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Colin Smith: Here's what to keep in mind when you're making decisions about your own giving. Remember this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously, notice that word, will also reap generously.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us. We continue a series today called A Generous Life. We've been taking a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and chapter 9 and Colin, we've been looking at biblical principles that we can pull out of these two chapters and how they apply to us.

Colin Smith: Yeah, and it's all about being a reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ, um who though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor so that through his poverty we might become rich. A wonderful Steve that everything in the Christian life is really a reflection of the life of Jesus growing in us. That's why I think it's unhelpful to set down rules for giving. You got to do this, you see. That reduces the generous spirit that is at the heart of the New Testament to some kind of requirement that ends up feeling like it's imposed and that's never the way of the New Testament.

It's the life of Christ in you and that growing and therefore there being joy in this. It's not what do I have to do? It's what would Christ have me do? And what would be a worthy reflection of his spirit really living in me?

Steve Hiller: Well, today's message is one where I think you're going to find some practical application along these lines. So join us in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 as we begin a generous reward. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: This is the last in our short series that we've called A Generous Life. We've been dealing with issues relating to giving and we're doing that at Christmas for this very specific reason that Christmas is about the self-giving of God. And when the New Testament applies the self-giving of God into the lives of Christian believers, this is how the New Testament does it. In 2 Corinthians in chapter 8 and verse 9, you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. You who are Christians, we who know the Lord, we know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives.

And what that grace meant for him was that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor so that we through his poverty might become rich. And Paul applies that great theme of the Christmas message to Christian believers in Corinth and therefore to us today by speaking to us of what it means to live a generous life. Now a quick review of what we've learned. Perhaps the most important takeaway from this series, the single thing that I would want us to remember a year from now would be that Paul moves this whole matter of giving out of the world of law and into the world of grace because Christian giving, New Testament giving is always a response to grace.

It is a reflection of the self-giving of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember nobody forced Jesus to come into the world. Nobody put pressure on him. No one ever could. The Lord Jesus came freely and the Lord Jesus came joyfully. That is how he has given himself to us and therefore giving that reflects his grace must be marked by freedom. Therefore there are to be no rules about it and it must be marked by joy. God loves a cheerful giver. And therefore it is very significant and perhaps this has come as a surprise to some of us.

2 Corinthians 8 and verse 8, Paul refuses to make any rule in the church about Christian giving. He could have said as an apostle, now all of you folks have to give 10 percent. Could have made an argument from the Old Testament on that basis. But he says very specifically chapter 8 and verse 8, I am not commanding you. Why? Because he wants to move the whole matter of giving out of the world of law and into the world of grace where it belongs because what is at stake here is not simply the amount that is given but the heart of the givers.

What really matters is that we become increasingly like the Lord Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us and did it freely and did it joyfully. And so for that reason we've been learning Christian freedom always marked at giving always marked by freedom and joy. And uh it's really set out for us in chapter 9 and verse 7. Here's how it should happen. Each man, each of us who knows the grace of the Lord Jesus, we should give what we have decided in our hearts to give. And no one's to do this reluctantly, Paul says.

Nobody's to do it under compulsion because God loves a cheerful giver. So we decide in our hearts. Well, now that we know that the principle is not law but grace, now that we know God has given us this wonderful liberty to grow in generosity as we decide in our own hearts what we want to give with freedom and with joy. The obvious question is well, how do you decide? How then do you decide what to give and what to keep? Well, that very practical matter is the subject that Paul focuses on in the last part of chapter 9 and that's where we are today.

And there are really two questions and then one marvelous application. The two questions are simply what should I give? Given that it's a matter of freedom and joy, what should guide your decision, my decision about what we give? Then the second question is what will I receive? Because Paul speaks clearly here of great rewards that come to those who grow in generosity. And then we're going to see the supreme example of this giving and of this great reward in our Lord Jesus Christ. So first then what should I give? Verse 6. Paul says remember this.

Now he's talking about when you're thinking about what to give. You're deciding what to keep. You deciding what to give. Here's what to keep in mind when you're making decisions about your own giving. Remember this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously, notice that word, will also reap generously. In other words, Paul says think of everything that God has given to you in this world in the same way as a farmer would think about a great pile of seed. And when the farmer has a great pile of seed in the barn, there are two things he can do with it.

He can grind it into flour and he can make bread or he can sow it in the field and raise a harvest next year. Obviously he's going to do both. But he has to make a decision. How much seed will he keep for bread and how much seed will he sow in the ground? And Paul is using this very very simple picture to say that's precisely how you should be thinking, how we should be thinking about the decisions we make with regards to our money. Now says Paul, here's what you should think about. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

So here's farmer Joe and he's a very cautious farmer. And he looks at his pile of seed in the barn and he says well, now my the the winter is coming and it's going to be very long and I'm going to need a lot of bread. So I need to keep as much of the seed as I can. And so he takes just a very small amount and he sets it aside to be sown in the ground for next year. He sows sparingly. Down the road is farmer Bob. And farmer Bob has the same pile of seed and he looks at it in his barn and he says the summer is coming and I want next year to have a great harvest.

