What a joy it is to be able to come before you and minister the word of God to you. We have a fascinating passage to look at here this morning that I'm sure will encourage each of your hearts. It will stretch your faith and I'm sure it will be convicting to you as it has been to me. Will your take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter eight. We're going to bite off quite a few passages because they all kind of work together. And actually, we are returning to our verse by verse, study of Second Corinthians. And I've entitled my discourse to you "Harvest Blessings for Faithful Sowers." 

All true believers will have a desire to be obedient to the Word of God. That is the result of the new birth. That's what happens when we are born again. And John tells us in chapter two and verse 29, everyone, in First John 2:29, "everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him." And he goes on to say in chapter three, that "No one who is born of God practices sin." And so the lives of a believer will be consistent with righteousness, they will have a personal pursuit of holiness; a resolve that is utterly foreign to those who do not know Christ, because they are slave to their old nature. But we all understand that we must walk by the Spirit in order to not carry out the desires of the flesh, right? Because they are contrary to one another. We read this in Galatians 5:17, where Paul exhorts believers to "walk by the Spirit." In other words, let your conduct be directed by the Spirit of God that dwells within you, so that you will live consistently with his word, that he is revealed. And then he says, "and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." So this battle between the Spirit of God and our flesh is going to continue throughout our lives. But because of regeneration, we're no longer slaves to sin. And we rejoice in that, we have been liberated from the bondage of our flesh. And we are able tounderstand the word of God and live consistently with it. The problem is many times as Christians, we're poor theologians. Many times, we don't really know what the word says. And sometimes when we know what it says, we really don't want to deal with it. And unfortunately, what happens is we lack discernment, we are disobedient, we grieve the Spirit, and we forfeit blessing in our life. And this is especially true with many believer’s attitude toward money, and toward giving, which is what this whole passage is about. We end up forfeiting God's blessing. And we don't want to do that. 

I was reading some of the statistics just this week, on charitable giving in churches. 37% of evangelicals don't give money to their church. The average giving by adults who attend US Protestant churches is about $17 a week. Christians these days, they say, give 2.5% of their income, which is less than what they gave during the Great Depression. In the Great Depression, they gave 3.3%. Of families that make $75,000 or more, only 1% donate 1/10 of their income to the church. And people with a salary of less than $20,000 are eight times more likely to give than those who make $75,000 or more, fascinating. Now, mind you, how they defined "evangelical" is all over the place. Those statistics certainly are not true in this church. But we all need to examine our hearts in this most important area of worship. I'm reminded of what Jesus said in Mark four, remember in the parable of the soils, Jesus talks about seeds that are sown among the thorns. And he says "'These are the ones who have heard the Word, but the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches." In other words, those deceptive promises that we hear in the world, and we think in our own mind that somehow, having more money in material things can bring happiness; "the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke out the Word, and it becomes unfruitful." These things enter in, they don't rush in. The idea is they creep in. You don't realize it. And little by little, you get consumed with materialism rather than serving Christ, and advancing his kingdom. And the Word of God bears no fruit in your life. Beloved, you show me a man or a woman who spends all of his money on himself, or herself, who cares nothing about the expectations in Scripture to be generous, and sacrificial, and consistent, in you're giving, to voluntarily give to the Lord and His work, proportionate to your ability to give, you show me that kind of person that wants really nothing to do with that, and I'll show you a man or a woman whose desires for worldly things have choked out the word of God and its effectiveness in his or her life. A man or a woman who's ruled by his flesh, rather than the spirit, one who forfeits therefore, even the material blessings that the Lord has promised to give to a generous giver. And that's really at the heart of our text here this morning. 

