Christ life & ministry is out from His grace & sufficiency - Part 1
2 Cor: 9:8-11 · Bob Eckel · Sep 17, 2017
2 Corinthians (2017), No. 35
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261725355115

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

I think a good place to start might be to introduce what we are doing here today from what we did last week. I think we can begin with verse 5. Let me exchange my glasses for ones that are more favorable for reading here. So therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had noticed before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty, and not as covetousness.

But this I say, he which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Verse 7. Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give. and not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves that you are a forgiver. God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad, and he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. He that ministers seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God.

All right, so let's go ahead. I have the handout. We really don't need the visual. We have this visual. So back to the old classroom days. We didn't even have these, maybe, at that time. All right, verse 8, then. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. We could make verse 8 a whole quarter of study here, couldn't we? It's a pretty rich verse in terms of all the ingredients. There's a lot of all's there. And this is a really very rich verse.

So remember up front we're still talking about Christian giving. We're not talking about non-Christian giving here. It's important to distinguish the two, isn't it? Last night our study in Hebrews, Hebrews 7, that ultimately really dealt a lot with the tithe. The tithe that Abraham gave to Melchizedek, what do you remember about that? Where did Melchizedek come from? No beginning, no end. Remember Abraham had just won some battles against the evil kings of the age. Look at this. Our electronic genius here. It's good to have at least several engineers in the class. I put the task to him, Roger, not you.

So Melchizedek shows up after this victory that Abraham had accomplished, and he brought food and wine, right? And what was Abraham's response to that? He tithed of everything that he had, and it said a few verses later that he was the one that was blessed from that, not Melchizedek. So in a sense, Christian giving, as we talked about some two weeks ago, is one in which we get the blessing. Alright, so again, back to last night, we're talking about Abraham.

So Abraham tithed, but the tithe was after a different order of priesthood, wasn't it? Melchizedek represented an eternal line of the priesthood. Now, what's often debated, I'm a little bit tangential to today's lesson, but I think it really relates, because Christian giving is not one of tithing according to the law. That's after the Levitical priesthood.

Melchizedek is the order, a different order of the priesthood that really relates to the Son of Man or the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's said that Melchizedek was made after the nature of the Son of Man. Now some people think it was a theophany where in fact Christ himself was Melchizedek, but I think the evidence to a large extent relates to someone who has no beginning, no end, who has no mother, no father, and ultimately shows up out of nowhere. So he presumably is a real person because he is the King of Salem.

He is also identified as the King of Peace and the King of Righteousness. But Christian giving isn't the Levitical way of giving, where the tithe was expected and to meet the needs of the Lord through the earthly existence of the old man, the tithe was required. But Abraham's tithe is like Christian giving. He was a cheerful giver and he was fully blessed by that gift.

So I think in context here today, God is able to make all grace abound towards you. I mean it's in the setting again of the theme of Christian giving, which in fact has been our theme over the last month or two. Okay, so after that, well you know we can use this and I'll scroll up and down, but I don't have the animation like I usually would according to what Court's done for us here today. What do you make of it in God is able to make all grace abound towards you? Notice and, what precedes it? It relates to being a cheerful giver and not giving grudgingly or with painful regret.

And I always think about passing the offering plate. Kind of looking aside, what's he or she doing? How much did they put? Can I get change? You know, when you go to a mainline church or something and you're passing the offering plate, don't you feel like you need to give something?

Let's say I've got a nickel here too, but that person next to you is watching you give a nickel. Anyway, that's not what we're talking about here. It relates to being a cheerful giver. I think a grudgingly given gift is not one that's honored by the Lord. So, what do you make of this? And God is able to make all grace abound towards you. What's all grace? Just half a cup full? Next question, how is God's grace, notice all grace, manifest in this circumstances?

Well, I just pulled this verse out simply. I mean, there are hundreds of verses that deal with grace, but by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. And I simply point out this grace continues to manifest itself in many ways, including our giving. By the way, this being saved, remember the three tenses of the verb saved. I was saved. July 14, 1978 for me, which you may not have a date, but there was a date that ultimately the Lord has seen as your date of salvation.

