Lifestyle

Inviting Abundance
2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Most of you know that my daughter, Jordan, is away at college and, in fact, has just begun her senior year at Vanguard University. One of the things that means is that my wife and I have now been empty nesters for 3 years. Another thing that means is that I have now learned that even though she is out of the house she is never far from “the bank of dad.” Consequently, I could not suppress a shudder of dread when, while checking my voicemail a couple of weeks ago, I heard this message from my daughter—“Dad, call me back as soon as you can. I’ve found a way to save you a ton of money!” I knew that couldn’t be good because, to this point in time, every time she has come up with an idea to “save me money,” I somehow end up with less of it. It’s now been three weeks since that phone call and, so far, I’m down a grand. I’m really looking forward to the day when those phone calls finally end. (Does that ever happen? Please, somebody tell me it will happen.)

I share that story with you because I am guessing that there are some folk here today who will have a similar “shudder of dread” when you discover that I’m speaking, today, about giving. “Oh, no! All that guy ever talks about is money.”
The truth is that this subject is clearly of great importance to God, as evidenced by the fact that it’s addressed so frequently in the scriptures. So I decided earlier this year to develop a series of messages that I’ll be sharing at the rate of about 3 per year over the next several years to help us get a clear understanding of what God has to say about money and giving.

And the heart attitude fueling my approach to the matter is basically this: I am a child of God…I am the grateful beneficiary of the salvation that God made available to me through His grace and Jesus’ sacrifice…God has welcomed me into His family…He has filled my life with purpose and passion…He has secured my place in heaven for all eternity…and He has faithfully and consistently poured blessing upon blessing upon blessing into my life. I can never thank God enough for all that He’s done for me and all that He means to me. So, I’m not interested in pleasing God with part of my life; I want to please God with all of my life. And that includes my giving. I want to live with the confidence that my giving is pleasing to my God. And if that is your desire as well, then the question that we need to ask is this: How can we know that our giving rises to the standard that is genuinely pleasing to God?
And the answer is, by making sure that our giving conforms to the standard that is clearly taught in God’s word. This year, we’ve been studying 2 Corinthians 9, which presents us with a number of very practical, biblically sound giving principles. So, let’s take just a few moments to review the giving principles that we’ve explored thus far.
Back in January we focused our attention on the first 5 verses in the chapter, where we learned that the Jerusalem Christians were going through a time of great financial need. The Corinthian Christians responded to that need with the promise of a very generous gift. Paul was so encouraged by the Corinthian’s generosity that he told the Macedonian Christians about what the Christians in Corinth had done. In turn, the Macedonian Christians were so inspired by the example of the Corinthian Christians that they responded with similar generosity.

And in that experience, we identified our first giving principle: The Principle of Modeling. The Principle of Modeling recognizes that our giving influences the giving of others. Generous giving inspires others to give generously. And giving meagerly inspires others to give meagerly. And it’s important to note that this modeling principle does not apply solely to giving. In fact, it’s a basic principle that applies to all areas of spiritual growth and one that is frequently addressed in the scriptures.

In Philippians 3:17, for instance, Paul writes, “Join with others in following my example…and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.”
In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul writes, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

So, the point is that one most effective ways to encourage and promote spiritual growth in others is through our own good example and one of the most effective ways to stifle and stunt spiritual growth in others is by offering them a poor example. So, how do we test the giving model that others see in us? One way is to ask yourself this question: If everyone in the Petaluma Valley Family began to follow your giving model…not in terms of the amount of dollars that you give, but rather in terms of what you give as a percentage of what you earn…if everyone in our church family began to follow your giving model would we be able to expand our ministries, maintain our ministries or would we have to cut back our ministries?

Obviously, if your giving is pleasing to God and everyone began following your example, the impact would be positive because our church would now be filled with people who are honoring God through their giving.

On the other hand, if your giving is not pleasing to God and everyone began following your example, then we would be in a world of trouble because our church would now be filled with people who are not being obedient to God in their giving.
So, that’s The Principle of Modeling applied in a very practical way.

Then, in March we found a 2nd giving principle, The Principle of Generosity, when we returned to 2 Corinthians 9 and focused our attention on verse 6, which says, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” One of the things that this verse tells us very clearly is that there are, among Christians, two basic types of givers: those who give to God “sparingly” and those who give to God “generously.”

That word, “sparingly,” means “meager, limited and sparse.” It describes a Christian whose primary desire in their giving is to keep for themselves as much as they possibly can and give to God as little as they can get away with.

