Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in midtown Harrisburg.
This fall, we're studying the book of Second
Corinthians. Second Corinthians is a heartfelt
and practical book calling us back to the life
of the cross. We, like the Corinthians, so often
pursue glory, admire eloquence, shun suffering,
hide hurt, and hoard our goods. And yet the gospel
of Jesus tells us that resurrection comes after
a cross. that comfort comes after being crushed,
that the way up is the way down, that the way
to glory is through suffering, that His strength
is made perfect in our weakness. We'd love to
meet you, and we hope you'll consider coming
and joining with us each Sunday morning at 10
a .m. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You
can find us online at secondcitychurch .org and
on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We hope
you enjoy this sermon. God bless. We pray again.
Father in heaven we pray your blessing upon our
time in your word gotta pray for open hearts
and ears That we might receive from you That
we might grow in you that we might be blessed
by you And may the words of my mouth the meditations
the thoughts the desires the contemplations of
our hearts Be pleasing in your sight. Oh Lord
our rock and our Redeemer Amen All right, so
oddly enough, we are back in chapter 9. If you
have been tracking as we've made our way through
2 Corinthians, you may be thinking right now,
this is all a little erratic. You heard me preach
twice on chapter 6, and then Jed picked up in
chapter 8, and then I preached one sermon on
chapter 7, and then one on just the end of chapter
7, the beginning of 8, and then Jed preached
on chapter 10, and now I'm going to chapter 9,
and next week we're going to look at chapter
11. But today it's chapter 9, which works with
chapter 8, and together they make up Paul's longest
teaching on giving. And I will admit even as
I stand here now, but throughout my preparation,
I've been a little nervous and I was glad that
Jed kind of eased us into the water a little
while ago to talk about giving. And it's not
that I should be actually because our Lord talks
about our greed and our tendency towards greed
and our engagement with money more than any other
of the seven deadly sins. He doesn't mind talking
about it, it seems. but it's certainly not a
subject that we like to talk about in our world.
And maybe if you're here for the first time this
morning and you're like, oh man, I'm at a church
and they're going to talk about giving, go figure.
Well, I can tell you rather confidently that
I have never actually preached a sermon on giving
in this church, though I probably should have.
So anyway, in preparation, I messaged a number
of pastor friends around the country and I asked
them for some thoughts and some stories. And
I want to share a couple of those with you now.
Here's a thought. A friend of mine who pastors
a church in Seattle, he's been at his church
for 17 years. It's a rather large church in our
circles. He told me that over the 17 years that
he has pastored there, he has had many congregants,
many parishioners come and confess all kinds
of different sins. He has only had one person
ever come and talk to him about greed. Only one.
He said, I can give you dozens of other sins.
Only one. Couple of stories that I heard from
different pastor. Dad was trying to teach his
four year old about tithing. He laid out 10 pennies
on a table, set aside one and handed the other
nine to the kid. This one is God's, he said.
The rest are yours. The kid's response? Poor
God. Here's another short story. A guy came to
see his pastor and asked for prayer. I'm struggling
to tithe, he confessed, which is amazing. I've
never had that conversation. Why? The pastor
asked. You make great money, like 300 K. Well,
that's just it. It was easier to tithe when I
only made 30. Now that I make 300, it feels like
too much. Pray for me. The pastor bowed his head
and said, Oh Lord. Please reduce my friend's
salary Down to where he can obey you Those are
kind of funny stories, but also actually they're
very serious stories The child can actually see
how little we offer To God and the man can see
how little he wants to offer to God So we're
gonna talk about giving this morning. If you
wanna leave, you can, okay. And I wanna walk
us through this passage in Second Corinthians
chapter nine with three points, okay? Three points,
good Presbyterian sermon. First one's gonna be
coordinated giving. Second one is gonna be the
character of giving, and then comforts in giving,
okay? Three Cs. Only they were three Ps. That
would be better for a Presbyterian pastor named
Peter. Coordinated giving. Okay, so maybe you'll
remember from a few weeks ago when Jed was preaching
about how Paul was sending Titus and a couple
others to Corinth to collect the Corinthians
offering for the church there in Jerusalem, which
was part of Paul's sort of mission that he talks
about. He mentions it sort of briefly in Galatians,
and he specifically mentions it at the end of
1 Corinthians in chapter 16. Those three guys
weren't going to Corinth to persuade them to
give. In fact, you know, they had received the
first letter and we know from some correspondences
that they had agreed to this already. They said,
yes, this is a good thing. We ought to be givers.
