The lesson this morning is found
in 2 Corinthians chapter 9. The subject of the chapter is
the cheerful giver. Every believer, and that's what separates this
world from the church of God. When we talk about believers,
we're talking about his church, his people, his elect. They've
been called to faith. And every believer knows the
end for which he's been called. He's the object of God's glory
and grace. He's been chosen unto salvation
through the person and work of God's dear son. The scripture
says he's been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. according as he hath chosen them
in him before the foundation of the world, having predestinated
him unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself
according to the good pleasure of his will." He'd been predestinated,
Paul said in Romans 8, to be conformed to the image of God's
Son. And as Christ is the incarnate
perfection of God, surely Christ alone is the model for the giver. He's the model. He's the example. If you want to see what giving
is, if you sincerely want to know what it is and how to give
and what kind of motivation, look to Christ. He's the supreme
giver. Paul said, we run this race looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Now listen to this.
Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. Christ did not embrace the humility
of his condescension into human flesh, nor his sufferings and
shame with reluctance, but for the joy that was set before him. That's the idea. You want to
know what a cheerful giver is, here's one. Here's one. He did not offer himself or humiliate
himself or give himself to sufferings and shame reluctantly, but he
did it with all his heart, cheerfully in love. If I could make but
this one point, I believe this whole chapter will have been
done justice. Christ is the cheerful giver.
And as we go through these verses, I hope to show you five reasons
for God's saints to be cheerful givers. Now let's begin here
in verse 1. I need to get through these first
several verses, which will build up to these things that I want
to show. Verse 1, for it's touching the ministering to the saints.
And now he's not talking about so much the gospel here, though
it's included in this. But he's talking about ministering
to their needs, the poor saints, helping them out, giving them
to eat, and so on. He said, it is superfluous for
me to write to you. What on earth does that mean?
Have you read through this chapter before and seen that word and
others like it and just zoomed on top of it and get on down
in the verse a little bit and say, oh, I bet you this is what
he was talking about, but still you don't know what that word
means. The word superfluous means more
than is wanted, more than is required, or in this case, Unnecessary
because of the abundance that they already had. In other words,
concerning these gifts for the needy, he says, it's not necessary
for me to write unto you because of the abundance of evidence
that you've already shown. He says in verse 2, for I know
the forwardness of your mind. That is, I know your intention. I have men, faithful men, that
have told me your intentions, and I have seen it firsthand. For which I boast of you to them
of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal
hath provoked very many." Now evidently, Titus or some of the
brethren had spoken of their readiness of mind to give. And this confirms what Paul already
knew in his heart to be so about these people. And so Paul commends
them concerning their willingness to give. Verse 3, yet have I
sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this
behalf, that as I said, you may be ready. Now the word yet here,
you see how he starts this verse off? Yet. That word yet here
is a word of experience of a long time minister dealing with human
nature. That's what that word yet is. Yet, he says, knowing something
about the frailty and changeableness of the nature of men. Yet, he
says. knowing the power and craftiness
of Satan to trick and deceive. Yet, he says, understanding that
men are prone to grow cold and indifferent unless their spiritual
senses are exercised. And knowing these things, Paul
sends these three faithful men to them to be sure. To be sure. Verse 4. Lest happily, if they
of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared. We, that we say, not ye, should
be ashamed in this same competent boasting." Paul had boasted of
this work which he was competent that God had begun in them. And
he didn't want to be ashamed of his testimony concerning it,
and he didn't want them to be ashamed of it before these people. He didn't want to be seen as
a sentimental fool, and he didn't want this beloved church to be
embarrassed. And so he sends these faithful
men to him to prepare what they already voiced that they were
ready to do. Verse 5. Therefore, I thought
it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto
you and make up beforehand your bounty whereof you have had notice
before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and
not as covetousness. That is, to ensure their act
would be done right and of a proper spirit and attitude, Paul would
send these men ahead to oversee it. and have it ready to be received. But at the same time, he didn't
want them to think that it was a matter of covetousness on his
part. He wasn't sending these men to
put them on the spot. Churches do that, you know. They
do that. They use that kind of tactic.
