Giving not grudgingly or of necessity
2 Corinthians 9:1-7 · Bob Eckel · Sep 3, 2017
2 Corinthians (2017), No. 34
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492665594245

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

Let's look at the first seven verses here. Verse one, for as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. That's an interesting beginning, isn't it? What the heck? Anyway, okay. For I know the readiness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them at 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 if they of Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, we that say not ye, should be ashamed in the same confident boasting. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before you and make up beforehand and your bounty, of which you 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 purposed in his heart, so let him give not grudgingly or in necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.

I could pick one half verse there and just say, let's just talk about that. But the text is a little bit more complicated than that. And it's kind of an interesting text. And I kind of agreed with Randy. I looked at these seven verses. And even before I listened to your tape, I kind of said, hmm.

We have kind of been there in a sense, but in a sense there's a lot of intricacy here and there's a lot of kind of back and forth kind of scenarios and this kind of expectation and this kind of blessing and then kind of lack of trust. I mean, it's kind of an interesting seesaw, if you will, between what's expected and what's going to occur. So let's look at the first two verses, which is one sentence.

Now concerning the ministry to the saints, it's superfluous for me to write for you. I love that you look superfluous. Isn't that a wonderful English word, superfluous? For I know your willingness about which I boast, or glory, the Greek term is glory, of you to the Macedonians.

That Achaia, and by the way, Achaia is kind of part of Greece. Corinth is a capital of Greece, but Achaia is just another area and likely an area where there was a church already in existence. You can look at that in 1 Corinthians 16, 15. They were ready a year ago and your zeal has stirred up the majority. Now the stirred up, we're going to come back to that. That's kind of an interesting verb here. Was Paul aware of the desire of the Church of Corinth to give? Does the sun come up in the east? I mean, that's what the verse says, right? Yeah, of course he is. Yes, he bragged about them throughout Macedonia and considered it superfluous for him to even write unto them. Then why is he writing? Why is he writing, do you think, having read all seven verses now? He still has concerns. They were holding back. Well, maybe, maybe not, but he's not certain, is he?

No. I mean, how many times do you think of you as an individual or us as a body or something? Think of each of us individually, how we purpose to do something, but purpose is factual. That means you're going to do it. And so he's sensing they have a purpose, but he remains uncertain about this. So this being superfluous, he's just saying it should be superfluous. I shouldn't be needing to do this, but I'm going to do it anyway. just as a reminder.

And you know we all have an earthly existence and these earthly bodies that live from minute to minute, from hour to hour, day to day, right? And we get distracted. And what we purpose may ultimately be not what happens. So Paul in kind of a gentle nudge is saying, look I know you're going to do this but by the way Get ready.

Second Corinthians 8.16, Randy covered this last week, but thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. Now, we're going to come back to Titus again in a few minutes. But anyway, Titus is part of this message to the church at Corinth in terms of their intent to give. And to whom was this expectation directed? Do you think it's directed to the individual believer or to the body? What are your thoughts there?

Well let's turn back to 2nd Code, Zade again, and in this I give advice it is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began but you were desiring to do it a year ago. So that year ago kind of thing relates back to Achaia too. It's to the body, isn't it? I think it's clear that that's to whom it's directed but there's another principle for each of us individually, isn't there?

We're all part of the body. And how might we respond to this individually within the body? Some thoughts there. You can encourage other people in the body. Called fellowship, right? So if Bruce is still not giving to this body, anyway, the idea here is the fellowship we have around the needs that exist within the body is one message to the individual that relates to the entire body. Other thoughts? Okay, good.

1 John 3.17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? So we're talking now about an individual response that we have to the needs of others in the body. And so as an individual, we can energize one another in terms of the needs that are presented to us.

And so Houston's a need, but you know, it's kind of interesting in terms of Houston, you give, but you give trusting that the Lord is having you reach out You don't know quite who you're reaching out to when you give to the Red Cross. The Salvation Army is a little bit more content with that, but there are multiple ways you can meet that need. Just as an aside, I'm only giving this as an example. The American Diabetes Association, which I play a role in as a member of the Board of Directors, had truck after truck going in with diabetes supplies to people who needed insulin or syringes and all that kind of thing. and the truck got halted because of the roadways, and ultimately they diverted that in some way. Somebody knew somebody in Houston that had them ultimately deliver some of these supplies there, and at 1 a.m., 2 a.m., there's about 10 people who are unloading supplies to meet the needs down there.