I'm being saved, that's the Christian experience, and our being saved is not a response by works or pleasing God, it's a response of a life lived by faith. and then I will be saved is our eternal position, which we have now, but then we will fully experience it conditionally. This idea of this grace, it abounds even through our giving.

What's grace? Define grace for me. Unlimited blessing. Unlimited blessing. Define mercy. You mean to us what we do not deserve? Yeah, so this is good. It's important to distinguish mercy from grace. I mean, mercy is we're not given just punishment for the sin nature and sins we've done, but yet grace is being given abundantly for things we don't deserve. Right? So, important distinction.

I think it's good to remind ourselves of that. Now, look what follows in this verse. Always having all sufficiency in all things and abound to every good work. Lots of always and alls in every year. Why does Paul have to be so overzealous in his script here? He wants to make sure everybody realizes it's totally done. Everything. Off the wall awesome. That's not in the text. So, if you will, this is just superfluous information about God and who he is that applies to each and every one of us. We put it in the context of giving, but this verse could broadly apply to many other aspects of the life, couldn't it?

Alright, so I just brought forth 1 Peter 4.10 as each one has received the gift minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold, what? The manifold grace of God. So this grace of God reflects our giving too. And again, we're going to come back to this in a second, but is there a reward for giving? We'll hold that because we're going to return to that. And it abounds.

Present active subjunctive. What do we interpret the verb tense of present active subjunctive? Present is when? Now. Active? Continuously. Abounds. It means it's active. It's not passive here. It's active. This grace abounds. God's grace abounds. It's actively present. And subjunctive. That's the toughest of the three questions here. Subjunctive is kind of what if. Now if that means God's grace is what if? No, it's our response to God's grace. It's subjunctive because it abounds, it's there, but we have to partake of it, right? And how do we partake of God's grace?

We looked at it in Ephesians 2.8, by grace are you saved through faith, right? It's our faith that incorporates God's grace into our day. Faith is believing what God has revealed, isn't it? Very simple. And Schofield gets great credit for simplifying what faith is.

We can go to Hebrews 11.1 and look at that many times, but believing what God has revealed is what faith is. Aboundance implies more than abundance and overflowing.

2 Timothy 3.16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God. You know this verse well.

And it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work, including giving. So this abounding grace of God relates to our giving. Now, godliness and contentment in giving, I put in parens, is great gain. So, you know, this abounding grace in all things, for every good work, etc., can extend to every aspect of our life, but here we're focusing on Christian giving and not Levitical law giving. Any thoughts about verse 8?

I mean again, to talk about God's grace abounding in all things for all time for every good work, I mean we could be there forever in terms of making a list here. That sounds like a good thesis for a graduate student. Define God's grace for all things for all times in every good work. Alright.

So Bob, you know, just to kind of build on what you said and what Paul's been teaching is that God is the one that's making all grace available. We shouldn't be worried that it'll be a shortfall. In our minds, there's a need out here and it may not get fulfilled. We may be concerned about that and say, well, who's going to fulfill that need? In this situation, through Paul, he's saying, I will fulfill that need. You don't have to worry. As you walk by faith and trust me, The situation you may be in may not look like it's going to be fulfilled, but it will be according to my grace. Yeah, good point, Roger. To further that point just a little bit, where's our citizenship anyway? Our citizenship is in heavenly places. It's not here. So we get impatient here because we have a human nature and we're used to things happening in an unexpected way.

But I think the practical aspect, one of the amazing things at Holly Hills is there's no offering plate here. And so your giving is entirely between you and the Lord. And nobody knows about it except maybe a few people in the church know who gives what. But isn't that neat that this church is sustaining itself because of, if you will, cheerful giving. I mean, I have to not say I know everybody's giving and that it's cheerful, but I would pray that it is because I think without an offering, without being under a legal system to give, this church is sustained by God's grace.

