Episode Transcript
[00:00:25] Speaker A: I am welcome.
I bring you let our conscience you anchor. Lord is to feel your love.
Laden was you will never come at all.
I will rise and go.
Jesus. Jesus of his spirit there is joy and life in him.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Let's pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you that there is joy and life in Jesus Christ. In him we have rivers of eternal life. In him we have the spirit of God. In him we have righteousness and hope and hearts that are changed. Lord, we thank you for giving us a spirit, your spirit that is working in us to renew us and change us and conform us to the image of Christ. We thank you for the inheritance that is being kept in heaven for us, the place that you are preparing. We thank you for this life that you have given to us, for the forgiveness of sins, for our adoption, for our whole justification for the work of sanctification, and the promised coming glory. Lord, help us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and to do so even now as we hear your word in two Corinthians. Open your word to us that we might hear and believe, responding according to your promises and our faith in you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
Let's turn to two Corinthians chapter nine.
Two Corinthians nine, six through 15.
If you've been with us over the last few Sundays that I've been preaching through two Corinthians a lot of Sundays, I guess we come now to the end of chapter nine here, where the Lord, through his apostle, gives some final instructions and encouragement to the corinthian church and to us as well about their life together as a body, particularly as it relates to giving and the Lord's grace among his people. Let's hear God's word.
Two Corinthians nine, verse six. The point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Each one must give as he is decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, he has distributed freely. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever.
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this servant's service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.
By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Amen. Please be seated.
Well, yet again, as we come to this passage and this finishing, this section within two Corinthians, we see how Paul grounds and establishes our life together, our community, our connections with one another, our service to one another within something bigger, a context that's bigger, a hope that's bigger, a confession that's bigger, and ultimately a God himself as the context, if I could put it that way, in which we think about ourselves, in which we ought to think about our life together as a people of God.
You remember again, I'll mention it only briefly, the context of this chapter and the chapter that preceded it, and the history that's going on here. And Paul is writing to the Corinthians, sending brothers who will help them finish up a collection that has been going on for more than a year now. This collection is being joined with the work of other Christians in other places, all to the benefit of yet other Christians in another place, Acaia and Macedonia, at least, perhaps others coming together, these regional churches coming together for the benefit of yet another church in another place, that is the church in Jerusalem.
This body, life as we can describe it, helps us to think about our individual congregations as a part of something bigger. In our confession, we confess that we believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic church. We call it catholic not because we are submitting to the church government in Rome. We call it catholic because Catholic means universal. And we believe that we are not an isolated people all to ourselves, but we belong to a broader church. And that has practical implications, doesn't it?
How does an individual congregation work with other congregations of the Lord Jesus Christ for ministry?
I'm not going to focus on that in the sermon today, but that is the background of what's going on here. We see these churches all connected within these regions, in those regions, working together for the benefit of each other. That's one of the bigger picture things we have going on here.
Look at verse twelve. This is one of the key verses of this passage. Paul says, for the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.
There's a spiritual aspect of our practical service to one another. Right? There's a spiritual aspect of the practical service.
This ministry is not just, he says, he's really explicit about this. It's not just making sure that this person and that person has food on their table and is able to continue worshipping the Lord. But it's so that together there will be an overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.
Notice what he says in verse 13. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from what? Your confession of the gospel of Christ.
This leads to another bigger picture thing, right? The act of the people in giving towards others is not just to supply their needs, as great as that is, it's also to overflow of thanksgiving, and it's coming from somewhere. What is the source of it? The source of it is, well, one of the sources of it is your confession of the gospel of Christ.
As we confess, as we put our faith in the good news of God's grace toward us in Jesus. That is then resulting in this outflowing of generosity and praise.
So, beginning to put all of these things together, Paul is summarizing and clarifying and giving to us principles that ought to guide us in how we think and how we act in relationship to our giving. Both financial giving to the church, but more broadly, we can say to general ministry and needs in which we support one another.
Let's think through some more of these and dig deeper into some of these principles that God gives to us.
I want to focus on two in particular, maybe three if we have time.
The first one is that giving is not coerced or forced.
