2 Corinthians, 9:1-7
Hal Molloy · Mar 13, 2005
2 Corinthians (2004-05), No. 37
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826232217225

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're in 2 Corinthians chapter 9. Can I get a volunteer to read those first seven verses? For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. For I know the readiness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia. That Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the Brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that, as I said, you may be ready. Lest somehow at the day of Macedonia you come with me and find you unprepared, we, that we say not ye, should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the Brethren that they would go before unto and make up forehand unto bounty, of which he had noticed before, that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness. But this I say, he who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he who soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

As you read through this text, it does appear that Paul is utilizing his boasting to the Corinthians in their readiness as a subtle pressure. Let me tell you this. If you read some commentaries, I've read about two or three, and the commentaries suggest that This is another way that Paul is just using all of this as a lever to get these guys in Corinthians to give. And as you go through here, And you say, hold it, is Paul's objective is to get money for them, to pry money out of them, to give to the saints in Jerusalem? Is that what giving is about, is putting people under pressure to give? Is that grace?

I don't know how these commentators come up with some of these conclusions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't you find when you look at commentation that basically that's for the most part where people are coming from? In this passage of scripture, yes. So, we're going to find that none of that is true. None of that is true.

So, look at verse 5. that says, therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before you and make up beforehand your bounty, of which you had noticed before, that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not as of covetousness.

Okay, so then as you look at this, the interesting thing is this, as you look at this word, a bounty in some translations. Now, I've used the interlinear Greek for the most part, and it translates bounty in the King James. What does the New American Standard say?

Does it use the word gift? Bountiful gift. Okay. And here's the thing. The word for bountiful gift is the word ulegia, which in other places is translated as a blessing. It's translated blessing. So that it does have the meaning of blessing. So the question is this. Does it have the meaning of blessing in the context here? I think it does. Think about this.

What's the source of any of our gifts? We talked about, in terms of giving, that as we looked at the Macedonians, what did they do? What was their first gift? What did they first give? They gave themselves to the Lord. What did they do next before they gave financially? They gave themselves to the ministry. And then they gave financially. And it was in that order.

Isn't it interesting? And so think of this in terms of if we talk about a gift in terms of giving ourselves to the Lord, giving ourselves to the ministry, I think the better translation here is blessing, because the source of all that is out from God's grace. So, if the source is out from God's grace, then it becomes God's blessing to others, right? And it's not our gift, right?

It's His blessing to others through us. We are just a conduit. That's all we are. If we're abiding in Christ, He's the vine, we're the branches, and out comes the fruit. And the fruit is blessing to others, and we're that conduit. And isn't it all about Him? Yeah, yes. That's the thing about a gift. It's all about bringing glory to the Lord. It's not even the conduit.

Yeah, and we're going to find that out in a minute, Margaret, in terms of what you just said, in terms of bringing glory to the Lord. So the point is this, God is the only one that can bestow blessings, right? He's blessed us with what? With all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, right? He, God, is the one who is the source.

The word covetousness, Plena exia, not to go through all this Greek, but it consists of two words. The pleon means more, and this last part of the word comes from echo to have or to hold, to have more. Comfortousness is wanting more. So it can be translated covetousness or greediness or exaction, where you're charging a fee for something, or extortion. In fact, if you look at the word, that's where we get the word exaction or extortion from the last part of this word. So the point is this, and here's the question. Let me just cover this up for a minute. See, here's the question.

Whose covetousness is it talking about? It says that this gift might be ready as a gift, as a blessing, and not as covetousness. Is it talking about the covetousness of the Corinthian believers that they were coveting money? And the reason why they didn't have their gift ready is because they were coveting that money and they wanted that money and they just didn't want to let go of it.

Somebody read the New American Standard. So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift so that the same would be ready as a bountiful gift and not affected by covetousness.

And not affected by covetousness. So when you read that, who's being affected? Well, who does it sound like is being affected by covetousness? They're giving me a gift, right? Right. And I don't think that's what it means. In fact, the word affected is not in the Greek text. It's not there.

