Generous Investments

Psalm 112: The Righteous Man Who Gives Generously

Today's Old Testament reading is Psalm 112, page 509 in your pew Bibles.

Please stand for the reading of God's word.

Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. His offspring will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

Light dawns in the darkness of the upright. He is gracious, merciful, and righteous. It is well with the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice. For the righteous will never be moved.

He will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady. He will not be afraid until he looks in triumph on his adversaries. He has distributed freely.

He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn is exalted in honor. The wicked man sees it and is angry. He gnashes his teeth and melts away. The desire of the wicked will perish.

Acts 4: The Early Church’s Generosity

New Testament reading today is in Acts chapter four, verses 32 through 37. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

And with great power, the apostles were given their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and bought the proceeds of what was sold, and laid it all at the apostles' feet and was distributed to each as any had needed.

Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and bought the money, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

You may be seated.

The Call to Invest Generously in 2 Corinthians 9

Turn in your Bibles, if you will, to 2 Corinthians chapter nine. Let's pray together. Father, once more, we come into your presence to listen to you as you speak to us in your word. Lord, we know that this word has your thoughts, that if we want to know your will for us, we need to look into the scripture.

So help us, Lord, to listen carefully to your voice. Father, work in us what you will for your glory. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. You ever invested your money? You may have invested in stocks or bonds, or maybe in an IRA, or maybe you invested in some property.

Maybe your company invests for you. All of us has done that from time to time. Even if all you do is put your money in the bank, you're investing it. Investment means putting your money to work so that it earns a return.

In other words, you hope to get back more than what you put in. Now, we discovered last week in terms of giving, in chapter eight, that God calls us to generosity in our giving. And this week, you're going to see that generous giving is not merely giving money away.

Rather, it's actually investing, putting your money to work and expecting a return. So let's see what God has to say about that. Our text for this morning is 2 Corinthians 9, verses six through 15. The point is this.

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, he has distributed freely, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they 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.

While they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. What does God have to say to us about giving now in this text? Here's the first, understand God's law of investment.

Understand God's law of investment. Verse six, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. God says rather pointedly here, you will have a return on your giving.

You will have a return. And the apostle makes that point by drawing a picture. So let's think about that. Here sits Greg, Greg Field on a nice spring day. He's eyeing a skid that has 40 bags of seed on one side and a planter on the other.

Now each of those bags, each of those 40 pound bags will produce two and a half acres of corn or give or take some 525 bushels an acre. So Greg says to himself, you know what? I think maybe I'll save some money and only use 20 of those bags.

Now, you're not even a farmer and you would say, Greg, that's the dumbest idea I've ever heard. If you only put 20 bags in, you're not gonna, right? You're only gonna get 50 acres of corn. You're not gonna get much and every acre producing 525 bushels, why don't you put it all in and double that, right?

We all know that it would be doubled. So, sow sparingly, reap sparingly. He's not gonna get nearly as much as he would if he'd put all of those in. Now this isn't a lesson in agriculture. He speaks here of giving to the Lord's work.

Your money is seed. If you prove stingy in your giving, you won't get much in return. So get God's law of investment in your head. God promises a return on generous giving. You'll have more of a return on generous giving.

If you're not sowing generously, you won't reap generously. Sow sparingly, reap sparingly. Give in a stingy way, you won't have as many returns. Well, then he goes on to tell us how to make an investment.

Know how to make an investment. Again, verses six and seven, we'll pick it up in verse seven. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

So what does he say here? Verse six, you need to invest generously. Now again, the apostle strikes that chord. He does not set an amount, does he? He does not say give so much, give 10%, give 20%, give 5%.

He doesn't do that because if you set an amount that leads to legalism, and legalism always leads to self-righteousness, okay? In verse seven, he describes generosity again. He describes generosity, but he puts it not in terms of amount, but in your attitude.

He says generosity means giving freely, giving freely. Now, for many, this verse has been terribly misunderstood. Some have taken this verse to mean, if you say I must give, that I have to give, then you violate this principle.

I have to feel like giving. I have to have some kind of inner prompting before I give. Because if you tell me I have to give, then that violates this. I'm giving under compulsion, right? That's just plain silly.

