I’ve been thinking a lot about how much God has blessed us and our nation. Although our province in particular is going through tough economic times, compared to most of the world, we are a prosperous people.

A number of years ago, Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the U.S. Senate, made these comments: “Jesus Christ said more about money than about any other single thing because, when it comes to a man’s real nature, money is of first importance. Money is an exact index to a man’s true character. All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation between the development of a man’s character and how he handles his money.”

In many ways, it reflects what Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” In other words, what your money goes after is a signal of what your heart goes after. And Jesus cares about what your heart is going after.

You see, what we do with our money shows what our hearts are doing with God. Actually, what we do with our money shows what we believe God is doing with us. What money is to us shows what God is to us. Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Life is about our relationship to God. John 17:3, “This is eternal life—true life — to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” What we do with our money shows where we believe life—and joy and love and hope and security and meaning and freedom—is found.

Paul preached to many, but he also taught the churches to give money regularly—and to support at least three things by their giving.

1. To help take care of the poor
When Paul began his ministry to the Gentiles, Peter reminded Paul that in all his ministry he remember the poor. Romans 15:25–26 he wrote, “But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers there. For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem.” And 2 Corinthians 8–9 is an example of how he tried to motivate the churches to give to support the poor Christians.

2. Paul taught that churches should support missionaries
Those are people who go from place to place and plant churches. For example, in 1 Corinthians 9, he says that, “those who proclaim the gospel be supported by those who benefit from it” (v 14).

3. Paul taught that the churches should give to support the ministries of the Local Church
For example, In 1 Timothy 5:18 he said, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!”” And he was referring to the elders of the church who make the preaching and teaching of the Word their vocation.

So Paul taught the churches to give to sustain the poor, to send missionaries, and to support the ministers of the Word. But Paul also taught them to give regularly—in a systematic way week by week. 1 Corinthians 16:1–2.

“Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia. On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.”

I want us to notice several things. First, this instruction is not unique to one church. It is the way he was teaching other churches besides the one in Corinth. Verse 1, “You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia.” This has relevance for all Christian churches.

Second, he calls for weekly setting aside of money for the purpose of this ministry. Verse 2: “On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned.” This is a call for regular giving and not sporadic, occasional giving.

Third, the setting aside is to be on the first day of the week. Already in Acts 20:7, the Christians were beginning to meet on Sunday as their special worship day. Revelation 1:10 calls it “the Lord’s day” because it was the day he triumphed over death. Paul is saying: make this setting aside part of what makes this day holy to the Lord. It is the Lord’s Day. Show it with an act of worship in the setting aside of some money for the cause that he died for.

Finally, notice that it doesn’t say that the money is brought to the church gathering each week, but that there is a setting aside each week. Giving is an act of worship to God, but the act of worship begins at home between you and God as you write the check. In fact that’s the decisive point, isn’t it? When the Lord prospers you, week by week will you do what this text says and set aside an amount to show where your heart is—to show what your life is?

So Paul is following in the footsteps of Jesus when He teaches us to show where our heart is on the first day of the week—the Lord’s day, the day of worship—by setting aside part of our earnings as a testimony of what we love:

We love the poor, and want to reach out to those in desperate circumstances; we love the lost and the people who have no chance to hear the greatest news in the world so we support missionaries; we love the church, the body of Christ, the family of God, and so we support its leaders and its ministries.

So what I want to encourage you with the promises that God makes to cheerful, generous givers who trust in Him. My prayer is that this will increase the joy of faithful givers to press on, and that it will increase the courage of sporadic givers to join the joy giving.

Here are some reasons why giving is a blessing and joyful and they are found in 2 Corinthians 9:6-12:

1. In God’s mathematics the best way to have more is to give away more
Verse 6: ” Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.”Most people operate on exactly the opposite principle to this one, namely, we will have more if we give less. But the Bible says, You will have more if you give more. This doesn’t sound like good mathematics. The problem with that our math and logic is that it leaves God out. That’s what I am trying to say is to put God and his promises back into your finances. God says: if you subtract more seed from your bag, you have more than if you subtract less seed from your bag. That’s God’s promise to you. If you ask, How can this be? we will see more as we move on.

2. God is happy when we are happy.
Verse 7: “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

This is a wonderful truth about God. You may feel it if you imagine what the universe would be like if God were not like this. What if God were like a father who was basically irritated by happy children? What if God was named Scrooge? Maybe you’ve met someone like that. A person who was only joyful when others were sad. If God were like that, everything in life would be meaningless. That is why I love verse 7. Paul writes, “God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”God loves when his children are happy in their giving.Did you know God enjoys when we are joyful? He is happy when we are. I believe He wants us to be a happy and generous people. When you tune your heart to be a part of this rhythm of generous joy, you tap into an infinite source of divine power—God’s sovereign love of cheerful giving.

3. God’s power and grace gives enough to provide for ourselves and others.
A literal translation of verse 8 says, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that by having all sufficiency always in every way, you might abound for every good work.”

Here is the key point I want to emphasize: God gives us more than we need, and the reason He does that is not so we can store up the excess, but so that we can provide for good works—the poor, missionaries, ministries. The verse can be summed up: God gives enough for us, abundance for others. Or to link it up with verse 7: the reason God gives you more than you need is not so that you can reduce your joy by keeping it, but increase your joy by giving it. In God’s wonderful way of calculating, if ten minus one is more than ten minus zero, then 15 minus 6 is lots more than 15 minus zero.

4. Actions confirm our Standing with God.
Verse 9: “As it is written: They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.'”

That is a quote from Psalm 112:9 and the context there makes plain that it is talking about the person who trusts God with his future and gives generously. Verses 8 and 9 make that connection. In other words God will go on giving what we need to be a blessing from now to eternity. I had a fellow student at Briercrest who was like that. God had blessed him with much and he used it to bless others. If we act as conduits for God’s grace (instead of cul-de-sacs), then there will be an unending supply of blessing..

5. Our giving honours God.
Verses 10–11 repeat the previous points and add this one: “For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, He will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.”

Verse 7 says that God loves a cheerful giver—a person who finds satisfaction in giving, a giver who really loves to splash people with the goodness of God. It’s kind of like having a super soaker. God promises to provide abundantly for people like that so that they can be like a spring, splashing and blessing others, and in doing so, increase their joy.

And now verse 11 (and 12) says that in all this God is the one who gets the thanks—God gets the glory. Isn’t that our goal? We, if we live as generous channels, get the joy. God, the generous spring, gets the glory. It is the best of both worlds: our generosity, our joy, and God’s glory all rising together.

Again, Romans 12:1, And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.

Our giving is part of that sacrifice and worship. May God take all these promises and give you joy in giving. In doing so, may every good work appointed for this church to do will be done.