The Blessed Law of Sowing and Reaping
2
Corinthians 9:6-8
I.
Introduction (2Cor 9:8)
A.
I want to show you THE
greatest verse in the Bible for the Christian. I love John 3:16, but for the
Christian, this is it! Do you know why? Because it takes care of just about
EVERYTHING. It’s one of those verses that always encourages me, and reminds me
of God’s hand on my life and His provision as I serve Him. YOU need this
promise folks! You had better learn this verse!
B.
Let me ask you this? Does
anybody want to be able to claim 2Cor 9:8 for themselves? Good! I hope ALL of
you do by the end of this message.
C.
But let me say, there is a
catch – it is found in obeying the previous two verses
D.
These 3 verses enable New
Testament Bible-Christianity to reach the world!
II.
Message – Faith Promise
Giving (2Corinthians 9:6-8)
A.
The Principle of Giving
(9:6) – a basic spiritual law – 3 things about farming
1.
You reap what you sow – you get what you pay for, and what you plant!
a.
It is true in the return on an investment
b.
God is talking about spiritual
planting, investing
c.
Jesus taught it (Luke 6:38)
d.
Solomon described it (Pr 11:24,25)
e.
Some sow sparingly – hesitantly, with reservation, uncertain of why, or
what will come of a gift you make
f.
Some sow bountifully, abundantly – without hesitation, confident
g.
Just realise, they both reap, collect, but only according to their
sowing, their planting, their investment – it is true in all of life!
h.
You sow a sinful life – you reap death, and more sorrow than normal –
we have enough troubles just in living, why add to it?!
2.
You always reap more
than you sow
a.
I discovered this when I was a kid – my dad taught me the cost of my
disobedience was always GREATER than my disobedience - flaking
b.
I found that in work – you still are rewarded for hard work, amen!
c.
In the family, investment is the same – so much more in return
3.
You reap later than you sow
a.
Different seasons – planting, then months later comes harvest
b.
Sometimes the delay is only an hour (give to God, and wham)!
c.
Sometimes a few months
d.
Sometimes a few years (like from the time I responded to God’s call,
and finally got to Ireland)
e.
Sometimes it is only reaped in heaven (Heb 11:35-39,13)
4.
Every farmer knows this law. Every Christian needs to know it (Gal
6:7-9). So, what is God asking of us?
a.
Don’t mock God, or His ways
1)
Don’t think you know a better way – a Christian goes by Bible
2)
Don’t ignore God’s commands – tithing, living right and holy
3)
Don’t neglect making adjustments to YOUR life – God’s not going to
adjust His laws for you!
b.
Don’t spend all your giving on this world – you will end up giving
only the left-overs to God (if there are any)
1)
The first bill I pay is my tithe, and my mission’s faith promise
offering – I actually have two offerings that I make
2)
If I don’t have it as the first, it probably would NOT get paid
3)
When I first started faith promise, when I waited to pay, I ran out of
money
4)
When I put the Lord first, and evangelism first, I was more careful with
my spending, and God seemed to bless me spiritually, and many times financially!
c.
Giving costs – maybe a revelation to you, but it is true (Gal 6:9)
1)
It is WEARYING when you do right – takes away from you the
“freedom” to do wrong, amen!
2)
You feel like FAINTING, and wanting to give up sometimes
3)
Materially, you seem to lose – but in God’s plan/scheme, when you
lose to HIM, you actually WIN!
a)
When you Surrender and repent (humiliation) – Salvation
b)
Drop all your girlfriends for a godly lady’s hand in marriage (loss?)
win the joy of a lifetime – if you marry a Godly girl
c)
Miss your Sundays (all day) you win sanity and fellowship
d)
Lose your own financial
control, and you win the world!
d.
Giving to God is only and always a
loan – it comes back to you! And
not only financially!
1)
God keeps great records
2)
Every farmer places a seed in the ground KNOWING that THAT seed will be
transformed into thousands of grains of corn, or wheat, barley, grapes, or
tomatoes, etc!
3)
So, it was only a loan – it gets paid back folks!
e.
Folks, there is nobody in this room who is going to be worse off for
getting involved in GIVING to world missions, faithfully supporting these and many future
missionaries financially and prayerfully!
5.
“Bountiful” does not only mean financially good blessings (9:6)
a.
Which would you rather?
1)
A big TV, three cars, 5 different Game Consoles, a ton of bills, and so
on, and so on (people only want this kind of blessing)
2)
Or a home where Mom and you love each other, and your kids love God and
walk with God, where you get answered prayer!?
b.
Which would you rather?
1)
A great job, and great benefits, and great boss, lots of overtime and no
time for church, soul-winning, family, discipleship, etc
2)
Or sanity, a restful heart, some souls on your heavenly account?
6.
This is all the Principle of the Priority of Giving!
God pays you back according to your heart – give from the heart, and God
blesses your heart – give from the pocket, and God can only bless your pocket!
B.
The Person of Giving
– who is supposed to be doing the giving (9:7)?
1.
Sorry to disappoint you, but…
2.
The PERSON being referred to is – EVERY CHRISTIAN in this room - Total
participation
3.
This is a Bible-believing, New Testament church right? Well, only if
it’s filled with a big “WE” – not French either!
a.
A church is not only the pastor – Bro Craig’s church
b.
A church is definitely not the building with a name on it
c.