So, in the Greek text, it says that it might be ready as a gift and not as... It makes a comparison. As a gift, and not as covetousness. And so, I think the best way to translate that is this, as a bounty or blessing that you might be ready, that this gift might be ready as a gift or as a blessing on your part, the Corinthian believers' part, Also, exaction, a charge or a fee or extortion. Let's see, what am I trying to say here? No, I'm sorry, I'm on the wrong line. So it's as bounty or blessing on your part, and not as covetousness on ours. Or it's not an extortion or an exaction by us from you.

So what Paul is saying is that when we get there, we don't want to be collecting any money. because it's going to give the appearance that we're extorting money from you, exacting money from you, we're charging for the gospel. And what did Paul say about charging for the gospel? Right? He would never, ever charge for the gospel. So is this more what other people who were not believers, who were watching them, in where the Corinthians were, in Corinth, It was more them thinking it would be covetous. Thank you, Margaret. You're in the same boat as me. It was the perception that when you got there that people would have the perception that it would be like watching TBN. What perception do you get watching TBN? What perception do you get when you watch Benny Hinn? How many watch Benny Hinn? No, I've only seen him a couple of times.

Think about your unbelieving friends. When they watch TV and they watch, I hate to call it Christian programs on TV, but when they watch things like TBN, what is their perception? What is their perception? What perception do they come away with about Christianity? It's a cult. Say again? They don't see a difference.

They see Christianity as money, money, money. And when Benny Hinn goes and travels and he spends overnight somewhere and he spends $2,500, anybody see that program? I did not see it, but yeah, $2,500 a night for a room. So, the point is, Paul didn't want to have anybody have the perception, and his motive was never, never, at any time, money. Right? For himself.

So, take a look over at 1 Thess 2. Look at Paul's attitude in terms of ministering. First Thessalonians chapter 2 and verses 1 through 6. It says this, for yourselves brethren know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain But even after we had suffered before and were shamefully treated, as you know at Philippi, we were told in our guide to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.

For our exhortation was not of deceit, not of uncleanness, nor in guile. But we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts, for neither at any time Hues we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. We didn't come to exact or extort money from you. God is witness. Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ.

Does that kind of summarize Paul's motive? And so think of him going to Carnath now and visiting Carnath. This was his motive to go to Carnath, and it was not of covetousness. So, okay. As we went through this whole text in 2 Corinthians, There is no question that the gift that Paul is seeking from the Corinthians was for the glory of God. Not for him, as we just read. It was not for his glory, but it was for the glory of God. And his desire was always that way. As we went through 2 Corinthians, his ministry, everything he did was to the glory of God, to the glory of God.

And what I did, so you don't have to go there, I just took three of these verses, like in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, for God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, right? Think about this. He commanded light to shine out of darkness, and look what He's done. He has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have within us that light. He has shown in our hearts that we might radiate the very glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Incredible? Wow.

Second Corinthians 4.15, For all things are for your sake, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound or abound to what? To the glory of God.

In 10.17, But he that glories, let him glory where? Not in self, but glory in the Lord.

How do we take verses 1 through 5 and put that together? I made an attempt to put all of this together to, and you know me, that I have a picture to do this. So, let me start this way. In chapter 8, Paul talks about the Macedonians and their readiness of mind to give. Not only did they have the readiness of mind, but they acted and they gave.

So, we start out with God's grace. And the key in terms of understanding this is that God's grace is active, always active. His love is active, always active. And so here is the believer. God's grace is coming at the believer, and there are those in need. In this case, it was those poor saints in Jerusalem. So there was a need. So the need comes to the believer. God's grace comes to the believer. The believer then, by faith, responds, Lord, there's a need here. you can supply the grace, and then a faith response is the readiness of mind to provide for the need over here.

So the Macedonians had that readiness of mind. Now, what if they just had the readiness of mind? and no action. Faith always acts. Faith doesn't just sit there. But we keep saying, faith rest, right? Does rest mean that you just sit back and, you know, sit here and sit in the Maryland paper? Oh, that's fine. And I just wait? Faith always acts. So the Macedonians had their gift ready. That gift, as Margaret said before, what does it do?

It's to God's glory. It glorifies God. It didn't glorify the Macedonians, although Paul would glory, he says boast, the word boast, but we saw that the word boast means to glory. And Paul is glorifying God on behalf of the Macedonians, right? And they had their gift ready. I like to say it this way, they own God's grace. They knew, the Macedonians knew, that the Lord Jesus Christ led them into God's grace and that was their standing. They stood in God's grace and they owned it. They believed it. They owned it. They believed it with all their heart. They owned it.