So I must sow as much as I possibly can. So he keeps what he needs for the winter so that he may have sufficient bread for his needs. But he sows everything else. He sows generously. Now these two farmers with the same pile of seed have made different decisions about how they allocate the seed that has been trusted to them. And Paul's making the very obvious point that these different decisions will have very different outcomes one year on. When the summer comes, the one who sowed sparingly reaps sparingly. And when the summer comes, the one who sowed generously reaps generously.

So the first thing that Paul says is remember when you're thinking about this whole matter of giving that you will reap what you sow. Now let's follow Paul's very simple picture here and let's look at it a year later. Farmer Joe and farmer Bob come into their barn. Farmer Joe now has a smaller pile of seed than he had before because he sowed sparingly and he has reaped sparingly and the pile has gone down. And he looks at his diminished pile of seed. And he says my this has been a terrible year. Much less than I had last year.

The winter is long and I am going to need more bread this year and uh I must therefore keep as much seed as I possibly can. And so he has an even smaller amount of seed to sow for next year. Farmer Bob comes into his barn and looks at an increased pile of seed and and says this is a remarkable way in which God has blessed me in this last year. And I'm looking towards next summer and I want to see an even greater harvest. So I will sow next year as much as I possibly can.

And so again he keeps just what he needs for the winter and he sows everything else. Now you see the pattern of the picture that Paul is painting. There are now two patterns of of life that are emerging from decisions that were made and continue to be made that reflects more or less the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. So there's a second truth here. Not only do we reap what we sow but God calls us to sow what we reap. The the seed that's in the barn has itself been reaped. It has been given by God.

And notice verse 10, whatever God gives to you is for two purposes. God supplies verse 10 seed for the sower and bread for food. In other words, if you think of everything that God has given to you and I think of everything that God has given to me this month and this year, God has given this to us however much or little it is for two purposes. Some of it is bread for food and some of it is seed for sowing. In other words, what we're learning here is that God supplies what you need to live and God supplies what you need to give.

So think about the money that you have received this month, this year. Some of it was bread for food. That is it was for spending, it was for saving, it was for using, it was for living. Some of it is seed for the sower. God gave it to you for giving, for sowing and for scattering. The question that each of us faces on a continuing basis in our life is how we divide our seed, what we keep and what we sow. And Paul says just remember as you're thinking about this because it is a matter of Christian liberty and it's to be done with freedom and with joy.

But remember this that whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will reap generously. What should I give? There's the council of the apostle Paul.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called A Generous Reward. It's the final message in our series A Generous Life and we're going to get back to this message in just a moment. So I hope you'll stay with us. Well, if you ever miss a broadcast in the series, you can always come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen through the Open the Bible app which you'll find for free at your app store. Or one other way to listen is to get the entire series on CD.

Ask about A Generous Life when you call 1 877 Open 365. That's 1 877 673 6365 or you'll find ordering information online at openthebible.org. Let's get back to the message. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Now here's the second question. What will I receive? Now I hope you have your Bible open in front of you because these verses of scripture contain some marvelous promises that have been horribly abused by some Christian teachers. I say that they have been horribly abused because they are sometimes taught these scriptures are sometimes taught in a way that kills the very generosity Paul is writing to encourage. And that's a horrible abuse to use the Bible in a way that has the opposite effect of the Holy Spirit's intent. The teaching that I'm referring to, the horrible abuse, you will be familiar with it.

It is sometimes known as prosperity teaching or as the prosperity gospel. And what it says is something along these lines. God wants you to prosper financially. And the way that this happens is by a simple formula. The more you give, the more you get. And you can see why people who teach a prosperity gospel like to come to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and chapter 9. And they will quote often verses like 2 Corinthians 8 9, that great Christmas verse. Think of what it says. You know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might become rich.

Or chapter 9 and verse 11. You will be made rich in every way. So the prosperity teacher comes and he seizes on verses of the Bible like this and he says well, there you are. God wants you rich. And the guaranteed way for you to prosper financially is to increase your year-end giving to the church. Now you've heard that kind of thing. You've seen that kind of thing. And you know as I do that a good salesman can make this sound like the sweetest deal. You reap what you sow. So giving becomes the path to prosperity.

Now the problem with that lies right here that when giving is taught as a means to gain generosity dies. It has to because the giving actually is about me and what I'll get. When giving becomes the path to prosperity, the very point of 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and chapter 9 is lost. And that is why I describe that kind of teaching as a horrible abuse of the word of God right here. Let me give you a little story that I found in the book I referred to last week by Tim Keller. It's called The Prodigal God and it's a fable but it catches the point here as well as anything I've ever seen.