Tom? Amen. Tom's Amen really does settle it, doesn't it? Alright, so let me see if I can scroll down here. Nope, went too far. Alright, verse 9. Roger, the assignment was relatively brief in terms of the number of verses this week. This is good, this is good. Verse 9 then, as it is written, this is an Old Testament verse, this is what, Psalm 110 9 I think? 21 9. 21 9, okay. Is that right? I don't know, it's what you have written there. It's good that I have Margaret here, at least most of the time. Never mind.

As it is written, he is dispersed abroad and he is given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Good old kind of psalm language there, which is uplifting, isn't it? So notice the source, he, and presumably he is the Lord God, the Almighty, Jehovah. Why do you think Paul used this verse here? And was this exemplary of a prophecy fulfilled? So why is Paul using this verse here?

That was a question I had too. And I think actually your reference should be 112 verse 9. So that's a typo. So correct that into your handout. I didn't think it was 21. Hundred and twelve nine hundred. You can see how twenty one might be one. And it never mind. OK, well, you flip it. You drop it. Thank you. OK. The speed limit is seventy five, not thirty five. Is that right? I won't go there either. OK, so one twelve nine. Thanks, Roger.

So back to the question, why is this pulled out of song here? Why is Paul using that here? Don't you think it's maybe because he recognizes that they would know this verse, first of all. And then the end of this verse says, his righteousness endures forever. And so now he's moving on to Christ's righteousness endures forever. That's how I read it. Okay, what about his dispersion abroad and his giving to the poor? He's showing that this principle is still ongoing. Okay. It's a principle of God then. It's a sustaining principle from Old Testament times. And he knows they would recognize this first. But when you put it in context in terms of being a cheerful giver, how does that relate to us? Does that relate to us? For the body of Christ, where's our gifts go? Are we to meet the needs of the world system? I mean, that doesn't mean you shouldn't give to the hurricane disasters that have occurred.

The poor can be within the body too, right? So we don't want to overly spiritualize the New Testament application here, but Paul felt the need to bring it forth and to the body of Corinth. God's work is global. and that includes the poor. I remember the appeal here was meeting the needs of the church in Jerusalem. They may in fact be in a situation that was somewhat deprived in terms of resources.

His righteousness endures forever. Margaret touched base with that concept. Was this prophecy fulfilled? What do you think? Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. So what do we reap by cheerful giving?

And I'm going to put in an explanation point. It's not rewards. McCauley comes out with this. He said there's just no evidence that by giving we get rewards. There's no kind of, you know, red ribbon, blue ribbon, and white ribbon. No instant gratification is how God works in the medium run and long run. Right, so this is under the Levitical system then giving was rewarded by presumably being acceptable to God by meeting the tithe. But here, cheerful giving, there's no reward for this. That's God working in each of our hearts to give cheerfully and not begrudgingly. So let's turn to the next page here. So I have kind of three verses here, or actually two verses, and then I'll have a question for you.

Matthew 10.42, and whosoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of the disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

Matthew 6.1, Sermon on the Mount, take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them, otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. How do we put that into perspective here? Why does Macaulay say so strongly I agree with him? There's no New Testament scripture that indicates by giving that we are rewarded for that. Let's pause here for a second. How do we define rewards biblically for the church? individual that receives the reward. It's his reward.

Remember in 1 Corinthians 3 we talked a little bit about that wood, hay and stubble versus gold and precious stones and things like that. It really represents some sort of an eternal, if you will, judgment. I use that term kind of pejoratively a little bit. I don't think any of us, we've kind of taught this before in this class, but judgment that the judgment seat of Christ for the believer is not punitive in nature, right?

It's receiving the rewards we've achieved here. But the rewards we get, this is hard to get your brain around. The Lord prepares the works that you're going to do. Then he works through you for those rewards to happen or those good works that you're going to do. And then he blesses you because you've done what he really did through you, it's sort of hard to get your brain around that. But what's cool is, right, that's the Christian walk, that's the life of faith. So he's rewarding you, basically, for your faith, for trusting him.

