Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Key Verse 9:15

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

Happy thanksgiving! Today’s passage is ‘thanksgiving’ message. It is a part of Apostle Paul’s message for Corinthians believers who were making offerings for believers in Jerusalem who were suffering from famine. In today’s passage Apostle Paul encouraged Corinthian believers to offer to God generously by sharing the blessings that comes from generous offerings.

Now I have one question for you. “Are you interested in becoming generous giver? Do you want to make generous offering to God?” Can you raise your hands if you want to become generous giver? Now I can deliver today’s message comfortably because all of you want to become generous giver. Even if you are not much interested in generous giving do not worry. You will be motivated and encouraged to do so because today’s passage teaches all the blessings that comes from generous giving.

So today we want to learn about how to become a generous giver. How we can bring generous offering to God. That is today’s topic. My message have two parts. Part I. God is able to bless you abundantly. (v.6-11). Part II. The surpassing grace God has given you.

Part I. God is able to bless you abundantly. (v.6-11).

Look at verses 6-7.

^“6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ 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.”

Verse 6 shows offering is not expense or waste because Apostle Paul described offering as ‘sowing’. Offering to God is not a waste or expense but spiritual sowing although it is expressed through money. The principle God established here on earth is ‘sparing sowing will bring sparing reaping, and generous sowing will bring generous reaping. This is the law of nature God established in the world and it is also applicable in our spiritual life. So he said to them “Remember this”. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” So when we make offerings we need to remember this principle of God. It is easy to forget this truth and we may misunderstand offering as an expense and become reluctant giver. But offering is sowing. It is like investment or putting our money in our saving account. No one thinks it waste or expense when we transfer our money from checking account to saving account or when we buy stocks to make more money. In the same way, offering is investment. It is sowing.

Jesus also said the same truth when he said in Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” So with the measure we use it will be measured to us. If we sow generously we will reap generously. If we so sparingly we will reap sparingly. If we are generous to God and others we will be treated in the same way. God will be generous to us and our neighbor will be generous to us.

So offering will bring reaping without fail. That is why it is not expense because sometimes expense does not bring any result. And it can be a waste. But there will be always positive reaping as long as we sow. The only difference is generous or sparing reaping depending upon our sowing. This is a great assurance when we make offering. When we know our offering will always bring reaping we can have a confidence in making our offerings. Truly offering brings reaping without fail.

Since offering brings reaping without fail Apostle Paul said in verse 7. “⁷ 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.”

Corinthian believers might have decided in their heart to give certain amount but they might have wanted to change their minds. But Apostle Paul advised them to give what they have decided in their hearts. They should have prayed in advance about the amount of their offerings. And once they have decided he encouraged them to give the amount not reluctantly or under compulsion but cheerfully.

Look at verse 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.” Our generous offerings bring God’s abundant blessings. Paul said, “God is able to bless you abundantly.” He said God has power. God can bless them abundantly. How much abundantly? The generous givers will abound in every good work because God will bless them to be abound in all things at all times having all that they need. Generous offering brings such blessings that they would have all that they need at all time in all things. The end result is they can be abound in every good work.  

 

Look at verse 9. “As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” Here the word ‘gift’ probably refers to their offering. When they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever. They did not expect but there was God’s blessing that is their righteousness endures forever. So our material offering even bring spiritual blessings of eternal righteousness for us.

Look at verses 10-11. “¹⁰ Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

God’s ability to bless people who bring generous offering continues. God is the supplier. So he supplies seed to the sower and bread for food. And God is able to supply and increase their store of seed and the harvest of their righteousness. God is also able to enrich them in every way. The purpose is for them to be generous on every occasion. And when they do it will result in thanksgiving to God.

Part II. The surpassing grace God has given you. (v.12-15)

Look at verses 12-13. “¹² This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³ Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.”

These verses teach us that offering will bring many expressions of thanks and praise to God. When the Corinthian brothers and sisters supported the needs of believers in Jerusalem who were suffering from famine Jerusalem believers would be overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

And they will see the obedience of the Corinthian believers for the gospel of Christ and praise God all the more. To Jerusalem believers the offering of Corinthian brothers and sisters is the very proof that their confession of the gospel of Christ is genuine.

Look at verse 14. “¹⁴ And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.”