My response to that, all I can say is, praise the Lord, he works in very miraculous ways. Who knows what the response is going to be to the rest of the board of directors. They've got some kook out there who's thanking the Lord for this, but nevertheless, Isn't that the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ in this world, even to the unbelieving world? Isn't that a reflection of what God's all about and leaving his spirit as omnipresent in this earthly existence in which we live?

Roger, you had a point. I was going to say, actually, Vernon's going to talk about In terms of giving, we talked about, Mike and Vernon and myself, about being careful about where you give your money. So we're going to talk about it a little bit this morning. I just wanted to say that one of the things Kristen told us when the mayor of Houston came on, they were trying to get people to stay in their homes and not get out in their cars and all that stuff. He was thanking the Lord right and left about how important, you know, they remain together as a city and they help each other and all this and Kristen was so encouraged by the officials in Houston, how they were thanking the Lord and talking about the Lord in their communication.

She said it really made her realize that probably some of these people really are believers. She said she knows that if they were in California, that was not going to happen. And she'd been in California. In fact, Randy, I think you mentioned California quite a bit last week.

Other thoughts here about, in a sense, the omnipresence of the Lord in terms of the Spirit is still in this world system, right? And there'll be a time where the Spirit will be removed, right, during the Great Tribulation, during the second half of the Tribulation. But the Spirit of God is encompassing the entire globe. So when people do good things, I think they do it sometimes not to get credit for it, but often the flesh is playing a role there too. But nevertheless, the Spirit of God is reaching out, helping meet the needs there.

Any other thoughts about that? Alright, what was the result of their zeal? Well, it stirred up. Now you can interpret stirred up is provoking, and I think when you think of provoking, you think kind of negatively, at least I kind of think negatively, or I think in the thesaurus, the best interpretation is to motivate. So, start up means to get their attention and really get people on board for what they need to accomplish, and here's the giving to the Church of Jerusalem.

What majority? The verse talks about the majority, stirring up the majority. Actually, mine has most of them. Or mine, the King James I have here is many, the many, the majority, whatever. Body? Yeah. I think so. I mean, we as Holly Hills may feel that there's a need someplace, but then there's a minority opinion we don't need to meet that need. But I mean, we're thinking about getting many involved in this giving that relates to the needs of another area of the Lord's Church. All right, good. Pretty straightforward at this point. Let's turn to verses three and four now.

Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect. that as I said you may be ready lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared we not to mention you and by the way that parenthesis is in the original text it's not something somebody's added should be ashamed of this confident boasting or if you just want to be ashamed of this confidence and of course this confidence is the confidence Paul and Titus and others have in their ability to meet the needs that they're expected to meet Alright so why were the brethren sent? Was Paul just unwilling to be embarrassed? What are your thoughts about that? Well during those times didn't they often times need a group to travel especially when they were carrying something of value and it took preparation time and perhaps Paul had other duties to fulfill before Perhaps.

I don't have any detail there, but that's possible. Actually, Randy covered last week, basically making sure they're transparent, that the money doesn't get stuck in somebody's pocket, a single person's pocket. Again, and this is not meant to be critical, but that's reading between the lines, but there's certainly an earthly concern, right? Actually, if you read back in verse 20, he talks about taking precautions He does address that issue. Possible. The flesh always can show up, can't it? Do you think Paul in any way, is his flesh showing up here a little bit?

He's counting on them. Let's just make sure. He's boasting, but is that boasting really reality? I don't know. Maybe he doesn't want them to be embarrassed either. That comes up. Maybe he wants Because they're going to be ashamed too, we're going to come to that. Right. He wants them because, you know, he doesn't want his... I think he thinks of these little churches as his little chicks, sort of. And he doesn't want them to feel bad. Little chips?

Chicks. Chicks. Chicks. Chicks. Chicks. Babies. Babies. I think he's living in a modern age. Chicks. Okay, good. Give them a heads up that we're coming and this is what we're going to be looking for, just in case you got waylaid and forgot about it. All right, so this reality testing is what it really is, isn't it? Making sure things are taken care of in the right way. Who are the brethren? Well, Randy dealt with this extensively last week. Titus and these two other guys, we have no idea who these guys were. So there's no reason to speculate any further. Were Paul's feelings here of the spirit or the flesh? And I just raised that kind of just in passing.

