Series: 2 Corinthians
Title: The End of Giving
Text: 2 Corinthians 9: 11-15
Date: November 19, 2017
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
When it
comes to God’s saints giving to help one another, always remember that every
aspect of giving is of God. It is not my habit to spend time reviewing what we
have seen in previous messages. But I have done it a few times in these
messages on giving and I will do it again today. The reason is because I want
us to be continually reminded that every aspect of giving is of God.
Some are
hesitant to preach on this subject and some are hesitant to hear messages
preached on this subject. It may be partly due to covetousness but for the most
part it is due to false religion’s fleecing of people using these passages. But
this is the word of God. We ought never let false religion influence us in
preaching any passage because all glorify Christ.
Every aspect of giving is to the praise and
glory of God in Christ:
·
The source: the
gift of God’s grace to us
·
The willing, joyful, generous spirit: the gift of God’s grace to us
·
The order—first to
God then to brethren—the gift of God’s grace to us
·
The character—a new
heart to honor God and love brethren—the gift of God’s grace to us
·
The encouragement—not by
command but by grace—the gift of God’s grace to us
·
The motive:
Christ’s love for his people—he who was rich became poor that through his
poverty we might be made rich—the gift of God’s grace to us.
·
The acceptance—a
willing mind giving according to what we have to give—the gift of God’s grace
to us.
·
The purpose—that
there be equality among brethren—the gift of God’s grace.
·
The glory—that
Christ’s people are his crown in his hand of what he has created—the gift of
God’s grace to us.
·
The law of giving—God is
able to make all grace abound to us so that we having all sufficiency may
abound to every good work—the gift of God’s grace to us.
Subject: The End
of Giving
2 Corinthians 9: 8: And God is able to make
all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound to every good work:…11:
Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us
thanksgiving to God.
As we
have seen from this short review—it is God
who enriches us in everything to all bountifulness. His grace so abounds
toward us that it exceeds all our wants. His ability infinitely outstretches
all our necessities. And by God enriching us so plentifully in everything so
that we are be able to give to brethren in need—this one great end is produced—which causeth through us thanksgiving to
God.
Proposition: The end
of giving is to bring everyone involved to give
thanks to God for giving to us.
Brethren,
the fact that we came to this passage the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day is
another example of God giving the message for the hour. I certainly did not
plan it this way. It did not even dawn on me until I began studying this
passage this week. But after preaching in all the books we are going through,
God arranged these past few months, so that the week of Thanksgiving, we come
to this passage on giving thanks to God. This is the End for which God enriches
his people to be able to give to our brethren in need: to bring everyone
involved to give thanks unto God.
THE END OF GIVING
2 Corinthians 9: 12:
For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the
saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
The
ministry of giving is not only to provide for brethren but to cause his people
to glory in God in thanksgiving. The two fold purpose for which God leaves his
people in this earth—the two great ends of every believer’s life—is the good of
others and the glory of God. As Paul and the apostles administer gifts to the
needy saints, both of these ends are served. But the great end is that the people glorify God giving thanks unto
him.
Bringing
his people to give thanks and glory unto God’s name is the great end for which
God sent his Son and does all the work in saving his sinful people.
John
1:14: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Isaiah 42: 5:
Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out;
he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth
breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: 6: I the LORD have called thee in
righteousness, [speaking to Christ his Son] and will hold thine hand, and will
keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the
Gentiles [God gave, God gave his own Son, God gave him to be a covenant of
God’s elect Jew and Genitle. And God gave Christ to do all the work in saving
us]; 7: To open the blind eyes,
to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in
darkness out of the prison house. 8:
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to
another, neither my praise to graven images. 9: Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I
declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. 10: Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the
end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the
isles, and the inhabitants thereof. 11:
Let the wilderness and the cities [his regenerated people in the wilderness and
the cities] thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar
doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top
of the mountains. 12: Let them
give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.
Giving thanks and glory to the LORD is the
end for which Christ justified his elect by his blood.
Isaiah
45:25: In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
Jeremiah
4:2: And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in
righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall
they glory.
Romans
9:23: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Giving thanks and glory to God is the end for
which he makes his church triumph over our enemies.
Isaiah
41: 16: Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the
whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt
glory in the Holy One of Israel.
God does not enrich his people in order to
make us glory in ourselves—the end is to bring us to give thanks and glory to
God.
Jeremiah 9: 23:
Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither
let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory
in his riches: 24: But let him
that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am
the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the
earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
1 Corinthians 1: 29:
That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30: But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31: That, according as it is written, He
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
This is
how every sinner regenerated by God the Holy Spirit wants it. We do not want the glory that belongs to God.
God has taught us that all the glory in salvation goes to God for his wonderful
works and we receive none. We were saved from our sins and contribute nothing.
God gets all the glory and that is how God’s people want it.
Psalm 115:1: Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto
thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.