Because we've already seen last week, the commands that God gives us about giving. For example, we looked at 1 Corinthians 16, verses one and two last week. You remember what he said? Set apart a proportion, should be proportional.

And don't just do it willy-nilly, do it on a regular basis, be systematic. There are some clear commands. And that doesn't violate this command about not giving under compulsion. So put it into context.

He's not speaking about obedience in giving, he's talking about generosity in giving. Literally, it can read, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man, as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

In other words, not reluctantly, not under compulsion, and doing it cheerfully is the definition of generosity. It's not about obedience, it's about generosity. This is what generous means. So if you want to sow generously, then make up your mind what to give.

He says, decide in your own heart. You decide what you're going to give, okay? And you do that remembering that generosity is determined by God's grace, not your circumstances, and requires discipline and sacrifice.

Okay, it requires that. And part with it cheerfully, not reluctantly. Part with it cheerfully, that's generosity. If you want to see generosity, an example of it, we just heard about it in Acts chapter four, right?

They're all of one mind. They were all joyfully joined together, and they willingly gave up much of their property in order to help those in need, right? So generosity, generosity means that you decide in your heart.

You don't have someone else dictating to you what you give. You decide in your own heart. You remember that grace is what determines that, and you part with it cheerfully. Sowing sparingly means you don't decide in your heart, but you're reluctant in giving.

You're reluctant in your giving. In the word there, reluctant means grief or sorrow, right? You part with it with grief. All right, I'll put this in, right? And you don't give, or if you're gonna sow sparingly, you don't decide in your heart.

You do it reluctantly, and you give under compulsion. Now, what does it mean to give under compulsion? It means letting the amount be determined by the fear of criticism, or the custom of society around you, or what others may think about you, or because another person knows what you pledged.

That's what's so terrible about churches when you make a pledge, it goes in, and then someone from church comes to you later and says, hey, you haven't fulfilled your pledge. That's giving under compulsion, right?

Giving under compulsion means you don't decide in your heart and do it cheerfully. You are compelled by something else, criticism, pleasing others, all those sorts of things. What are people gonna think, all right?

By the way, our policy here is, I don't know what you give, nobody knows what you give. Maybe the treasurer does, if you write a check, but no one else knows what you give, right?

Why?

Because we don't want you thinking we're looking over your shoulder. I have some friends, dear friends, a pastor at church, and they say, if we're gonna shepherd the flock, we need to know how much you give.

And I'm thinking, what? Well, you talk about compulsion. That's gonna compel people to give. It's not what they decide in their heart, and they're doing it because they're compelled by something outside.

If you're going to sow sparingly, then don't decide in your heart, be reluctant, and do it under compulsion. Here's the point, here's the point. You could give $1 ,000, but if you give it reluctantly, and you give it because you're concerned about what others think, it's not generous.

You see the point? If you give $50 because that's what you purposed in your heart to give consistently, and you cheerfully give it, that is generous. Depends more on your heart than it does the amount, right?

So if you're going to sow generously, right? Decide in your heart, do it with joy, give it cheerfully, right? And you're not compelled by anything else, that is generosity. So then, how does God want you to give?

He wants you to give, to sow, to invest generously. What is generous? Determining and then giving an amount cheerfully. Not reluctantly, but cheerfully, okay? Sow, sow sparingly, reap sparingly. Give generously, reap generously.

The Returns on Generous Investment: Grace, Righteousness, and Thanksgiving

Now, having told you that sowing generously means reaping generously, he goes on to describe what you reap in verses eight through 15. So here is the return on your investment. Okay, so do you hear what I've said so far?

God says generous. He says it's an investment. He says now, expect a return on your investment. When you give to the Lord's ministry, you ought to expect a return on that investment. What can you expect in return for your generous investment in the Lord's work?

What should you be looking for? What kind of returns will you be looking for? What are you gonna receive? Well, now he enumerates all the things that you're going to receive if you give generously in verses eight through 15.

Let's start with verse eight. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Here's the first.

God will increase your ministry to others. God will increase your ministry to others. That's the first promise return.

Now note the promise.

God is able. He is able to do two things. The first is this. God will make his grace abound so that you'll have enough to meet your needs first. That's what he means by all sufficiency. All right, he is able to meet your needs first.

