Our section of text today can easily be described as one of the most clear and instructional portions of scripture that frames the Christian heart of giving and we will see that at the bottom of it all is the Gospel. This text is a GIFT to the church for clarity on giving. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  The Gathering: Why Sunday Matters
TEXT: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
TITLE: Gospel Generosity
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: The Gospel Forges Generous Givers

POINTS:
1.   Gospel Freedom
a. Purposeful Giving
b. Cheerful Giving
c. Faith-filled Giving
2.   Gospel Mission
a. God Funds the Gospel Mission
b. God Secures the Gospel Mission success
c. God is Generous toward us so we will be generous in the Gospel Mission
3.   Gospel Glory

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes are taken from the pastor’s notes.
”Giving, for the believer in Jesus, must not be disconnected from the Center of our faith – The Gospel of Christ.”

“God’s people give. A simple survey of our Bible reveals this is the case. Verse 7 may be misunderstood as allowing giving as an option as one “has decided” BUT don’t miss the clear imperative to “give.” The text is not instructing us on whether or not we can or should give but, rather, giving is assumed and it begins to instruct us on HOW and WHY we are to give.”

“These words in the original carry the meaning that can be described as the Purpose of the Heart. Not simply moved by the whims of the heart or the mind and certainly not from whatever we feel like in the moment.

“This ‘decision in his heart’ carries with it intentionality that is motivated by a deep sense of conviction – the fountainhead and morality of the mind/the will.’”

“Purposeful, intentional giving is what the Spirit of God in verse 7 teaches us. Packed in the meaning of this is thoughtful planning, and consideration. NOTE: giving did not begin with the budget, the ledger, the spreadsheet, the pen and napkin. The Purpose of giving begins in the heart.”

“In addition to the purpose, there is the disposition of the heart… one of cheer and joy! Without joy, we find that our giving can be pragmatic and mechanical. How strange it would be for the believer in Christ to be filled with joy in his salvation and yet not his giving!”

“In verse 6, the Cheerful Giver is illustrated in the sower who sows bountifully. Imagine the hopeful, happy farmer with a sunbaked smile sowing happily into the field.”

“‘God is able!’ - these are trust-anchoring words. They move our faint hearts from our circumstances and uncertainty places us upon the very promises of God, His power. He promises to provide, and He will provide EVERYTHING that we need at ALL TIMES, enabling us to do what we originally thought was impossible.”

“This grace of giving comes from the fountainhead of the heart that is purposeful and joyful BECAUSE its faith is grounded on God himself.”

“Our sinful nature wrestles deeply with the “desire of having.” If we have much, we desire to hold on to it selfishly. If we have little, we desire to hold on to it selfishly… And in both cases, with much and with little, we selfishly do not want to let it go.”

“Loosed from the shackles of selfish reluctance, dread, and mechanical compulsion the GOSPEL CHANGES THE SOWER: FREEDOM flows from our hearts with purpose, joy, and faith.”

“This sower sows bountifully, burying his hand into the supply he casts GENEROUSLY with an open hand. Yes, with wisdom and intentionality but nothing is holding him back. The sense of the text likely imagines the unwilling white-knuckled grip on the gift being now WILLINGLY and FREELY opened and the gift being hurled into the field.”

“One act of God’s grace for the giver in Gospel mission is that God Himself is the one who funds the Mission! ‘He supplies the seed to the sower.’”

“HE IS NOT RELUCTANT! He freely gives to us GENEROUSLY! But, he does so so that we would turn and be ‘generous in every way.’"

“In Mattew 6, Jesus instructs us not to give in such a way that we draw attention to ourselves (and easy temptation). Without contradicting Jesus, the Apostle in the original language of Vs 12, along with what he writes in 8:1-7, reveals that this act of giving was corporate. Humble Gospel giving at the Gathering is an act of corporate worship. It is witnessed BY the church because it was done AT church.”