Now, ultimately, I want to land on verse six of chapter nine, let me read that to you. "This, I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully, will also reap bountifully." And what we're going to see, and what many Christians fail to understand, is that God rewards those who give generously to ministry needs that advance the kingdom purposes of God, and He rewards them with material blessings, not just spiritual, but material blessings. Not that he makes us all rich; I mean, certainly Jesus and the apostles, many of his disciples, they were poor; some people are poor, some people are wealthy in the providence of God. But as we will see, God pays even financial dividends to those who give generously to his work. He doesn't pay those dividends so that we can spend it on ourselves, but rather, so that we can give to his kingdom purposes. If you come to God, and you think that you can give your 20 so that you can get a 50. I mean, that's the mindset of a hypocrite. That's the theology of these prosperity charlatans that are out there today. But rather, what we're going to see in this text is that God replenishes the material wealth of generous believers, both rich and poor, so that they can continue to meet the needs of others for God's glory. And here, Paul is going to describe four sequential harvest blessings, I call them, that God promises to give to faithful stewards. We're going to see that he will give a special outpouring of His love. Secondly, a replenishing of material wealth. Thirdly, the blessing of a proliferation of God glorifying praise. And finally, an expanding sphere of intimate fellowship. Folks, this is going to be exciting, it is going to be instructive, and it is going to be rewarding if you hear and heed what the Spirit of God has to say. 

Now, let me remind you of the context here. Paul is taking up a collection for the needy saints in Jerusalem. You will recall in Acts two that the first converts were Hellenistic Jews that had come to Jerusalem there at Pentecost. They had come from all over the Gentile world. They were pilgrims who were part of the Diaspora who came to celebrate the day of Pentecost and they witnessed this miracle of these Galileans speaking in their own language, and they were speaking about the gospel. They were speaking about Jesus. And 3000 souls were saved that day.

And then more were added, we read about that in Acts four. We read how the church grew to 5000, speaking of men; if you included the women and children, it would have been more than that. So they were utterly astounded with what they saw. And they longed to hear more of this teaching, they longed to worship the Lord. They were born again, you see. Now the problem was, they had no place to stay. So many were immediately homeless, and they wanted to stay. But where do you stay? And many of the people that had come to saving faith in Christ were Jewish people that were now ostracized by their family. And so these people are moving in with other Jewish believers in Jerusalem, who, by the way, were already poor, already living in poverty, due to heavy Roman taxation. And we know that as time went on, many of them were persecuted, they lost their jobs. Can you imagine that? So Paul takes up a collection. And he makes his first request in First Corinthians 16, verses one through four. He, by the way, alsoknew that for Gentiles to give to these Jewish people that had come to faith in Christ would unify the church, because of all of the frictions between Jews and Gentiles. 

But then you will recall the false apostles had come into the church at Corinth, turned people against Paul, and so the collection kind of got put on the back burner. And now in Second Corinthians, he addresses the situation once again. And that's what we find in chapter eight. Let me pick it up here in chapter eight, beginning in verse eight, I'm going to give you a brief commentary here as we go, because ultimately, we want to land in chapter nine. And it all fits together. So bear with me, chapter eight and verse eight, he says, "I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it." He's referring to this collection, taking up a collection. Now there's no manipulation here. There's no pressure, no stewardship campaigns that give an enormous amount of money to experts that come in and kind of manipulate all the families to give money, none of that type of thing. You see godly stewardship, that the Lord rewards is a kind of giving the flows naturally out of the heart of the redeem because of their love for God, and their sincere devotion to Christ. 

So, he goes on, he says, "But now finish doing it also.."  In other words, follow through, follow through with this giving, "...so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it, by your ability." Again, we see in the New Testament giving must be proportionate to what a person has, according to the resources and so on. And then he goes on, he says, "For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction." In other words, he's not trying to benefit the saints in Jerusalem as some of them might have thought, because after all, he was Jewish. He wasn't trying to make one group financially distressed so that the other group could have an abundance. Not at all, he goes on to say, "...but by way of equality." 