So Paul had instructed them and they had said
they were ready to do so. But Paul here is ensuring
that readiness and he's saying it needs to be
coordinated. Follow through, plan, be ready,
and commit. Follow through. Look at me down at
verses one and two. And again, I want you to
keep your finger on this page, so we're gonna
walk through the whole passage, okay? Now it
is superfluous for me to write to you about the
ministry for the saints, for I know your readiness,
of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia
saying that Achaia has been ready. since last
year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them."
Here's what had happened. The promised giving
of the Corinthians... Okay, so Corinth is the
main city in the area of Achaia. So when it mentions
Achaia there, what he's saying is your, you know,
you guys. Okay, so the promised... giving of
the Corinthians had stirred up the churches of
Macedonia to give. And you might remember that
back in chapter eight, the beginning of chapter
eight, verse two, we read about the Macedonians
how, quote, in a severe test of affliction, their
abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have
overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their
part. Well, those folk there in Macedonia who
through their affliction and their extreme poverty
were so generous, were generous in part, we learn
here, because of the Corinthian Church committing,
being coordinated, being ready and willing to
give generously. Paul says it would be superfluous.
He says it's not needed to write to them because
You've already been ready and look at the work
that has happened because of your readiness and
your generosity. But he's still coordinating
their giving and he's still talking about it.
Why would he do this? Why would he still talk
about it? Even though it's superfluous and they've
already been ready for a year, it says. Because
he wants to ensure this. He wants it to be coordinated.
He wants it to be completed. He wants them to
follow through. So verses three and four, okay?
Imagine this, the poverty stricken Macedonian
church have given, it said joyfully, picture
them dancing as some of you have seen in parts
of the world where Christians come joyfully dancing,
giving their tithes and offerings to the Lord.
They've given joyfully out of their affliction
and their poverty. And now it's very possible
at least that the rich Corinthian church is going
to back out. Paul's saying, look at what's happened
because you've committed to this. You've coordinated
this follow through with this coordination, follow
through with this commitment. But there's something
more in this passage and it's actually more serious.
He said that the boasting about them, I don't
know if you got this, the boasting about them
would prove empty is what our translation says.
Some translations, maybe you have a different
one in front of you, it says vain. That word
is the same word that you can find in chapter
six, verse one, where this translation uses vain.
And there, maybe you'll remember what it says,
but Paul appeals to them to not receive the grace
of God in vain. That's the two uses of this word
in 2 Corinthians. But there's a connection with
being ready to give and following through with
it. and planning for it and receiving God's grace.
You could receive God's grace in vain and you
cannot follow through with the grace of giving
and it will be in vain. Anyway, Paul does not
mind pressing them in their coordinated giving
because he wants to ensure their readiness. He
also doesn't mind because he desires, he wants
to ensure their willing blessing, okay? So look
at verse five now. Verse five, so I thought it
necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead
of you and arrange an advance for the gift you
have promised. By the way, think of the coordination
there. He's going to send some folk ahead of
him and then he's going to come. so that they
can make sure this is happening. So that it may
be ready as a willing gift, not as an extraction.
So there's a word there that's mentioned a couple
times. It's twice translated as the word gift.
That word is the same word, and it's the word
eulageo. It's the word that we get the word eulogy
from, which means good, ou. Logos word, good
word, means a good word. Gift is a good word.
