Lesson #32

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1 – 2 Corinthians

September 21, 2015

Lesson #01

January 16, 2010

Lesson #02

January 16, 2010

RETURN TO THE SYLLABUS

2CORINTHIANS 9
Lesson #32
ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN GIVING

• Memory Verse: 2Cor 9:6

• Paul continues with the theme he began in 2Cor 8 concerning Christian giving.
• Remember that Paul was encouraging all the churches to send an offering to the Jerusalem church to help that poverty stricken church.
• The Corinthian church promised to collect an offering the previous year, but had failed to fulfill their promise.
• Paul encourages the Christians to share in the partnership of giving.
• Giving offerings to God is more than something that is personal between the Christian and God. It is a partnership in ministry with other believers.
• As we have already learned, Luk 6:38 is the New Testament rule for giving to God.
• Read Luk 6:38

• Read 2Cor 9:1-5
• Paul had boasted to the churches in Macedonia that the Corinthian church had great zeal when they promised to collect this offering.
• It is interesting that there existed a long historical rivalry between the cities in northern Greece, called Macedonia, and the cities in southern Greece called Achaia. Corinth was in the south, and Paul had boasted about the church in Corinth when he was in Macedonia.
• Now that the Corinth church had failed to fulfill its promise, Paul would be ashamed, and so would they, when the churches in Macedonia heard that the Corinth church gave nothing.
• Giving is a barometer of spirituality:

• =1= A Principle for Giving

: Giving offerings to God express love and faith that demonstrates one’s level of spirituality.

• A barometer is an instrument that measures the atmospheric pressure for the purposes of determining changes in the weather.
• For a church or for an individual Christian, the amount of money that is given to the Lord’s work is like a barometer. It tells you the level of a believer’s spirituality. How?
• A measurement of love:
• Read Luk 7:41-48
• Jesus said that the woman loved him a lot and therefore gave out of that love.
• Therefore, giving is an expression of a believer’s love for the Lord. The more the Christian gives, with a pure motive, the more he expresses his love.
• A measurement of faith:
• The believer that understands that all things belong to God realizes the importance of giving to God’s work as an expression of his faith. The more the Christian trusts God for his provision, the more he will have the freedom to give abundantly to the Lord’s work.
• Therefore, giving has a direct relationship to a believer’s level of faith.
• In the same way that the Israelites in the Old Testament brought an offering of firstfruits to the temple as a pledge of faith in God to provide a full harvest, the believer brings his monetary offerings to God as a pledge of faith in God to provide abundantly for his needs.
• The mature Christian life consists of love for God to the point of obedience and faith in God for provision. As we have seen, giving to God’s work is an indication of the believer’s focus and an indication of what the believer values. In this way, it becomes a barometer of the believer’s level of maturity and spirituality.
• A believer or a church that does not focus on the things that are important to God so as to give money to expand the work of God, will not grow.
• A Grace and a Bounty:
• In chapter 8 Paul called the practice of giving to God a grace.
• In chapter 9 Paul called the practice of giving a bounty. (5)
• In other words, the more you give to God, the more God will give to you, so that you in turn can give more to God, and so forth. That is the bountiful increase of giving that occurs by the grace of God working in your life and heart.
• This is the principle that Paul presents to us in the next section of scripture.

• Read 2Cor 9:6-15

• =2= A Principle for Giving

: The believer reaps what he sows from offerings given to God.

• Like the principle from the offering of firstfruits in the Old Testament, this principle also has an agricultural foundation. We can easily see these principles in practice in agriculture.
• If a farmer plants a small amount of seed, he will have a small harvest.
• If a farmer plants a large amount of seed, he will have a large harvest.
• This principle, too, is based on faith in God. If the Christian truly believes that God is faithful to fulfill this promise in His word, he will not hesitate to trust God for the larger harvest.
• In verse 8 Paul tells us that God is able to supply all our needs.
• Paul uses some marvelous words in verse 8.

