“What Will You Sow?”
[II
Corinthians 9:6-15]
November 13, 2011 Second Reformed Church
“God loves a cheerful giver.”
This is one of those phrases in the
Bible that is known by many Christians and non-Christians alike. And the interpretation of this snippet is
usually something along the lines of “I don’t have to give anything – time,
money, or skill – to the church unless it makes me happy.” While there is a grain of truth in that
interpretation, that is not what Paul is telling us in today’s Scripture. God does not allow us to be obedient or not
obedient based on how “tickled” we are from one moment to the next.
In the mid-50’s A.D., the church in
Jerusalem was suffering severe persecution.
It was so bad, they wrote to the churches around the empire for
financial help, and people, such as Paul, went from place to place collecting
money for the support of the church in Jerusalem. It had become very difficult for Christians
to buy or sell, and for their sustenance, they came to rely on the churches who
were not suffering in that way.
Although we are not familiar with
much of that type of persecution in the Unites States, we know in other
countries around the world, Christians are put to death, and others are denied
access to jobs and food and shelter.
Christians suffering persecution ask for prayers and physical help from
other churches.
Paul was coming to the end of a
year-long tour of collecting money for the church in Jerusalem, and in this second
letter to the Corinthians, he told them that their generosity was known
throughout the empire. The Corinthian
Church was known as a church that regularly gave sacrificially to others, and
it was also known that they had pledged a huge financial gift to the church in
Jerusalem. Paul was giving them a “heads
up” that he was on his way to collect the pledge that they had promised before
all the churches. Paul wanted to make
sure that they were ready to keep the promise they had made – the promise that
they had chosen to make in joy and support of the church in Jerusalem. He did not want to arrive and find that they
hadn’t gotten their pledge together – he didn’t want there to be the mutual
embarrassment of coming to them with his entourage and have them say, “Oh, we
didn’t get the money together yet.” He
was writing so they would be ready – prepared to give the gift that they
pledged to give.
And so we come to this morning’s
Scripture:
“The point is this: whoever sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully.”
If you watch the TV preachers, you
will hear this explained that if you give God ten dollars, He’ll give you a
hundred, and if you give Him a hundred, He’ll give you a new car or pay off
your mortgage. This is not what Paul
means.
Remember we are writing to people
who farm and raise cattle. They would
understand that if you plant a single seed – and it grows well – you will
receive a number of food items. If you
plant a bean seed, you will not receive a single bean, but multiple pods of
beans. And the more you plant – all
things being equal – the more will grow.
The error the TV preaches make it to
say that if you give money in the offering plate, you will receive x times the
money back. There is no such promise.
Jesus said, “If anyone would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever
would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will
find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits
his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24b-26, ESV).
The picture of Christian generosity
is one of sacrifice and self-denial.
While there is nothing wrong with being wealthy, we are not called to
build up our wealth. We are called to
give as much of ourselves and our blessings as we are able for the sake of the
Kingdom. Our primary goal is to make
sure that the Gospel of Jesus Christ goes out, and God has given us time and
money and gifts to use to make sure that everyone will hear that there is no salvation
except through Jesus Alone.
So, in this verse, Paul is not
telling the Corinthians that they will get rich with money as they give more
money, he is telling them that the greater their generosity is – and this
church was consistently sacrificially generous – the greater their generosity –
the more that they sowed for the sake of the Gospel – the greater effect their
gift would have – the more people would hear the Gospel, and the greater
blessings they would receive – spiritually, not necessarily materially.
In other words, don’t put your
offering in the plate, or volunteer around the church, expecting a financial
windfall. Give as generously as
possible, because you want to see the Gospel go out and because God will bless
you spiritually. It’s not wrong to
desire spiritual blessing because God wants us to be conformed into the Image
of His Son (cf. Romans 8:29).
Giving is a part of the worship of
God – it is a participation in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Giving generously is a sign of trust and
Christian maturity.
That is not to say that the person
who gives the most money or time is the most mature Christian. Remember what we read in the Gospel: “Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting
their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small
copper coins. And he said, ‘Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more
than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out
of her poverty put in all she had to live on’” (Luke 21:1-4, ESV). Jesus pointed out the difference between the mega-rich
people who gave a lot of money, though it was nothing for them to give large
amounts of money, and the widow who gave her last two cents. The woman who gave her last two cents was
obediently worshipping God and was blessed by Him.
For example, if you make $1,000 a
week and put one dollar in the offering, you have not sown much and you should
not expect much. Your gift will not go
very far. But if you are out of work and
have no income at all – and you do not
receive government aid, or support from a family member or friend, you do not
have a large savings, etc. If you put a
dollar in the offering that may well be a sacrificially generous gift and you
will have sown much, and you may expect to reap great spiritual rewards for the
Kingdom and in your life.
Then we come to that misquoted verse: “Each one must give as he has decided in his
heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
It is true that God wants us to give
joyfully – to desire to give more and more and beyond what we have in the
past. But this verse is not an excuse
not to give if you don’t “feel it.”
There’s a Dennis the Menace cartoon that I have at home where Dennis is
shaking the minister’s hand after worship, and Dennis says, “My Dad says you’d
do a lot better if you took the offering before your sermon.” This verse is not an excuse to give based on
our mood or on our perception of the worship service.
