God Loves a Cheerful Giver!

In 45 A.D. a Christian man named Agabus, who had been gifted by the Holy Spirit with the gift of prophecy, promised that there would be a famine all across Judea. 

This was a dire prediction because the vast majority of the people in the ancient world lived from one day to the next by that day’s labor and the last harvest.  When one harvest after another failed for several years in a row, the prophecy of Agabus came to pass and there was a terrible famine all across Judea and especially in Jerusalem.

We know this not only from the Bible but we also know it from history.  The Roman historian Tacitus and the Jewish historian Josephus both mention this famine with details not for the faint of heart, including mothers killing and consuming their own children.  Tens of thousands of people died from hunger during the years that followed the prophecy of Agabus. 

Christians in Jerusalem, the very heart of the early church, were not immune from the effects of this famine simply because they were God’ people.  And so their fellow Christians from across the Roman Empire banded together to gather a collection to save them from starving to death.

That is the context for the words we will be hearing over the next three weeks that form God’s guidance on Christian giving and in the verses leading up to our text, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Paul lays the very foundation of all Christian giving:  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.

What more does any Christian need to know when it comes to giving for the work of the Lord than this Great Exchange when Jesus Christ made himself a servant of us all, giving everything for us, even his own life, so that we might have all the riches of heaven?!  Having the riches of God, we cheerfully show ourselves his servants by giving sacrificially to the church.

This is the foundation for Christian stewardship and what we are going to be hearing over today and the next two Sundays is the guidance of the Holy Spirit from God’s Word on what the Christian stewardship of financial resources will look like as it is lived out in the life of a child of God as we give our offerings to the Lord.  The Bible says that: 

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 

Can you imagine what it must have been like for ancient people, whose lives depended on the fruitfulness of the soil, to watch the harvest fail?  Can you imagine what must have been going through their minds when it came to their children and loved ones? 

Not only would they go hungry, but where would the seed come from to plant for the next year’s harvest? 

It is a basic agricultural principle that any farmer or home gardener can attest to: if there is not much seed that is planted, there will not be much harvest that is gathered in.  People in the ancient world knew this and their fellow Christians in Judea were experiencing it first hand as one harvest failed and the next harvest was lessened because of little seed.

But these ancient Christians knew something more.  They knew that the lavish riches of God’s grace had been poured out upon them in Jesus Christ.  They knew that God had not held back one thing of value from them to save them and bring them back to him.  They knew that the seed of God’s Word had been planted in them by the Holy Spirit (and in their brethren around the world) and it was producing a harvest of lives that were changed for time and eternity.

The undeserved, overflowing, abundant generosity of God was what guided their giving-- with God’s Word of warning and promise to encourage them:  that those who sowed sparingly would reap sparingly and those who sowed generously would reap generously. 

This warning and promise is twisted completely out of shape by the false prophets of the false gospel of health and wealth who turn it into a way to manipulate people to give to the church-- who then in turn try to manipulate God to give to them-- with the lie that if you give a lot of money you will get a lot of money, completely forgetting about Jesus Christ. 

There are no get rich schemes in the Bible.  Instead, there is the simple promise of God that what we invest in our spiritual life will bear fruit far beyond what we give.  For example:

When we begin to seriously study God’s Word our joy and wonder at the Lord’s goodness grows.  When we step out in faith at his commands we discover that our faith matures.  When we devote ourselves to prayer, we life with God deepens. 

That’s just how it works in the kingdom of God—you can’t out give God-- and so it is, in the same way, when it comes to the spiritual practice of giving to the work of the Lord that, as we give generously, we harvest much, much more than the seed we planted.  As we give…

We learn that God can be trusted to meet our needs-- and our faith is deepened.  We begin to understand what a privilege it is to be a co-worker with God here on earth-- and our self-worth grows.  Our perspective and values mature and grow—and money finds it proper place in our lives as simply a tool that we use to serve our neighbor and glorify God, giving to him freely, from our heart.  The Bible says that: 

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.

It is hard to overestimate the need of the people in Jerusalem.  They were literally starving to death.  It is hard to overestimate the authority of the apostle Paul and the other apostles.  They literally ruled the early church by their word. 

And yet despite the great need-- and despite their great authority—the apostles do not command anyone to give-- and they did not demand a certain amount or percentage.

Our Lord Jesus Christ gave no laws for what we are to give.  He simply held up the example of the poor widow who gave all she had because it was a reflection of what he would do for the world on the cross by giving all he had to restore us to God. 

He trusted that his example and his generosity would be more than enough to encourage his followers to do the same, giving generously and sacrificially for the work of the church

The apostles followed his example, laying down no laws in the New Testament for Christian giving, only the guiding principle that each Christian must give from the heart.

As Paul and the other apostles and pastors began to gather the offering for the saints in Jerusalem, they were astonished and overwhelmed at the generosity of the Christians who gave. 

What they never could have accomplished by demanding or commanding—was accomplished by hearts changed forever by Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit. 

So it is for us in this place.  You will never be presented with a bill for receiving the body and blood of Christ or hearing the good news of salvation in Jesus.  There is no charge for the pastor and elders visiting you and your loved ones in the hospital.  You will never get a letter in the mail with an overdue notice for our prayers for you at this altar.  The gifts of God are freely given to us in Jesus Christ. 

But all of us need to be reminded of this Good News of God’s grace.  And all of us need a fresh view of the great opportunities that lie before us to reach the lost in our community for Jesus and serve our fellow Christians with our giving.  And all of us can benefit from a renewed understanding of what an incredible privilege it is to be trusted by God with his gifts.

When we come to that place in our life of faith, where we step out in faith upon the promise and guidance of God in his word, our offerings will take on a different shape.  No longer will we put them in the plate thinking about what all else could have been done with that money.  No longer will it be the same old ten or twenty or fifty dollars that we have always given despite the fact that God has blessed us more abundantly over the years.  No longer will we give with a grimace.

Instead, we will give generously and freely because that is the way that God has given to us in Jesus.  We will cheerfully offer up to him just a small part of what he has already placed in our hands as an act of worship to the God who loves us.  The Bible says that:  God loves a cheerful giver.  

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 Throughout the Bible the Lord reminds his people that he cares very much not only about their external worship but about what is in their hearts.  He once said, These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.

The Lord desires our offerings, our first and best, not because he needs them—but because he wants to bless us even more in our giving them.  And he assures us that it really is possible to place our offering in the plate cheerfully, with joy in our heart. 

That joy begins when we really understand what we have talked about today in terms of stewardship foundations:  the God who has given us his own riches as our inheritance through the faith in Jesus-- and the great opportunities that are before that God graciously condescends to invite us to help him with.

When we give our offering we are confessing both: that we understand what a precious gift of forgiveness we have been given and that we are blessed to have a part in sharing that with others as we support the church.  The grace of God who has given us all things.  The gift of Jesus Christ who has forgiveness our sins.  The greatness of the mission before us.  How is it possible to NOT give cheerfully in gratitude for all that God has done for us?!  Amen.