Transcript

This morning let’s go to 2 Corinthians 9 as we’re going to look at the faith commitment offering. I haven’t looked at this in a long time and I began to study it this week and completely reworked the whole thing and was once again amazed and stirred in my heart about how practical God is about raising money in the church and particularly the Apostle Paul’s ministry and what great lengths he went to strategize and to organize and to mobilize the church to give the missions. This is the principle we take our faith commitment from and let me go ahead and ask your indulgence with me with the sniffles and whatever coughing. If I put this over my mouth, Don, that means I’m going to cough so turn the volume off so we don’t deafen anybody, okay, and we’ll do the best we can with it.

2 Corinthians 9. I’m going to read verses 1-7 but I’ll actually use parts of chapter 8 and the rest of chapter 9 as Paul really takes two full chapters to elaborate on all his wants the Corinthians to be doing and thinking and all that he’s going to do to get them ready to give this generous missions offering that he’s trying to raise for the church in Jerusalem. So Paul begins in 2 Corinthians 9:1,

“ 1 For it is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints; 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the Macedonians, namely, that Achaia has been prepared since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But I have sent the brethren, in order that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case, so that, as I was saying, you may be prepared ; 4 otherwise if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we – not to speak of you – will be put to shame by this confidence. 5 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. 6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” First of all, the context is that the mother church in Jerusalem, the saints in Jerusalem, are having a very hard time. Persecution has come against them with great severity and there is extensive poverty; they’re just in great need. So the Apostle Paul goes to the church plants, if you will, of the church in Jerusalem and begins to organize and coordinate them to raise an offering to send back to the church in Jerusalem to meet their needs and it’s the first real organized missions type offering that we see in the New Testament.

Let’s talk about it. First of all under faith commitment giving, I. Let’s talk about the principle. What do we mean? What is the principle behind faith commitment giving? A couple of things can point this out to us. First of all, in verse 2 Paul says, “for I know your readiness,” and what Paul is saying is, “We’ve already been in communication and you have already expressed to me that you are eager to participate in giving an offering to help the suffering saints in Jerusalem. So the point is: they are already beforehand getting ready to give an offering. They’re not giving the offering yet but Paul indicates, “I know you’re getting ready to give it.” Then in verse 5 he adds the phrase “your previously promised bountiful gift.” Previously promised. Once again, they haven’t given the offering yet, Paul just says things are in the works to get you ready to give the missions offering.

Go back to chapter 8, if you will, just one page over probably in your Bible and look at verse 11,

“11 But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability.”

Once again he said, “You haven’t given it yet but we’re going to get ready to give it. You’ve desired to do it, now stay on course. Don’t get off track now so that when it comes time to give it you will give the missions offering just as you’ve indicated numerous times you want to give.”

Let me put on the screen this simple definition of a faith commitment offering. You could word it many ways but here’s the way I word it for our purposes: in faith, committing beforehand, an amount to be given to missions to be received at a later time. Very simple, three parts: in faith, committing an amount to give to missions that you’re actually going to give or it’s going to be received at a later time. In faith, agreeing with God an amount you’re going to give to missions and then beginning to give it at a later time. That’s what we do every year with our faith commitment offering. We have this envelope and we call it a faith commitment card but we turned it into an envelope years ago so that we could receive a one-time gift in the envelope part for the conference expense but the front of it is your faith commitment. Now, the faith commitment part is not cash, it’s just a card because it’s what you’re committing beforehand that you’re going to actually turn in later. On the first line up there, you indicate the amount you’re going to give. The second line indicates the frequency you’re going to give that amount. We total all of that up and that’s where we get our world missions budget and everything we do in missions: home missions, global missions, international missions, all of our church plants, the things we do in our immediate area, we’re doing a lot more things in our area around here than we used to do, everything comes out of one annual faith commitment offering. By the way, it’s been an incredibly and wonderfully blessed method and I think that’s because there is a biblical foundation for it. It’s not the only way to do it, but it’s a good and I think wise way to do it.