You know, none of us in our flesh likes to be ever embarrassed, do we? I mean, we don't ever like to be put on the spot. We get defensive and that we really felt what we were doing was right. There could be a bit of that showing up here, but I think his intent is really of the Lord to see that the needs of the church in Jerusalem is being met. So we don't have to read that in, but I think just put yourself into a position of having boasted about something and then having it not become true. There's got to be a little bit of just self in that too in terms of not wanting a failure to ensue. We'll leave it as it is there in terms of interpretation.

Does it seem contradictory that Paul wanted to be sure that they were ready to give? I thought he knew of their willingness. I mean again is this just human nature that he's responding to? Margaret says yes. I think from a leadership perspective as an apostle he has the opportunity to educate them on this as well. I think there's an education angle on this and saying this is This should be normative as a church body. We have this, but he doesn't want it to wane. He doesn't want it to decrease in their zeal and their intensity on this.

When we look at other places like Galatians 6.1 where the spiritual believer is supposed to come alongside if they find somebody else being chronic. There's a teaching moment there on a one-on-one basis, but here's Paul as an apostle. He may be coming in. We already have the first letter and the first half of this letter to know that this church body had some real carnal problems.

Yeah, we know that by history, don't we? And so there's a good likelihood that he's like, hey, listen, I've been bragging on how I watched you grow. Let's make sure that you guys actually are continuing to do so. So I'm anxious to hear what Roger and Mike and Vern have discussed here in terms of, you know, Well, no, actually it's nothing.

It's just being careful that you don't get to the wrong sources. The wrong sources like Samaritan's Purse was one. Ones that we know are World Vision, that we trust. Basically, some of the same concerns that Paul had about making sure that we're transparent, the money goes to the right places, and it's not ill-used.

Even the world's recognizing that too. There's been different. But you know what it does is reflect this the citizenship and you know the citizenship we all have spiritually is that the right hand of God and heavenly places but yet the different garb. And we all as believers have that nature still here.

And so the idea of overseeing, shepherding the flock in terms of right intentions and right responses to God's needs needs to be assured. And I think that's what Paul and Titus and the others are all about. So what about the Macedonians and their expectations? Was the Church of Macedonia that was fairly well-to-do? Are they concerned about what's going on in the Quorum down here? said there might have been some Macedonians with him. And there were three, presumably Titus and two other brethren, but there's perhaps other Macedonians.

And they probably, because they'd been in a position to be able to meet some needs, they also had some expectations. And were they also realistic? Well, again, this comes back to the expectation that the body of Christ functions together to meet needs, but yet the human nature shows up here. And so the ability of these funds to be given to be used appropriately is brought into question and ultimately they also had expectations that needed to be fulfilled and so their presence was probably necessary.

So why this not to mention ye? Well, I think it's in response to what Margaret was going at a few minutes ago. It's not only Paul, but the church itself is accountable to be ashamed by their lack of giving. I mean, here they purpose to give, and now if they don't give, you also are responsible. It's just not us and our boasting. and our expectations, but you have a heavenly conscience too about this purpose that you have to give.

So it's not only me and the body as a whole, but it's you in particular. Confidence in what? The confidence is pretty simple here. The confidence is in the boasting. 2 Corinthians 11.17, But what I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting. Now that's kind of an interesting text because Paul is referring to him actually perhaps boasting in a foolish manner. And so it turns you again, does Paul's confidence make him a fool here? And I definitely think not. I don't.

I think the confidence in the boasting is, in fact, here, not him being perceived as a fool, but him as being perceived as a spiritual leader during this particular age of the church, which is a young church, of course, and a church in Corinth that was historically not very obedient. Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and prepare your generous gift or bounty beforehand, which you had previously promised that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.

Therefore, what's it there for? Always J. Bernard McGee. What's it there for? It's just a reiteration and summary of what Paul has just said. So how is Paul positioning himself here? What are your thoughts? He's trying to give them a gentle encouragement in the way they give. based on the fact that, as you were saying, the old man is still in the temple. And he's just reminding them gently that this is what this giving is all about. Right.

And don't we turn to our spiritual leaders, too, in terms of the exhortation or encouragement that they provide? I mean, that's what the elders are here for in this body, and I think we all turn to the spiritual leaders in terms of advice. So he's positioned himself here as a spiritual leader. And I think ultimately it's not so important to him, but it's important for the body or us to be prepared and here for what?