Now, by the way, he's not advocating equality of needs being met; he's not advocating for a Marxist, socialist form of egalitarianism that always ends in disaster. He goes on to say, "...at this present time, your abundance being a supply for their need." By the way, the Corinthians were very wealthy. They were very wealthy people. So he's saying here, "at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need" - and we're going to understand more of that in a moment - "that there may be equality; as it is written, 'HE WHO gathered MUCH DID NOT HAVE TOO MUCH, AND HE WHO gathered LITTLE HAD NO LACK.'" Here, Paul is using an Old Testament illustration, taking taking them back to Exodus 16, where during the wilderness wandering, you will recall, how the Lord chose, or told them, to take one of the head of each family to go out amongst the Israelites; the head of each family to gather manna, according to the needs of that family so that no one would suffer any lack of food, and no one would have a surplus. So here's a beautiful picture that he gives of sharing basic necessities to survive. 

Then he describes the pastoral oversight of this collection, verse 16. "But thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus.  For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord." So Titus now is going to help with this collection. He says, "We have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches; and not only this, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel to travel with us in this gracious work, which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our readiness, taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift." In other words, we need accountability here. We don't want to fall into the snare of people saying, wow, there's no accountability here, you know that all Paul's doing is lining his pockets, because that's what the false teachers had accused him of. He says, "For we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men." 

Then he goes on to say, "We have sent with them our brother..." By the way, we have no idea who this guy is; one day we will meet Him in glory. But we don't know who he is. They probably did. But we have sent with Titus, "...our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent, because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ. Therefore, openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love, and of our reason for boasting about you." 

And that takes us to Second Corinthians nine. Now really, there's no need to have a chapter break here, because this just continues the same line of thought. In verse one, he says, "For it is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints; for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the Macedonians."  Remember, the Macedonians were the poor, poverty stricken believers in northern Greece, okay, who had already given and we're continuing to give. And then he says, "..namely, that Achaia.." In southern Greece is Achaia, where the province of Corinth was, so he's talking about them now. He says, "...namely that Achaia has been prepared since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I have sent the brethren, in order that you're boasting about you that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case, so that, as I was saying, you may be prepared." In other words, get your checkbooks out, we're going to finish this thing now. All right, so that you can be prepared. "Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me, and find you unprepared, we--not to speak of you--will be put to shame by this confidence." So he had been telling them and others that, hey, Macedonians, the folks down in Corinth, they're gonna give too. And so he's reminding them of all this. "So," he says, "I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, so that the same would be ready as a bountiful gift, and not affected by covetousness." 

Oh, my, that's a word you don't hear much. But it is a powerful word because it is a deadly sin. It's the sin of greed; an inordinate desire to have what other people have and to grasp for that, at any cost. This is a great obstacle for many believers. And by the way, this is at the very heart of Cultural Marxism that we see today. And critical race theory and democratic socialism, that's taking over our country. These people have learned to harness that aspect of human depravity that wants to blame everything on somebody else, and wear a big victim’s badge, and then walk around saying, "Hey, I'm oppressed." And then you have politicians who say, boy, you are oppressed. Let me tell you how oppressed you really are. And I'll tell you what, if you vote for me, then we'll get over here and make those people who are oppressing you, Christians and wealthy people, especially white people today, and we're going to take from them and give to you. And of course, that appeals to human depravity. I mean, we all see ourselves as victims rather than sinners. Right? We like to see ourselves as being oppressed, and so we shift responsibility. Again, we see ourselves as deprived rather than depraved. And many people today, that's how they think of themselves, so they're, I'm a victim. So I need social justice rather than I am a sinner, and I need saving grace; a huge difference. Micah two two "They covet fields and then seize them and houses and take them away. They rob a man and his house; a man and his inheritance." Beloved, that's what happens with covetousness. And so Paul's warning about this. In fact, in First Corinthians 5:11, he tells believers, quote, "Not to associate with any so-called brother if he is covetous." 

Now, back to our text. Paul then provides this amazing, awesome, amazing, profound axiom that frankly, goes against every principle that the world advances regarding financial soundness. He says in verse six, "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." Now, we understand this principle. I mean, farmers don't say, "oh my I don't want to sow too much of my seed. Because if I do, I won't have enough for next year." You don't say that? No. You sow it all. Why? Because the harvest is going to bring even more, right? That's the idea. And the point here that Paul is reminding the Corinthians is simply, folks, you can't outgive God. That's the idea. He doesn't reward generosity with poverty. That's not how he works. We see this in the Old Testament, for example, Proverbs 28:27, "He who gives to the poor will never want." And Jesus tells us in Luke 6:38, "Give and it will be given to you," right? "Give and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over for by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return." So Paul is encouraging the Corinthians, by reminding them that God rewards those who give generously to his kingdom purposes. And he rewards them with financial prosperity, so that they can give even more. 

