Mar 1, 2020
by: Jack Lash Series: 2Corinthians: Paul's Most Underappreciated Epistle | Category: Giving | Scripture: 2 Corinthians 9:11–15
- Introduction
A. This morning we come to the last sermon on the giving chapters, 2Cor.8-9. Next week we begin an eight or nine week series on Jonah.
B. 2Corinthians 9:11–15 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
C. V.11 begins by repeating the theme of last week’s sermon: the Lord “will enrich us in every way to be generous in every way.”
1. When the Lord enriches us, we ought to recognize it as an opportunity to give, not just to spend.
D. But then it moves to today’s theme: “which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.”
1. Paul says that the collection being taken for the poor in the church at Jerusalem will also result in thanksgiving to God.
E. This is what v.12-13 are all about as well: “For the ministry of this service (Paul’s collection) is not only supplying the needs of the saints (in Jerusalem) but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service (in other words, in accepting this donation), they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others.”
F. There are several steps we can see here in v.13:
1. Your receiving and confessing the gospel, which leads to
2. Your submission to Christ, which leads to
3. Your generosity to others, which leads to
4. Their thanksgiving and praise to God
G. But we see in v.14 that this isn’t just one-directional. When your gift is received by the other party, it also turns that person’s heart toward you. “they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.”
1. And so, through gifts and acts of love people’s hearts are turned toward one another.
2. You see, in reality, there’s a cycle here, not just a process with several steps.
3. The thanksgiving and praise in others which is generated by our gifts and our love is then passed on to others, or back to us.
II. There are two principles here upon which this passage is based:
A. The principle that gifts are designed to change people
1. When God gives us a gift, we should not remain unchanged. It should touch us. It should affect us. It should do something to us.
a. And it shouldn’t just make us happy because we have something we’ve been given. It should change our attitude toward God. He has shown His lovingkindness toward us: that should move us to appreciate Him more, and love Him more, and be more eager to know Him.
b. But when we receive a gift from God, it is so easy to enjoy the gift but neglect to be changed in our heart toward the Giver.
2. This is true in human gifts as well. Gifts you and I receive are supposed to change us.
a. God convicted me about this a few years ago.
(1) I’m spoiled. I can’t count the number of gifts which have been given to me over my lifetime.
(2) And, like others, I very much enjoy the gifts. But rarely do the gifts I’ve received profoundly impact my attitude toward the one who gave me the gift. And this is a violation of the gift.
3. Love is a tool of change. This is one of the proper motivations for loving and for giving.
a. Proverbs 18:16 “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great.”
4. When we give to meet a need, we usually think that meeting the need is the reason to do it.
a. But it’s bigger than that, as Paul says in v.12. “The ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is ALSO overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.”
5. Why is this? By submitting ourselves to Christ, and in Him loving others and giving ourselves to others, we reflect the gospel, we give people a glimpse of the grace of God.
a. “Have you see Jesus my Lord? He’s here in plain view...Have you ever stood in the family, with the Lord there in your midst? Seen the look of Christ on your brother? Then I say, you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.” (David Slater)
b. When people see Christ in another person, hopefully they are moved to worship.
6. Gifts are meant to change us. And we should show love and give gifts in an effort to change others.
a. Think about the story of Les Miserables. The priest gave the silver in an effort to change Jean Valjean’s attitude, especially toward God, and it did. That’s what Paul’s talking about.
7. You see, God is the source of all true love. And we should recognize every act of love and every gift given to us as coming from Him.
8. We need to be faithful givers, and we need to be faithful receivers:
a. Being melted to worship by the inexpressible gift of God in Christ,
b. Receiving gifts from others and letting them have the appropriate effect on our hearts,
(1) So many times we miss opportunities to rejoice and praise.
(2) We just don’t stop and ponder what has happened.
c. Giving to others in Christ’s name and on His behalf with the goal of showing them.
9. Kids: most of you have spent your whole life receiving gifts from your parents. But most kids who grow up receiving gifts aren’t really impacted by them. They just grow up expecting them.
a. Maybe you need to realize what an amazing thing it is to be loved like that!
b. And maybe also you also need to begin giving gifts, not just receiving them.
B. But there’s also another principle: the principle that gratitude toward God and worship of Him are the final goal of everything.
1. Paul is saying that one purpose of his collection is that it might stir up gratitude toward God.
2. This is actually the third time in this letter he’s brought this up.
a. 2Corinthians 1:11 “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”
(1) He wants them to pray for him so they will share in the thanksgiving which results.
(2) Gratitude is not just a reason to give, it’s a reason to pray.
b. 2Corinthians 4:15 “For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”
(1) The context here is the spreading of the kingdom – people coming to Christ – which brings more and more people to give thanks to God.
(2) So, this increase of gratitude isn’t just a reason to give and to pray, it’s a good reason to tell others about Jesus, too.
3. But we can see by this pattern in God’s word that as believers we should have a passion for Christ’s glory, a desire to see God worshiped and praised and honored.
a. This is what we pray when we pray, “Hallowed be Your name! Your Kingdom come!”
b. In 1Cor.10:31 Paul tells the Corinthians that they should do everything for “the glory of God.”