It's a story about a king, a gardener and a nobleman. One day the gardener who'd been working very hard in his garden pulled the most magnificent carrot. It was the finest carrot he had ever grown and he decided that the thing he should do with it is give it as a gift to the king. So he comes to the palace and the gardener says oh king, this is the finest carrot I have ever grown or ever will grow. And so I want to give it to you as a token of my love for you and my respect and my honoring of you, my king.

And the king receives this massive carrot. He says thank you very much. And the man's turning to go and the king said wait a minute. I own a field that is right next to the plot that you garden. And you're obviously a marvelous gardener and a good steward of the earth. And so I want to to give you that field and you can garden it along with uh your garden. And that field is going to be yours from today. So the gardener goes home absolutely rejoicing. Now in the court was a nobleman who heard this.

And he thinks to himself, aha, a whole field for a carrot? I can do better than that. Well, the nobleman bred horses. So the following day he brings in this magnificent black stallion. And he says oh king, I breed horses and this black stallion is the finest horse I have ever bred. And uh I want to bring this horse as a gift to you as a token of my respect and my affection for you, my king. The king knew he had been listening and discerned his heart. So the king just said oh thank you very much.

And the man's face is absolutely crestfallen. So the king turned to him and he said let me explain. The gardener gave the carrot to me. What you were really doing was giving the horse to yourself. That's the problem with prosperity teaching. It kills generosity. We've been saying that gospel giving is pulled out of the world of law and into the world of grace because generosity can only live and grow in the world of grace. It cannot thrive in the soil of the law. And generosity cannot grow in the soil of self-interest either. And so we have to pull this whole matter of giving out of any sense of what is mine as a result.

Otherwise we cannot grow in the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Listen, the teaching of 2 Corinthians in chapter 8 and chapter 9 if I can try and summarize it this way, it's not the more you give, the more you get. It's the more you give, the more you will be able to give. Notice that in verse 11 and in verse 8. First verse 11, you will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion. That's what God promises to us. If you set your heart on being more generous, God will give you the ability to do so.

As you grow in generosity, you will find that God enables the capacity of your generosity to increase. So the point of verse 8, look at that. God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all you need, notice need, not all you want but all you need, he promises to supply what you need. He says you will abound in every good work. Why? Because you are growing in the likeness of Christ and therefore the fruitfulness of your life just continues to blossom and to develop.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called A Generous Reward. Now we're going to have to pause right here but we'll continue on our next program. So I hope you'll tune in. By the way, if you ever miss a program or you want to go back and hear it again, you can do that at our website. Come to openthebible.org. There you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen on demand if you have the Open the Bible app. You'll find that at your app store.

That's a great way to listen whenever it fits your schedule. Well, Open the Bible is listener supported. It's your generosity that allows us to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching whether you listen on the radio, online, through the app or any other way you've connected with this ministry. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of Tim Keller's book called What Is Wrong With the World? And Colin, what's one thing that you'd like people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: Well, there are so many things. I found it to be compelling and a marvelous read and a really easy read. But you've asked me for one thing. I think I'd go for the chapter that Keller has written on true repentance. It's marvelous. It's pure gold. He says that he became a believer in 1970 and for some time made little or no progress in his Christian life that he wasn't really seeing the change that he thought. And and he comes to the startling conclusion. After a period of time, he concluded the problem was I didn't know how to repent.

And so he gets into what it really means to repent. It is so foundational. You think that everyone knows what this is but actually that's not the case. And he gets into speaking about how we need to see our sin, how we need to confess our sin, how we need to mourn our sin and then how we need to hate our sin and how real change follows genuine repentance. And he makes the point that it's pretty challenging stuff. If there's not significant change happening in your life, perhaps the root cause is that you've not really understood what it means to actually repent.

So here's a book that tells us what sin is, how it operates in the life of a person and what we can do about it. It leads us to God's marvelous grace which of course is found as we draw near to him in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in repentance. So I think it'll be really helpful, really practical and uh commend it to everyone to read.

Steve Hiller: Well, I look forward to reading that chapter myself but we'd love to send you a copy of this book What Is Wrong With the World? As our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. Give online at openthebible.org or over the phone when you call 1 877 673 6365. Again, that's openthebible.org or 1 877 Open 365. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: Fly Through the Bible is a short, simple and shareable book that you can use with a friend, a neighbor or a loved one who needs to know Jesus. It's also freely available online. Fly Through the Bible will introduce you to five people in the Old Testament, five events in the life of Jesus and five gifts God gives to every believer. You could ask a friend to read Fly Through the Bible with you. The book has 15 chapters. You could read a chapter and meet together over coffee and discuss the questions. Fly Through the Bible is designed to help you open the Bible with others.

It will give you a better grasp of the Bible story and most of all it will help you to grow in your love for Jesus Christ. For more information, visit openthebible.org/fly. That's openthebible.org/fly.