2 Corinthians 9 - Why God Blesses With Wealth

>> Jen: Welcome to the Bible Explained podcast, faithful listeners. My name is Jen. I am the host here, and we are going to be discussing Second Corinthians 9, the entire chapter, and once again, shocker, talking about giving. All right, so if you didn't tune in to the last couple episodes that I did in 2 Corinthians 8, I definitely recommend going back and listening to those, because 2 Corinthians 9 directly corresponds with 2 Corinthians 8 in the whole topic of giving.

But basically the whole recap is that Paul wants the Corinthian Church to follow through on their promise of giving to the Jerusalem Christians because they had promised that they would give a gift. So now we're going to continue on with this theme in 2nd Corinthians 9. So grab your Bible out of the version that you prefer, but I will be reading from the web and switching over to the NLT at some point in time in today's discussion. Once Again, this is 2 Corinthians 9,

1 - 15. Grab your cup of coffee and join in with me. It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints, for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia that in Achaia it has been prepared for the past year.

Your zeal has stirred up very many of them. But I have sent the brothers so that our boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, just as I have said, you may be prepared, lest, by any means, if anyone from Macedonia comes there with me and finds you unprepared, we, to say nothing of you, would be

disappointed in this confident boasting. I thought it necessary, therefore, to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity and not of greediness. Remember, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Let each man give according to what he has determined in his heart, not

grudgingly or under a compulsion. For God loves a, uh, cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound. To every good work as it is written, he is scattered abroad. He. He is given to the poor. His righteousness remains

forever. Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness, you being enriched in everything, for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving

to God through us. For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through much giving of thanks to God, seeing that through the proof, uh, given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the good news of Christ and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all, while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you.

Now thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. Not gonna lie. Reading through this, I really feel like Paul is being very snarky. I don't know if you guys picked up on that or not. For example, in verse, it is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints, for I know your

readiness. Now, of course, what Paul is referring to there is what we talked about last week and this week, the previous chapter where Paul was actually kind of yelling a little bit at the Corinthians for not following through on their giving. He says, I actually don't even have to write to you, you, Corinthians, about this matter because you are ready. You are ready to give, but yet the Corinthians didn't have that ready when

Paul went to go visit them. And for some reason, they never actually sent any money or goods to the Jerusalem Christians. So Paul, it kind of seems like in our passage for today, is sort of ribbing the Corinthians a little bit. He's like, I don't need to remind you about this because I know you are ready to

give. So he might be being facetious here, but it's also possible that Paul really does believe that now they are ready and he no longer needs to write to them about it because he believes they are going to follow through on this gift that they promised. Verse 2. For I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia. Don't forget that last week we talked about how Paul went up to Macedonia. Macedonia was northern Greece and Achaia

was southern Greece. So when Paul was in Macedonia, he was apparently sharing with them what the church of Corinth was doing in southern Greece. He was telling the Macedonians, yeah, that, you know, they're putting together a collection for the Christians over in Jerusalem. And this might have sparked the interest of the Macedonians and been like, oh, what do the Christians in Jerusalem need a collection

for. And that was what actually spurred the Macedonians to begin giving, was when they heard that the Corinthians were going to give to the poor in Jerusalem. So then the Macedonians stepped up in a really big way, where even though Macedonia was considered quite poor historically, they still gave so generously to these Christians in Jerusalem. And so Paul's actually saying to the Corinthians, you know, your willingness to give

actually sparked them to give. He says in verse two, because Achaia has been prepared for the last year to give, your zeal has stirred up

very many of them. Then in verse three. But I have sent the brothers, in other words, Titus, and then the other unnamed apostle that we talked about last week down to the Corinthians, so that our, uh, boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, as I have said, you may be prepared, lest by any means, if anyone from Macedonia comes there with me and finds you unprepared, we would be embarrassed.

So Paul's like, because I bragged so much about you guys to the Macedonians, I am sending Titus and the other apostle down to you guys to make sure you truly are prepared so that when I come to visit you guys again and I ultimately bring some Macedonian brothers and sisters with me, nobody will be embarrassed because your collection will be ready to go. But if it's not ready to go like I claimed it was, then we will all be very embarrassed, you guys the most is what he says.