That’s the principle. The faith commitment is in faith, and that’s so important. We want it to be a covenant with God, between you and God. Now, it’s not a pledge. We’re not pledging to the church and I’m not saying a pledge is always wrong but that used to be quite common in churches, you would make a pledge and then about eight months into the pledge, the church would often start calling your home and saying, “Now you pledged $3,000 and we’ve only got $1,000. Are you going to get the other $2,000 in?” Well, I’m not saying that’s wrong, there can be some goodness in that but that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about you and God. In faith you’re saying, “Lord, this is what I’m trusting you to enable me to give this to the missions. I’ll indicate that on my card. I will give that next Sunday at Grace Life Church, then it will actually be turned in over the next 12 months of support for our annual missions needs.” That’s the principle.

II. The purpose. What’s the purpose of Paul doing all of this strategizing and getting the Corinthians ready to give? First of all, the purpose is of course missions. It’s for missions giving. He calls this in verse 1 of 2 Corinthians 9 “this ministry for the saints.” In other words, this is not the tithes and the offerings for the local operating budget of Corinth, the Grace Life Church of Corinth. This is above that and in addition to that. They’re taking up an offering to go outside of their local need to go indeed to missions, in this cases, the poor saints in Jerusalem.

Verse 12, he says it this way,

“12 For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.”

So he says this is a ministry to those saints out there in Jerusalem. You know, missions is a foundational purpose for the existence of any local church. Jesus said, “As the Father sent me, so send I you.” Well, why did he come? He came that he might save his children from all peoples, tongues, tribes and nations. He came for the world and the local church is to have that same kind of conviction and that same kind of calling. So that is what this is about: it’s for missions. As a matter of fact, the only command that our Lord gave that is recorded in five books of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts, is to go into all the world. Now, it’s worded differently but it means the same basic thing every time: go into all the world and preach the gospel; go into all the world and make disciples. In Acts 1:8 when the Lord Jesus has risen from the grave he’s given the final instructions to his disciples before he ascends back up into heaven and he says, “The Holy Spirit is going to come upon you and that spirit power is coming,” here’s what he says, “so that you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and at the same time in Judea and at the same time in Samaria and at the same time to the uttermost parts of the earth.” A local church that does not have a world missions commitment is a backslidden church. It’s a part of what we’re to be about and the challenge that I have given you for years here at Grace Life Church is: why not let us strive to be very loyal and have great fidelity to biblical truth so that not only do we just throw money out there at missions though that’s good and proper and that’s what Paul is doing here, he wants to take money to missions, but that we also might be something of an encouragement, even a model that other churches and other ministries can really be biblical and God will bless it. Do you understand that in modern evangelical Christendom today that the overwhelming sentiment though they may not say it, but the overwhelming sentiment is that you can’t really be biblical, that “it won’t work”? If I’ve heard one time in my 33 years of ministry from older ministers, I’ve heard it 1,000 times when I would bring up biblical principles that the church is so negligent in today, I would hear that expression, “Well, Brother Jeff, that’s in there but that won’t work.” Well, you have been a living testimony now, Grace Life Church, for over 30 years that it will work, that God will sustain you, that he will support you. Now, it may not work the way we want it to work, you may not keep all the numbers you once had or there may be some other consequence but, nevertheless, you can honor God in his ministry by following his word. So that’s a great part of our missions influence is to be a biblical example God might use to encourage others to be faithful and build biblically healthy churches.

