MORE BLESSED TO GIVE

 Happy First Fruits Sunday, church!
 
This is one of our most fun services of the year in that, on the first fruits Sunday of this new year, we come together to be a blessing to each other! And why? Because giving is fun! It produces joy, and it’s an act of love. And that’s what I’d like to talk to you about today – how blessed it is to be a giver.
 
But before we do, I wanted to start off today with some information about how High Point Church does things in this department:
 
You see, I know that we are not your common church in that we do not take up an offering & rarely ever make an appeal of any kind for y’all to give, but I want to assure you – that’s not because we aren’t excited about the subject of giving & receiving! HPC believes in giving & practices it regularly!
 
So as I periodically like to do, I wanted to be transparent with you today about some of the ways that HPC operates in this area:
 
First of all, we obviously trust you to do the right thing by giving to your church by the fact that we have boxes at the back of the sanctuary wall where you can freely & willingly put your tithe, offerings, and designated gifts, just between you and the Lord. We certainly could put giving more at the forefront of what we do here during our services, but we believe that everyone must purpose in their heart to give and do so willingly & cheerfully (a point we will talk about here shortly).
 
Now regarding our stewardship of your tithe & offerings, I wanted to let you know that you can always find the prior quarter’s financial report on the bulletin board in the foyer area, which shows basic information such as the following.
 
On that note, please know that you can give through our website @ www.highpointmacon.com in order to use the convenience of debit/credit cards (We certainly don’t encourage going into debt to give, but we live in an electronic age and this is how most of us do our business, including the Dickerson’s).
 
That is what the church gives, and so notice that this church tithes! Every month, we take 10% of the tithe & offerings that are put in those boxes, divide that amount by five and then send that amount every month to five different missionaries that you can find listed on the back of the prayer card located in the foyer.
 
So I wanted you guys to know that our church practices what it preaches (or will be preaching ) in that we tithe, give special gifts, and provides benevolence.   
 
Not only that, but your pastors tithe too! I know that’s no one else’s business, but I want you to know that we practice what we preach and are not just on the receiving end, but are also giving to this work and other works as well.
Now I did want to let you know that we have it set up here that Pastor Robert and myself do not have our hand in what this church receives through your tithe and offerings. In other words, we are not aware of who gives what and how much (some of y’all are wiping your brows on that one. Well, you shouldn’t be worrying about what I think anyways. It is what God sees that’s important). With that said, when it comes to financial things, it is best for you to go directly to Bruce Van Bibber who is our secretary and treasurer and then he escalates it to all of leadership if necessary. 
We have a leadership team set up here that comes together regularly and endeavors to be the best stewards of all of our tithe and offerings. We have a great balance of generosity, wisdom and practical money sense on our team – all things that make one successful financially. (With that said, if anyone out there ever needs financial counseling, we are available to provide you with that as well).   
So that’s just some of the things that you need to know about High Point Church in regard to how & why we do things the way we do. But again, we certainly believe in giving in our church and believe God’s principles concerning it.
 
So in the week’s ahead, I feel led for us to camp on some of these things – because again, being fully transparent, it has become apparent through both our numbers for 2023 and the current state of our world’s economy, that our church could stand to feed our faith in the area of finances. 
 
I plan to start a new series of teachings next week entitled “Financially Faithful” where we will learn how we can be faithful stewards of our finances so that we can walk in His faithful blessing.
But this week, I want us to talk a little about the blessedness of being a giver …
 
THE WORDS OF OUR LORD JESUS
 
Let’s look over at a passage of Scripture where Paul quoted the Lord Jesus: In Acts 20:35, the apostle Paul concluded his exhortations to these elders by saying, “And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
 
Now according to what we have recorded in the four Gospels, we have no record of Jesus ever making this exact statement. Of course, just because it was not recorded by any of the Gospel writers does not mean He did not say it. In fact, I will give you three reasons how we know for a fact that Jesus indeed said this: 
 
1.     It is recorded here in the Book of Acts.  And since we know that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (Second Timothy 3:16), we know that this must be a true statement. 
2.     There were so many more things Jesus both said and did than what is recorded in the four Gospels—so much so that even this world could not contain all of the books it would take to chronicle them all (See John 21:25). 
3.     There were several things that we do see Jesus saying in the four Gospels that implied this same principle, albeit not a word for word quote.
 
