We'll be looking in II Corinthians,
and we were looking last week in chapter 8, and we're going
to be continuing on in verse 12. For if there be first a willing
mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according
to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men
be eased, and ye burdened, but by an equality, that now at this
time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance
also may be a supply for your want, that there may be an equality. As it is written, He that gathered
much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack.
But thanks be to God which put the same earnest care into the
heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted the exaltation,
but being more forward of his own accord, he went unto you.
And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the
gospel throughout all the churches, and not that only, but who was
also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace,
which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and
declaration of your ready mind. avoiding this, that no man should
blame us in this abundance which is administered by us, providing
for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also
in the sight of men. And we have sent with them our
brother, whom we have oft times proved diligent in many things,
but now much more diligent upon the great confidence which I
have in you. Whether any do inquire of Titus,
he is my partner and fellow helper. Concerning you or our brethren
be inquired of, they are the messengers of the churches and
the glory of Christ. Wherefore shall ye to them and
before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting
on your behalf. For as touching the ministering
to the saints it is superfluous, for me to write to you, for I
know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you
to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your
zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren,
lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that,
as I said, ye may be ready. less happily if they of Macedonia
come with me and find you unprepared. We that we say not ye should
be ashamed in this same confident boasting. Therefore I thought
it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto
you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had noticed
before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty,
and not as of covetousness. But this I say, He which soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully. Every man, according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity,
for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace
abound towards you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound to every good work. As it is written, he that
hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness
remaineth forever. Now he that ministereth seed
to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your
seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, being
enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth
through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this
service not only supplyeth the want of the saints, but is abundant
also by many thanksgivings unto God. while by the experiment
of this ministration they glorify God for your professed objection
unto the gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution
unto them and unto all men. And by their prayer for you,
which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you,
thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." Now, Paul, of course,
has been writing to the to the Corinthians there concerning
the collection of money for the saints in Jerusalem. And of course,
we talked about this some last week, and he doesn't really say
anything new particularly, but he is giving them an exhortation
and laying out the groundwork to them of why it is that they
should do the thing that they said they were going to do. That's
why he starts here in chapter 9, he says, for as touching the
ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write
to you. Now, we don't use that word very
much. Superfluous, it means an abundance of words. Words, I
mean, it's fluently When somebody speaks fluently, that means they
have a lot of words to say. If somebody can speak Spanish
fluently, that means they know all the words. I know three or
four words of Spanish, but I'm not fluent in Spanish. I know
a few words. But to speak superfluously is
to speak with a bunch of words. You say, it's not necessary.
for me to do that, because you know the needs of the saints
in Jerusalem, and you've already said that you're concerned about
this and that you want to do something about it. So he says,
why do I want to spend a bunch of time telling you what you
need to do? Because you've already said that
you wanted to do that. He says, for I know the forwardness
of your mind for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia.
that a kale was ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked
very many." So he says, you know, already the Word has gotten out
that what you have promised to do, and it has stirred these
other churches to say, well, you know, we need to do something
as well. So he says, if this is going
to be the thing... Coming on back over to the prior
chapter, he said, for indeed, he accepted the exhortation.
Now what is the exhortation? It is the exhortation to go and
collect this money. He was speaking about Titus.
He said Titus was willing to go and take this collection. He said he put the earnest care into
the heart of Titus for you, for he indeed accepted the exhortation,
but being more forward of his own accord, he went to you. I guess the word we could use
would be proud, but that's not a good word most times. But as
a father would be proud of his children. Titus had heard of
the boasting, as Paul says, he uses
that word, of the Corinthians of what they were going to do
to help the saints in Jerusalem. And this excited Titus, so he
was glad to go there. Because he was expecting that
if they said, we want to do this, they were going to do it. Now
there's nothing more disappointing than when people say, we're going
to do something, and then when it comes right down to it, they
don't do it. We've all been in that situation.
You know, maybe some event got planned or something, and everybody,
boy, when you're talking about you're going to put this event
on, and everybody's saying, man, yeah, we need to do that, that's
going to be great, you know, and so you get to thinking, well,
man, all these people are going to do it. Now, really, what I've
noticed is that usually, if you've got 50 people that volunteer
to do something, that about 10 of them will show up and actually
do it. And you know, that's just the
way of men, is it not? I mean, that's the natural realm
of the way people are. It's easy to say you're going
to do something. Paul said, don't be like those
people. He said, you said you were going to do this. Now he
said, you know, Titus is coming to you, and he's pumped up. I mean, he's saying, man, you
know, these guys, they're going to really do the thing. He says,
he's come there to do it. I was on accord. We told him
to go do it. He went before we even got ready
to do it. He was ready to do this thing.