This is another blessing that comes from offering. It is to receive heart felt prayer support from those who receive our offerings. Jerusalem believers will pray for Corinthian believers even though no one asked them to do so. And their prayer will not be a superficial one because their hearts will go out to them. Jerusalem believers could see the surpassing grace God has given Corinthian believers with their own eyes. They will all know their offering is the expression of the surpassing grace God has given them. Truly without surpassing grace God has given them they could not send such generous offering to the Jerusalem believers. What is the surpassing grace God has given them? It could refer to faith, hope, love, mercy, wisdom, strength and many other blessings. But the prime is Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 15. “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” When Apostle Paul talked about thanksgiving he could not miss to mention God’s indescribable gift, that is, Jesus Christ. All of thanksgiving is based on God’s indescribable gift. He is the source of all thanks and praise and all offerings to God.

Now in what sense is “Jesus Christ” God’s indescribable gift? He is God’s indescribable gift because there are so many blessings and gifts in Jesus Christ that we cannot describe all of them properly. They are beyond our understanding.

Look at 2 Corinthians 8:9 reads, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

So God’s indescribable gift, Jesus Christ, is the source of all of our wealth, financial and spiritual wealth. He became poor because he gave all of his righteousness and blessings and wealth to us. On the cross he became utterly poor, having no righteousness on his own because he gave all of his righteousness to us. He did not possess anything on the cross because he gave everything to us. Because of his grace that we became rich.

God’s indescribable gift does not end in our offering matters. It is beyond our imagination. God’s indescribable gift also reaches healing and restoration from our addiction.

A few days ago I heard one testimony of one prominent scholar in theology. He got his ph.D in Yale, and he was so prosperous in his ministry as a pastor that he became a pastor of pastors in Presbyterian denomination. But while all the time God blessed him with all of such blessings he was suffering from one addition problem. He was acohol addicted person. He could drain all of his energy to suppress his desire in vain. So he had to keep telling lies to his church people and others although he was a pastor. When he confessed it during the conference with other pastors and theologian scholars as a part of his life testimonies he expected that they would despise him. But he was marveled to see that many of them came to him and said the same suffering. One told him, “well I have been in Acohol Anonymous program for the last 30 years.

But the man whose story I heard was set free from his alcohol addiction. And he does not need to tell lies and he is free from shame. He became a free man. He said that he had tons of biblical knowledge of Jesus Christ. But only through the restoration from his addiction problem he could meet Jesus personally. Through the counseling and alcohol anonymous program Jesus revealed himself and healed him.

His story shows why Jesus is God’s indescribable gift.’ Jesus can not only bless us with financial blessings and his righteousness but also bless us with his healing and restoration from all kinds of addiction.

Now after listening to his story I went to AA website and saw 12 steps. I believe the idea of the 12 steps was designed by American Psychology Association.

Twelve Steps

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Now out of 12 steps please pay attention to 2^nd one. The explanation below is as follows:

The program uses a spiritual approach that includes a belief in a higher power. Members define that higher power in their own way - it does not have to be God.

I was so amazed to see that these people even for their own survival and healing and restoration believe the higher power although it is up to them to define the power.

It is very logical conclusion to seek higher power when they realize they are completely powerless over their addiction. And they cannot believe that their lives should stay in such a misery. So the natural conclusion is there must be a higher power who or which can restore their life.

They are forced to believe higher power. They have to believe the existence of the higher power. Otherwise there is no hope for them at all.

So what I am trying to say is this: Even these unbelievers end up acknowledging the power of God even for their own survival and healing and restoration how much more should we believe in the power of God?

Today’s passage reveals the power of God. Let’s read verses 8, 10-11.

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. 

¹⁰ Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

Why is Jesus described as God’s indescribable gift? It is because his power is so great that we cannot describe it properly. His power is beyond our imagination.

Ephesians 3:20 reads, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

Now when these alcoholics believe the existence of higher power even for their healing and restoration why can’t we believe that God is able to bless us abundantly when we bring generous offering to God?

They are like tax collectors and prostitutes in the bible. But they come to believe the higher power and be healed and restore their lives. But we, believers of Christ, do not believe the power of God and live in misery. We are like Pharisees in the bible who judged the tax collectors and prostitutes but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed in Jesus first and they entered into the kingdom of God whereas the Pharisees remained as unbelievers of Christ and failed to enter the kingdom of God.

Why can’t we believe the power of God even when unbelievers and alcohol addicted people believed in the higher power? It is because we are not desperate. It is because we can manage our lives in our own will power and strength and wisdom. It is because we can still manage our lives with such problems, and our problems are not serious. But are we better than they? No, we are not different from them. There is no difference in our addiction. Whether we are able to manage our life or not does not change anything fundamentally. There are many addictions such as drug, pornography, anger, food, and etc. The addiction does not have any boundary.

How can we overcome them? By believing the power of God’s indescribable gift, Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, how can we become generous giver? How can we bring generous offering to God? By believing in the power of God. By believing God is able to bless us abundantly when we bring our generous offering to God.

One word: Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

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