Mission Ready Pt. 1

2 Corinthians 9:1-5

*The following are actual statements found on insurance forms where drivers excuses for accidents which they were involved in.

-I thought my window was down, but found it was up when I put my head through it.

-The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intentions.

-A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.

-The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.

-I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.

-An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.

-As I approached the intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident. To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I struck the pedestrian.

We’ve all given excuses. Whether it was to a teacher of why our homework wasn’t done. Or to a wife on why the honey do list didn’t get finished while she was out of town. Giving excuses to a wife or a teacher is one thing, but it is a whole other thing when we start giving excuses to God.

Our text this morning is 2 Corinthians 9:1-5. Paul is taking up a collection from the Gentile churches for the persecuted Christians in Jerusalem and Judea. Originally the Corinthians were excited about the opportunity to be used to show the love of God to these persecuted Christians.

However, a controversy arose in the church and the people stopped giving. Paul wrote a letter which God used to bring revival to most of the church.

Now it’s time to take up the offering. Paul knows that the Corinthians have had really good intentions about taking this offering up. But Paul also knows that good intentions always turn into one of two things: action or excuses.

Think about it. How many new years resolutions have you made to lose weight, or start working out, or read your Bible, or whatever. These were good intentions that either turned into actions or excuses.

Paul is writing to the Corinthians telling them what he is doing to ensure that their good intentions turn in to actions, not bad excuses. What he tells them is absolutely crucial for us to hear if we are going to be Christians and a Church that sees good intentions turned into actions and not excuses.

Read 2 Corinthians 9:1-5

Be Ready

In interpreting a Bible passage one of the keys that helps you know what that passage is about is the repetition of words or themes. Look at how many times the word “readiness” or “ready” occurs in this passage. Some of your translations say “prepared.”

2 Corinthians 9:2 ESV

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.

v. 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.”

2 Corinthians 9:3 ESV

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.

v. 3 “so that you may be ready.”

2 Corinthians 9:4 ESV

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.

v. 4 “find that you are not ready,”

2 Corinthians 9:5 ESV

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.

v. 5 “so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.”

Five times in five verses he mentions being ready. So what do you think this passage is about? Being ready.

Now specifically, he talk about stewardship. He’s talking about how he has sent Titus and the two other brothers with him to make sure that they are ready to give the gift they promised to the Jerusalem Christians. And certainly we can apply this to discipline of giving tithes and offerings. But really his point can be applied to any aspect of being used by God.

Typically the things that we are successful at do not happen by accident. If you are successful at you job, it’s because you spent years preparing for it or learning it. A good mechanic is a good mechanic because he has spent a lot of time learning how to fix cars. They didn’t just wake up one day with a working knowledge of fuel injected engines. If you are good teacher, it’s because you’ve studied how to teach well. If you are a good student it’s because you have prepared yourself for your exams.

The same is true in the spiritual realm as well. Jesus says more about money than virtually any other subject. He does it because the way we spend money is a spiritual issue.

Matthew 6:21 ESV

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And as we are going to see next week, there are incredible promises given to those who show the genuineness of their faith by pouring money into Kingdom work through tithes and offerings. However, as any Tither will tell you, you have to prepare your life to Tithe.

In 21st century America where 18% of the average American income goes to paying consumer debt, it’s very easy to get yourself in the position that you don’t think you can tithe.

If you want to be able to practice the discipline of Tithing, you have to prepare to do it. We can’t just hope it happens or wish it would happen. We have to prepare for it to happen.

How do I prepare to become a tither?

A. Make a decision to tithe.

This is one of the hardest parts. This may take you into a crisis of faith because you have to desire God more than you desire things. This is also when we may discover how genuine our faith really is.

B. Remove the obstacles that prevent you from Tithing.

Tithing is by definition giving the first 10% of your income to God. If you are not a tither, you may be wondering how in the world you could ever do that. Especially if you are already over extended in your Bills. So you have to reorganize your life around faithfulness to God. This affects whether you can buy something or not. If you can’t tithe and still buy something, then you can’t afford it. And, you glorify God by not having it.

