With a Cheerful Heart

If you would like to send your offering through the mail, our mailing address is:

CrossPointe Community Church
P O Box 126
Chippewa Lake, OH 44215

On August 14, in a message from Luke 12, titled Expirement Planning, we noted that the passage taught three things: (1) wise stewards recognize that God is the owner of everything we have, (2), that sharing rather than hoarding them makes us rich toward God, and, (3) we should be committed to seeking first the Kingdom of God rather than our own kingdom.

A week later, in a message titled Blest be the Tithe that Binds, I said very clearly that Christians are not required to tithe; (give 10% to God’s Kingdom as the Law of Moses prescribed for the people of God in Old Testament times). However; we also noted that the New Testament in general and Jesus, in particular, taught that what was required under the law should be exceeded under grace. This is why many Christians not only tithe but also go beyond the tithe.

And I promised that today I would conclude this brief series on Christian stewardship by offering you some very practical advice. That advice actually comes from the Apostle Paul who in today’s text counsels: “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” (II Corinthians 9:7).

But let’s not take that verse out of context.

SCRIPTURE

Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in His kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.
So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving. Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving. I am not commanding you to do this. But I am testing how genuine your love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches. You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that by His poverty He could make you rich.
II Corinthians 8:1-9

I really don’t need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem. For I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the Macedonian believers to begin giving.
But I am sending these brothers to be sure you really are ready, as I have been telling them, and that your money is all collected. I don’t want to be wrong in my boasting about you. We would be embarrassed—not to mention your own embarrassment—if some Macedonian believers came with me and found that you weren’t ready after all I had told them! So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure the gift you promised is ready. But I want it to be a willing gift, not one given grudgingly.
Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.

According to William Barclay, “Paul insists that no man was ever the loser because he was generous. Giving is like sowing seed. The man who sows with a sparing hand cannot hope for anything but a meagre harvest, but the man who sows with a generous hand will in due time reap a generous return. But the rewards that the New Testament envisages are never material. It promises not the wealth of things, but the wealth of the heart and of the spirit. What then can a generous man expect? He will be rich towards God. Jesus taught us that what we do to others we do for God, and the day will come when every time we opened our heart and hand will stand to our favor, and every time we closed them will be a witness against us. ¹

You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide (all sufficiency) you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

Again William Barclay writes, “all sufficiency describes the state of the man who has directed life not to amassing possessions but to eliminating needs. It describes the man who has taught himself to be content with very little. It is obvious that such a man will be able to give far more to others because he wants so little for himself. It is so often true that we want so much for ourselves that there is nothing left to give to others.” ²

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, He will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!
II Corinthians 9: 1-15

SERMON

With a Cheerful Heart

Randy K’Meyer

Our key verse for today is II Corinthians 9:7 which says, “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

“You must each,” or as other translations have it, “each one.”

Let’s start by recognizing that although it is true Paul is speaking of receiving an offering for the church in Jerusalem, it is definitely a Biblical principle that all Christians are to participate in giving to God’s Kingdom through the Church. This is why I mentioned 3 weeks ago that although there are 450 verses on worship, 100 verses on the importance of God’s Word and 500 verses on prayer; there are over 2,000 verses on the subject of money and possessions! The message is clear; money is a significant part of who we are, and how we live out our journey of Christian discipleship.

And so Paul writes, “You must each.”

“You must each decide in your heart how much to give.”

My Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament says the word Paul employs means, “to determine beforehand; the word refers to deliberate choosing.” ³

Deliberately choosing the amount you are going to give is the key to cheerful giving. I am asking you if you have ever spent the necessary time to make a thoughtful, Biblical decision about this matter.

Northwestern Mutual sponsors an annual study exploring the state of planning in America today that provides unique insights into people’s current attitudes and behaviors toward money, goal-setting, and priorities. Among other things, the study showed that half of all Americans have no financial plan in place, and that only 16 percent are ‘highly disciplined’ financial planners, meaning they know their goals, have a plan in place to meet them, and rarely deviate. ⁴

But Paul wants us to know that the only way to give cheerfully is to make a decision and live by it.

When we are intentional about making a thoughtful decision, it is very likely that we will view all of our spending habits more seriously. If we take a deliberate look at what we give to the church, it is likely that everything we do with the resources available to us will be considered with intentionality.

