1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,000 Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,520 will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:21,360 not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to bless 4 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:28,080 you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound 5 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:33,760 in every good work. As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, 6 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:42,000 their righteousness endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food 7 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:49,120 will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 8 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:55,120 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion 9 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,760 and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 10 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,440 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord s people, 11 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:12,720 but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which 12 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:18,080 you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession 13 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:25,360 of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in 14 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:30,960 their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace God has 15 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:44,000 given you. Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift. Thanks, Tom. Thanks, Matt. 16 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:57,120 You might know that myself and my family lived in Vanuatu for some time and we did that 17 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:04,160 for about a decade while I was teaching in Bible colleges there. But you might not know that about 18 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:12,800 10 years before that I worked in Vanuatu doing community development work. And what I did 19 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:20,560 in that time, one of the things that I did was to take groups of volunteers who came from 20 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:28,800 Australia and Canada and from Vanuatu as well and we'll take groups and go and do community 21 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:35,600 development projects in remote villages. And we got all kinds of people like we had people from 22 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:42,880 Canada coming to us who had never swum in salt water before. So it's a first. We had people 23 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:50,000 who had come away and never done their own washing before, let alone visited remote villages and 24 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:57,840 lived in a different culture. So there were all kinds of new experiences for the people, 25 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:04,640 these young people. They were young people that we had with us and it was great. It's sort of like 26 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:10,400 short-term mission for not Christian people. Like if you can imagine that, that's what we're doing. 27 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:20,960 And this one time we, as a young woman who was out in a village, one of our volunteers and the 28 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:29,440 women of the village, they took her up to what they call the gardens which is like your family 29 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:34,880 farm or your personal plot of land where you grow stuff. And so they're taking her out to do their 30 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:44,800 work and show her and so they've dug all these holes and then the women start cutting up sweet 31 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:51,360 potatoes and throwing them into these holes. And this woman, this young woman, this volunteer is like 32 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:57,760 don't do that. She's crying and getting them to stop doing that because to her they're taking good 33 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:05,200 food and throwing it into the ground. She couldn't figure out why that was going on. Obviously she 34 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:10,560 never understood much about farming and she didn't understand that you can grow sweet potatoes from 35 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:15,200 chunks of sweet potato and putting it in the ground. And we grow potatoes like that, right? If you're 36 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:20,480 growing potatoes in the backyard and yams grow like that. You can grow them from runners and other 37 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:27,280 things but she was looking at it thinking that these were kind of, she's from Canada, these are 38 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:32,480 kind of starving natives and for some weird ritual they're throwing their food in the ground and 39 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:39,440 was trying to stop them. Paul who wrote our passage didn't live in the jungles of the South 40 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:47,600 Pacific. He lived in the Mediterranean. The people there didn't farm sweet potatoes or yams. They 41 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:56,480 farmed grains like wheat or barley. But the principle's the same. You have to, in order to farm, you 42 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:04,480 have to outlay some of the good things. You have to outlay some of your food and plant it in order 43 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:13,040 to get a harvest back. And I think we can identify with that young woman in a way who didn't want 44 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:21,680 to see good yams or good sweet potatoes being thrown away. It is a strange way of farming. 