budget's

healthy." Well, do you remember the stat

that I gave in the first week of this

series? The median amount that our

givers give is 1.3% of our income, 1.3%.

And that's for a couple of reasons. You

might look at our our giving and our

targets and think everything is fine at

1.3% because we're we're meeting our

target budgets. But the reason we're

meeting our target budgets for is for a

couple reasons. First, a few people give

so much that it keeps the rest of the

church afloat.

That's how that that's how that's

working. Second, we as a staff are

proactively trying to cut our spending

everywhere we can in order to make our

budget. Our budget is okay for the time

being, but our souls are not.

That's what that reflects. Our souls are

not.

I had one member of our church ask me

after the first week's sermon on

giving,"What would we do as a church?

What would we do as a church if our

median giving increased from 1.3% to

10%. What would we do with all that

money? If everyone began to give 10% of

their income, what would we do with a

significant increase in our budget?"

Oh, we could dream.

Think about how many missionaries we

could support,

how much better we could support them.

I was at a pastor's lunch in San Jose

last week. Most of the other pastors are

at churches with 10 to 20 people in

them.

10 to 20 people. I think that's 90% of

the churches in the Bay Area. Morgan

Hill is kind of an anomaly in that

sense. Mostly it's tiny churches with

people over the age of 70. They're

dying. They're dying out. They won't

live another generation.

And you know what the problem is? They

can't afford to pay a pastor.

Can't afford to to have a pastor move

from Texas or Kentucky and come to

California and survive here.

So, they're just dying.

They can't attract new people.

Think about how many pe how many

churches we could support

for giving went up nine times.

Think about all the new ministries we

could start. Are you passionate about

something? There could be funding for

it. It would be amazing to see what all

the gifts of the church are if people

were able to come out and lead

ministries, start new ministries. The

list is endless of things we could do.

As an outcome of the last five weeks,

I'm going to ask you to do two things.

And I'm going to be very specific about

what I'm going to ask you to do. Now,

this is just for the members and the

regular attenders of our church. If

you're a visitor, if you're not a

Christian, this is not for you. You're a

guest. Just be a guest. This isn't for

you.

But for those who call this church home,

I'm going to ask you to do two things.

First,

pray and make a commitment and a plan

for your giving to the general fund.

This should be the normal rhythm of your

life. That number that you give

generously, that you trust God will help

you to grow over your lifetime

with your general fund giving

commitment. Start giving that now.

Strike while the iron is hot. Set up the

recurring giving in a way that's

sustainable with your budget. Be

cheerful and worshipful as you do. Pick

the percentage or the amount that you

feel before God reflects an open hand

and an open heart that belongs to him.

Each of you must decide in your own

heart.

decide and then actually do it. Follow

through on the commitment.

Here's the second thing I'm going to ask

you to do. Pray and make a commitment

and a plan for your giving to the

building fund.

That should be the maximum amount that

you feel before God that you can squeeze

out of your budget for the next three

years.

This is a season of extra giving, a

season of extra sacrifice. For the

building project, take some time to get

your budget in order so that come

September, you're ready to make a pledge

that you can actually honor. You might

be able to look ahead for the next three

years and think, "Wow, if we if we

downgrade this area of our life, if we

downgrade our next three vacations, we

can squeeze an extra $10,000 out.

If we cut here, we can give there." Each

of you must decide in your own heart

what what number reflects an open hand

and a heart that belongs to God.

Someone asked me recently what I would

do if someone came in and offered to

give the church $10 million to just pay

for our building right now.

To be honest,

I would not want it.

I wouldn't want it.

I have to participate.

I have to feel it. You have to

participate. You have to feel it.

We would miss out on the grace, the

partnership, the unity, the blessing,

the growth in righteousness. We would be

robbed of so many things if somebody

took that away from us.

We need to do it together. It's going to

take all of us. It's going to take each

of you.

It's going to take the millionaires and

the kids with the quarters.

Remember,

you're not primarily losing something in

your giving. You're primarily gaining.

You're gaining in your giving. You're

receiving treasure in heaven. You're

receiving the joy of your master. You're

receiving the blessings of grace and

righteousness and physical blessing.

You're receiving greater affection from

your brothers and your sisters,

increasing the glory and the praise of

God, and you're caring for the precious

bride of Christ. All that for money.

Just money. It's an incredible deal for

us, isn't it? Let's pray.