Amen. Church family, if you would stand as we prepare now to continue to worship through the Word. If you would take your copy of God's Word and if you would open with me to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter number nine will be our focus text on this Lord's Day morning as we continue our series on the Lord's Day on ecclesiology, talking about the function, talking about the way that the church functions together. And as we worship together and serve together in various capacities, and we give attention now to the reading of God's word from 2 Corinthians chapter 9, beginning to read in verse number 1. You can follow along with me as I read aloud. This is the word of the living God, and it reads as follows. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints. For I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready as I said you would be. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work as it is written. He has distributed freely. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. 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. You will be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. by their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others. While they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. And this morning I'm preaching on this subject, the church's ministry of giving. And you may be seated if you would now join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, I pray now, not only would you bless the reading of your word, but that you would bless the preaching of your word. And not only the reading of the word and the preaching of the word, but the receiving of your word. That we this morning as worshipers will be shaped, challenged, changed. And oh God, I pray that you would raise us up to be a faithful church. That we would not be interested in just being a status quo average church. but that we would take this ministry of giving seriously, as we see it here on the pages of your holy, inspired, infallible, inerrant, sufficient, and authoritative word. Oh God, I pray that the generosity and the faithful giving of this church would not only be an example to other churches, but that it would indeed supply the needs of those to whom we partner with And I pray, oh God, that you would raise us up in this hour to give of our resources so that the thanksgivings and the praises of our God would continue on and on like a ripple effect into the future. And again, we ask all of this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, it's no doubt after reading an entire chapter here from 2 Corinthians what I'm preaching on today. I'm preaching on money. So I don't want to sneak up on anyone today. I want to be very forthright. I'm going to talk for the next 47 minutes about money. And I would encourage you this morning to think about the seriousness of this very subject. As we think about money, obviously we need to be mindful of the fact that J.C. Ryle said, two-thirds of all the strifes, quarrels, and lawsuits in the world arise from one single cause, from money. So we need to think about Christians and money. We need to think about how much we give, if we're giving half-heartedly, if we're just kind of approaching it as if, well, I'll give a little extra at the end of the month if there's anything that I haven't spent on myself. Others lack trust in some ministries because of their rampant abuse and because of their consistent appeal for you to give to them. And then, obviously, we have all witnessed the abuse of how people have misused that money. So in many hearts and minds within the Christian church, there's a question mark about whether or not we can actually trust the ministries, the local churches, the 501c3s, as we release that money and as we give it as a gift. My social media inbox fills up with pictures of needy, starving children, and churches that are in disrepair, and damaged buildings, and all sorts of catastrophes, and even supposed good ministry opportunities. Week after week after week after week, an appeal is made for a gift. Now if we go back to the Old Testament, we see that God's people were commanded to give what's known as a tithe. The word tithe means a tenth. And it was instituted for the purpose of taking care of the Levites who were serving in a priestly manner and who were serving the people of God. and they were to be not only taken care of in the sense of their service, but also their food and so on and so forth. All of that was to be cared for, and it was to come as a result of the people giving, the Israelites giving of their tent. And it was across the board, so it didn't matter if you made a small amount per year, or if you made a large amount per year, it was an equal ask and command from God to give a tenth. Now, as we think about our present state, obviously, we aren't living under a theocracy. We're not living in the Old Testament setting there with the Israelites. And so, some have suggested, well, since we're not, well, there it is, we don't have to give a tenth anymore. Well, I would just urge us to think differently. I would urge us to think about the fact that we are living in a time period where we have been the recipients of God's marvelous grace. And so I would urge anyone that would think that way about giving to think differently or else supply a text of scripture that would be your defense to say, see, pastor, here it is, my text that says I can give less than a tenth. Because I don't think you're going to be able to find one. I don't think you're going to be able to find any text that would urge a Christian in this era, in this day, in the church to give less. In fact, if you were to go back, R.C. Sproul has made it very clear and studied the Didache, which was a non-canonical church manual, if you will, that was written supposedly by the apostles, and you were to see the functionality of the church after the close of the New Testament canon, you will see that they are still giving