Scripture Reading

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that, having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. This is the word of the Lord.

There's a story of a man who gets this incredible offer. It was set in the 1800s in Russia and this man is a peasant. He has one day to claim all the land that he could ever want. As much land that he could claim in one day, he can have. So he goes out in the morning, starts walking, and the land is good. He keeps walking and walking and pushes further and every chance, every time he thinks, 'Oh, this is good,' he'll turn around here. The land just in front of him looks even better and so he goes and gets that. By late afternoon, he realizes that he's gone way too far and so he desperately sprints back all the way to where he started and gets there just as the sun sets. He collapses at the finish line. He turns up dead. This story was written by Leo Tolstoy and the title of this work was 'How Much Land Does a Man Need?' The story answers that question by saying, 'Six feet. Just enough to be buried.'

The scarcity that our world shows us is embodied in this story. There's a voice in our culture that says, 'We need more. It isn't enough. Hold tighter to what you have.' It's a voice that we bring into this room every Sunday and it's the reason that a sermon on money makes us feel uncomfortable. It's the reason that we don't publicize that we're going to talk about money because the truth is when we publicize that, people don't show up to church. The mood in a room changes when we talk about money, unfortunately. And so we're just going to say the quiet part out loud.

Big Question

Why is the church always talking about money?

Everyone knows when we start talking about money, walls go up. You feel like you've heard it before. And I get it because most of us have either been in a church context or we've heard of churches where a giving talk feels like an old western stand-up. It feels like we're getting guilted into giving more. The implication is almost like this: if you loved God more, you'd give more. So let me be straight with you. I'm not here to guilt you into giving. In fact, that is the opposite of what the passage we're going to look at this morning says. I want you to look at what you trust because money is one of the most honest things in our life. It shows us what we love. It shows us what we trust. And that's what Paul wants to show us this morning. He wants to show us a God that's worth trusting. So why is the church always talking about money? Fortunately, the Bible has an answer. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.

Outline

1. A Principle of Sowing and Reaping (2 Corinthians 9:6)

2. A Call to Willing and Cheerful Giving (2 Corinthians 9:7)

3. A Promise of God's All-Sufficient Grace (2 Corinthians 9:8)

A Principle of Sowing and Reaping (2 Corinthians 9:6)

What we're going to be doing is looking at more than just money. This is a framework for us to look at any possession, anything that we could have here on earth. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:6, 'The point is this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.' Paul's using two contrasting words here: 'bountifully' and 'sparingly.' He picks these two words on purpose. This is a way in which we see the world — either sparingly or bountifully. The word for sparingly really means to save from loss. It's an economic term, used as a job description, like someone who is an accountant. Paul doesn't just pick any word here. He's not saying whoever sows a small amount. Paul is using a word specifically about protecting yourself from losing something. The sparing giver isn't giving just a little because they have a little; he's giving a little because every gift feels like a threat.

John Calvin, unsurprisingly, has something great to say about this passage. He says, 'The flesh is always ingenious in devising excuses. And some will plead that they have families and it would be unkind to neglect. And some use the fact that they cannot give much as an excuse for giving nothing.' The truth is we calculate. We look at what we have through the lens of what we can get back. Everything is an opportunity to gain more. What happens is we end up trusting in our security that money can bring rather than the God who gives it. And that's why Paul says that we need to sow bountifully. The word 'bountifully' means the one sowing with blessing, the one who gives as a benediction, as a blessing, as a gift. The contrast here isn't between giving a little and giving a lot. It's those who give in a calculated way versus those who give as a way to bless — not only themselves but others.

So don't hear benedictory giving as something that's only easy. In fact, if your generosity never hurts, never touches something that you'd rather keep, the truth is you haven't given; you've tipped. If we can give in a way that is just comfortable for us, we haven't embodied what it means to sacrifice in the way we've been called to. In Hebrews, the author says that Jesus, for the joy set before him, endured the cross. Jesus went to the cross, paid the ultimate price, and the writer of Hebrews says this was done out of joy. Joy and cost coexisting in the same act. The model for Christian generosity is not painless giving; it's costly giving that trusts God the Father on the other side of the cost.

Our culture revolts against this kind of thinking. We live in a culture — not just in America, but here in northern Michigan, in Falmouth, in McBain, in Lake City — steeped in a scarcity mindset that believes there is only a finite, limited amount of resources and that we need to run and chase after every single one of them. This is a world without God who provides. If there is no God who multiplies loaves and fish, then every dollar I give is just gone. If that's the way we see the world, then the only way to rationally respond is to live sparingly, to be calculated with everything we have. Living sparingly is not simply a financial decision. This is a theological one. When we live sparingly, it shows us who we worship. Our money is a gauge on our heart that shows us what we truly value.

