Grace Empowered Generosity: Pastor Scott Pearson, II Corinthians 8:1-9; 9:6-15

Thank you, Worship Team.

That was powerful worship as usual.

Appreciate that.

You know, much of adult life is concerned with money matters, isn't it?

Working for money, earning money, spending money, saving money, investing money,

borrowing money, planning for college, planning for retirement, planning for buying a house,

planning for sending your kids to college, and so forth.

And money is such an important part of our daily life that if you don't turn your money over to Jesus Christ,

then you can't turn your life over to Jesus Christ.

You can't give Jesus your heart without also giving him your money.

As he himself said, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The time to begin practicing generosity is when you're young, when you first start receiving income.

Having said that, it's never too late to start doing the right thing and cultivating a generous spirit.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians,

but as you excel in everything in faith and speech and knowledge and all earnestness and in our love for you,

see that you excel in this act of grace also, referring to giving.

So the Corinthian church was a spiritually dynamic church body.

They excelled in spirituality.

They excelled in the exercise of powerful spiritual gifts.

They excelled in praise and worship and spiritual passion.

And now in this passage, Paul is urging them to express that spirituality and that passion

and to glorify God in a very tangible way, namely by excelling in the grace of giving,

by giving generously of their money to Christian brothers and sisters in need.

I'm going to invite Charlotte Loetz up here right now to read some of the scriptures that we're looking at this morning.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,

and whoever sows 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 sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Thank you Charlotte, stay right here.

Father, thank you for your word and thank you for Charlotte,

and I pray that she would experience the grace that she has just read about,

and that she would grow in her ability to extend that grace to others.

I pray that you would be with her throughout her days, that she might glorify Jesus Christ.

And now I pray that you will speak to us through your word. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.

So let s look at the source of generosity which is grace.

When we were in seminary, newly married, we literally had a lemon of a car.

It was a yellow Volkswagen bug, and it had been, we found out after we bought the car,

it had been in a rear end collision, which is where the engine is in those cars.

So we had trouble with that car on several occasions. On one of these occasions,

the car broke down, we needed it for work, we couldn t afford to fix it,

and at that time I was a junior high youth intern, and so we had a youth group meeting,

and we had some kids together, and we were praying and asking for prayer requests,

and I mentioned the fact that our car broke down, and we needed some help with getting it repaired.

And so would you please pray for me. A couple days later in our mailbox,

there was an envelope with a hundred dollar bill in it, and that greatly touched us.

And a few weeks later, the car broke down again, and I didn t dare mention that to the kids,

because I knew what happened the first time, so I simply asked them to pray for us.

No mention of finances, no mention of a car. A couple days later in our mailbox,

there s a hundred dollar bill in an envelope.

And we were so overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of pretty sure which family that was,

that we were aware of another family in Seminary Village that had kids that was an even greater need

than we were, and so we gave fifty of that hundred to them.

Experiencing God s grace produces gratitude out of which flows generosity.

Generous giving is motivated by gratitude and empowered by grace.

In the Greek language of the New Testament, the words for grace, thanksgiving, gift, and joy

all come from the same word. So the key to being a joyful, thankful, generous person is to experience God s grace.

God gives grace to the humble, and then we are to extend that grace via generosity,

as Randy Elcorn says, as thunder follows lightning, giving follows grace.

Grace is God s unmerited favor to undeserving sinners.

And how profound is our gratitude when someone shows us kindness, when we were in need and undeserving of any help,

or when someone shows us acceptance and compassion, when we were expecting judgment and condemnation.

Well, this is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ at the cross.

And so we then are to cultivate a grateful, generous spirit as we live by grace,

acknowledging all good things in life as gifts of God s grace, looking for God s grace in every situation.

You see, you can go through life either with the mentality that you deserve better than what you have experienced,

and thus become bitter and resentful. Or you can go through life acknowledging that all good things in life

are undeserved gifts of God s grace, and thus become a thankful person.

It's hard to be generous when you feel like life is cheating you, and you deserve so much better.

It's easier to be generous when you are aware of God s goodness and grace being lavished upon you.

And whatever your bank account balance, when your life has been deeply touched by the grace of God in Jesus Christ,

you can't help but respond with generous giving.

And so Paul wrote to the Corinthians,

we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, northern Greece,

for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

Interesting formula, wouldn't you say? Overflowing joy plus extreme poverty equals rich generosity.

