Happy Giving Equals Happy Thanksgiving

On Friday afternoon I imagine the principal at the school got on the intercom system and told the children to have a “Happy Thanksgiving.” I imagine there were Thanksgiving parties in the classroom as the faculty and the children were looking forward to enjoying their Thanksgiving break celebration. The children’s parents will reserve this same week as vacation time to spend with their children. There may be some here may that left your workplace on Friday and shared goodbyes with coworkers and said “Happy Thanksgiving.”

My prayer is that before you eat that meal Thursday that you gaze across the room, you gaze at the food on the table, you look at your surroundings and you praise the goodness of God in your life.

There may be some here this morning that can not relate to such a scene due to family passing on or the fact you live alone. Before I offer the prayer over our meal today, gaze across the room, look at the family of God and be thankful God has given you a family. Amen?

Is “Happy Thanksgiving” the correct phrase to recite? Do we not tend to think about thanksgiving in a more reflective contemplative way? In other words, is not thanksgiving a time of humility? Spiritually speaking, when we participate in the ordinance of Baptism or in the Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, it is a period of thanksgiving. We reflect upon our Lord and Savior and the sacrifice that He made as a ransom for our sins and it causes us to enter a meditative or contemplative time as we think of Jesus and His love for us.

God all through His word challenges us to have a thankful spirit toward Him.

Psalm 100:4 “4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”

Furthermore, the Scriptures support that it is our duty to thank God for His goodness.

Psalm 107:8–9 “8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 9 For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness.”

What we will discover today in our time together as we reflect on Thanksgiving is the source of our Thanksgiving. What brings about a thankful spirit? Paul writes to the churches in Corinth and we will see the secret of having an attitude of gratitude. How can we enjoy a happy thanksgiving?

We learn today that:

The Scripture states “The Lord loves a cheerful giver.”

Happy Giving Equals Happy Thanksgiving

Turn in your Bibles this morning to 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

2 Corinthians 9:6–15 NKJV

6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 9 As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” 10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, 13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, 14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Prayer

Message

The great and jovial weatherman of NBC News for many years, Willard Scott said this about Thanksgiving:

“Thanksgiving just gets me all warm and tingly and all kinds of wonderful inside.”

Karl Barth, the 20th Century Swiss Theologian said “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.”

“In happy moments, praise God. In difficult moments, seek God. In quiet moments, worship God. In painful moments, trust God. Every moment, thank God.” –Rick Warren

I want to show you our destination of study this morning. Let’s understand our objective early in our time together.

Look with me in your Bibles at the end of Verse 11 and the end of verse 12.

2 Corinthians 9:11–12 (NKJV)

11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God,

We want to address this morning, what brings about an attitude of Gratitude toward God?

We will learn today that Happy Giving equals Happy Thanksgiving.

Say that with me,

Happy Giving equals Happy Thanksgiving.

Let’s begin.

Paul under the penmanship of the Holy Spirit wrote a letter to the churches of Corinth, specifically we study his second letter. Churches such as Achaia and Macedonia along with Corinth made up the churches in the region. Paul wrote in the beginning of Chapter 9 to remind the church at Corinth to gather their gift and be prepared to assist the Jerusalem Christians who were in need.

Earlier at the beginning of :

2 Corinthians 8:1–2 “1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.”

Macedonia had given liberally in the past and Paul had made positive comments about the Macedonian and the Achaian church to the church at Corinth. Paul created a little healthy competition to assist in meeting the objective of assisting those Jerusalem believers.

The church at Corinth had agreed to offer assistance and Paul was writing to them to prepare them to gather the offering. Paul did not want them to forget lest they feel ashamed or embarrassed because they dropped the ministerial ball if you will. He knew that if they were prepared in their giving that it would be generous and bountiful giving. If they planned and as we will learn today, they “purposed” about the offering ahead of time, they would give with joy and generosity and the Lord would bless their offering immensely for the Kingdom’s work.

