Grow in Your Understanding of Giving
Notes
Transcript
Last week we focused on the reasons for why we should excel in the grace of giving.
This week I want to lay out for you the principles that should teach you exactly how to be obedient to God’s desire for you to graciously give. I want us to grow in our understanding of the grace of giving!
What are the biblical principles of grace giving?
I think Paul gives us 6 principles of the grace of giving.
1. Grace giving is focused exclusively on ministry (v. 1)
1. Grace giving is focused exclusively on ministry (v. 1)
God gifts us by his grace with the ability to give. And God enables us to give for the sake of ministry- gospel ministry- and it is vital that we think this way about giving.
1 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints,
1Περὶ μὲν γὰρ
For to begin with,
περισσόν μοί ἐστιν τὸ γράφειν ὑμῖν·
it is superfluous/unnecessary of me to write to you;
τῆς διακονίας τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους
concerning the ministry to the saints
ESV translates a Greek phrase as “Now” but the idea really is “For to begin with” and this phrase connects this chapter with the previous thoughts in chapter 8.
24 So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men.
The reason why Paul confidently boasted in the Corinthians was due to their love. Remember, last week we said that our giving is actually a measuring stick of the sincerity of our love. Paul was confident in their love for God and in their love for others.
Paul’s boasting was certain because the giving of the Corinthians was out of love. And because it was done out of love it really was an act of ministry. That is how we should view all of our giving- as a ministry.
Not just giving to the missions budget, but all of the money that we give to the Lord is an act of ministry.
General fund- support the ministry of our church here in Oconomowoc
Grace giving- support the ministry of missions (Acts 1:8- Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria, ends of the earth)
Building fund- support the future expansion of ministry here in Oconomowoc
Deacon’s fund- support the ministry of needy people in our community
All of our giving should be out of love for ministry!
2. Grace giving requires disciplined preparation (vv. 2-5)
2. Grace giving requires disciplined preparation (vv. 2-5)
If we do not take time out of our busy schedules in order to be properly prepared to give graciously, it will be very difficult to so.
2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them.
2οἶδα γὰρ τὴν προθυμίαν ὑμῶν
For I know the eager enthusiasm (readiness) of you
The grace of giving for the Corinthians began with a readiness or an eager enthusiasm. I pray that this is also true of us. As we study the Bible in the area of giving, I pray the Holy Spirit will open our eyes and give us an enthusiasm to give.
ἣν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν καυχῶμαι Μακεδόσιν,
which concerning you I boast to the Macedonians,
ὅτι Ἀχαΐα παρεσκεύασται ἀπὸ πέρυσι,
that Achaia has been ready since last year,
καὶ τὸ ὑμῶν ζῆλος ἠρέθισεν τοὺς πλείονας.
And your zeal has stirred up most of them.
(Brief Aside:) I love the second part of this verse. Don’t miss this! Right here we see something that I believe is sorely lacking in our churches. What I see here is this verse is interdependent ministry!
What do I mean? Paul is boasting of the Corinthian church to the Macedonian church. What is Paul boasting about? Their readiness or their eager enthusiasm, NOT dollar amounts. Paul does not boast in the size of the offering, only in the eagerness to give. Why? Because, what Paul is really boasting in is the grace of God. God’s grace moved the hearts of the Corinthians, and so he tells the Macedonian church about how God’s grace is working powerfully in this other church, and then Paul says, “your zeal has stirred up most of them.”
That is interdependent ministry folks. One churches zeal stirring up another church to do the same thing.
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
As I study the NT we should try to find ways to do this not only for each other in our church, but also for other churches.
This is exactly what we are trying to accomplish with the Good News videos. All those videos are is an attempt to share, by way of testimony, what the grace of God is doing in our hearts and in our community. So that your zeal might stir up other churches to go out and do the same thing. It right here in the NT.
3 But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be.
Notice- eager enthusiasm for giving is NOT enough! Sometimes, when the Holy Spirit works in our hearts we are eager to change. But, that change can cool off and die away if we are not careful.
So Paul is sending a group of believers on ahead to the Corinthians so that his boasting does not prove empty or nullified in the matter of grace giving.
So if you don’t take the necessary steps of preparation in the grace of giving- the grace that God used to move your heart to give can become nullified or of no use.
4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident.
We do not want God’s grace to become empty in our lives! Why? Because that leads to shame or humiliation.