It's actually, it's basically the same word as
what we say, benediction, but that comes from
Latin, bene, good, diction, benediction and elegeo,
eulogy. But so what he's saying is that he wants
them to be ready to bless. We're blessing. That's
actually what it means. It's a blessing. And
this blessing, he says, it's not a blessing if
it has to be extracted. It has to be pulled out
of you. There's no grace. There's no goodness.
There's no blessing in that. He doesn't want
giving to be begrudgingly done by stingy hearts.
Won't be a blessing that way. And I want to just
suggest there's actually a lot that we can learn
about in our giving from this. One thing that
we can learn about this is that giving is always
a reflection of your heart. I actually want you
to sit for a second and think about your giving.
Just think about your giving and think about
how that is always a reflection of your heart.
Ready, willing, generous giving, which is what
he's commending here, is a confirmation of the
salvation of souls, of the blessing of God to
us, the grace of God to us. Giving doesn't save,
but it's always a reflection of our salvation.
A practical thing that we can learn from this
is that we should be planning. to give. We should
think of it as a coordinated thing. Something
that takes actually coordination, working together,
maybe spouses, working together, planning, kind
of looking ahead. I've said this to a number
of you, but I think tithing, which is the practice
of giving a tenth of your income, is a really
wise practice. Though most Christians throughout
history have said that should be a base. We should
think how generous can we be? That should be
something we should build off of. But tithing,
I think, is a good number because it forces you
to budget and to plan. And that will always be
for your good. Your finances will be better if
you budget. Tithing will in some ways force you
to do so. But anyway, your coordinated planning
and your readiness will also influence your heart.
You have those conversations as you reflect on
your money. You cannot serve God money. It will
invite you into a heart conversation and that
will always be also for your good. These things
reflect and they influence where your heart is
at. So the first thing is coordinated giving.
The second thing I want to talk about that I
think this passage then kind of invites us into
is the character of giving. And when I say the
character of giving, I am not meaning generally
character. I mean, the character of Christian
giving? What's sort of in its nature? What can
we say about it? Giving that reflects Christ.
And the first thing is that it's bountiful, okay?
So verse six, let's keep going through the passage.
I thought when I was preparing this, I'm kind
of nervous enough to talk about giving because
we don't do that much, though we should. And
the easiest way maybe is just to keep going to
the passage. So we're just literally going to
walk through it. Verse six. The point is this.
Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
You can sow, which is say you can give in a way
even that is sparingly. Think of the sower who
takes the seed very carefully one and goes well
I just want to put this one right here and I
want to use too much of my seeds I want to put
that one right there and then when the seed when
spring comes harvest time comes you go Oh, there's
only some of those came up and you think of the
sower who goes I want to throw it all out He
receives a great harvest You can sow in a way
that's stingy sowing. You can sow in a way that's
bountiful sowing. And the Bible tells us actually
really clearly that one will reap a harvest and
the other will not. That's what it says. Okay,
now here's an interesting thing. That word translated
bountiful is once again the word eulogia. Different
form of eulogy. Blessing. Good word. So whoever
sows blessing which means it cannot be extracted
right can't be pulled out of you Will reap blessing
and some of you may be familiar with Adam Grant,
I hope quite a few of you are. I remember having
a conversation with Dave Riley, who used to attend
here years ago. He was reading a bunch of Adam
Grant books and he said, it's just Christianity
applied. But Adam Grant was actually the youngest
tenured professor at the Wharton School, the
business school over at UPenn. And he's written
a lot of great books on leadership and business.
And I'd commend some of those to you. He's a
very easy read, but he wrote a book called Give
and Take. And he breaks people down into three
categories in this book, give and take. He says
there are the givers, people that are free with
their energy, with their time, with their resources,
with their money. There are the takers, people
that mostly want to take from others. And then
there are the matchers. So it has to be a tit
for tat. If you give this, then I'll give you
that. Think of the marriage. If you give me your
time, maybe I'll give you. If you give me your
heart, then I'll give you my heart. And he says,
across the board, every discipline of life, the
people that succeed are the givers. It's just
exactly what Paul's saying. You sow sparingly,
you will reap sparingly. You sow bountifully.