For indeed he accepted the exhortation, and we have sent with him the
brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches."
Now I'm not 100% sure who that is. A lot of speculation by a
lot of people, and we won't make speculation as to who it is. But nonetheless, it was someone
who was widely received among the churches, And he said, He's
come with you, and not that only, but who was also chosen of the
churches to travel with us. This wasn't somebody that just
is a Johnny-come-lately, but he said he was actually chosen
out by some of the churches to go with us in this endeavor,
which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and
the declaration of your ready mind. What you've said, you've said
that. Avoiding this, that no man should
blame us in this abundance which is administered by us. Because
you said we've got a group of guys going so that nobody's saying,
well, yeah, they're just going to get the money and go off somewhere
and have a big time. You know, any time that we are
dealing with money that is gathered for a purpose, we need to be
careful. how that moon is handled. and
be sure that it goes for that purpose. Is that not true? I
mean, you know, if we want to give something for a particular
thing, then that's what that money needs to go for. It doesn't
matter what other things there may be that you could use the
money for. If it's for that, that's what
it's for. He said we want to be sure that this was the thing
that happened, providing for honest things, not only in the
sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And we have
sent with them our brother, whom we have oft times proved diligent
in many things." Speaking of Titus and these other gentlemen
here, or speaking of those that went with him, and probably speaking
of the same one who speaks about verse 18, He says, We have sent
with them our brother, whom we have oft times proved diligent
in many things, but now much more diligent upon the great
confidence which I have in you. He says, I have built you up
in his mind. I have told him how faithful
you are, and he is really excited to see that you carry through
with this that you have said. Whether any do inquire Titus,
he is my partner and fellow helper. Maybe perhaps some of them didn't
know Titus, or perhaps there were new believers that had come
in and they didn't know Titus. And so he says, well, if anybody
doesn't know Titus, you need to tell them who he is. You need
to let them know. that He is indeed my partner
and fellow helper concerning you and our brethren who come
in the name of the Lord, the messengers of the churches and
the glory of Christ. Wherefore, show ye to them and
before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting
on your behalf." What's he saying? He's saying, put up or shut up.
He said, we boasted that you were going to do this. He said,
now's the time. So all the talks passed. You
know, it's kind of like, I guess, Congress. They talked all about
these tax cuts and all that stuff. And it finally came down to they
either had to put up or shut up. Now, whether it turned out
to be anything or not, usually most of the stuff that happens
up there don't make a whole hell of a billions of difference.
But anyway, to the good, it might be to the detriment. But in any
way, Paul said, you know, show it. Demonstrate it. Because you
already know, as touching the ministry of the saints, I don't
need to tell you this, for I know the fullness of your mind, because
I've already boasted to them of Macedonia and Achaia because
of your A pledge, so to speak, because of your saying that you
were going to do this thing, they've already gathered up there
the things that they were a year ago in anticipation of this,
because they were provoked by you. Your zeal hath provoked
many. Yet have I sent the brethren,
lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf. As
I said, you may be ready. Now, you know, one thing I think
that Paul sets forth here is the importance of the encouragement
of the saints one to the other. Now, we've talked about this
quite often. I mean, this is really one of the reasons why
we gather together. so that we might encourage one
another to continue on in the faith. Because, brethren, there
are many things that face us all the time in our life, various
problems and things that arise in our lives, and it's easy to
just come to the place where, well, we'll just lay these things
aside. But when we see the brethren
who are pressing on, that's an encouragement to us. And you
know, one of the good things about coming together with brethren
is that we don't all quit at the same time. See, you might
have wanted to quit last week, but John, he was here this week. And so you say, well, I'll tough
it out another week. And John, he came this week,
and he said, well, I'm going to quit. And he saw Al, and he
said, well, no, he didn't quit, so I'm going to continue on. That's kind of a silly illustration,
but it's nonetheless a measure of truth in it, that the brethren,
we do encourage one another to carry on in the way that we know
to be right. It's not a question of whether
or not we wonder. if these things are true. See,
when Paul exhorts the Hebrews not to forsake the assembling
of themselves together, he's not telling them something they
don't already know, is he? But he's encouraging them to
do the things that they know. And that's why we would encourage
one another, is not that we might learn necessarily what we ought
to do, although we do that as well, but it's to encourage one
another to do the things we know. There's far more things that
we know that we should be doing than the things that we often