So, the first purpose is for missions. Paul is taking up this offering to the end that it might go to those suffering saints in Jerusalem. Secondly, his motivation: he wants the Corinthians to do what they said they were going to do; he wants the Corinthians to hit a home run on their missions offering because other churches are watching them and he’s going to say, “And they’re going to be motivated to do well in their missions gift if you will do well in your missions gift.” Notice how he says it there in verse 2. He says, “for I know your readiness.” First of all, he said in verse 1 “it’s superfluous.” In other words, “It’s not even necessary for me to motivate you in this offering because I know you’re going to give a good gift.” Has a pastor ever done that to you? Come and say, “I know I don’t even have to ask you about your gift because I know you’re going to give a big one.” That’s what Paul is saying. Then in verse 2 he says, “for I know your readiness,” I know you’re willing to do good, he says because “I boast about you to the Macedonians, namely, that Achaia has been prepared since last year,” now notice this, “and your zeal has stirred up most of them.” He says, “Everyone, church at Corinth, is beginning to hear about how you are joyously and enthusiastically planning to give a great gift for this missions cause and it’s just got others motivated to do it.”

And there’s a lot of truth in that, by the way. I’ll give a for example: when roughly 20ish years ago we stopped what we were calling an institutionalized approach to world mission support, that is where you basically just take up an offering and send it to a missions institution somewhere else and you kind of wash your hands and said, “Phew, we’ve done our missions stuff. We’re done with it.” We said that’s not wrong, that’s wonderful to give money to good mission boards and mission agencies but we felt like we were missing the primary thing and that is ownership, that we personally need to be involved. We personally and biblically, strategically need to sink our teeth into God’s work of missions and so we began to change everything. By the way, we got a lot of criticism from Southern Baptists in particular because that’s not the way you do it. We kept plugging right along and kept looking to the word of God and got some brothers to help us who had been doing these things and God began to bless and before you know it, they did an article in the state Baptist paper highlighting how successful and how blessed our world missions work had been here at Muscle Shoals. The largest missions mobilization ministry really in the world, World Thrust, came here and worked with us and took our videos and our testimonies and used them in brochures and in videos literally that have been played to churches and denominations around the world using the example you’ve lived out to encourage others to do the same thing. We’ve brought seminary students here. They actually got seminary credit, graduate school credit for coming to learn how to do missions by the way you guys do missions here. Then what was it, 15-18 years ago, I forget now, when Dr. Jerry Rankin of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest missions agency in the world, sent 60+ missionary leaders here from all over the country to watch our missions conference for a week so that they could learn how we did it here that they might reproduce it other places and I’ve received word back from the International Mission Board that the churches who have adopted a personalized strategic approach to missions have greatly increased their missions involvement.

Now, why am I saying all that? Because what Paul is telling the Corinthians, “What you do if you do a good job, you’ll motivate others to get on board and do a good job too.” And I’m saying to you, Grace Life Church, you’ve tried to do a good job and you’ve tried to be biblical and God has used it to motivate and mobilize others to do a good job. And that’s always true in Christianity. Listen, we are always our brothers keeper. We are always responsible for our influence on others. We are always responsible with the example we’re giving to others. And at every point and time in your life as an individual Christian, you’re either helping someone go on with God or you’re discouraging them to drop back. There is no neutral ground. And as a local church family, at all times we’re either an example and an encouragement for churches to go forward in God’s work in God’s missions in God’s ministry or you’re a bad example to tell churches to be satisfied with the status quo and get stale and fall back and don’t be aggressive and don’t be passionate about anything. Well, I want to be like Paul wanted the Corinthians to be: do a good job on this offering because Achaia and others are watching you and they’ll be motivated, they’ll be stirred up to do good if you do good.

A third purpose. I spent too much time there. Not only for missions and motivation, thirdly, this will produce worship and praise. There will be great praise and worship to come from this missions offering. In verses 12-13, he says,

“ 12 For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints,”

It’s enough if you just took care of the suffering saints with this offering but he says,

“it is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. 13 Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all.”

In other words, you’re going to cause thousands of believers in other places to praise God and give worship and glory to God by your missions offerings. I don’t think, Grace Life Church, we can ever fathom all the ways in which the 6-7 million dollars we’ve given to missions since I’ve been your Senior Pastor has gone around the world and a little struggling church-planter in Africa or a dear brother in Romania or the little church plant in Hong Kong or you name the places where we’ve sent checks and money and enabled, and that brother opened that envelope and got that check and just getting by on just the bare necessities, raises his hand toward heaven and says, “Praise God, somebody’s thinking about me. Praise God, somebody’s helping me.” That’s what Paul is saying here. He’s saying, “Man, those saints in Jerusalem, not only are you going to put some food on their table and help them meet their basic needs, it’s going to result in great worship and praise to God.” That stirs me a little bit, doesn’t it you? That helps me a little bit. That motivates me.