Be free, open, generous. He says the same thing
that Paul says and he's not a Christian. The
first character of giving is it is bountiful.
Reaps blessing. The second character of Christian
giving is that it's marked by a cheerful willingness.
So verse seven, each one must give as he has
decided in his heart, not reluctantly, which
is almost as to say to say if you give reluctantly,
don't give or under compulsion for God loves
A cheerful giver. Cheerful giver. Some commentators
in this passage right here, they point back to
a passage in Deuteronomy chapter 15. Deuteronomy
15, 10. It says this, you shall give to him freely
and your heart shall not be grudging when you
give to him because for this the Lord your God
will bless you in all your work and in all that
you undertake. But I think maybe a better passage
that we should point to in the scriptures is
actually not from Deuteronomy, but from Paul's
book to the Philippians, where he says, for the
joy that was set before you, Christ endured the
cross. But it's a great gift of God to us, but
his very self and his life. And the Lord does
that with joy. But both verses have to do with
what God has done for us. Deuteronomy 15 is all
about the sabbatical year and how we live with
others. Part of the whole point of that chapter
is that you forgive others' debts. It's a financial
dynamic and you give freely to others. How easy
would it be to begrudgingly forgive the debt
that somebody else owes you. I think it would
be pretty easy to begrudgingly do that. The seventh
year is coming up. I was banking on that money
to pay for blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right?
And the foundation for that seventh year is that
God rests on it, on the seventh. There's a celebration
of what God has done. Cheerful giving is a reflection
of the joy that was set before Jesus and giving
Himself. He forgives willingly and he gives himself
joyfully. I read in this commentary by Kent Hughes,
maybe some of you knew that name. He was a great
preacher in Chicago for a good long while at
the college church in Wheaton. He gives an illustration
saying that this kind of fits with today's culture.
He says, there's a picture in a Victorian cartoon,
two men sitting in a London club. One is holding
a book in his hand and explains, It's a new story
by that Dickens fellow about a wealthy banker
named Scrooge who finally degenerates into sentimental
weakling. We're like, we look down on somebody
who's so free. But that freedom is a reflection
of our Lord. Pure forgiving is a reflection of
Jesus. Paul says in first Corinthians one that
the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.
And we look at it often as foolishness. We look
at it as foolishness, right? Because we don't
follow it in its footsteps. We go, that's a foolish
way to live. But God says it's the power of God
for salvation. Pureful willingness in our giving
is a reflection of the cross. So the character
of Christian giving is belief. that God brings
about a bountiful harvest beyond what we imagine,
beyond even what we sow, but it also demands
our generous sowing. And then we also see that
a cheerful willingness to give is also a reflection
of God's own giving of himself on the cross.
So coordinated giving, character of giving. Finally,
my third point, comforts in giving. Okay, I think
that sounds like a little bit of an odd word
that there's a comfort in giving. and I'm going
to try to explain it so it makes sense. First,
I think there's a comfort in giving because it
reinforces for us that we and what we have is
not sufficient. And as much as we want to be
sufficient, as much as what we want to have,
we think is sufficient for us, I have that temptation,
there's a great gift in saying we don't have
it. We have to rely on that which is outside
of us. There's a comfort in that. So verse eight,
okay? And God is able to make all grace abound
to you, so that having all sufficiency in all
things and at all times, did you catch all those
alls? all related to God's being sufficient.
You may abound in every good work. Now the good
work he's mentioning here most immediately is
this good work of giving, but he's saying that
in all times, in all places, God is sufficient
for you. I mean, we say the Lord owns the cattle
on a thousand hills. He just speaks and things
come into being. He's fully sufficient for you.