Something about this context, something about this life that God has established for us in him, creates this principle that giving is not to be coerced or forced. Manipulation, guilt trips, theft, power plays, trickery, anything you might imagine is off limits for God's people.
Look at what verse seven says so clearly.
Each one, each member, each member of the body, each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.
Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.
Notice how Paul doesn't spend any time specifying the particular amounts that are to be given by each member.
Instead, he says he spends his time focusing on the heart. Each one must give as he has decided in his own heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.
What happens? Let's think for a moment about how reluctant or under compulsion giving happens. Compulsory giving happens. And let's think about it from two perspectives. First, from the perspective of church leaders, or perhaps others who might put pressure and be overbearing and use things like coercion and guilt trips and these kinds of things to make people give.
Where does that come from?
I think one place it comes from, let's think from a church leadership perspective, although it's broader than that.
One reason church leaders act this way is because they're afraid.
They're afraid. They're afraid of not having a job.
They're afraid of not being able to pay the rent.
They're afraid of not having respect in the community, or hitting the yearly objectives, or whatever number of other things you might consider.
Some which are valid and important and good concerns, and some which are evil and gross. Concerns about fame, let's say. Or concerns about people thinking well of them.
And then more positive ones, like wanting to do ministry, wanting to serve, wanting to see the Lord's work done.
Whatever the motivation is, it's not good when church leaders start getting afraid. And then out of that fear, going to people and trying to ring them for whatever they think they need to not be afraid.
A similar thing happens with church members who are reluctant to give.
They're also afraid. They're afraid of those church leaders who are being commanding and domineering. They don't want to disrespect them. They don't want to get in trouble or anything like that.
We also are reluctant to give when we are afraid of not having enough for ourselves, our wants, our needs. We're afraid that the money will be abused. We're afraid of all kinds of things, both, again, legitimate concerns and illegitimate concerns.
When we get afraid and we get anxious, we start acting in controlling ways. We try to control other people. We try to control our resources. We lock down, we get tight. We. We move in ways that try to make sure that we're going to be okay.
Whatever perspective we're coming from, this is one place that a lot of coercion and fear and reluctancy comes from.
But what does two Timothy one seven say? It says, God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self control.
It's a heart issue. It's not a money issue. It's a heart issue.
Where does a cheerful heart come from? A cheerful heart is not an afraid heart. A cheerful heart is not one that is being controlled and manipulated. A cheerful heart is not one that is scared about what's going to happen when we have a church that is controlled by fear and anxiety? That is controlled by control and anxiety, these kinds of things. We do not have a cheerful heart.
Where does a cheerful heart come from? Where does freedom and generosity and openness come from?
Well, it comes from confidence in a generous God.
That's the only place it can come from. Because if we are left to our own, which we're not, but if we were left to our own, well, we would only have ourselves. And perhaps it would make sense to grasp and control and move in these kinds of ways to do everything that we can to protect ourselves and our interests.
But what does the Bible say about the Lord?
What does this passage say about God?
We give. Paul said in verse 13, the Corinthians were to give out of a confession of the gospel of Christ.
What is the gospel of Christ?
What is the good news about Jesus that God has proclaimed in this world that we have confidence in? Well, one way we can describe it is as we have it in verse nine.
A quote from Psalm 112, verse nine.
This is speaking of the Lord, our Lord. He has distributed freely. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever.
That's a good expression of God's grace. He distributes, he being. God distributes what freely, right? He gives to people what they don't deserve, what they haven't purchased. He gives to them freely. He gives to those who are in need. He gives to the poor, to the poor in spirit, to the poor of this world.
And he is unchanging.
He is unchanging in his righteousness, in his Holiness. People give for all kinds of reasons, right? One of them we've thought about is under compulsion. God is not under compulsion when he gives. He doesn't have anybody twisting his arm behind his back or poking him with a little dagger and prodding him on. Come on, let's get this done.
He's not afraid of anything or anyone.
He just gives. He gives freely, not reluctantly, not under compulsion.