Lastly, this is interesting: debt satisfaction. This isn’t the last point of my sermon so don’t get antsy, this is the last point of point two. Debt satisfaction. This is an interesting principle here. Let me put up a cross-reference before I go into this and the cross- reference is Romans 15:27. Paul is paralleling the Gentile churches with the original Jewish church or Jewish nation even. He says, “Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them.” That is, the Gentiles are indebted to the Jews and I think you could subdivide that into the Gentile churches who have the gospel are indebted to the original mother church there in Jerusalem. “For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.” This principle is well-founded in the New Testament that when God brings spiritual blessings to you through ministers and ministries, you have a debt to support that ministry financially and materially. That’s well established in the Scriptures: it was well established in the Old Testament economy. The Levites performed the spiritual service of worship for the people and the priest. The Levites were not given a portion of the land when God divided the land among the tribes but the tribes were required to bring the first and the best of their tithes and offerings to the storehouse that there might be meat, that’s for the Levites, the priests, in their work. So they were to be supported materially because they performed spiritually on behalf of the people. Come over to the New Testament and now that transfers over to the gospel ministry and gospel ministers. Now, as they minister spiritually, they’re to be supported materially.

This very principle comes out as Paul is talking about the church at Corinth, the Gentile church, feeling its obligation, its indebtedness to the original spiritual blessings that came out of Israel and specifically the believer’s church in Jerusalem. Look at it there, if you will, in chapter 8, verses 13-14. He says, for this, this offering I want you to give to the saints in Jerusalem,

“13 For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality.” Notice that, here’s what he’s saying, “You’re not giving this offering so you might suffer affliction and they might live in ease.” He says, “That’s not what this is about.” He said, “It’s for equality.” He said, “If you give a generous missions offering for the needs in Jerusalem all that’s doing is equaling things out because by the way, where did the missionaries come from who came to the city of Corinth and preached the gospel to you? They came from Jerusalem. They came from the Grace Life Church of Jerusalem.” And so he’s saying, “They brought you the gospel. They brought you spiritual care.” Here’s what Paul wants them to get in their mind as he told Philemon about his debt to Onesimus, “Can you put a material value on the gospel these people brought you? What is it worth to you that your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren know and love Jesus Christ? Can you put a dollar amount on that?”

So Paul says, “They’ve brought the gospel to you, now you pay them back materially to meet their needs and all that’s doing is satisfying a debt you already owe. You can’t swell up your chest in Corinth and say, We’re a great missions church, we gave a great offering to help the saints over in Jerusalem. No, no, no, all you did was pay a little bit of your debt. You just made an installment on your debt retirement.” Listen to me: all Christians and all churches are receivers. Did you have the wisdom when you were a lost unregenerate person to get your money together, hire you a spiritual adviser and say, “I want you to come into my household, I’m going to support you, I’m going to pay your way, insurance, benefits, everything you need and I want you to teach me the things of God and the things of gospel,” and then you were gloriously converted so you could say, “Ah, I paid for that. I got myself the gospel.” No you didn’t. Every single one of you came to Jesus Christ because somebody else paid the bill to support the man in the ministry that got you the gospel of Jesus Christ. Isn’t that the truth?