Now Paul was collecting an offering here from the Gentile Christians in Greece for the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem

who were going through extreme hardship.

Now the Macedonian Christians in northern Greece were themselves also going through financial struggles,

but they responded generously to Paul s call to take care of needs of Christians in Jerusalem they never met.

Generosity is motivated and empowered by God s grace, producing spiritual joy and gratitude, welling up in rich generosity.

Overflowing joy plus extreme poverty equals rich generosity.

And so Paul continues,

for they gave according to their means as I can testify in beyond their means of their own accord,

begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.

Many of you know what it is to live beyond your needs, do you know what it is to give beyond your needs?

These Christians from Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea pushed their giving past the point where the figures added up.

As individuals and as churches, they gave beyond their means,

meaning they gave beyond the point at which an accountant looking at their books would have said, you can t afford to give anymore.

And then they gave more anyway.

The key to their amazing generosity is found in verse 5.

And they exceeded our expectations.

They gave themselves first of all to the Lord and then by the will of God also to us.

The more you open your heart to the grace of God, the more of your heart that you give to the Lord,

God will increase your capacity to be generous.

Generosity is more a function of the richness of one s relationship with God than of the richness of one s bank account.

As one low income father said,

When you can give something away, even if you don t have much, then you ain t poor.

But if you don t feel easy giving something away,

even when you got more than you need, then you re poor, whether you know it or not.

Next, the benchmark of generosity, which is Christ s incarnation.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor,

so that you by his poverty might become rich.

The example of Jesus and our gratitude response to the sacrifice he made for us in the cross,

those are the supreme motives for generous giving.

Jesus became poor in the act of becoming a man and living among us.

Not only in the lowly circumstances of his birth and the poverty of his life,

but the very act that he was born a human being and lived as one of us,

though he was rich and shared his father s glory in heaven before the world was created.

Nevertheless, he temporarily laid aside that glory to become one of us.

The Son of God, who had previously known nothing but the purity and holiness and love and goodness and bliss of heaven,

now became one of us and endured the filth and degradation and injustice and hatred of earth.

He became one of us, he suffered as one of us, he died as one of us.

And the purpose of that willing submission to poverty and suffering and death was so that we who accept by faith

to sacrifice on the cross might one day share in his glory in heaven.

And by faith and surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord, this dynamic grace of Christ becomes an act of power in the believer s heart,

providing the spiritual power to be generous.

As Jesus dwells in our hearts through faith, he forms his generosity into our character,

and he expresses his generosity through our giving.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, exemplified in his incarnation and crucifixion,

is the benchmark, motive and power for generous giving.

Next, the incentive for generosity, reaping.

The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

A good farmer, a wise farmer, will not try to cut costs by buying cheap seed or sowing the seed sparingly.

What kind of a farmer would reason like this?

I m only going to plant a little seed on a few acres because I m afraid I might lose the seed.

Maybe it won t generate, germinate, maybe there ll be a drought.

So I m going to play it safe. I can t afford to take that kind of a risk.

I m going to cling to my seed. I m going to keep it in my barn so I don t lose it.

And then I ll build bigger and bigger barns to store more and more seed.

Such a farmer would not stay in business for very long, would he?

The Bible says that giving money is like sowing seed, planting seed.

And the Bible teaches generous planting leads to abundant harvest,

and stingy sowing leads to meager harvest.

You see, giving your money away is not foolish or wasteful or risky,

nor is it simply noble and altruistic. It s actually a wise investment that will be richly rewarded with eternal dividends.

Jesus said this himself,

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither roth nor rust destroys and thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I m not aware of any warnings in the Bible against giving too much.

There are warnings against saving too much and accumulating too much, but not against giving too much.

Jesus didn t even warn the poor widow at the temple against giving away her last two coins,

because Jesus s perspective is it s more blessed to give than to receive.

It s more blessed to give than to spend or save or hoard or accumulate.

And the word blessed carries with it the meaning of happy, contented, inner peace, inner joy, well-being, and even to be envied.

More to be envied are those who give than those who receive.

Jesus said, Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. How do we do that?

By giving, by using your money for Christ s purposes here on earth.

And notice that neither Jesus nor Paul is saying that reaping rewards is the unexpected result of generous giving.