Therefore, I thought it was necessary to entreat the brothers that they should go before to you and arrange ahead of time this generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity and not of greediness. So this is the part where I really think Paul is kind of ribbing the Corinthians a little bit. He's like, yeah, you know, you've promised this gift a

year ago and never followed through. But I know you're ready to give, and I don't want to be embarrassed in front of the Macedonians. So please have your gift ready like you promised that you would a year ago. Verse 6. Remember, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Let each man give according to what he is determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful

giver. And that's the verse I've been quoting the past two times we have talked about the New Testament, because we've been talking about giving a lot. God loves the cheerful giver. He loves people who give. I actually read a verse today. It was the verse of the day, actually, the other day on youversion. Proverbs 19:17, out, uh, of the NLT. If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD, and He will repay you. So God loves people who give cheerfully because

giving is humbling and it's hard to do. Quite honestly, you have to trust God that He is going to take care of you and your finances when you give. You have to trust that, like God, if I give some of my money from this paycheck, are you going to take care of me? It's a matter of faith, quite honestly, to give. But Paul gives some encouragement to the Corinthians in verse 6. He says, Remember this, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. But he who sows bountifully will also reap

bountifully. He says, you know, the farmer goes out, he has a whole bunch of seeds, and he puts them in the ground, and he doesn't know what is going to become of those seeds. Are they going to die? Are they going to spring up? But the farmer who plants more of these seeds is going to get a larger harvest in the end. In a way, Paul is almost encouraging people to think of their money as a sowing of a seed. You know, the farmer might think he's losing something when he puts those seeds

into the ground. He might even be tempted to save some seeds for the next year. But in this context, it's actually better for the farmer to sow a lot of seeds so that he gets a really bountiful harvest. He's not losing anything. He's actually gaining something in the end. And that's the same thing with giving. Let each man give according to what he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion.

For God loves the cheerful giver. So in other words, people aren't supposed to give because somebody is forcing them to give, or they feel guilted into giving. That's why a lot of megachurches do giving very wrong where they will almost guilt people. They'll be like, oh, you know, if you want your child to be healed in the name of the LORD, you have to give so much money to our ministry. And that's totally wrong. That's just guilting people and

manipulating people into giving. And Paul is telling the Corinthians, look, you should give because you did promise to give. To this ministry, nobody is forcing you to give, but you did promise it and you should keep your promises. Firstly. And secondly, it's actually good for you to give because it's exercising your faith a little bit and it's humbling yourself a little bit. And on top of that, it's actually doing something very good for another person. And God is going to pay

you back. Just like that proverb I just read to you guys. Proverbs 19:17 once again says, if you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD and He will repay you. So there you go. God will in fact pay you back when you give to another person. But it should not be giving because you are under compulsion to give. You should do it out of the generosity of your own heart. Meaning every single church member would have to determine what they wanted to give inside of their

own homes to the church ahead of time. Not even during the church service, but to the church ahead of time. Meaning they decided to do this within their own homes. Because a lot of times what happens in churches is you feel compelled to give when the pastor gives a sermon or something along those lines. And then the offering plate gets passed around and people, you know,

sort of feel guilty and they're like, who's looking at me? I should probably give something in the offering plate as it passes. And Paul says, no, don't do it that way. Instead, go home, pray about it, decide what you're going to give, and then bring your gift to the church. Actually, at my old church, not the IFB church, but the church after that, there was no collection taken up ever. There was a collection box at the back of the church that people could go to at any time

throughout the week. They could just go into the church whenever the church was open, discreetly give however much they wanted. And that church believed that that was the healthiest way to do it because you were deciding ahead of time how much to. And you weren't doing it while everybody was looking at you either. And that's kind of what Paul is preaching here as well. Verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you always having all sufficiency

in everything, may abound to every good work. And actually, let me switch over to the NLT version and read that verse from the NLT Version that happens to be verse eight. It says out of the nlt and God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. I mean, it doesn't get more black and white than that. When you are generous and faithful with the little things, God will allow you to be more generous in the future with

bigger things as well. That's actually one of the principles of Dave Ramsey, if you've ever heard of him. He's a, uh, financial advisor of sorts, and he's got a talk show and a podcast and things. And he talks about that principle a lot. He says. I can't remember his exact catchphrase. He's got, like, a catchphrase with it, but it's something like, live like. I think it's live like no other so you can give like no other. Yeah, I think that's his

catchphrase, actually. Live like no other so you can give like no other meaning. You live in the way that God calls you to live with your finances, and then you give of those finances, and that produces generosity in you. And then it also helps people. Verse 9 in the NLT, as the Scriptures say, they share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and

then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. That is the one thing that is pretty consistent throughout Scripture, is that God blesses those who are generous. He, uh, provides for their needs. That is the only thing that God tells people to test him in. Let me actually bring up that verse. It's