And I've often said this, and I believe honestly, those things that we're accounting that we're doing in righteousness is probably falling short of rewards. It's the life that gets rewarded. and we don't work for rewards, in fact they're given by God's grace by our faith and how it's exemplified here. So let's say here, what's Matthew talking about here in terms of the rewards? First of all, is the Gospel of Matthew related? Who is the Gospel of Matthew written to?

And does it have relevance to here in terms of this verse? I don't think so. Other than it goes back to the Levitical law which we've already been talking about. That's how they're rewarded. So where does the truth of the Gospel of Matthew, much of it, apply? To the kingdom. Kingdom age. And clearly the Sermon on the Mount. Now I always kind of, and you can argue with this a little bit, I kind of pause here a little bit because there's a lot of There's a lot in the Gospel of Matthew that really has tremendous relevance to who God is and who the Lord Jesus Christ is.

And I think if you like the Beatitudes and you're living by them, you're going to fail. I mean, this is legal system stuff. Remember, God's going to give them a new heart, so ultimately they can live this out in their life, but there's still Even though the Lord Jesus Christ is ruling in the Millennium, there's still going to be people falling short at times, but he's going to put righteousness in their heart. And with that righteousness, they can still fall short, and I think that's what these rewards relate to.

This is not for the body. So we get no reward for giving, and we need to interpret Scripture, remember, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. So, you know, someone who's a covenant theologist or a neo-evangelical, if you will, would have trouble with this in terms of how to put it into perspective for the body versus the kingdom, the millennial kingdom to follow. Any other thoughts about that, Gary? Yeah, it's to us, but it's not for us. Yeah, you know, I often say the whole Bible's for us, but it's not all about us.

And it's interesting how much Old Testament scripture is used here in the New Testament. I think it's used strategically to make points to the people who, in fact, are of Jewish heritage, to really put that into perspective in terms of New Testament truth. I mean, that's just an idea, Roger.

The other part of it is, you know, the Lord's using these letters of Paul that he's talking to a fellow that's among Jews. He's communicating among Jews, which knew the Old Testament. but he's teaching us at the same time. So it's like we're peeking in on these letters that Paul wrote to the churches and we're learning from that and the Holy Spirit is showing us things. But we have to realize that the context of the letter is being written to these churches.

Good. Other thoughts here? So the teaching point up here, Old Testament Scripture brought forward, it's showing the global capability the Lord meeting needs. And don't forget the poor, and those poor will be among you. And finally, his righteousness endures forever. So I think ultimately, you know, he's in control. But yet by faith we respond to those needs that he brings before us. So, I'm paraphrasing kind of a complicated insertion of Old Testament stuff. And by the way, Psalm 112, 9. Okay. All right, let's go ahead then. I've combined the next two verses. kind of goes down in a whole page.

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. while you're enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God." I found that really kind of a complex wording and I don't know, does anybody have another version that writes to make that a little more clear? This is New King James which is kind of a J. Bernard McGee infusion here in terms of using the New King James. Anyway, let's dissect it here. How would you explain this manner of supply to the world system around you?

It says here, now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food Now he's then going on to say, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. Isn't he talking about, you know, God is the ultimate source of all things? I mean, seeds don't come from nowhere.

Well, but Mr. Henderson, I mean, I'm a little concerned about this. You're telling me that, what do you mean? The seed, you know, the seed and the sower, I'm the sower and there's the seed, I go purchase it. But you don't make the seed. When was the last time you made the seed? Things like this get tough when you're in the world system, right? You're trying to say that everything is of the Lord, right?

Yeah, sure. It's not an argument you're going to win, typically with a skeptic. No, it's true. But you're not a skeptic. Not anymore. I'm giving you a hard time. That's okay. That's good. I deserve it. Ask Margaret. I might get plundered. Never mind.

What do you mean the Lord supplies seed to the sower and bread for food? Man, woman does this, don't they? What do you mean the Lord? I built this farm, I built this house, it's all my sweat that did this. And I would suggest that even much of the body doesn't really realize this. They kind of forget the source of all things.