Paul uses this opportunity as a teaching moment to share some spiritual realities when it comes to giving.

We see:

Giving Encourages God’s Approval VV. 6-9

First we see an important principle about giving.

2 Corinthians 9:6 “6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

“You reap what you sow.”

Paul is using an agriculture example to explain a spiritual principle of God that if we give sparingly, we will receive sparingly. It is a spiritual principle of multiplication, the law relating to sowing in the Bible.

The farmer that furrows the rows and prepares land of 40 acres, removes all foreign debris and grasses from the ground and only plants 3 acres of seed will only generate a crop at best of three acres. If you prepare the soil of the whole 40 acres then seed must be dropped and cover the whole 40 acres in order to see the whole field result in a bountiful harvest. This law holds true in our giving.

The universal law of sowing:

Galatians 6:7 NKJV

7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

This is the law that relates to sowing seeds of righteousness vs. seeds of sin and the same holds true in our giving.

The point Paul makes is not so about the amount one gives, but that if one gives in proper fashion, one will return in like fashion.

Listen to this statement and I quote from the New American Commentary:

“No farmer considers sowing as a loss of seed because the harvest will provide the seed for the next season. If a farmer skimps on the sewing of seed he cheats himself” and so holds true for us that give. If we give in stingy, skimpy fashion, we will receive likewise.

Oh listen dearly beloved, we have such a distorted misunderstanding of money and the idea of giving. Money is a tool, it is a commodity, it is not the end treasure. Money is neutral. Money is only as good as what can be accomplished with money, Money is not the end result.

Nor is money the root of all evil, but the love of Money. When money becomes the god rather than the tool to reach the goals of what is to be accomplished with it, we have misunderstood Money’s objective.

That is why the Scripture reads in this way:

Money is neutral. Money is not evil, but the love of money. The overzealous security people find in money such as the rich fool in Luke 12:18 “18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.” Money would not save his life.

1 Timothy 6:10 “10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

Ill.

I was invited to the home of a retired Cardiologist that was suffering at home from Cancer in North Baldwin County. He & his wife are a God fearing couple that have given bountifully over the many years and have been blessed amazingly over his years serving as a Cardiologist.

He asked my son Tyler and myself to come to his home and help him shore up some material possessions that they felt they no longer needed. We made our appraisals and made our offer on the business side of our visit. We conversed and I shared that I was a pastor and that I would love to pray with him and his wife and I did. In the conversations and through the process of assessing his items he made this comment, “money or things do not mean anything to you when you are going through what I am going through.”

By the way, in my NKJV Bible the section we study this morning is entitled “The Cheerful Giver.”

In other words, one that will truly enjoy a Happy, a hilarious Thanksgiving is one that has hilariously given and been a blessing to others. One can not be thankful until one has sacrificed in helping someone else.

Proverbs 11:24 NKJV

24 There is one who scatters, yet increases more; And there is one who withholds more than is right, But it leads to poverty.

Let’s look at the Manner in which we give found in these verses:

We see three conditions and one consequence from our giving.

2 Corinthians 9:7 “7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Purposes in his heart

1. Purposes-proaireō in his heart

to bring forward, bring forth from one's stores

to bring forth for one's self, to choose for one's self before another, to prefer

It is the idea of planning our giving. Putting some thought to what we give. Many times people do not give because they did not plan or budget to have a giving spirit whether it be toward the church or anyone else for that matter.

1 Corinthians 16:1–2 NKJV

1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: 2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.

Three P’s in this verse. Please write these down:

Giving calls that we make it:

Priority “on the first day of the week”

Planning “let each one of you lay aside something”

Prosper “storing up as he may prosper”

Plenty “there be no collections when I come”

Priority means that it must be habitual, it must be an automatic response, it must be the first check you write to the Lord. When we operate in that fashion we guarantee the Lord receives His offering.

Planning-means that you should look at all of your expenses on paper and make a budget. When we do that with spiritual eyes, the Lord will reveal some things that are wasteful or not necessary and you will find room in the budget to give.