It's for ultimately fulfilling that promise that we've already made or the Church of Corinth have made. And this is not a greed or exhortation. but it's really to be looked at as a blessing. Verse 7 to me is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. I'm a reductionist and taking one verse here and there, not out of context because what we've been studying the last month has been giving.

It reminded me of Jacob and Esau. Remember that story? Is Esau deserving of much of anything? Jacob was kind of a scoundrel in his own right, so he returned to his life. But anyway, in Genesis 33 and 11 it says, please take my blessing that is brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have enough, so he urged him and he took it. So what's Jacob offering Esau? It's a birthright, isn't it?

So, anyway, the idea here is it's a blessing to give. And that verse 7 is going to come in a conclusive manner to saying that God loves a cheerful giver. And we're going to come to that and talk about that in more detail in verse 7. So the idea of giving is not something where we're put in handcuffs and ultimately our bank account is garnished. Ultimately we're in a position to be ready to give for right reasons. But Bob, couldn't it be looked at just the exact opposite? He says only because I have enough. And I'm willing to give you some. But his response is by God's graciousness.

But yes, I think we're all put into different positions. But then you can turn the story to like the widow's mite, right? I mean, there's examples at both ends of things. And you know, my understanding from Houston a little bit, there were people who were really already pretty impoverished who were helping meet needs.

So it's just kind of a principle that it's the cheerful giving that God is really addressing. And I think that's what Paul is trying to encourage here. But yeah, Jacob ultimately became fully blessed in the end. He's looking at this in anticipation that that will ensue additionally. But this I say, verse 6, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

How many times have you heard this? And in what context? Randy, you've heard it before. all the televangelists love this verse out of context. Let's just look at this one verse and I'll tell you why you should send me money. It's embarrassing because I really do think that Paul was trying to convey God's provision and instead what you hear is you should send money to this ministry without accountability, without the idea of caring which was at the heart of what Paul was doing for the church in Jerusalem. It's this one verse out of context, give me some money.

Okay, that's one I thought of actually, kind of the televangelist too, supporting his own ministry or her own ministry in that way. How about in mainline churches too, the idea by giving, I'm going to come to this in the next slide, but the offering plate is an example. Being made to feel guilty that your giving is going to result in your having good things to follow. Lots of blessings.

The thing that made me think of here a little bit, and I was encouraged by one of the commentators to say, doesn't this statement resemble a proverb? So let's look at a couple of proverbs. I just pulled a couple of them here. Proverbs 11, 24 and 25, there is one who scatters yet increases more. And there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty, and the generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.

Proverbs 19.7 All the brothers of the poor hate him. How much more do his friends go far from him? He may praise them with words, yet they abandon him. And there are other Proverbs that really kind of relate to this. So what's different there, meaning in the Proverbs, here at Corinth and now for the body of Christ? Where do you put the Proverbs in terms of your Christian life?

Lots of wisdom there. In fact, I can show you one. Sharon and I had five children because we had so many lessons to learn. So on the front and back of this card are all the Proverbs that are related to daily activities that my children needed to learn.

And there's a long list here and they're all Proverbs related to how you're doing. And unfortunately, what do the Proverbs appeal to? To a large extent, yes. I mean, in many Proverbs, these encouragements or kind of rules of thumb are really related to a righteous existence. So the Proverbs are very much kind of like this statement here in terms of giving and receiving in return. So what's different between the Proverbs and what Paul is addressing the Church at Corinth with and to us today?

Grace. And I'm kind of seeing that he's not talking about what you're going to reap. The idea is to give if you are able to give and God will take care of the rest. Whereas some of these, to me, they kind of focus more on, you know, you give and you receive and you give. You know, it's equal. Well, then what do you do with this verse then about sowing and reaping bountifully?

Is that out of place here? It's proverbial, isn't it, in a sense? I don't have an answer for you, I'm just interested in the class discussing this. What do we do with proverbs or things like this that seem to be kind of a result of what we do that really meets the needs of the body. Roger?

I think in some ways this is focusing back on when we started chapter 8 and I got the chance to teach part of chapter 8. And the first focus on that was that, you know, giving basically is of oneself to the Lord. So you start with your own life. Giving is not separated from your Christian life. Giving is part of your relationship with the Lord. So it's sort of like if you invest a little, I'll spiritualize it, if you invest a little time with the Lord, you'll reap a little. And I think it's more on that line. I do too. I think the way we reap is we reap spiritually. Right.