at least a tenth of their income. In fact, in the Didache, there's a statement that says, let your donation sweat in your hand before you give it. What's the point? Well, the point is that even in this present age, the church continues to worship God and to serve God by giving. This is something that we see all throughout the New Testament. Obviously, as we survey the New Testament, we see a lot said about money or illustrations about how we use our money. In fact, some 15% of everything Jesus said in his earthly preaching ministry in some way touched on the subject of personal wealth and how we use our possessions. In the Gospels, about one out of every 10 verses speak about the use of money. Some 500 verses appear on prayer And yet, less than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,000 verses on money and possessions in the New Testament. We see passages that speak like Matthew 6, 33. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. We see Jesus speak back to individuals and tell them to go and sell their possessions and give to the needy. We see all sorts of verses in the New Testament sprinkled throughout the gospels and beyond that talk about money. And so we need to not be fools in how we handle our finances. Again, we find in Luke 12 these words, "...but God said to him, Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." Obviously, It's a response to that foolish statement that, let me just build more barns, let me just do this, that, or the other, let me just focus on myself. And so we need to be cautious. Now what's happening here in 2 Corinthians chapters eight and nine is extremely important for us to understand the backdrop. What we must see is that the apostle Paul is writing to a real church in the city of Corinth. This is his second letter that he has written to them. Really, there's more than two letters, but the two letters that we have for us in the biblical canon here. And in this letter, he is appealing to the church to give and to give generously. Because in the, say, mid-50s or so, there was a massive famine that was plaguing the Jewish Christians surrounding Jerusalem. And there was a great need to care for the Jewish church. And as a result, the Apostle Paul is writing and he's saying, I need to take up this gift, this offering, so that all of the needs of the Jewish Christians can be supplied. And we need to think about the reason that this was such a reality for the Jewish Christians. Because to be a Jewish Christian in this time period would have meant that they would have been cut off from the synagogue. Remember, Jesus actually promised that this would happen. In John 16, verse 2, he says, They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service, ministry, to God. Part of the ways that these early Jews would be persecuted was to be cut off from the synagogue because it would be in times of crisis, times where there was a great famine like this time period, where the distribution would flow through the synagogue. So to be cut off from the synagogue was in many ways to be cut off from the supply during times of disaster or famine or distress. And so there was a massive need to care for the Jewish Christians. And then second of all, there was another problem that the Apostle Paul was greatly interested in. And it was the problem of the disunity between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. And if you'll remember, obviously, the Jews struggled for a long time with this understanding that God would not only save the Jews who believed and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but that He would also save the non-Jew. He would also save the Gentile. He would also save those who were outside of that Jewish lineage. And there was a great struggle of unity and divisiveness, issues based upon lack of unity that the Apostle Paul was greatly interested in addressing. So Paul urged the church, the Gentile believers, to be faithful in giving for two reasons. So that first of all, the basic needs of the Jewish Christians would be met, and then second of all, so that as a result of this gift, the Jewish Christians would step back and look and see that their generosity is not coming from their flesh, but it's coming from the grace of God that has been lavished upon them. And it would result in unity. And so let us give attention to this passage, the entire chapter of chapter 9 here, and let us look at two main divisions. First, we see the church's ministry of giving that is spoken of here in verses 1 through 5, and then followed by that, verses 6 through 15, we see the principles of Christian giving. First, the church's ministry of giving. Notice what he says in verses 1 through 4. We see in essence an exhortation to the church at Corinth to be ready to give the gift. Notice what he says there in verse number 1. He speaks about the ministry for the saints. He speaks about the ministry for the saints, and interestingly enough there in verse number one, when he speaks about the ministry of the saints, he is talking about what he's talking about, the ministry of giving. So many times people that, you know, you just find people having conversations in the church, and they're like, well, I just don't really know, maybe if I could just have one of those surveys to find out what my spiritual gift was, then I could just, you know, start getting involved in ministry. One of the very basic ways that everyone in this room can be involved in Christian ministry is by Christian stewardship and financial giving through your local church. Now did you hear how little the amens were just now on that statement? I'm gonna go back and repeat that. One of the most basic ways that you and I can serve God through this local church is by how we give of our money. And that's not an exact quotation of what I just said. I said it differently. But I said the same thing. I used the bad word, the M word, money. You see, God wants us to learn to engage in ministry. Interestingly