Psalm 26:
7: That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy
wondrous works.
Psalms
100:4: Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Colossians
2:7: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been
taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
So it is with this ministry of giving. It is
for the end that his saints give all glory to God—“For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of
the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God”
2 Corinthians 4:15: For all things are for your sakes,
that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the
glory of God.
There is no greater gift to a believer than
to know God receives all the glory in the thanksgiving of his people.
THREE THINGS FOR WHICH HIS SAINTS GLORIFY GOD
2 Corinthians 9: 13: Whiles by the experiment
of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel
of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; 14:
And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of
God in you.
The great gift the giver receives by giving
is knowing that our brethren who receive give God all the glory.
First, they
glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ. By
giving to the needs of their brethren the Corinthians showed they really were
in subjection to Christ as they professed to be. They manifest that they trusted Christ would provide for their
daily needs just as Christ had provided all their need in salvation. And the only cause for sinner to truly
be in subjection to Christ and to manifest it by good works is the grace of God
worked in us through the blood of Christ. Therefore, “They glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of
Christ.”
1
Thessalonians 1: 4: Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. 5: For our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance;...8:
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we
need not to speak any thing. 9:
For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and
how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10 And to wait for his Son from heaven,…
Two, they
glorify God for the fellowship God has given us with one another—and for your liberal distribution unto them,
and unto all men. The Greek word
from which “liberal” is translated means “single-mindedness,
openness of heart, and simplicity as opposed to self-seeking hypocrisy.” Remember, these are Gentiles in Achaia
providing for Jews in Jerusalem—these two once despised one another. But
by the single-mindedness and simplicity in which the Corinthians gave, they
manifest openness of heart in love toward their Jewish brethren. They manifest that God had truly done a
work in their heart so that they were constrained—not by law—but by the love of
Christ and by their love for the brethren.
Thus they manifest they were in true fellowship with one another in
Christ.
Since God alone gives us love in the new heart he has created, they glorify
God for making us brethren who love one another.
1 John 4: 7: Beloved, let us love one another: for love
is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God….12: No
man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and
his love is perfected in us. 13: Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in
us, because he hath given us of his Spirit…[which makes us confess faith in
Christ and love our brethren]…5: 1: Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also
that is begotten of him.
1 John
3:17: But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and
shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in
him?
Thirdly,
they glorify God—by their prayer for you,
which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. Those whose
needs are supplied by your generosity will respond by returning to you the best
gift they could ever give: by praying to God for you—that is glorifying God
when we ask God to do what only God can do for our brethren; by longing after you for the exceeding grace
of God worked in you—it is glorifying God to thank God for the exceeding
grace of God worked in your brethren and to long for your brethren that God
would continue to work his grace in them.
Believer, is this not the greatest gift you
could be given to know your brethren glorify God our Savior? Truly our giving
is God’s gift to us!
GOD’S UNSPEAKABLE GIFT
2 Corinthians 9: 15: Thanks be unto God for his
unspeakable gift
Christ is the unspeakable gift of God for
which we are thankful.
Isaiah
9:6: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
Romans
6:23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 John 5:
11: And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son.
Ephesians
4: 2…Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a
sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
2 Corinthians 8: 9 For ye know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that
ye through his poverty might be rich.
This gift of God cannot be expressed in
words—God gave his only begotten Son; Christ gave his life for us; God gave us
life in his Son; Christ gave us free righteousness/justification, holiness, all
things that pertain to life and godliness; Christ gave us completion in him,
acceptance with the Father. Christ is God’s unspeakable, inexpressible gift to
us.
Also, having just spoken of the manifest
fellowship between believers who once hated each other, it is God’s unspeakable
gift in Christ to give us love between brethren by Christ fulfilling the law on
our behalf and presenting us in his one body to the Father.
Ephesians
2: 14: For he is our peace, who
hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between
us; 15: Having abolished in
his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;
for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16: And that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17: And came and preached peace to you
which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18: For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the
Father. 19: Now therefore ye are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of
the household of God;
As we read of these brethren receiving this
gift and glorifying God as they pray for the brethren at Corinth, their prayer
must have been something like Paul’s,
Ephesians 3: 14:
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15: Of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, 16: That he
would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with
might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17:
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love, 18: May be
able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and
depth, and height; 19: And to
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fulness of God. 20: Now
unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21: Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
What a
gift God has given to us by giving us his Son and making us complete in him! What
a gift God has given to us to give us Christ’s righteousness through giving us
faith in him! What a gift God has given
us to give us love for brethren! What a
gift God makes us receive by blessing us to give to our brethren in need in
which God receives all the glory! This
the end for which God has given us all things in his Son—that God might receive
all the glory in our thanksgiving unto him. This is why Christ said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving with
your families! As you gather together
this Thursday, above all, “Thank God for
his unspeakable gift!”
Amen!