Grab your Bibles, open them up. Second Corinthians. We start in chapter nine. And like Michael said, we've been in a section of this letter that's been talking a lot about money and giving and you guys are still showing up. So that's good. But we're gonna continue in this because the letter continues in this and it starts up in chapter nine again with the same kind of theme. And one of the things that I've been wrestling with, or maybe struck by is in this study is this idea that we can give wrongly. Like, what if we're going about it in the wrong way? It's not that we're not doing it, but the way in which we're doing it is not a God honoring way. And I get it that money can be a sensitive subject. We hold it tight. We're ready to be defensive, which maybe speaks to the seriousness of what we need to address. Because it, the root of the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, right? And especially living in a prosperous country, like, hey, we should be on guard against this. And if you think like, well, I give great check, but what if we give wrongly? What if we're going about it so we feel good about that, but we're doing it the wrong kind of way. Cause there is a type of giving that doesn't honor God. And you see this in scripture where he talks about the offerings that people are bringing and saying, I, I don't want em. That's not it. Like, I'm not impressed with your gifts, I'm tired of your offerings. He tells the Israelites, like he's just sick and tired of like, what if we're giving, but we're giving in a way that exhausts God, does not pleasure him. Don't we wanna get it right? Like, if we're gonna do it, we wanna get it right. So what if that's us? What if you look at the letters to the churches in Revelation. What if it's like to the church in Veritas, hey, here's some things I like about you. Cause that's kinda the. You're doing this well. But here's one thing I got. I'm exhausted by your stingy giving. Like, what if we just kind of. Can we just be honest with ourselves? Like, what if we feel good cause we're participating? But what if the way in which we're participating actually dishonors God? Cause there is a type of giving that dishonors God. So what if that's us? What if that's you. Because if we're gonna give, then let's do it right. And if we're not gonna do it right, maybe we shouldn't do it at all. And you're like, I've never heard a pastor say that before. Because sometimes. No, just kidding. No, I'm not. So here's the thing. If we're giving but doing it a way that we're not honoring God, then let's stop dishonoring God. I get that in an idea. In fact, Paul wrote in First Corinthians addressing the same group of people with how they were messing up the Lord's Supper. And he's saying, you're doing this so bad, it would be better if you just didn't meet at all. That was his counsel. That's like, stop messing this up. Like, what if that's us when it comes to giving? Like, maybe it's something we shouldn't do at all. Cause sometimes the posture is especially towards giving. Hey, every little bit counts right now. If the goal is to keep the lights on and pay people and do some ministry, I get that posture. But if the goal is glorify God, then maybe a bunch of little bits don't glorify God. And that's the goal. Like, we want to honor God. That's the type of giving. We want to be a part of giving that honors God. So how do we do that? How do we give? How do we give in a way that honors God? That's more than just kind of keeping lights on. Because why do we want to keep the lights on a place that dishonors God? Let's shut those lights off. How are we supposed to give as Christians? If you remember, a few weeks back when we started in this section, at the beginning of chapter eight, we said, let's just try to define what Christian, like, New Testament Christian generosity is. And we said this, that it's voluntary, sacrificial, joyful overflow of God's grace, despite circumstances, testifying to a changed heart. Like, that's a good definition of what Christian giving is. So we looked at what it is. Well, today we're going to look at how. How should we go about it? And then next week we'll look at why. What's the Christian motivation to give? Why should we do that? So that's where we're going to go. We got more than we'll cover today. We'll look at the same set of verses, or at least an overlap of these verses next week as well. But we're going to start. Second Corinthians, chapter nine is ready. All right, Verse one. Now, it is superfluous. I worked on that word. It's a tricky word which just means unnecess or more than enough. And you might be feeling how he's anticipating them feeling. He just spent a whole chapter talking about money and giving. So he said, I know it's superfluous or it's unnecessary. It's more than enough to continue to talk about it, but I'm going to continue to talk about it. And you might be feeling like, okay, we've spent like three or four weeks in chapter eight. We get it, Jake. We're supposed to be generous. Can we please move on? And it's like, I know you get it. And no, we can't move on because Paul doesn't move on. He's like, but I'm still going to talk about it because it's important. So now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints. For I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. So you remember he used the Macedonians to stir up the Corinthians. Well, he also used the Corinthians to stir up the Macedonians. He's like, everybody's excited to give. And then I'm excited because you're excited, and they're just kind of stirring up their passion to be generous. And then he says this. But I know you're excited. I know you have a zeal. I know you're ready. I know you've been ready for a year. But I'm sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing about you for being so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. So I know you're ready. I know you're excited. I know you promise. I have full confidence that you're ready to give. However, I'm going to send some people ahead of you. Ahead of me? I'm going to send them ahead of me to get you ready, which I know you are. I mean, you're already ready. You don't need it. This is superfluous. But just in case, just in case, I'm sending brothers to help prepare you, to make sure you really are ready so that we're not embarrassed. Because that would be embarrassing, Paul's saying for himself, because I've just built you up, and I've told people how ready you are, how much zeal you have to give. And if I bring some Macedonians with me and we get there and you're not ready, as I told them you would be, that would be embarrassing for me. But not just me. You. Like, I've told them this about you, and. And they get there and they're thinking highly of you, and then you don't live up to the high standard I set of you. That would be embarrassing for you too. So let's try to avoid that. And Paul's saying, I'm gonna do this so that you are ready and it's willing and it's an extraction. But it's this. Like, is he being manipulative? Like, Paul is casting or setting a positive vision for them, and then he's calling them to it, and it's public. So when they get a letter, just, like, gather the church, like, hey, let's read this letter. This is what Paul said. This is what he said about you. Somebody's coming. He's going to help get us ready. Like, he's, like, setting this positive vision of who they are, who they should be, and then he's calling them to live to it and talking about holding them accountable to that. So could you imagine, let's say somebody in our church. So let's say John. Just say John owns a truck. I don't know if you own a truck or not, but for the illustration, he owns a truck. And you know, the friend that has a truck. It's like, everybody wants to borrow a truck because he always got stuff to move. Let's say John's got that truck. And I tell everybody, guys, John is the nicest guy you'll ever meet. Super generous. Like, he would loan you the shirt off his back. He's got a truck. He'd be willing to let any of you use it. I'm so sure he would be. And I just kind of said that to everybody. And then somebody goes to John and they're like, hey, John, don't make me look bad, right? Like, don't embarrass me and don't embarrass yourself. Like, don't you want to be a generous person? Do you See how I kind of put him on the spot, like Paul's kind of putting them on the spot, like I told them, you're generous. Don't you want to be generous? You said you wanted to be generous. Don't make me look bad. Be generous. Don't make yourself look bad. Be generous. Like there's some positive pressure, accountability, to be what we ought to be, even when it comes to how we handle our money. And there's. There's space for that. And that's kind of maybe what you're feeling in these messages. Hey, we're called to be generous. Let's. Let's do that as we look in this. So how, though? How are we supposed to be generous? Let's look at the end of verse five, and we'll go through verse seven. Here's what he says. So that it. It is the gift that he's going to get may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. The point is this. And it's always helpful when the scripture just says, here's the point. The point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So there's a sowing and reaping principle we're going to come back to, but we're actually going to get into that more next week. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. Now, how many of you guys are familiar with those verses? All right, we're gonna try to hopefully leave here with some better understanding, because maybe you've heard them quoted or misapplied. So we're gonna hopefully get a better grasp of these. Now, there is an expectation to give or an assumption of giving. He says in verse seven, each one must give. Like this is a practice we're doing. You also see this in Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount when he's addressing giving. He says, when you give, not if you give, not for those who do give, but when you give, then he goes on to how to do it. So there is an expectation or an assumption that Christians give. That's just what they do. And it's a fair expectation or assumption to make. Just like you would expect a Christian to pray, or you'd expect a Christian to be kind, or you expect a Christian to worship. Those are all expectations you would have. Giving fits right in there. Like, of course you give. You're a Christian. Like, this is what Christians do. And he has this expectation. It's just fitting and it's connected to in the context. If you go back to verse nine of chapter eight, that our Savior, our God is a giver, that he who is rich became poor so that we might become rich. He's a generous God. And we see this and he's like, follow the leader. This is how we act, because this is how our God acts. So should a Christian give? Okay, all right, we're there for 30% of you. You'll catch on. All right, we should do that. I don't think that's a hard thing to sell. Even for those in the room that don't give. You're probably in a disposition of like, but I'd want to or at least know that it's a good thing. So let's just start there. Like, we know that. Something we should pursue. How. How are we to give? Well, we're going to get some counsel on that in these verses and we're going to get some counsel on how not to give. And we're going to get some counsel on how to give. I got four how not tos. If you're a note taker, I'll give you a little outlet where we're going. I got four how not tos and five how tos. So here we