enough, the word ministry here Diakonia is the very same word in a different form, in a different ending, from diakonos, where we derive this idea of the title for the office of deacon. So in other words, it's not that every one of us in this room are deacons, but every one of us in this room are to be engaged in ministry, in service. so that we can be doing so by how we give of our money. I just want to urge all the parents in the room today. I want to urge you, even before your children profess faith in Christ, that you would not allow them to be discipled in such a way as to when they, maybe even when they start a job, maybe they're not converted at 12, 13, 14, and they're mowing lawns in the summer, and they're saving up for whatever it is that they want to save up for. I would just urge you to teach them very early on that when they get that first paycheck for working, for whoever it may be, their grandfather or the neighbor next door, that you sit them down and you teach them the principles of giving. And just start with a tenth and then you can move on from there. And just say everything, give it off of the top. Don't stack it up and then say, at the end of the month I'm just going to figure out if I've got anything left and then I'll just give it from there. No, teach them to give it right from the beginning. Before their heart can be greedy, and before they can be gripped by all sorts of covetousness or other sins, teach them to release it and to give it for the glory of God. And then second of all, obviously, The church must understand that first and foremost, we are to be giving through the local church. I've met people before that say, well, this is the church age, this is the age of grace. I give a certain percentage over here, a certain percentage over there, a certain percentage over there, and I give very little to my local church. Let me just ask you a question. Is God's plan to send the gospel to the ends of the world resting upon 501c3 organizations? it is resting upon the foundation of his church. I will build my church, he said, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He didn't say, I will build my college, I will build my 501C3, I will build this other ministry. He says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So, first and foremost, yes, we could give to colleges, and I think that You're going to hear us talk more and more about this in the days to come, G3 Ministries. We're begging God for contributions so that we can start a college right here in this community that would educate and teach young people to be discipled through the lens of Scripture, to go out and to be bold Christians for the glory of God. We want that. We have conversations with people all the time about where are we gonna send our children? Where are we gonna send them? We don't wanna send them to some secular school that's just gonna pervert everything that we've been trying to do in their lives. And so we're dreaming and praying that we could raise up a college here for the glory of God in the hearts and minds of young people. And that's gonna take literally millions of dollars for that to happen. All right, so that's no small undertaking. But I would urge anyone that's gonna give to G3 Ministries to think, you give first and foremost through your local church. You don't rob from your church in order to give to G3 Ministries. You don't do that, it's backwards. And so yes, give to ministries, good trustworthy ministries, give, be generous. But we have to see that Paul is not talking to Campus Crusade. He's not talking to Campus Outreach. He's not talking to G3 Ministries. He's writing a letter to a local church. And so we have to be faithful in giving through the church. And notice what he says, here's the exhortation that they would be what? That they would be ready. He speaks about their readiness and he encourages them simply because of the fact that they had in past, they had seemed to be eager to be ready. This is the very same root word that Paul uses of himself in Romans 1 15 where he says, so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. And so he understands that this church had demonstrated for quite some time that they were eager, they were ready, they were swelling with an eagerness of generosity to participate into this collection for the Jewish Christians. And this has been something that delighted the heart of the Apostle Paul, because keep in mind, the Apostle Paul, as he watches the Jewish church hurt, as he sees the needs there in Jerusalem and the surrounding regions, and he's a Jew of the Jews. He was born as a Jew. He was greatly educated under Gamaliel. He became a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He loved the Jewish people. He wept for them. Yet, God saved him and raised him up to be a man who would be an apostle who would be serving to preach the gospel beyond the borders of Jerusalem to the Gentiles. So here he is with heart strings as a Jew and yet preaching to the Gentiles and then asking for the Gentile believers to engage in this collection. Then, of course, you see there in verse number two, he says that he had boasted about them. He had bragged upon them. By the way, this is a good thing. This is not a contradiction of terms. When you see that the Apostle Paul is saying to the church at Corinth that he had spoken well of them, he had bragged about them, that's a good thing. It is a good thing. Now, God ultimately gets the glory, but when we know of someone, we know of a church that's been very generous, we know of individuals who've been very generous, it's okay to brag. It's okay to brag upon them because of the grace of God in their lives and what they have done and how they have been used and raised up. in this ministry of giving. I have personally seen people walk in my office. I was shocked early on when I came back to Praise Mill, and we were just trying to figure out how to keep the lights on, and the budget was in the red by