“Grace of Giving”
Golden Text: 2 Corinthians 8:9
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich

Focus: as a follower of Christ, we should imitate His generosity

Objectives:
1. evaluate if we are giving generously
2. see how Christ’s generosity should influence our generosity
3. check our attitude in giving

When Larry Lea, the author of “Could You Not Tarry One Hour”, met Paul Yonggi Cho, he asked him this question, “Dr. Cho, how did you build such a great church?”. Without any hesitation, Pr. Cho replied, “I pray and I obey”. Now I want to tell you, that is the key to your spiritual life. Pray like your very life depended upon it because it does. Then obey because you are driven to be what God wants you to be. Prayer and obedience go hand in hand. Sure, it takes courage to obey but what’s the point of praying and asking God if you don’t subsequently obey? Let me illustrate as simply as I can. You pray for God to forgive you, yet your conscience haunts you and in your spirit there is an uneasiness, an unrest. There are people in your life that have wronged you. You say that you have forgiven, but somehow you just can’t forget the thing that has been done to you.
God is speaking,
Matt 6:14-15
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Obey…
You are married and things just haven’t gone the way you expected. You have prayed things haven’t changed. Husbands pay attention
1 Peter 3:7
7 Ye husbands, in like manner, dwell with (your wives) according to knowledge, giving honor unto the woman, as unto the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of the grace of life; to the end that your prayers be not hindered.
Wives, this is for you
1 Peter 3:1
3:1 In like manner, ye wives, (be) in subjection to your own husbands; that, even if any obey not the word, they may without the word be gained by the behavior of their wives;
Employees
Col 3:22-24
22 Servants, obey in all things them that are your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord:
23 whatsoever ye do, work heartily, as unto the Lord, and not unto men;
24 knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance: ye serve the Lord Christ.
If you have people that work for or under your supervision
Col 4:1
4:1 Masters, render unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

I believe that there is power in prayer. But disobedience will render your prayers weak if not useless.
Let’s face the facts. We’ve been praying, but we are spiritually still immature. We are praying but the fact is, we are a part of a powerless church.
When Jesus came into the temple and saw the activities going on, it angered him.
He made a whip and drove out the sellers of sheep, oxen and doves.
The people wanted to have a relationship with convenience. They didn’t have to select a lamb or oxen or dove from their own herd and make the trip to the temple. After all, then you have to cart food for the animal with you. It would be a whole lot easier if you could just show up at the temple and purchase what you need.

We are guilty of doing the very same thing. We want His presence in our lives and in this church. But we don’t want His path of purity before praise. The children of Israel heard but did not heed the voice of God. God’s plan did not include wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years. God said “go up and take the land”. They said, “we can’t”.

If we are going to talk about the “Grace of Giving”, we need to understand it from the aspect of a proper response to God. In the words of an old hymn,
When we walk with the Lord
In the Light of His word
What a glory He sheds on our way
While we do His good will
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

In 2 Cor 8, Paul begins to lay out further instruction to the church. When we pray for God to bless us, we may be thinking, we will be more generous if God blesses us. Paul uses the church at Macedonia as his example. We tend to think about generosity in terms of the haves. Those that have more should give more. The church at Macedonia was a poor church but they had provided a very generous offering to help the church in Jerusalem. Paul credited this to “the grace of God”. Grace refers to God’s work in our human hearts. This is where God does His work. To be generous, we need to meditate on God’s grace.
You may think that giving is a dollars and cents thing, but it has more to do with the relationship you have with God than anything else. Paul knew the source of the Macedonians generosity. They were growing in the grace of the Lord. As they yielded their lives to God, He was showing them His character.