So the next page, what seed is this and how is it multiplied? I'm going to say a question to the group here, stating in what way or can we relate this to the following verses. Genesis 1, 11, and 12. I'm going to read these. God said, Let the earth bring forth grass and the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind. whose seed is in itself on the earth. And it was so. Notice the seed was on the earth. And it was so. And the Lord brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So what's the source of all this stuff, right? Do we dismiss Genesis here? No, we don't.

Deuteronomy 8.16, who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and that he might test you to do you good in the end. Boy, what a terrible existence. How many people haven't eaten manna for 40 years, right? But yet, God provided them sufficient nourishment to keep them alive while in this period of great learning and ultimate testimony.

Isaiah 55, 10, and 11. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I have sent.

So there's the practical aspect of this. From whence does the seed come? And then there's the ultimate application that it really in the analogy to the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of righteousness which it goes beyond the physical seed itself. So the analogy is that the seed is planted and sown and then it grows to a crop. And in us the seed of righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is in fact that same type of seed which through time and life and experience by faith that seed grows. So, the next question, what are the fruits of your righteousness? Well, what are our fruits? I mean, Galatians 5 and all the fruits of the Spirit, but how about the fruits of our righteousness?

Well, I just pulled a couple of verses here that may relate. We can think of more if we want. Now that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Paul's looking at some example of the Christian life lived out in the church at Philippi. And then Ephesians 5, 8 and 9.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is all goodness, righteousness, and truth. So we can define the fruits of your righteousness, but what things might you put on that list? Nobody can put anything on the list here, huh?

I think of that jingle that Helmut had, and if you're ready for it, I can go for it. I'm very ready. Yes. I'm not sure I was ready for that. I don't think anyone liked it. How many liked it? The whole class. David's being a little reluctant there. He's not raising his hand.

So fruits of righteousness, what do they taste like? What do they smell like? God hasn't given us a list of what those things are. It's Christ exemplified in our lives, is it not? It's hard to put a definition on this. Sometimes isn't it just what other people see in us? And we may not even recognize what it is. Well, when we start paying attention to ourselves in terms of whether we're doing well, it's probably not the fruit of righteousness, right?

It's how the old flesh is performing here. I was just going to say that God's work is getting done in the world. He's working through us. So it's his righteousness through us that's accomplishing stuff, working things through. Okay, and that's seen within the body, Dave? I would think that it would be the characteristics of Christ manifested through our life. Yeah, I think that within the body it's really... Remember, everything we're to do, if Howard were here, he'd really exemplify this, to the glory of God, right? And so these fruits of righteousness bring glory to our Heavenly Father. And we're not the ones to put metrics on that, although we may be able to experience it within the body.

But keep in mind, there's still this moral consciousness that exists in the society as a whole. And I'm studying Revelation now on my J. Vernon McGee tapes on the way to work in the morning. And you know, there'll be a time when there'll be no righteousness in this world.

And so there's a moral consciousness in the world, this omnipresent spirit of the Lord that relates to some extent to what David just said. But these fruits exist within the body and there's an overflow of this moral consciousness into the world around us. But remember, the fruits of righteousness bring glory to God and not to ourselves. And that's a walk by grace through faith.

I think we're seeing that moral consciousness right now. in the hurricanes in Texas. So that if you will to some extent is the moral consciousness in the world to meeting the needs of those who have been harmed or distraught or made homeless in their circumstances. Okay, so what does being enriched, present passive indicative, present tense passive, enriched, that means it's being done in us, indicative it's factual. and everything for all liberality in the kingdom. And in these verses we've covered today, you see all, remember verse 8, lots of all's in verse 8, and now everything again is pos used. So it's a term that just relates to all of the above, you know, which seems pretty self-explanatory, but it's a term that Paul uses a lot, particularly in this text.

And this being richly endowed is not earthly riches, 1st Timothy 6.17. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy."