six figures. And I was trying to figure out how to fix 15 HVAC units on the church campus and pave the parking lot. You could have lost children, small children, in the holes and potholes in the parking lot. And we had a company come do an evaluation, all the HVAC units, and came and gave me a report, and I thought they were going to say, well, a fan motor needs to be replaced here, and this needs to be replaced over there, and it's going to cost $2,500, and we can have you up and running in no time. That's not what they said. They said it's going to be upwards of $100,000 to fix. Now, keep in mind, we were $100,000 in the red and our yearly budget, and now we need not only 100,000 to get back to the black, but another 100,000 to be able to fix some problems on the campus. And I had a man walk in, and when I sent an email to the church, and he put an envelope on my desk, and I said, well, thank you, brother, and he said, no, I want you to open it. And I opened it, and I was shocked. It was $100,000. I was, I couldn't believe it. And we were able to repair the needs on the campus and fix things. And I've seen the Lord do this time and time and time again. We have had people do similar things with G3 Ministries. That's why we have a gifted staff now. And that's why the Lord is using that ministry in the way that the Lord is using that ministry. Why? Because God is raising up and supplying the needs for that ministry. It's a beautiful thing to see it. It's a beautiful thing. And I've had the privilege to, when I've traveled around the world to different church settings and different conferences, to speak of this church in a favorable fashion. And to talk about the generosity of this church and the love of this church and the service of this church. And so I just want you to know, testimonies like that matter. Now keep in mind, go back to chapter eight, Paul writes to the church at Corinth and he used the Macedonians as an example to the church at Corinth. Here, he says he's been using the church at Corinth as a testimony to other individuals far and wide. And obviously, this had, according to verse 2, that zeal had stirred up most of them. This word stirred up like the English word provoke could actually have both positive and negative connotations. Here, it's obvious it's using it in the positive as an encouraging example. This is what Matthew Henry says. When the heart is softened by the grace of God, the hand will be opened in charity to our brethren, end quote. Unless the Lord softens a person's heart, they will not want to open their hand and to release of their funds in giving. Notice in verses 3 and 4, you see what he says there. He says to them, I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter. So that you may be ready As I said you would be, he brags on them for their readiness, their eagerness, and now he's saying the time has come now for us to take up the collection. It's time now for us to make sure that it's all gonna work out just the way that we have planned, and so I'm gonna go ahead and send the brothers to you so that they can go ahead and take it up now. And then he says in verse four, otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, We would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident. As Albert Martin said in his sermon on this passage, he said that the Apostle Paul did not want to be red faced. He didn't want to blush. And he didn't want to be ashamed of what he had said about the church at Corinth, so he just writes the letter and he says, I just need you to know this, I've been bragging on you, but now it's time to actually release of the funds and take it up, and I'm gonna go ahead and send the brothers to go ahead and do it, and I just don't want us to be humiliated. This is an extremely important thing to see in these first four verses as he's setting it up to then drive home the principles of giving. And then you see the exhortation to give, verse 5, willingly. So that it may be ready as a willing gift and not as an exaction. And what's the point there? Well, the point is that it would be a generous gift, but it would be given willingly. Willingly. Interestingly enough, this word here that's used for willing gift, is eulogia. It's where we derive the English word eulogy from. It's a word that means a praise statement. You see there the prefix eu, which means well or true, and then logia, I think logos or word, the words, so well-spoken words, praised words about someone or something. but it can also be used, as it is here, for generosity in giving. And in verse number five, we see that same word used as a gift. Verse five, again, repeated as a willing gift, and then the same word repeated, translated bountifully in verse number six, and the point is simply this. You should give out of a willing heart, and you should do so out of a generous spirit, and you should do so for the glory of God, that's the point. And so this is the ministry of giving. By the way, the church at Corinth had a ministry of giving. Every New Testament church, including this church, should have a ministry of giving. Not just one person that said, well, that brother has the gift of giving. Or, I'm not gonna really give because I know someone else has the gift of giving. I don't really have that gift. I've already done my survey, pastor, and I checked those boxes, and when I did all the tallying up of the results at the bottom, it said, plain and simple, I don't have that gift. That's not the way it works. The whole church should be involved. in the ministry of giving. Second of all, verses 6 through 15, we see the principles of giving. We see, first of all, principles of sowing and reaping. The apostle Paul borrows from the farming industry, if you will, and he uses that language of sowing and reaping. He says, the point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. In other words, this is an old principle that really finds its source there in the practices of farming. And it's a