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Thanks + Giving (2 Corinthians 9:6-15)
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Thanks + Giving (2 Corinthians 9:6-15)
A Thanksgiving Message
Sunday Message recorded 21 November 2021
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
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Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milan Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message. If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Origins of Thanksgiving
00:00:43
Speaker
You know, we like the word Thanksgiving, don't we? Have you ever thought about how it's made up of two words, thanks plus giving? Thanks plus giving. 42 times in the Bible, it uses the word Thanksgiving. The tradition of Thanksgiving, though, let's think about that for a moment. Where did it come from? There was a three-day feast back in December of 1621.
00:01:07
Speaker
What would bring 50 pilgrims together with Native Americans, 90 from the Wampanoag Indian tribe, together to enjoy a meal of shellfish, lobster, turkey, cornbread, berries, and deer? I didn't see pumpkin pie on the list, but I'm sure it was there.
00:01:27
Speaker
Why would they enjoy various athletic events like having these foot races and so forth instead of attacking one another? What is it that can bring people together from different races, different places?
00:01:42
Speaker
They all come together. It's to say, you know what? God's been good to all of us. It doesn't matter who we are. God has been good to each one of us. And that's what happened to them.
Pilgrims' Hardships and Native American Assistance
00:01:53
Speaker
But behind the scenes, I want you to know there was something that led up to that Thanksgiving meal. Do you remember what it was? It was a lot of giving, a lot of kindness, a lot of cooperation and working together that took place. You see, these pilgrims were separatists.
00:02:12
Speaker
They were fleeing persecution from the Church of England. They set sail on September the 6th, 1620. They spent two months of rough seas on their journey across the ocean coming to America. When they disembarked at Plymouth Rock, the very first thing they did, they said, let's have a prayer service. Let's all gather around. Let's give thanks to God. When they went through their first winter, it was harsh.
00:02:41
Speaker
Do you know that out of 100 pilgrims, there were like 42 that passed away. And so I'm thinking, wow, that would be really tough to lose people after such a hard journey getting there, half of them passed away. But God brought
00:02:59
Speaker
a Native American man named Samoset, and then he brought another friend of his named Squanto. And Squanto wound up living with the pilgrims. He wound up helping them, teaching them, teaching them things about how to shelter the corn, how to catch fish in the streams, perhaps some pointers on hunting. But eventually, that man Squanto, he prayed to receive Christ.
00:03:28
Speaker
And so he helped them to negotiate a peace treaty that lasted 54 years from 1621 to 1675, broken not by the pilgrims, but broken by a Native American Indian tribe that was aggressive. They bought land at prices set by the Native Americans. They would write a document of the sale of what they paid. It's found in the history of the town of Plymouth by James Thatcher, written in 1835.
00:03:58
Speaker
But the history of the blessings given to the pilgrims demonstrates something for me, and I think something for you.
Scriptures on Generosity
00:04:05
Speaker
It matches what we're about to read in this passage of scripture, that sowing seeds out of a heart of gratitude, sowing seeds out of a heart of thanksgiving and thankfulness, it actually leads to a harvest of more people who would say, you know what? I am so grateful.
00:04:25
Speaker
for what they did for me, how God blessed me through what they did.
00:04:29
Speaker
Would you stand in honor of God's word? We're gonna look at 2 Corinthians 9, six down through verse 15. I have four things I wanna say today. Someone said to me, you don't have to worry about when to stop because we've got lunch for everybody. No, wait, somebody didn't say that. That's what I wished somebody would have said. I got you, don't worry, I'm not going long. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly,
00:04:59
Speaker
will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he's decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver,
Impact of Giving and Gratitude
00:05:17
Speaker
and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times
00:05:28
Speaker
you may abound in every good work. As it is written, he is distributed freely. He is 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
00:05:59
Speaker
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,
00:06:13
Speaker
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.
00:06:30
Speaker
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.
Church's Global Mission Efforts
00:06:44
Speaker
I love the way he ends it. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Let's go to the Father in prayer. O Lord, thank you so much for how good and gracious you have been to each one of us in this room.
00:06:58
Speaker
Lord, you created us. Our life, our breath, our heart, our mind, our lungs, they're all gifts from you. Lord, thank you so much. Thank you so much for how you also blessed us through Christ. You provided for our salvation. And so we're so grateful for that. We thank you so much that not only that, you said you're going to prepare a place for us. And even though we have hard times in this life,
00:07:26
Speaker
In that next place, you said, there's no more crying. There's no more death. There's no more separation. There's no more sickness. Lord, we're looking forward to that time with you. But thank you that on the journey,
00:07:40
Speaker
We're not alone. We can be together. And so we are so excited to be here today to give you thanks. And so Lord help this passage come alive. Help us to realize that you've been good to us for a purpose. And that purpose is that we would share and give, that we would be a blessing to others so that they in turn would give you glory and give you thanks.
00:08:05
Speaker
Lord, this morning it was such a blessing to hear Stephen Tice talk about how Jacob is honoring you there in Osaka, Japan. It was such a blessing to hear Jeff Coleman say that you're using his son and daughter-in-law Tanner and Katie Coleman in Greece. Lord, we can't thank you enough for calling out these young people from our congregation to go and share the gospel other places. Everywhere that we're sending them,
00:08:33
Speaker
Those people are glorifying you, and they're giving thanks to you. And we get to be a part of it. So thank you, Lord, for this passage. Speak to us now as we look at this passage together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
00:08:53
Speaker
The title of the message today is thanks plus giving. Thanks plus giving. I saw in here how this all fits together in an incredible way, and so I was really excited today to share it with you. You know, gratitude is to giving as seeds are to sowing. Some of you are farmers. You know what I'm talking about. A farmer puts in a crop only if he has seed.