• “…abound…”
• “…all sufficiency…”
• “…every good work…”

• From these words, Paul says that God promises to give us an abundance that will be sufficient to meet every need we have and that will fund every good work led by the Holy Spirit that the Christian does.
• =3= A Principle for Giving

: In this New Testament age of grace, God lets the believer decide how much to give. (7)

• In the Old Testament period of Law, God told His people the amount they were to give to God. That amount was the tithe (10% of all crops).
• However, in this New Testament age, according to verse 7, God tells the believer to decide by the phrase, “…as he purposeth in his heart…”.
• The believer is to decide in his heart what he should give to God based on whether or not he can give it freely or grudgingly.
• The believer should not feel pressured to give a certain amount decided by others.
• The believer’s decision of the amount to give should be made as a reflection of his love and faith. (Principle #1)
• The amount the believer decides should be given consistently so as to express his mature stability of faith and love.
• Paul quotes part of Psalms 112. However, the whole Psalms gives us a full flavor for what giving to God really means to the Christian life.
• Read Psa 112:1-10
• The believer is blessed if he fears (has an awesome respect for) the Lord to the point of obedience. (112:1)
• That which the believer sows in his giving to God will be powerfully blessed. (112:2)
• God promises wealth and riches in his household. He has an eternal righteousness in Christ. In other words, these are the material blessings. (112:3)
• His life is characterized by light, graciousness, compassion, and righteousness. These are the spiritual blessings. (112:4)
• He has an open hand in his giving to God and to people. (112:5)
• His name will be remembered forever. (112:6)
• Because his giving exemplifies his faith in God, bad economic times will not affect him. (112:7-8)
• He not only has given to God but he has given to the poor as an eternal investment. (112:9)
• The non-believer will see the blessings of God in the life of the believer. (112:10)
• =4= Principle for Giving:

Giving should be done cheerfully with joy. (7)

• If giving to God is not done cheerfully, the underlying purpose is wrong. It is then, not a freewill offering from the heart. Instead it is obligatory.
• Giving that is not done cheerfully is in vane and profits nothing.
• =5= Principle for Giving:

Giving to God results in a bountiful cycle that brings thanksgiving to God. (11-12)

• Paul uses the words, “…enriched in every thing…”. That means there is no area of your life that will not be blessed by God when you give.
• God is pleased to bless us bountifully so that we will give Him the thanks, and also those we bless with our giving will also give thanks to God for us.
• When the believer experiences the joy of giving abundantly, he often becomes more generous.
• Thanksgiving to God maintains the continuation of the cycle. (13)
• Paul returns to calling the practice of giving a “grace”. (14)
• Not only will others thank God for you and your abundant giving, but they will also pray for you.
• In this way, giving is a partnership that unites believers in a church together in the ministry and enables the meeting of needs in the local body.
• =6= Principle for Giving:

God’s promise of increase for those that give is to enable the believer to give even more to God. (11-12)

• Some Christians give to God with the expectation of receiving an increase according to Luk 6:38. However that is a wrong motive for giving.
• The reason God promises an increase in return for the believer that gives is so that he will be prompted to give even more.
• =7= Principle for Giving

: God is the greatest giver, the model of giving. (15)

• God gave his Son Jesus Christ for us and through Christ God gives to the believer all spiritual and material blessings.

• Summary and Application:
• In this chapter we have encountered many principles for giving to God. They are:

• =1= A Principle for Giving

: Giving offerings to God express love and faith that demonstrates one’s level of spirituality.

• =2= A Principle for Giving

: The believer reaps what he sows from offerings given to God.

• =3= A Principle for Giving

: In this New Testament age of grace, God lets the believer decide how much to give.

• =4= Principle for Giving:

Giving should be done cheerfully with joy.

• =5= Principle for Giving:

Giving to God results in a bountiful cycle that brings thanksgiving to God.

• =6= Principle for Giving:

God’s promise of increase for those that give is to enable the believer to give even more to God.

• =7= Principle for Giving:

God is the greatest giver, the model of giving.

• With so many valuable ministries that need help, how should the Christian decide to which ministry he should give?
• First the believer should decide the quantity of his giving to the support of his local church.
• He should give this quantity to the church regularly during the year, for example, either weekly, or monthly.
• Then the believer should be guided by the Holy Spirit as to which other ministries he should support and the quantity that he will give to these ministries.
• With the direction of the Holy Spirit, he should choose those ministries that produce the most fruit for the kingdom of God.

HOMEWORK
2CORINTHIANS 10
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of 2Cor 9
• In light of the principles for giving in chapter 10, what changes do you need to make to your practice of giving to God?

• Preparation for 2Cor 10
• Read 2Cor 10:1-18
• What does Paul mean by the phrase, “the pulling down of strongholds”? (4)
• What does Paul mean by the phrase, “casting down imaginations”? (5)
• How does the believer take into captivity every thought? (5)
• What characteristics do you learn about Paul from this chapter?

Memory verse: 2Cor 10:7