No, it s the promised results.

Giving money is like sowing seed. Generous sowing leads to abundant harvests. God promises.

If a farmer takes a kernel of seed corn and stores it in his barn, what will he have a year later?

One kernel of corn.

If a farmer takes a kernel of seed corn and plants it in the spring, what will he have at harvest time in the fall?

How many kernels of corn will be produced by planting one seed?

I have this on good authority from a farmer in our church.

One kernel of corn produces an ear of corn that will have an average of 500 to 800 kernels of corn, sometimes more.

So which is smarter? Store that kernel of corn in the barn where it will be safe, or plant that kernel of corn on the ground.

Giving money is like sowing seed. It produces an abundant harvest.

Putting surplus money in the bank and just letting it sit there year after year after year just in case you might need it someday, that s like storing seed corn in the barn.

And even if that money grows with interest or rising stock prices, the rewards will still be far less than sowing that seed as treasures in heaven, giving to the cause of Christ.

Now it's not wrong to save for future needs of course, and then when the need arises you use the money that has been saved. That's smart.

Saving is better than borrowing.

But hoarding is simply for the sake of having more and more money you like seeing your bank account grow.

It just feels good to see your investments grow.

To feel more secure, having more money in the bank than less, which is a good indication you're trusting in manmen for your security rather than in your heavenly Father.

Saving more and more money just to feel more secure is like storing seed corn in bigger and bigger barns rather than planting it.

The Bible teaches that storing up treasures in heaven through generous giving to the church and to missions and to the poor offers both greater safety and a higher rate of return than any other investment.

It's not just nice to give. It's not just good-hearted to give. It's not just the Christian thing to do.

More than that, it's the wisest use of money for the longest, greatest gains.

When Beth and I got engaged, we were looking for engagement rings and we had one that we thought we could afford.

I was discussing this with my dad. I worked for my dad at that point in his machine shop and he knew my finances and he said, actually Scott, you can afford a bigger diamond than that.

Go ahead. Beth and I discussed that.

At the time, our church in Iowa City, which we loved, was very, very, very helpful to us, was going through a capital funds campaign for a building.

And Beth agreed that instead of using that money to buy a bigger diamond, we would give it to the church.

About a year and a half later, I'm graduating from college. We're getting ready to get married, getting ready to go to seminary.

And the church lets us know we're going to pay 20% of your rent for your seminary apartment.

It's true, and many other people in this church could give similar stories.

It's true. Generous sowing produces abundant reaping.

Whenever you share your possessions with the needy or give money to the poor or to missions or to church, you are sowing seed.

And the more generously you sow, the more generously you will reap. God says so.

And the same principle of sowing and reaping holds for churches.

Whenever churches give money away to the poor or to missions or to outreach ministries to reach unsaved people and to help vulnerable families, they're sowing seed.

And the more generously they sow, the more generously they will reap.

And Cornerstone has experienced this reality of generous sowing, producing bountiful reaping with many years of healthy church finances,

resulting from our generous giving to missions and church planting.

The reaping of blessings from giving generously may not be evident immediately.

It may not show up with increased riches or more money in the bank.

But the reward spiritual, material, and eternal will come as sure as God is faithful to His promises.

Next, the attitude of generosity, which is cheerfulness.

Storie is told of a mother who gave to her daughter a $1 bill and a quarter.

In sweetheart, she said, you can place either one in the offering plate this morning.

As they were driving home, the mother asked the daughter which one she decided to give.

Well, she said, at first I was going to give the dollar.

But the man behind the pulpit said that God loves a cheerful giver.

And I felt like I could be much more cheerful if I gave the quarter instead.

How much should you give?

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

The Bible teaches that we should give regularly, systematically, and proportionately.

You should give as often as you receive income.

You should give in proportion to your income.

A good place to start is the tithe, or 10%, and the higher the income, the higher the percentage of income you should give.

But it's your responsibility to decide how much.

Generous giving begins with tithing and goes up from there.

It increases according to income level, net worth, and spiritual maturity.

So how much should you give?

Give according to the desire and passion that God graciously places in your redeemed heart for the work of his kingdom.

And give more and more until you feel free from the grip of mammon that makes you want to hold tightly to what you have and wish for more.

For many adults, money, what Jesus called mammon, is the most powerful idol that will seduce their hearts away from following hard after Jesus and developing intimate love relationship with him.

