(NIV) 2 Corinthians 9.1-14 – 1There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people. 2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.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. 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. 9 As it is written:“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;    their 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 enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.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. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the

2 Corinthians 9.1-15

River of GraceStewardship 2015 - #3Rafting the River

Together[ 7 May 2023 3:49 PM ]

05.24.2015 – First UMC

surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

In the Raft Together 1

Introduction: Dependable For Each Other1. I would like us to continue our conversation about God's River of Grace.

We have learned: a. About swimming in the River of Grace - to follow God the Father's

current (where God is working around us), to look for the Holy Spirit's direction (where are we to participate with God) and finally, to be ready to act with Jesus (to actually do what God leads us to do).

b. That we are Rivers of Generosity - we give of our time and resources freely as river's of generosity because of God's river of grace that pours into our lives.

c. This morning, we are going to talk about how God's river of grace leads us to be dependable for each other.

2. Here is another river story. A few year ago I had the privilege of leading our youth ministry on a missions trip in Tennessee to build a home for a man. While we were there we decided to go rafting in the Ocoee River. Before we even got the raft in the water, our guide went over the commands we needed for us work together to effectively navigate the raft down the river. a. "All forward three!" - paddle forward three strokes.b. "All back three"! You get it.c. Now, these were a bit harder because they required that you know

which side of the raft you are one. "All ahead right!" or "All back left!"d. "Down!" You had to sit quickly sit down on the deck of the raft, without

hitting your friends with the handle of you oar. Most injuries on the river come from a friends' oar handle. (Even when we are trying to work together we have to keep in mind that we can hurt each other.)

3. That summer there had been a great deal of rain and the Ocoee was running higher and the rapids rougher than normally - much higher and much rougher. Our guide did not help the situation when he glibly explained that we might actually flip over right after putting into the river. So, as we headed down the ramp into the river, the churning and roaring water and the cold spray seemed all the more menacing.

Our Lives Belong to God 2

4. One of our young adults became visibly more and more scared as we inched closer to the white foaming water that had just run over the dam and into which we were about to set off down river. I reassured my young friend that we were with her and would work our best to keep her safe. Even as we were getting into the water, I realized that each of us in the boat needed to listen to our guide and do our best to paddle hard when called on if we were indeed going to keep our raft from capsizing in the rapids and letting our already frightened friend down. My young friend also had to do their part even though they were truly (and understandable) very scared.

5. In a very similar way, even the same sense of fear at times, in a curious way, you and I are dependent on each other's generosity for our own call to be generous people.

The “Big Idea” – Because of God's River of Grace, we are dependent on each other's generosity.

A. This Mutual Dependability We set off in our text from 2 Corinthians 9.1-14 with the church members in the city of Corinth being reminded of this mutual dependability believers have in their love and in their generosity.1. You might recall from last week's message that the background to that

section of Paul’s letter to the Christians in the church in Corinth as well as our section this morning is a financial offering Paul is asking this local church to undertake to help Christians in Jerusalem. This offering is most likely in response to a bad harvest and/or a persecution of believers in Jerusalem that is severely affecting the Christians there. In chapter 8, Paul holds out the generosity of Christians in the church of Macedonia (see map) as an example to the Christians in Corinth. In chapter 9, Paul reverses the stand point of his claim as to what should motivate the Christians in Corinth to be generous.

Our Lives Belong to God 3

2. Now, in this mutual dependability, it is the generosity of the Christians in Corinth that has stirred the enthusiasm of the Christians in Macedonia to greater generosity. 2 Corinthians 9.1-3 – 1There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people. 2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. We can see how the generosity of the Corinthians, how their dependability in responding to God's river of grace in their own lives, will lead to either greater or lesser dependability on the part of the Macedonian believers. One church's eagerness to be generous awakens the generosity of the others church.

3. Yet, the opposite can also occur 2 Corinthians 9.4 – 4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. If the Corinthian Christians choose to ignore God's grace in their lives, holding back their generosity, well, the Macedonian Christians will be tempted to lower their own expectations, this mutual dependability, and all will now have less confidence in each other.

4. God's river of grace makes us dependant on each other. The church in Jerusalem (and presumably those they are generous towards) is dependent on the generosity of the Macedonian and Achaian Christians. The Christians in Macedonia and Achaia are dependent on each other's generosity to spur one another on. This mutual dependability (trustworthiness of each group of Christians to do their part) ideally results in 2 Corinthians 9.5 – 5 ....a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given. The intention here is that we are rafting the river together in a celebration of what God has done for us and has given us. Rafting the river together means encouraging each other to respond generously with a sense of eagerness and diligence that God's grace develops in us.

B. Wrong Attitudes Our wrong attitudes towards being generous people in Jesus name cause others to be less generous and hinders our own and their relationship with God.

Our Lives Belong to God 4

1. The challenging word for us this morning is that our financial ledger (how we spend our money) and our calendar (how we "spend" our time) are moral records that reveal where our values lie. Getting a handle on being generous people and learning to be good stewards of all our resources (primarily our money and our time) is a HUGE part of what spiritual maturity as a Christian is all about.a. Having wrong attitudes about money and time is MESSING UP our

life-priorities.b. Having wrong attitudes about money and time is RUINING our

marriages.c. Having wrong attitudes about money and time is making our

CHILDREN greedy and materialistic.d. Having wrong attitudes about money and time is hindering the

FULFILLMENT of the church’s mission. e. Having wrong attitudes about money and time is robbing us of one

of the great JOYS of our Christian life.f. Having wrong attitudes about money and time is stripping other

believers of their EAGERNESS to be more and more generous like Jesus.