Paul sent a group of people ahead of his own visit so that the Corinthians would be prepared to give. Because if Paul showed up in Corinth along with some Macedonians, and the Corinthians are not prepared to give to the ministry of the saints- that will produce humiliation or shame.
If we, as believers, fail to prepare our hearts to graciously give to ministry, that is a shameful act. Why?
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
If we are not moved by the example of Jesus to imitate the way He gave of Himself, what does that say about us? God gives us His grace for a purpose! What is that purpose?
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God created us to bear His image. We are image-bearers of Almighty God. We bear His image most perfectly when we joyfully imitate His example. What does it mean to bear God’s image in giving?
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
We do the same thing that Jesus did for us. So when we give as a ministry to other people we are putting on display the grace of God. We are magnifying the grace of God for the whole world to see. Look at what grace does in a persons life! And it is a wonderful thing.
But, the opposite is also true. Have you been the benefactor of God’s grace? Have you become rich through the poverty of Christ? If the answer is yes, and yet you are unwilling or even unprepared to be an image bearer of that same grace to others in need- it is a shameful thing.
4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident.
We ought to be humiliated if we are not prepared to show grace to others in the same way that God has shown grace to us.
5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.
It is necessary to arrange or prepare in advance our gifts. If we do not take the time to prepare in advance then it is almost impossible to give graciously. In other words, if you wait until the offertory to pull out your wallet or to pull out your purse, and you give spontaneously with out any forethought, your giving will most likely not be done out of grace.
Paul sent believers ahead of his own visit so that the Corinthians would have ample time to prepare before hand, to arrange in advance for the gift they had already promised. Why was Paul so concerned about this?
SO THAT it may be ready as a willing gift-
Or SO THAT it may be ready as LIKE a gift of blessing- is the idea of the Greek.
The Greek word that is used here for gift is very significant. The ESV translates this word in v. 5 as “gift” and “willing gift” but it is the same Greek word used both times.
εὐλογία- we get our English word eulogy for this word. It has the idea praise or of blessing.
So what Paul is saying is he wants these believers to be prepared to give so that their gift can be a blessing.
So that it may be ready as like a gift of blessing- “related to the OT thank offering given in response to benefits received. In the Bible an act of blessing calls down the grace of God on others. By sharing their material substance with the saints, they are blessing them spiritually and materially.”
What is the opposite of this?
so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.
And not as like an exploitation. (“not as money wrung out of you.” If it appears that Paul has twisted their arms to get them to give, they will come off as ungrateful, stingy givers. Example of some churches passing the offering plate around more than once.)
So grace giving requires a disciplined preparation-
It starts with an eager enthusiasm- but that is not enough. We have to follow through on that eagerness. If we don’t it leads to our shame because we are not image bearing the grace of God that He so abundantly shed on us. Giving out of grace requires us to prepare beforehand because if we don’t our giving is more of an exaction. God does not want our giving to be wrung out of us- he doesn’t want us to be ungrateful, stingy givers. He wants us to be prepared to give- then it will be like unto a gracious gift of blessing.
3. Grace giving naturally promotes generosity (v. 6)
3. Grace giving naturally promotes generosity (v. 6)
When God enables us to give by His grace, and causes us to understand the spiritual significance of giving by grace through the teaching of his Word, it naturally encourages us to be generous in our giving.
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
6Τοῦτο δέ,
And this is the point-
ὁ σπείρων φειδομένως φειδομένως καὶ θερίσει,
the one sowing sparingly will also harvest sparingly
καὶ ὁ σπείρων ἐπʼ εὐλογίαις ἐπʼ εὐλογίαις καὶ θερίσει.
and the one sowing unto blessing will also harvest unto blessing
Here, Paul uses the same Greek word translated “bountifully” in the ESV as he did for their gift in v. 5- this is εὐλογία. We could translate it this way- “The one sowing upon blessings, or upon the principle of blessings will also harvest upon the principle of blessings.”
NAC- David E. Garland
2 Corinthians 3. Divine Principles of Giving: Why the Corinthians Need to Give Generously (9:6–15)
What does this mean? No farmer considers sowing as a loss of seed because the harvest will provide the seed for the next season. Consequently, no sower begrudges the seed he casts upon the ground or tries to scrimp by with sowing as little as possible. He willingly sows all that he can and trusts that God will bless the sowing with a bountiful harvest. If the farmer, for some reason, stints on the sowing, he will cheat himself of that harvest. The more he sows, the greater the harvest he will reap and the more he will have for sowing for the next harvest. Applying this analogy to giving means that plentiful giving will result in a plentiful harvest. But what kind of harvest is reaped by generosity?