45 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:32,000 And perhaps sometimes our giving feels a bit like that. It's certainly hard. We find it hard to give 46 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:41,280 our possessions or our money away. And I think it is hard because in our lives and in our culture, 47 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:49,760 our security comes from our finances. Like as opposed in other cultures where our security comes 48 00:05:49,760 --> 00:06:00,640 from our family or our village connections. And so it's hard for us to face the topic that we have 49 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:06,320 this morning which is giving. It's also hard because it's awkward. It's something that we don't 50 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:13,680 talk about. It's like the topic that's kind of taboo in our culture, our personal finances. 51 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:21,840 So before I get going too much, I want to address just a little bit of that awkwardness by 52 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:27,600 telling you where I'm coming from in speaking to you on the topic. 53 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:35,760 Kind of the assumptions behind what I'm going to say. And so then if the assumptions that I'm 54 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:40,560 making are kind of different to where you are, then you can kind of adjust a little bit. At least 55 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:46,560 you know where I'm coming from. So the first thing I want to say is that I'm assuming that we all 56 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:52,800 understand that there is a need to give. That that's part of the Christian life. 57 00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:02,800 That as Michael talked about on the first sermon in this series about the Great Commission, 58 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:07,920 there is a Great Commission that the greatest commission ever has been given to us as a church. 59 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:14,800 And in order to do that, we're going to need money to do that. So I take it that that's kind of a 60 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:20,160 given. This is not kind of, you know, I take it that that's what we know already. This is not trying 61 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:26,240 to raise any money. You know, I don't take any money out of what the the church has not at this 62 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:36,080 stage anyway. And this is not here to try and do it. You know what I'm saying? Michael gave it to 63 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:43,120 me and that's a good thing, you know, to get somebody else to preach on this. It's not Michael, 64 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:48,560 your pastor standing up saying give me more money or something. And it's kind of worked out nice that 65 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:55,920 he's not even here. So we can talk about it without him. The second thing that I want to kind of say 66 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:03,200 that I'm assuming about us this morning is that giving is actually something that you want to do. 67 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:10,880 So I'm not here trying to tell you to do something that you don't want to do. I feel that my job is 68 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:18,080 here talking about something that we all want to do, but we actually find really hard and we kind of 69 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:24,160 need to know about why we need encouragement. And that's kind of made, you know, it's appropriate 70 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:30,560 to be reading this passage because that's how Paul felt about the Corinthians. And that's kind of in 71 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:36,560 that background that we read. He's not sort of saying, you know, you guys are tight and you need 72 00:08:36,560 --> 00:08:42,960 to give more. He's saying you are generous and he's thanking them for their generosity and wants to 73 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:51,040 kind of just shore up that gift that they've already committed to. If you look back in 74 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:56,880 verses one and two of chapter nine, he says, there's no need for me to write to you about this 75 00:08:56,880 --> 00:09:02,720 service to the Lord's people. This service is the giving for I know you're eagerness to help 76 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:10,160 and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians telling them that since last year you in Achaia 77 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:18,160 were ready to give. So he's not telling them, he's not telling them off, he's encouraging them. 78 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:25,520 So the passage is a bit kind of difficult because we find it hard, it's difficult because it's a 79 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:32,000 bit awkward. But I also want to recognize at the outset that it's not an easy passage. Like 80 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:39,200 there are parts of the Bible that are harder than others and we're going to look specifically at 81 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:45,600 verses chapter nine verses six to fifteen and a lot of what's said there is actually quite hard 82 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:52,480 to understand. But I kind of want to introduce that by saying, look the key to getting it and 83 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:59,200 unpacking all of that passage, it becomes a lot easier when we realize that almost everything 84 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:05,760 that Paul says there is somehow based on his picture that he introduces at the start about 85 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:11,280 sowing and harvesting. So if we kind of use that sowing and harvesting as a way to kind of come to 86 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:18,640 it, it makes each of the little parts of it become a lot easier. And when we see that, we see that 87 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:26,000 the big takeaway, the big idea that Paul wants us to get or wants the Corinthians to get is that 88 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:34,480 where to give like we're sowing seed, right? So we give like we're sowing seed and