Blessed to be a Blessing
Helen Almanza
Tarrytown UMC Fellowship Hall
October 4, 2009
Text: II Corinthians 9:6-10
Do you think God cares about what you do with your money and possessions? I mean, really care?….like if I buy a new car every year, or if I spend money on clothing and shoes or hunting equipment, or tickets to the UT games? Does God really care?
If the amount of space that is devoted to money and possessions in the Bible is any indication of importance to God, then God really does care and cares a lot! It is disproportionate to any other topic. When I first realized that, I was surprised. There is more written about money than both heaven and hell. There are twice as many verses about money than there is about faith and prayer combined. Can you believe that? A real surprise to me!
When I think of the Bible, I think of spiritual, heavenly things, not money! Money is physical and earthly. Money is secular, isn’t the Bible supposed be about religious, spiritual things like love, grace, brotherhood, having a loving relationship with God?
Well, the Bible is about those things but the teachings about love, grace and brotherhood and relationship with God are often taught in the context of how we spend our money and use our possessions. Our Savior says more about how we are to view and handle money and possessions than any other single thing.
This spiritual connection about use of our money and possessions is not easy for us to understand but the connection is there. When we share our clothes and food with the poor, we are showing our love of God. Remember the story of the sheep and the goats in Matthew (Matthew 26:31-46)?
Jesus says, “.... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me (v 40).”
You can look for the lessons yourself. In Luke (3 :7-14), the people want to be baptized by John so that their sins will be forgiven and they can have a closer relationship to God. They ask John what they should do.
His answers: Share your clothes and food with the poor.
To the tax collectors: Don’t pocket part of your collection, collect only what you are supposed to.
To the soldiers: Don’t extort money! Be content with your wages.
In other words, you can’t be at one with God, you can’t have a relationship with God, you can’t show your love of God if you don’t share your possessions or if you are deceitful with money.
Remember the lesson on sacrificial giving, the story of the woman who loves God so much she gives all she has (Mark 12:41)? We call it the widow’s mite. Jesus is described sitting down opposite the place where the offerings are placed watching the crowd put their money into the Temple treasury. He sees the widow placing her tiny offering to God.
Jesus is deliberately watching. There is no reason given and no apology for watching with intense interest. And what Jesus saw was the love of God expressed in its highest form, giving all that we have to God.
Yes, God wants to know what we do with the money that is entrusted to us.
God makes it God’s business.
If the Scripture is true and we must give an account of their our to God (Romans 14:12), then one day I can just picture myself standing before the throne and answering the questions:
Where did all the money you earned go?
What did you spend it on?
What did you accomplish for eternity through the use of all your wealth?
Of course, the first thing that springs to my mind is that I’m not wealthy. But think about it. Say, if I earned 25,000 a year from the time I am 21 to age 65 or 66, how much would that be? Wow! That amounts to more than a million dollars. That is a fortune. So maybe, particularly in relation to others in poor countries in this world, I do have wealth.
There are so many other Scriptures that reveal God’s interest such as the story of Zacchaeus that Ann and Robert preached about last week. Zacchaaeus is despised and feared. He has cheated people. Yet when he willingly, cheerfully and eagerly decides to part with his money for the glory of God and the good of others, Jesus proclaims the reality of Zacchaeus’ salvation. Zaccheaus changed his mind about how to use his money and Jesus’ response is conclusive proof of the spiritual change that takes place in Zaccheaus.
The Scripture today is about money and possessions and our connection to God. Paul writes to the people of the church of Corinth and asks for money for the collection for the poor in Jerusalem. It probably may be the first church-wide financial appeal. Paul has agreed to receive the offerings from the churches he serves and personally take them to Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:3-4; Romans 15:28).
Some of the churches such as those in Macedonia (2 Corinthians 8:1-5) are more generous than others. In the beginning, the Corinthian Christians apparently contributed enthusiastically but their efforts faded quickly. So, Paul writes a letter as he is getting ready to return to Corinth. He has the letter hand-delivered by some of his coworkers before he goes.. He says in the letter that he wants to “arrange in advance for this bountiful gift that you have promised so that it maybe ready as a voluntary gift and not as an extortion”( 2 Cor 9:5).
Now, I don’t know about you, but that sounds a little bit like a guilt trip is being laid on the Corinthians. In the letter, he mentions to them that some of the “generous” Macedonian Christians might come with him (2 Cor 9:4). Clearly, he is applying pressure and wants more money. He wants it to be more generous than the first gift.
It probably is what it sounds like, a guilt trip, except for one thing. In Greek, the word we translate as “gift” is the same word the Greeks use for “blessing.” Whatever else Paul’s is saying, the use of the word “blessing” for “gift” changes things. Paul is reminding the Corinthians that God blesses them so that they can bless others.
He uses a metaphor of sowing and reaping and reading the verse carefully tells me that our giving is a test of our responsiveness to God’s sowing and scattering. God sows. We receive. Our receipt of this grace demands a response. What God gives us flows through us to others.
This idea of God giving to us in abundance is one of the most, if I may use the word, “popular” ideas in the Bible. They are so many books and speakers that tell us that all we have to do is ask and God will give us abundance. You may have seen them on television or even read the books. What I find is left out when these verses are cited is the whole idea that God gives us abundance that is to flow through us to others. “And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in ever good work (2 Cor 9:8, NRSV translation). Good works – that is what Paul is saying. Believers must do good works. God blesses us and we bless others.
No wonder God is interested in what I do with my money and possessions. No wonder God cares. I have been blessed to be a blessing. Not only that, but I am supposed to do it cheerfully, not reluctantly and not out of necessity. Did I forget to remind you of that? It is in verse 7 and Robert says it almost every Sunday when asking for the collection. “God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7)” It isn’t a gift if we give it grudgingly.
So the answer to my question that I began with this morning is “Yes, God does care about what I do with my money and my possessions.” It is God’s business.
Of course, I might say, “It is my money, I made it.” “My hard work has gotten me what I have.” Doesn’t the Bible say that you reap what you sow? Surely that is true. It is our money and our hard work that has rewarded us or perhaps even shortchanged us. Surely it is. We believe it is ours, sometimes even more so if we believe we haven’t been rewarded fairly.
But, who created us? Who gave us the ability to think and plan? Who gave us the ability to negotiate? Who gave us the ability to do the hard work?
As Christians, we believe it is God. We exist because God gives us life. Everything comes from God and we have the choice of what to do with it.
And that choice includes what we do with our money and our possessions. Paul reminds us that God blesses us abundantly in order that we can be a blessing to others. And every time those blessings flow through us to others, our spiritual connection to God is strengthened.
Sometimes it takes us a long time to figure it that out, that the spending of our money is a spiritual experience. Now, does God care about my purchase of clothes, my tickets to UT? I think so, but only in the sense that God is waiting to see if I also pass on the abundance that allows me to have the money to purchase those things. It doesn’t mean I have to give up my UT game tickets, but it does mean that I need to examine what I am also giving to others. God cares about that.
Our handling of our money and possessions reveals what we believe – not what we say we believe but what we really believe.
All Christian disciples are called to use their money and possessions to further the kingdom. God is faithful to us. We are called to be faithful to God. God gives to us in abundance and we do reap what we sow. The question is, do we share what we reap?
We are blessed by God to be a blessing to others. AMEN
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