God will always give you what you need to follow
him faithfully. You will always be rich enough
to give. Think of the Macedonians. They believe
that deep down because they gave in their poverty
and in their affliction. They knew they were
sufficient in God. But I do think there's a real
comfort in this because we are told that it is
this grace from God that allows us to give abundantly.
And it's because God is, God Himself is sufficient
for all the good work that He calls us to do.
So the challenge for us is not to say, oh, I
got to figure it all out. The challenge for us
is obedience. The sufficiency is God's, the obedience
is ours. Everything comes from our Father above.
I think it's important to say that this comfort
is tied to sufficiency also because we do have
this temptation to find our sufficiency in ourselves
and these things that we have. And I think this
is exactly why Jesus very explicitly says, those
things, the things of this world is the place
where moth and rust are going to destroy, where
thieves are going to break in and steal. And
he says, for where your treasure is, He's calling
out specifically like our material stuff and
our pocketbooks, our money, where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also. He's calling
this out. And I think there's a real like sort
of a practical comfort in this idea that sufficiency
comes from God because he knows that the temptations
of our heart are to put our protection in these
things, right? Our protection for our future.
Our future is going to be okay if our 401k balances
blah, blah, blah by this age, blah, blah, blah,
blah, right? My future is protected if I got
this job that will allow for this kind of pension.
You don't know the time of the day when you will
be called home. No, it's not that we shouldn't
plan for those things, but our temptation is
to put our trust for our future in them. And
that's not where we should be putting it. The
temptation of our hearts is to put our peace
in those things, right? Our provision. in the
presence of those accounts or whatever have you,
the stuff that we hoard and take. And the Bible
always tells us the only place you're going to
find that protection and that peace is in the
presence of God. That is it. That's the only
place. So if you want to free yourself from the
great temptation of your hearts, our hearts,
let me tell you this. Give your money away. Okay,
turn with me in your bulletin. Let's look at
the first quote. Okay on our meditation quote.
I think Jacques a little Has a really good word
for us here Okay, let me read this for you How
do we overcome the spiritual power of money?
Get more of it. No, he says not by accumulating
more money not by using money for good purposes
even, not by being just and fair in our dealings.
The law of money is the law of accumulation of
buying and selling. That's why the only way to
overcome the spiritual power of money is to give
our money away, thus desacralizing it and freeing
ourselves from its control. To give away money
is to win a victory over the spiritual power
that oppresses us. I'm telling you, it is a comfort
is the comfort to give your money away because
it actually takes away its power and it says
your sufficiency is in God alone. Okay, another
comfort we have in giving is actually righteousness.
Okay, so I'm going to read verses nine through
10. As it's written, He has distributed freely.
You heard this earlier. This is Psalm 112. He's
given to the poor. His righteousness endures
forever. By the way, if you follow along in that
Psalm, at the end it mentions the wicked briefly.
The wicked one is the stingy one in that Psalm.
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.
So like I said, this is a quote from Psalm 112,
but then interestingly, Paul also kind of sort
of quotes from Isaiah 55 and then alludes to
at least Hosea chapter 10, but the point of it
all is that God supplies the seed that we sow,
but as we sow, it's a reflection of His righteousness.
As we mirror Him in our sowing, we're actually
reflecting the righteous one and we are actually
called the righteous. Okay, so there's a comfort
given here with the idea of righteousness, which
is to say there is a degree in which you can
have an assurance of your salvation, which is
a tricky thing, right? That's the Holy Spirit's
work, but there's a degree in which you can see
the fruit of your salvation through how you interact
with giving. So again, an assessment is Where
am I at with God? Well, where am I at with my
money and God? Giving doesn't earn salvation,
but it shows it. Let me put it this way, there
are no scrooges in the kingdom of God, none.
Okay, finally, the third comfort we get. in giving
is communal thanksgiving. So I'm gonna read just
the rest of it for us, okay? But I want you to
listen for how communal this is here. You will
be enriched in every way to be generous in every
way, which through us will produce thanksgiving
to God. 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 sacrifice, they will
glorify God because of your submission that comes
from your confession of the gospel of Christ.