that means that 89 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:43,840 we give abundantly because that's the best way to sow, all right? And that's the key principle that 90 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:48,880 that Paul gives it and he gives it in the first verse and that kind of guides everything after 91 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:54,160 that. So it's given in verse six, remember this. So remember this is like take note of this, listen 92 00:10:54,160 --> 00:11:03,600 to this. He says whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will 93 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:11,040 also reap generously, right? So that comes back to the sweet potatoes in the whole. If you plant 94 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:18,640 lots, then you get a lot back, right? The more you put out, the more you get back. Now that picture 95 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:26,960 that Paul uses there can easily be abused and frequently is. And so we need to get that off 96 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:34,560 our chest right away. We need to be clear that nowhere, anywhere in the passage or anywhere 97 00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:42,400 else does Paul say that if you give more money, you get more money back, right? It's not working 98 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:47,600 like that. That's not his picture. And certainly at grace, we're not suggesting that there's anything 99 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:53,360 particularly special about giving to grace, that there will be any particular financial blessing 100 00:11:53,360 --> 00:12:00,960 that will come back in return. So we need to get into the passage then and see what Paul means by 101 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:06,400 this principle. How does he apply it? What's this principle of sowing and harvesting? And what does 102 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:15,040 it say about our giving? And as a way of doing this, I'm going to note three things about sowing, 103 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:20,240 the way that Paul discusses the idea of sowing in the passage, and then three things about harvesting. 104 00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:30,400 And the first thing to note about sowing is that you can sow as much as you like, right? 105 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:36,880 So you see that in verse six, just in our first verse, whoever sows sparingly, whoever sows generously, 106 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:45,680 it's not you must do this. It's just this is what happens to the one who does so generously, right? 107 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:52,000 And then he kind of spells that out in verse seven. He says, each of you should give what you've 108 00:12:52,000 --> 00:13:00,480 decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. So God invites you to decide 109 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:06,960 what you're going to give, right? We're not under the law, we're under grace, and under grace we 110 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:14,560 are free to respond to the gospel. God has given to us richly, right? He is established in the 111 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:23,040 gospel, he's established an eternal kingdom, and now we are free to buy into that kingdom as much 112 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:30,800 or as little as we want. So give freely as God has given to you, don't be bullied into giving, 113 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:38,640 right? God is inviting you into his joy of giving, and the reason for that in part is 114 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:42,880 spelled out in the next verse, or in the next part of the same verse, so we're still in verse 115 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:54,000 seven. It says, for God loves a cheerful giver, right? God loves it when we take joy in our giving. 116 00:13:55,520 --> 00:14:04,320 Now my grandma, grandma on my father's side, passed away recently. She was well into her 117 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:12,640 90s at the time, and quite recently before she passed away, I had a chat to her about her 118 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:22,560 upbringing and her experiences of church throughout her life, and so she told me about when she was 119 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:28,560 a little girl, which was really when she had to go to church, and so on that side, our family, 120 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:36,800 or her family really, has Scottish heritage from the Scots, and so when she was a little girl, 121 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:42,000 her and her sister got sent along to the Presbyterian church, right? Because that's what you did. 122 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:48,160 They sent along the kids to Sunday school, not sure the parents went to church, but that's what 123 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:53,680 you did in those days, so you get your kids a bit of that good morality, or maybe you just get an hour 124 00:14:53,680 --> 00:15:02,000 at home. But anyway, she got sent off, and she was telling me that when she got sent to 125 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:11,360 Sunday school, she had a penny, right? So this is back in the, would have been in the 1920s, I think, 126 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:17,120 and got to do a bit of maths there, but that would be about right, and so she's got a penny, 127 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:22,400 and when she went to Sunday school, she had to put the penny in the box, right? They sent 128 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:28,720 her like a box around, and everyone had to put their penny in, and she didn't want to put her penny 129 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:35,680 in, right? That's, like, she did not want to put her penny in, and, you know, talk about holding a 130 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:43,760 grudge. Nearly 90 years later, she's still bitter about being forced to put her penny in the box 131 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:50,960 at Sunday school in