God Loves A Cheerful Giver

2 Corinthians 9

This is not new. Way back in Exodus 25 when God was teaching His people initially the principles of giving, it says this, Exodus 25 and verse 2, “Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for me, says the Lord, from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise my contribution.” I only want it from willing hearts. So do as you have purposed in your heart. It is individual, it is voluntary, it is personal. That’s where it starts. True personal freedom must be maintained in all Christian giving.

Now listen. It is personal, it is, however, not casual. The concept of “purposing in the heart” carries with it the idea of predetermination. It’s a very unusual verb, it’s never used anywhere else in the Scripture, proaireomai, it means to predetermined, to make a predetermination rather than act out of an impulse. Meditate, think about it, predetermine it, and do whatever your heart tells you to do. And then he adds in qualifying that, “Not grudgingly” or, literally, not with grief, not with sorrow or not with sadness. What does that mean? Remorse, regret, reluctance.

In other words, it’s painful because you’re doing it but you really don’t want to do it. You’re doing it but you’re sad about it, you’re sorrowful about it. There’s an attitude of mourning or depression over what you’re doing and you’re even regretting doing it. But maybe you feel like you ought to do it, the need is there, it’s right to do, somebody expects you to do it, God expects you to do it. You’d like to invest with Him but you’re really not happy about it. God does not love that kind of giver. Keep it. Go spend it on yourself or change your attitude.

Secondly, he mentions being under compulsion. We are not to do this giving from the heart grudgingly, that is with grief or sorrow or reluctance, or under compulsion. The first one has to do with inside attitude. The second one has to do with outside pressure because somebody told you you’re supposed to give ten percent, misunderstanding the tithe of the Old Testament. Or because somebody tells you there’s a certain amount that you have to give, or because somebody is an authority in your life, or become somebody’s in charge of you and they’re putting this burden on you. Such an attitude is unacceptable.

Even the apostle Paul did not want to put a burden on people with regard to some legalistic giving. You are not to give with motivation coming from outside of you, because somebody told you to, somebody demands that you do, or some others are doing it and you feel that you need to get in line with the others if you’re going to be accepted by them. You are not to give because you are coerced, you are not to give because you are taken advantage of. You are not to give under pressure externally. You’re not to give under pain internally. In either case, you are robbed of your reward.

Any real shepherd, any real pastor who loves his sheep would never lead them to forfeit their reward in their giving. So no shepherd and no pastor should ever pressure people or put them on guilt trips about their giving. If they give coerced externally, if they give painfully internally, they’ve lost their reward. You want to teach your people, I want to teach you not to give out of legalism, not to give because you misunderstand some Old Testament tithe, not to give because you’ve been psychologically manipulated but simply to give because it’s in your heart to give, not because you have to give, not because you feel pressured to give.

There’s only one way to give and that’s to give cheerfully for God loves a cheerful giver, hilarondotēn. Hilaron, from which we get hilarious. God loves a hilarious giver, a happy, joyful giver. God wants a heart that is thrilled with the pleasure of giving. That’s the kind God loves. This is a very unusual statement. Again I say God has a unique love for a generous person. We know God loves all of His own.

So first of all, the initial benefit is love from God. That leads to a second and immediate benefit, generosity from God - generosity from God. We’ve said this through the years, you can give without loving but you can never love without giving. Just as we can’t love without giving, God can’t. And if He has a special love for you, it’s going to show up in His giving. To all whom He loves He gives His Son. But to all whom He loves in a unique way, because they are generous givers, He will give something more - something more. Whom He loves, He lavishes.

Look at verse 8, here it is, “And God toward those He loves is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed.” This thing is full of so much hyperbole, it’s inescapable. In fact, in the original language, the “alls” here just go on and on and on in almost every form that you could put them, you have pasan, panti, pantote, pasan, pan, all of those forms of the word “all.”

It could be read, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you that all ways having all sufficiency in all things you may have an abundance for all good deeds.” It’s just - it’s so grandiose, so immense, so magnanimous that it has no limitation. And that was the intent of the apostle in throwing in all the superlatives.

That is a great phrase, by the way, in the New Testament, “He is able.” Romans 16:25, “Now to Him who is able to establish you.” He is able. He has no limitations. Ephesians 3:20, “He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all you can ask or think.” Jude 24, “He is able to keep you from falling.” He is able. He is able. He is powerful. Scripture describes God’s power as great, Psalm 79:11; as strong, Psalm 89:13; as sovereign, Romans 9:21; as irresistible, Daniel 4:35; as incomparable, Exodus 15:11 and 12; and incomprehensible, Job 26:14.

Scripture says all things are possible for Him to do, Matthew 19:26; and nothing is too hard for Him, Genesis 18:14. Scripture shows that God’s power is exhibited in creation, in providence, in miracles, in the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection of saints, the transforming power of the gospel, and the ultimate destruction of the wicked. God is able. We need to be like Abraham of whom Scripture says in Romans 4:21, “He was fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able to perform.” There’s no question about the promise, that’s in Scripture, I’ve read it to you.