real simple thing. If a farmer sows sparingly in the field, this farmer is sowing sparingly in a field, he can't expect to reap bountifully. You see that? That's the point. It's just a real simple lesson. You can't sow sparingly and then expect to have a wonderful harvest. It's just not gonna work that way. And then Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth that our Lord blesses those who give generously. And by the way, this is not a prosperity message here. False teachers for many years have taken passages like this and they have ripped it out of its context and then plastered it on their own books and resources to teach, well, if you give, If you give in a generous fashion, you can expect to be healthy, wealthy, and happy as a result. That's not what this is teaching. How does a Christian sow generously or bountifully? Well, Matthew 6.33 says, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. How do you seek first the kingdom of God with your money? How do you do that? Well, you start by formulating a plan. You don't just wake up on Sunday morning and say, well, how much money's in my pocket, and then pull it out and you see, oh, that bill's too much, and then you reach in the other pocket to maybe give something that's of lesser value. That's not the way that the Christian should ever approach giving. The way that the Christian approaches giving is by a very clear planned purpose and purposeful contribution that is from a heart of ministry. That is how we are to give. Thomas Brooke said it this way, Solomon got more hurt by his wealth than he got good by his wisdom. You can read the book of Ecclesiastes and you can see how Solomon wanted us to see that we should not just be chasing after the wind. But instead we should be chasing after God and we should be investing our time and our treasure for the glory of God. Listen to what Charles Hodge said. He observed this. Giving is, to the natural eye, the way to lessen our store, not to increase it. The Bible says it is the way to increase it. To believe this, or to believe this is only necessary to believe in the power of providence. Notice what he says, the promise of God. God is able, he says, to make the paradox true. That quote, one man gives freely, yet gains even more. He's quoting there from Proverbs 11, 24. Why is that such an important statement? Well, because to the natural mind and to the natural heart, Giving away your resources through a local church for the for the sake of God's kingdom doesn't make sense Because the world teaches us you need to have a financial plan you need to invest this much money and if you start at 18 and you do that for 20 years and then you don't touch it the rest of your life Then when you retire, you'll be a millionaire and there are all these little charts that you can follow for investment purposes And I say that's a good thing. And I say it's a bad thing to be a slave of debt. I say it's a very, very poor idea to be piling up money in your storehouse and not investing it through the local church for the kingdom of God, and then saying, I hope that when I am a millionaire, when I'm 65, then I can start to be generous. Well, what happens if you die at 64? And all those years of stacking up that money is now wasted, none of it used for the kingdom of God. So you just have to think about giving to God and to do so for His glory. Second of all, in verse number seven we see the principle of cheerful giving. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. not reluctantly, not out of pain of mind or spirit, not out of grief of heart, not out of sorrow for mind or affliction. There should be no one weeping when the plates are passed at the end of the service today. No one should be weeping when we give. We should be doing so out of a heart that's full of cheer and gladness and happiness. Notice this, not under compulsion, which means a state of distress or trouble, a state of calamity or pressure is the idea. Don't give a dime at the end of this service because I preached on money today. I got a few more amens for saying that. Don't give a dime at the end of this service because you think I'm pressuring anyone in this church to give of their money. Because if you're giving for that reason to please me, well then you've missed it. You give out of a heart of ministry, out of a heart of generosity, out of a heart of service, out of a heart of cheer and gladness, out of a heart of worship is the idea and worship of our triune God. But then notice, there's a note in the Reformation Study Bible, if you have that Study Bible, it says this, commenting on verses six through seven. Generosity in giving springs from grace and is motivated by a cheerful heart. Giving, therefore, reflects the nature of God, who is generous and takes pleasure in his people's generosity. You know what he says here in verse 7? God loves a cheerful giver. You know what the Greek word is there? It's literally the word where we derive the English term hilarious from. Now I said something a moment ago, so I want to balance that out. I said there should be no weeping when the plates are passed at the end of this service, but I want to balance that out by saying that what he is saying here by this term of hilarity, if you will, is not some sort of unshamed belly laughing approach to Christian giving. It's not what he's saying. Rather, what he's saying is that this is a decisive plan, precise and intentional gift flowing out of a heart that is swelling with cheer and happiness as the person releases the gift for God's glory. That's what he's saying. So there's two ditches to avoid, this idea of, oh, I've just gotta give because the preacher said I've gotta give. And then there's the other ditch that says, no, you shouldn't just be running around just falling in the floor and just belly laughing as you give your money away. That's just an odd thing. Precision. Decisive plan. Intentionality. Sit down with your family budget and plan it out. And I