Let me give you another passage in the Old Testament, Proverbs 11, beginning in verse 24, "There is one who scatters," the idea of sowing, "and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered." We see the same principle in Proverbs 19 verse 17, "One who was gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and he referring to the Lord will repay him for his good deed. Folks, when we give to the Lord, out of a selfless heart that longs to benefit other people, for the glory of God, what we find happening is we literally invest in the kingdom, and God rewards us with material blessing, as well as spiritual dividends. This is why the Macedonians, you will recall, begged Paul to let them give to the Jewish saints in Jerusalem in this collection. Remember in Second Corinthians chapter eight and verse three, we read, "For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability," referring to the poor Macedonians, "they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God." 

And by the way, I see this all the time here at Calvary Bible Church, so many of you will say, Pastor let me know if there's anyone in need. Let me know if there's any need and my goodness when needs come up and we let it out, we have to say okay, folks, you know, we're good. That's wonderful, that shows your love for Christ. And how sad to see greedy, selfish Christians forfeit even material blessings and end up frankly impoverishing themselves. Now depraved unbelievers are, I mean, they have no concept of this whatsoever. I mean, they hoard, they embezzle, they steal, they cheat, they withhold wages, they oppress the poor and all of these types of things. But as we look at Scripture, we see that God would have us earn money by working hard, by investing wisely, by saving, avoiding excessive debt, but also, as we see here in this passage, by generous giving, rather than miserly hoarding. I love that word, miser. We don't hear that much anymore. It's a powerful word, and we can all fall into that trap. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully"--"eulogia" in the original language, "bountifully." We get our word eulogy from that, it means blessing. So inherent in bountiful sowing is the harvest of bountiful blessing. That's what the Lord longs for us. And folks, I have to ask, Do you believe this? Do you trust God? Do you take him at his word? Do you believe what he has promised? Or do you just live consistently with your own sense of well, you know, I need to really be careful here with what I give, because, after all, if I give very much, I'm gonna just lose. 

By the way, this is all counterintuitive to Satan's kingdom on earth, right? The Earth, the people of the world, think this way, If I give something then I've lost it, right? But as believers, when we give to God's kingdom, we see that he replenishes what we give even more. We see this principle, all through the New Testament. Jesus said, "If you have found your life, you must lose it," right. And "if you lose your life for My sake, then you will find it." So we see the same principle in other passages. So our faith, as Paul said, in First Corinthians two, five, must "...not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." 

And this brings us to the first of these four blessings, these four harvest blessings that are really sequential, that God promises to give to faithful stewards. Number one, he will give us a special outpouring of his love. Notice verse seven, will kind of go through this and you'll see this at the end of the verse. First, he says, "Each one must do just as he has purposed..." And we see this in other passages in the New Testament. The term "purpose" means as they have determined or decided or plan, in other words, our giving must be systematic, it must be purposeful; well thought out on the basis of whatever the need is, and our motivation for giving and so forth. "Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart..." So this is a private decision that you must make as to the amount and whether it needs to be something regular or a one-time gift, or however it works. And then he adds this, "...not grudgingly..." All right?  Not with an attitude, of boy, yeah, this is frustrating, but I know I need to give. Grudgingly carries the idea of sorrowfully. That's not how we are to give; reluctantly, with remorse, not really wanting to part with our money. And here he is, speaking of an inward attitude of the heart, you're not supposed to give that way. 