Prosper-we each give according to what we receive. The amount is not the factor, but the purposing that does.

Plenty-You will always have to give and be a blessing in this fashion.

2 & 3 Not Grudgingly or of Necessity

How do you receive a gift if someone said to you, “I guess I better get you a gift, it is that time of year again.” “I’ve got to get them a gift because they gave me one.” “Christmas rolls around too soon. I feel like I just bought you something.” How do you receive that gift? How does that gift sit with you?

Preacher, I got you a shirt and tie because I am sick and tired of seeing you wear the same clothes all the time. I would not receive a shirt and tie like that. I would tell them to keep it. My Father is filthy rich and I thank you all the same, but He provides everything I need.

Oh dear brother and sister this morning, God doesn’t need your money. He doesn’t even need His money from you that He has lent you. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. You need to experience giving to appreciate what he so graciously gave you. Amen?

Dearly beloved, we see many times a cardinal sin in Christian television and radio ministries and I will add churches make this same mistake. The ministry will use coercion tactics or begging tactics to play on one’s guilt or if you do not give the ministry will not be able to continue on. “We need this many dollars by this time frame or we can not sustain the ministry.” The giver nor the receiver are blessed when methods of coercion or trying to guilt someone into giving takes place.

Oh church if this were a case of financial need in this church to simply keep the doors open, I would never veer from my normal preaching series. I address the matters of tithing and giving when they lend themselves in the book series we are studying at the time found in the Scriptures I am preaching through or a topical text relating to a season of the year such as this. This pastor will never beg you or guilt you or cause you to give grudgingly or out of necessity because God does not honor that type of giving, the church is not blessed using those tactics and the Lord is not honored.

What is the consequence of giving in the right manner?

“God loves a cheerful giver.”

Cheerful in the Greek means one who gives in hilarious fashion. The word loves does not mean that God loves those less that do not give but it means that God approves, God honors, God blesses a cheerful giver.

Look at verse 8 with me:

Say this along with me:

2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV

8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

God Will Provide the Funds for you to show His Favor to Others

Do you realize that everything you have is grace in the first place? Your home is the home the good Lord gave you the resources to acquire. The job you have is the one the Lord opened the door of opportunity to attain. The children you have were bestowed upon you by Him. They are His creation and the list goes on.

And it is the same grace that when one shows their appreciation to God for His goodness and grace towards us that we give hilariously, God in His grace in hilarious fashion will produce the resources that we can laugh about it because we do not understand His math, it is really funny, He will provide with all sufficiency He says to provide “for every good work.”

If you ever trust the Lord in your giving, it will cause you to laugh. There will come a day that the only response is laughter because you will never be able to explain it on paper this spiritual law of grace. But Oh dear brother or sister it is so true, when you give with spontaneity, you give because the Lord is sharing for you to give, OR out of joy you feel like being a blessing, your only conclusion is laughter because you will never be able to explain this principle on paper. God blesses those that bless others.

Oh dearly beloved, it is truly more blessed to give than receive. All you will be able to do is chuckle over God’s goodness in your life.

Second Corinthians Vers. 7, 8

III. WHY WE WHO LOVE THE LORD SHOULD SEEK TO BE CHEERFUL GIVERS WHOM GOD LOVES. Because—1. All we have we owe to Him. 2. Recollect that the time for giving will soon be over. 3. We have need of a giving God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Amen.

Giving Leads to Gratitude Toward God VV. 10-12

2 Corinthians 9:10 “10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,”

I want you to see how deeply encompassed the Lord’s provision is encapsulated in this one verse.

“Now may He who supplies”

A. Origin of our Giving

Listen to Genesis 1:11 “11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.”

The good Lord is the origin of everything we enjoy. We read in the creation account that God provides the seed, the very opportunities we are afforded for gain. Seed represents the birthing of opportunities in this life.

Acts 17:25 “25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.”