would encourage you, by the way, bring your children into that conversation at the end of it, after you and your wife have already talked about the particulars. Then bring your children in and teach them, this is how we are giving, this is what's coming into our home, this is what we're giving to the Lord for the sake of seeking first the kingdom of God. And don't show them that so that you can say, well, see there, if we didn't give all this money, we could go on that big Disney cruise at the end of the year, every single year. Don't do it like that. Because you don't want to teach your children to be bitter towards the church for stealing away their Mickey Mouse vacation. Rather, what you should do is to teach your children This is what we are doing, but this did not come overnight. This came over faithful discipleship and years of studying God's word and a commitment to give away of what God has given us, but recognizing first and foremost that this is on a foundation that says that God owns it all. Because I'm just a steward. If you approach it that way, it's just a lot easier, is it not? Because you recognize that I don't own any of this stuff. The Lord gave it all to me. And if he wants me to release it, then I can release it because I don't own it and he just gave it to me and I'm going to use it for his glory. And then a third principle. The principle of God's sovereignty in financial blessings. Verse eight, and God is able, notice that, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Now just stop there. Does that sound like God has sovereignty over all of the spheres of life or does it not? Well, that's exactly what it's saying. And because God is sovereign over all of the spheres of life, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. And then he quotes from the Psalms to drive his point home. He is distributed freely. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. And what is he doing there? He's taking that text and he's saying, I want you to be mindful of how God has done this, not just starting now. He's been doing this from the very beginning. He distributes freely. He gives to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. And then notice how he then comments, verse 10. 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. You see that? He gives to the poor, his righteousness endures forever, and then in verse 10 he comments, and then he talks about two different types of seed. 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. And there he's talking about financial blessing, so that they can give it away. Verse 11, you will be enriched in every way, to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. What a beautiful thing here. Which will produce thanksgiving to God. Think about that for a moment. Simon Kistemacher observes, quote, they will not be enriched so that they can become like the rich fool who sits back in comfort and says to himself, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and be merry. Luke 12, 19. They are enriched solely to give them every opportunity to be generous with others." It was the missionary Hudson Taylor that said this, a missionary to China, quote, God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply, end quote. Now what does that mean? Well, here's what it means. If you use your finances the way that God has willed you to use your finances, then there shouldn't be any need in the local church and there shouldn't be any suffering missionary on the mission field. Because God's work done His way will always supply the need. There are so many illustrations that I could run to for this, but I'll just remind you of George Mueller there in Bristol, England, refused to talk to men about money, but instead got on his knees and talked to God about money. And God was always supplying the needs for him, not only to care for the orphans so that they could have food on the table at every meal, but also so that he could purchase buildings and build buildings so that they could be housed and so that they could be educated. And George Mueller once said it this way, the Christians should never worry about tomorrow or give sparingly because of a possible future need. Only the present moment is ours to serve the Lord and tomorrow may never come. Money is really worth no more than as it can be used to accomplish the Lord's work. Life is worth as much as it is spent for the Lord's service. The point is this, this is the principle he's teaching here in this section, verses eight through 11, is that God gives to people in order that they would give away. God gives to people so that they would give away. That's the point. And then verses 12 to 15, here's the final principle. The principle of gospel fruit. You'll notice two specific things that you can see here in these verses. First and foremost, note this. The fruit of giving ministry provides for the needs of others. That's just a simple, logical thing, right? Missionaries have need, we give, we take up money here through PM missions, and then it flows out and it supplies for missionary work, church planting work, Pastor Lucas in Ecuador, Heart Crime Missionary Society and the various different ways in which they're using their resources to supply for missionaries and plant churches or work in the areas of churches that are planted in various regions. And then, of course, there's another reason. This principle is so important. The principle of gospel fruit related to our money and how we use it also comes home in this point, is that the fruit of a giving ministry through a local church results in praise to God. You see that? It's right in the text. Let's start with the first thing. He says in verse 12, The ministry of this service, which is giving, is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. The first part of verse 12 is very clear. When the church at Corinth would release their money, it would supply the needs of the saints in Jerusalem. Critically important to see that. And then second of all, at the end of verse 12, but it would also result in what? Overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. And then notice, there's the specificity of that played out in verses 13 and following. