2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6. Now some of
you who are observant might be saying to yourself,
well the last chapter we covered was chapter
7. And you would be correct. But to save some
time, we're just going to look at a few verses
in chapter 9 and talk about what's going on.
Now that can be your homework this week. You
can go back and you can read in 1 Corinthians
chapter 16. There are the first few verses. And
then you can flip over and you can read 2 Corinthians
chapter 8 and chapter 9. And they're all dealing
with this same topic. And that is an offering
that the people of Corinth have been working
on gathering to help the people of Jerusalem.
That's what's being covered. And that's what's
talked about. in chapter 8, and he continues
on in chapter 9. And so just to save time from
reading through all that, there's not really
a lot to break down too much verse by verse.
And so we're just going to combine these two
chapters into these three short verses here and
talk about what's going on. So 2 Corinthians
9, verse 6. Remember this. The person who sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly. And the person
who sows generously will also reap generously.
Each person should do as he has decided in his
heart, not reluctantly or out of necessity, for
God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to
make every grace overflow to you. So that in
every way, always having everything you need,
you may excel in every good work. Let's pray.
God, we thank you for this simple instruction
that Paul gives to the people of Corinth. And
dear Lord, I believe that this instruction is
good for us too. So I pray that you would help
us to be generous, to be cheerful givers. to
be your people that do good works, to help others
when there is a need that arises. I pray that
you free us from the worries and the distractions
and the thoughts of this world. And I pray that
in these few minutes that your Holy Spirit will
take these words and just plant them in our heart.
Let us think on them, dear Lord. Let your Spirit
recall these words to our mind at the times we
need them. And I pray that these words would
shape... how we live and how we sow and how we
give. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen. Now at the end of 1 Corinthians, in the
last chapter, chapter 16, I think it's the last
chapter, Paul says, look, you guys need to work
on helping out the people in Jerusalem. And he
begins to talk about that in chapter 8. He begins
to talk about this gift that they have supposedly
been working on for some time, for about a year
now. And Paul starts off by saying, look, I have
told the people of Macedonia how good you guys
are doing, and I also want to tell you how good
that they're doing. Now, he points out in chapter
8 the poverty of the people of Macedonia, that
they have suffered some kind of affliction. But
nonetheless, they are willing and ready and eager
to give to support others, even though they don't
have. They are eager and they're begging Paul,
essentially, don't take this blessing from us.
You ever heard anybody say that before? Maybe
you've said it before. You want to help somebody
out and you try to help them and they say, no,
I can't take that from you. And you say, look,
don't take, this is my blessing to you. Maybe
somebody said that to you or you said that to
somebody. I just shared with y 'all, I think,
a great example of that when we went to New Orleans.
And one of the very people we went to serve handed
me a wad of money. It was $40 that he wanted
to give back to our ministry. And some would
say, how could you take that man's money? He
ain't got anything. Well, if this is what's on
his heart, which is what we see in his scripture,
if his heart, if his desire is, even in my poverty,
I want to be generous to help others. Well, that's
what the scripture calls us to do. And that's
exactly what Paul says of the Macedonians. And
that's what he's calling the people of Corinth
to do. Now, if you go back and you read these
two chapters, I'm not really sure exactly what
Paul's, what he's going for here. Maybe he's
just stating some simple facts. You know, hey,
Macedonia did good. Hey, you need to do good.
Or maybe he's trying to spur them on a little
bit. Hey, look at these people up in Macedonia.
They've done pretty good. Now, don't you think
you can probably do a little better than that
or maybe at least do as good as them? I don't
know. If Paul was trying to spur something on,
as you read on, he says, hey, look, you know,
I've been telling them about all this big offering,
this gift y 'all are working on. Some of them
just to come down here and see it. So y 'all
better make sure that everything's ready. It
sure would be embarrassing for you, Paul says,
if they were to come, if we were to come. and
you ain't going to have much to offer to the
people in Jerusalem. Now, I don't know if Paul's
kind of trying to give them a hint, a little
nudge. Maybe he's just stating facts, and there's
no ulterior motive that he's got going on. But
nevertheless, that's the conversation that's
going on here in 2 Corinthians 8 and into chapter
9. And the main point being this, is that we
don't have to look very far around us to see,
that there are people in need, that there are
brothers and sisters in Christ in need. And the
point that Paul makes is, is that when you have
an abundance and there is somebody else that
doesn't have enough, then it's our duty, it's
our privilege, it's our call by Scripture to
try to help those who do not have from those
who do have. And that's what Paul is talking
about. And that's what we see alluded to here
in these verses that we read tonight, where he
says, remember this. Now, this is good instruction
for us too. Now, we're not necessarily called
to send money to a specific thing as they were
here in Jerusalem. There are many, many, I think,
opportunities that we may be able to give. And
I'm not talking about as a church. I mean, sometimes
as a church, sure. But even individually, just
in our daily life. And these words are good for
us to remember when he says, Remember this, the
person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
Now, if anybody in here has ever planted a garden,
if you plant a small garden, guess what? You're
going to produce a small amount of crops. If
you plant a big garden, you're going to produce
a large amount of crops. Now, the benefit to
a small garden is, well, it don't take nearly
as much work. You don't have to work as hard
at it. It's easy to get out there, do the work.