And that's why we're talking about money today. Not because we're short on money as a church. Not because the deacons have come to me and said we need another message about money. We're talking about money today because it is actually important for our spiritual lives; it is actually important to our souls. Human wisdom says: evaluate everything you have for its return. But divine wisdom says the opposite. God commands the most radical self-denial. Jesus tells us, 'Whoever would save his life will lose it.' And then he turns and tells us that this self-denial is the very path to the deepest joy we could ever possibly know.

If you look at any organization, any family, any budget, they'll show you what they value. That's why people say, 'Follow the money.' In fact, in America, it shows us some pretty scary things about what we love. The average American spends $1,097 on coffee annually. Families earning over $100,000 spend more than $2,300 per child per year on youth sports. Entertainment accounts for 5.2% of household spending, which is nearly double what goes to charitable causes. Not only that — the average evangelical donor gave $2,500 to church in the prior 12 months, down 15% from the inflation-adjusted figure of just under $3,000 in 2021. Just over a third of regular church attenders do not give any money to their churches at all. Christians are giving at a rate of 2.5% of their income. During the Great Depression, that was 3.3%. I'm reading these numbers not to guilt you into anything. I'm reading them because money is a gauge on our hearts — and the truth is we will always fund what we trust will deliver. Right now America trusts comfort, experience, and security more than it trusts the God who promises to provide.

A Call to Willing and Cheerful Giving (2 Corinthians 9:7)

That's why Paul gives us a call to willing and cheerful giving in 2 Corinthians 9:7: 'Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.' The phrase 'decided in his heart' is a phrase in the Greek that implies someone who came to church knowing what they were going to give — had decided, had prayerfully decided. It wasn't last minute, it wasn't impulsive, which is why giving online is just as much an act of worship as giving in person. The cheerful giver is deliberate in what they give. The one who has looked at their resources, obligations, and opportunities, and made this decision on what they will give — in stark contrast to the one who gives reluctantly or out of grief.

Charles Hodge has this to say: 'Many gifts are thus given sorrowfully, where the giver is induced to give by a regard to public opinion or by stress of conscience. This reluctance spoils the gift. It loses all its fragrance when the incense of a free and joyful spirit is wanting.' So if reluctance spoils the gift, what then makes it fragrant? See, the motivation in giving here is not transactional. It's not about getting something back. It's relational. If you hear 'Give cheerfully' and hear that as 'I give cheerfully so that way I can get something back,' you're still hearing this as a transactional relationship. But if you hear 'God loves a cheerful giver' and see that as a relationship, that relationship will be worth everything — enough that it will be a reward in and of itself.

A cheerful giver is simply someone who has come to look like their heavenly Father. And the Father loves to see himself in his children. When we reflect his generosity, he loves seeing that in us. When we let go of our idols in order to grab more of him, that is what he loves to see. So the takeaway from this isn't just, give more cheerfully, try harder. That won't work. The invitation is this: see the kind of Father that you have. The heavenly Father who gives you everything you've ever had — every breath, every meal, and yes, every dollar. A Father who's invited you to sit at the table with him, to laugh with him, to enjoy him. A heavenly Father who wants to see you embody the same life-giving action of giving to other people things that they don't deserve.

A Promise of God's All-Sufficient Grace (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Here we'll see the power of this passage. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says: 'And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency, in all things, at all times, you may abound in every good work.' The word here for 'able' is the word we get our word dynamite from. It only shows up 3 times in the New Testament, and it comes here in a passage about giving. It means to display capacity, to be powerful, to be effective. Paul's whole argument about giving hinges on this characteristic of God: that he is a God who is able.

The appeal to give is not some specific promise that every dollar we give, we're going to get 10 back. The appeal to be generous is in who God is himself. God is infinite and eternal, unchangeable in his being. He does not change and there is no end to him. It is in God's very nature that he would never run out. We live in a world where we believe I have to go and get mine, otherwise someone else will go and get it. And yet we believe in a God who we will never find the edges of. There is no way to exhaust who God is. We drink from a well that will never run dry. James 1:17 says it this way: 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.'

God is the one who gives. And the grace in 2 Corinthians 9:8 is not just merely the grace to receive forgiveness or the grace of the gospel. Specifically here in this passage, this includes God giving us the grace in order to be generous. You might be sitting here thinking, 'I'm barely able to pay the bills. What do you mean God's going to give me this ability?' We've all been through financially hard seasons — and this isn't a promise that God's going to make everything right tomorrow. And yet, the promise is that God will give you the grace, the ability to give yourself, to give your time, your hospitality, your care, and yes, even your money. But you will only do those things if you believe that God is the one who supplies them. That's the decision this passage puts in front of us.