IMPORTANT QUESTION! What kind of harvest is reaped by generosity?
We need to be careful here to avoid the heresy of the prosperity gospel! The heresy of the prosperity gospel would lead you to believe that you should give and give more and more in order to get more and more. If you give generously God will reward you generously with wealth and riches and material possessions.
Now what is the biggest problem with that? What is your motivation for giving according the prosperity gospel? Give so that you will? Get! That is greed. But, Paul is NOT using greed to motivate us to give right? Instead, what has Paul been using all along to motivate us to give? Grace! Grace is the opposite of greed. So, I don’t give to get!
Rather, I give out of grace for the purpose of ministry.
$5,000 we gave to the Smiths- Phillip and River able to fix their home, 13+ people got saved last week- we had a part in that! That should be our motivation- give generously so that their will be a generous harvest of grace!
When I understand that my giving produces that kind of harvest it naturally promotes me to be generous in my giving.
4. Grace giving must be done out of cheerfully joyful obedience (v. 7)
4. Grace giving must be done out of cheerfully joyful obedience (v. 7)
As we prepare ourselves to give generously to ministry we must make certain that all of our giving is done out of cheerfulness and joyfulness or it is useless as an offering of worship to the Lord.
7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
7ἕκαστος
Each one
καθὼς προῄρηται τῇ καρδίᾳ,
just as he has decided before hand in his heart,
How do you best decided before hand in your heart? The best advice I can give you is to make your giving a matter of prayer. Husbands and wives talk about it and pray about it together. What if all of us took the next month and prayed about how God wanted us to give in 2021? Do you think that would make an impact on our giving?
Why take so much time to pray about?
μὴ ἐκ λύπης ἢ ἐξ ἀνάγκης·
not from regret (sorrow, sadness, unhappiness) or from absolute requirement
Because God doesn’t want our giving to be reluctant or from regret or sadness, and he doesn’t want it to be something you feel forced into through compulsion.
Why not?
ἱλαρὸν γὰρ δότην ἀγαπᾷ ὁ θεός.
For God loves a cheerful (cheerful joy) giver.
God loves when we are cheerfully joyful in our giving. He hates when we give through force or coercion. God is more concerned with the attitude of one who gives than with the amount of one who gives! God loves a cheerful giver because that is precisely what God is, a cheerful giver!
So take time to pray, take time to reflect on the grace of God that he has showered down upon you through Jesus Christ. Let your love for Christ and your awe of God’s grace in your life so change your heart that you get to the point where you love to give! Be cheerfully joyful givers.
Vv. 1-7 describe the demands that grace makes on us- the human responsibility part, the work out your own salvation with fear and trembling part.
What demands does grace make upon us?
1- Give as a ministry
2- Be prepared beforehand to give
3- Be generous in your giving
4- Be cheerfully joyful in your giving
These things are our responsibility- not commanded being under law- compelled by love being under grace
Vv. 8-11 describe the grace of God that will give you both the desire and the ability to give. If you will take small steps of obedience- start putting into practice vv. 1-7, here is the promise of what God will do through by his grace in vv. 8-11.
5. Grace giving causes us at ALL times to have ALL sufficiency to abound unto ALL good works (v. 8)
5. Grace giving causes us at ALL times to have ALL sufficiency to abound unto ALL good works (v. 8)
There are several very important words in v. 8, but one of the main ones is the word “ALL.” Notice with me how many times Paul uses this word in v. 8.
8 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.
8δυνατεῖ δὲ ὁ θεὸς πᾶσαν χάριν περισσεῦσαι εἰς ὑμᾶς,
And God is able to make all grace abound unto you,
ἵνα ἐν παντὶ πάντοτε πᾶσαν αὐτάρκειαν ἔχοντες
so that in all things at all times having all sufficiency (adequacy/contentment)
περισσεύητε εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθόν,
you might abound unto all good works,
ALL Grace- If you will take small steps of obedience and start to give to ministry by God’s grace- God will break your bread of obedience and will make all grace abound / over-abound unto you.
In ALL things & at ALL times- No matter what situation you are going through in life- in poverty, in wealth, in sickness, in political unrest, in trials and test, in times of great blessing, when you have too much or too little- in all thing and at all times God’s grace will give you the desire and the ability to give.
ALL sufficiency- God’s grace will abound to you in all things and at all times so that you will have all sufficiency! What does it mean to have all sufficiency? Sufficiency is the idea of contentment- adequacy especially that results in satisfaction with one’s situation in life.