go. Let's go back up to the end of verse five because we're going to look at several of these verses twice because there's some contrast being made and hopefully you have your Bible open. It's always better if you see it in front of you. So go back to verse five at the end there. He says, so it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. So I'm coming. I want you to be ready to give because I want you to give. I don't want to take. I want to receive. I don't want to take. I want you to give it to me. I'm not there to just take it from you. In fact, if I come and I take it from you, it's not technically a gift. It's just me taking it from you. So our posture as givers, as Christians, like, it should come from us. Like, we're not being forced to do this, but we should do it. Like, as a church, we don't have fees. Like, we don't have a fee that you play. There's not, like, in our membership where you can get a gold level membership and then a platinum level membership. And we'll try to get you better Seats on a Sunday. Like we don't operate, that we don't. We don't have fees, but we do have expectations. We have expectations that Christians give and Christians are generous and Christians are sacrificial. Those are expectations that are understand that we can make. So we should not give as an exaction. That's number one. Number two, not sparingly. Not sparingly. Look at verse six. The point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So there is a contrast being made between sparingly and bountifully. And clearly sparingly is not a good way to give. And bountifully or generously is a good way to give. So he's saying, don't give sparingly. Don't hold back. The word for sparingly is this idea of closed fisted. What's the image of that? Why is he saying don't give close fisted? It's because if you were sowing seed, you'd get in your seed bag and you pull out a handful of seed and then you kind of shake your fist and let the seed fall and scattered and that's how you'd sow seed. Well, if you're closed fisted, you can do a lot of shaking, but seed doesn't get out of your hand. He's saying, don't be like that. Don't have this closed fisted type of giving where you can like have a lot of activity. It's just you're sparing, you're holding too much back and you can see that you can come to church, you can be in a group, you come to worship. You can come to worship and raise your hands and cry. It's just not a lot getting out of that hand. You're doing a lot of activity. But God sees your heart and your activity and it's like, it's sparingly. Like you have a posture of withholding, holding back. Say don't give sparingly or tight fisted. Number three, don't give reluctantly. Look at verse seven. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly. So he comes right out and says it, hey, don't give reluctantly. It's a heart that doesn't really want to. And really it's just kind of the same idea as sparingly. You're just kind of holding back. You have a disposition where, okay, I'll do it, but I don't want to. The sparingly is Kind of like you're not really doing it reluctantly is you're doing it, but you don't really want to do it. And he says, don't give like that. Now, here's one thing. If you're, like, overly practical, you're like, but if you're doing it, why critique it? Just take it. Right? He said, because it's more than about keeping the lights on. Our giving is about honoring God. And God knows your motives and your motives matter. You are to give with a posture that wants to, not the posture that doesn't want to. So, for example, let's say I bought my wife some flowers and I come home and I give her the flowers, and she's so thankful. But then I tell her, but I didn't really want to. I mean, I'm your husband. I know I'm supposed to. I'm just trying to be obedient. Do you think she wants the flowers? No. If our disposition towards giving is just like, I don't really want to. I'm trying. I mean, you said so. So here you go. Like, God doesn't. This is a news flash for you. God doesn't need your money. He's doing pretty well, okay? But if our disposition of giving is reluctant, he's like, that doesn't honor God. He doesn't want that type of giving. Now, every human can struggle with reluctant giving, especially in a materialistic world where we see all around us all the other stuff we could have. What else we could do with that money if we kept it and didn't give it? Like, it's just coming at us all the time. So it's understandable to kind of be reluctant when we want this or we want that or we want to go here or have that. Like, there's a struggle in giving that is unique to a prosperous culture. We're a prosperous culture. It's understandable. But. But that doesn't mean we let sinful impulses drive our handling of money. Because some people use this as permission not to give. God doesn't want us to be a reluctant giver. I'm kind of reluctant, therefore I shouldn't give. Right. Paul is not saying give in to reluctancy. He's saying confront reluctance. So you have a command to give, you should give, but then a description about giving, you shouldn't give reluctantly. So if you're reluctant about giving, that's not permission not to give. Don't let sinful emotions undermine godly commands. Right. He said, let them confront those. Repent of those emotions. Giving is expected and reluctancy should be dealt with. And the call to give can actually bring that sin to the surface that would otherwise hide or be undetected. Because you might be like, I always consider myself a generous person. I want to be a generous person. I think generosity is a good thing. I didn't know how selfish I was until I was challenged to give. I didn't know how self centered I was until I learned what real biblical generosity looked like. I thought