Bob? I was just going to ask you to find readiness of mind. Okay. Does anybody want to take a crack at that? Readiness of mind? You're not going to help me out. The alternative would be that God's grace is active, our mind is not ready, right? What does that mean? Yeah, so... Is that, that would be... So whether... It could be a response by faith, where in fact we don't have a readiness of mind, but we're in God's will. The thing is this, I don't think, number one. Okay, good. Good. Good.

So to answer Bob's question, can you have readiness of mind without a faith response? I think so, I'm sure. The source would be wrong. There are plenty of people who act all the time, not out of the Lord. Could you have the correct readiness of mind? So readiness of mind, I think, is to be ready for whatever the work is, for whatever the need is, is that you're ready. And you identify with it. And your desire is to support whatever that work is. In this case, it was to support those who were poor in Jerusalem. But whatever the need is, you're ready.

In Romans 12.1, the best thing I can think of is that we present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto the Lord. And it's like saying, Lord, here am I. It's that readiness. Here am I. Use me. And so I think that's what was all entailed in the readiness of mine. Here am I, Lord. Whatever the need is, use me.

When I look at that diagram, I can see too, instead of putting the believer in the center circle, you put the Lord Jesus Christ there. It's got to be a goal. for the great need we all have. Sorry, it was not my will. Okay, and that's a good point because all of this reflects the very life, right? This reflects the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's an excellent point. Okay, so faith True faith, there's always action. It's active, and there's going to be action. So, I'm going to take that back here in a second. But faith does produce an action.

Now here's the interesting thing. We talked about God's eternal purpose, declare His glory, reveal His glory, share His glory, and what? And be glorified. And look at this. God is glorified by these believers in Macedonia. They respond to the need. The believers in Jerusalem, what do they do? They glorify God, because God is supplying their need. So they're glorifying God. They're not glorifying the believers, they're glorifying God. So God continues to get the glory. So in this case, God's glory is not made vain or empty as it talks about in verse 3, that Paul was concerned that God's glory would not be made vain.

So now let's take a look and compare. the believers at Corinth. I'll answer the question. I'll do it. Marilyn's question is, what does it mean when it says vain? What does it mean that God's glory made vain? Okay, I'm going to answer it as we go through. So here are the Corinthians. God's glory is not manifested. It's not manifested by a tangible output, by a gift. But let me ask you this question. Was God's glory manifested in the Corinthian believers?

In any way? in any way, shape, or form? Yes, by the reaction to the first letter. Okay, by the reaction to the first letter. Look at verse 3. It says, Yet have I sent brethren, lest our boasting of who? Of you, or our glorifying God on your behalf, right? should be main vein.

So the question is, was God's glory manifested in the Corinthian believers? Yes, in terms of their faith response, because they had this readiness of mind. They said, Lord, here am I. The believers there said, Lord, here am I. There's a need there, here am I. And they responded to the need. Did they own God's grace? Boy, as you read verses 1 and 2, I think they owned God's grace. But what happened? The only thing, there was no connection here, there was no action. Their gift was not ready. So Paul says, I want this glory to be visible. And right now it's not visible because the gift is not ready.

So, Marilyn's question, when it talks about God's glory being made vain or empty, it's the same word we looked at last week when the Lord Jesus Christ emptied Himself, right? In Old Testament Philippians chapter 2, He emptied Himself. What did He do when He emptied Himself? Did He empty Himself of His divinity? He came as man, and He emptied Himself.

I'm sorry, somebody... Okay, and we have to qualify that of His visible glory, right? Because He was still 100% God, 100% humanity, right? So the only thing is that His glory wasn't manifested. He hid that. He veiled that. Right? And how do we know that? Well, when you get over to Matthew 17, on the Mount of Transfiguration, then He allowed His glory to be made visible, to be manifested. Right? Okay.