By the way, if you do, I mean, you just forfeit God's blessing. He's not going to reward that. He says, "...or under compulsion..." This isn't speaking about an inward heart issue, with respect to giving grudgingly, but outward pressure by others, there's no specified amount. We don't see that in Scripture, no authoritative shaming or coercion. By the way, I hope this is true. I think it is. We never do that here at Calvary Bible Church. We never pressure anybody; we will let you know what the issues are, what the needs are. But then you give as God has purposed in your heart. And the reason we do that is because we don't want you to give out of a sense of coercion, because what happens, you forfeit God's blessing. That type of attitude would cause you to lose your reward. You see, a person who gives out of duty rather than desire forfeits God's blessings. We don't want to do that. 

And then he says this, "...for God loves a cheerful giver." Obviously God loves all believers, but this is carrying the idea, there's a unique love that he lashes upon those who give for His glory. In fact, "cheerful" -- "hilaros" in the original language; we get our word "hilarious" from that. God loves a happy, joy filled giver. God has a special love for those that give in that way, because we're reflecting his magnanimous love for us. I think of Hebrews 13:16, "And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. My, I want to be pleasing to the Lord. I want to enjoy the fullness of his love. And I know you do as well. So the first harvest blessing for generous giving is a special outpouring of God's love. 

Notice secondly, there will be a replenishing of material wealth. Notice verse eight. "And God is able." In the original language, it's the idea that that God has the power. "For God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance," to spend on yourselves. Oh, no, no, it doesn't say that. It does not say that sorry. So that, "you may have an abundance for every good deed." And he says in verse nine, As it is written," and here he quotes Psalm 112, verse nine, 'HE SCATTERED ABROAD, HE GAVE TO THE POOR, HIIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ENDURES FOREVER.'" Another translation would be "'He has given freely to the poor, His righteousness endures forever.'" 

And by the way, he doesn't say this here, but if you look up that Psalm, it goes on to say, "His horn will be exalted in honor."  Let me explain this to you. He's saying, "He has freely given." In other words, literally it can be translated, "He has spread around" or "He has distributed freely." And then when he says, "His horn will be exalted in honor." A horn in the Old Testament, is a metaphor of strength and power, which it represents here in verse nine of Psalm 112. And "exalt the horn" refers to prosperity, as well as victory. The same image imagery occurs in Psalm 89:17, "For Thou art, the glory of their strength," referring to the righteous, "and by Thy favor, our horn is exalted." In verse 24, "and My faithfulness and My loving kindness will be with him. And in My name, his horn will be exalted." Chapter 92, verse 10, "But Thou hast exalted my horn, like that of the wild ox." I wrote somebody recently, and at the end, I said to my brother, "I pray that your horn will be exalted."  Knowing that the first thing you do is look that up, to figure out what the world's he talking about. And that's what he did. And he wrote back to me, Oh, thank you, I understand what that means. 

Beloved, if you are a greedy person, that hoards your money and spends it all on yourself, and you're insensitive to the needs that God brings before you, let me put it this way, your horn will not be exalted. That's the idea. You will not prosper, and you will lack spiritual strength and power. But for the one who, as Paul reminds us here, the one who scatters abroad. In other words, the one who gives generously, to the poor and to the needs that the Lord brings before you, God will honor you. In fact, Charles Spurgeon put it this way, "God shall honor him, the universe of holy beings shall honor him, and even the wicked shall feel an unconscious reverence, that it be observed in summing up the qualities of the God-fearing man. That he is described not merely as righteous, but as one bearing the character of kindness, benevolence, and generosity. To be strictly just," Spurgeon says, "is not enough." For God is love, and we must love our neighbor as ourselves. To give everyone his due is not sufficient. We must act upon those same principles of grace which reign in the heart of God." And he says this, "The promises of establishment and prosperity are too bountiful souls who have proved their fitness to be stewards of the Lord by the right way in which they use their substance." Oh Child of God, never forget the promise that is made, here in verse six of chapter nine. God is going to reward generous sowing or giving. And he's going to do this by replenishing the finances of the sower, so that they continue; they can continue to give even more. 