the Presbyterian church in Melbourne when she was a kid, right? My grandma 132 00:15:50,960 --> 00:16:00,960 was clearly not a cheerful giver. Now, I tell you that because it's worth understanding how we 133 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:08,240 shouldn't use that verse, right? So you can't then say to grandma, you have to put your penny in the 134 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:15,760 box, and you better enjoy it, right? That's like saying that you've got to do a punishment, and 135 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:20,880 you have to enjoy it, right? Which is what some of my teachers kind of implied to me when I was 136 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:26,400 a kid, and you're kind of like, well, you can give me a punishment or I can have fun, but I can't 137 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:32,000 do both of those things together, right? And that's not how we want to use it in our own thinking, 138 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:39,040 in our own church. It's not like, you know, you in row two, they're seat five, you did not smile as 139 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:47,920 the bag came around. So it's not telling us that we have to feel happy when we don't want to, so 140 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:56,080 what does it mean? And Paul spells it out for us, and he spells it out in the next verse, and this 141 00:16:56,080 --> 00:17:07,600 is the second point about sowing. God enables us to give so that we will join in his joy, right? 142 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:15,440 That's, he is giving to us, he's enabling us, he's blessing us, so that we can join in him. He likes 143 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:22,160 to give, he's the generous giving God, he's the gracious and merciful God, and he wants us to 144 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:29,760 enjoy what he enjoys. It's like saying, I have an ice cream, right? Here's some money so that you 145 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:36,400 can buy an ice cream too, right? So that we can enjoy ice cream together because ice cream's awesome, 146 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:45,920 and to God giving is awesome. He loves it. Look at verse eight, it says, and God is able to bless 147 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:53,520 you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good 148 00:17:53,520 --> 00:18:00,480 work, and the good work he's talking about there is the work of giving, right? So God blesses us, 149 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:11,200 we have all that we need so that we can do good with what we have, and if we didn't get it there, 150 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:19,200 it's more clear in verse 11. He says, now he who supplies the seed to the sower, right? So who, 151 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:25,120 like if you're sowing, like if the image of sowing is the image of you giving, you're giving, right? 152 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:33,200 You're sowing, but who gave you the seed to sow? Who gave that? Well, God gave that to you. So he 153 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:39,280 who supplies the seed to the sower, that's God and the bread of the food, it's God who provides for us, 154 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:46,240 will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge your harvest of righteousness. 155 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:53,920 So God is able to do that. He is able to give to you and supply to you so that you're able to be 156 00:18:53,920 --> 00:19:03,360 generous. He gives us extra so that we have extra to give, that's the purpose of blessing us richly. 157 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:09,040 So if you're blessed in material ways, that was God being generous with you, it wasn't you, it was 158 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:16,400 God being generous with you, and he did that so that you can be generous with others. We have a 159 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:26,560 thing as Christians, right? So maybe this is not you, but maybe it's a Christian thing, 160 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:35,520 and you know, you've just had like a big spend, okay? So you know, you bought your big, you know, 161 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:40,240 you bought your house or your car or you put the extension in or whatever you did, and then you're 162 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:46,160 kind of showing another Christian your thing, or that you know, they're in your house or whatever, 163 00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:51,120 and then you get that, you get kind of a bit of a feeling, a bit of a guilty feeling, like 164 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:58,400 maybe the house was a bit over the top or you didn't need to do that extension or whatever or, 165 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:04,320 you know, and then you want to sort of cover it a little bit, you want to sort of, you know, 166 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:14,000 you damp it down a bit, and so you say, God has blessed me with this house, right? Oh, God has 167 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:20,320 blessed me richly with this, you know, as if you haven't really been involved in the decision-making 168 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:25,840 that led to that, as if you sort of just woke up one morning and it's like, well, there's a yacht 169 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:30,880 in the driveway, what do you know, God has blessed me with a yacht, you know, it's just great, isn't 170 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:38,480 it? You know, that's the way that it is, you know, as if God is giving us stuff for our own 171 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:44,400 private pleasure. It's like, you know, mum and dad gave us money to go down to the shop to get 172 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:49,840 bread and milk, and we come back with bubblegum, right? But look again at verse 8, it says, God 173 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:57,120 is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, 