Most people who formulate a financial plan discover they can live better on 90% of their income than they were on 100%. Many people testify to this experience.

Speaking of a plan, I encourage you to consider adopting a 10-10-80 plan.

A 10-10-80 plan starts with giving 10% to God, 10% to our own savings account, and we live on the remaining 80%.

So to pull this off, we take our paycheck and before we do anything else with it, we do what the Bible has told the people of God to do all along: give the first portion to the Lord.

The second 10% goes into a savings/investment fund for our future.

There are several verses in the Proverbs that encourage saving. For example Proverbs 6:6-8:

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.”

Now don’t be confused, this 10% does not represent mad money. This is not to be confused with money we set aside to buy a hot tub with. This is 10% of our income going into a long term account so that we can get some of our money working for us.

And then the 80% goes to housing, food, clothing, transportation, recreation, etc. If could learn to live within 80% of our income, we’d be able to adopt a Biblical plan like this 10-10-80 plan. And it would serve us wonderfully because we’d feel free to spend the 80% because we’ve already honored God and have another 10% working for our future!

Even though the 10-10-80 Plan is a great and wonderful and Biblical plan, it’s not going to work for everyone because not everyone is able to make it on 80%. Some may need 90%. Some are thinking it takes you 100% of everything you receive in order to make ends meet. Some may even be thinking it takes 100% plus a credit card to get by.

I know that all of you wish you could be on the 10-10-80 plan. For some, it might take some time to work up to it. You might need to start out adjusting your percentages; maybe 5-5-90. Perhaps some of you may have to start with a 2-2-96 plan.

You’ll have to figure that out for yourself, but I am here to say that any Christian who is interested in reaching financial freedom simply must adopt this or a similar plan. What do they say? “If we fail to plan, then we plan to fail.”

“You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

“Not reluctantly,” according to my Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, the word literally means, “Not of grief, grievous, grudgingly, heaviness or sorrow.” 5

Bible commentator, Albert Barnes writes, “Not as if we were sorry to part with our money. Not as if we were constrained to do a thing that is painful.” ⁶

Or “in response to pressure.” Again, according to Vine’s, “the word denotes to put constrain upon; whether by means of threat or force.” ⁷

This same word is used by Paul in Acts 26:11 when he is giving an account of his life prior to meeting Christ when he was a persecutor of Christians: “And I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to ‘force’ (there’s the word) them to blaspheme; and since I was extremely enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.”

One on-line Bible Study on this verse says, “While Christians’ giving must not be done grudgingly or out of necessity, they must understand they are required to give. No Christian is exempt from giving for any reason because giving is a command. ⁸

“For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

It’s interesting to me that I couldn’t find anywhere in the Bible where it says, God loves a faithful worshipper, or God loves a persistent prayer, or God loves a voracious Bible reader, or God loves a fruitful evangelist, or God loves a dedicated servant, although we can be assured that God loves all of these. In other words, although the Bible is filled with ‘God loves us’ in a general sort of way, I couldn’t find a place in the Bible where it indicates God loves a person who performs a certain behavior other than “God loves a cheerful giver.”

And then I note that Paul says, “God loves a cheerful giver.” He could have written God loves a faithful giver, or God loves a sacrificial giver, or God loves a regular giver, as I am sure God does. It’s interesting to me that of all the adjectives Paul could have chosen to describe someone who gives He chose cheerful.

Why? Because it shows that our heart beats with God’s heart. As many have said, “We are never more like Jesus than when we give.”

A man came to his pastor for counseling because he felt convicted that he had not been faithful in giving God a portion of his thousand dollar weekly salary that he was making, and it was driving him crazy. The man said, “I don’t understand, when I was giving $ 25 per week on my $ 250 salary, I did so happily. But now that I’m making a $ 1,000, I just can’t give a $ 100, and it’s driving me nuts. Would you please pray for me pastor?”

His pastor said he’d be glad to, but wasn’t this man surprised when his pastor prayed, “Gracious God, please see that this man’s salary is reduced to a $ 250 per week so that he can give cheerfully again.”

Former professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Howard Hendricks, said, “It’s not what you would do with a million dollars, if a million were your lot. It’s what you are doing right now, with the buck and a quarter you’ve got.” ⁹

And then Paul gives us the results of cheerful giving.