Therefore, based on these three points, we should be firmly convinced that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” was indeed an accurate quote from the mouth of our Messiah. 
 
Regarding my third and final point of how Jesus said other things that echo this statement, let’s take a look at some of His other sayings that are recorded in the Gospels that reinforce this truth. First of all, Jesus said that in the kingdom of God, the last will be first and the first will be last (see Matthew 19:30 & 20:16). What this means is that the believer who is self-seeking and self-promoting cannot become first in God’s Kingdom. No, according to our Lord, it will be the one who lays down his life and has made himself last who will be considered first in the kingdom of God. In other passages of Scripture, Jesus said that it is he who becomes a servant of all who will be considered the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (See Matthew 20:26 & 23:11). In other words, the one who truly learns to empty himself of his own self-centeredness and pride—learning to serve others more than he serves himself—is the one who will be considered the greatest in the kingdom of God. 
 
When Jesus explained how His Kingdom operates, He was not only showing how one will be considered first and greatest in the kingdom of God; He was at the same time showing how one will experience all of the fruit of God’s kingdom as well—including the joy of Heaven. Thus, we have His statement of it being more blessed to give than to receive.
 
HOW TO BE “MORE HAPPY”
           
Now when Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive, what did He mean by “blessed?” Well, the word “blessed” also carries with it the idea of being happy. In fact, in Acts 20:35, the Amplified Bible uses the following phrase to further describe the word “blessed”— “and brings greater joy.” So, you could translate this statement— “You will be more happy and have greater joy when you give than when you receive.” Ah, now we are seeing the important role that being a giver plays in experiencing joy, aren’t we?
 
Church, this is a principle in life that works no matter who you are. You will be more fulfilled, joyful, and happy in your heart when you are a giver than you ever could be if you are only concerned about getting. Sure, receiving is fun and can bring some temporary enjoyment and pleasure, but true and lasting joy is only experienced in giving, not getting. 
 
Now the world has tapped into this principle to a measure. That is why you see individuals and groups who enjoy contributing to charities and supporting other humanitarian projects. Yes, even the ungodly like to practice benevolence because they like the happiness it brings them. So, why do they experience these good feelings when they give? It is because they are tapping into this principle that God set in motion when He created man in the beginning—that it is more blessed to give than to receive. 
 
So then, we should ask ourselves the following question: How much more should a born-again child of God, who has Christ’s joy resident in their spirit, experience the joy of giving? Shouldn’t we be experiencing it more than the world around us? Absolutely! There is no doubt that those who are spiritually alive should reap a much greater harvest of joy than those who are spiritually dead. However, I can promise you that we will not experience joy and happiness to the degree that we could if we do not cooperate with this spiritual law of giving. 
 
Saints, do not be mistaken—an unbeliever who lives to give will be happier than a selfish Christian. Yes, even though the believer has more of the capacity to walk in the fullness of joy, if their focus is only on their own needs and desires, they will not experience any more joy and happiness than the lost around them.      
 
Saints, if we are going to experience fullness of joy, we must learn to become givers in all aspects of life—to give of our time, our service, and yes, of our resources too. Sure, it is important that we cooperate with other spiritual laws of God’s kingdom, but in order to experience joy, being a giver is what I consider to be the single most important key that we have to unlocking joy in our hearts.  
 
So I encourage you to not just look at it from the standpoint of giving finances and material things. You see, while being a giver of money is certainly a part of giving, there are other ways in which giving can be practiced. We need to be givers of our time—from giving a simple listening ear to someone to giving others a portion of our day when they simply desire our presence. We also need to give our service—which can range from volunteering at our local church to doing random acts of kindness for others as the Lord leads us to. Simply adopting a lifestyle where we “live to give” is where we will experience this fruit of God’s Kingdom. So again, do not just think of giving in one particular area but rather think of the giving of your life in general—which would include the giving of your time, attention, energy, service, help, money, and so on. 
 
