Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20010916.htm

2 CORINTHIANS: OVERCOMING WHEN GOD'S SERVANT FACES RESISTANCE
Part XV: Giving With God's Encouraging Blessing
(2 Corinthians 9:6-15)
  1. Introduction
    1. Giving to the Lord's ministries can be a blessing, but many abuses can arise due to godless pressures upon the giver, or due to errant views or motives in the one doing the giving.
    2. Paul revealed how the believer can give with God's encouraging blessing to rise above these problems:
  2. Giving With God's Encouraging Blessing, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15.
    1. For blessing in giving, God wants us to understand a meaningful fact regarding money, 2 Cor. 9:6:
      1. The degree to which a believer gives of his material possessions to God's interests affects the degree to which God materially reimburses him, 2 Corinthians 9:6a,b.
      2. This principle comes out of a struggle God knows the believer faces between viewing possessions as his livelihood security source versus viewing the unseen God that Source, Mtt. 6:24! God wants the believer to look to HIMSELF for his livelihood security over money, and so GRACIOUSLY LEADS the believer to gain victory in this issue through the process of Biblical giving!
    2. Keeping this fact in mind, God has some practical steps the believer is to take in giving (2 Cor. 9:7-15):
      1. Step One - The believer should give an amount that avoids putting himself into a self-imposed LEGALISTIC guilt trip, or a sense of LEGALISTIC guilt formed by pressure from others, 9:7:
        1. The KJV word "grudgingly" (NIV "reluctantly") comes from the Greek word, lupays, meaning "grief" from a sense of loss from within. This implies giving to the point of feeling pain to satisfy a self-imposed, false guilt pressure, cf. UBS Grk. N.T., p. 638; R. C. Trench, Syn. of the N. T., p. 237-238. Thus, one should not give until he grieves over the amount to satisfy false guilt!
        2. The KJV expression "of necessity" (NIV "under compulsion") comes from the Greek word, anagkays, meaning "compulsion of any kind, outer or inner," Ibid., UBS Grk. N.T.; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Engl. Lex. of the N.T., p. 52. Thus, one should not give because he feels pressured to do so, whether it comes from false guilt or from others or events around him!
      2. Step Two - The believer should "sow" that amount, giving it to the Lord's cause(s), 2 Cor. 9:6-7.
      3. Step Three - While the believer watches for God's response, he should see how God "stretches" his buying power to enable him to do more giving in a richer manner as follows (2 Cor. 9:8-10c):
        1. He should note how God gives him the buying power to do more future giving, 2 Cor. 9:8-10a.
        2. From that "seed" or God-reimbursed income and/or buying power, he should manage it as follows: (a) He should use from that "seed" what he needs for living expenses, his "bread for food" (KJV, NIV) according to 2 Cor. 9:10a. (b) Then, what excess "seed" remains he can use to give to the Lord's interests again, 2 Cor. 9:10c. This amount will be more than the former amount given as a harvest of grain exceeds in amount the seed amount initally sown! (c) As this process is constantly repeated, God enables one to give with great blessing to himself and others, 2 Cor. 9:10d.
      4. Step Four - In the process, God not only keeps multiplying the giver's buying power, but the effect of what he has given, 2 Corinthians 9:11-14. Believers receiving the giver's contributions will give glory to God for what He has done to move His people to give, and this whole giving process will produce closer ties between those receiving the funds and those who give it.
    3. Contemplating the rich divine blessings of this whole giving program, and how it weans one from the mammon of money to God as his security Source, Paul broke out into a Thanksgiving to God for His matchless gift of Christ and all that keeps multiplying out from that gift in this grace of giving, 9:15!
Lesson: (1) God uses the ministry of giving to shift us from making MONEY our livelihood security to see HIMSELF as that Security, 1 Tim. 6:17a; Mtt. 6:24. (2) Hence, His GIVING program directs us to PART with MONEY to see HIM become our LIVELIHOOD SECURITY in His ample reimbursements, 1 Tim. 6:17b. (3) In the process, we grow in our walk with God and relationships with others!

Application: Since the PROCESS of our GIVING reflects our relationships to God AND money, God uses giving as a PRACTICAL vehicle to produce SPIRITUAL growth. Let us take advantage of it!