4. This should be the purpose of everything we do because this is the reason we were created.
a. God’s people have “been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we...might be to the praise of his glory.” - Eph.1:11-12
5. This is the reason we were saved – that we might live for the praise of His glory.
a. 1Peter 2:9 “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, THAT YOU MAY PROCLAIM THE EXCELLENCIES OF HIM who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
b. 1Peter 2:12 “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that...they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
6. There is no motivation higher than a zeal to see Christ honored, a desire to see more and more people worshiping, acknowledging, appreciating and adoring Christ.
a. “O for 1000 tongues to sing my great redeemer’s praise!” - Charles Wesley
b. It’s the longing to see the fulfillment of John’s revelation of a great throng adoring and lifting up high praise to the lamb of God in Rev.7:9-10.
7. That’s why we speak. That’s why we want to tell the world about Jesus. That’s why we pray our non-believing friends & loved ones would come to know Christ. That’s why we tell them of Jesus.
a. This is why we send out missionaries. This is why we pray not only for their health and protection and provision, but for their success. This is why we are anxious to hear from them when they send updates or give reports — because we care not only about them but about the progress of the gospel!
8. Now, of course we also do it out of love for people. But that’s not the only reason.
9. “Our hearts are longing for The glory of the Lord To be made known in all the Earth. We want to see the nations bow We want to hear the rising sound Of the worship that You deserve” (Your Great Renown, by Eric Grover & Steve Cook)
III. This fall we took an offering for a community of new believers in West Africa.
A. How much they needed to see the love of Jesus at that time!
B. There they were: they had heard and received the word, and now they were faced with their first major tribulation.
1. They are shepherds, part of the largest shepherding people group in the world. All of their assets are in their animals. And now a rare flood in the desert had killed many of their flocks and herds.
C. And they were an unappreciated minority in their own country, very low on the totem pole. Never before, in all their years before becoming Christians, never had anyone in the world shown them this kind of care.
D. What would they do? How would it affect their faith?
1. You know, so many who decide to become Christians lose their faith when trials slam them down.
2. This is what the seed sown among the thorns was all about. “This the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises, immediately he falls away.” Matt.13:20-21
E. In the past they had always endured their troubles alone. Their whole society and culture are built in ignorance of the gospel of Christ. Their country and their tribe know nothing of Jesus and His love.
F. And in the midst of their need and loss, we gathered $7000 from a congregation of 35 family units.
1. And our gift said to them, “Jesus is real.” And it said to them, “Jesus loves you!” And it said to them, “Jesus cares about the hard things you go through in your life.” And it said, “You are part of the family of Jesus now.”
G. It is likely that they will soon experience persecution worse than anything you and I have ever seen.
1. We may have helped prepare them to endure it by making them know in a very tangible way that they have now have a spiritual family that cares about them and prays for them, even when they’re laid low.
IV. Conclusion
A. There are so many people in our world who have experienced so much hurt, so much abuse, so much meaninglessness, so much darkness that they have no belief in any form of true goodness. They don’t even know it, but they are starving for love, starving for meaning.
1. And getting a taste of Christ’s grace, a taste of Christian generosity/kindness, is their only hope.
B. And then there’s us.
1. As American Christians, we have a special need to pay attention to these chapters.
2. We have a problem with money and with earthly possessions.
3. We long for a life of security and smooth sailing. As Americans, this is our idol.
4. In Luke 12:19, the rich fool says to himself, “You have ample goods laid up for many years. Now you can relax, eat, drink, be happy.” And that sounds pretty good to us, because we are looking for a contentment based largely on earthly circumstances. That is an evil contentment.
C. But Paul had a zeal for change in the world. He wasn’t content merely with a world where things were going smoothly for him. That was far too little to give him contentment. He wanted to see more and more people worshiping Jesus. He was anxious to do anything he had to do to make this happen. He was willing to give; he was willing to pray; he was willing to tell people about Christ.
1. 1Cor.9:22 “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.”
D. And then in v.15 Paul ends these amazing chapters with this exclamation: “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”
1. This seems to come out of the blue. But what it shows is that everything Paul has been saying has been said in light of what he said back in 8:9 “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.”
2. It all comes back to Christ.
3. All of our giving starts with the inexpressible Gift we are given.
4. If our loving isn’t a response to His love, then it is empty moralism.
5. If our giving isn’t a result of receiving His gift, then ultimately we have nothing to give.
6. Love is only truly Christian when it begins with God, when it’s actually His love flowing thru us.
E. We have now come to the end of eight sermons on the giving chapters. And hopefully it has helped us think through the giving part of our lives. However, please don’t go away from this series without knowing this: Christian giving begins with God’s gift to us of Christ.
1. Christian giving is motivated by God’s gift to us of Christ.
2. Christian giving is empowered by God’s gift to us of Christ.
3. Christian giving is an extension of God’s gift to us of Christ.
4. Receiving the gift of Christ leads to a fullness which results in giving. He fills up our cup and it overflows to others.
5. This is why the secret of being loving is not to try harder, but to repent of our idols and go to Jesus, to receive Him, to grasp more deeply His love for you, to be filled with Him, not with self.
V. Sex and Money by Paul David Tripp is a great book to read to follow-up on this.