THE GRACE ON MACEDONIA
 
So yes, living to give is what will yield more bliss in our lives: Now I want us to look at Second Corinthians and see some principles of giving that we are given by the Apostle Paul in order to see what kind of giving solicits this joy.
 
Now in chapters 8-9, the entire focus in on giving, and he begins his discussion on the handling of finances by referring to how the churches of Macedonia did it (See Second Corinthians 8:1-5). Let’s look at these verses: “Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.”
 
So Paul recognizes how these churches were going through some very tough times. They were in “deep poverty.” Yet, in the middle of these great afflictions, they “abounded in the riches of their liberality”, even being freely willing to give beyond their ability. That’s amazing!
 
And do you know who was included in the churches of Macedonia? The church of Philippi, which was a city located in the region of Macedonia. So I believe we can look at Paul’s epistle to the Philippians (which I like to call the Epistle of Joy) and see specifically how they did it. Let’s look at a few of these things:
FROM THE FIRST DAY UNTIL NOW
 
Now in his epistle to the Church of Philippi, Paul was addressing a group of believers who understood the true meaning of giving.  In fact, it was because of this church’s giving spirit that Paul was inspired to write this letter in the first place.  I believe it is no coincidence that Paul’s letter to the Philippian Church has been called his “Epistle of Joy,” because his main intent for writing this epistle was to rejoice over this giving church.  This reinforces the truth that we are learning in this chapter—that giving and joy are inseparable.  
 
In Philippians chapter 1, Paul begins by expressing how thankful and prayerful he was for them (vs.3-4); and then in verse 5, he goes on to explain why his heart was so full of gratitude for them.  He said it was— “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.”  The Greek word used to translate “fellowship” in this verse is the word koinonia which can also be translated “partnership.”  Therefore, we can see through this statement that Paul was filled with joy every time he thought of their faithful partnership in the gospel.  The “fellowship” he was referring to included how they partnered together with him in supporting his physical needs.  In other words, they consistently gave him financial support as well as met other physical needs that he had. 
 
Let me first of all say that their gifts were not what brought Paul the joy he possessed.  He clarified this in Philippians 4:17 when he said, “not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.”  In other words, his joy was fulfilled—not by their gift—but by the fruit of their giving.  And while we are looking at this passage of Scripture, notice that Paul said this biblical giving causes fruit to abound to one’s account.  What “account” was he referring to?  Perhaps our “heavenly bank account”?  Glory to God!  And, bless the Lord, this fruit does not just add to our account; Paul said it abounds to our account!  Isn’t that awesome?  That means that when we faithfully give into the Kingdom of God, our heavenly bank account abounds—that is, it fills to overflowing.  Praise the Lord! 
 
Saints, if that were all there was to giving, then we have all the reason in the world to seek to become more extravagant givers, for laying up treasures in heaven is the wisest thing we could ever do.  But, praise be unto God, that is not all there is to it!  We have promises that we will live a blessed life now—on this earth—when we give into the Kingdom of God.  We are promised that God will reward us with a harvest—which certainly includes a return financially, but also includes the spiritual benefits of joy & happiness at the same time.  Amen!  I’ll have that, how about you?
 
But let’s look back at Philippians 1:5 and notice something very important that Paul said at the end of this verse.  He says, “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.”  What was this “first day” Paul was referring to?  It was the first day they heard his gospel and decided to partner together with his ministry.  Now the “first day” is usually when most of the believers who have the propensity to give do well.  They hear of a need in a person who is struggling in some area and zealously commit to help meet that need.  In other situations, these giving Christians are blessed by a particular ministry, and they have on their heart to support them on a monthly basis.  This is usually not the problem with most of the giving Christians out there.  The problem lies six months, a year, or several years down the road after the exciting emotions wear off.  These believers who had on their heart to give will give “from the first day,” but they don’t give “from the first day until now.”  In other words, they are not faithful in their giving—not following through with their commitment.  Yes, this is where many of us tend to err.  We don’t follow through with what we had on our heart to do originally.  A lot of times this occurs after we begin having some financial difficulties or, quite frankly, the excitement of it wears off.  We simply let yesterday’s “pledge” falter, and do what is convenient for us today. 
 