Moreover, back to verse eight here, he says, that person will "...always have all sufficiency in everything." Now, the context here is material blessing, financial stability. After all, since the seed is referring to financial giving, obviously, it speaks of that. The harvest, any harvest, is always going to yield the nature of the seed that was planted. So verse eight is saying that God has the power to reward those who give generously, to prosper the cheerful giver, knowing that that person is going to continue to give more to the praise of his glory. Folks, we need to trust him in these matters. And I challenge you to examine your heart in light of this. Think of what Paul said in Philippians 4:19, "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches, in glory in Christ Jesus."  Do you believe that? "He is able." I love that phrase, he is able. Beloved, he is able to do more than we can ever imagine. In fact, Paul said in Ephesians 3:20, "Now to Him who is able," to do what? "To do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us." Dear Christian, do you believe that? Do you live consistently with that in every area of your life, including your finances? 

We need to be like Abraham, don't we? Remember what Paul said in Romans four beginning in verse 20, "...with respect to the promise of God..." Abraham, "...did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God and being..." catch this, "...fully assured that what God had promised He was able also to perform." Dear friends, God is looking for cheerful, faithful, generous givers. And he will reward that. I think of Second Chronicles 16:9, "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He might strongly support those whose hearts are completely His. 

Now we see this amazing principle of God replenishing material wealth in other passages. We see it illustrated, for example, in Deuteronomy 15, beginning of verse 10, "You shall generously give to Him and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to Him, because," catch this now, "for this thing, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. For the poor will never cease to be in the land. Therefore I command you saying you shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land." So what we see is sowing is giving here in this passage, and sowing bountifully will result in a bountiful harvest, God will give back bountifully. So many passages, I think of the one in First Kings, little story, you will remember in the context there that God was a judging Israel. King Ahab was ruling and they were in to all of this Baal idolatry. And so God brought a famine and a drought upon the land. It's interesting, Baal was considered the God of, of the rains and the fertility. And so he's making a monkey out of this phony God, and for three years and six months, according to James 5:17, he brings this drought. And what's interesting is, we read in First King 17, beginning of verse eight, "Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah, saying, 'Arise, go to Zeraphath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.' So he arose and he went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called her and said, 'Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.'" And mind you, we got a famine going on here, these people are barely alive, and he asked this lady for a drink of water. "As she was going to get it, he called her and said, 'Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.' But she said, 'As the LORD your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I'm gathering a few sticks, that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.'" I mean, they're on the verge of death here. And you want me to go, you know, get you some bread, you kidding? But, "Then Elijah said to her, 'Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.'" In other words, trust in what God may do. Then he goes on to say, "'For thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the earth.'' So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke through Elijah." 

Beloved, my point is simply this, God is able, trust him to do what He has promised. Again, remember Jesus words in Luke 6:38, "Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over." God's literally going to pour into your lap what they used to do is take this, take their garments, and hold it up to put their grain in, so you're putting the grain in the lap; it's just going to be so much, it's just going to be overflowing. That's how God rewards us. And again, you have to ask yourself, do I really believe this? Or do I believe that generous giving will only lead to the permanent depletion of my resources and ultimately lead to impoverishment? 

Well, Paul continues with this same theme, back to verse 10. He says, "Now 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; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality..." And obviously, because of this, the people would contribute even more generously to the needs. And this brings us to the third harvest. And this is going to be a natural response. I mean, think about what he's saying here in the sequence. He's saying, first, if you live consistently with what I'm saying here and you give generously, as unto the Lord, not only are you going to experience, first of all, a special outpouring of his love, but a replenishing of your material wealth, which is going to lead to number three, a proliferation of God glorifying praise. 

Notice that in verse 11, "...you will be enriched in everything..." Everything would include everything--economically, financially, as well as spiritually; but you will be enriched in everything. And here's the purpose "...for all liberality." Beloved, we must understand that the purpose for God's beneficence; in other words, his charitable replenishing of the financial seed that we have sown, is not so that we can get rich and spend it on ourselves and somehow raise our standard of living. But rather, the purpose of contributing generously to future needs is ultimately so that we can bless others and bring glory to God and experience His love. By the way, God doesn't need our money. He doesn't need any of that. I mean, he owns everything. And everything that we have is his, were just stewards of it. He could meet all of those needs without taking up this collection. So why does he take up the collection? So he can lavish his love upon his people. So he can prove himself powerful on their behalf, so that their faith will be strengthened, so that ultimately through them, he can put his glory on display. That's what's going on here. 

