2 Corinthians 9:6-11- 6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” 10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
I. Intro: Ways of Teaching on Giving
It’s important that a church discusses giving due to the temptation of materialism. All churches address how we steward our resources, the question is how do we/they address it? In what way do they appeal to us?
A. Appeal to Emotions:
1. Good Feelings are good for you: giving makes us feel good. This is an appeal to self-help and has its foundation in “feeling good” being central to what it means to be happy.
2. Good feelings from participation in meaningful work: stories of Destiny and all the good that we do for our community.
3. These two are true and are powerful but cannot sustain a lifestyle of generosity.
B. Appeal to Avoidance:
1. Avoid the destructiveness of greed and materialism.
2. Avoid getting on the wrong side of God. (legalism)
3. These all rely on an appeal to fear and may motivate for a short period of time, but are fundamentally based in negation and cannot be sustained without constant appeals.
C. Appeal to the Flesh:
1. Could tell you how giving to God means God will give back.
2. Treating generosity like an investment contract with God.
3. Though containing an element of truth concerning God’s promises to bless His people, these foremost appeal to the very things in our souls that God is seeking to deliver us from.
D. How do we approach giving?
1. First, none of the above options ultimately honor God appropriately, nor produce a lifestyle of generosity that is consistent with the character of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
2. As we will see, Paul makes his first (not only) appeal to the saints concerning giving based on the truth and reality of God.
3. Paul begins his conversation about giving with a discussion about the truth.
4. For coming to see the truth appropriately, and then aligning with it, is the only way a lifestyle becomes sustainable. For truth sustains life.
II. Paul’s 3 Truths in His Call to a Generous life: 2 Cor. 9:6-11
A. The Reality Built into Nature: Sowing and Reaping
1. Like Jesus often did, Paul takes a principle found in nature. (Traditionally in the theological world called: Natural Law.)
2. This is an appeal to the indicative. An indicative is a statement of objective fact, usually able to be verified by observation.
3. The principle is taken from a general agricultural principle: To the degree that one sows, one also reaps.
B. Truth # 1: TO THE DEGREE ONE SOWS, ONE ALSO REAPS.
1. This principle applies in many areas of life, from farming, to investing, even to relationships.
2. The more one sows good seed of love, time, respect, listening, into a relationship the greater the opportunity of a healthy and enriched relationship.
3. This is a principle that can be tested and verified in the ordinary circumstances of life.
4. Gal. 6:6-10, tells that we are deceived if we think the principle of sowing and reaping does not apply to all of life.
5. However, Paul adds revelation to this natural principle.
C. The Secret of the Cheerful Giver
1. The revelation: God desires and designs this principle of giving to work best when aligned with the core of a person (heart).
2. Truth # 2: CHEERFULNESS COMES AS OUR GENEROSITY IS ALIGNED WITH OUR HEARTS.
3. In other words, there are many reasons one might practice sowing and reaping or generosity, but cheerfulness only comes when our inner motives of the heart are in alignment or integrated with our actions.
D. Traps of Alterer Motives
1. Paul briefly mentions two reasons one might try to be generous that are NOT in alignment with one’s heart: reluctancy and compulsion.
2. Reluctancy: occurs when one gives what they are not confident they desire to give. Perhaps, they are not sure of the motives of the other, but whatever the reason the will of the giver is being pressured to give. This does not produce a cheerful giver for it is not in alignment with our hearts. This is often what we feel when pressured by a salesman.
3. Compulsion: this is the feeling of ‘having to’ give in order to avoid something or to obtain something one feels is otherwise out-of-reach. This is felt when we are told God will ‘get us’ or punish us, etc. Giving when motivated to avoid some sort of pain or suffering is nothing more than attempting to ‘save our life’ which, according to Jesus is a great way to lose it. This also includes the motive to get, which is a compulsion. It is no longer giving but a business transaction.
4. If to be cheerful in giving we are to give as we purpose in our hearts, these two become traps of alterer motives, that can rob us of the joy of generosity.
5. We reap to the degree we sow, and God desires us to give in alignment with our hearts. Key questions becomes: how can our hearts become more generous, while avoiding these traps?
E. The Secret of Christian generosity and a Cheerful Heart
1. Pauls revelation is the 3rd Truth in this Text: GOD IS ABLE.
2. The foundation to all Christian generosity (that is generosity in the Spirit of Christ) is the reality that God is good and has promised to actively work on our behalf in the ordinary affairs of life to bring to us what we need!
3. The good Creator God, who spoke worlds into existence, whose love moved Him to become a man and give Himself for us, is actively working in the human affairs for our good, blessing and favor.
4. This is irrational to the world who has rejected God. It is rational, completely logical and consistent, when one sees and understands how the reality of the Kingdom of God operates.