He is not owing anybody anything. He's not saying, oh, well, so and so did x number of good works this week. And so I guess I've got to pay them their due. He gives freely and he gives freely to even those who are poor. This helps underline this point. A lot of times people give because they want something in return. They need something in return. We give so that a person might reciprocate the gift. We give so that a person might think well of us or support us in some way. God doesn't need any of that. God doesn't need our support. He doesn't need our help.
He doesn't need any of these things. He is self sufficient all in himself.
And one specific way, as psalm one 9112, verse nine puts it, is that his righteousness endures forever. There's no stopping it, there's no changing it. And everything that he does is good and is right.
This is part of the gospel. There is a promise for us that God gives to us, particularly in Jesus, of protection, of righteousness, of safety, of sufficiency.
Consider verse eight, this wonderful verse. This is a promise, okay? This is the gospel.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
What is left out of this statement?
What is God holding back here?
He couldn't really be clearer, could he, when he is being so comprehensive in what he's saying? Of course he's not giving us sin. He's not giving us bad things, evil things, terrible things.
He's giving us all good things. And he is not holding back. He's opening the floodgates and letting it all rush out on us.
Part of our confidence comes from his promise.
Part of our confidence comes from his ability. Notice how it begins. And God is able to make all grace abound to you.
A lot of people make a lot of promises.
God's promises are not empty. He is able to do these things. And we know that he is able, because he has sent his only begotten son into the world to take on the sins of the world, to die for us, to secure our salvation, to give us complete, complete forgiveness of our sins, hope and hope in eternal life, and hope for this life. Now all sufficiency in all things at all times.
And this promise is repeated over and over and over again throughout the scriptures. Here's just one from Philippians four nine. Paul writes, and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus, because of what God has done in Jesus Christ, the great and eternal son of God, because of what God has done in our Lord, the riches of his glory that he has rightfully earned on our behalf and now distributes freely among his people.
God promises out of that wealth, out of the sufficiency of his own work, to supply every need of ours.
Do you think that God sent his only son to die to only secure some of the blessings that he wants to give to us?
Do you think Jesus died and most of his blood was sufficient for giving us what we need.
No, God did this work and supplies perfectly and sufficiently everything that we need for this life and the life to come. Everything that you need for this life and the life to come. And Jesus himself testifies to this. He says, look at the flowers, look at the birds, look around you at creation and see how God supplies things that don't store up, stuff that don't weave and toil.
Will he not much more richly supply your needs?
You can look at the sending of Christ, the resurrection of Christ. You can look at the actions and the words of Christ when you consider his actions. Look at how he went to the poor, went to sinners, went to the sick, to the weak, to the separated, to the lonely.
Jesus was not establishing a kingdom by which he could return favors, right? He could give a certain amount of things, heal a certain amount of people, take care of those who are in need and then just reap the rewards of that through all kinds of favors and acclaim and whatever else. No, he goes to those who could give nothing in return.
In fact, many times he tells them to go and say nothing to anybody about what he's done. Not puff my book.
Throughout the gospels we'd see Jesus not only going to these people, people like us, people that are in need of the forgiveness of our sins and health in this life and especially in the life to come.
But we see him fulfilling those things, giving them food. The feeding of the 4000, the feeding of the 5000. The people are hungry. What are we going to do? Here's a lot of bread out of nothing. Here's a lot of fish out of hardly anything.
We see him giving them food, healing diseases, forgiving their sins. This is who our Lord is.
This is who we are in Christ.
We don't need to be afraid because he supplies all things for us by his grace. He makes all grace abound to us. So that having all sufficiency in all things at all times we would abound in every good work. That's where good works come from. That's where ministry to the saints come from. And what does it lead to? Paul says, yes, it leads to the supplying of the needs of God's people. But it also leads to the overflowing in the many thanksgivings to God. It starts with him and it ends with him. He who is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the source of all life and our chief end as well.
That's where our generosity flows from. Not from fear, but from freedom and confidence. Knowing who our God is.
And so let me ask you, what would happen if you, and maybe a lot of us, all of us, decided to take seriously what God promises here.