174 00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:03,040 right, so you've got what you need, you will abound in every good work, right? He gave it to you 175 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:10,160 so that you can be generous, that was the point, okay? So your abundance isn't so that you can get 176 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:18,080 good stuff, it's so that you can do good stuff with it, right? It's really nice to, 177 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:24,720 to give someone an ice cream, isn't it? Like, it's pleasurable to give someone that. 178 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:33,840 Grandparents just love it, right? Grandparents just, who's a grandparent, right? It just, 179 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:41,680 yeah, you love it, you know you do, right? It seems to me that you can't take a grandparent 180 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:46,720 anywhere without them wanting to buy some little kid an ice cream. Like, if they didn't have any 181 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:52,800 little kids, they would just buy ice cream for random kids, and that's kind of what God's doing. 182 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:57,440 He's not just, not just giving you an ice cream, what he's doing is he says, 183 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:06,560 I'm gonna give you enough for two ice creams, right? So that you can enjoy buying an ice cream for 184 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:16,240 somebody else. Okay, so we talked about sewing in Paul's picture of sewing and harvesting. 185 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:24,080 We saw firstly that God leaves it to us to give what we like and secondly that he enables us 186 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:32,880 to give so that we will enjoy it, so that we will join in his joy of giving. And the third thing 187 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:41,840 that we see in the sewing is that this giving is a good work that arises from the gospel, 188 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:49,040 right? It in itself is a good work, we've said that, but this good work comes from the gospel, 189 00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:54,720 and this is spelled out in verse 13. It says, because of the service by which you have proved 190 00:22:54,720 --> 00:23:01,440 yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession 191 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:09,680 of the gospel of Christ, right? So he describes our giving there. There's a way that he describes 192 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:16,320 our giving and he describes it as the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of 193 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:24,080 Christ, right? So as we said before, we're not under law, we're under grace. God has acted 194 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:32,640 in an incredibly generous way towards us in the gospel. He has sent his only son to die that we 195 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:42,400 can have everlasting life, that we can be part of this glorious eternal kingdom. And so in obedience 196 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:49,440 to that kingdom that we've become a part of, we can act generously towards others just as 197 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:58,320 God has acted generously towards us. And in that way, we confess the gospel by reflecting it in 198 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:04,080 our own lives. Like that shows the gospel, it demonstrates something in the gospel by being 199 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:10,560 generous to others. It shows who God is to the world. So first we saw that God leaves it to us, 200 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:15,840 secondly we saw that God enables us so that we can join in His joy, and thirdly we saw that 201 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:29,600 it is a good work that arises out of and reflects the gospel. So it's God's will that we give freely 202 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:38,800 and we give freely because God enabled us to and we give because God has given freely to us. 203 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:47,440 Okay, look at the last verse, thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. So the series that 204 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:51,760 we're going through is the greatest, the greatest is the greatest that and it's the greatest giver. 205 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:59,200 The greatest giver is God, He's the great giver. We just join in His joy in doing that. 206 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:07,600 But what about the harvest? What about the crop that is produced by all this kind of gracious 207 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:15,280 giving or this gracious sowing? Well firstly notice that the harvest is described in verse 10 208 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:23,200 as a harvest of righteousness. Okay, so just as it's a good work as we've just said, it's an 209 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:29,200 act of obedience. So just as we're kind of sowing in goodness, then it's a harvest in goodness, 210 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:33,440 in righteousness. It doesn't mean that our righteous, sometimes we might get a little bit 211 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:38,800 caught up there because we know that we're saved because of having righteousness. So it's not talking 212 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:45,440 about the righteousness, we don't win our righteousness in front of God in judgment. That is not one 213 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:50,800 through our giving. That's not our righteousness at all. The righteousness that we have in judgment 214 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:59,040 is Christ's righteousness. What it means is that it is a right act of proving and that proves and 215 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:04,880 demonstrates that we are saved members of God's family and that we're acting accordingly. We're 216 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:13,360 