Now please understand me, I am not throwing stones or trying to make anyone feel guilty who might have done this.  The truth is—we have likely all done this in one way or another during our lives.  My point is that faithfulness is a very important virtue that we ought to cultivate if we are going to be the kind of givers that imitate our Heavenly Father.
 
To give you an example from our own life:  Shannon and I both partnered with two ministries each before we were married, and we made the decision that we would continue to send financial support to all four of them after we were married.  When we moved to Colorado for me to go to Bible College, we made the decision that our tithe to our local church and our partnership with these four different ministries were going to be our absolute priority every month.  In other words, our giving was going to come before our rent, utilities, car payments, etc.  We purposed in our heart that if we were going to fail financially, it was going to be by seeking first the Kingdom of God.  Not that we actually believed the prospect of us not being able to pay our bills would ever happen because we understood that one cannot out-give God.  We simply adopted that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego “but if not” mentality that we see in Daniel 3:18.  It was just a commitment we made—that we were going to give “from the first day until now.”
 
You see, you have to be this committed in your own heart—that even if you never see any of God’s promises manifested in your life, you will not be moved.  Church, we have to be committed to do the right thing—not because of how it will benefit us—but simply because it is the right thing to do.  And in our situation, it was not like Shannon and I had a lot of extra money lying around to do this either.  But we understood that it is foolish to put our own desires and even our own basic needs above things pertaining to God’s Kingdom.  Never forget, my brothers and sisters:  Godly wisdom will consistently sow toward its future and will not consume all of its seed in the present.  And, glory be to God, we never lacked one thing!  God is faithful!
 
SACRIFICIAL GIVING
 
Since we are talking about giving faithfully from beginning to end, let’s move to the end of Paul’s letter to the Philippians and see how he concludes his “Epistle of Joy.”  Let’s pick up in Philippians 4:15, where the apostle Paul said, “Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.” 
 
Now verses like this are when those maps in the back of your Bible come in handy.  Paul said here that when he departed from the province of Macedonia, this Philippian Church was the only church that continued giving to him.  What makes this so significant is when you consider how far Paul was away from Macedonia.  Saints, he was several hundred miles away from them, yet they still gave consistently into his ministry.  Now in the world today, this would not be that big of a deal because we have a variety of ways to send money to people.  We can mail a check, give electronically, wire funds, etc.; but back then, they did not have any of these modern-day conveniences.  If they wanted to give to someone, they had to physically send their gift—meaning, they had to find an individual or individuals who would manually take their offering to the person.  So, yes, the Philippians had to make a special effort to find out where Paul was even at; on top of that, they had to send someone to find him and give him their gift.  For these Philippian Christians to go through that much trouble teaches us several things:  For one, it teaches us that our seemingly inconvenient times to give are nothing compared to the hurdles they had to overcome.  And it was not like they were a prosperous people either.  Like we saw, the Bible teaches us that they were living in deep poverty during the time that they partnered with Paul’s ministry (See Second Corinthians 8:2).  So, what this does is it strips us of any excuses we might have to not be faithful and extravagant givers.  It also shows us that the Church of Philippi was one of the best examples we have of what it means to be faithful and honorable givers.  
 
Now let’s look down at verse 18:  In it, the apostle Paul goes on to say, “Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.”  Here Paul was likening their sacrificial giving to the sacrificial offerings given under the Old Covenant.  What this reveals to us is that, while we are not bound to the Mosaic and Levitical laws of offering sacrifices any longer, there are still sacrifices that we can offer under our new and better covenant that diffuse a pleasant aroma to God.  One of these spiritual sacrifices is the gracious and faithful monetary offerings that we give to the people and ministries that we purpose in our heart to give to. 
 
ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY
 
Now notice in the following verse of Philippians chapter 4 what Paul says our “sweet-smelling, acceptable, and well-pleasing” offerings position us to receive from the Lord.  Philippians 4:19, an oft-quoted passage of Scripture, says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” 
 
Now, let me first say that this verse is not just a blanket promise for every Christian like so many tend to use it.  No, this verse is only a promise to those who sow faithfully into God’s works like the Philippian Church did.  You see, a good rule of thumb when interpreting Scripture is to not take a verse out of the context in which it was written.  Notice the one little conjunction that Paul begins verse 19 with— “And.”  You do not begin a sentence with a conjunction without intending for the previous thoughts to be considered first, do you?  So, what Paul was saying basically was— “Since you have given so graciously and faithfully into my ministry and God is so well pleased with your offerings, all your needs will be supplied according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!”  Therefore, Philippians 4:19 is a conditional promise intended for those who faithfully seek first the Kingdom of God in their finances.     
 