Isn't that interesting that he connects giving
with confession of the gospel? 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 inexpressible gift. You see
how it's mentioning so many different people,
you and us and they over there. Our hearts are
connected in our giving. You are brought closer
to one another in your giving. Let me turn your
attention again to the quote in the bulletin.
This second one is from NT Wright. When human
beings give their heartfelt allegiance to and
worship that which is not God, they progressively
seek to reflect the image of God. One of the
primary laws of human life is that you become
like what you worship. What's more, you reflect
what you worship not only in the object itself,
but also outwardly to the world around. Those
who worship money increasingly define themselves
in terms of it and increasingly treat other people
as creditors, debtors, partners, customers, rather
than human beings. One of the ways, brothers
and sisters, that we will knit our hearts together,
that we will be one body, instead of looking
at each other as separate units, is actually
giving collectively. Your heart will be changed
as you give and it will be changed towards one
another. That's what this passage is saying at
the end. It's they and us and we're all offering
it up and thanksgiving, but we're also thanking
God for one another and how he provides for us
through one another and all this kind of stuff.
Churchwide comfort in the communal thanksgiving
of giving. Now I rather hate that as soon as
Halloween was done, Christmas ads went crazy.
Can I get an amen? It really bothered me this
year for some reason. I was just like, I was
scroogey about all that. How all of a sudden
you go to a store, it's like Christmas stuff
everywhere. I'm like, where's just the Thanksgiving
decorations? But I also really do love the act
of giving and receiving that we practice at Christmas.
We give to those we love and receive from those
we love. And as we do, so our hearts do come
a little bit closer together. as we receive something
from one another. I mean, we're going to do that
tonight. You know, as you bring something or
as you just receive what somebody else made,
our hearts will come closer together. It just
naturally happens. There's an affection that
grows as we release what is ours and we give
it away. It's an affection for God that grows
and it is an affection for one another. So we
have a comfort because we have a communal Thanksgiving.
All right, let me end by telling you a story.
It's a short one again. Two men were marooned
on an island. One man paced back and forth, worried
and scared, while the other man sat back and
enjoyed the sun. First man asked the second man,
aren't you afraid we're about to die? No, said
the second man. I make $100 ,000 a week and tithe
faithfully to my church every week. My pastor
will find me. Okay. I only have like three more
sentences. I got to get to it. That's a funny
one. Brothers and sisters in Christ, I am not
out to find you. I actually don't know what any
of you give, but I hope that you can say from
your heart that you cheerfully give generously
and, and more, maybe, maybe more next year or
maybe more even this week than you gave last
week because it is for your good. I promise you
it's for your good. Like open, open it up, give
away more than you think you should. It will
be for your good. And if this is true, then you
will be blessed through it. The one who sows
sparingly will reap sparingly. The one who sows
generously will reap generously. Coordinated
giving, reflecting the character of Christ is
for our individual and for our communal joy.
which is exactly why Jesus came. Let me pray
for us. Lord, I pray that today we as couples
and individuals and as families will think long
and hard of your words that we cannot serve two
masters and ask ourselves, how can we more faithfully
and joyfully and cheerfully serve you? And maybe
today hear that the best way to do that is to
give cheerfully and generously. God, please,
would you do that in each one of us? We all know
the collective things that we hear. And it's
not even unique to our culture because Jesus,
you spoke about it so much that we're so tempted
to grab onto our pocketbooks and keep it in our
pockets. And I pray that we'd fight that temptation
by being wildly generous and giving eagerly.
And that we would also expect that your word
is true, that your grace is sufficient for us,
that your power is actually made perfect in our
weakness, that feeling a little uncertain may
be actually for our best. God, please do this
in us. And in so doing, God, conform us to the
image of our Lord before the joy who is set before
him endured the cross, despising its shame and
bringing us to salvation. Amen. Thank you for
listening to Second City Sermons podcast. We
hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship
God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please
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