I was doing great cause I was doing better than my unbelieving neighbor. But then when you open your Bible and talk about what God calls us to do in giving, I feel reluctant now. Like, wait, you want me to give? How? Reluctancy is a new feeling. Okay, then repent of it and deal with it. It'll bring those things to the surface. Number four, we're all having fun, right? Number four, not under compulsion. Look at verse seven again. Each one must give as he's decided in his heart. Not reluctantly or under compulsion. Or not under compulsion. So this is kind of the same as an extraction. So we're giving you four how not to's. And really you can put them in two buckets. Extraction or exaction and under compulsion, kind of the same thing. It's a forced giving from outside. Pressure and reluctant and sparingly are kind of the same thing. Kind of this disposition where you don't really want to or not doing it. So basically, don't let anyone make you give, but give and do it right. You kind of see the tension here. Like, don't let anyone make you give, but do it and do it right. So Paul's saying, hey, don't give because someone else is pressuring you to give. Give because you want to give. And Paul is saying this as somebody who is pressuring them to give. Do you see that in the text? Like, this is weird. Like, hey, don't give under compulsion. However, I'm gonna send some people ahead of me to make sure you're ready to give the gift that you promised you were gonna give, right? And don't embarrass me and don't embarrass you. And remember the Macedonians how good they're at giving, right? You do that. And I told them you're also like, there's all kinds of pressure that Paul's putting on them to give. But he's like, but don't give under compulsion. Like, make it be willing. Like, how do we make sense of this? Here's what I think Paul's saying. You should do it. And it's important that you want to do it. And I want to help. You want to do it, you should do it. But it's important. In fact, it's essential that you want to do it. You should want to do what you ought to do. You should want to do what you ought to do. And if you don't want to do what you ought to do, that's not permission to not do what you ought to do. Is everybody with me on this one? Okay. And this is a positive thing. Like, this is you're supposed to do something. So let's flip it and make it negative. Let's say you. There's a command to not do something. In the first service, I used murder. And everybody was looking at me because, like, of course everybody wants to murder somebody, right? They're looking at me kind of funny. Let's use theft. Learn my lesson. Let's lose theft. You are to not steal. Is everybody with me on that one? Can we agree? Okay. Bible's clear. It's in the Ten Commandments. You should not steal. What if you want to? Because all of us have seen something where it's like, I can't afford it, but I really want it. And if I had an opportunity to take it, I might be tempted to take it. Does that give us permission to do something? No. See, when what you ought to do doesn't line up with what you want to do, you don't have permission to not do what you ought to do. And oftentimes you don't want to do what you ought to do, but you're commanded to do it. And feelings can follow obedience. But in our emotionally obsessed culture, we think feelings need to precede obedience. Then you'll never do it, but you're called to do it. So he said, don't give under compulsion. But you ought to give, and you ought to want to give. And I'm here to try to help you give. Paul's saying you got to give. I'm putting pressure on you to give because you should do it. I want to help make you want to do it. I want you to want to give. So you may feel like, Jake, it feels like you're putting a lot of pressure on us to give. I mean, we were talking about this one the fifth week. I think we get it. This is superfluous. We're done. We're tired of it. We're feeling pressure, but we're not going to lock the doors. Everybody's free to leave. Okay? You don't have to give like 100 bucks to get back to your car. Like, you don't have to give, but let me just be open. But we want you to want to give. We want you to want to be generous. We want you to have a heart of generosity. And I bet you want that too. We want that for you. Now, we don't take fees, but we do have expectations. We have expectations, particularly for our members to be financial contributors. One, because it's an understandable assumption and expectation for all Christians. That's clear in Scripture. So if you're a Christian, a professed Christian, it's an understandable expectation that generosity and giving is a part of that Christian practice. But two, it's part of the covenant that we make together. So you look at this situation, why is Paul so confident that they're going to give? Because they promised to a year ago. He set it up and they had a zeal to do it. So he's holding them accountable to a desire they already expressed and in membership. When we covenant together, like we're gonna do ministry together, we're gonna financially contribute together to this thing we're working on. So you've expressed the desire and we seek to hold you accountable to that shared expression of desire. Now, here's what can easily get lost in this text that I think it's important to keep in mind. And that is the type of giving that Paul's talking about in this context. This isn't the within their means giving. This is the beyond their means giving. Remember back in the beginning of verse eight, he says the Macedonians gave according to their means and beyond their means. Well, what's he talking about there? He's saying they practice local, planned, generous lifestyle giving to their. Their ministry where they live. Paul comes in with a