The Secret of Sowing and Reaping
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
This morning we are finishing our study in 2 Cor 9 and this is the last of the series called Hoarding Heavenly Treasure. If you were here last week, and most of you were not, you will remember that I provoked you with a quote from randy Alcorn, who said, Tithing is the training wheels of giving. Alcorn is saying that tithing is not the highest point in our giving, but is rather only the starting point. Let me further provoke you with another one of his quotes. I say I am provoking you in the same spirit of Hebrews 10:24, Let us consider how we might spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Sometimes we must comfort and sometimes we must spur, provoke and poke. Here comes another poke from Randy Alcorn. He has said that “tithing is not giving, it is just ceasing to rob God”. This thought is no doubt developed from Malachi 3.
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
If we are not tithing, Alcorn says, then we are robbing God. Therefore, a tithe is just the starting point in our giving. Do you agree with either of Alcorn’s statements? Surely it is only legalistic people and legalistic churches that say we must give a tithe. What about Christian radicals who say we should give even more than a tithe? Clearly they have stepped over the edge! Or have they? As always, we must not rely on the word of Randy Alcorn or the word of Rich Maurer, but on the word of God.
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.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men 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. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Just so you know from the start, I happen to agree with both of Alcorn’s statements—I don’t believe this is legalism. There are two ways to be legalistic. The first way is to require something that Scripture does not require. As we study this passage I think you will see this is not the case. The second way to be legalistic is to take a genuine principle from Scripture and apply it in a harsh or graceless manner. Even thought I believe Scripture teaches that a tithe is just the starting point in our giving, I cannot stand here and tell you that you are a miserable Christian just because you are not giving at least 11% of your income to the Lord’s work. If you are convinced in your heart that a tithe and more is true and you are refusing to obey, then yes, you will be a miserable Christian. But if you have not understood these truths about giving or you have sort of known them but have been filled with fears and concerns about giving, then I need to teach you in a gentle, grace-filled manner. You are not a miserable Christian, but I think we can all gain so much more joy and knowledge of God by removing the barriers to our grace giving.
Barrier #1—You sow too little
I became a Christian at age 16 and for the next five years I heard this verse almost every Sunday. The pastor would quote it as the ushers were coming forward to receive the morning offering. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. You sow what you reap. We all understand this basic principle of sowing and reaping. We see it applied to gardens and crops. If you sow an apple seed you get an apple tree. If sow many apple seeds you get many apple trees. If you sow bad choices in your life you reap bad consequences. If you sow good choices you reap good consequences. The principle is easy to understand, but the application of the principle is not always so clear.
In this context, sowing is not referring to our gardening or our behavior, but to our giving. If we give little, we will reap little. If we give much, we will reap much. But what exactly do we reap as a benefit of our giving? Usually we are quick to point out that just because we give financially does not mean that we will reap a financial benefit? But why do we do this? I have done it myself. Is it Biblical? Let me tell you what I think this verse means and then explain myself. I think this verse means that if we give financially we will reap financial benefits. If you give money you will reap more money. There is a definite material prosperity to our giving habits. The more we give of our material and financial goods, the more we will blessed in a material sense.
Does it surprise you that I would tell you that there is a material prosperity inherent in our giving? Does this sound like prosperity theology to you? If you have listened to very many of my sermon you know that I strongly believe that prosperity theology is a false gospel and a grave danger to the body of Christ. Prosperity theology teaches that the more we give the more we get. Want a new car?—then tithe to the church. Do you need a new job?—then give more money to us. This is classic prosperity theology—you give then you get. Do you know why this is such a dangerous theology? Because like most false teaching, it is very close to the actual truth. Most false teaching is not some bizarre, made up teaching, Most false teaching is a slight aberration of true teaching.
I think v. 10 makes can clear this up for us. 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. This verse tells us what we get in return for our giving—what is reaped when we sow. It tells us that God will supply and increase our supply of seed. And what is this seed? Seed represents material goods. If we give money we will reap money—BUT, that money is not ours to keep, but to be sown again by giving it away. So here is the key difference.
False Propserity Theology: You give in order to get
Biblical Propserity Theology: You give in order to get in order to give more.
Or said yet another way: You sow “seed” in order to reap more seed so you can sow even more seed.
This is where another of Randy Alcorn’s one-liners fit well. He said, “God does not proper you to raise your standard of living, but to raise your standard of giving.” There really is a Biblical prosperity theology, but it always results in more generous giving.
Do you see how this is a barrier to your giving? If sow very little, you will reap very little benefit. A little harvest of seed from your giving can go unnoticed, but a large harvest of seed is more obvious. The more you give the more you will reap and in turn the more you will want to give. This principle of sowing and reaping is a self-multiplying process that blesses the giver and the recipient. So yes, all smart Christians should believe in Biblical prosperity theology. We should be crying out to God. “Lord, give me more seed, more seed, more seed!”
Barrier #2—Giving without enjoyment
Another barrier to growing in our
grace-giving is that we can give without enjoyment. Verse 7 says that God loves
a cheerful giver. Some people think this gets them off the hook. “Well, I really
don’t enjoy giving, so I guess I better not give. Many years ago my dad slipped
me a twenty dollar bill because he thought I was a poor starving pastor. When I
tried to refuse the money he told me that it makes him feel good. Seizing the
opportunity, I said to him, “
Well, if you really want to feel good, maybe you should give more money.” He
replied back, “That’s OK, I feel just right.” I have never heard anyone preach
or teach on this subject without mentioning that the Greek word for cheerful is
“hilaros”, from which we get our English word, “hilarious”. This does not mean
that we must be laughing hysterically when we give. A cheerful giver is one who
finds joy and delight in giving. Paul illustrated what a cheerful giver should
look like by quoting from Psalm 112.