What do you think, is God generous?
Generosity begins in God’s influence upon our hearts. When we find ourselves reluctant to give to God’s work, it really reveals our relationship with God.
When God has our full devotion, he also has our full resources.
God gave generously when He gave Jesus.
He gave the greatest possible gift-His life.
Paul sent Titus to Corinth to help remind the Corinthians to make good on their promise.
2 Cor 8:7-12

We know that God loves a cheerful giver. Where does a cheerful heart come from?
Jesus gave up the splendor of heaven for poverty on earth.
He did it to rescue us from the moral poverty of sin so we could experience His eternal wealth.
How do we apply those principles to our lives?
To truly understand our lives as Christians, we must come to understand the attitude and heart of a servant.
Our source is from the master
Our motivation is to please our master
Our instruction is from our master

That brings us to the law of sowing and reaping.
You want to be loved, plant the seeds of love
You want to be understood, plant the seeds of understanding
Likewise, if you want to be forgiven, plant the seeds of forgiveness.
It’s a law that governs our relationships as well as our physical world.

To you and I, it gets even better.
2 Cor 9:5-8

Sow generously, it is planting the seed. It sets you up for a bountiful harvest.
Can I say that with any sort of assurance?
Luke 6:38-39
38 give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.

Now get this, God does not measure by how much you give, but by how much you have left for yourself.
Mark 12 records Jesus observing people coming to the temple. Men with wealth came and placed money in the offering plate. They were followed by a widow who didn’t have much. She dropped two coins in. Jesus said that she gave more that those who proceeded her because she gave out of her want.

Generosity starts with Gods influence on our heart.
When God has our devotion, he also has our heart.

You may have never thought of it like this before, but giving is Christ-like in every way.
It may seem difficult

Let me leave you with four things to consider
1. giving imitates Christ. He gave himself. Can we do any less
2. God delights in giving. It please Him when we give generously
3. God measures our giving by how much we keep, rather than how much we give
4. God blesses generosity.

“Treasure in Clay Pots”
Golden Text: 2 Corinthians 4:7
We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from man

Focus: to be amazed that Christ lives in us and rejoice in His presence

Objectives:
1. appreciate the light that Christ has brought into our lives
2. express how our view of eternity gives us confidence for daily living

As a kid, it was always a good morning when mom would have to open a new box of cold cereal. In those days, many times, tucked inside the box was some toy or trinket. Growing up on the farm, things to play with that you didn’t have to make was a real treat. Even just the cold cereal was a welcome change as we usually had a hearty man’s breakfast-oatmeal, pancakes, bacon and eggs, etc.
The trinket inside the box held out more desire for us than the cereal. We were interested in the think buried in the box. The same with Cracker Jacks. The popcorn was way too sweet but there was buried treasure inside that box so it was a favorite if we ever got to choose something from the store.

Christians have a treasure in your lives. I fear that many Christians have failed to grasp the very thing that Paul was referring to when he wrote to this church and expressed his utter amazement when he wrote, “do you not know that your body is a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) And I also fear that it is this lack of understanding that results is careless living as a Christian. It is more than just a passing comment when we say we believe that God, in the person of the Holy Spirit has taken up residence within us. It is an awe inspiring reality. It is a powerful deterrent for entertaining sin in body, mind or spirit. It is a refreshing meditation to contemplate that you are never alone and that God is with you every step you take.

I do not know where any of you are in your walk with God. I can only assume that you are at least mildly interested in becoming what you should be because you avail yourself to Christian education Sunday after Sunday. Here’s the real deal. Yes, you have the treasure of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. It is your source of joy and hope. You have this great treasure in a jar of clay. Clay is not the strongest material on earth. You know that clay is a material taken from the earth that is moldable. For it to be useful, it first must be purified and mixed into a useable clump. Then it can be shaped by appropriate pressure by a skilled potter. It has to go through a process before it becomes useful. When it is completed, it doesn’t look anything at all like the clump it started from.

So let me ask you, “How has Christ’s presence in your life changed you?”

Paul saw his ministry as a result of God’s mercy.
2 Cor 4:1-5
He refused to give in to discouragement and difficulty. Christ’s presence will do that for you. It will give you courage. A young man at work was obviously discouraged. The long face couldn’t hide that he was in an emotional tizzy. So at an appropriate time, I asked what was going on. He told me about some of the problems he was having with his girl friend. Like many of my conversations, I told him that my help comes only from the Bible which is God’s instruction manual for life. I talked about being a man and following the plan of God for a man’s life. I told Him that God is the magician of relationships. Only He can fix them and make them right. I gave him a couple of examples from my own life of applying God’s principles and then waiting for the harvest.