ministry need beyond where they live. These are to the saints back in Jerusalem that are in need. There's a famine like, we need to help them out. And they gave above and beyond to that. Not. Not at the expense of what they were doing locally in addition to what they were doing locally. So don't be too quick to apply everything that Paul's saying here to your giving locally. The principles apply, and we're going to draw those principles out. But you need to understand that the situation is different. The situation would be more like me coming to you and saying, hey, in Zambia right now, they had a severe famine. True story. Like our brothers and sisters in Zambia, they're struggling to have enough food. We're going to take an offering hypothetically. I mean, the Situation is real, maybe we'll take an offering. We're kind of figuring that out. The need is real. We're going to take an offering and we don't expect. We're not asking you to stop giving here, to give there. We're not asking you to move your giving. We're asking you to give above and beyond. And we would encourage you to be generous and to be sacrificial and to do this willingly. We're not going to force you to give beyond what you've committed to, but we'd sure love to see you give beyond what you've committed to. That's the type of giving that's expressed here. Not kind of local church type of giving. This is above and beyond. But the principle or the heart behind the giving still applies. Our giving should not be an exaction. It should not be done sparingly. It should not be reluctant. It should. And it should not be done under compulsion. So how should it be then? How should we give as Christians? How should we give as Christians? In a way that we would say this is a way to give that honors God. Let's go back and look at these texts again, because there's contrast that's happening. So verse five, the end there. So that it may be ready as a what, willing gift, not as an exaction. So our giving, number one, should be a willing gift. It should come from us. Like, we're making that choice. Nobody's forcing us to do this. We're making a choice to be generous and it's our choice to give. Number two, our giving should be generous or bountiful. So verse six, the point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So again, the contrast between sparingly and bountifully. Sparingly, don't do bountifully, do give generously. So that closed fist, like don't have this tight fist where not a lot of seeds getting out. Have an open hand, let it out. Like that should be the disposition of our giving that a lot comes out. It should be generous. Number three, our giving should be thoughtful. Look at verse seven. Each one must give as he has what decided in his heart. Our giving should be thoughtful. We should put thought behind it. We should make it a conscious decision. It's the opposite of under compulsion, kind of in the moment emotional manipulation to just kind of lead you to give. Like, no, it should be thoughtful decision. In fact, several weeks ago, when we started in on chapter eight. I was informed that that Sunday was our highest giving Sunday as a church history. And you could see when people get online to give that it was like three minutes right after the message. So instead of singing, you guys were on your phones doing online giving, which, thank you, but no, we don't want. Just kind of this. You got me. You can like heart moment. I should really give and then I'll give and then it's just like, that was a moment and the moment's here and gone. Like, that's not what Paul's advocating for. He's like, no, no, I told you about this a year ago. Like, I'm not trying to trick you. I want you to think about it. Like, put some thought into your giving decision. Paul's calling them to make a decision and he's given them a year to think about it. And when it comes to your giving, sit down and think about it. Make a thoughtful decision. Here's some guidance in how to make a thoughtful decision. It's a decision made. What does it say in the verse in your heart? Now this is important because he's kind of warned us about sinful emotions dictating our handling of money, like reluctancy or greed. But that doesn't mean there's an absence of emotions that should dictate our handling of money. It just should be positive emotions, truthful emotions, gospel informed emotions. So he says, make a decision in your heart. It's a thoughtful decision, but it's not absent of feeling like there's truth. That should both impact our heart and our head, that should inform how we handle money. Like, you should be influenced by the Gospel. He says this in this section of this argument because what's the main kind of motivator for their generosity? God's generosity. Christ who became, although he was rich, became poor for our sake, that we might become rich. He's like, think about that when you consider your giving. Or you go back to verse 14 of chapter 5, for the love of Christ controls us or compels us. We're being motivated by God's generosity towards us because we've concluded this, that one has died for all. Therefore all have died and he died for all. That those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Consider that when you handle your money or make money decisions, that your life is not about you, that it's about God who has made his life about restoring you. Like, let that impact your heart. So make a thoughtful Decision in light of the gospel. Be thoughtful and be moved. Both be thoughtful and be moved by what God has done for you in making those decisions. Number four, Our giving should be cheerful. Look at verse seven again. Each one must give as he's decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. So you should want to give and you should enjoy giving. You should