“Generosity is not about dollar amounts nor about percentages. It’s about the Grace of God at work in their hearts that empowered them even in the face of severe affliction in such a way that Gospel joy met their extreme poverty and the result was an overflowing ‘wealth of generosity’ that measured beyond their normal means! Their generosity was measured by sacrifice, not dollars!”

“God has given dearly to us! Romans 8:32 ‘He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?’ There was nothing more valuable to the Father than His only begotten Son, Jesus, and HE GAVE HIM for us.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 12:34
2 Corinthians 8:7

QUOTES:
John Calvin- “...for nothing is more famished and starved than the distrustful, who are tormented with an anxious desire of having.”

Randy Alcorn - “Another benefit of giving is freedom. It’s a matter of basic physics. The greater the mass, the greater the hold that mass exerts. The more things we own – the greater their total mass – the more they grip us, setting us in orbit around them. Finally, like a black hole, they suck us in… We think we own our possessions, but too often they own us…”

APPLICATION:
- Survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died
- Study the Gospel and probe the depths of our Generous God and Savior.

Let the Gospel in your right hand preach to your tightly closed left hand until it loosens its grip and let that seed fly!

A man made happy and grateful by the Gospel will give generously and freely.

By the power of God toward us, we must strive to be generous in every way, knowing the Lord will enrich us in every way for it. Indeed, he already has! Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: Our 7 Shaping Virtues
TEXT: 2 Corinthians 9:10-15
TITLE:  Generosity
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: Mission generosity marks us because divine generosity has made us.

POINTS:
1. God Gives Generously To Us So We Can Be Generous Givers
2. Our Generosity To Others Magnifies Our Generous God

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”The gospel of Jesus Christ is an act of cosmic generosity. The cross is the pulpit of God’s love and the overflow of his grace and mercy to undeserving sinners. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The demonstration of divine generosity continues because, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)  As beneficiaries of such generosity, we now have every motivation and grace to be generous likewise with our time, money and talents on behalf of God’s people and for God’s mission.”

“Biblical generosity is not about the right season or the right reason. Generosity is always about the life-giving generosity of God in Jesus Christ. God is the ultimate generous giver! We can never lose sight of this…”

“It doesn’t matter how smart you are. It doesn’t matter how talented you are. It doesn’t matter how disciplined you are. It doesn’t matter how great your sacrifice is. It doesn’t matter what kind of advantages you had or didn’t have growing up. No matter how little or much you have—you have it because God supplies it.”

“…the point of verse 10 is that God gives us what we have so we can sow it back into His kingdom, where He uses it for His redemptive purposes.”

“Paul is not saying—God will bless you for all your generosity. You could translate 11a—You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way. God generously provides for you so you can generously pour into his kingdom.”

“Be it your time, talents, or money, don’t you dare underestimate grace-motivated generosity, especially toward your church. Resist rebuking someone for being “too generous” toward their church. Think twice, three times, no four times, about complaining when your pastors want to talk about being generous in every way. Why? Because Paul says, God’s glory is at stake! God uses your generosity to produce praises to the glory of his grace in Christ Jesus.” 

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
James 1:17
1 Corinthians 4:7

QUOTES:
C.S. Lewis - “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
Paul Barnett - “When we opt out of giving, we deny ourselves the honor of promoting God’s glory.”

APPLICATION:
I’m so grateful this is true of our church in many ways. But from the most generous to the least, we all have room to grow. So allow me to help you direct your growth in generosity:

• Is there a ministry in the church that needs your talents? 

• Is there a brother or sister in your CG that needs your time?

• Is there an unsaved neighbor or co-worker that needs your time?

• Is there a giving opportunity that could use your money? Oh yeah, the April offering is next week!

A converted heart will be evidenced by a converted wallet. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

APRIL OFFERING 2022
TEXT: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11
TITLE: True New Testament Giving
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: A converted heart will be evidenced by a converted wallet.