9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.
This is what a cheerful giver does—he scatters his gifts, or we could say scatters his “seed” money and gifts to those in need. But two more verses from Psalm 112 help us to get a picture of a cheerful giver.
1 Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.
5 Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely.
A cheerful giver is one who finds great delight in the Lord and is a generous giver. A cheerful giver loves God and wants to obey his commands to give freely.
If you do not delight in your giving, you will probably not be very generous. But if giving is a joy, then you will want to do it more often. But what happens if you do not enjoy giving, does that mean you should not give very much lest your giving be “under compulsion”? Of course not—no more than we should ignore any other command simply because we don’t like it. What if you didn’t like the command to be faithful to your spouse—does that mean you don’t have to obey it because you are not cheerful in your obedience? The solution is not to ignore these commands, but to ask God to make us love his commands. We ought to cheerfully obey the command for marital faithfulness, just as we ought to obey the commands to give generously.
Barrier #3—Fear factor
This is one of the bigger barriers to our generous giving. There is a genuine fear that many Christians face because if you already have trouble paying your bills, how can possibly have any money left over to give? Paul answered this fear factor in v.8, and if we lat the verse out in a certain way, you can see the principle more clearly.
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.
We could spend a long time on this one verse. It says that God is able—literally it says that God is powerful. He has the ability to help us because he has the power to help. God is able to make all grace abound to us. Do you know that free gift of salvation the Bible calls grace? God has the power to make us see and understand this grace.
Here
is an illustration of how grace can “abound” to the average Christian. The
problem is that most of us really don’t have a good grasp on grace. For example,
at the point of our conversion we understand that God’s grace is greater than
our need, but our need may not seem very big. I “need” more happiness and joy. I
“need” more purpose in my life. I “need” to get to Heaven. Our need appears
relatively small, therefore God’s grace appears small. But as we grow in grace
we slowly 
learn
that our initial need was enormous. We were completely lost without grace. We
were truly miserable sinners without God’s grace. We deserved eternal punishment
without God’s grace. We would not have even one more breath of life without
God’s grace. We can’t love the Christian life without God’s grace. Over time,
our perceived need grows and along with it, our perceived need for God’s grace
increases. These two work and grow together. My knowledge of God’s grace grows,
which increases my understanding of my need, which increases my understanding of
God’s grace, and so on.
God is able to make this grace abound in our life and we realize we have all things at all times and all that we need. Can God take care of your bills and allow you to give back to him? This verse says that he is more than able to do so. But maybe your problems go beyond a fear factor—maybe you have the next barrier as well.
Barrier #4—Discontent or Carelessness
With Thanksgiving behind us, we are now firmly in the season of Christmas. It probably would be better named, the “season of discontent”. What is the number one goal of all retailers? To make you feel discontented. Don’t give into the lie. No retailer wants a “satisfied customer”—they want dissatisfied customers. They want customers who are dissatisfied and discontented with their lives—customers who want to then satisfy their discontent by buying bigger, better and more things. Do you know how the modern retail industry got it start? It began with the first mail order catalogs from Montgomery ward and Sears & Roebuck. Once rural people all over the nation began to page through these thick catalog of things they didn’t own, they suddenly wanted to own them. These catalogs specifically brought about a new level of discontent that could only be satisfied by ordering something through the mail. All catalogs, all newspaper ads, all advertising has only one goal—to make you discontent and want to spend your hard-earned money.
It does no good to claim that you live simply and are never taken in by such marketing ploys, because just about everyone has a special hobby or weakness that can be a source for discontent or a perceived need. For some the weakness is computers, or horses, your house, or cars, or eating out, or entertainment or children’s activities, or fill-in-the-blank. Many or all of these are good things, but all of them can control us and lead to greater discontent. God gives us a fixed amount of resources but our level of discontent and the things we purchase because of discontent eats away at our God-given resources.
I worked with a gut in Michigan who was a scuba diver who would go diving in crazy places like the Detroit River. Scuba diving can be an expensive sport, so whenever his wife would question why he was spending more money on scuba gear, he would always respond by saying, “Do you want me to get in trouble and die 50 feet below the surface?” That was his rationalization and I know every one of us can rationalize with the best of them.
All of us struggle with contentment to some degree and all of us are to some degree careless with our resources. Some, however, are routinely careless and have gotten themselves into deep financial struggles. Big debt does not allow much room for generous giving. That is why we believe so strongly in all Biblical principles related to finances. This why we promote books like Alcorn’s, The Treasure Principle and Money Possessions and Eternity. This is why we promote Crown Ministries as the number one budget study and Bible study on finances. This is why Jeff and Rheta received training to become the first Crown trainers in the state of Wisconsin.
We must get our financial houses in order so that we can give more money to the work of fulfilling the Great Commission. God doesn’t need our money to fulfill the Great Commission his will any more than he needs you and I to do the same. He doesn’t need us or our money, but he has sovereignly chosen to use both us and our money. He wants us to prosper. God wants to pour out material blessings on us. He wants to increase our supply of seed, but all of our prosperity is intended to be scattered to others is need and for the advancement of the gospel. Here is one way to think about it. If you are living comfortably on $40K/year and you suddenly began making $100K/year, would you be able to give away the other $60K, or would you be inclined to keep most of it for yourself? If you don’t think you could give most of it away, and God alone knows your heart, then he will probably not allow you to prosper in this way.
So back to our original question—is tithing legalistic? It certainly can be if it is a source of pride for you or if you think you are a superior Christian because you tithe, but generously giving 10% of your income to the Lord’s work is not legalism, but grace-giving—and you cannot put a limit on grace-giving. You and I are saved because God believed in grace giving. How much do we believe in grace giving?
Rich Maurer
December 5, 2004