want to give and you should enjoy. You should take pleasure in generosity. You should enjoy getting the privilege. Because what does it say about the Macedonians that they begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the release of the like? They're begging to give. They see this as such an opportunity. Like that should be our disposition to give. So if you go back to that flowers illustration, and I bring flowers from my wife, and she's like, thanks, why do you buy me flowers? It makes me so happy. When you're happy, is she gonna want those flowers? Yes, that's a total disposition. Then, like, well, I don't really want to. I'm trying to be a good husband, Right? If we bring our. Like, the attitude you bring to your giving is worship, not just your giving, but your giving is an indicator to your attitude. And he's saying, God loves a cheerful giver. Now, again, this isn't permission to let a sinful heart dictate your finances. Because some people make this conclusion, if I'm not cheerful about it, then I shouldn't give. Because God loves a cheerful giver. Well, Paul is saying we should give and we should be cheerful about giving. So if you're not cheerful about giving, that's not permission to disobey the call to give. Rather, the call to give should lead us to confront the lack of generosity in our heart. Like, if I should give and I'm not joyful about doing it, why, like, this is heart work. That's good. Like, giving is a sanctifying thing. Okay, if my joy goes down when my giving goes up, why, why is that? Am I putting my hope in the wrong things? Am I putting my confidence in the wrong things? Am I putting my value in the wrong things? Do I think I'll find pleasure in the wrong things? Like, what's the connect here? Why do I feel that? Like, identify a lack of cheer or joy and generosity and then fight it, confront it, deal with it. That's important part of growing as Christians. So deal with what? So we can give cheerfully. Jesus connects our money to our heart. You may not like that he said that, but he said that, that where your treasure Is there. Your heart is also. There's this connection. It's an indicator. Pay attention to the indicator. What is it teaching you about the condition of your heart? What is it showing you that you need to deal with and repent of and address? Because the love of money. This is the warning. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And we live in a culture that the love of money is really easy. Now, I want everybody in this room to hear this. Nobody in this room is above the threat of being lured in to the love of money. And that is the root of all kinds of evil. All of us should be on our guard. All of us should have this disposition of like, it's coming at me all the time. Every day I'm reminded of something I don't have and something somebody else has and the new thing that's out and what do I have to do to get it? And like, we're just constantly like, if money is a spiritual attack, we're on the front lines in America every day. And you are foolish to think that you're not vulnerable to that attack. And we are ignorant if we don't see the severity of that attack. It's the root of all kinds of evil. So we need to take this seriously. So don't give in to a lack of cheer. Fight for a joy, generosity, and fight by ministering to your heart. Because there's a connection between your heart and your money. So go tell your heart what God has done for you. Go tell your heart of the gospel. Go tell your heart the good news so that it affects your money. So our giving should be willing, should be generous, it should be thoughtful, it should be cheerful. But there's one more, there's one more. Number five. In verse six, we get this sowing, reaping principle. And again, we'll get into more of that next week. And then after verse seven, where you get a lot of this instruction. We get this in 8 and through 10. Let me read it to you. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, he may abound in every good work. As it is written, he has distributed freely. So God has given bountifully Himself. He modeled that he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. He who supplies seed for the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. So Paul is telling them, and us, give willingly, give cheerfully, give Generously. And all around this command is this sowing and reaping principle that, hey, what you sow, you reap. And God sees what you give and God is able to take care of you. In fact, if you look at eight, there's like an overemphasis of God's ability to care. So it's like, 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. And it says every, but it's the same Greek word, all good works. So it's just all, all, all. So how capable is God of taking care of his people all times, in all situations? God is able to take care of you. He sees what people give and he is a giver, he is a blesser. And there's a sowing and reaping principle. So what Paul is challenging them to give is give confidently. Confident in what? Confident that God rewards generous people. And confident that God is able to take care of people who are generous and eager to do so. So a few weeks ago, Michael pointed out, like, hey, we've been made rich. Act rich. You got a rich dad who is extremely generous. So act like your rich dad who is extremely generous. Like, he's got you. He's got you. Guys, this is good news. As Christians, we are to be sacrificially generous. Amen. And we have a father who will take care of us and is completely capable of taking care of us. Do you believe that? Do you act like you believe that? Do you give like you believe that? Here's what we need to know. How we give matters. How we give matters. And hear me on this. It's not enough just to give, because maybe that's