Thirty-fourish years ago, Jeff Noblit, a college freshman, gets in his car, leaves Lawrencebury, Tennessee, drives north going to Middle Tennessee State University. I was so dejected that night; I was so discouraged. I didn’t know why. I turn on the radio, it’s Sunday night. It wasn’t a Christian radio station it’s just that it was Sunday night and they had Christian programming on. They had choirs singing. I didn’t even recognize the songs, I hadn’t really gone to church much in my life but it just made me feel good to hear those choirs sing about the things of God. Then a Presbyterian minister and his son came on, they had a program, and that Presbyterian minister and his son shared the gospel of Jesus Christ and driving my car from I65 through Columbia, Tennessee heading to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, God changed my heart. I was gloriously converted and saved. Who paid that Presbyterian man’s salary? Who paid for that radio time? It wasn’t you and it wasn’t me but for 33 years now, I hope you’ve been blessed under my ministry. You’ve got a debt to that man who preached me the gospel and those people who wrote checks and sent them in and said, “Stay on the air and keep preaching the gospel on WSM radio out of Nashville, Tennessee.” And your pastor was converted.

See, we’re all in debt. We’re all in debt and when we hear the missions offering, you’re not doing something great, you’re making a down payment, you’re making installment on a debt you will never pay off. Never pay off, that someone else in some other place, in some other city, in Hong Kong, in Hikaru in the mountains of Peru where we support Juan every week to take the gospel and preach again up there in our church plant, wherever it is. Because you’re in debt and I’m in debt and we’ll always be in debt. Paul said, “You’re not giving this offering because it’s going to put you in affliction and put them at ease, you’re giving this offering because it just kind of equals things out a little bit. You’re paying your debt off a little bit.” Amen? That’s where we are.

That’s the purpose and I’m going to have to hurry but let’s notice the plan. That’s the purpose of what we’re about here. We’ve talked about the principle, we’ve talked about the purpose, now let’s talk about the plan. Notice this is a highly structured and thoroughly organized campaign to raise mission dollars. You know, even the Lord Jesus with his 12 apostles had a treasure, it was well-known, it is documented in Scripture that they functioned pretty much like the other itinerant prophets and teachers of their day that they had a treasury and they made known that they had needs that needed to be met. There is the notion that somehow it’s more spiritual not to make your needs known. I’m not saying that’s wrong to do that but Scripturally it’s not very valid. My point is: missions is everyone in the church’s responsibility so we need to let everyone in the church know about mission needs when there are needs. We’re family. If someone in your family has a need, you don’t want them to keep it to themselves. It’s biblical and spiritual and right for them to say, “Daddy, I have a need.” Amen? And you meet the need.

That’s what Paul is doing here. There is a need in the family of God and so he has this very thorough organized plan to get this job done. First of all, his plan is to have directors for this stewardship campaign. Directors. I’m going to go quickly. The first director is Titus. In chapter 8, verse 6, he says,

“6 So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.”

Paul says, “I have appointed Titus to be one of the directors of the faith commitment offering campaign for the Grace Life Church of Corinth.” Now, we know who Titus is. He was a very able preacher and spiritual leader, probably a very apt administrator because on another occasion Paul assigns him to set the churches in order and appoint elders so he’s probably a very sharp guy and Paul says, “I want him to be one of the directors.”

Look at chapter 8:18, he says,

“18 We have sent along with him,” that is Titus, “the brother,” we don’t know who this guy is, he’s just the brother, “whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches.”

Here’s another man who would be an assistant director with Titus over this financial stewardship campaign and he’s a guy who’s just got a great reputation as a man of God and a leader for God in the churches.

Then there is a third one in verse 22,

“22 We have sent with them,” that’s Titus and brother #1, “our brother,” we don’t know his name either, “whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.”

Here’s the third director that’s going to be working on this stewardship campaign and he’s got another great reputation. He’s tested, he’s proven diligent and Paul says he’s a man eager to work in this campaign.

Then we come to verse 3 of chapter 9,

“3 But I have sent the brethren, in order that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case, so that, as I was saying, you may be prepared.”

