Why We Give: Hope
2 Corinthians 9:6-7; Luke 6:38
I know a lot of people who love the fall season; it is one of my favorite times of year. One of the reasons is it is a time of harvest. Here in Michigan it is a time for fresh apples, cider, and pumpkins. We enjoy the fruit of our world’s bounty. It is one of the basics of the creation, planting, cultivation, and harvest. The bounty of the harvest depends on the first two.
I. Jesus and the Harvest
Jesus had a lot to say about life in our world and our relationship to it. He makes some rather extravagant promises to those who follow him. He tells his disciples, “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.” (Luke 6:38) Jesus brought spiritual blessing to those who believe in him but also promises physical blessing. Another statement is, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29) The last statement is made in the context of the road to Jerusalem and the cross.
This principle is related the concept of ‘shalom’, which is often, translated ‘peace’. No one word in English captures the sense of the word. It means peace or the absence of conflict but it also means prosperity, fruitfulness, and joyful contentment. While we tend to emphasize the spiritual blessing we sometimes forget that God created a good earth for his children to enjoy and prosper in.
Jesus teaching reflects something that is common in the Old Testament; God blesses his people with physical blessings. This is a general truth, one that probably plays out over generations rather than years. It has often been observed in missions but is true of our own experience here in the United States. Three or four generations ago most members of the Church of Christ were “other-side-of-the-tracks” people. There are many in our church today who were the first in their families to earn a college degree. In missions this is called “lift”; the almost inevitable improvement of people who become faithful Christians. Of course the downside is that as people become more prosperous they often forget the Lord. It is one of the sad things about doing funerals for some of our elderly members where few of their descendents are Christians of any church. They are reaping the benefits of their ancestor’s faithfulness but the same road that goes up can also go down.
II. Joyful Planting
The principle that Paul articulates in 2 Corinthians 9:6, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously,” is one that is true in many areas of life. Paul applies it to financial giving but it is true in every important arena of life. God blesses the life that is given to him. As a parent this does not mean investing everything in your children. It means giving our children to God and serving our children in God’s name. As a marriage partner it means giving your marriage to God and loving each other, as God desires. Marriage and children are vitally important relationships that God blesses us with, but when God is forgotten then they can never become what God intended, a blessing to the world.
While we enjoy the harvest there is tremendous joy and satisfaction in planting and cultivation. God created us for work in his world, to join him in his purposes, his mission. I have great joy in the harvest God is bringing in Africa but those years of work, hardship, and discouragement are precious experiences that I treasure.
Imbedded in this principle is the concept that there is waiting between planting and harvest. Some things we do will not directly benefit us because there is always a wait between planting and harvest. Our society is caught up in the urgent and immediate, the need for instant results. It is like the instructions for microwaving pop tarts because we are too much in a hurry to wait for the toaster. We want what we want and we want it now. Not only is such an attitude infantile, it is of the devil.
III. Abundant Harvest
We give because we hope to see a reward. Of course for many that is only seen in material possessions and physical blessings. Our world measures success in such terms and many Christians do also. If we don’t have the physical blessings then God must not love us as much as the guy with the new car and the bigger house.
The promise of Jesus is to give ‘abundant life’ (John 10:10). The New Testament has two different words for life. One is “bios”, a word we see in our language as in biology, the study of life. It refers to the physical life that every living creature has. But the other word that is used here is ‘zoe’ refers to something beyond the biological life. A drug addict can have ‘bios’ but very little ‘zoe’. A person can be rich in material things and have little ‘zoe’ as Jesus said, “a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15) God does care for and bless his people physically but that can mean different things in different contexts.
So if life is not about possessions and wealth what is the harvest that we can expect from God as we give not only our money but also our lives in his service? First and foremost is what Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) Eternal life begins when you become a Christian. How much we experience in this life depends on how much we pursue God and knowledge of him.
But that is only part of it. We gain a wealth of relationships. Jesus promised his followers, “I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30) This is true wealth, the love and relationships we experience as we live for Christ.
The question is what are we giving? What do we hope for as we give? As a church we depend on each member’s fiscal faithfulness. We also depend on your willingness to give time and effort to reach out to our community. But as you faithful give know that God is a generous God who blesses far more than we can think or imagine, “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.” (Luke 6:38)
Livonia Church of Christ: October 1, 2006
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I take issue with Stephens' statement concerning Luke 6:38, "Jesus brought spiritual blessing to those who believe in him but also promises physical blessing." Luke 6:38 does not promise physical blessings. The verse is within Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount. No where in the sermon are physical blessings promised. The blessings specifically mentioned are all spiritual ones: "great is your reward in heaven" (verse 23), "your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High" (verse 35), "you will not be condemned" (verse 36), "you will be forgiven" (verse 37).
Verse 38 is in the wider context of loving one's enemies, giving to those who ask, doing to others as you would have them do to you, lending without expecting anything back, being merciful, not judging or condemning others, and forgiveness. The verse states,
Luke 6:37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 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.”
The phrase, "a good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over and poured into your lap" cannot be construed to mean "physical blessings" within this context. The measure you gain is measured by the same measure you use and it is referring to judgment and condemnation as stated in verse 37.
The becomes clearer when we examine the parallel passages in Matthew and Mark.
Matthew 7:2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
In Mark the context is about eternal life. There is no hint of physical blessings.
Mark 4:24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you — and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”
Stephen's also quotes Matthew 19:29 but ignores the covenantal references in the parallel passage in Luke 18.
Luke 18:29 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life.”
The physical blessings promised were a part of "this age" pertaining to the Old Covenant and the spiritual blessings a part of the "age to come", the New Covenant. The Old Covenant promised physical blessings and curses, but the New Covenant promises are strictly spiritual.
Granted, if a nation follows Christian principles they will prosper as a nation but that is a natural byproduct of righteous living rather than a direct blessing. Many would disagree with the notion that the prosperity in the United States was a product of Christianity. They would point to the exploitation of slaves, selfish ambition and blatant capitalism as causes. How would Stephens explain the physical prosperity of ancient Rome or modern countries like Japan, to name a couple out of many examples of countries which prospered without Christianity?
Stephens correctly identifies 2 Corinthians 9:6 as talking about physical blessings but they are not blessings in any direct sense.
2 Corinthians 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” 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 made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
If one gives for the work of the kingdom (supplies seed to the sower and bread for food) what is promised is an increase in the supply of seed and harvest of righteousness. Only a little understanding of Jesus' parables is necessary to know that the seed refers to the gospel and that the harvest is of souls being added into the church. With more Christians giving, more seed is naturally collected. There is nothing to suggest direct physical blessings as was promised in the Old Covenant. Any church that is faithful to spread the gospel will naturally proper as a result of it's growth.
One must remember the church in Jerusalem was "blessed" with physical contributions only because it spread the gospel to rich cities within the Roman empire and appealed for funds. They were blessed as a byproduct of their spreading the seed. They did not receive direct physical blessings in the way of good money paying jobs. If such physical blessings were promised in the New Covenant then why did they have to appeal for contributions?
I'll end by quoting James to show that spiritual wealth is what God desires to give, not physical wealth.
James 2:5 Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
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