And our temptation is to say, but if I give generously, we won't be able to make ends meet. That's the biggest, that's usually the biggest argument of God. I can't give more. If we give more, we won't be able to make ends meet.

That statement is so common, but it is also so wrong. You know, that's why God keeps repeating it. I'll give you three instances where God talks about this. The first is found in Malachi chapter three.

Malachi chapter three. Look with me at verses six through 11. For I, the Lord, do not change. For I, the Lord, do not change. Therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them.

Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you in your tithes and contributions?

You're cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts.

If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need, I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.

Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts. Now, without getting into a great discussion about the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant, know this.

God had promised his people, if you give what I require of you, you'll have more than enough. You will have more than enough. You will be a land of delight, he says. In fact, when you read the Old Testament and you read the covenant that God entered in with those people, if they would have obeyed, they would have had a land that almost, when you read the descriptions of what God promised, it almost looks like glory.

It's amazing what he promised to them. And so he's saying to them, you don't have to worry about those things. If you give as I've told you to give, you will have more than enough. That's what he told his people back then.

What does he say to us today? Well, consider Matthew chapter six, verses 31 to 33. This is within the context of worrying about the normal things of life, okay? And at the very end of this passage, in verses 31 through 33, here's what God says.

Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

He says, you don't have to worry about your food and clothes. That's a given if you seek my kingdom and my righteousness. Boy, I wanna illustrate this and I wanna do it carefully. Becca and I have seen this promise fulfilled over and over and over and over again.

This is one of those, to me, that passage of scripture is like glowing when I read it because we have seen God faithful to that promise over and over and over again, right? I wanna tell you a story, but I'll just tell you this story.

So we're living in Iowa, right? And I'm looking for a church and no one will have me. So we're there a whole year, and Levi's on the way. And we're saying, you know what? We can't live with the folks and keep the promises and keep reproducing.

That's not right. And so we decided we need to go home. We owned a house in Indiana. We need to go home to Indiana. The problem was, and most of you, almost all of you are not old enough to remember this.

This was 1982. In 1982, the economy had crashed. I mean, it had crashed. There were no jobs to be had anywhere. We said, it's not right. We need to go home. So we did, not knowing. Not knowing what? We get home.

I just get dressed up and spend the next six hours, at least, just, this is in the old days where you went from place to place to place and filled out applications. And there were no jobs. But then I found a job in a chemical plant.

Then a guy at church said, hey, there's a job where I, where I, you know, I work, we need people. We need them desperately. So I went to work for Brock Manufacturing. So in an economy, in an economy that had no jobs, I got a job where we were working 80 hours a week, five days on a five-day week, 16-hour days.

So that means 40 hours of overtime pay. You talk about God providing for us, it's amazing. It was amazing how he did that, right? It was amazing. So here he says, look, you just seek my kingdom, right?

I'll take care of you. You don't have to worry about your generosity is gonna impoverish you. Look at Philippians chapter four, verses 16 through 19. Now here, the apostle Paul is speaking of the money that the Philippians had sent to support him.

Now look how he describes that missionary support. Look how he describes it. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again, not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

He's talking about return on investment here, isn't he? He goes on, I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. So the first thing God says he is able to do is make grace abound so that your needs are met. If you're generous, here's the return on your investment.

All your needs will be met. But then the second promise is that he will then give you extra to be used to help others. Verse eight, and God is able to make all grace abound you so that your needs are met and you may abound in every good work.

So he's gonna give you enough for you. And guess what? Here's another return on your investment. He's gonna give you extra on top of it for you to give away, for you to invest. That's a promise. John Calvin wrote, the Lord gives us as much as is profitable for us, sometimes more, sometimes less, but always so that we are satisfied and have enough to do good to others.

Isn't that amazing? The investment, the return you get is, well, your needs will be met and I'll give you even more so you can give to others, all right? Some might say, I've never experienced that. Well, maybe you're not giving enough away.

Maybe you're not generous enough. Watch what God can do when you give more than you expect. Here's the second return. God will increase your harvest of righteousness, verses nine through 11. As it is written, he has distributed freely, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

God will increase your harvest of righteousness. Now he quotes Psalm 112, verse nine. You heard that psalm today. A godly man is one who is generous and as a result, his righteousness will endure. His righteousness will be remembered.