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ. Notice that. They will glorify God because of your submission to God's will and how you use your money And they will see that it doesn't come from your flesh, but from the confession of the gospel of Christ. They will see, these Jewish Christians will see, that the Gentiles have been saved by the same gospel that they've been saved by, and it will result in unity between the Jews and the Gentiles. This is what the Apostle Paul is aiming for in this entire chapter. of 2 Corinthians 9. And then he closes with what? The Apostle Paul closes with one statement in verse 15. And this should be the foundation from which we give anything. If you give a dime in the offering plate at the end of this service, if you give online this week, if you give this afternoon, if you give this evening, this should be the foundation from which it flows. Are you ready? Verse 15. Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. Paul spends a couple of chapters driving at the point of Christian stewardship and generosity and how the church should give and how the church should see it as ministry and worship. And then he comes to verse 15 and he says, thanks be to God. This is what we should do. We should praise God. for His unspeakable gift. And what's His unspeakable gift? His unspeakable gift is that God sent forth His Son to be born of a woman, to be born under the law. God sent forth His Son to take upon human flesh, to live a sinless and spotless and perfect life, to die the ignominious death of the cross, to be crushed under the wrath of God. And to be offered up as the Lamb of God and to die that substitutionary death whereby whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved so that Jesus' death would be sufficient to save every last one of the elect. And that's what he says. And that's the foundation of Christian giving. And for anyone that had a hard time with the title of my sermon, or the statement about money at the beginning of the service, should be driven all the way to verse 15 to say, this is the foundation from where we give. There's some parallelisms that happen here in this text. There are three of those things that happen in verses 5, 6, and 7. He contrasts both negatives and positives. Verse five, negative, as an exaction. Verse six, negative, sparingly. Verse seven, negative, reluctantly. Verse five, positive, a willing gift. Verse six, positive, bountifully. Verse seven, positive, cheerfully. And Paul is doing all of that, not by accident. He didn't just get to the end of his letter and just, what, isn't that cool? Look at what I did. It was all done on purpose. So that negative could be balanced out with positive, negative balanced out with positive. And when we're reading the Bible, we have to be able to see those things, because here's what he's saying. Don't give in these three ways. Given these three ways. And here's your foundation that you build the house on. Verse 15 on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul is doing this on purpose, and we must remember, dear church at Praise Mill, that we must be very cautious in this land of idols to rob God of the treasure that he really wants us to release so that we can invest in his kingdom purposes until Christ comes. Three things by way of application as we come to a close. First of all, evaluate your giving and ask yourself if you're giving through a heart of ministry, generously for the glory of God, or whether you're holding back for some other reason. There's so many statistics to share with you. Perhaps I'll send these to you in an email so that you don't have to scramble to write. But I'll just share this. Out of 247 million U.S. citizens identifying themselves as Christians, only 1.5 million tithe. And if every Christian, supposed professing Christian, tithed a minimum of 10%, faith organizations would have an extra $139 billion to use for the glory of God in America alone. So we should ask ourselves, how are we giving? George Mueller said it this way, God judges what we give by what we keep. So think earnestly. Second of all. Consider the missions offering for Brazil, and I would just encourage you to give sacrificially and generously so that we can team up with other churches and give a large gift that would go a long ways in that land to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and strengthening the church and our friends in Brazil, and I'm gonna be preaching there in June, and I would love to be able to bring a report back for how that money is being used. And then number three. Are you here today standing in need of saving grace? If you're here today under the hearing of the gospel, even an exposition of 2 Corinthians 9 on money, you have heard the gospel in this sermon. And I want to encourage you today that if you're here and you know that you have sinned against God, you know that you are under the wrath of God, you know that you deserve to be under the wrath of God for all of eternity. I would urge you, under the hearing of the gospel, that you would repent of your sin, cast yourself upon the mercy of God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Remember, everything that we give in terms of a giving ministry is built upon the truth of John 3 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. And once we have been the recipients of God's saving grace, then we start to serve in various different ways, and one of the basic ways that we serve God is by how we give of our finances. So I wanna urge you, release your finances and give generously, and do so out of a purposeful plan with great intentionality, and pray that God would bless it, and that he would bless it for many, many years to come. Let us bow. Let us pray together.