It's easy to pick what grows. A big garden, though,
it takes a lot of work, but the reward is worth
it. Because if you plant a big garden, you're
going to have an abundance, more so than most
people can eat. Most of the people I know who
plant a big garden give a lot of it away. They
share it with their neighbors. That's a good
thing to do. That's a great thing. And I guess
city folks don't do that because they don't have
gardens. But you see that here at this church
all the time. It's not uncommon when gardens
are growing that people will come in with sacks
full of stuff and sit them back there on the
table and say, hey, I brought squash today. I
brought peas today. I brought whatever it is
today. That's a good example of people who have
an abundance who are sharing with others who
may not have an abundance. And that's what Paul
says. Those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly.
So we need to be generous, not just with our
gardens. It's not just talking about our gardens.
I think it's talking about everything we have.
In particular, I suppose finances would be probably
more specifically what it's talking about. But
maybe there are other materialistic things we
have other than finances. But realistically,
most everything we have is a result of finances.
And so the question is, are we tight with what
we have? Do we hold on to it? Or are we freely
giving to help others? And we have to think about
that. We don't want to be hoarders. We want to
be those that if we have, then we're not stuffing
it under our mattress and going in there and
counting it every day. And we know when one bill
is gone out from under that mattress, we lay
on it at night and we say, man, I'm laying a
little lower tonight. I think somebody took a
$100 bill out from under there. Some people are
just that tight with their money. They're just
that stingy. And they've been blessed, but they
don't use what they've been blessed with to in
any way help somebody. Or maybe they do help,
but just with the bare minimum to get by. And
what Paul is calling us to here, and I think
what God calls us to, obviously through the Scripture,
is if we've been blessed, then we need to bless
others when we have opportunity and the means
to do so. He says in verse 7, Each person should
do as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly
or out of necessity. What does God want us to
do? He wants our heart to be right. He wants
us to give with a good heart. He wants us not
to come to church and say, well, I'm at church,
and I guess the offering plate is coming around.
I guess I should give something. Because the
Bible talks about giving, and I don't really
want to, because I want to buy this new thing,
or I want to save for this, or I want to keep
this for a rainy day, or whatever reason, excuse
that we make. God doesn't want us just to say,
well, I don't want to give this, but I'm supposed
to, so I'm going to give it. God doesn't want
us to give reluctantly. He says he doesn't want
us to give out of necessity. God wants us to
seek him and his word and to grow in him and
to experience his grace and to love other people
like that he loves people. And then when we see
that there's a need, it's not a reluctant give.
It's a, oh no, this person has a need. This person
needs some food. I'm going to give them some
food. Hey, I hear the church is collecting sleeping
bags. Man, I want to help these people. They're
laying out in the cold. They don't have anywhere
to sleep. They don't have anything to eat. I
want to buy some sleeping bags. I want to put
$20 in the pot. I want to put $100 in the pot,
whatever it is. God wants us to love those that
we are serving. He wants us to give. He wants
our heart to be right. And so if you give reluctantly
right now, then that's something you need to
pray about. We need to pray and say, okay, God,
maybe there are times in our life where we don't
want to get rid of that money. We just don't
want to give to that ministry. And we say, golly,
I just gave to this ministry, and now this other
ministry wants money, and now the roof is going
to have to be repaired, and they're going to
be asking for more money, and, well, I don't
give enough. Okay, well, if that's your heart,
so be it. I mean, I'm not telling anybody what
to give or how much to give or what to give to.
That's between you and the Lord. I had somebody
ask me one day about our church. Oh, are they
pretty good givers, your people? I said, I don't
have a clue what anybody gives. Why would you
even ask a preacher that? I don't have a clue.
But that told me where that person's heart was.
The first thing they said to me is they said,
oh, they said, what do you do at the church?
I said, well, I'm the pastor. They said, oh,
you make the big money. I said, what about your
people? Are they pretty good givers? I was like,
dude. But that's where some people's hearts are.
I don't have a clue what nobody gives. If you
are ever wondering, I don't look at nothing.
You, Sonny, can vouch for that. I don't ask.