2. Our actions reflect that we have wrong attitudes; that you and I are struggling to believe what is spoken later in this letter to the: (NRSV) 2 Corinthians 10.15-17 − 15I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Speaking about Communion or the Lord's Supper, we see that as Christians, we are not a collection of individual believers but a connection of believers who in a real, though mysterious, sense are one body and more specifically "the Body of Christ" visible in our world. Our actions affect each other.

3. Then, you and I are reminded that God rewards our generosity in some way. Not always or even ordinarily with more "stuff" but certainly with a deeper experience of our relationship with Jesus. 2 Corinthians 9.6 – 6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Because God's love for us plays such a pivotal (central) role in our giving, we can see clearly that part of our wrong attitudes is that we see our giving springing simply from how we feel about giving or where we decide to give and what we determine to give. When we embrace the love we experience from God in Jesus the Christ we become

Our Lives Belong to God 5

a part of the Body of Christ and together, rafting the river together, like Jesus, we give to others freely.

4. Paul then offer us three guidelines for giving in 2 Corinthians 9.7: 1) that 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give.... Do we believe in our heart that we are entrusted with our recourses to distribute as Jesus leads us? 2) ....Not reluctantly or under compulsion.... Have we allowed God's Spirit to transform us into people who give freely. Finally, 3) ....for God loves a cheerful giver. Do we want to act in ways that God loves?

C. Our Generosity Is Reckoned And so, you and I would do well to come to a deeper understanding of how our generosity is reckoned.1. Now, in 2 Corinthians 9.8, in three movements, we see how our

generosity is reckoned or brought about. Remember what we mean by God's grace: God favor that we do not deserve; God's care and help; God's forgiveness and power and knowledge and at times discipline; God's goodwill towards us in every aspect of our lives. Paul sees the offering for the church in Jerusalem as a specific example God's grace.

2. The first is a fundamental truth about God, 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly.... God is the one who is able to multiply your abundance of grace. So, imagine having grace and then not sharing it? We hear what happens when we do share God's grace in 2 Corinthians 9.10-11a – 10 Now he [that is, God] 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..... O ur generosity is reckoned as God increase our ability to be generous in proportion to our generosity. God also increases our righteousness, our right relationship with God.

3. Second, God gives us grace 8 ....so that in all things at all times, having all that you need.... O ur generosity is reckoned in that God's grace affect yours and my everyday life. Were it not for God's grace, God's river of grace, we would be hopelessly separated from God. This idea of God's river of grace giving us "all things at all times and all we need" mitigates, that is lessens, our tendency to see our generosity as our choice because all we have is from our own hard work or that somehow we have been short changed, not having enough to require our being generous people.

Our Lives Belong to God 6

4. Then, the third movement runs the river of grace right into our lives, into our pool. We read that these first two movements flowing into our lives, filling us up so that , 8 .... you will abound in every good work. Our being generous is an ethical and moral question for us to face because it is grounded, o ur generosity is reckoned (it finds meaning) because of God's generosity in our lives. The assumption is that "good works" not simply "good beliefs" are reckoned as necessary to life on the river of grace.

5. Paul then remind us of something you and I have spoken of often. He looks to Psalm 111.19 in 2 Corinthians 9.9 – 9 As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” Notice this verse speaks in the plural. We are rafting the river together. Our good works in the name of Jesus have consequences in this life but also in God's future new heaven and new earth - they endure forever.

D. Thanks to God Our generosity is a gift from God leading other to give thanks to God.1. So back to the notion that we are rafting the river together, God's

river of grace together. We read in 2 Corinthians 9.12-14 – 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. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. God is generous to all of us. Our generosity towards others is how God meets their needs as well as increasing our own sense of grace and righteousness (relationship). As we already saw, our dependability and trustworthiness in being generous people increase the eagerness of other Christians to do the same. Allowing God to meet the needs of even more people and increasing all our experiences of God's grace and relationship. We are rafting the river together.

Our Lives Belong to God 7

2. Then, and here is where grace becomes the circle, if you will, binding us together with each other and with God. 2 Corinthians 9.12 and 13 – 12 ....is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 ....others will praise God.... God is praised. More importantly, people who do not know Jesus see Jesus through you and through me because, rafting the river together, we are the Body of Christ. 2 Corinthians 9.15 – 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! The gift of God's generosity, the river of grace, and our participation in God's generosity, rafting the river together!

3. We are told in (NRSV) Hebrews 10.23-24 − 23Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. I want to encourage you to have a conversation with your family or husband or wife or friend about what your ledger (the record) and your calendar says about what you value. More importantly, is your generosity dependable so that it leads others to greater generosity, 2 Corinthians 9.12 – 12 .... overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 2 Corinthians 9.15 – 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

“Action Point” – Even if our pockets of abundance in resources and time often seem meager, remember, our dependability in generosity binds us together - rafting the river together .