acting like right members. And that's what Paul says in verse 13 when he says, because of the service 217 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:21,920 by which you have proved yourselves, right? In this act it proves, it demonstrates our 218 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:28,960 righteousness. It comes out of the good work that we do because of the gospel. Our giving confesses 219 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:36,480 Christ and proves, it shows that Christ is Lord of our lives. We're not Lord, our own wants and 220 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:45,440 desires aren't Lord. Christ is our Lord, His kingdom is what's important. And as a right follower of 221 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:53,520 Christ, we produce a harvest of righteous deeds. But what are these deeds? And this is our kind of 222 00:26:53,520 --> 00:27:00,000 our second point in the harvest. So firstly, there's a harvest of righteousness. Secondly, in verses 223 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:14,240 12 and 13, our giving results in prayers of praise to God. So through giving, actually we fulfill 224 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:23,200 our entire purpose in life. Our purpose in life is to glorify God and in giving it results in that 225 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:32,080 praise being given up to God. So verse 12 says that it's overflowing in many expressions of 226 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:39,120 thanks to God. And then in verse 13 it says, others will praise God for the obedience that 227 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:44,240 accompanies your confession of the gospel. So others are praising God because of our giving. 228 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:53,360 All right, so our giving is like a prayer machine that is just cranking out praise for God. 229 00:27:54,560 --> 00:28:04,000 All right, and that happens as we give. We don't know always the people that our money goes to. 230 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:09,920 We might be giving in a number of different contexts. But the work that gets done through that, 231 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:15,360 that somebody receives something, whether it's receiving some money through that or receiving 232 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:20,320 food or something that they need through that, or whether it's receiving the ministry. You know, 233 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:28,320 when we give towards ministries that go and teach the gospel or preach it to people on the streets 234 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:34,640 of Armadale or overseas, we might never see those people. But those people, when they receive it, 235 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:42,080 when that gospel is believed, then they're praising God. And that's through our giving. So 236 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:52,640 it creates this wonderful righteous act through what we've done. So it is an act of righteousness. 237 00:28:52,640 --> 00:29:01,920 Secondly, it results in praises. And then thirdly, it's an act of fellowship that brings God's people 238 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:10,640 together. So you'll notice in verse 12 that it is supplying the needs of the Lord's people. 239 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:18,880 So we might have gathered from reading chapter eight and perhaps from other places that 240 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:27,520 Paul is at the moment when he's writing this part to the church in Corinth. He's organizing 241 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:35,280 a collection. It's actually, it takes this collection that he's going about from places 242 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:41,360 and preparing places to give. In this case, he's writing a letter to kind of shore that up. And 243 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:48,480 later people are going to be coming through to collect this money. And then this occupies three 244 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:54,880 years of Paul's life and his ministry, not that he's not doing other things at the same time, 245 00:29:54,880 --> 00:30:02,320 but this is a big deal. And what he's doing is he's collecting money for Christians in Judea. 246 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:12,400 So they're in kind of Greek areas in Corinth, Macedonia, and the Jewish Christians in Judea 247 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:22,160 are facing drought. And so he's collecting money, which acts as this incredible sense of solidarity 248 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:31,040 between the Gentile Christians in places further north and the Jewish Christians in Judea. 249 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:42,160 And he says in verse 13 that, in their prayers to you, their hearts will go out to you because of 250 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:49,120 the surpassing grace God has given to you. So their hearts will go out to these other churches, 251 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:55,120 just as the people in Corinth, their hearts will be going out to these other believers. And as I 252 00:30:55,120 --> 00:31:02,560 said before, in our situations, we may never know the people that this is, that our money is going 253 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:08,400 out to. And they would, the people in Corinth, very few of them, maybe one of them would have 254 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:13,920 accompanied that money on this trip. The rest of them won't get to meet that. And yet they are 255 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:21,600 brought into fellowship by this incredible act of giving as they, the hearts go out to each other, 256 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:27,440 they're bonded together in this, this kind of universal church, but also that through their 257 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:34,000 prayers going to God, they're kind of really spiritually joined together in their act of giving. 