where you're at. Check. Yep, give. I do that. Check. It's not enough just to give. There is a type of giving that dishonors God. And how we give matters. So here's how we are to give as Christians. Our giving should be a willing, generous, thoughtful, confident decision. All those words matter and come from this text. Our giving should be a willing, generous, thoughtful, cheerful, confident decision. So here's what it comes down to. This is the application. Take some time to make a willing, generous, thoughtful, cheerful, confident, giving decision. Take some time to sit down and use this filter to kind of, you know, are we. Is this our decision? Are we making this? Are we being generous? Is this generous for us? Are we cheerful in this? Okay, we're not like, we can't do this. Both, like, work through those emotions. Like, take the time. And it will take time, but take some time to make a willing, generous, thoughtful, cheerful, confident, giving decision. And here's wonderful news, guys. If you're a Christian, like a real born again, regenerate Holy Spirit in you Christian, you can do this. Like, you could have everything on this list. You can be sacrificially generous and cheerful about it. I'm telling you, it can happen. And you're like, well, how can that happen? Well, if you're confident that God is able to take care of you and sees your generosity and rewards generous people, then you'll be cheerful about giving. Well, how can I be so confident that that's the case? Well, if you're thoughtful about what God has done for us, that he who is rich became poor so that we might become rich. If he did not spare his own son, but gave him up willingly, how will he not graciously give us all things? Like, if you're thoughtful about it, then you will make a conclusion. It is clear that God loves you. He made that loud and clear on the cross. And if God loves you and generously gives towards you, then you should be confident that he will take care of you. And if you're confident that he will take care of you, then you can cheerfully be generous towards Him. It's connected. So use these filters. Sit down. Take some time this week to make a giving decision or review your giving decision, because that may be part of the problem. You've just never really thought about it. I mean, you know, you need to do it and you'll give some here and write a check or here's a 20. You'll try to practice generosity, but you've never thought about it. You've never given intentional thought to your giving, but you got to think about it. You gotta do some math. I've never said that from the pulpit before. You gotta do some math. Get out a calculator. How much is coming in, how much is going out? Figure out percentages, what's generous? Like you need to do some math and you need to do some heart work. Because maybe you've done a lot of math, you've just never done heart work. And maybe you've done a lot of heart work. So you got these bleeding heart. But you've never done math, right? So you never, like, take some time to figure out what it really should look like for you. Do the math and do the hard work. Ask yourself, is this generous for us? Am I cheerful about it? If I'm not, why am I confident? Or Am I fearful? Listen, give intentional gospel minded thought to your giving decisions. And here's the hope. It's not that we would just give or it's not that you would just give more. The hope is that we would give rightly. That God would look at us as a church. And I don't mean a building or an organization, I mean a body, a group of people. And he'd be honored by how we give. He'd be glorified by it. He'd be pleased by it. And I know the world has a lot of different advice to give you when it comes to money. Forget that we don't follow the world, we follow Christ. The world is going to tell you that your money is connected to your security. It's going to tell you that your money is connected to your value and your status. It's going to tell you that your money is connected to the joy and pleasure you can have in this life. And all of it is a bunch of bs. The Bible tells us that clearly God is the source of your security, God is the source of your value and your status. And God is the source of our pleasure and our joy. And this world will tell you you'll only live once and you can't take it with you. And both of those are a lie. You only live once here, but we'll live forever somewhere. And when it's like you can't take it with you, that's not really true. Because when the Bible talks about giving, it talks about it in a way that's referred to as storing up treasures in heaven, that what you do with money now does matter forever. So let's not follow the world financially, let's follow Christ. And if you give some thought to it, he's so trustworthy, so worthy to be followed. He has given us his life. And if we could give with the disposition of like, I trust God that he sees my generosity. And he is a God who rewards generosity. And he is a God who is able to take care of his people, who are generous. And if I have a desire, this is crucial. If I have a desire that in my giving I actually want to please God. And to think about it, when he says God loves a cheerful giver, this is wild. You little old, you have the ability to bring pleasure to God and how you give. And that's our main goal, to please God. May we be a church that does that. Amen. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would wake us up to your glory, that you would break any chains or bondage of materialism and greed. Any love of money that exists in this world, would you just shatter it to pieces? In the light of your glory and grace, would we desire you more? Would we trust you more? And would we give to, please and honor your above all things. We pray this in your name. Amen.