Main Idea

Trust God rather than scarcity

The appeal to be generous is in the very nature of who God is — not what you'll get back, not the return on your investment. So the question isn't, 'Why is the church always talking about money?' The question this passage is really asking is, 'What does my money reveal about who I trust?' That's what it comes down to. Your money is one of the most honest things about you. It shows what you trust. It's not about what we confess on Sunday morning. It's not about what we profess about giving, about generosity, about God. Our actions show what we believe, especially our money. And Paul is telling us that generosity is good for your soul. It's not about the church's budget. It is the thing that pries your fingers off the idol of security and puts them toward a God who is able.

Now I want to be clear: tithing is an important part of what it means to belong to a church. This whole series we've been going through is about what it means to belong to a church, to be a member of a church. And tithing is a part of that. I believe that if you call this church home, you should be giving to this church. The Bible doesn't apologize for that. But if the thing you've heard this morning is that the church needs more of your money, you haven't been listening to the passage or what I've been saying. This passage is not about what the church needs from you. It's about what generosity does in and through your life.

For some of you, you've been sitting here waiting for me to say a percentage, waiting for me to say an amount. Don't hold your breath because I'm not going to tell you. That's not the point. The point is not, 'Here's the minimum amount — here's what you have to do to be a good Christian.' God loves a cheerful giver. The point is that we would give bountifully; that we would be generous with all of who we are. This is not a call to figure out the floor or the basement. It is a call to look at your heavenly Father, see what he has given, and ask, what does a life of gratitude actually look like? Not just with my bank account, but with my time, with the talent God has given me, with the other resources he's entrusted to me.

Application

Audit your giving for the manner of it — not just the amount

This week, your application is this: sit down and look at what you give — not to see whether the number is big enough, but to ask yourself, how did it feel when I gave this? Did you decide in your heart before you got there, or was it an afterthought? Did you give it freely, or did you grieve it all the way down to your core? The amount might be fine, but the manner might be telling you something else. $100 given with a clenched fist honors God less than $10 given with an open hand. So don't start with a number; start with where your heart is in giving and do some assessment of that.

Look for when scarcity starts talking this week

And I don't just mean about your money. Scarcity is something that talks to us all day long, every day of our life. It's the reason you don't call a person you've been meaning to call because you feel like you don't have the time. It's the reason you drive past your neighbor who's mowing the lawn alone and don't stop because you've got your own lawn to deal with. It's why you eat dinner in front of the TV rather than at the table because you're convinced you don't have the energy for a conversation tonight. It's the reason the meal never gets dropped off, the visit never gets made, the invitation never gets extended. Not because you don't care, but because something else is saying, 'I don't have enough. You need to take care of you first.'

That's not the voice of wisdom. That's not the voice of stewardship. It's a secular creed we've embodied — the belief that if you live in a world without God who provides, then you need to get exactly what you need to take care of you. Scarcity will start talking about your money. It will talk about your time, your energy, your attention, your hospitality. So when you hear it this week — and you will — name it. Ask, why is scarcity talking right now? Maybe even track what it is that scarcity talks about in your life. Is there a pattern? I think if you pay attention, that pattern will show you an idol that you're maybe holding onto too tightly.

Everything Paul has said about generosity — the sowing, the cheerfulness, the all-sufficient grace — none of it makes sense unless we understand where it comes from. Earlier in 2 Corinthians, Paul says this: 'For 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.' Jesus Christ was rich — not in the kind of rich like a big house. Jesus was rich in the sense that he had created everything and everything belonged to him. Every star, every atom, every breath we've taken belongs to him. And yet, he became poor. Not just inconvenienced, not just slightly diminished — Jesus became poor. He was born into one of maybe the most impoverished families in all of human history.

On the cross, Jesus became even poorer than that because on the cross, God the Father took every sin that you've ever committed, every act of greed, every clenched fist, every dollar that you've worshiped instead of him, and laid it on his Son. Jesus paid the price fully in your place. The one who owned everything was forsaken by the Father so that you, who deserve nothing, would become rich. Not money rich — rich in grace, rich in forgiveness, rich in a relationship with God that can never be taken from you. This is the foundation on which everything else that we've been talking about is built. You are not generous because you have to be. You are not generous because the church needs your money. You are generous because you have been made impossibly, eternally rich by a Savior who became impossibly and completely poor for you. Scarcity has no claim on the person for whom Christ has already paid the price.

So give — not out of guilt, not out of obligation, but because you know the grace that you have found in your Lord Jesus Christ. And that grace has made you rich beyond all comparison. So church, hear this: trust God rather than scarcity. That is the foundation for our generosity.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we praise you that you are a God who is not just generous, but God, you gave yourself to us. The greatest gift we could ever experience was you. God, let that reality — that you came, that you left your throne in heaven to be with us, to take the miseries of this life and to die on the cross for our sake — let us respond not just today by singing, but with a life of generosity, knowing that we are a beneficiary of that generosity from you. God, we love you. Let us sing your praises here. Amen.