There are these directors who are coming to lead the missions giving campaign. Notice secondly, the strategy. Not only does he have directors, he has a strategy. I’m not going to read the verse again but the first point of the strategy is advanced preparation. He’s sending these men ahead of time before the offering is taken to get them ready to take the offering and he says, “I know about your readiness but I’m sending the brethren to get you ready.” At one point he says, “so that this offering may not be affected by covetousness.” Well, that strikes a cord in my heart. Paul is so, you almost want to say, can I say this about the Apostle Paul? Manipulative, spiritually, acceptably manipulative in that he says, “I know you’re going to give. You previously promised. I know of your readiness to give the gift. However,” Paul says, “I’m sending the brethren to get it ready just in case. I know I don’t need to, but I’m going to.” That’s what the Apostle Paul says here. He’s got an advanced preparation going on.

Not only advance preparation but thorough organization. He said, “These men are going ahead,” verse 5, “to arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, so that it may be ready.” He said, “I want you checkbooks in hand, ink pens with fresh ink, ready to give the offering when we get there to take it all up.” So he’s enlisting these guys and I’ve used this illustration many times but I can imagine that perhaps it went something like this. Titus and the two brothers make their way to Corinth and they begin to enlist individual church members and try to get them ready to give the offering so they come to the house of Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown is a farmer and he knows they’re coming but Mr. Brown doesn’t have any cash on hand but Titus and the brothers knock on Brown’s door. Brown comes to the door and he’s kind of got his head down and he’s kind of shuffling because he just really doesn’t have any cash. He thought he needed to give the offering that day and Titus says, “Well, Mr. Brown, I’m Titus and this is Brother #1 and Brother #2 and we’re directing the stewardship campaign. The Apostle Paul sent us to Corinth to do that and we need to take up a great offering for the saints in Jerusalem.” Brown shuffles and looks and says, “Guy, I’m sorry. I might do a little bitty bit but I just don’t have any cash right now.” Titus says, “Oh, wait a minute, Mr. Brown, we’re not receiving the offering today. This is just a faith commitment stage. We’re just getting ready for the offering.” So they give Brown a faith commitment envelope and they say, “Here’s what we want you to do, in faith, look out there over the next 12 months at a way God might bring some funds in, might give you some finances you don’t presently have. And if God does bring it in, will you commit it to missions?” Brown says, “Well, I’ve got 100 acres of wheat and I think it’s going to do real good. I tell you what, in addition to my tithe, I’m going to give half of that 100 acres of wheat, whatever it brings, to the missions offering this year.” Brown feels great now so he fills out on there, half 100 acres of wheat profits to be given to missions later on when the offer is received.

And that’s the way it works. They go down the road a little bit further and they come to Jones’s house, Mr. Jones. They knock on his door, the same kind of situation. Jones is a cattleman and he knows Titus and Brethren #1 and Brethren #2 are in town and he doesn’t have any money on hand either and, again, he’s kind of like Brown, he’s kind of sheepish and kind of embarrassed and Titus says, “You know, we’ve come from Paul and we’ve come to get ready for the offering.” Jones says, “Guys, wait a minute, I just don’t have much cash right now. I don’t have much.” Titus says, “Wait a minute, we’re not here to get the offering right now, we’re here to get ready. This is part of the organization stage to give the offering. What we want you to do, Jones, is indicate on this envelope what God might enable you to give over the next 12 months. Have some faith.” Jones said, “Well, I’ve got several heifers that are with calves. I tell you what, I’m going to commit two of those calves to missions and whatever they bring when they’re born, I’m going to commit that to the missions.” So Titus writes on there, Mr. Jones, two calves.

And on and on it goes and that’s what God, I think, will have you to do. Sunday we don’t give an offering for our annual missions budget, we give a one-time gift for the conference but we just indicate on there: by faith, “God, what would you enable me to give to missions?” I want to stir some of you to get out on a little bit more of a limb. Look at what God might do. Now, for the biggest majority of us, we need to put an amount down that we’re just going to budget to give above our tithe and offerings but look for something God might do that you could do extra, more special than just budgeting an amount.