We don't reap financially. And that's where this verse is so misappropriated in terms of the televangelists, etc. I mean, you know, we can't judge their motives entirely, but it does seem like the motive is really to build their view of God's church, and maybe at times the wrong way. Randy? Well, I'm going to make an economic statement here that is not intended to... I've got my wallet here.

One of the ways that we tend to think as human beings, this is a statement about humanity, and then I want to tie it to spiritual things. But we tend to think of wealth as a finite resource. As a what? A finite resource. We tend to think about money as a finite resource. There's only so many dollars in the world and I need to get my percentage of them. But that's not the way God has made wealth on this planet. wealth is not a finite resource. It's something that our energy goes into and it turns into things. So that's an economic statement.

And we could argue about that in great length. There's whole articles I can point you to. But the thing that I think is valuable is that when we recognize God is giving richly, Ephesians chapter 1 goes into that in a few places. And that wealth is not about a finite resource, but it's about God's using us as agents then we can start to see things like, oh, I'm called to give as the Holy Spirit moves in verse seven, right? And with generousness and cheerfulness. So for me, that may be that God says, hey, listen, you're at the maximum of your budget.

You have a stewardship and a responsibility. But if I look at my limited resources outside of God's sovereignty, then I have failed to look at them in a stewardship mindset that he is able to create wealth infinitely and I'm just part of that agency or that stewardship that's there and I think the world when we look at politics and we look at donations and we look at things the world looks at things and we tend to have a hoarding limited mindset and that's what Paul is countering Let me add to that a little bit. My latest understanding, and I'm not up on the facts and figures here, but I'll make a statement that could be countered perhaps with more recent data. Who's the biggest landowner in the world? The Catholic Church. And why? Why is the Catholic Church the biggest landowner globally? I don't know either, but it's giving out of some legal sense of responsibility, isn't it?

And we can let the Lord judge that however he wants to. Nevertheless, I think the principle here is not of personal or economic gain by giving. I think Randy was touching on this in a distinct manner. The purpose of giving is being a cheerful giver, knowing God owns everything anyway. Our responsibility is to the body to meet needs. When those needs are made available, we need to be spiritually tuned into those and be ready to step up. Gary, did you have a thought? Yeah, I think when you think of giving, it's on the person instead of focusing on Christ. And if you're in the Lord and you're focused on Him, then the giving comes as a result.

I mean, you've heard of people taking a position, a very basic position, that insurance is wrong for a believer. Because who are we trusting? Well, God tells me to take care of my wife and children first, right? I mean, the idea is not that he's not ultimately the focus of our lives, but, you know, to have insurance, is that simple? Because we're not trusting the Lord to meet the needs of flood or fire or... How about going to the doctor? Well, people take that position too. I can't tell you how many people I see who don't want to be in the clinic that I'm seeing them for.

I had one just on Friday this week. This guy, anyway, is not violating HIPAA. I won't tell you his name or his age. Anyway, he's got an extremely high cholesterol. Extremely high. He doesn't like the idea of taking a statin. He just doesn't want to take any medications. And he's got a lot of risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Anyway, all that aside. So people don't want to be at the doctor anyway, but they come. Why do they come? I don't know. I can't help them because he doesn't want to take medication. But anyway, so all that aside. So I think the idea of reaping and sowing here is spiritual. This is not anything to do with economic growth. Okay with that? So I'm going to turn to Galatians 6,7-9 and I think it fits here.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh, will of the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit, will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And by the way, that's today, we're reaping everlasting life by sowing to the Spirit. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. So the idea of doing good isn't for financial gain, it's for spiritual gain. So that's the appeal Paul is giving the church at Corinth.

You know, wake up here. You promised to give. I'm reminding you that that giving is for good reasons and it's not to reap financially. Because the flesh will always respond to say, gee, I'm not sure I want to do this. I think part of giving is to help the other person. Part of it is it changes you. So it changes your heart and God does that. I think that's why he didn't want them to be ashamed.

By the way, in Newell's commentary to Romans 6, he said to be disappointed with yourself. is to have trusted yourself. And that goes along exactly with what you said. The ashamed body of Christ in Corinth were ashamed because of the fact that they purpose, which is factual, indicative tense, they purpose to give, that's of the Lord, and now they need to be reminded. And if they don't follow through with that purpose, they also will be ashamed. Not only Paul and his boasting, but the church themselves will be ashamed. We okay? Everybody okay there?