find ourselves doing, is that not true? And aborting and all
of those things. Well, it's the coming together
of the saints that causes these things, and we do have an effect
on one another in this instance, even as he talks about with these
brethren in Macedonia and Achaia. He says, So I have sent the brethren,
lest our boasting of you should be in vain. And we be found with
egg on our face. We have told them, now you are
going to do all this, and don't let me down, basically is what
he is saying, that you may be ready. Happily, perhaps, if they of
Macedonia come with me, now I've told you, I've boasted to them,
and they've gathered up the money that they're going to give, and
they're coming down here and they're thinking, man, these
guys are really going to do something. And he says, I come down here
and I find out that you are not doing what you said you were
going to do. I thought it necessary to exhort
the brethren that they would go before unto you and make up
beforehand your bounty." So he said, that's why we exhorted
Titus to go forward with these other brethren so that they could
help you in this gathering together of these gifts, that they may
make up beforehand your bounty so that whenever these other
brethren came from Macedonia, these things were gathered and
ready, and it wasn't a matter of having to scrape and scrounge
and come up with something at the last minute. That beforehand
your bounty, whereas you had noticed before that the same
might be ready as a matter of bounty and not of covetousness. You know, a lot of times people
get into a situation where they feel like that somebody is pressuring
them to give something. You ever been in one of these
meetings where they had this guy up here, he's taking up the
offering and he's, you know, giving it and people, a lot of
times there's people that can really shell the corn when it
comes to getting people to give money. But afterwards, what do
the people say? God damn it all. I remember reading
a humorous story about Benjamin Franklin. who was a close friend,
actually, of George Whitefield, the great evangelist of the day. And Franklin was not necessarily
always in agreement with the things that Whitefield preached. Franklin was something of a libertine. He just rejected all these things. He just wasn't much affected
by those things. But he loved to hear Whitefield
preach because Whitefield was a great orator. And so he would
go, and of course one of the reasons that Whitfield was making
the rounds as an evangelist was to gather money for his orphanages,
which was in Savannah, Georgia as a matter of fact. And so he
would go at the end of these meetings, he would put out the
appeal for money to help with these orphanages. And Franklin
said, I'd always reach in my pocket, and I was so moved by
his orations and whatnot that I'd just give him all my money. And he said, then when I'd get
home, I'd think, well, why did you do that? That was a stupid
thing to do. And so he said he decided that
the next time that he went to the meeting, to one of Whitfield's
meetings, he wouldn't take any money with him. And so when he
got to the meeting, And it got down to the end, and he reached
down in his pocket, and he didn't have any money. And he said,
had it not been for the recalcitrance of the gentleman that went with
me who wouldn't give me any money, he says, I would still have borrowed
money and given it to him. So Paul is talking about, he
said, don't make this a matter of covetousness. Don't make it
a matter of something that you, well, you know, we're under pressure,
we've got to do it, so let's dig deep and do something, and
then later on have a regretful mind about it. But this I say,
He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he which
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Now how does
this sowing and reaping take place? The health and wealth
preachers tell us that it works like this. You give God ten dollars,
and He'll give you twenty-five dollars. You give God a hundred
dollars, and He'll give you a thousand dollars. Now that's how they
say this sowing and reaping. That's how they would view this.
But that's totally contrary to what Paul is saying. Because
if you read this in the context of what he's saying, he's going
to explain exactly what he means. And this is the truth of the
blessing that comes from giving. The blessing that comes from
giving is not that we're going to get something. I mean, the world does things
to get stuff, don't they? That's not why God's people give.
But it is a true principle that he which giveth abundantly, reaps
abundantly. Now what does he reap? Well,
as we read on, we'll see. Every man, according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity,
for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace
abound towards you, that ye, always having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work. The blessing
of giving is the giving. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. What does that mean? It means
that the Lord blesses His people to be able to give. He blesses
His people in the act of giving. It's a glorious thing, brother. The greatest blessing you've
ever received is not something somebody has given to you, but
it's something you've been enabled by God to give to someone else. And that's what Paul is saying
here. Isn't that stingy people? Now, a stingy man, he loves money,
he's got his money, but what's he got? He's not got nothing. But the man by the grace of God
who is enabled to have a giving heart, a cheerful giver as unto
the Lord, he is blessed by that and nothing can take that away.