Let’s look further at this verse:  Notice Paul said, “And my God…”  Why did he refer to God as “my God”?  Was He not the God of the Philippian Church as well?  Of course.  Paul was simply speaking to them out of his own personal experience with his God.  A good paraphrase of this would be— “And my God—the God that I have personally known to be so faithful to me and to always supply all my need…”  So, we can clearly see that the apostle Paul had a personal and experiential knowledge of his God.  He had both tasted His goodness and fed on His faithfulness during his walk with Christ.  Regarding this, he said in Second Timothy 1:12, “…for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded…”  Likewise, when you get to truly know—intimately and experientially—the One in whom you believe, you too will become persuaded that He will do what He said He would do—not just for you, but for others as well.
 
Then Paul goes on to say to them in Philippians 4:19 that the God that he had found to be so faithful and true— “shall supply all your need.”  On the surface, this phrase may seem to say that God will just provide your basic necessities, but in looking at the original Greek language we find that it means more than that.  The Greek word for “supply” in this verse is pleroo and literally means “to make full.”  This does not sound to me like God will just give us the bare minimum to meet our everyday needs, does it?  No, this says that God will take our cup that is empty and fill it up to the brim so that we do not have any more room to contain His provision.  Hallelujah!
Then Paul goes on to say how God will fulfill our every need:  He said that He will supply them— “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  This is such an awesome truth, saints!  Notice that He does not supply our need out of His resources; He supplies our need according to them!  You might be thinking— “What is the difference?”  Allow me to illustrate:  Suppose a millionaire tells you he is going to help you pay for a car.  Well, if he or she gives to you out of their resources, then that would mean they could give you as little as one dollar, correct?  But if they say they are going to give to you according to their resources, then that means they are going to supply you with a whole lot more than one dollar, amen?  You see, if a millionaire helps you pay for a car according to their resources, then we are talking about them paying for a good portion of that selling price of the car, if not flipping the entire bill.  Why?  It is because they are supplying your need according to how wealthy they are, not simply giving you just any amount from their wealth.
 
Another good way to explain this is through the story of the widow’s two mites (see Luke 21:1-4).  In this story, Jesus sat by the treasury to watch the people give their offerings, and He commented to His disciples that the widow who gave two mites gave more than all the rest.  He then explained what He meant by this when He said that it was because they all gave “out of” their abundance, but she out of her poverty gave all that she had.  In other words, they gave out of their abundance—giving just a small percentage of what they had—but she gave according to what she had in her possession—giving all that she had.  So, the awesome lesson that we should learn from this is that God does not command, nor does He commend, anything that He does not already do Himself.  Therefore, when this widow gave all that she had, we can also see God giving us all that He has—His riches in glory.  Hallelujah!  This is the glorious truth that is wrapped up in those two seemingly insignificant words in Philippians 4:19— “according to.”    
 
Do not be mistaken either:  We are not talking about just a millionaire here.   We are talking about the God who created the heavens and the earth.  We are talking about the God who owns both the cattle on a thousand hills and all the gold, silver, and precious stones of the earth.  To say that the Lord is extremely wealthy would be a major understatement.  So, when Paul says that our God will fill our cup “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” he is not talking about God giving us just enough; he is talking about Him giving us more than enough. 
Friends, this is simply God’s nature!  When He filled Peter’s net with fish, He gave him so much that his boat began to sink.  When Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes, they ate until they were full—even having twelve baskets left over.  Our God is extremely wealthy and delights Himself in supplying all our need according to His glorious riches.  So, when we are promised in the Word of God that our faithful and sacrificial giving into the Kingdom of God results in Him supplying our every need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, know that we are talking about an abundance.  I do not know about you, but this stirs me up to be even more of an extravagant giver!  Glory!
 