The end of verse 11, "you will be enriched and everything for all liberality, which through us..." and by the way, here he's referring the "us" is speaking of Paul and Titus, and others in charge of the collection and the delivery of this generous gift to the saints in Jerusalem, “...which through us is producing thanksgiving to God." We all understand this, don't we? I mean, when Christian friends come to our aid, what do we do? We're filled with thanksgiving, not just to them, but ultimately to God. 

May remind you of a little story that I've told some of you in the past. A number of years ago, I was training pastors in Kenya. And when I first walked into the room of the seminary, I noticed there was a man back there who was shaking violently, just kind of doing this, I thought, Oh, my, what's going on? We had a physician with this. I contacted the physician. Let's find out what's going on with this brother. Well, he was burning up with fever because of malaria. And so we helped him, his name was Elijah Eroch. Most of you know him. Because of our experience with Elijah. We were able to help him, and by the way, others as well. And we found out a couple of days later that his daughter was dying. And they didn't have money to help the daughter. And I asked, well, how much money are we talking about? And it was, I recall, a little less than $400. Well, the saints at Calvary Bible Church had given me money to use at my discretion. And I said, we'll pay for that. And because of that, to make a long story short, you're giving saved that young lady's life. I just talked with her a few weeks ago through Skype. They are Sudanese refugees living in Kenya. And a couple of years later, they had a little boy, they were trying to figure out what to name the little boy, and the daughter said, named a little boy, David Harrell. So I have a little namesake, his name is David Harrell Eroch. And we have helped him over the years with his schooling. And it's gotten to a point where we can't afford all of that, so now, just recently, the deacons agreed to pay money to help him with his schooling. Sometime I'm going to try to get a video of them, thanking us but not too long ago, as well, Elijah contracted hepatitis B, he needed help or he was going to die. And I forget, you deacons would have to help here, but we gave a considerable sum to help with his medication, and he's doing fine now. And many people, when I was there and down through the years are praising God, for the way God has worked in his life and the lives of others as well. All of this produces praise to God, this is what God wants. And all of you are a part of that. I don't deserve to be named or anyone to have their name after me, I am uncomfortable with that. But hey, that's his name. And, and I have some special affinity to him because of that. But I hope you see the illustration here. Our giving, dear friends, produces thanksgiving to God. And the more we give the more God is praised. That's the idea. 

Sadly, unbelievers don't give thanks to God, I think of Romans 1:21, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened." But when impoverished, needy, sickly persecuted saints, become the recipients of God's favor, of his grace, through the generous gifts of other believers, it causes their hearts to soar with thanksgiving. Oh, dear Christian, hear me. Our generous giving, in helping the saints at Calvary Bible Church and around the world is an investment in God's kingdom that pays both temporal as well as eternal dividends. But more importantly, what it does, is it harnesses the collective voices of countless saints that will give full-throated praise to God and say with the 24, elders in Revelation, "For worthy are you our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power." That's what God is up to here, in all of this. 

Back to verse 12, "For the ministry of this service," in other words, your service to God by this generous contribution, "is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is overflowing through many thanksgivings. God. By the way, the little phrase there "fully supplying", without getting technical, it is a doubly intensified word in the Greek language. I's the idea of saying, it is not only really, really supplying the needs of these impoverished saints, that's the idea, but it is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Verse 13, "Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all..."  Now folks, that's a significant statement. No doubt, Paul had told the saints in Corinth about how the Jews were real suspicious of them. After all, they didn't like Gentiles to begin with, and Gentiles didn't like Jews. They were convinced the Gentiles were beyond salvation, because they weren't part of God's covenant people in his plan. But now, God is telling Gentiles to help out these Jews in Jerusalem that have come to faith in Christ. Well, boy, that's a hard pill for the Gentiles to swallow, as well as for the Jews. So you see, that's what's going on here. And then to make them even more skeptical in Jerusalem, those people had undoubtedly already read First Corinthians, and they knew the type of chaos in the Corinthian church. They were marked by jealousy and strife, and they were trying to seek personal status, host of other sins--immorality, they would get drunk at love feasts; they had no respect for the poor, they were trying to outdo each other to see who could have the most sensational gift and making up all types of silly stuff; a general lack of order and chaos, and it was crazy. And all these things were public record. And so naturally, the already suspicious believers in Jerusalem, were even more suspicious of these Gentile converts. 