Generous giving dethrones mammon and enthrones Christ as Lord.

Generous giving profanes mammon's sacred value.

You see, mammon says to us, I'm way too valuable for you to give me away.

You can't afford to give that much.

You need me so that you will have enough in the future.

Generous giving is our way of saying, no mammon, you're not too valuable to give away.

I value my relationship with the Lord Jesus as my highest treasure, and I trust my heavenly Father to provide for my future needs.

Next, the resources for generosity, seed for sowing.

One of the biggest barriers to practicing generosity is a fear based on a false worldview.

It's the common view that sees resources as a finite pie and thus giving money away means less for essential needs.

And both individuals and churches can fall prey to this kind of wrong thinking.

But what does the Bible say?

And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency and all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing 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.

God is able to make all grace abound to you.

He's able to supply and even increase your seed for sowing to enlarge your harvest.

God is able to enrich you spiritually and financially to enable you to be generous.

Our responsibility is to cultivate a generous spirit.

God's promise is to provide the resources to enable us to express that generous spirit.

Now, He doesn't promise limitless money to spend on ourselves or store in bigger barns.

He does promise to provide seed for sowing.

In fact, God delights in giving seed to those who sow generously for His kingdom.

You'll be enriched in every way so that you can be generous, the Bible says.

God has given some of you, perhaps many of you in this room, comfortable material blessings.

In some cases, considerable material blessings.

Have you ever asked yourself, why?

Why has God provided me with so much?

God tells us in these verses, it's seed for sowing to increase the harvest for God's kingdom.

As Randy Elkhorn says in his treasure principle number six,

God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.

Abundance is God's provision for me to give generously and plant God's money in a field of a world that needs Jesus Christ.

Wise old farmers have long had a saying, don't eat your seed corn.

In simple terms, it means that every seed that comes through your hands has the potential either to be eaten or to be planted for next year's harvest.

If you eat your seed corn, you won't have anything to put in the ground, you'll eventually go out of business and lose the farm.

The first 10% at least of your income should be regarded as seed corn.

Don't eat your seed corn.

Surplus funds, extra income, tax refunds, work bonuses, inheritance money, at least some of that money should also be regarded as seed corn.

Don't eat your seed corn.

And don't store your seed corn in bigger barns.

Plant it for a bigger harvest.

Sow your seed corn generously so that you will reap an abundant harvest.

Invest your seed corn in the kingdom of God.

As you know, I've made some financial blunders in the past when I wasn't trusting God to meet our family's needs, and I took matters into my own hands and I made a huge mess of things.

You know my story, most of you.

But Beth and I can also testify from experience to the truth that God is able to make all grace abound and can multiply seed for sowing and can supply the resources to be generous.

From the earliest days of our marriage, even when living on a very lean budget, we gave at least 10% to the Lord's work.

But in 2001, we made a decision to practice being more generous, inspired by reading The Treasure Principle by Randy Elkhorn in preparation for our Rock Center Capital Funds campaign.

We gave more that year than ever before while also paying for college tuition for two of our daughters and taking mission trips.

And God supplied and increased our seed for sowing so that having all we needed for expenses, we were also able to be generous in giving.

And he's done that faithfully ever since.

And then about eight years ago, we received an inheritance from Beth's dad's estate.

And God has literally multiplied our seed for sowing.

Everything Beth and I have is a gift of God's grace.

So now our challenge is this, how to make sure we don't die with too many earthly treasures and not enough heavenly treasure.

Most people have asked the question, how can I make sure that I will have enough money to last throughout my retirement years until I die?

But if you ask yourself this question, how can I make sure that I don't die with too many earthly treasures and investments that will be lost to the cause of Christ and not enough heavenly treasure and kingdom investments?

So in addition to increasing our giving, we revised our will to make sure that in addition to leaving something for our daughters and grandkids, we're designating a good portion of our state for the Lord's work.

Given how much God has lavished His grace upon us, it'd be foolish on our part not to do that.

Next, the outcome of generosity, which is God's glory.

Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.

And then when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.

So two good things will result from this ministry of giving.

The needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.

As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God for your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ.

And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you.

When Don Bonin gave me and Beth that $200 and we shared it with another family, now there are two families rejoicing and giving thanks to God for His faithfulness and the Bonin family is blessed for their giving.

