God's Indescribable Gift

II Corinthians 9.6-15

We are called to be thankful by the LORD. We are instructed in the Word of God that all the good things we enjoy here on earth are a result of the Gracious Hand of God upon us, a lovingly Heavenly Father Who withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly.

We ought to be the most thankful people on earth in America but often we appear to be very ungrateful. As believers we are not to be conformed to this world. We ought to be giving thanks continually, in all circumstances. That comes from the renewing of our minds.

Thanksgiving is an action as well as an attitude.

This passage focuses in on God's Indescribable Gift and how the gift of His Son, Christ Jesus causes the grace of giving to operate in our lives.

1. The Seeds We Sow. vs. 6-11

God provided the earth.

God provides the seed.

God causes it to rain and the sun to shine.

God makes the seeds grow. 

I Corinthians 3.6-7

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

He is LORD of the Harvest. Matthew 9.38

We will reap proportionately.

What about sacrificial giving?

v. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Pumpkin seeds. You can roast them and eat them or you can set them aside (or  a bunch of them) and have them to plant next year. Say you plant 100 seeds. You will multiply your seeds you have by 100 times as much.

The harvest in giving is our needs being met but spiritually growing in Christlikeness. It is a win win. 

Generosity begets spiritual growth. Watching a church I was at for a meeting this week load up their cars with Samaritan's Purse Christmas Shoeboxes... good people in that church who pray for me, care about me spiritually. 

2. Our Giving to the LORD and Others Is a Direct Reflection of Our Spiritual Lives. v.7

Giving is from the heart.  That is where the decision to give is made, to give and how much.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  

cheerful =  hilaros. 

Walking with the LORD is a life of joy and peace. Our giving is to be joy filled. 

Much of our walk with the LORD is quiet, private, secret prayer... giving is an overflow of the heart which results in Thanksgiving to God.

3. God Gave Us the Greatest Gift Imaginable. v.15

He gave us His Son. John 3.16

His Son Gave up Himself for us. Ephesians 5.25 Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

Thanks Be To God

His Indescribable Gift 

Unspeakable above all others, In Command of everything else

God, our Father in Heaven, demonstrates how we should give by giving His one and only Son so we could become His children. We need to look at the manager and the cross when it comes to our giving, when we are tempted to hold back... Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold! 

As little children

We would dream of Christmas morn

Of all the gifts and toys

We knew we'd find

But we never realized

A baby born one blessed night

Gave us the greatest gift of our lives

As the years went by

We learned more about gifts

The giving of ourselves

And what that means

On a dark and cloudy day

A Man hung crying on a cross

All because of love, all because of love

Interestingly as Paul writes to the Corinthians about the offering for the church in Jerusalem, he ends with speaking of God's gift, Christ's sacrifice.

How could anything compare to that?!

As the hymn, When I Survey The Wondrous Cross says,

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Give Thanks to God. Give Him your all. Sow generously.

God has been good to us: The bill for the furnace we put in last year has been paid off!  Praise God for His faithfulness showing up in your giving to Him! We owe some money from it to our roof fund which we borrowed from. And we need to add to that and at the same time help our brothers and sisters in Haiti. 

Together with God we build. That was the theme of what took place here in the 1960's and 70's when this building went up. I've told you the story before. Let me tell it again. I just told that story to the new mayor of Brightwaters and his wife, who happens to be one o the Girl Scout leaders of a troop that meets here in our building.

When this building was being constructed so was one in upstate NY, a chapel, which I would come to pastor in 1979. It grew and we built. Miracles happened there.  Plans drawn up, reached a wall. City said we didn't enough parking spaces, Oil company said we could rent, there was this piece of land adjacent to us, neighbors said they would never sell.  I asked, I asked for a gift and they gave it. The land given by Olean American Tile- Thanksgiving 1982 Al Heinz, the builders, the check mailed to us.

Homeless ministry- Joe Infranco's building on Main Street- how I met Rudy. 

Now we enter a new chapter. Repair on the House of God here and in Haiti.