So that's kind of what being enriched in the Spirit is not enriched in financial stature. It's being enriched with the Spirit ultimately in giving, partly. That's the bigger context in which we're discussing these verses. But that enrichment really is of God and the passive enrichment is through the power of the Holy Spirit in our life.

To point out that we're rich in the present age and not to be self-righteous with that riches but in fact give credit to where it's sourced. And it's not that the old man is energized. I mean again back to the point we were trying to make a few minutes ago.

Do you all have trouble sometimes deciding what the source is of your behavior, your thoughts at times? I mean, is that of the Lord? I think we can get, it's kind of schizophrenic if you think about it. I'm just thinking about, let's say, we fall short in the world system in terms of government or something within the workplace and we're called in and reprimanded for our behavior. and ultimately a psychiatrist is engaged to try to understand our two natures.

That was my old nature, but I have a new nature in Christ Jesus. My old nature falls short of God's glory. My new nature lives above and by the Spirit. By the way, having two natures is kind of a split personality and that's not a normal condition. I'm just throwing that out as a wild and crazy example. We're not talking about having the old man energized here in terms of being enriched with either earthly riches or even enriched with other things. It's God's enrichment. Back to the point, I think we're not in a position to say, was that from the old man or was that from the new man?

This can be making a choice. If you're making a choice, I think you're already falling short because that choice relates to the fact of the consequences that follow a thought or a behavior. Just think about that. If I say, gee, should I choose to do this or choose to do that? Well, if there's an option, that's not the new life lived out. The new life is lived out without that option being seriously considered.

So, this again, back to the idea of being enriched in everything for all liberality. What do you think about liberality too? We were talking about that a little bit last night too at our Hebrew study. What's it mean for the believer to have liberality?

No answers? I think it means sharing the gospel. What Jack? I would think it would be sharing the things of the gospel with other people. Okay, could be that. We're not talking about... We're talking about spiritual things here. Well, that's true. The enrichment is spiritually, but that liberality relates to its broad application. But there's no legal system here, right? I mean, the liberality we have allows a lot of freedom.

And we were talking about that at dinner last night after the study and the concept came up about, you know, what about smoking? What about dancing? What about things like this? I mean, as a believer, we can make choices that really are not legally based. You go to some churches, my goodness, if you dance, that's really not of the Lord. But, you know, Margaret and I love to dance and will continue to dance and feel perfectly comfortable doing so.

So this enrichment in the spirit is not bound by barriers, not bound by legality. I don't think smoking is good for your health, but is smoking covered in the Bible? Well, I guess if we're stumbling our brother who's a former smoker, or she's a former smoker, we're stumbling our brother. But the issue is the liberality of this enrichment allows us to pervade the body and all of the world system around us is liberality with no legal barriers ultimately in terms of our behavior. Now we have to consider the consequences of our behavior but back to choice. If I'm going to choose a behavior first of all that's old man choice and ultimately it's considering the consequences and I'm going to choose a behavior that ultimately is going to be harmful then that behavior really is not only not of the Lord but also has consequences. So maybe I'm going a little too far astray but again these verses are complicated in terms of their components and being enriched with liberality means that that spirit working through us gives us room with no barriers except the conscience that we have. Don't you think too as we grow in the Lord over time and I think it's a lifetime experience that a lot of those things that we may have this freedom to do, pretty soon those kind of fall away because that's not part of who Christ is.

I mean, His character. The more His character is evident in us, maybe Christ wouldn't smoke. None of us I think in this room are condoned smoking. I'm not saying condoning it. I'm just saying that wouldn't be part of his character because it's harmful to us to do that. So it wouldn't be part of his character. That's just something.

And I just think you could use bad language as an example. That eventually that just falls away because that's not part of the Lord's character. What about bad language? I mean we think of four letter words and ultimately the definition for that as being bad language is entirely cultural. I don't want to go into detail there, but that doesn't make it right. It just means that that's something that's entirely cultural in terms of interpretation. So we'll leave that for what it's worth, but that wasn't the point of this.