It doesn't make any difference if in later years or next year
or next week he is in direct poverty. He is still blessed
by that which he gave, is it not? If he gave it gladly. Now
if he gave it expecting he was going to get something, You know,
I wonder why there are not more lawsuits against these guys,
you know, the health and wealth preachers. I mean, really, somebody
ought to bring a lawsuit against them because they get up there
and they tell folks, you know, that it's going to be a quid
pro quo thing. If you do this, God is going
to just pour out the windows of blessing to you. Well, He
is going to pour out the windows of blessing, but the blessing
is being unable to do that. with a cheerful heart, is it
not? Isn't that what Paul is saying here? Give not grudgingly. And God is able to make all grace
abound towards you, that ye, having an all-sufficiency in
all things, may abound in every good work. God will supply those
things unto you. He is the one that gives them
to you to start with. That is written. He hath dispersed
abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth
forever. Now he that ministers seed to
the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your
seeds on, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, being
enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth
through us, thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this
service not only supplies the want of the saints, but is abundant
also by many thanksgivings unto God. Whilst by the experiment
of this ministration they glorify God for your professed objection
to the gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution unto
them and to all men." Now, succinctly, what he is saying is the way
this blessing works, is that your gift blesses these people
and they in turn bless you by the thanks that they give unto
God for that which you have given them. And this supplies their
want and your need. It's a thing that can't be explained
exactly. And unless a man's heart is,
you know, melted by the gospel and he's given up the heart of
a cheerful giver, he'll never grasp this thing. The man who doesn't have a giving spirit,
he'll never get the blessing of this. He'll never reap this. And so Paul's saying, reminding
them, You know, where it is that their blessing comes from, the
experiment or the experience of this ministration, they glorify
God for your professed subjection to the Gospel. You see, when
you give to those who are in need, these brethren in Jerusalem,
what did they do? They gave glory to God. And they
thanked God that you, He had moved in you to cause you to
give these things. They gave thanks to Him. What
do we want? When we give to people, do we
want them to come and pat us on the back and say, boy, you
did a good job? Well, you're giving for the wrong reason.
No, you see, we give because we want God's people to praise
Him for what things He has done. That's a glorious thing there,
Brethren. And that's what he's saying to them here. All these
things, it's like a snowball rolling down a hill. One blesses
the other and it's a thing that you can't stop. What greater joy is there among
the saints of God than to see the saints of God rejoicing and
praising God for the things that He's done? Now, if we think that
it's us doing it and we want to get some glory out of it,
And we've got it. I mean, the Lord spoke with the
Pharisees. He said they have their reward
when they go down the street. You know, they go down the street
praying so people can hear it. He said they've got it. They've
got the reward they're going to get. What is it? People saw
them. That's what they wanted. That's
what they got. But you see, when a man prays in secret, he also
gets the thing that he desires, which is the praise of God. He's
not doing that for me. He's not doing it to be seen
of others. But He's doing it for the glory
of God. And by their prayer for you,
which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.
You know, that's a glorious thing to think that brethren are praying
for us. Is it not? I mean, it's kind
of a cultural thing. People say, well, I'm praying
for you. And I want to believe that they are, but most times
I know that's just something somebody says. But you know,
sometimes somebody tells me that and there's a witness of the
Spirit with me that I believe it's a true thing. And that's
a blessing to know that someone is praying for you. And that's
what he's saying here. He said, when you give these
gifts, it stirs the people of God to pray for you. Not that
they think you're anything, but they know that you're the children
of God and it blesses them to be blessed by you. And they praise
God for it and ask His mercies upon you. Thanks be unto God
for His unspeakable gift. Now, this is the whole basis
of giving in the New Testament. Right there in that verse. And if a man doesn't see that,
then he'll never know what it is to give out of the abundance
of his heart. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. What was His unspeakable gift?
The gift of His Son. The Lord Jesus Christ laid down
His life for us. He gave Himself. Remember we
read about those, I believe it was in Macedonia, it said they
first gave themselves to the Lord. See, that's the nature
and spirit of giving. That's New Testament giving.
It's not about amounts. It's not about requirements.
It's not about give this or you'll get this. Christ died for us. What do we have that we could
ever truly give in like kind. We couldn't. So we give of ourselves. And whatever is ours is His. We desire for the people of God
to be blessed through us. That's what Paul is saying here.
May the Lord give us a mind to be those that give with a cheerful
heart. As the Lord enables it, there's
no requirement. Nobody ever says you've got to
give a certain amount. The Lord never said that. He
says to whom much is given, much is required. And that principle
is not in a requirement in the sense that you must do this or
the wrath of God is going to be on you, but the Lord gives
things to men in order that they may bless the household of faith. That's why He does it. And what
a blessing it is when that is the case.