THE REST OF THE HARVEST
 
But this monetary harvest is not the only benefit of the seed we sow.  Simply consider how harvests come in the natural.  When a farmer plants watermelon seeds, not only does he reap the watermelons themselves, but these watermelons also contain more seed in themselves.  Therefore, when he plants the fruit’s seeds, he reaps both the fruit of the seed he has sown and also more seed at the same time. 
 
So, as wonderful as this promise is that we will reap what we sow, by far the greatest benefit of being a giver is not simply the financial harvest that you and I will reap from our monetary seeds; the greatest benefit is how our cup will also overflow with joy as we sow.  Yes, when a believer begins giving in this generous and faithful manner, they will experience the same net-breaking, ship-sinking, cup-overflowing provision of joy & happiness in their lives.  Therefore, as wonderful as it is to reap an abundance of seed when we sow just one seed, partaking of the fruit itself makes being a giver even more delicious.  Amen! 
 
Church, there is no greater joy than being used by our gracious God to help meet someone else’s need, grant their desire, or be an answer to prayer.  This is not only the privilege of every believer, but it is our duty as well. 
 
THE RIGHT WAY TO GIVE
 
Now back to Second Corinthians – after spending all of chapter 8 talking about money, Paul continues in chapter 9 with more of the same …
 
In verses 1-5, Paul thought it necessary to exhort them to be prepared and ready to give when he arrived in Corinth. Paul said in verse 5, “Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it might be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.”
 
Our giving should never be because we feel compelled to give. So many times, we get put on the spot and feel like we have to give because it will make us look bad if we don’t. This is absolutely the wrong way to give. We need to be prepared to give! How do we do that? We instigate our giving to people. We write our check before we even go to church. God wants us to think about giving before we have the need or desire pushed on us.
 
Therefore, a good principle of finances is: Being wise in your sowing by giving thought beforehand to the need and preparing your gift accordingly.
 
Let me give you a couple of examples of this:
 
1.The way that we collect your tithe and offerings here: We trust that you are doing this – that you know the impact that your financial giving has on both the church and on your home. And, praise God, many of you know this. I believe there is a lot of you that when you are paid, the very first thing you prepare is what you are giving to God. This is a practical way to put God first in your finances.
2.Giving to guest ministers: As many of you know, I take up an offering for our special guest ministers. Well, the right mentality to have is for everyone to plan beforehand what they would give instead of it always being a last second decision to write a check and put it in the offering on the day of.
3.First-Fruits: When you know that we do this on the first Sunday of every year, it is best to start planning earlier than say a week or two beforehand – praying about what the Lord would have you to do for someone in the congregation and then setting aside a little here and a little there.
 
Second Corinthians 9:6 goes on to say, “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
 
Here, Paul lays out the law of sowing and reaping to us. He says that if you sow “sparingly” (Lit. “stingily”) you will also reap “sparingly” (or, “stingily”). This would mean giving very little because you do not want to let go of what you possess. When you sow in that way and with that attitude you will reap that way. That is, you will get very minimal help from God when you have a need.
 
On the other hand, when you sow “bountifully” you will also reap “bountifully.” The word “bountifully” literally means “upon blessing” in the Greek language. I believe that means “with the purpose of being a blessing.” We have been given the blessing of Abraham and part of that blessing is that we would be a blessing! When we sow with the intent and purpose of being a blessing, we will find that God will intend to be a blessing to us! That is awesome!
 
So, another major principle in our giving is: “Make sure our giving is solely for the purpose of being a blessing and is not stingy in any way.”
 
Second Corinthians 9:7 says, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”
 
Notice what Paul says in this Scripture. This is how God now wants our giving to be! First off, he says “let each one (that’s every believer) give as he purposes in his heart (to give). The word “purposes” means “to choose beforehand.” Choose beforehand what? Before offering time! Why? Because God does not want you giving because you get talked into it! God is not interested in “talking you into” anything! He wants you to purpose what you want to give. Why? Because He wants you to willingly bring your tithes and offerings to the storehouse.
 