What if we looked to God for the opening of our hearts? What if we looked to God and we said, I'm not as generous as I want to be. Or as we read in Romans nine, it said, seek to show hospitality, right? Seek to give, seek to bless. That word, seek there is actually pretty strong it's pursue, right? Like a lion pursuing a gazelle. Right? Well, we don't want to devour people when we're hosting them, but we are pursuing those things.
And if we see in our own hearts, as I know we all do, reluctancy and hesitancy and fear and all these kinds of things, and we want changed hearts, where do we go? That's my question to you. Where are you going to go? Are you going to dig down deep within and try really hard to do better? Or are you going to go to your Lord who can change hearts and move us and change us and open us? That's exactly what he's promising to do here.
Notice again verse 13, those who received the gift will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ.
Look at verse 14, the end of it. Because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Whenever we look at our own lives and we see weakness, we must look to God for strength. And then out of that strength, what if we then made decisions like verse seven calls us to out of his strength and out of his abounding grace? What if we then make each one of us, make a particular decision in our hearts?
What will I give? What is my decision? How much? How frequently and done?
Not complicated, not reluctantly, not under compulsion, but freely making these decisions? And what if out of that freedom then we did it for the love of God and for the love of others? And then looked expectantly to see the praise that overflows?
What if we looked expectantly to see how God works among his people, how jesus'work. As the head of his church, supplying every need for his body through us?
I could tell you what the result would be because the scriptures tell us here the result isn't just hypothetical. It in fact is the praise of God by all his people, and not just in one place, but in many places.
The result is mutual edification, building up the supplying of needs, the honoring of one another, the support of one another, not just in these physical, tangible ways, but emotionally too. We weep with those who weep. We rejoice with those who rejoice.
And as we see the work of God in our hearts and among us collectively, there will be rejoicing when we look back on the ways in which we once were, in which we were closed off to God and to others in love, and now find freedom in generosity and cheer. These are happy words, and God is a happy God. He does this work in us so that we might, as we say in our first question of our catechism, glorify him and what? Enjoy him forever.
He uplifts us. He builds us up. And by his grace, he does that by using one another.
God does not, will not fail to answer his people when they trust him to bless them, when they trust him for forgiveness, for support, for growth, and for service.
God will not fail us when we put our faith in him for the experiences and the joys and the life that comes from community that is bound up in his love and his grace.
He will not fail us. And we will see it, and we will praise him for it.
Let's pray.
Our heavenly Father, even now we rejoice at seeing the work that you have already done, not just here in our own congregation and life of our church and the churches throughout our region.
But, Lord, as we see and reflect on your work throughout time, you used the churches in Acaia and Macedonia and Jerusalem and Galatia and many other places to support and strengthen one another. We see this vibrant life and this activity here in the pages of your word. We see it recorded in history, and we can point to examples in our own lives of people that you have used for our benefit.
How majestic you are and how powerful and omnipotent you are to be able to accomplish these things.
What God, except for you, could change people and work in them and in their lives to create this marvelous community, a bothering, a gathering of people called out from around the world to praise your glorious name.
And, Lord, as we can reflect on your power and on your glory, we also reflect and give you praise. We reflect on and give you praise for your grace, because none of this would be impossible except for the work that you have done on our behalf out of the freedom of your own generous love.
Thank you, Lord, for welcoming us into a body, into a people, into a life that is marked by righteousness and hope and cheerfulness and glory and thanksgiving.
Thank you for a life that is no longer marked by our own sinful desires and craven selfishness and jealousy and covetousness and idolatry.
Lord, thank you for changing us so that we might no longer be enslaved by the sins that once held us, but that we might be free from them, continue working in us, that life of freedom, continue breaking apart the bonds of sin continue building in us the work of your grace and using us to build up one another.
Finally, Lord, we ask that in the areas of our lives where we find ourselves sinfully afraid, not trusting in you, not depending on you for wisdom, for discretion, for making good decisions, for serving one another and in every other way, Lord, when we are fearful, we ask that you would forgive us. And we also ask that you would strengthen us, that you would help us to have a greater vision for who you are and the confidence that we can have in you, you who distributes freely, who is given to the poor and whose righteousness endures forever through Jesus Christ our savior. And we pray in his name. Amen.
