(This is an outline of a message last given at Hollywood Hill Alliance Church on October 17, 2009. You can read the manuscript of "The Grace of Giving" (Part One) - 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 HERE )
2 Corinthians 8:16 - 9:15
“The theological basis for stewardship is the doctrine of grace.” Keith Bailey
1. In collecting funds - a need for propriety 2 Cor. 8:16-24
a. the standard – integrity 2 Cor. 8:20-21
b. the method – accountability 2 Cor. 8:17-19; 22-24
2. Grace giving involves the “law of the harvest” or principle of sowing 2 Cor. 9:6
- sowing always determines the harvest
- sow generously – reap generously. Prov. 3:9-10; 11:24-25; Luke 6:38
3. Grace giving is deliberate 2 Cor. 9:2,5,7
vs. 2 “ready to give
vs. 5 “had promised”
vs. 7 “what he has decided in his heart”
4. Grace giving is voluntary 2 Cor. 9:5,7
vs. 5 “not as one grudgingly given”
vs. 7 “not reluctantly or under compulsion”
5. Grace giving is cheerful 2 Cor. 9:7
6. Grace giving is by faith 2 Cor. 9:8-11
a. God is the source of our giving 2 Cor. 9:8-9
God is the source of our resources.
“As regularly as the resource of the cheerful giver are taxed by his generous giving, they are replenished by divine grace. This gives him a complete sufficiency.” (Murray J. Harris)
b. God multiplies our giving 2 Cor. 9:10-11
“Grace is what God can do, not what we can do.” (Dr. A. B. Simpson)
Law of the harvest: sowing generously pays rich dividends
God supplies the seed (for sowing)
God multiplies seed (for sowing)
God enlarges (increases) the harvest
“God will supply, God will increase, God will enlarge. God will make us rich so that we can be generous on every occasion. Rather than giving once and being out of resources, the person whose heart represents the biblical pattern of giving in generosity and cheerfulness will discover that he has more and more to give and the more he gives the more he has, and the more he has the more he wants to give.”
(Kenneth Gangel)
7. The results of grace giving. 2 Cor. 9:12-15
a. Needs are met. 2 Cor. 9:12
b. God is glorified 2 Cor. 9:11,12b,13
vs. 11b, 12b – thanksgiving to God
vs. 13 – praise to God
c. Our faith is confirmed 2Cor. 9:13
James 2:14-17
Sea of Galilee – it receives water and gives out water
Dead Sea – it keeps everything it takes in
“To give is to live. To restrain, to hold, to guard, to hoard, is to die. The same rive of life in the power of the Spirit of God comes into your heart and into mine, and I would leave the parable with you. Freely you have received; The Lord help us to freely give.” (Dr. Alan Redpath)
© James P McGarvey, All Rights reserved