Now notice where Paul admonished this “purposing” to take place – “in his heart.” That means that God wants you to want to! He wants you to give what is in your heart to give. That is the only way to get your maximum harvest back from your tithe, offerings, alms, and first-fruits – through a willing and giving heart. It just irks me when I hear preachers say, “Just try tithing and I guarantee you that God will bless you!” That is just not true because if you are giving out of a sense of obligation, fear, or covetousness then God might have mercy on you by your needs barely getting met but you won’t ever enter into the abundant provision that God has for you. I guarantee you that!
 
The only way you will enter into the provision of Second Corinthians 9:8(And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work) is to fulfill Second Corinthians 9:7! So, let’s look further on at verse 7…
 
Paul goes on to say, “not grudgingly or of necessity…” The word “grudgingly” describes giving out of “sorrow, grief, pain, or annoyance.” I could spend a lot of time on this part but let me just say that you should never give because somebody tells you some sob story. There are TV preachers that will get on the air and tell you sad stories like, if you don’t give, they will go off the air. You know, if believers would just give where they are fed then all the preachers that are not worth a flip would go under and the ones that are good for the Body of Christ would flourish (but that is another message).
 
The point is – we should never give because someone tries to stir us up emotionally. And, you see, if we would only give what we purposed in our heart to give that wouldn’t happen. Some believers also give just to shut the preacher up! For example, I have heard of preachers keeping congregations in church until they got the offering they needed and then finally someone will give the remainder just to shut them up. Never do that, because all you do is show them that that kind of manipulation works, and they’ll do it again.
 
Finally, the word “necessity” describes giving “by compulsion.” The Message Bible translates this word as “arm twisting.” This goes back to what I was saying before about giving with wrong motives. If you do not want to give it then giving it won’t profit you at all. Now I understand that sometimes your flesh will pitch a fit when you are willing on the inside, but I am talking about the attitude of your heart. If your heart is not in it then you will not see much, if any, of a return.
 
HOW TO SOW IN LOVE AND FAITH
 
Now when it comes to where we should sow, we should be very careful and thoughtful regarding what we support.
 
Regarding these ministers and ministries that are after your pocketbook, do you know why they continue to do this? It’s because people continue to support them! Yes, if people would not submit to their sob stories and arm-twisting techniques, then they would go off the air just like they probably should.
 
So, here is a good principle to live by that would help one know where to sow – only give into proven good ground. This would be the works, ministries and churches that are actually blessing and ministering to people. It could be a good mission minded ministry that is feeding people – both spiritually and naturally. It could be a good church that is meeting the various needs of the Body.
 
So, look for those churches, ministries, missionaries and other works that are doing the work of the ministry. Consider the fruit; don’t just be swayed by the techniques they use to manipulate you.
 
And the awesome part is – when we sow into works that are genuinely helping the kingdom grow and increase, then we will be more apt to give in love and faith.
 
First Corinthians 13:3 says that even if we give all of our goods to the poor it profits us nothing if it is not motivated by love. Now it will profit the one you give to. This verse says, “it profits you nothing.” So, if you want to see the best harvest God has for you, then just make the adjustment in your heart and get willing. Just make the decision that you are going to honor God in your giving and give to Him because you love Him, and you love His works.
 
The rest of verse 7 says, “…for God loves a cheerful giver.” Do you know what God really loves? He loves a cheerful giver! That is someone who loves to give! Someone who gives willingly and happily! God is more interested in your heart than in your actions. You can give all day and if your heart was not in it then you will not see God’s best harvest in return. But if you give willingly, you will eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19)!      
 
God loves a cheerful giver! Not someone who gives because of the negative consequences, nor because of some emotional decision. He wants us to want to! He wants us to desire to give. This is the right heart of giving.
CONCLUSION
 
So today, begin to think of ways that you can be more of a blessing—more of a giver to your church, more of a giver to other ministries, more of a giver to your neighbor, more of a giver to the simple stranger in the marketplace, and so on.  When you live your life to be a blessing to others—sowing of your time, energy, and resources—you will most definitely reap the fruit of joy in your life.  It is a principle God has set up here on the earth, and it will last for all eternity.  Live to give today, and reap a harvest of joy, bliss and happiness in your heart.  Amen.