Generous Giving

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on August 29, 2021.  The Bible verses used are 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.

            When you heard that Bible reading, some of you might have thought, “Oh, boy, here we go.  Here comes a sermon on giving.  The church must need money or something.”

            Well, yes and no.  The church does need money, of course.  That’s always true.  But that’s not what this sermon is going to be about.  Because that’s not what our Bible reading is about.  

In fact, it’s too bad that this passage is sometimes used that way, because doing so misses the point of the passage.  The Apostle Paul is not writing about giving to the church.  Paul does not say anything about the church.  But Paul does have a lot to say about giving in this passage.  Let’s look at it.

First, how much should you give?  Paul says, basically, that’s up to you.  He says each person should give whatever they decide to give.  And, he says, don’t give a certain amount just because you feel like you have to.  Don’t give a certain amount because you feel like you’re forced to or because you’ll feel guilty about it if you don’t give that much.  Give because you want to, and give the amount you want to.  As we’ve heard so many times, God loves a cheerful giver.

But Paul does say that there are reasons to give generously.  For one thing, he says, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”  In other words, how much good do you want your giving to do?  Do you want it to just do a little good?  Then just give a little.  Do you want it to do a lot of good?  Then give a lot!  Give generously.  Give as much as you can afford to give.  The more you give, the more good you will do.

And, Paul says, when you’re thinking about “how much you can afford to give”, don’t be afraid.  Don’t think, oh, I cannot give very much, because I have to make sure I still have plenty.  Paul says that, when we’re figuring out how much we can afford to give, we need to make sure we trust God.

Paul says, “he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.”  In other words, when we step out in faith, when we have enough trust in God to sometimes give more than we’re sure we can afford, God will take care of us.  God will make sure that not only can we cover what we’ve promised to give, but we’ll have enough for ourselves, too.  And--this is Pastor Jeff talking now, not Paul--I can tell you that in my life, this has been true.  Every time I’ve increased my giving, God has given us enough money to take care of it.

That’s not to say it hasn’t been scary sometimes.  There have been times when I was very much afraid to increase my giving, because I did not know where the money was going to come from.  I’ve hesitated, out of fear that I would not have enough.  Sometimes I still do that.  So if you’re afraid of giving more, I understand.  It’s not easy.  It takes courage to trust God that much.  It takes faith to trust God that much.

But here’s the thing.  You don’t have to do this in one big leap.  Try taking a small step.  Just increase your giving a little bit.  See what happens.  See if God gives you enough to cover it.  And if, over time, you see that God is giving you enough, try increasing your giving a little bit more.  See if God gives you enough again.  Give God a chance to show you how faithful and trustworthy God is.  I think God will prove that He’s worthy of our faith and trust.

Now, in talking about giving, who should we give to?  Because again, Paul says nothing about giving to the church.  The church will accept it, of course, and we’ll try to use the money wisely.  But that’s not what Paul is talking about.  Paul specifically references two groups of people to give to, and they’re not mutually exclusive at all.  Paul quotes Psalm 112 and says, “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor.”  And a few verses later, Paul writes about “supplying the needs of the Lord’s people.”

Give to the poor.  Give to the Lord’s people.  We could all be considered the Lord’s people, of course--God made all of us.  So, really, we are free to give to whomever we choose to give to.  But Paul put a special emphasis on giving to the poor.  And of course, they’re the ones who need our gifts the most.

Now, notice, Paul makes this a personal obligation.  Paul does not say, “get the government to give to the poor.”  He does not say, “Form a nonprofit corporation to give to the poor.”  That’s not to say that either of those is a bad thing, but the point is that Paul does not allow us to push this responsibility onto someone else.  This is something each of us is supposed to do personally.

But why should we do this at all?  I mean, it’s a good thing to do, I suppose, but there are lots of good things to do.  Is that the only reason we’re supposed to do this, because it’s a good thing to do?

No.  Paul tells us why we need to do this.  He says “your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”  And he goes on to make that point again.  “The service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.  Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.”

That’s the point of our generosity.  It’s not just to do something nice for someone.  It’s to bring people to Christ.  Our generosity is aimed at leading people to praise God and give thanks to God.

That’s why we cannot do this through some organization.  When people receive something from the government, that’s not something that’s going to lead them to praise God and give thanks to God.  When people receive something from the United Way, that’s not something that’s going to lead them to praise God and give thanks to God.  And that’s not meant as a criticism of the government or the United Way.  But the point is, again, that as Christians, we don’t give just because it’s a good thing to do.  We give to lead people to Christ.  We give to lead people to praise God and give thanks to God.

And note, we don’t lead them to Christ by trying to force the gospel on them.  Paul references two ways in which our giving leads people to Christ.  The first is “our confession of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”  Telling people about Jesus Christ.  Telling them who he is, telling them how he is the Savior and the way to eternal life.  And the second is “the service by which we have proved ourselves”, which accompanies what we say.  Our generosity in giving is what gives authority and credibility to what we say about Jesus.  It shows that we’re not just saying words, that we truly believe them and are truly trying to live by them.

And so, we return to where we started.  “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”  That’s not just saying that the more we give the more good we’ll do.  It’s saying that the more we give, the more effective our witness is.  The more we give, the more people will believe what we say.  The more we give, the more authority and credibility we will have with people when we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.  In other words, the more generously we give, the more we can do what Jesus told us to do:  make disciples of Jesus Christ.

And one more thing:  Note that nowhere in this passage does Paul mention the word “money”.  Money is one thing we can give, but it is not the only thing we can give.  We can give our time.  We can give our abilities and talents.  We can give our love and our care.  There are all kinds of things we can give.  Money is a good thing to give, and it’s always useful.  But there are many other things we can give, too.  And all of them, if we give them generously, will help us make disciples of Jesus Christ.

It’s up to each of us to decide what we will give and how much of it we will give.  I hope, whatever we give, we will give it cheerfully, because God does love a cheerful giver.  But I also hope we will give it generously, so we can reap a bountiful harvest of souls for Jesus Christ.