Zero information. Zero information. Because if
you want to give, that's between you and the
Lord. If the Lord calls you to give, then praise
the Lord. If he doesn't cause you to give, that's
between you and the Lord. God wants us to give
from the heart. And if that means giving to 17
different needs that come up throughout the year,
then so be it. That's between you and the Lord.
But what the Lord wants is for our heart to be
right. And if our heart's not right, then we
need to pray that God would help change our heart.
Because it says that God loves a cheerful giver.
Not a stingy giver, not a reluctant giver, not
a giver out of necessity, but God loves a cheerful
giver. So we're not earning God's favor. We're
not earning God's favor. It's not like God's
got a thermometer in heaven with our name on
it, and every time we put some money in there,
that thermometer goes up until we've reached
the top of it, until we're hot. Boy, God says,
all right, they're ready to go. They put a 20
in here and a 100 in there, and they put 500
in one day, and boy, they're really doing good.
That's not how God works. God would rather us
put two cents in with a pure heart, then put
a million dollars in reluctantly. Because that's
what God looks at. God loves a cheerful giver.
And there is great blessing when we give from
the heart. Listen to what he says in verse 8.
And God is able to make every grace overflow
to you, so that in every way, always having everything
you need, you may excel in every good work. Now
he says grace here, but... But I think he's just
talking about blessing in general. That when
we give, God takes care of us. He gives us what
we need. Now, I'm not one of those folks that
believes that the Bible teaches that, boy, if
you give a bunch of money to God, then God's
going to give you a bunch of money back. Now,
I'm not saying he doesn't do that sometimes.
I'm not saying that God doesn't bless us in that
way sometimes. But I'm also not saying that the
Scripture guarantees that, boy, if you put $100
in the plate today, you'll get a $1 ,000 check
in the mail next week out of the blue. Maybe
you will. I don't know. But I know that God blesses
us in whatever way He chooses to, and maybe that's
materialistically, or maybe it's not. But God
provides what we need, and sometimes provides
abundantly above and beyond what we need. And
for what purpose? So that we can excel in every
good work. Well, what's a good work? We just
talked about one of them tonight. If it's giving
to other people who are in need. Now, maybe there's
been times in your life where you were reluctant
to give. I suspect if we're honest, we've probably
all had some times where maybe there was some
ministry or maybe there was some person on the
street and you were reluctant to give for whatever
reason. You said, I don't know about that person.
I don't know what they're going to do with the
money. I don't know about this thing at the church.
I don't know if I want to give to this. There's
probably been times in our life that we have
been reluctant to give. But in my experience,
and I would venture to say probably in everybody's
experience, I don't know of any time that I have
ever made the decision to give that afterwards
I felt worse giving. Now, I've had times that
I didn't give or didn't help somebody that was
in need. And man, that's a hard thing to have
to live with when you pass somebody by and you
think, man, should I help that person? And you
don't help that person. But I venture to say
that for most of us in here, for those times
that we do help, that we don't go away saying,
man, I wish I hadn't helped that person. We just
don't do that because there's great blessing
in knowing that we've done the right thing. And
that's what Paul's calling the people to here
in Corinth. He's saying, look, there's a need
among the people in Jerusalem. And you have an
abundance. You have an ability with what God
has blessed you with to be able to help these
people. And so through the blessings that God
has given you, give back to those who are in
need. And know that when you give from a good
heart, that God is going to take care of you.
His grace is going to shine down upon you. There's
going to be a great blessing that you receive
from God. And that's good instruction for us
today. That God wants us to be a cheerful giver.
What better example do we have to give than Jesus
Christ? He gave his life so that our sins could
be forgiven. And that's our example. That's the
one that we look to. We are only forgiven through
Jesus Christ because he has given his life for
us. So that when we repent and ask for forgiveness,
our sins will be forgiven. And so when we receive
such a great grace and such a great blessing
from God, then that should motivate us to be
able to bless those we come in contact with in
whatever ways we may be able to bless them. Let's
pray. God, we thank you for this good word. I
pray that you would help us to be a people that
give from the heart. Maybe sometimes we do and
maybe there are some times that we don't, dear
Lord. Maybe there are times that we are greedy
and that we are reluctant and that we are selfish.
So I pray that you would help our hearts to change,
that we wouldn't give out of necessity or from
an unwilling heart, dear Lord. But that through
your word and through Jesus Christ, our hearts
would change in such a way that we would have
a heart and a desire to give to help others in
whatever way we can. So help us to take these
words of Paul and learn from them tonight. And
help us, dear Lord, as individuals and as a church,
be a given church, dear Lord. We pray that you
continue to meet our needs. And help us to have
an abundance so we can continue to help the needs
of others. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.