You see, these things (Bible) are true and will work even for the unbeliever.
Christ’s presence kept Paul’s motives pure. He preached clearly the truth of God’s Word.
I believe that is what we need today. Men and women who will simply lay God’s truth out before us as practically as they can so that we can apply it to our lives.

Do you remember how easy it was in my conclusion last week? Stop being a child!
Love one another because it is the right thing to do……

Today, simply-understand that you carry around light to a dark world.
2 Cor 4:6-11
Recall Paul’s conversion, he was on the road to Damascus and suddenly a bright light shone from the sky. It arrested him in his tracks. When Ananias prayed for Paul, his eyes were opened and he could see the light again. So he knew first hand about seeing light.
Now he takes this example and uses it to further our understanding of the treasure that we all have within this earthen vessel.
The glorious gospel is the incredible treasure that brings Christ’s light into a sin-darkened world. God’s power to change is as radical as light and dark. Once we walked in darkness, now we walk in light. We need to commit our life to present Christ to sinners, helping them move from darkness to being able to walk in light.

2 Cor 4:8-12
A life of service is not always easy. Missionaries face hardship. Pastor’s have ongoing challenges. You are not promised an easy road. But the treasure that we have in this earthen vessel gives us the stamina, gives us the hope, provides the strength to do and be all that we are supposed to be in Christ Jesus.
In an era gone by we sang a song entitled, “It Will Be Worth It All”. Life was not easy for saints who have gone before us. The driving force in their life came from the heavenward focus. It doesn’t matter what happens to me here.

Because I want to be sure that I get it covered,
2 Cor 5:4-10
It is vital that we keep eternity in view.
Paul now pictures this habitation as a tent. Tent’s over time become tattered no matter how good the care. They fade, the strings and lining wear out. The poles become permanently bent from the strain.
But Paul looked ahead with confidence. His present home groaned under the burdens that he carried. But the difficulties he faced only made him long for his heavenly home.
Placing His Spirit within this vessel, this jar of clay, is God’s down payment to remind us that we were made for eternity.
The greatest mistake that we can make is to fail to realize that we are patterned for eternity.
God breathed life into a clump of clay not death.
Death came as a result of disobedience but that did not change the fact that you are an eternal being. It only changed the path that we must take to get there.
We must maintain eternal perspectives and not allow suffering and trials discourage us.
God is in and over all.
Redeemed how I love to proclaim it
Redeemed by the blood of the lamb
Redeemed through His infinite mercy
His child and forever I am

How do we acquire confidence about eternity?
Is it by human effort like mind over matter? After all, we know that death is inescapable.
Our hope is the product of His Spirit within.
Romans 8:16 the spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God

This is one of the characteristics of victorious Christian living.
Mark this down as it was spoken by an aethist and it is so true. (Voltaire)
“If Christians want us (aethists) to believe in a Redeemer, let them act redeemed”

He promised that He would be your comforter. Are you letting Him comfort you through the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life?
He promised that He would never leave you, that He would be closer to you than a brother. Are you giving in to thoughts of doubt as you go through dark times in your life?
He promised that He would forgive your sins if you would confess them. Have you forgiven yourself?
He promised that He would give you His peace if you would pray about everything and give your life to Him. So why so downcast oh my soul, put your trust in God.
He promised that He would provide in your life if your would seek Him first and His righteousness. So rather than striving for the things of this world, why not take Him up on His word where He declares that we will find Him when we seek Him with all our heart.
Our hope is not hung on “I hope so”. Our salvation is fastened on God’s promises which are yeah and amen.
Yes, a vessel of clay. But filled with the presence of God and useful to the Master as He sees fit. Why? So that the power may be seen of God, not of us..