Sometimes we save up to buy things. Often times we have to save up to give. Maybe you save up to give to missions through Lottie Moon or to go to Honduras on mission trip.

19. In some cases, some people need to sell things and get out from under a lot of debt. You may not be able to afford the car or the boat or even the house. Idolatry to things can destroy us.

1 Timothy 6:10 ESV

10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

The problem with loving money and things is that no matter how much you have, it’s never enough. Tithing as a practice works to break our heart from the love of money and teaches us contentment.

Hebrews 13:5 ESV

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Tithing teaches us to say, “I am happy and thankful with whatever means God has given me.”

C. Give out of joyful faith.

What is interesting about Paul’s situation is that he’s got some skin in the game here. He has used the Corinthians initial eagerness to give as leverage with the Macedonians to get them excited about giving.

2 Corinthians 9:2 ESV

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.

In response to this, the Macedonians who are poor gave sacrificially. This sacrificial giving has proven that the Macedonians faith was genuine.

But what about the Corinthians? What if they didn’t give like they promised? How would that make Paul look to the Macedonians? How would it make the Corinthians look to the Macedonians?

2 Corinthians 9:3 ESV

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.

Now if they didn’t give, it would make all that great talk that Paul did about the Corinthians faith sound empty or hollow. Like knocking on a tree that looks solid only to hear that there is nothing really in it. No substance to it.

It would make Paul look like he lied to them in order to manipulate the Macedonians to give. Ultimately it would show that their faith wasn’t as genuine as Paul made it out to be.

*A Chinese boy who wanted to learn about jade went to study with a talented old teacher. This gentle man put a piece of the precious stone into his hand and told him to hold it tight. Then he began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun and almost everything under it. After an hour he took back the stone and sent the boy home. The procedure was repeated for several weeks. The boy became frustrated. When would he be told about the jade? He was too polite, however, to question the wisdom of his venerable teacher. Then one day, when the old man put a stone into his hands, the boy cried out instinctively, ‘That’s not jade!’”

Friends, there is so much of the fake stuff out there. We can’t afford not to demonstrate to the world what real faith looks like. Giving out of a heart that demonstrates we treasure Christ above all things shows the world how valuable Christ really is.

We show how valuable Christ is in how we show the world that we trust him.

*When Noah, my son, was 18 months old, he was not big enough to step out down the steps to our front door. So, he would turn to me and reach up with his hand to me. I would stick out my hand and take hold of his hand. As soon as our hand met, he would literally jump down these stairs. He did the same thing when crossing the road. We had taught him not to step out into the road without holding on to our hand. So, when he would get to the road, he would reach up for my hand. I would reach down and take his hand with mine. When our hands would meet he would run across the road.

Why would he jump down the stairs and run across the street only after he reached up and took my hand? He knew he couldn’t make the steps in his own strength. When he was holding on to his my hand, he knew his dad wouldn’t let him fall. He would reach up at the road because he knew that his dad wouldn’t let him get run over or hurt in any way. From that simple act of my son, my heavenly Father taught me a vitally important lesson: Don’t step out, until you reach up.

Tithing is one of our ways of reaching up to God and saying, “I’m ready to step out God. Hold on to me.” It proves our faith is not just empty talk.

2 Corinthians 9:5 ESV

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.

Here he again emphasizes the need for readiness. Sometimes when we haven’t prepared, our faith is just empty talk ,and we don’t do anything about our faith. And, sometimes we do things for God yet our hearts were not right in them. Neither of them are correct.

Paul said he sent people to help them prepare so their gift would be a willing gift. Have you prepared your heart to be used by God so that when he calls on you you will go willingly.

It not only matters to God what we do, but also the heart we do it in. This morning let us take time to prepare our hearts at the altar. God I want to be ready when you call on me.

I’m reaching up, so when you get ready for me to step out, I’ll be ready.