I grew up in one who did. They monitored what you gave. And they had you, as you joined
that church, you were to make a commitment to tithe to that
church. And if you didn't pay your tithes,
they brought you before the people and put you on the spot. Didn't
you say you were going to give 10%? Where is your 10% at? Paul didn't
want them to think this, that's not why I'm sending these men
to put you on the spot. He only wanted to promote what
he knew to be the work of God in their hearts. So here's the
first thing I want you to see. He didn't want them to suffer
embarrassment before the other saints or for God's work to be
overlooked and mocked. Paul worried about that. He worried
about their giving. He worried about their testimonies.
He worried about their lives. Well, God's going to save his
elect no matter what. Now, let me tell you something
about that no matter what. God worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will, and he works all those no matter
what. And God's people are going to
be giving people. They're going to be giving people.
They're going to be loving people. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. They're going to be sincere people. And you can go through the scripture
and you find all of these evidences of the life that God's given
to them. You'll find all those evidences
plainly stated in the scriptures. Paul didn't want this, he didn't
want them to suffer embarrassment. because he believed that God
actually had done work in them. There's two types of preaching,
two types of hearing, and two types of works set forth in the
Word of God. The first is carnal. Carnal preaching
and teaching appeals to the flesh. That's what it does. It ministers
to the flesh. What's in the flesh? Pride. That
carnal preaching feeds the pride of men. It feeds it. And so on. It appeals to the appetites of
the flesh. It appeals to the power of the
flesh. It doesn't appeal to God. It
appeals to men. Make your decision. Exercise
your free will. On and on and on it goes. It
appeals to the power of the flesh. It appeals to the wisdom of the
flesh. And it appeals to man's pride
and his sense of self-worth. The second kind of preaching
is spiritual. Spiritual preaching puts man
in the dust. It doesn't recognize him as somebody. It doesn't feed his pride. It
puts him in the dust. Spiritual preaching treats man
as a helpless, hopeless, lost sinner. Spiritual preaching is
fully dependent on the presence and power of God and not dependent
whatsoever on the flesh. Spiritual preaching glorifies
God and not man. And spiritual preaching shuts
men up to Christ and leaves them prostrate before the sovereign
Almighty God. And spiritual preaching produces
spiritual works, works done in us, works of repentance, faith,
love, understanding, and joy. And when the Scripture speaks
of Paul's boasting, It simply means his confidence in them
that God was doing a spiritual work in them. Paul thanked God
for the Philippians and thanked God for their fellowship in the
gospel and then listened to this, what he says, being confident
of this very thing, that he which had begun a good work in them
would perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. The man who
would faithfully watch for your souls is a man who carefully
looks for and promotes the work of God in you. He exhorts you
to exercise those godly principles, those godly senses, those things
which are produced by this new nature. Well, preacher, how does a man
know if the work in you is the work of God? Isn't that what
you asked me this morning? How do you know that? How do
you know that the work in you is the work of God? If God's
doing this work in you, you will repent of and confess your sins. Now, if God does the work, that's
what's going to happen. That's what's going to happen.
You're going to repent of and confess your sins, not to me
or not to some other man, but to God. Secondly, those people
in whom God begins a work will believe the testimony of God,
which he gave of his son. He believes that. He acts on
that. He acts on that just like we
act on the knowledge that this floor is going to hold you up
when you walk and you're not afraid to stick your foot out
and step on it. You don't take each step expecting
the bottom to fall out. You know it's solid. You know
it is. You know it by experience. You know it because it's here. You know it because things are
sitting on it and so on. And that's the way that man who
believes God, he walks that way. He walks that way because he's
confident that what God says is. It is. They believe the testimony of
God and especially God's testimony concerning His Son. And they
submit themselves to God's messenger and His message. They submit
themselves. Isn't that what Paul said to
those Thessalonians? He said, I know your election
of God. I know your election of God, because my gospel came
unto you in power. And you become followers of us
and the Lord. And then I know this, they manifest
the fruit of God's Spirit. Alright, here's the second thing
that Paul will use to exhort them in their giving. The advantages
of it. Verse 6, but this I say, he which
soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth
bountifully shall reap also bountifully. There are benefits in giving. Picture a man in his house. He
labors hard all week long. And he fills his house with amenities. He gets the best air conditioner
money can buy, puts it in. He gets a big comfortable recliner,
one that he can kick back and his feet don't hang over the
end of it. He gets a kitchen, puts it in there fit for a chef.