A church is a group, a BODY, a living organism of assembled (not just
gathered) people who know their function, and their purpose, and who all
participate in obedience to the word of God!
4.
The person God is talking to in this verse, if you are saved, is YOU
buster! You Mom! You teenager! You, and you, and YOU!
5.
Giving to the Lord is for ALL of us!
C.
The Commitment of Giving
(9:7)
1.
This is above the Tithe
a.
The tithe is what we owe – 10% of our increase, our income, gross
b.
Giving begins after we have tithed (Man, I have lost most of you!)
c.
EX: Grocery store – paying the bill, not throwing the girl a tenner!
2.
What you tithe is up to God – he said 10%
3.
What you GIVE is now up to you! COOL!
4.
Realize, when you give, it can come only from the heart – or it’s not
a gift
a.
A cold heart will not give – really, you don’t HAVE to give anything
– just remember, neither does GOD! But He does!!!
b.
A luke-warm heart will grudgingly give – sees all the problems with the
church, and pastor, and carpet, and the way life is going!
c.
A hot-heart will have to be told to STOP (Israel giving for Tabernacle)
– come tonight to learn more about this!
5.
That’s what falling in love with Jesus, with souls, with preaching, and
with the Bible will do to you! This church will either go forward, or go
backwards spiritually based on
their personal love for God! You
can’t blame ANYTHING else but your own HEART folks! See next point!
D.
The Love of Giving
(9:7)
1.
According to this verse, God’s heart is moved by
my heart’s passion
2.
What we need to do is focus in on this “cheerful giver” part
a.
It is the opposite of grudge, complainer, one who is dragged along
b.
It actually is a wonderful word – cheer!
It’s a SHOUT! Like AMEN! Praise God! Cheering at a game, or at your children
in sports! Cheering means there is some excitement
c.
Joy is IN the believer – EX: thinking you have no water – just turn
on the tap – just start cheering
– it will DO YOU GOOD!
3.
How does that relating to Mission’s giving?
a.
God so loves, and enjoys it when WE, ALL TOGETHER, get excited about
giving
b.
It is ONLY THEN, that we have the mind of Christ folks!
c.
The rest of the time we are just a bunch of spiritual dead-heads
4.
EX: I was in a church once in Washington D.C. that at the time of the
offering, the people clapped and shouted AMEN! All glory to God!
5.
Folks, God is all backwards compared to us!
a.
We get excited when we GET
b.
But God get excited when He GIVES
c.
And God even gets MORE excited when HIS PEOPLE get excited about GIVING!
If our hearts have been getting right this week, we would be getting excited
about how much we ALL are going to end up giving for souls! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
6.
Note: This is not talking about paying me, or anyone in here – it is
all about giving to those who are going to preach the Gospel somewhere in the
world where they could not work, or the people are so very poor!
E.
The Faith in Giving
(9:8)
1.
Can’t end the message until we set the facts straight
2.
Giving is not something we analyze and figure and debate
3.
Folks, we have been called to live by faith – that means,
obeying what God tells our heart to do
a.
Notice the “every good
work” – that’s soul-winning – missions – that is EVERYTHING that is
ETERNAL is a good work!
b.
To be able to do that, God says He has all the issues covered:
1)
According to this Book, God is able: that’s all I need! AMEN!
2)
He makes ALL grace, ABOUND – Oh I love it – not dribble, but
overflow, pressed down, shaken together!
a)
Folks, when I got saved, I didn’t get a drink from the water of life, I
got the WHOLE WELL!
b)
Since I stepped out by faith to go, preach, win souls and start churches
20 years ago, I have never known such joy!
c)
Some of you are about as DRY as TEXAS TOAST! Sad!
3)
God ALWAYS will enable ALL sufficiency for you in ALL things you do, when
your heart is reversed – transformed
a)
Changed from a self-centred, selfish, cold, hard, blessing-SEEKER only
(and there are a lot of those)…
b)
Into a servant, who now, because of Jesus giving so much into their life,
so wants to be a blessing and a GIVER
c.
You want to experience THIS verse (9:8)? Then obey the previous verses
(9:7).
d.
You are only going to be able to do it BY FAITH – trusting that God’s
way is best, and WORKS!
1)
You bet it does – many people could stand up in a court of Law and
testify that it works – I’m one of them!
2)
Any Missionary will tell you, no matter how rough the field, if they live
this Book, that God has ALWAYS provided all sufficiency in ALL things they did
for Him!
4.
It’s time you stepped out by faith and proved God’s word is true to
yourself, and your family – this, like prayer, is what God uses to transform
us!
III.
Invitation
A.
For Dad’s first – to lead your family in obedience to God
1.
Tithing every paycheck
2.
Vowing to faithfully
give for souls, and missionaries
to go and preach
3.
Folks, if you ain’t going to go, then put your money where your heart
is!
B.
For Mom’s and kids, teens here:
1.
Don’t just leave it up to Dad
2.
Get your money out and be a giver too – start the habit NOW
3.
We’re talking, Total participation of this church
4.
Some of you teens probably will end up outgiving some of the stingy
adults here – well GLORY!
5.
Some of you adults in here are going to have quite a few tears in heaven
for being so dense to the work of God on your heart! Don’t ignore this
C.
For everyone. The only thing we all seem to lack as we live for the Lord
is JOY (Acts 20:24) – and that is simply because we have stopped giving, and
are only seeking to get! Let’s turn the cat around – turn out heart around!