Generosity Begins With Where You Place Your Trust
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Apr 9, 2025 SCRIPTURE:
13 “By their approval of this service, they[a] will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:13-15, ESV
OBSERVATION:
The Apostle is affirming what it means to be a cheerful or in the Greek a Hilarious giver. He begins this section of scripture at verse 6-7, with the law of reciprocity that denotes that whatever you reap you sow and that we do not give under compulsion but rather our giving is out of a cheerfulness in gratitude for all that Christ has provided for us. Paul goes on into verse 8, declaring how God is the “all sufficient one” that abounds in every one of our good works. In verse 11, the call for each person who is a minister of the gospel by virtue of being a follower of Christ regardless of what one’s job is will be overflowing with our gratitude to God because of all He has provided for us. Some of the backdrop of this passage is the special offering that was received for believers in Jerusalem during a famine and the understanding is that our faith is seen in our action towards others. It is important to note that the apostle does not consider the economic circumstances, but the focus is on Christ. There are two pillars that fuel our generosity and that is their submission to Christ that leads to their confession of the gospel of Christ that gives birth to their generosity (v13). Generosity is a result of where you place your trust. In the early church generosity was how believers lived as an expression of their communal love for each other and to Christ. It was not a prosperity gospel that promised your giving was going to make you a millionaire, but neither was it a poverty gospel that indicated your obedience to Christ was evidence in how materially poor one was in their economic standing. It was a generosity birthed of a gratefulness of what Jesus has provided for all of us and the call to help others know the goodness of Christ. When Jesus begins to transform a person, you grow from being a taker to being a giver.
APPLICATION:
This passage spoke to me in so many ways. In the most economic trying times Jesus Christ has been faithful to me and to the Church that I have the honor to serve, New Hope Fellowship. The Holy Spirit challenged me not to look at circumstances but instead to check my submission and what has been leaving my mouth that signifies my confession. I love to tithe and every week I am excited about giving and it is the first act that I do after receiving my salary. Sometimes what comes out of my mouth is not congruent with what is in my heart because I get caught up in the noise of the News or Media that wants to squeeze my joy negative words of gloom and doom. Let me say this: “Jesus has always been my provider in every season of my life, and I can never out give Him.” My heart aches over the lost people in my community and in our county. It is my passionate desire that people come to know Christ and that I want to sow into the Mission of Christ of seeing disciples made. Oh God control my tongue and what at times I say that is not paint a picture of you being my sufficiency. Takers stay stuck and never graduate from the cycle of poverty. They go from crisis to crisis hoping someone is going to bail them out. Givers graduate into new levels of obedience that leads to fruitfulness. Not giving to get but instead giving to advance the mission of Christ. Why? Because I want others to experience what I have experienced in my relationship with Jesus Christ. My submission has opened me up to miraculous provision, but the word of my mouth ensnares me at times. I now confess that Jesus you are the “all sufficient one” and the news and media will not take away what you have already done for me and all that you will continue to do through me and I am choosing to be a generous follower of you because I am grateful.
PRAYER:
“I am humbled by the fact that You Jesus in every season meet all my needs. I so love to give but the words on my lips at times are not about gratitude but instead the speak of fear due to the circumstances taking place around me. Allow my words to be more about gratitude rather than my personal consternation. I am submitted to you and ask that your Holy Spirit guide my speech has I keep a posture of grateful submission to you. I pray this in Jesus name, AMEN!”
Hughes, Philip E. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Edited by F.F. Bruce. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962 Reprinted April 1986.