III. What God has Promised Paul gives us several Key insights into God’s character, nature, and promises.
A. God is Able….
1. Vs 8, God is able… at the heart of the cheerful giver is not our ability to make money or manage the outcomes of our lives, but rather that God is able to provide for us and mange our well-being regardless of what others choose.
2. Our confidence in God’s good nature and ability to provide for us is directly connected to our generosity.
3. The fundamental question of generosity is not, “Do we have enough to be generous?” But do we trust that God is able to provide for us?
4. Tithing is the practice of reminding ourselves that not only is God able to provide, but has provided. That is why the tithe never requires what we do not have, but to give out what has been provided.
5. It may be easy when we appropriately think of God and His infinite abilities to know that He is able to provide for us. The secondary issue then arises in our hearts if we are honest: Is God willing to be that good to someone like me?
B. Paul by Implication is stating: God is willing…
1. The willingness of God is implied here by Paul. If it were not, then this statement leaves us still in the dark.
2. Being keenly aware of the human conditions, Paul speaks to the voices that most fuels our uncertainty to trust God: am I worthy? God is good, but will He be good to me… not Jesus, or the Apostle Paul, or some other holier person, but little ol’ me?
3. Not only is God willing, but He also desires to be counted on to come through for us!
4. God is glorified when we live in confident trust of His provision!
5. DISCLAIMER: God is NOT asking us to live in poverty, but live in trust. Some may need poverty to trust God, but that is an issue of the heart/will and not an issue of the nature of poverty nor possessions.
C. The Promise of Sufficiency (vs 8b)
1. God promises that we will have all that we need. Not that we will have big barns with decades of provision stored up.
2. Jesus makes this clear when He encourages us to consider the birds who do not build barns, but are taken care of by God. (Luke 12:24)
3. The promise of sufficiency contains three basic things: all needs, in all circumstances (things), at all times.
4. All sufficiency in all things at all times is abundance. But this abundance has a divine purpose.
5. It would not be difficult to be generous in the Spirit of Christ when we have an undiluted, inexhaustible river of provision flowing towards from our Father God.
D. The Purpose of Abundance
1. Paul gives us God’s purpose behind the promise of sufficiency: that we might abound in every good work.
2. NOT that we may purchase all the things a materialistic world tells we should have in order to have a “good” or “success” life.
3. God has created you for good works in mind (Eph. 2:10) and God has promised to provide for every one of these good works. What God demands, grace provides.
4. You are never lacking what is needed to obey and respond to God. This is why it is never a true statement, “When I have more resource, I’ll obey God.” The question is if you aren’t obeying God, then what are you obeying?
5. Jack Taylor once said, “An idol is anything you have to get permission from in order to obey God.” Do we need permission from our bank account/balance in order to obey God?
At the heart of the cheerful giver is a vision of God as good, able, and willing to arrange the circumstances of my life to supply what I need, which enables me to live a cheerful, irrational (to the world) generous lifestyle!
IV. The Nature and Call of at the Cheerful Giver
A. The reality of Paul’s teaching.
1. Our generosity reveals our confidence in God.
2. Jesus first and primary teaching concerning faith in God was about God’s ability to provide for our physical existence in this life.
3. Willard once remarked, “Jesus connected faith with daily provision because its difficult to trust God for our eternal salvation, we if cannot trust Him for a sandwich tomorrow?” (Or utility bill, or job, etc.)
4. Example from my life: There were times in my life where being generous and obeying God-tithing- could mean not being able to afford diapers. What moved my to cheerful giving was NOT the good things my church was doing, nor that God would “double” my giving back to me, but remembering that God had/has promised to provide for me and here was an opportunity I wouldn’t have in heaven: to trust for provision in the midst of uncertainty and lack.
B. The Motivation of the Cheerful Giver
1. When walking in the truth/reality that Paul is putting before us, Christians are empowered to live a radically generous lifestyle:
2. NOT because its a way to evangelize, though that is true.
3. NOT because of a law which if must adhere to if I am to avoid God’s punishment.
4. NOT even in order to get more blessings or wealth, though that may result.
5. Rather, coming to see the true nature of God, HIs love, provision, and promises to us, and how reality in the Kingdom of God works, we cannot imagine another way of being in the fallen and self-and-security-obsessed world, that to be generous!
C. The Practice of the Cheerful Giver: Tithing
1. Tithing frees and protects our souls form the lure of this world to trust in our own strength, setting aside what God has revealed in order to secure our lives, ourselves.
2. It is a constant practice of remembering that our provision comes from God. And remembering is a key to building faith and trust.
3. Giving made easy: a. website destinyokc.com look for the big square give button top right of page. b. Or the destinyokc app at the botton of home screen is a heart icon with the word give under it. c. Or you can text GIVE to 405-584-5767 and a link will be sent to you. This link will take you to same places the website and app will take you.
4. When we understand Paul’s theology, the vision of God and what life in His kingdom is really like, debates about tithing become trivial. We give not because of law, but because of God’s grace!