258 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:48,080 And so in terms of our harvest, Paul has talked about it in different ways. Our giving results, 259 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:55,840 or is a demonstration of our righteousness. And it is a real and practical confession of 260 00:31:55,840 --> 00:32:03,200 Christ as we do that. It results in God being glorified as we pray and give thanks for what 261 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:10,960 God has done through those people. And thirdly, it results in God's people being brought together 262 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:20,880 across geographical and political and cultural barriers. So do not let any shysters tell you 263 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:27,600 that giving to them and their private jet will somehow get you 10 times your money back. 264 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:36,000 Right? It is not about you. It's not about your pocket. It is about God's glory. Where's the harvest? 265 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:41,760 The harvest is in glory going to God. That's what our giving gives. That's what it produces. 266 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:49,440 That's the big idea that we've been talking about throughout. That's the idea of sowing and reaping. 267 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:59,920 We sow abundantly in a generous and sacrificial way because of the great harvest that it produces. 268 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:08,960 And this harvest is in righteousness. So in closing, I want to give some really, 269 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:19,760 kind of bring this together in some practical comments or suggestions about giving, about 270 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:31,600 how we can actually do that in our own lives. So the first thing is to be thoughtful about your 271 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:40,080 giving. So we've read that we should give what we have decided in our hearts to give. So just that 272 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:47,040 line, that makes us think, that implies that the person has thought about it. They've decided in 273 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:53,440 their heart. Like it's a pre-decided thing that they're going to be doing that leads to this 274 00:33:53,440 --> 00:34:01,520 giving. It's not kind of chucking in the plate whatever happens to be in the wallet 275 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:07,840 at the end of the week. And that's kind of like the way that you might give on the street sometimes 276 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:12,800 if somebody asked you for money or if they're passing a bucket round for surf lifesavers or 277 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:17,840 whatever and you sort of pull out your thing and you're kind of hoping there's not a 50 in it because 278 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:27,840 that's going to be awkward. But that's not what's kind of going on here. If you're giving 279 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:34,960 what's decided in your heart, you've made a decision. And if giving is as good as what Paul says it 280 00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:41,120 is, if it's a harvest of righteousness bringing praise to God, then we want to be strategic about 281 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:52,880 it across the whole of our lives. So that means that your giving needs to be a part of your major 282 00:34:52,880 --> 00:35:00,960 life decisions. It's not the afterthought that fits into your life. It's actually got to be 283 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:07,760 embedded in the way that we decide to live our lives. It's got to be a part of decisions like 284 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:16,720 what house to buy. I think you can say that's radical. But really, I mean, is it? Should that 285 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:22,560 be that radical? Like you need to think about it. So maybe you're like buying a house and 286 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:27,280 you're thinking about like I could live in this house here and I need such and such a mortgage 287 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:32,160 to do that or I could live in this house here and I need such and such a mortgage to do that. 288 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:37,840 And maybe those two places aren't the same. And maybe one, I'm not saying this is the only 289 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:43,920 factor, but maybe one of the factors in that that you need to think through is which of these 290 00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:52,800 allows me to be generous in the way that I give. Right? So that I'm not looking after me first and 291 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:57,920 then whatever's left over kind of comes away. But it's actually embedded into those decisions, 292 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:03,680 embedded into all, I mean, it's not talked about picked on houses, but you know, in all kinds of 293 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:11,280 ways in life, we have to make conscious decisions about what we do, what work we do, how we spend 294 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:18,640 our time and our money and our resources. And we need to build giving into that right from the 295 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:25,680 base, right from the start. So we need to be really thoughtful about the way that we give. Secondly, 296 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:34,080 give your best to God. Okay, give your best to God. So this is an Old Testament principle. 