The first flows out of verses 8 to 11b:

And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the scriptures say, (Psalm 112:9) “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.

The way I think about this passage is that God delights in using us as a channel for His blessings. We open our hand to receive, God blesses us and He in turn is blessed when we open the other hand to give. Be careful, I am not saying, and neither is Paul, that the more we give the more money we will get in return. That kind of thinking, championed by prosperity preachers, is not only odious, it is erroneous. What Paul is recognizing is what we already know is true: that God has blessed us with more than everything we really need to live well. And God loves it when we offer ourselves as a channel of His blessings.

Pastor and author Randy Alcorn insightfully writes “God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving.” 10

And then, Paul says,

So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ”

First, needs will be met.

In his presidential address at the Southern Baptist Convention, Pat Neff said, “All my life I have heard preachers tell their congregations to lay up treasure in heaven. I had to figure it out for myself. The only way to get our treasure into heaven is to put them into something that is going to heaven. Cattle, lands, houses, stocks, bonds, oil, coal and the like are not going to heaven. Only men, women, boys, girls, are going to heaven. Therefore; if I am to lay up treasures in heaven, I must put them to work in the mighty task of redeeming souls that will be fit for heaven. That is stewardship in its very essence. ¹¹

What we give to CrossPointe Community Church ultimately goes toward reaching souls for Christ. Everything we do here including maintaining a building, paying salaries, goes toward reaching people for Christ! Which leads to Paul’s second result.

Our giving will give glory to God.

Harry Lauder, an old Scott, liked to describe the old lamplighter who came by his boyhood home each evening to light the gas streetlights. He would watch the lamplighter make his way back and forth across and down the street. In the deepening twilight the boy would lose sight of the old lamplighter. “But,” he explained, “I always knew where he was by the avenue of light he left behind.” ¹²

Similarly, we make our way down the avenue of life; first on one side and then the other side of the street. Sometimes we run, sometimes we walk. Occasionally we stop to rest. But evening comes and twilight wraps its purple mantle around our shoulders. Then it is dark. But our friends, our loved ones, have an unmistakable indication of where we are going by the light we leave behind. The wise use of money, in our life and in death, is but one of many ways of letting our light shine and as Jesus said, “let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:16).

When we are generous it enables others to see that we have turned our Christianity not only into words, but into deeds as well. And God gets the glory!

As we conclude, let’s take note about how the Macedonians were enabled to give the way they did.

For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more than we had hoped” (II Corinthians 8:3-5a).

Wow! What a testimony! No wonder Paul says that the recipients of their giving will give glory to God!

But how did they do that? And the answer is always the same: “their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do” (II Corinthians 8:5b).

What all this boils down to is one word: surrender.

Jonathan Roumie is the actor who plays Jesus in the successful series The Chosen. Before landing the role of Jesus, Roumie had surrendered everything but his acting career to God. He had been living in LA for eight years, and he was broke. One day in 2018, he had $20 to his name and enough food to last a day. He had maxed out his credit cards and had no work in sight. He kneeled and poured out his heart to God, asking him, “What happened?” He had been under the impression that God helps those who help themselves—he later realized that the Lord helps those who surrender everything to Him. He realized in that moment that in many other areas in his life, he had allowed God in, but when it came to his career, he thought, “I got this God, I’m the actor here. I know Hollywood, God.” but on this day, he literally said the words, “I surrender. I surrender, I surrender everything including my career.”

Later that day, he found four checks in the mail. Three months later, Dallas Jenkins, the writer/director of The Chosen, called and offered him the role of Jesus. ¹³

On behalf of the Lord Jesus, who surrendered all for you, will you surrender all, even your finances for Him?

2 Ibid, page 235.

4 Northwestern Mutual 2013 Planning and Progress Study Available Now – Insight Forums

6 Barnes’ Notes on the Bible,
https://www.studylight.org/commentary/2-corinthians/9 7.html

8 Contending for the Faith
https://www.studylight.org/commentary/2-corinthians/9-7.html

9 https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/7943-howard-g-hendricks

10 Quote by Randy Alcorn: “God prospers me not to raise my standard of liv…” (goodreads.com)

13 Kelsey Marie Bowse, “Jonathan Roumie: I First Portrayed Jesus in My Long Island Backyard,” Ekstasis Magazine (12-21)
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2022/may/actor-finally-surrenders-his-career-to-god.html