He gets him a big screen TV with surround sound and he puts this
big glass wall in this home which he's built overlooking a lake
or up on a mountainside overlooking a big valley. Everything this
man has sown to the flesh, the flesh will reap the benefits
of it. You get your big recliner laid
back, you're going to enjoy the benefits of it. I do. I do in
mine. I enjoy it. But believers, on
the other hand, they sow to the spirit. He takes his hard-earned
money and he gives it where it can do him the most good. He
thinks about it. He thinks about it. And he puts
it where it's going to do him the most good and do his wife
and children the most good. He gives it to the support of
the ministry because God showed him in Ephesians 4, 11, and 12
that evangelists and pastor-teachers are given for the perfecting
of the saints and for the work of the ministry. And so he invests
his money wisely. He gives to that end, that his
spiritual self might be benefited. What's the rest of it worth if
you lose your soul? Ain't that what Christ said?
He said, what if you should gain the whole world? What if you
become this big tycoon and before anybody knows what's going on,
you own the whole outfit. You own everything on the globe. What's it going to profit you
if you lose your soul? He gives to that which yields
him the greatest advantage. And then secondly, he reads in
Acts 20, verse 35, where Christ taught it's more blessed to give
than to receive. The man who truly understands
this counts it a blessing to give. Brethren, creation itself teaches
us to give. Did you know that? Have you ever
even thought about that? The sun does what? Gives light. Huh? You don't pay for it, do
you? No. Give and take. The sun gives
light. The moon at night receives light,
which the sun has given, and passes it on to you. Does it? The ocean gives its bounty, the
land. It yields forth the herb-bearing
grasses and the fruit-bearing trees. It all gives. It gives. It gives. The stars
give direction. Everything that God created gives. It gives. Therefore, it's an unnatural
thing not to give, isn't it? It's an unnatural thing. There's advantages in giving.
The man who gives exercises the love and grace which God has
given to him, and he manifests the blessings of God when he
gives. All right, the third thing. The third thing Paul will use
to exhort God's people to give is knowledge and purpose. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7. Every man, according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity,
for God loveth a cheerful giver. The believer, unlike the rest
of the world, is not his own, but he's been bought with a price.
He's not like the world who spend their days laying up treasures
only to leave them behind and most of the time squandered by
ungodly children. You know, I was reading several
passages, and they were just too lengthy to include in the
lesson, but it talks about a man's money having wings. You know what that means, and
I do too, and some of you do. Has wings. It just flies away. Where'd it go? I had $600. Where did it go? It had wings. He talks about a man struggling
all his life, working and scrimping and saving and putting it up
only to be squandered by his children. and many, many other
places. You can read through Proverbs
and Ecclesiastes and you can see all those places. Paul said this, he said, we brought
nothing into this world and it's certain, it's an absolute certainty
that we're not going to take anything out. The believer understands,
now listen to me, he understands where he is. He understands it. He understands the privilege
which God has given to him. He understands God's purpose
of grace and the means which God has ordained to accomplish
it. Paul tells the Ephesians to walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith they were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with
long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. And this vocation
has to do with our present active state of being, has to do with
our daily lives, saints called out of darkness. The church which
is manifest in this world is here called fellow laborers with
God. And this calling is called the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It's called a holy calling,
a heavenly calling, and the calling of God. There's no greater privilege
for a vile sinner than to be called of God to be a saint. That's the highest privilege
in this world. William Carey, the great missionary,
I believe it was William Carey, said years ago, that his son,
his son, had degraded himself to become the ambassador of some
great nation. He left his calling as a minister
to step down to that calling to be an ambassador of some great
country. He said that because he understood
something about the privilege, something about the grace of
God shown to us. Willingly, it causes a man to
give willingly when he understands, when he knows, and joyfully,
not grudgingly and not of necessity. No man will give like the man
who fully understands the redemptive will of God in Christ. Giving is to be done with purpose
and understanding, and giving is to be done with a cheerful
heart. Well, I'll give, but I don't really want to. I'd rather you
didn't give anything. I'd just rather you wouldn't.