5. We are generous with our resources of time, energy, and money because we are freed by the love of God from the compulsion of the world to try and provide and protect ourselves. We are truly free because God is God, because God is faithful to keep His promises, because God is good.
6. In this freed generosity our “left hand doesn’t know what our right hand is doing” because our practice of generosity has become integrated into who we are. Therefore, we are generous without having to think much about it. Generosity has become our nature. 7
. To withhold being generous today because you are concerned about tomorrow (future) is to presume that God won’t be with then. It is to live as if God is only trustworthy sometimes, and that you are somehow more reliable than God.
8. I am not saying this because Destiny needs your money, but rather because God wants you heart! This is not to get us to give more, this is to instruct us in loving God with all we are and have.
D. The Difference Between Seed and Bread (vs 10)
1. The last point that Paul teaches us in the this text is that God provides some things for our needs (bread) and some things for sowing.
2. It is important that we know the difference. Every farmer knows that he cannot use all of the seed on his own needs or there will be nothing left to sow next season.
3. In other words, don’t eat the seed for sowing and don’t sow the bread meant for eating.
4. There is balance here, as in all of life. There are resources God provides for you and your family’s needs. And there resources to steward and invest in what God is doing around you.
5. In vs 11, Paul tells us that God enriches us in order that through us there will be thanksgiving and glory given to God.
6. To withhold generosity with what God has given you for the purpose of sowing, is to withhold glory from God.
7. If God can get resources through you, He can get them to you!
8. If one thinks that after they have tithed the other 90% is theirs, then there is a lack of understanding the generous provision of God and the tithe. This is why the Bible speaks of tithes and offerings (alms).
9. Paul’s point in general is that all of our life and resources revolves around the mission of God, His purposes, and His ways.
10. Which means, all of our lives and resources have the potential for eternal significance.
V. Conclusion:
A. The Principle of Sowing and Reaping still applies.
1. The the degree you sow, you also reap.
B. God desires and designed that our generosity be in alignment with our heart for our joy!
1. The secret of the cheerful giver is the alignment between generosity and the heart.
2. Only the truth of God’s goodness and provision can bring about this kind of generous heart.
3. There is a direct correlation between our confidence in God’s provision and our cheerful generosity.
4. This is irrational from the worlds perspective, but reliable and trustworthy as come to know God’s character and promises.
C. All of our lives are caught up in what God is doing!
1. Paul urges us to see all of our lives, including our resources as a part of God’s story unfolding in human history.
2. The stewardship of our resources has the capability to directly impact eternity.
D. Aligning our generosity with God’s purposes is the pathway to joy and a meaningful life!
1. All of our little lives can now know eternal significance by the aligning of our lives with God’s purposes.
2. What are we really doing with our lives and resources that is more significant than that?
40 DAYS: IRRATIONALLY GIVING
Discussion Guide for Community Leaders
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
As a church family we want to be OUTRAGEOUSLY LOVING people who PASSIONATELY PURSUE the Lord with IRRATIONALLY GIVING lifestyles as we CONSISTENTLY SUBMIT to God’s desires and EFFECTIVELY DISCIPLE others to do the same.
This requires that we put into practice a personal pursuit of God. In our Community Groups we want to start with the first and primary question of “Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?” This will help us as a church family to explore with expectation how conversations are becoming confirmations that God is speaking to us all.
2 Corinthians 9:11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. NIV
When we are enriched by God and generous like Jesus the world will be a better place.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What are a few of the benefits of learning to live a generous life?
2. What financial situation did you grow up with (i.e. not enough money, just made ends meet, more than enough, it varied, etc.)?
3. What did your parents do, if anything, to help train you to manage your finances?
Managing your finances well positions you to live a consistently generous life.
1 Corinthians 10:24 Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being. (NKJV)
The Message Bible says it well, “We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.” (MSG)
All of the world’s resources came from God. We have nothing before we arrive and nothing after we leave.
God OWNS it and God LOANS it. We have what God entrusts to our care for about a century. The question is will we spend it primarily on ourselves or will we cooperate with His sacrificial nature to invest in God’s Kingdom to make a difference in the lives of others.
This is why we exist as a church. This is why we are in this group having this conversation. People give so we can exist as a family and encourage each other forward in our faith.
Our giving is a responsible part of being a church family together but it goes deeper than that. This is about our worship. This is about our legacy. Our children won’t learn generosity from their buddies. We must help them understand God’s plan for giving a portion of our increase to constantly bring us back to the reality that everything we have came from him. This helps us keep him first in oru lives.
Deuteronomy 14:23 The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives (TLB)
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
4. Have you had any kind of family discussion about giving when you were growing up? How can you initiate this conversation this week to cooperate with the action point from Sunday?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Purpose a family conversation this week about tithing and how your family puts God first in your lives.