297 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:40,640 You'll see it throughout the Old Testament that the first one is the one that goes to God. So you 298 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:48,400 sacrifice the firstborn of your flock, right? So you've got your cow, it's finally it's given birth 299 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:53,920 and that you want to build your herd, right? So the first one, like that's the one you want it to 300 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:58,880 grow up and breed again so that the herd grows. You don't know if there's a second one coming, 301 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,880 the first one's the one that goes to God, not the second, not the third, not the fourth, not the 302 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:07,600 last one that you don't care about because you've already got a big herd. The first one goes to God, 303 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:13,920 that's the principle, all right? And if you think about like, you know, when they made a sacrifice 304 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:18,000 of that, it was it always, you know, you read it throughout, throughout, it's over and over again 305 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:22,800 without blemish. You don't give the dodgy one away and keep the good one for breeding. 306 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:30,640 Give the good one away. So I was explaining this to in a Bible study to, I had a farmer, 307 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:37,440 an old guy, a retired farmer from the wheat belt and I was looked in the Old Testament 308 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:43,440 and talking about that and he said, he said, oh, well that really makes sense of what we used to 309 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:50,640 do in like whatever town it was that he was farming. And he said that, that when they, he was a 310 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:55,920 wheat farmer and he said that when they, they took the harvest and then you take it in and it got 311 00:37:55,920 --> 00:38:02,560 something, something happened to it when, so I don't know, farming stuff. But anyway, it ends up in 312 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:10,400 bags of wheat, right? And he said though, the first bags that came through, they were for the church, 313 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:15,120 right? You didn't get all your wheat and then you sort of said later what you're going to do. The 314 00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:18,720 first one, and the farmer never took them and never got the money for that and then gave the 315 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:24,080 money to the church. The first bags were just marked in the mill, they were going to the church 316 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:28,960 getting sold for that. And that's right, like those wheat farmers, like we've got a lot to learn 317 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:36,320 from those guys, that they're getting it right. That's the principle in action. Okay? So we need 318 00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:44,800 to be thoughtful. We need to be careful and give the best to God and that's going to require us 319 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:52,000 being thoughtful and strategic. Thirdly, I want to say don't be too hard on yourself. You know, 320 00:38:52,000 --> 00:39:01,440 especially if you feel that your giving is inadequate and that you don't have the amount 321 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:07,120 that you would like to be giving to all the wonderful things that are out there. Don't feel 322 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:14,560 that you've somehow missed out or that you've been passed by. So remember the widow, right? 323 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:21,200 Remember the widow and Paul, sorry, Jesus sees the widow put, you know, just this one little coin 324 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:29,520 in the offering, right? It gives the penny, right? Back to the penny, yeah. And Jesus says that she 325 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:39,680 has given more than all the others. So your small gift is an enormous gift eternally. So don't feel 326 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:47,600 like you're missing out and don't compare yourself to others, you know? What you give is your business. 327 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:52,880 Jesus says give so that your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing. You worry 328 00:39:52,880 --> 00:40:00,160 about you, not about other people. Don't be too hard on yourself. Fourthly, don't be too easy on 329 00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:08,320 yourself, right? So don't give yourself a free pass, which is easy to do. You know, we say, well, 330 00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:15,680 my circumstances are difficult, you know? And so I don't need to give, you know? There's other people 331 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:21,360 that can do that, but you know, that's not me. And you sort of say to yourself, well, one day, you 332 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:28,080 know, when everything kind of gets in order, then I'll start to give. That's the time that I'll do it. 333 00:40:28,720 --> 00:40:37,200 Well, it seems to me that when those people get money, they still find it hard to give. So if you 334 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:46,880 don't start now, you're never going to. So don't worry about the amount. Worry about being strategic 335 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:59,680 with what you do have. And lastly, please just remember that giving is eternal and things are 336 00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:09,200 temporary. All right? Let's be people who seek our treasure in heaven. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, 337 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:20,880 it is amazing what you give us. It's amazing that you've given us your son that we might have life. 338 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:29,360 And it's amazing that you give us the incredible privilege and joy of joining in being like you, 339 00:41:30,240 --> 00:41:36,400 that you include us in what you're doing in the world and one way is that we can share in your 340 00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:42,480 joy of giving. And you've made it. You've made the whole thing. You've set it all up in the way that 341 00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:51,440 you treat us and deal with us and enable this, that you've made it so that we can join you in 342 00:41:51,440 --> 00:42:03,360 being generous. And we pray that you soften our hearts and that you make it, that we might truly 343 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:13,360 experience that joy now and forever. Amen.