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
God does not promise to make you wealthy so that you have so much money that it is easy to give towards ministry. It is not the idea of giving to get. If you give God will give you millions of dollars so you can give more. No! Instead, what God does is as you give His grace causes you to become sufficient or content in all things and at all times. I think it means by God’s grace you learn to love Christ more and more. So now I need less and less of this world- I am content to drive around in a beater of a car instead of burdening myself financially with a hefty car payment. Why? So now instead of investing the abundance of my wealth in myself I invest it in eternal things. And I don’t have any more money that I started with. But I am more sufficient by God’s grace. I am more content with what I already have. So I need less money to spend on myself and I can invest more and more money in ministry!
8 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.
4. Abound unto ALL good works- Your money becomes a means to abound in good works. It becomes redemptively eternal. God’s grace opens my eyes to the temporal earthly worthless things of this life and instead enables me to invest in the eternal redemptive things of God- ALL GOOD WORKS!
6. Grace giving cause us to be abundantly blessed with an eternally valuable harvest (vv. 9-11)
6. Grace giving cause us to be abundantly blessed with an eternally valuable harvest (vv. 9-11)
As we graciously give God abundantly entrusts of with real wealth, real treasure, real reward. And I am not talking about MONEY. God despises earthly treasure, earthly reward, earthly money. How do I know that?
John Owen-
“God continues to cast contempt on these things, by giving always incomparably the greatest portion of them unto the vilest men and his own avowed enemies.”
“None will judge those things to be of real value which a wise man casts out daily unto swine, making little or no use of them in his family.”
“Doth not God proclaim herein that the things of this world are not to be valued or esteemed? If they were so, and had a real worth in themselves, would the holy and righteous God make such a distribution of them?”
God only gives the things of greatest value to his own children. So, what does God reward us with? What is really of great value?
9 As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”
Quote from Ps 112:9- this is a Psalm of praise to the Lord! It describes how blessed or how happy is the man who fears the Lord!
1 Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!
One of the results of the man who fears the Lord and greatly delights in his commands is that he will distribute to the poor.
9 He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor.
Why is this man so blessed? Because God’s grace produces through his generosity a righteousness that endures forever! That is the real treasure! It is not money- it is a righteousness that endures forever- it is the idea of being exalted in honor by God Himself- forever! That is of eternal value!
10 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.
Notice the promise of God’s grace- what does God promise to do in you and through you as your graciously give?
How is God described in the fist part of the verse- The one who provides or supplies. God is the one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food. God owns everything and he could supply you with anything, but what does God choose to give the man who fears the Lord? He gives that which is truly valuable! What does he give?
Promise 1- HE WILL SUPPLY
Promise 2- HE WILL MULTIPLY
Your seed for sowing- what is that seed? Money? It is everything and anything that you need to produce a harvest!
Promise 3- HE WILL INCREASE
The harvest of your righteousness.
God will give you everything that you need to increase the harvest of your righteousness.
Think about that! If you will do your part- Focus your giving on ministry, be disciplined in your preparation for giving, be generous in your giving, be cheerful in your giving- GOD PROMISES TO DO HIS PART!
He will supply, multiply, and increase your harvest of righteousness.
It doesn’t matter if you are 8 or 80, if you have $8 or 8 million- just put these principles of grace giving into practice and God will do Ephesians 3:20 in your life.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
What does that look like in our giving?
11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
11ἐν παντὶ πλουτιζόμενοι
In ALL/EVERY way you are being made rich
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,
5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—
7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Not speaking in terms of physical wealth only-
10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
εἰς πᾶσαν ἁπλότητα,
unto ALL/EVERY generosity/ sincere goodness!
In two weeks we will come back and talk about the idea of thanksgiving unto God- so hold on to that.
We must grow in our understanding of the grace of giving!
1. Grace giving is focused exclusively on ministry (v. 1)
2. Grace giving requires disciplined preparation (vv. 2-5)
3. Grace giving naturally promotes generosity (v. 6)
4. Grace giving must be done out of cheerfully joyful obedience (v. 7)
5. Grace giving causes us at ALL times to have ALL sufficiency to abound unto ALL good works (v. 8)
6. Grace giving cause us to be abundantly blessed with an eternally valuable harvest (vv. 9-11)
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Let’s grow in our understanding of God’s word concerning our giving, let’s faithfully put into practice these principles of giving, and then we will marvel at the grace of God as He does for more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.