Dwell in the Word: 2 Corinthians 9:1-15
Consider these questions as you dwell in 2 Corinthians 9:1-15:
1. Paul uses the analogy of sowing and reaping to illustrate the principle of generous giving. How does this analogy transcend mere financial aspects, and what deeper spiritual principles does it convey about generosity within Christian communities?
2. The passage emphasizes the importance of giving cheerfully and without compulsion. How can modern believers strike a balance between being generous with their resources and ensuring their giving is rooted in genuine joy and a desire to further the Gospel, rather than seeking personal gain?
3. Paul emphasizes the concept of God supplying the seed for sowing and multiplying the harvest of righteousness. How does this reliance on God's provision influence the mindset of believers when it comes to giving and participating in the advancement of God's kingdom?
Transcript:
As we start to consider what we've read today, I want us to first look at the obvious point that Paul is making in verse 6. He says the point is this, Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Now, we know that you can have a good harvest. You could plant a few plants in your garden and have those plants have a ton of stuff come from them. But if you only plant two plants, even the best harvest is only going to have the harvest that can be yielded from two plants. And we know that if we don't plant anything in our garden, we are not going to reap. If you want to receive the benefits of your planting, you have to sow. And so, if we plant more in our garden, we will get more out of it. This is just an obvious statement. And Paul is using this as an illustration, not because he's teaching them something new or profound. He's using something that they get, something that they understand. If you put more into it, you're going to get more out of it. And so, Paul wants them to understand this, and he's not asking them to give abundantly.
He's not saying to them, You know, if you give a thousand dollars, God's going to give you back 1,500. He's not saying that. He's not saying that you're going to somehow be rewarded by God after you give. What he's saying is there will be a ministry benefit to this. And if we give abundantly, we're going to see an abundant harvest. This isn't about giving to God because He's going to give back. This isn't about giving to a ministry and then watching our mailbox to see how we're going to get a check from somebody else and God's going to pay us back. That's not what this is about. The reaping is about the benefits to the Gospel, not the benefit to us. Now, the benefit to the Gospel does benefit us. It builds us up. It causes us to want to give more and to help and to advance the kingdom more, but it's not a financial thing. We can see here that Paul isn't using this to manipulate them to give more in what he says in verse 7, each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Paul wants them to actually give because they want to give. He makes that very clear here. He's telling them to sow bountifully, but he's saying, Hey, do what you have decided within yourself to do. Don't go beyond that because God loves a cheerful giver. If you're giving out of resentment, that's not the right heart attitude to have. And so, we see in verse 10, where Paul believes this is going to come from. This is not a growth that comes from the effort of humans. He says in 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. God is going to do his work. God is going to cause this gift that they give to be used for the advance of the gospel. Paul is confident not only in the people that are going to be doing the ministry, in the people who are giving. He is most confident in God and the work of the Holy Spirit that is going to advance the cause of Christ. And so, he wants us to have something wonderful that happens, the harvest of their righteousness.
Paul has an end goal here, and it is to advance the kingdom. And so, we see, as the passage that we read opens up, we see Paul say, Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Notice what Paul has done here. He's talking about the gifts that the church in Corinthians will give, but he believes so much in the gift that God has given them. Once again, as we saw on Monday, this giving that we do comes out of the fact that God has given us the greatest gift of all. And so, for us, as we think about this passage, there's no compulsion for us to give, that if we give more, somehow we'll benefit more. No. Paul is saying, the more you are able to give, the more you are able to cheerfully give, the more you're going to be blessed by the advancement of the Gospel because we do this, not because we're going to get some benefit, but because God has, first of all, given us a gift, and we are giving back to Him. And so may that be our attitude that we have been given these gifts. Somewhere along the line, someone willingly and abundantly sowed the Gospel in our presence.
It was because of that that the Spirit came to us and worked faith in our hearts, and now we have salvation. So may we remember this inexpressible gift and do the same. Give abundantly, give, expecting that God will help us to reap a harvest from that, a harvest of righteousness.