Now, last March I spent an entire sermon unpacking all of the various layers of meaning in that verse and if you want to hear that sermon you can do so on our website. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that even with just that very brief introduction to this verse, we are already 100% united in seeing the big picture that is painted by this verse. Now, let’s put my prediction to the test. Remembering that our primary desire through this study is to know…with great confidence…that our giving is pleasing to God, let me ask you this question:
--How many of you believe that God is most pleased by those who give sparingly? That it just delights the Father’s heart when His own children give to Him as little as they think they can get away with?

--How many of you think that God is most pleased by those who give generously? That it delights the Father’s heart when His children give out a spirit of generosity?
Well, look at that. It appears to be unanimous.

Now, to The Principle of Modeling and The Principle of Generosity, this morning we’re going to add, The Principle of Abundance. Let’s begin by returning briefly to 2 Corinthians 9, which says, “Remember this: (Keep this in mind. Don’t lose sight of what I’m about to tell you because it’s important. Remember this.) Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”

The foundation for The Principle of Abundance is beginning to be revealed here as we are introduced to the idea that there is a connection between what we give and what we receive. It you give little, you’re going to receive little. If you give generously, you’re going to receive generously.

Now, let’s move on to verse 7, which says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

Now, folks, note that it doesn’t simply say that God wants you to be cheerful when you give. It says that He loves a cheerful giver. It delights God’s heart when He looks into our hearts and sees that they are overflowing with joy as we bring Him our gifts. Why do you suppose that is? Why do you suppose that it’s so pleasing to our Father to know that we delight in bringing Him our gifts? Let me tell you what I think.

--I think it’s because when giving to God becomes a joyful experience for us we are reflecting the joy that our Father experiences when He gives to us. I think it delights Him to see that His children are finding pleasure in the same thing that pleases Him.

--I also think that God loves it when we find joy in generous giving because it’s evidence of the transformation that He is accomplishing in our lives. Folks, when you see a tight-fisted, hold on to everything I can keep for myself kind of spirit turn into a cheerfully generous spirit, you’ve seen God at work. I think it delights Him to see His children becoming what He intends for us to be. That’s why God loves a cheerful giver.

Now, let’s move on to verse 8, which says, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

Now we’ve jumped right into the middle of The Principle of Abundance. And the key lesson here is that our cheerful, generous giving invites God’s abundance into every aspect of our lives. Let me say that, again. Our cheerful, generous giving invites God’s abundance into every aspect of our lives.

When we give cheerfully and generously to God, God’s promise to us is that He will bless us with an abundance of His grace, not is some but in every dimension of our lives. Listen again to the first part of the verse: “And God is able to make…(How much grace abound to you?)…ALL grace abound to you…”

We bring our cheerful and generous gifts to our Father and our Father, in turn, blesses us with an abundance of His grace in every dimension of our lives. An abundance of joy. An abundance of peace. An abundance of faith. An abundant sense of God’s nearness to us and God’s pleasure in us. And also an abundance of contentment—real and lasting freedom from worry and anxiety. Including freedom from worrying about money. Folks, if you want to break free from the stifling stranglehold of constantly being worried about money, then take God at His word, start giving cheerfully and generously and invite the blessing of God’s abundance into your life.

Does the promise of God’s abundance include our finances? Absolutely. Listen, again, to verse 8: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need…”

“Do you mean that I can give generously to God and still pay my bills?” That’s absolutely what I mean. Folks, here’s a promise you can take to the bank—God will always provide everything we need to be fully obedient to Him. And that includes the step of obedience that makes us cheerful and generous givers. In fact, that’s precisely the point of verse 11, which says, “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion…”

--“But I’ve got bills to pay.” “You can be generous on every occasion.”
“Well, that sounds good in theory but…” “You can be generous on every occasion…”

How? Well, it comes down to a matter of trust. Whose hands are you going to trust to provide your needs. God’s hands or your hands? It’s really that simple.

--When we take that step of obedience and give cheerfully and generously to God, we are placing our trust in God’s promise to bless us in every way out of His abundance. We are placing our trust into God’s hands.

--When we do anything less than that, we’re taking matters into our own hands. We are looking into the face of our Father and saying, “Thanks for the promise, but I don’t believe You. I’m going to handle this my way.” And with that decision we remove ourselves from the abundant flow of God’s grace into our lives. He still blesses us because we’re still His children, but not with the abundance that He had planned for us and not with the abundance that He reserves for those who are fully obedient to Him. We settle for a trickle, rather than a flow.

So, let’s put together everything that God has said to us, this morning. Just let this wash over you, without any commentary from me, and ask God to speak to you very clearly.

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion…”

That’s God’s promise of abundance to you. Now it’s up to you. How will you respond to His promise? You can take Him at His word or you can take matters into your own hands. The choice is yours.

I pray that none of us will settle for anything less than the complete obedience that invites the free flowing abundance of God’s grace into our lives.