Paul was writing to a church that had
promised to give a certain large amount of money for the relief effort at the
church in Jerusalem. He was telling the Corinthians,
effectively, “I’m letting you know I’m on my way to collect the money that you
volunteered to give, because I want you to be ready and cheerful about giving –
just as you were when you pledged this money – not caught off guard and caught
resenting the collection of your promised gift.”
Some churches give out pledge cards
for the year. What Paul was saying is
“The pledge card that you filled out says you are filled with joy to give
$10,000 to the church this year, and so you’re ready – and not caught off guard
– I want you to know I’m on my way to pick up your pledged gift.”
That’s what this verse is saying.
Paul continues: “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. As it is written, ‘He has distributed freely, he has given
to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’ 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.”
Paul reminded the Corinthians and
us, the more generously, the more liberally, the more sacrificially, the more abundantly
we give to God’s Work, the more God will give us to give to God’s Work. Understand, the promise is not if we give a
lot, we’ll become wealthy. The promise
is, if we give a lot, God will always make sure that we have more to give.
We already have the promise in the
Lord’s Prayer that God will always provide us with everything we need. We may not always have what we want. We may not always understand why God knows we
do or do not need something. But this is
a different promise.
God promises that, if we give in
abundance to His Work, He will give us more abundance to be able to give more
to His Work – in time, money, and talents.
There is no guarantee of our becoming wealthy in any material sense of
the word, except as we will give it away for the good of the Kingdom.
In the parable of the good steward,
Jesus said, “Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very
little, you shall have authority over ten cities” (Luke 19:17, ESV). The master had given the steward a small sum
to invest for him. The steward invested
the money, made a profit for the master, and the master was pleased, so the
master gave the steward more to steward for him.
The same is true for us; the more we
give of our time, money, and gifts, the more that God will give us for the
purpose of giving more. Test God on
this. Pray to have more to give, and God
will give you more to give or show you how you already have more that you can
give. God will not short-change His
Work, and God delights in seeing us be good and joyful stewards of what He
gives us.
Paul cites Psalm 112:9 as proof of
this: God distributes freely. Everything we have is from God, and God
delights in our using what He has given us to show other people how glorious He
is – to show others that He Alone is the Savior of all those who will believe.
God will, as Paul writes, give us the
seed we need to increase in righteousness.
God will continue to grow us into the Image of His Son, and one way He
does that is through giving us more so that we may give more away for the sake
of the Gospel.
Pray that God will show you how to
use your time for Him. Pray that God
will show you how to use your gifts for Him.
Pray that God will show you how to give your money for Him. And God will show us and God will provide for
us so we will be able to give and give abundantly, and cheerfully, because we
have received what we asked from God.
Paul emphasizes again, “You will be
enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will
produce thanksgiving to God.”
One of the reasons God blesses us
with time and money and gifts is so we will give them away and use them for the
ministry of His Church – for the spreading of the Gospel. This giving – generous, liberal, sacrificial
giving – also leads us to give thanks to God for the ability to give towards
the Work of God. God gives to us so we
can give to Him and give thanks to Him for the ability to give!
Do you ever feel thankful – maybe
even a little giddy – as you donate your time to the Work of God, or as you
give your offering, or as you use your ability, expertise, gifts, for God and
His Work? Paul says that when we are
joy-filled – cheerful – anxious to give and to give more and more, we will find
ourselves being thankful to God. Are you
thankful that you can give? Are you so
thankful that you are giving more and more – which will make you more thankful?
But that’s not even the final
benefit of giving to God and His Work: “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.”
If we sow large amounts of seed, if
we give generously and abundantly and sacrificially, God will give us more to
give, we will give thanks to God for giving us what we give and for making able
to give more, and those who are ministered to because of our giving will also
give thanks to God!
Our giving not only makes us
thankful, but it makes others thankful – to those who give, yes, but ultimately
– and more importantly – to God. And,
the giver and the receiver will pray for each other.
Paul ends this section by writing, “Thanks
be to God for his inexpressible gift!”
What is God’s “inexpressible gift?”
Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is
death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
6:23, ESV). And, “He who did not spare
his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him
graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32, ESV).
Is there anything more – anything
greater – that God could have given us to make our lives better – to show us
His Love – to make us cheerfully generous and thankful?
God has given us abilities, time,
and money to use to accomplish His Work on earth – the spreading of the Gospel.
God has given us more than we need
so we would be able to give. And God
continues to give us more and more by His Grace as we give more and more for
His Work.
Giving to God and for the sake of
His Gospel makes us thankful.
Giving to God and for the sake of
His Gospel makes those affected by our giving thankful.
Giving to God for the sake of the
Gospel makes the giver and the receiver pray for each other.
And we can never complain that God
hasn’t given us all we need, because God has given us everything we need – even
the greatest Gift of His Son that we might be saved.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, Giver of Every Good
Gift, we come before You in prayer, in thankfulness, in joy and cheerfulness,
desiring to give and to give more that Your Will would be done on earth as it
is in heaven – that the Gospel of Jesus Christ would go to the ends of the
earth – that every person on the plant would know that there is only salvation
in Jesus Alone. Lord, help us to trust You. Help us to give more. Help us to give more than that. Help us to be so thankful to You that it is
pure joy to take up our cross and give everything away for Your Sake. Give us Your Grace and prove Yourself to be
the One Holy God. For it is in Jesus’ Name
we pray, Amen.
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