Well, the strategy involved in advanced preparation, the strategy involved at this organization stage but the strategy also involved in motivation. Under motivation there are two things Paul is going to use here to motivate the Corinthians to come through and give a big gift. First of all, he said, your testimony. Your testimony is on the line. In verse 3 and 4, he says,

“3 But I have sent the brethren,” Titus, Brother #1, Brother #2, “in order that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case, so that, as I was saying, you may be prepared; 4 otherwise if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we – not to speak of you – will be put to shame by this confidence.” In other words, you have a testimony that you are going to be generous and joyous in your missions offering. “I sent Titus and the brethren to work on you to get you ready to actually give what you’ve been talking about giving or your testimony is going to be hurt among all the churches.” I’d say there’s a lot of truth about that for Grace Life Church of the Shoals. We have something of a testimony of unique and generous giving to missions and involvement in missions and if we were to just drop the ball, it would be damaging to our testimony just as it would have been damaging to the testimony of the church at Corinth.

Then also, he motivates them by the impact they’re going to have. Get up there in verses 11-13 of 2 Corinthians 9 and he talks about how it’s going to enrich the saints in Jerusalem when they receive your offering, it’s going to produce thanksgivings to God, they’re going to be glorifying God so you’re going to have a great impact with this offering that you’re going to be giving.

That’s the plan. Now let’s lastly talk about the provision. Where does it come from? How is it supplied to the saints of God? Well, first of all, God supplies the offering. God made you, God sustained you, God saved you, God gave you your minds, God gave you your hands, God gave you your eyes, he gave your feet, he gave you all that you have. He’s the one who supplies what you’re going to give in the offering for missions.

Let’s just start in verse 6 and look at what Paul says. He has a lot to say here. I’ll not comment much but let’s just look at it.

“6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

So that’s that general principle that says God responds to our heart. If we have a big heart for what’s on God’s heart which is missions and the gospel and his fame and glory being spread abroad, then God will bless back generously to us. If we have a stingy attitude and heart toward what God puts first, then God’s not going to be bountiful back to us. That’s what Paul says. Then he says in verse 7,

“7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

It is a free will faith offering. It’s free. Nobody is going to ask you what you commit, nobody is going to tell you you’ve got to do a certain amount, nobody is going to call you and say did you get your amount it. It’s between you and your joy in getting in on what God’s called Grace Life Church to be about. It’s a free will offering. Notice verse 8,

“8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” So he says, “If you’ll get out there and do what the Spirit is leading your heart to do, God will make sure the supply keeps coming in to get it all done.” Do you see that? You see, it’s a faith thing, it’s a covenant between you and God. That’s where he wants you to be. Then he quotes from Psalm 112 in verse 9,

“9 As it is written, ‘He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.’”

There’s a principles here where the one who is generous and scatters what he has to be a blessing to others, there is a reciprocal, a balancing aspect to that whereby God says, “That shows forth that you’re one of God’s righteous ones.” Did you hear that? It doesn’t earn you to be God’s righteous one but he’s saying those who have the heart to do missions and get involved in spreading God’s gospel, it is evidence that they are one that God has saved and made righteous through the merits of Jesus Christ. That’s what that verse means. He even says more about that in verse 10,

“10 Now 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.”

In other words, you will show forth even more abundantly that you’re one of God’s righteous ones because your heart and your resources are where God’s heart is. It proves you’re in line and in league with God. And on and on and on in here, verse 11,

“11 you will be enriched in everything for all liberality.”

He just keeps adding on the modifiers here. You’ll be enriched, you’ll be supplied, you’ll have what you need and even in abundance to keep it going. As one preacher said, “You’re a conduit. God will give it to you if he can get it through you.” That’s what Paul is saying. God will keep bringing you back so you can keep putting it out for the glory of God.