Alright, Hebrews 6.10, for God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown towards his name and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.

I mean, again, it's a spiritual crown. I mean, we don't work for crowns, but it's just to God's glory that we respond by faith. and I think the neat thing is verse 7 and I must admit you know I'm going this is one you know we all have our favorite verses and this is among mine just because it reflects why I give and if I give grudgingly it's just not to the Lord's value but what we give is what we give and we give when we feel the need to give and we give right but the point is that doesn't relate to any of you it relates to me and Margaret and how we view our finances So let each one give as he purposes, factual, purposes is a fact, in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. We could spend a whole hour on this, but notice the principle of their or our giving. To purpose is to do, and it's indicative. That means it's fact. When we decide to give of the Spirit, it's viewed as factual.

What's the source? Well, the heart. And we view the heart as the center and seat of spiritual life, don't we? I mean, the brain always gets in the way, doesn't it? You know, we exist because of our brains in terms of every function of the body that comes to knowledge. But yet, it's the heart wherein we give. It's hard to put this too anatomical in terms of areas of the body. We're talking about the seat of the soul and of the spirit of God is in our heart.

Not grudgingly or of necessity the offering plate. I don't know about you guys. When you go to a main line for something, some purpose, you don't necessarily want to be there, but you're there for a reason, a friend or a relative or something. In fact, the weddings that Randy and Karen described here are probably events like this. At a wedding, they may not pass the offering plate. But doesn't the flesh still feel a little funny when you just give the plate to the person next to you who you don't know? The flesh is so impactful by tradition. and by law. That's not what God's calling for. I just used the offering plate as an example here.

There could be many other. Anybody think of any other examples of where we're giving out a kind of some legal responsibility? I mean, don't go to taxes now. parent comes in with the Girl Scout cookie sheet or the Boy Scout popcorn or whatever it is. Well, I've got kids and somebody else bought for me and I better buy for them and that way we're all reciprocating. Well, we have a personal situation.

Margaret gives cheerfully, I give less cheerfully. On the other side of that, be a cheerful and ungrudgingly giver, but you need to inspect and know what the utilization of those funds will be. You can't just blindly give money. I've seen so many of these organizations, whether it be an individual church or all the fundraising for Houston or Haiti, wherever, and the funds are wasted. Well, Bruce, we'd like a large gift to the American Diabetes Association from you, please.

I will gladly give them some money. That's been witnessed. You purposed this. This is indicative tense, right? So you chased Randy out of the room. The question is, what does the ADA do with those folks? Well, it doesn't pay my salary. I get none, I can assure you.

Alright, so the offering plate and many other examples. It takes us back to kind of the Sermon on the Mount. And you know, by the way, the Sermon on the Mount is kind of Kingdom Age stuff, but nevertheless there's a lot of principles of the Christ life in the sermon. And this is just kind of a reminder of what the flesh is all about.

Matthew 6.1. 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. I mean, that principle really kind of does live out in the believer who gives grudgingly and gives out of demand and not spiritually.

I mean, Randy White, I said it when you were out of the room, the sermon has application, it's about Kingdom Age stuff, but you know, a lot of things that Christ states in the sermon really is the Christ life played out, because it deals with the distinction between the life of Christ and the life of the flesh. And I think giving is a perfect kind of running to first base kind of scenario of how this whole thing works. But as a cheerful, notice the Greek term, it's the only time this word is used in scripture, hilaros.

It's kind of like you're laughing, you're so cheerful. And I was at the CU-CSU football game. It was kind of an ugly, ugly victory the other night for us CU people. A touchdown was always, for CU, a fun thing. But it's cheerful. We're cheering. That's the way you should be giving, right? Like a touchdown for the team you're cheering for. All right. The burden is gone. Let the flesh be silent, right? When we give, it's not the flesh deterring us from giving.

This is just a freedom of expression of the Christ-like in us when we see the need that needs to be met. And God loves this giver. That's agape and it's indicative. So God loves us anyway. But he doesn't love us more, but that's the nature of the giving that he loves.

And because that's spirit-led and it's of the new creation we are in Christ Jesus. So there's no guilt trip for not giving, but God will continue to meet us along the path of our financial situation and remind us that ultimately there is a responsibility, but that's to give cheerfully without being grudged or forced to do so. Acts 20-35, I have shown you in every way and remember the words of Lord Jesus that he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And that's again a biblical principle and that blessedness is not financial.