The giver, now listen to me, the giver has already been blessed
if he or she can give with a cheerful heart. They've already been blessed. It makes him happy to give. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Paul uses these things to exhort
God's saints to give. And here's the fourth thing,
2 Corinthians 9, verse 8. And God is able to make all grace
abound toward you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound to every good work." Now, what this verse is
saying is that if you are a saint and God has prospered you, He
did not do so so you could lay back and say, soul, take my ease. He did it so you could abound
in the work to which you've been called. That's what Paul's talking
about here. You cannot out-give God. And
what this verse teaches is that those who give with the right
motive and spirit and give in accordance with God's purpose
and give to relieve the sufferings of others shall never lack or
be short in His abundance which God has given Him. God's giving
is super abundant over yours, over yours. And you'll never
lack in this world. I know that the ungodly merchandisers
of men's souls have used this to get people to send money to
their ungodly ministries. But that doesn't keep the verse
from being true. The verse is still true. God
gave us this abundance to start with, and if we're faithful stewards
of it, He shall see that the barrel never ruins empty. Verse 9, as it is written, he
hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness
remaineth forever. Now he that ministereth seed
to the sower, both ministereth bread for your food, and multiply
your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causes
through us thanksgiving to God. Now let me see if I can break
these verses down for you just a little bit. These verses give
a parable of sorts concerning our care and giving to those
in need. It's a quote from Isaiah 5510,
if you want to jot that down in your notes and look at it
a little bit later, where this parable is given to show the
certainty of God's word not returning unto him void, but accomplishing
the purpose for which it was spoken. The seed, or in this
case, the Word of God concerning our giving to the poor and our
ability to give is of the Lord. Now, if the seed is not planted
or used for the purpose it was given, there'd be no seed for
next year. That's what he's saying. There
won't be any seed. And what you now have might be gone. And there'd
be no bread produced because you didn't plant the seed and
the seed didn't come up and it wasn't processed into bread.
Now we don't have any bread either. And we got no seed next year
to plant. But if the seed is given and
sown, it'll yield bread for your food, it'll multiply the seed
sown, and it will increase the fruits of your righteousness. Now by fruits of righteousness
here, he's not saying that we can produce this. He's talking
about the act itself. Giving is an expression of righteousness. And although we cannot of ourselves
give imperfect righteousness, yet it is an expression of this
righteousness that we have in Christ and our gifts are acceptable
in him. And then in verse 11, he tells
us that all these things were caused to move him to thank God. He's thankful. All right, verse
12. For the administration or stewardship
of this service not only supplies the one 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 subjection
unto the gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution
unto them and unto all men. Boy, that's a mouthful, isn't
it? What is an experiment? What in
the world do you talk about? An experiment is an act or an
operation designed to discover some unknown truth and establish
it by way of the experiment. Opportunities to give are experimental
trials designed to prove the work which God's done in his
people. And in so doing, they glorify
God, proving their profession of subjection to the gospel is
true. Many profess subjection to the
gospel of Christ. Some actually do. Some actually
do. And he proves these things through
their attitude and spirit as they're confronted with godly
instructions and godly opportunities. All right. Verses 14 and 15. 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. This is the fifth time. When everything is said and done,
our giving and all that's included in it flow from God's unspeakable
gift, which is Christ Jesus our Lord.