So, this is the same idea. is that God's glory is that we can divest ourselves of God's glory or this rightful dignity that is manifesting God's glory. Their glory wasn't manifested in terms of the gift. Now, do you think all of this confirms it, that those things aren't going to be ready, or do they really already carry the response? Here's the thing. That's the $64,000 question. Why weren't they ready? And some commentators will say, well, they weren't ready because they were coveting the money, and therefore they didn't want to give it.

No. Because Paul says, in verse 2, he says, I know the readiness of your mind. And we looked at that last week. It was a perfect tense. And Paul is saying, I know, and I know factually, the readiness of your mind. When the need arose, you responded, perfect tense, completed action, past time, has abiding results up to the present time. He says, I know and I continue to know the readiness of your mind.

It hasn't changed one iota. So now the question is, why weren't they ready? Was it covetousness? I don't think so. The only thing I can think of in the text is that there was maybe an organizational problem in terms of getting it ready, just organizational, because he's going to send now brethren in advance to get it organized.

And he's sending them in advance, not to pry money out of them, because they are ready, in terms of their minds. But now there needs to be some organization. So as you go through verse 3 and 5, in terms of him sending the brethren, it seems like it had to be organized somehow, that they weren't organized. The only thing I can see there, For churches that way today, there's a lot of churches that are so pronounced and programmed to throw all their money and being devoured within their own church. They want to have this program for the kids, and they want to have this for the adults. So they have the readying in mind, but their whole mission is inward and not outward.

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Al, what's the Greek for no in verse 2? It's oida? Yeah. And it's to know factually? Okay. Does that help in terms of bringing the whole picture of verses 1 through 5 together or no? Al, what's it in verse 5? Yes. That really, really supports what you're saying. I like that. Make up before you make up before. So there to arrange to make it up to get it together, to get it together, to break down.

It almost sounds like, at least in NIV, the visit is in advance, so it almost sounds like the actual time for the presentation of the gift is past the visit of these brethren, like there's going to be a second envoy or something. What it appears is that all of the other churches were ready in terms of had the tangible gift ready.

The Corinthians did not, for whatever reason. And it sounds like it was an organizational problem. And so he's sending now the brethren to Corinth to get them organized, to get the gift organized. And the gift is coming out from God's grace, otherwise Paul would never ever accept it, right? it would be unacceptable to Paul.

So he knows the source of the gift, and he's trying to get them organized. So he's sending them in advance to get them organized, because when he comes, his concern is to teach the Gospel. His focus is on the Word of God. and on the person of Christ.

His focus is, he doesn't want to be encumbered by the collection of the gift at the time. It appears that he doesn't want them to be encumbered by gathering the gift while he's speaking. Both ways. Both ways. He doesn't want it to appear that he's charging them to make the appearance, the perception to others. And plus, they'll be relaxed. The gift part is done, and now they can focus on what Paul's there for.

In verse 6, it says, But I say, he who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Very interesting. Well, first of all, let me ask this question. Is this saying that, wow, maybe I should be selling my house in downsize so I can give more, sow more, and therefore I'll reap more? There certainly are people who would pay that. You don't think this is referring to the Corinthians? I mean, don't you think that he's saying to them?

But if you take that to what I think seems like a reasonable conclusion, how the covetousness could apply. They may have readiness of mind, but there's no action. Because they still want to hang on to their dough. I mean, in a sense, verse 6 seems to kind of establish that, doesn't it? most commentators will say just that. But let me say this, when I read, I said to the class last week, when I read this the first time, that's the impression that I personally got, you know, that they wanted to really hang on. But then you say, Well, hold it.

Would Paul ever accept the gift if he knew that it was giving regimen? When we get to verse 7, we'll see that no way, right? Okay. So then why is this in here? I want to really kind of skip through verse 6. and just say, because I'm looking at the clock and we've got to get to verse 7, but look at the New American Standard, what it says, it says, now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.

Notice, is this an adverb? Right? And this is an adverb. Sparingly is an adverb. Sparingly here, adverbs. Right? Bountifully and bountifully are not adverbs in the Greek. They're nouns. Isn't it interesting? So, what I did is I just did an expanded translation of it. And it looks like this.

Now I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows, and there's a preposition there, epi, and you can say, for the purpose of, for the purpose of, and the word bountifully is that word blessing, okay? He who sows for the purpose of a blessing, and it's a blessing to others, okay? shall also reap with a blessing." And that's not that you're going to get more money in your mailbox tomorrow. But the blessing is in line with what the Lord Jesus Christ said, and Paul said in Acts 20, remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. The blessing is going to be received in the giving.