Many of remember this testimony years ago when we had one of our campaigns, probably to build one of these buildings, and we were challenging each other to do something sacrificial and as has been the case it seems like forever I didn’t have hardly anything in the bank so Pam and I prayed about it and we had one thing that had some value to it other than our home and so we sold an automobile and gave all the proceeds to the campaign and it wasn’t just a little while later that a dear family in our church said, “Hey, we want to be a blessing to you and we’re going to give you an automobile to drive,” and they gave me automobiles to drive and I’m driving one of them today. But I thought, “Isn’t it neat what God did because I have put hundreds of thousands of miles on those automobiles doing the work of the ministry.” So as we gave, it came back and then it was used back again in the ministry.

That’s what Paul is saying here, “You’ll be blessed for all liberality. It will keep coming back and you can keep investing more and keep the cycle going.” Do you know what this does? It guards you from the entrapping of stinginess and greed and covetousness which robs you of peace and joy and happiness. You see, your great happiness isn’t in things. God gives us things and he gives us nice things sometimes but he didn’t want your joy to be in the things but it’s so easy to cross over that fine line and get your joy in stuff. But when you challenge yourself to give again, it jerks your affections off what’s going to ruin your peace and joy and gets your affections back on that which gives you eternal peace and joy, God and the things of God.

I was just thinking as I was meditating on this, all the dozens and dozens and dozens of testimonies that we have shared through the years how God brings back as we try to put first what he puts first. I remember dear Brother Wayne Kraft, he’s in heaven now, he and Nancy are both in heaven. What a blessing they were to us. Wayne shared with me, not too long before he got sick, how he wanted to give a generous gift and he decided he would sell his fishing boat and he sold his fishing boat and gave that money to one of our offerings here at the church. He said, “Pastor, it wasn’t a couple of weeks past when a dear friend called me who had a brand new, much nicer fishing boat than I had and said, Wayne, I never use my boat anymore. It just sits there. The battery runs down, the motor is going to get locked up. It just needs to be run and used. Would you just come over and use my boat anytime you want to go fishing.” And he said, “I’ve been using it ever since.” What’s better than having your own boat? It’s having a friend who has a boat. Wayne said, “That’s what God did.” And on and on and on, these kind of things have happened in our lives. Do you know what I think? I think for some of us we’ve gotten a little bit stale there. We need to get back in the reciprocating flow of how God works things and how he blesses.

This year, as I was thinking and praying about my family’s offering, I thought, “You know, we didn’t get raises this year but you know, maybe we could just do a little more.” I thought a little more, let me think about that. I thought, “What if every family did just a little more?” Now, don’t use that if you’re out, you may be blessed to do a lot more. Okay, and some, we’ve got single Moms and others that even a little more is really hard so it all balances out but nevertheless, all who can, what if we all did a little more? If 300 families gave $5 more on average a week, what’s that, three fountain drinks? About 3-4 fountain drinks would be about $5. If 300 families just gave $5 more on average a week, that would be $78,000 more in missions. That’s pretty big. Do you know what we could do with $78,000? We could get real serious about putting a full-time pastor at the Grace Life Church in downtown Hong Kong, China. Wouldn’t that be exciting? By just giving up 3- 4 soft drinks. It’s so easy to do if everybody just gets on board and says we can do this.

I thought about our students. I say this almost every year because I want our students, every one of you who know the Lord should be a part of the faith commitment offering. If you just gave up three Cokes a week, just say I’m going to take what it would cost me to get three Cokes at Sonic or wherever a week. That comes out to about $200 a year. If all students did $200 a year that’s a lot helping us in missions. So a little bit goes a long, long way.

Some people moonlight for missions. We’ve had retired families who would take a job on the side and say, “I’m going to give all or a portion of what comes in through this job to missions this year. God, I’m going to take this job and by faith what you give me or I’m going to try to find a job and in faith what you provide, then I’m going to give it to missions.” One man had a hobby of restoring automobiles and he had a nice car that he had restored and he said, “Whatever I make on this car, I’m giving to missions this year.” Some of you businessmen may have a part of your business. Say, “Hey, if this project comes through, this development, this new plant, whatever, these sales, those profits I’m going to commit to missions this year.” Whatever God may lead you to do.

Let’s pray together.