But I think ultimately this liberality gives us room to be who we are, spirit-led, to bring glory to God. Remember the bottom line is our faith demonstrating and resulting in glory to the Heavenly Father in our lives. And that's what I'm driving at here. We're heavenly citizens as you pointed it out. And he's talking about giving us eternal gifts here which aren't necessarily from money or financial wealth. It's where your heart is.

And going back to the verse, the final clauses which causes thanksgiving through us to God, kind of is like bringing glory to God. I have a quotation from Gil here, I want to see what you think of this. Not their riches and fullness, but their liberal distribution of them to the poor saints. Remember that the context here is giving and how the Christ life relates to this concept, to which they were stirred up by the Apostles, who were thankful to God, who had so well succeeded their exhortations and advice, and which was the cause of thanksgivings in others. And since therefore such beneficence tended to the glory of God, as giving of thanks makes for his glory, this then ought to be attended to and diligently performed. and so it furnishes out a new argument to this good work which is enlarged upon in the following verses. Now Gill must be British and the only reason I say that is this is one sentence.

I don't know about your history in English grammar, but you tend to conclude a thought with a period. Here it's semi-colon and continues and continues. What are your thoughts about this? In your opinion, does this fit? It's not their riches and fullness, but their liberal distribution of them to poor saints. Fine. Okay. Cheerful giving. Right?

Sounds good. to which they were stirred up by the apostles, well, it needs to be brought to our attention if there's a need. And I think sometimes at Holly Hills, sometimes there are needs that we don't learn about. And so I think, you know, that's certainly realistic.

Who were thankful to God, who had done so well, succeeded their exhortations and advice. So I think we're looking at giving that goes beyond the usual here, that's maybe being referred to. And that resulted in thanksgivings in others. So I think this thanksgiving that we're talking about here, in terms of the thanksgiving through us to God, is ultimately a thanksgiving that can relate to the body around us as a whole. And since therefore their beneficence tended to the glory of God, an important truth, again, what we do is to God's glory, as giving a thanks makes for his glory. So that's true too.

This then ought to be attended to and diligently performed. That sounds kind of legal. but if it's spirit-led, to God be the glory, right? And so it furnishes out a new argument to this good work which is enlarged upon the following verses. So Randy's going to cover those following verses next week, so you've got to wait for him to deal with the following verses. So I think overall what Gil says in clumsy language, like verses, in my opinion, 10 and 11 are kind of clumsy, but anyway, yes, it does fit, I think, in the way that he has framed it here.

Second Corinthians 4.15 For all things are for your sakes that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound with the glory of God. Boy, if there's not a verse that doesn't fit well in terms of what we just studied today.

It's 2 Corinthians 4.15. Great chapter. Remember 2 Corinthians 4? It's for this light afflictionist but for a moment kind of stuff. It's really good.

So my final bolded conclusion here today isn't everything we are and then do to the glory of God. I think that's kind of the take home message in our giving. Give him just one example of being enriched with his grace that we would respond by faith to the needs of the body and perhaps beyond, but I think the body is really to whom Paul is speaking here about cheerful giving.

All right, well, thoughts and comments about today's text, scripture? Any other thoughts that go beyond what we brought up here today? A quiet group today. Right, and we don't measure that, do we? Do we sit here and count up how much glory we're bringing to God?

No, that's a life. And I think those rewards, as Roger alluded to before, really is that life. It's the life that gets rewarded. And that life is one lived by faith. And we fall short. But isn't it neat that there's no condemnation of those in Christ Jesus? So when we fall short, we get back in fellowship and move on. We fall short a lot. Our focus is not on where we fall short, but where we're placed and positioned and how much grace has been extended each and every one of us.

Let's close in prayer. Gary, would you close us in prayer, please? If I do, I thank you for the principles of giving that Paul laid out here. All glory goes to you and to us. We get no rewards. We just thank you for understanding the Word so that we can apply it in Christ's name. Amen.