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“Deep & Wide” // 2 Corinthians 9:10-15

Mary Ellen Ermis May 22, 2022 Devotionals, sermons, 2 Corinthians, cityrise, Deep and Wide, houston, Roger Patterson, West U Baptist,

The following is a manuscript of the sermon presented by Senior Pastor Dr. Roger Patterson on Sunday, May 22, 2022 at our West U Baptist Campus. To view the sermon in full, check out the link below.

I have heard a lot lately about how our kids in school ought to be required to take a course on basic budgeting…Some sort of Basic Personal Economics Class.

In a class like this, I would assume that these young people would be taught about:

  • Opening a Bank Account
  • Budgeting
  • Saving
  • Investing
  • Compound Interest

They would be shown the basic opportunities available to them if they would pay themselves by saving money; grow their wealth by investing at an early age; budget wisely to avoid credit card debt.

How much further along in life might each of us be if we had that sort of instruction at an early age?

Now, what if the church taught an economics course to teens? What would it entail? What principles would we share with them? What might the church have to say to a teen about God’s will for their financial lives?

I have been thinking about that on this Commitment Sunday and I wanted to take a shot at it, because it is a simple, yet profound message and it comes right out of 2 Corinthians 9:10-15.  I would title the course, YOUR GOD AND YOUR FINANCES.

Let’s read 2 Corinthians 9:10-15 together and then I will share with you the outline of the opening lesson of that class.

Slide: 2 Corinthians 9:10-15

10 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. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 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. 13 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, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Now, if you have your Deep and Wide Curriculum, we are on page 122.

Here is my simple outline of that first class of that economic course for our teens.

Your God and Your Finances

Principle #1: God has a purpose for our finances (v. 10-11a)

Principle #2: God has a call on our finances (v. 11b-14)

Principle #3: God has a gift for us through our finances (v. 15)

Let’s look at each of these briefly today.

I. God has a PURPOSE for our finances.

What is God’s purpose for your finances? Why has God entrusted you with little or much? What is it He wants?

Those questions are significant questions that we need to wrestle with together.

Verses 10-11a leads us to the answer — God gives to us so that we will sow more into his kingdom! It’s that simple. Look at it in verses 10-11a.

2 Corinthians 9:10-11a

10 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. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way…

You can break this down into three parts…

  1. God supplies seed
  2. God multiplies seed – ENRICHED IN EVERY WAY…
  3. We sow…and there is an increase of our righteousness. – WE ARE GENEROUS IN EVERY WAY!

God supplies for us and multiplies our resources so that we will sow more, in order to increase the harvest of our righteousness.

Paul says it this way to Timothy as he is preparing him to lead well.

1 Timothy 6:17-18

17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share…

Joe Rigney says that wealth is a gift from God for the sake of his mission. He gives to us that we might give to others. Listen to these four purposes he speaks of regarding our finances.

“God has richly provided us with everything for four purposes. First, for our enjoyment; it is good for us to gladly receive what God supplies and to enjoy it for his sake. Second, he provides so that we might do good, that our wealth might serve the joy of others. Third, he provides so that we would be rich in good works. Not just rich in wealth, but rich in deeds of charity and mercy. He meets our needs so that we can gladly meet the needs of others. Fourth, he provides so that we would be generous and ready to share.”

My friends, God has entrusted us with the resources we have, whatever they are, so that we might be generous to others, increasing our harvest of righteousness.

That’s the first point I would make in my Kingdom Economic Course Called Your God and Your Finances – God has a purpose for your finances.

What’s the second point that I would make in that first class?

Well, here it is.

Your God and Your Finances

Principle #2: God has a call on our finances (v. 11b-14)

II. God has a Call on our Finances

Look with me at verses 11b-14.

Slide: 2 Corinthians 9:11b-14

…which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 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. 13 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, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 

The second half of verse 11 shows something of how our generosity can multiply thankfulness toward God. As we ourselves thank God for what we have received and give it generously, so also those who benefit from our generosity give thanks to God for what they have received!

The word translated as “service” in verse 12 has connections to both public service as well as spiritual service. This type of public service could have included the contributions of money or services for a specific cause by wealthier residents of the community. The rich were expected to spend a portion of their wealth to promote the common good, but they would receive honors in return, such as public praise or honorific inscriptions. However, as Paul has made it clear, participating in this service that he is requesting is not only something for the wealthiest of citizens, but something that all can participate in.

So, we see a twofold purpose of the collection here, both material and spiritual. It was to supply the needs of the saints, but it was also to abound in thanksgivings offered to God. Thus, the gift is not just a service for the poor, but to God because of the thanksgiving that will result in his glory.

Now, if God has a call on our finances, what does that mean?

Well, verse 13 shows us that there is a submission of our resources unto the Lord, because we follow Christ. And when they are given to expand the kingdom, it results in changes lives.

See it again.

2 Corinthians 9:13b

…they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ…

We submit our resources to Christ and extend generosity to others and the result is life change. That’s the work of the church. The church is a local witness to the grace and glory of God. We have planted ourselves in these locations. We reach, win, disciple and send out so that others might be reached, won, discipled and sent out.

It’s exponential in nature.

You see, we understand God’s purpose for the local church and we invest our resources here so that we might have a long-standing witness to our community, to the city, and to the world.

And when we do this, the result is praise and thanksgiving to God.

That’s what verse 14 shows us.

2 Corinthians 9:14

while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 

Here is the bottom line…when we meet practical needs (the Great Commandment) and spiritual needs (The Great Commission) those who are blessed by our generosity…those who receive from us, in turn pray for us and God’s grace upon us.

I saw this in Ecuador. We have given generously to a church for its completion. We have helped support the pastor and his wife.

We as a church have invested. We have been generous. And here is what happens. Those who have received from us…they gather and pray every Sunday morning at 4am, and we are included in their prayers. We are lifted by them.

That’s the nature of the kingdom.

Which leads me to my third principle I would share in a Kingdom Economics Course titled Your God and Your Finances.

Your God and Your Finances

Principle #3: God has a gift for us through our finances (v. 15)

III. God has a gift for us through our finances.

Look at verse 15.

2 Corinthians 9:15

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

What is this inexpressible gift?

I believe it is the joy of participating in the kingdom…

  • It’s discovering Christ by receiving the good news of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ and His empty grave, as God is the first and most generous giver.
  • It’s developing in our faith by growing in the wisdom and knowledge of God.
  • It’s deploying all that we are for all that He is doing so that others might know Him.
  • And it’s coming to this realization that what we sow into the kingdom doesn’t perish, spoil, or fade…but it continues and multiplies beyond what we could hope, dream, or imagine.
  • It’s the kingdom. It’s living in God’s Abundant Kingdom. It’s sowing, and reaping, that we might sow more and see a greater harvest of righteousness.

It’s God’s Purpose for our Finances. It’s God’s Call on our Finances. It’s Gods gift to us through our finances.

It was Martin Luther who said…

“I have had many things in my hands that I lost; the things that I placed in the hands of God I still possess.”