“Seed to the Sower

B. Opportunities for Giving

Across this room are the evidences of the seed God gives to multiply. We have a railroad man, we have those that served our military, we have people in the medical profession, we have educators, bookkeepers, people with a technical skill, farmers, factory workers, we have sales people, and many other professions too numerous to mention. God gave you the capabilites to use your gifts to multiply your work efforts and provide the resources you need to live and to show your love towards others in giving.

Seed represents the many opportunities the Lord affords us everyday to live.

“and bread for food”

C. Outcome of our Giving

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 “6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”

God is at work in our lives bringing about the outcomes He desires for our behalf. Amen.

What am I saying? The Lord has all to do with every stage of the successes we enjoy every day. He is the origin, He offers the opportunities, He controls the outcome.

Not only is He our provision, but He is the multiplier of those resources and the multiplier of the righteousness found in our giving.

We understand the multiplying aspect. God multiplies that we give and uses it to bless others. Amen.

But what about this righteousness aspect?

Hosea 10:12 “12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.”

When we say righteousness, the first thing we can consider is that:

Giving alms to others that are needy is the right thing to do. Morally, showing kind acts of goodness to those less fortunate is a righteous act.

Giving demonstrates the righteousness of Christ when we term ourselves Christians. As Christians, we are “little Christ” and we point others in our love actions to Christ and His righteousness. And Christ’ righteousness in us multiplies when we give. Amen.

The righteousness has a multiplying affect because the recipients of God’s grace through you pray to the Lord on your behalf to bless you. Amen. Does that blow your mind?

2 Corinthians 9:11 “11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.”

Paul moved from the blessing the Macedonians would receive but let’s be clear here, Paul is now describing the blessing we receive.

The first half of our study reminds us that God provides the means by which we can be generous.

Please understand that Paul is not conveying here a prosperity gospel. The aim is not to give so that you can become like the rich fool in Luke 12:19 “19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’”

Oh dearly beloved, you are enriched for the soul purpose as to how you will distribute what you have been blessed to have. God is generous in giving wealth to those that are generous in giving it back. Thus, what each of us do with our money is a real testament to our relationship with God.

If we hoard our resources and hold back with a strong fist we are in essence stating we do not trust God with His promises about resources He gave us in the first place.

Oh listen dear friend this morning. Giving to others becomes a thanks-offering for what God has so graciously given to you.

Until one has made the sacrifice of giving to others can they truly enjoy thanksgiving to Him who gave so graciously to us.

2 Corinthians 9:12 “12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God,”

Do you know that many people never give because they have never experienced real need. Dearly beloved, every one in this room has a real need. You may be one that never had to question or wonder where the money was coming from to make a house payment or make a car payment or the power bill and such thoughts are foreign to your thinking. I imagine there are some in this room that have experienced such stressful dire times. And, through what seemed a miracle, someone helped you. Maybe the church helped you or you received one of those miraculous payments in the mail box we hear about in tithing testimonies about God’s miraculous provision.

The point I make is this. If you have been the recipient of great need and later had opportunity to share with someone else in great need, it brings about a wonderful spirit of thanksgiving to God rekindling that past when He was so gracious in carrying you through the fires of difficulty.

Every time I have been able to share with someone else in a dire time of need, it carries me back to those times that God time and again provided for my needs and it refreshed my heart strings to His goodness.

God is good....and all the time God is good. Amen.

Giving Points Glory to God VV. 13-15

2 Corinthians 9:13–15 “13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, 14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

Let me share one need we all have in common. The need to be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

Do you know why Jesus is so thankful for you? In His humanity, being all God but yet all man, He has given the total ultimate gift in giving His life for you. God gave His only Son for you. God has given sacrificially the whole way in your life. How could we not have an attitude of gratitude for the Lord that gave His all for us? Is it today that you may not have a heart of gratitude because you have never received the greatest gift given to man. God’s gift of His Son, Jesus.

Let’s pray.