When you read this in the context of 2 Corinthians, you look at it and say his righteousness endures forever, you think he's talking about God there, he's not. He's talking about the man in Psalm 112 who's giving money to people in need.

And he says his righteousness will endure forever, okay? Now just to put things in perspective, a righteous man can distribute freely. Notice he says that, he distributes freely because, verse 10, God supplies the seed and the bread that he distributes.

Because God supplies that. If you cultivate, now here's what he's saying. If you cultivate the habit of generous giving or generous investment, if you will, you will start reaping a harvest of righteousness.

You will start reaping a harvest of righteousness. What could he be talking about? Here's one thing, here's one thing you're going to find when you're generous and say, I'm going to give more, it's going to be a pinch, but I'm going to give more, guess what?

You're going to learn to trust God. Your faith in God's provision will grow. You know how your righteousness will increase? You'll start trusting God more. You will start trusting God more. You will start learning compassion.

You will start learning compassion as you give to help others. You will learn humility. You are going to learn humility as it becomes more and more apparent that it is God who meets your needs and not your cleverness and not your ingenuity.

You're going to find that God meets your needs. It's incredible what he does. But verse 11, here's how your righteousness will endure. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

Your giving will increase as God supplies more for the purpose. Here's what he's saying. Not only will your needs be met, but I'm going to give you more so that your giving is going to increase. That's a return on the investment.

You will give more, okay? Now, do you see the difference in what the scripture says and what the proponents of the prosperity gospel say? The proponents of the prosperity gospel say, man, you give to God and he'll enrich you, you'll get rich.

And the answer is, that's true, but for what purpose? He'll give you more, but you got to give away more. That's what he's saying. I'll give you more so you can give away more, so you can invest more.

They say, well, what kind of investment is that? It's the best you'll ever have. You'll be able to give more. God will enrich you so that you'll give away even more. Verses 11 and 12, God will use your money to produce spiritual growth in others, all right?

We saw at the end of verse 11 that all this will produce thanksgiving to God. Verse 12, for the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

The spiritual growth of others. Now see, he broadens the scope here to not here to what this investment will pay not only in your lives, but in the lives of others. By giving, Paul says, you're not only supplying the saints food and clothes, not only meeting physical needs, but your giving will produce an overflow of thanksgiving in the lives of others.

Now, imagine you're a Christian in Jerusalem. You remember the context of this. He's talking about, we're taking a collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem. All these Gentile churches in Macedonia and Achaia, Thessalonica, Philippi, those up there, Corinth down here, we're putting together this collection to take care of the saints in Jerusalem.

So imagine now, imagine that you're one of those saints in Jerusalem. You're going to the assembly place for church on the Lord's Day, and you got a visiting speaker, and it's the Apostle Paul, and as you get to the church, you find out he's not only there to deliver a sermon, he's there to deliver this generous gift from all the Gentile churches where he has ministered.

And you walk in, and they start distributing it. You're at the end of your rope. You don't know what's gonna happen. You don't know what's going to do, and here you are, here's all of this stuff for you, all of this money, all these resources now given to you.

What do you think happens? Man, you're gonna give thanks to God and say, God, I cannot believe how you've taken care of us. Here we are, dirt poor. I didn't know what I was gonna do, and now you have supplied this for us from these churches?

What do you think happens? There's an eruption of thanksgiving. There's overflowing with thanksgiving. We can be awful nearsighted, can't we? We can see the plate go, and you probably paid a whole lot more attention to it since we didn't have any music playing, and you weren't talking to anyone during that act of worship.

Another pet peeve of mine, we won't get into that, but we can be so nearsighted, can't we? We see the plate go by. We see the money come up front, and that's where it ends. We don't see what happens, and we need to start thinking that money is gonna produce growth in other people.

That should move you to generosity. The next one, verse 13. God says generous giving testifies to a genuine faith. You're gonna have a testimony of genuine faith. Verse 13. By their approval of this service, they, that is the saints in Jerusalem, 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.