Okay, verse 7. As a man purposes in his heart, or every man, according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. I just want to go through a couple of things. Just making observations of that one verse and some of the key principles on giving. Number one.

2 Corinthians 9.7 defines some of the key principles on giving that are applicable to whether it's giving ourselves to the Lord, giving ourselves to the ministry, or giving of ourselves financially.

And the verb there, let him give, is supplied. It's not in the text. But it's understood. It's called an ellipsis in the Greek, and it's okay to add that. It's understood. So you could substitute the word give or do. Now, the New American Standard has, I think, do, right, as opposed to give. must do, either verb could be substituted. Okay? And the imperative mood is implied.

It's implied because of the negation or the preposition. I'm sorry. This is not a, may is not a preposition. Particle. I made a mistake here. But at any rate, question. So as you look at this passage of Scripture, who should give? And it says, every man, but in the Greek it says, each one. Each one. And it's talking about, it means every single believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, bar none, should give. And not one is excluded.

Now the question is, How should you give? And the word there is, as you purpose in your heart, pra-ireo, and that means, look at the little preposition here, pra means before, and ireo means to choose or to purpose or to resolve. So it's to resolve before, to resolve beforehand, so that when we give, okay, what it's talking about is to choose or resolve beforehand. So when we come to church on Sunday, okay, or once a month or once a year, whatever you give, that whatever we give, if we're talking about financial giving now, I'm going narrow it down to financial giving, is that that's something that we should have determined beforehand, well beforehand. We sit down and we plan it beforehand, and it's not a last minute thing. You know, we don't have a plate. So when the plate comes by, well, let's see, should it be this? No. Giving is done beforehand.

So you resolve it beforehand. And here's the interesting thing. It's a perfect tense, which means that it's a completed action. You resolved that well beforehand and it has abiding results. And it doesn't change. So what you resolved then abides up into the present.

So, the middle voice, it says, you and I are intensely involved in the giving. is we're concerned about the need, we're concerned about the ministry, and we're... And in your heart, I think, simply says, you know, it's between you and the Lord. Alright, just give me two minutes. Now, there are two... in terms of giving.

The passage says how we shouldn't give. And what we shouldn't give, the way we shouldn't give, is not grudgingly. And the word grudgingly simply means out of pain. And it could be pain of body or mind. In this case, it's talking about pain in one's mind, not in one's body. So literally, it says, not to give out of grief or sorrow.

That, you know, if I give this amount, what about that table saw I've always wanted to buy? Or, you know, I wanted to redecorate this room and we're giving this money to the church and I could have taken a part of that and redecorated this whole room. But Jesus Christ doesn't have a room to redecorate. Yeah, that's true. And so we're not to give that way. And if we're giving that way, you know what? Decorate the room. Buy the table saw. Don't give.

God doesn't want that kind of giving. It's got to be out from grace. So when it says grudgingly, these are emotions that come from within. And the within is the old man. Then it says not to give of necessity. And necessity means distress or compulsion. And these are demands that come from without. Someone laying the law on you, like Bob was talking about before. So there's from within, and I wanted to underline that and put that in blue, but I didn't, that come from without. two ways that we shouldn't give.

In terms of grief or sorrow or somebody coming at us with a necessity or compulsion not to give that way. Good point. I'll let you resolve that in your mind. And in terms of what's God's mindset about giving, God loves us as a cheerful giver. And the interesting word, hilaros, which means, we get our word hilarious from that. God loves the hilarious giver. And when you think about it, You know, He gave all, right? He gave all. He was a hilarious giver. He gave all. Let's close.

Father, we are just again so thankful for Your Word and we thank You, Father, for the gift. that the Lord Jesus Christ gave us and called the unspeakable gift, the indescribable gift of his life for us. And Father, how thankful we are. I'm thankful, Father, for the matchless and marvelous grace that you bestow on each and every one of us. And thank you, Father, for your passion to bestow that grace on us, your infinite goodness upon us, and your concern for us. And we pray, Father, that as a result of our identifying with You and Your Word, that each of us may grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.