POINTS:
1. Two Types of Givers
2. One Generous God

SERMON EXCERPTS:
”Whether it’s regular tithe, Fifth Sunday or the April offering, we know generous giving is never about a budget goal—It’s about grateful hearts for the gospel and a passionate desire to see the gospel mission advanced through the local church.”

“If you want to know what God expects from His people as it relates to giving, look no further than 2 Corinthians 8 & 9. At the heart of Paul’s instruction isn’t a percentage or amount but an attitude, an attitude of GENEROSITY.”

“Generosity is the fruit of faith in God, that He is able to sufficiently supply for one’s needs and contentment in how He supplies for those needs. Generous, cheerful, faith-filled giving. That’s the NT focus and if that’s you today, thank God today by saying: I get the joy of giving…God gets all the glory in the giving!”

“If God never gave you another good thing in this life, salvation in Jesus would still be enough to be the basis and motivation for every penny you give in grateful worship for what He has done for you in Christ.”

“God generously gives to us, not so we can live our best lives now, but so we can generously give to His mission.”

QUOTES:
John Piper - “To give sparingly is to give from a heart that deep inside wants to hold back. There are enough external constraints and pressures to make us give something. But the real feeling of our heart is not to think how much can we give, but how much can we keep”

ESV Study Bible - “God will provide for the Corinthian's needs so that they can continue generously meeting others' needs and giving resources to advance the gospel”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Luke 21:1-4
Acts 8:1-15
Psalm 37:25
Philippians 4:19

APPLICATION:
The point is not to Give all your money to the April offering because it’s sinful to spend money on yourself. The point is God wants us to view His generosity toward us not primarily for our sole benefit and enjoyment, but for His redemptive purposes.

In light of 2 Corinthians 9:6-11, from the poorest to the wealthiest in the room, would you prayerfully consider how God is calling you to give on the last Sunday of April from a generous, cheerful, faith-filled heart for the sake of our gospel mission together and the pleasure and glory of God.

I don’t watch many movies, but when I do, I enjoy a good mind-bender. Movies like Tenet, Inception, and Interstellar keep me thinking. They keep me engaged, and they keep me coming back because I never quite feel like I have figured out what’s going on. In this way, they keep me frustrated!

There are many aspects of the Christian faith that are mind-benders: God’s sovereignty and our responsibility, the knowability of an incomprehensible God, Jesus as fully God and man, the omnipresence of God (He is at all places, in all times, in His fullness). And oh yeah, there’s the Trinity. Or how about this gem from the Apostle Paul: 

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

When I am weak, I am strong. Mind-bender? You better believe it. Listen to Paul Tripp explain:

“God chooses for you to be weak to protect you from you and to cause you to value the strength that only he can give. In this way, the weaknesses that he sends your way are not impediments to the good life. They are not in the way of his loving plan. They are not signs of his lack of care. They are not indicators of the failure of his promises. They do not expose gaps in the theology that we hold dear. They are not indications that the Bible contradicts itself when it says that God will meet all of your needs. No, these weaknesses are tools of his zealous and amazing grace. They protect you from the arrogance of self-reliance that tempts us all. They keep you from thinking that you’re capable of what you’re not. They remind you that you are needy and were created to be dependent on one greater than you. They cause you to do what all of us in some way resist doing - humbly run to God for the help that only he can give.

So your weaknesses are not the big danger that you should fear. What you should really fear are your delusions of strength. When you tell yourself that you are strong, you quit being excited about God‘s rescuing, transforming, and empowering grace. Paul actually celebrated his weaknesses, because as he did, the power of God rested upon him. He didn’t live a fearful, discouraged, and envious life; he was content because he knew weakness is the doorway to real power, power that only God can and willingly does supply.”

A glorious facet of the Christian life is we never exhaust our knowledge, understanding, and experience of God.

Every day we keep coming back to know Him, love Him, and experience Him a little bit more. But unlike the frustrating effect of Hollywood’s mind-bender, coming back leads us to joy, wonder, and awe! May that be your reality today as you experience the mind-bending truth that when you are weak, in Christ you are strong!