Giving with Gratitude [Matthew 6:1-4,19-21 & 2 Corinthians 9:6-15]

Michael del Rio, Sunday 14 October 2007

Introduction

I’d like us to look together this morning at the passage from 2 Corinthians 9, which you can find on p.180 of the church bibles. I’m going to consider this section under three headings:

1.    Purposeful Giving

2.    Prayerful Giving

3.    Planned Giving

Purposeful Giving

Paul encourages the Corinthians to give both as a way of supplying “the needs of the saints” (v.12) and as a thanksgiving “to God” (v.12). The giving is not simply to amass wealth for the Church, but it is a purposeful offering intended to alleviate the suffering of other Christians who are in need, and also as a sign of their gratitude to God for all He has done for them and has given to them. They give to address a specific need but also in abundance to enable even more work to be done to the glory of God.

It’s very appropriate this morning that we should hear about the specific needs of this Church community because no one should be asked to give blindly. If we take seriously the idea that all we have is a gift from God, then as responsible stewards it’s important that we use all that God has given us wisely. When you give to a charity you want to know that the money you give is actually helping someone in need. In the same way when you give to the Church you want to know that the money you give has a goal/ purpose that is tied to the building up of the Church and the extension of the Kingdom by the proclamation of the gospel in word and deed.

So giving needs to be purposeful in the sense that it has an ultimate goal. We need to evaluate for ourselves what money and wealth are for. Some of us will have far more money than others, but whatever our individual financial status we need to reflect on the best way to use the abundance that God has given us for His glory.

It can sometimes seem as though we live in a world of such tremendous need that anything we can do is ultimately meaningless. But God sees the heart and examines the motivation that lies behind our actions. Think of the poor woman at the treasury who gave just two copper coins, compared to the rich man who threw in to the collection box a whole bag of coins. The poor woman gave all she had whilst the rich man in effect just ‘tipped God’ from the abundance that he had. Whenever we set about a task to help and support others in need we honour God by our motivation. Even if we have no money to bring to a collection plate we can still offer the most important thing, namely ourselves.

As Christians we need to be mindful to live with an eye on the future. We believe in the return of Christ and a resurrection from the dead to an eternity with Him in the new heavens and the new earth. Therefore, there is no benefit in storing up wealth for ourselves in the here and now. We cannot take that wealth with us. All that we have is a gift from God and a gift that is to be used wisely.

It’s interesting that Paul begins this section by saying “the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.” He’s not saying you have to be rich and be in a position to spread your money around in order to gain any spiritual benefit. Rather, just as an athlete can only gain their best results by giving their all in training, so a Christian can only expect to gain more love and more charity by being more loving and more charitable. Mother Teresa famously said “I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.”

Prayerful Giving

Paul instructs the Corinthians to give as they have made up their minds to give, “not reluctantly or under compulsion”. Giving is not always an easy thing to do. Sometimes we give too much, such that we end up burning ourselves out. Sometimes we become so fearful of what might happen tomorrow that we are reluctant to offer anything at all in money or service.

And so giving must be prayerful. We must first reflect on why we should give and then on what we can give. We should never be caught off guard or unawares when we are asked to give. Instead Paul encourages the Church to be prepared and that can only happen if they have first considered their own contribution in prayer.

The kind of giving to which Paul refers in this chapter is tied to faith. He says that “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (v.10). In other words, God will honour our giving by ensuring that our own needs are met and by enabling us to be people who always have something to give in His service. No one can say I have nothing to offer because God has uniquely blessed every one of us with gifts and talents which we can render in His service.

The value of prayer is emphasised also by Paul’s words in v.14 where he says that those who are the beneficiaries of this generous giving “pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you.” When we give to the needs of our brothers and sisters who have little/ no financial independence, we inevitably receive the benefits of their prayers on our behalf. We are blessed not only through knowing that we have helped those in need, but by the petitions of the saints throughout the world who have received aid from our giving.

Planned Giving

As part of our efforts to meet the needs of both the local and global church, it is imperative that our giving is planned. We give as we have made up our mind to give (v.7) implying that as a result of our prayerful reflections we have made some decisions. Now, this isn’t to say that when we walk past someone in the street asking for money that we should choose to ignore them on the basis of the fact that we hadn’t budgeted for a casual donation that day! On the other hand, in terms of our giving to the needs of the church through regular offerings, surely we should plan our giving in the same way as we plan our mortgage or loan repayments or our holiday expenditure or our school expenses and so forth.

When we make our offerings we should be doing so “cheerfully” and that implies that our heart motivation is right before God. We don’t come to church begrudgingly putting our weekly offering in the plate or paying our direct debit to the church, precisely because we place in the plate or the bank that which we have already determined in our heart to put aside as our offering.

Paul writes to the Corinthians to be prepared. In the section preceding our passage this morning Paul says he’s sending some brothers to the church ahead of the collection time so that the church can prepare themselves before the offering is taken up. He’s not sending the ‘boys round’ to shake them up! He simply doesn’t want a last minute ‘pass the hat around’ where people feel they are put on the spot and compelled to give. Rather he wants them to have reflected in advance on what they can and should give, so that when the collection comes there will be no bitterness or reluctance.

We plan our giving so that we can sensibly set aside a fair proportion of the abundance we have to the needs of the Church and the work of Kingdom building. We do not give to receive but rather in faith we trust that God will take what we offer and use it for His glory.