You will recall an Acts 11, beginning in verse one, "Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him saying, 'You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.'" And if you read on the rest of the passage, Peter has to defend the fact that he witnessed the power of the Spirit of God coming upon Cornelius and his household. And again, in Acts 15, at the Council of Jerusalem, Peter and Barnabas had to defend that, yes, God is saving Gentiles. He's come to them declaring how many miracles and wonders God has worked through them, among the Gentiles. So this was a huge issue. So for now, for these impoverished persecuted Jewish believers, to be rescued by these Gentile saints, oh my goodness. It proved that the Corinthian church and the Gentile believers were legitimate. It proved that their confession of the gospel was genuine. It proved that also, that they were doers of the Word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 

By the way, folks, talk is cheap, put your money where your mouth is, right? I think we can see that in this text. Because after all, Ephesians 2:10, "We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them."  And so that's why Paul was so excited here. So again, verse 13, "Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all." So what we see here, is by giving to the Lord's work, they're experiencing this special outpouring of God's love, a replenishing of material wealth, a proliferation of God, glorifying praise. 

And finally, an expanding sphere of intimate fellowship. Beloved, this is such a precious thing. Don't miss this verse 14, "...while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you." Can you imagine that now these Jewish saints are praying for these Corinthian believers that they once hated. Not only praying for them, they areyearning to be with them. Why? "...because of the surpassing grace of God in you."

Oh, what a glorious reward this is, never underestimate this. To have the reward of other saints praying on our behalf, and to have other believers, as we all do, all around the world that would give anything to have a cup of coffee with us right now; that would give anything if we could come and spend time with them. And by the way, I know places all around the world, that I've been, where if you went there, and you told them you were a part of Calvary Bible Church, they would embrace you, and you'd have a place to stay. That's the idea that we have here. 

Well, some of you might ask, "well, what happened? Did they ever take it up? Did it ever get to them?" Let me close with this. We know that sometime after writing Second Corinthians Paul visited Corinth again, for the third time, as he promised that he would do in chapter 12, verse 14, and chapter 13 and verse one. And if we go to Acts 20, we would read how that he stayed there about three months. And by the way, when he went back to them, during that three-month period, he wrote the epistle to the Romans. Let me remind you of what he said in Romans 15, verse 25. He told them, "I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. For Macedonia and Acahai have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so. And they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. "And certainly we as Gentiles have been grafted into the root of Abrahamic covenant of blessings. That's why we even bring the gospel to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile. Well, obviously, the Corinthians came through, right? They joined the poor, impoverished saints in Macedonia, put their money in with them and bless these dear saints in Jerusalem. 

It causes Paul to say in verse 15, "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift." Obviously, if it were not for God's gift of Christ, none of this would be made possible, right? So all of this moves us to worship. And even as God provides the grain for the sower to put into the soil, so that it can produce a harvest and multiplied grain, he also supplies our seed of generous giving when we give to those in need that the Lord brings to our attention. And think what an ultimate harvest that is going to yield, not only in this life, but in the life to come. Won't it be great someday in heaven, to see what God has done, because of what we have done on behalf of others, and also to realize what others had done in the past, to help us come to a place of saving faith. Amazing to think how it all works. Let's pray together. 

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. I pray that by the power of your Spirit, we will live them out with great joy, that ultimately, your name will be praised throughout the earth. We thank you, we give you praise for all things in Jesus' name. Amen.