When the need of a missionary for financial support is met through the generous giving of a Christian or a church, the result is rejoicing and giving thanks to God for His faithfulness.

When a struggling church member receives needed financial help through our Deacon Fund, the result is rejoicing and giving thanks to God for His faithfulness.

God gets the glory.

And then Paul concludes the chapter not by congratulating them for their generosity but by saying this, thanks be to God for His indescribable gift, Jesus.

You see, our generosity is simply an expression of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how it goes.

Grace begets gratitude, which begets generosity, which begets more gratitude, which begets more generosity, all to the glory of God.

How about you? Have you considered making excelling and giving one of your goals in life?

Are you intentionally cultivating a generous spirit and practicing generosity?

And by the way, this is not only good for the health of your soul, it's good for the health of your relationships. How so?

A generous spirit can result or can be expressed in giving money generously, but also being generous concerning the faults of others.

As you learn to let go of money more freely, you can also learn to let go of offenses, of annoyances and irritations, of resentments, of anger.

A grace-filled generous spirit toward others is the opposite of a critical, fault-finding, easily offended, easily angered, grievance-collecting, grudge-holding spirit.

Their harmless relationships, and quite frankly, takes all the joy out of life.

It's more blessed to give grace to others than go through life chronically offended or complaining or irritated or resentful.

How about you? What steps of action can you take to cultivate a generous spirit and grow in the grace of giving?

Look for opportunities to be generous and then be generous. In everyday life also, for example, the next time you go out to eat, whatever you normally give is a tip, give a couple of dollars more.

Beyond what you think the server deserves. Remember, we're talking about excelling in the grace of giving.

Ask God to bring to mind an individual or a family with a financial need and bless them with a gift card.

Give an extra gift to a missionary or a mission's organization you support.

Right now, we have a homegrown missionary family overseas going through a health crisis and they will need some financial help.

More about that in a few days.

Many other possibilities. Pick one, two, three of them. Participate in some way with Operation Christmas Child.

Participate in Sunshine Ministries Fund, raise her next Sunday after church.

Whatever you were thinking of giving to the holiday mission's offering, give a little bit more than that.

Giving generously to the holiday mission's offering is a great way to sow seed for an abundant kingdom harvest.

And then I encourage some of you to give some money from your untouchable account.

What do I mean? Some of you regularly give generously from your regular income.

But once you put money into savings or an investment account, it becomes untouchable.

As a demonstration that you understand that all of your money and assets belong to God,

and you are a steward of what He owns and is entrusted to you for your care,

give some of that untouchable money to His kingdom work.

And then some of you older members have the kind of IRA account that requires a minimum distribution each year.

And that withdrawal is taxable.

Unless you give directly from your IRA investment account to the church or a mission's organization, then it's not taxable.

So would you rather have that money go to God's kingdom or the government?

It's more blessed to give than receive.

This is not a church desperately needs your money sermon.

My intent is that you would experience the joy and blessings of generosity according to God's promises.

But without apology, I encourage you to express some of that generosity to increase your giving to Cornerstone.

You see, in order for us as a church to have the ability to sow more seed in God's kingdom,

both for local outreach and for global missions, we need more seed.

And though giving has picked up encouragingly in the past few weeks for the fiscal year,

our giving has been significantly below budget, and we've occasionally needed to draw upon some of our savings to make ends meet.

Let's end the calendar year on a strong note,

so that we don't need to even think about any budget cuts next year.

Excelling and giving is a worthy goal and an important discipleship practice.

Strive to excel in the grace of giving just as you would strive to grow in faith or biblical knowledge or love.

Practice cultivating a generous spirit, whether you end up expressing that generosity in our church or giving to missions or giving to those in need.

Trust the Heavenly Father to provide the resources to enable us to accomplish His purposes and to sow more seed for kingdom harvest.

As Randy Alcorn said, you can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.

And God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.

Let's pray.

Father, we ask first of all that you would work in our hearts by your Holy Spirit to enable us to cultivate a generous spirit.

And then we ask that you would provide the resources for us to express that generous spirit.

And then we trust you to be true to your promises that you have made in your word that we've discussed today,

that those who sow generously will also reap generously, and that those who lay up treasures in heaven will have an eternal dividends for their giving.

We ask you to help us to put into practice these truths of your word. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.