Other believers are going to glorify God. This is gonna cause other believers to say God is amazing. God is amazing. God, look at what he does. I never would have seen this coming. God, wow, I cannot believe this, and this is a submission to the Lord Jesus himself flowing from the gospel itself.

It comes from the very gospel. Why are they doing this to the saints in Jerusalem? Because of the gospel. I'm reminded what the Apostle John says in 1 John chapter three, beginning in verse 16. Again, these are some gold letter words from the Bible.

By this we know love, that he lay down his life for us. How do you know God loves you? Jesus laid down his life for you. That's how you know he's love, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Wow, now that verse alone, you know what that says? You guys say you love one another, are you willing to die for the person you're sitting next to? He says you ought to. If you really love someone, you ought to be like Jesus.

You're willing to die for the very person that's sitting next to you in the pew. But he says, assuming that not all of us are gonna die for one another, what does he say? But if anyone has the world's good and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. So you can profess that you belong to the Lord Jesus, but giving flows from the gospel. It flows from the gospel. Jesus gave himself for us, so we ought to give of our resources for others.

This is what Jesus did for us. I can do that for others. The world watches, and they should see, the world should see Christians cheerfully parting with their money. The world should see that. When there's a need, they see us willing to do that.

Jesus sacrificed for us, and that drives us to sacrifice for one another. There's still, by the way, there are two more returns yet he's going to talk about. Here's the next one. God says your generosity will produce unity.

Verse 14, while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. He says those Jewish believers will turn to God in intercessory prayer for you Gentiles, and that will be accompanied by a deep affection for you.

What was the very, one of the very first problems in the early church? Do you remember what it was? It was Jewish believers and Gentile believers not on the same page. The Jewish people, the Jewish disciples steeped in what God required of them had a real hard time thinking, what, Gentiles are part of this thing?

No way.

They got to become Jews. They got to be circumcised before they can become part of the church. You remember that was a really big hurdle to get over. What happens to that relationship as this generous gift finds its way to its recipients?

What do they do? They're gonna give thanks for your Gentiles. They're gonna, they are going to be unified. You ever notice the unity that's produced here when we take up a special offering? We say, man, there's a real need.

We need to take up a special offering and people give generously. That produces a unity, you know why? Because we stop thinking about ourselves and we start thinking about others. Either the giving or the recipients, right?

We start thinking about the others. We lose ourselves in ministering to others. Your investment has a return of unity. And then finally, generous giving produces joy. Joy, you want joy in your life? Be generous.

Verse 15, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Here's an eruption of joyful praise on the part of the Apostle Paul. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. We can give generously because of Jesus.

Once more, he points us to the cross. You remember what Pastor Andrews said last week when he came to serve at the table here? Remember what he said?

I do.

He said, you'll notice from the sermon last week. He said, you will notice from this sermon that the gospel permeates everything in your life, including your giving. The gospel has to permeate every aspect of your life, including your giving.

And here he says, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. He says, wow, look at the generosity of God. Look at that, it's inexpressible. I don't have the words to say how wonderful that gift is. And you can have joy because of his generosity.

And this inexpressible joy can show itself in measurable expressions of generosity. And so Jesus giving of himself should motivate you to give as well. All right, God says, generous investments produce a generous harvest, generous returns.

Wouldn't it be great? And I hope if you listen here, you said, look at all those returns that we get if we're generous in our giving. I want that. Do you want to glory in the great returns God has promised?

Then don't invest sparingly, but cheerfully. Cheerfully giving more away, investing it. Great blessings are yours. Great blessings are yours as you do so. And here's the thing, through it all, God will display his glory and Jesus will be elevated.

What a return on what we give. Wouldn't it be great as we give and give and we're generous in that, God's glory is seen even more. God's glory is seen as we learn to trust him more for what he's gonna provide for us.

God's glorified as we see how that money does more than just pay for a building. But it changes people's lives and Jesus is magnified. Father, you are good to us beyond measure. The giving of Jesus is an inexpressible gift.

And yet, Father, that inexpressible gift should move us to be generous. Not just, generous not just to pay for stuff, but we want to be generous so that that money ends up producing these things that you've promised.

Father, would you grant us generous hearts that we may see these wonderful, glorious, spiritual returns. Thank you for your instruction from your word.

In Jesus' name.