That blessedness is spiritual. So the last bullet point here, we're going to spend the next few minutes on because we're ready to close, but how has this happened? How do you become a cheerful giver? Alright, okay, but then why don't we sell our house? I mean the idea here is what's a cheerful giver?

So Gary's going to build on your response, Margaret. Going back to the will, God loves us, so in return we love him. So if we understand that, it comes from our Understanding that God loves us first. I would say the whole body here at Holly Hills knows that we know God loves us and we don't deserve it. We're saved by grace. It's not a law of faith only. It's by grace that we come to the Lord.

All that aside, how does that get put in our hearts? One thing is to realize that it's not yours. God gave it to you to be a steward. It's a good place to start. Everything we have is God-ordained. We have a job, we make money, we save some, we apply some to our day-to-day existence. Just being thankful. Being thankful. But being thankful, does that translate definitively into being a cheerful giver?

Maybe. It could. knowing where it comes from. Roger? I wonder if we are kind of building on verse 6 there where he says, if you sow bountifully, if you sow, if you put time into the Lord, you can't help but reap his life. You put a little time into the Lord, you're going to, I mean, it's universal law, you put much time with the Lord, and you only can benefit. And that benefit flows out in verse 7. I think Roger is really on the right track. And the thing is, this isn't automatic, but the more time we spend in the Word, and we know the Lord Jesus Christ increasingly, this becomes more translated into our day-to-day existence. So that cheerful giving is not just something you work on, you plug it into the wall, and you're electrically shocked to give. I mean, and then you're cheerful. It just doesn't happen that way. The brain gets in the way.

We all have human existences and have needs that we feel like need to be met that relate to our day-to-day existence. But does that mean we don't have insurance? I don't think so. Does that mean you don't go to the doctor? I don't think so. The idea here is God makes us responsible, but yet time with the Lord and knowing by grace that you're saved, not of yourselves, but by faith, ultimately that translates into a human behavior that exists in every area of our lives, including being a cheerful giver. Doesn't that cheerfulness emanate from the fact that when we give, if we've done our research and know where those funds are going, seeing the good that comes out of it.

I'm involved with a school up in Wyoming and it's so neat. You can walk in and say I'm a multi-millionaire and you'll never get a solicitation letter. But I've seen people just walk in and give them money and it's so neat. We ran out of money one time when we were building the dorm. We had to shut down all the workers that were there, that were volunteers. Within a week, over $50,000 arrived. Nobody was asked for those funds.

It's so neat to see the outcome of the charitable giving. Well, I think Holly Hills has the right view of the world. I mean, I wished I'd been here a decade before I came here. But I mean, the first time Margaret brought me to church here and there was no offering plate, it's the first time I'd ever experienced that. And I thought, gee, there's something right about that. and that encourages as a body cheerful giving because if nobody's passing the plate you don't feel guilty in the flesh by not giving.

Randy? One phenomenon that I think has been fun to get in line with what you're talking about is that people when they come to Holly Hills and they come back a couple of times eventually I get asked and maybe you've been asked Where do we put the offering? Where do we give the money? And you go, oh, it's back there in the back box.

And people usually say, well, I've never even seen that before. But they wanted to give. But it wasn't, there was no compulsion. There was no guilt. They were just like, of course I'm going to give. But it's done privately. But just think about this church, the physical structure here in terms of what many churches would be doing in terms of finding new property and building new bigger churches and things. We've been satisfied here and it's the gift of effort by many of our body, Phil and many others who've worked so hard to maintain the structure and keep the function of this place going. We don't need a bigger church. We don't need a fancier church. We don't need a club level type of atmosphere here. We're here to fellowship around the Lord Jesus Christ and so therefore we reap what we sow.

And so what we give here is personally motivated by the Spirit of God. I think the cheerful giver only comes from that relationship, nothing we work on in the flesh. Let's close in prayer. Father, we're thankful that the scripture on giving we sometimes overlook and that you spend quite a bit of time in the pages of scripture indicating the best way to respond to the needs of the body. We're thankful for Paul and his teachings and that You know that you love a cheerful giver and that cheerful giver only comes from the Spirit of God working in us in the new life we have in Christ Jesus. We're thankful for the fellowship we have around this topic and we look forward to the message to follow and may you lead Vern in presentation. Thank you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.