00:09:23
Speaker
If he doesn't have seed, he can't sow a crop. But when you have seed, then it's exciting to be able to put that seed in the ground and to watch it grow and to watch the increase.
00:09:37
Speaker
You know, that's I think what he's getting at in verses six and seven. We've received God's grace, right? We've tasted God's goodness. And so from that goodness, it makes us grateful. And we're thinking, Lord, I'm so glad that you've had grace on me and you've been good to me in my life. And so I wanna share with others what you've given to me.
00:10:03
Speaker
And I thought it was interesting how in verse 6 it says, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. The word bountifully there in verse 6, it comes from the Greek word eulogia. Eulogia. It means blessing. It means bounty.
00:10:28
Speaker
It refers to somebody who's really received a lot from God, so now he doesn't mind. She doesn't mind. You know what? God's been so good to me. I want to share from the blessing, from the overflow. You know, grace is mentioned in chapter eight and chapter nine, eight times. I mean, it's all through here. We've all tasted amazing grace.
00:10:52
Speaker
God freely gave us so much. And so what should be a natural response that we would have? I mean, let's just think for a moment about a farmer. The farmer is going to put in the hard work, right? There's no doubt that farmer, the farmer is going to work hard in order for the crop to be raised. But there are still some things that even the farmer who's going to be hardworking is still given. Let's think about them for a moment. How about dirt?
00:11:21
Speaker
Dirt is a gift from God. Rain would be a gift from God. Sunshine would be a gift from God. How about the farmer's body? His body is a gift from God. Health in that body is a gift from God.
00:11:39
Speaker
many farmers, at least the ones I knew in Alberta, Canada, where we were up there for four years, we knew many farmers. And I hardly knew of one that farmed by himself. Most of them farm as families. And so usually there's someone else that the farmer works with because if it was all on him, he couldn't do as much as he could with a family. And then I thought, oh, what about teachers?
00:12:06
Speaker
Would the farmer be able to accomplish as much if he hadn't gone to school, if he hadn't heard some things from the teachers on how to add, subtract, multiply, divide, how to read? You know, teachers are really important in our lives. Have you ever stopped to just say, Lord, if my teacher, perhaps it's your mother, perhaps it's a school teacher, but if they hadn't taught you to read, what would you have been in your life if you hadn't have learned to read?
00:12:36
Speaker
I'm just thinking about all these
Historical Insights on Gratitude
00:12:38
Speaker
different blessings, even the seed itself. See, we can't create a seed, we just use the seeds. We can plant the seeds that God already has. So my point is that there's blessings that precede the giving. There are blessings that precede the sowing, but there's also gratitude that prompts the giving, right?
00:13:02
Speaker
Whenever we talk about sowing gratitude through giving, look at verse seven closely. God's trying to tell us, how does he want us to give? Grudgingly, reluctantly, a lot of pressure from others on you, under compulsion. No, not at all.
00:13:20
Speaker
Gratitude prompts giving. I think that's the underlying flow of this whole passage in verse seven. Each one must give as he decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. You see, I'm not gonna give out of an internal protest or God says, you know what? I don't even want it. If you don't wanna give it, then don't give it.
00:13:48
Speaker
Or I'm not going to give because, you know, people from the church, they're going to come by and they're going to bring the biggest guy and they're going to say, look, we haven't seen anything in the offering from you. It doesn't work that way. Don't be afraid. If you're new and you're saying I'm out of here, you know, not saying it doesn't happen that way because God says it shouldn't happen that way. It's not out of compulsion. It's not out of grudgingly giving and saying, okay, I'm going to let it go.
00:14:16
Speaker
No, it's a personal decision, he says, in the heart, right? In the heart, it's something we decide ahead of time. I'm not just gonna give spontaneously, I'm gonna think about this. I'm gonna think about how good God's been to me, and then I'm gonna give because I purposed in my heart.
00:14:34
Speaker
I want to give this. But then I thought about how there's an emotional delight in it. He uses the word, a cheerful giver. The word there comes from the word, the root that we would talk about being hilarious. It's not talking about you laughing while you're giving, but I think it's talking about I'm joyful. I'm glad that I can give. See, this promise is also not the more you give, the more you're going to get back.
00:15:03
Speaker
It's included, but notice the purpose. The promise is not the more you give, the more you get back, it's the more you give, the more you will get to give. It's like God will say, okay, so you're gonna honor me with your giving, with your sharing, so I'm gonna bless you with even more. And so that's where I want us to go with this second principle of thanks plus giving.
00:15:28
Speaker
It's supplying of grace for even more giving, verses nine through 11. You see, the focus in verses six and seven was on how we're gonna sow. Sparingly, we're gonna sow bountifully. But then I go to these next verses, eight through 11, I'm thinking, now we're talking God's supplying. So it's not how I'm sowing, it's how God is supplying what God is going to do. Who is the source?
00:15:56
Speaker
of our resources. Where does it come from? You know, I found it interesting. I did a little bit of research from our founding fathers. There's so much we can learn from them. And I wanted to read you a quote from George Washington's October 3rd, 1789 proclamation of a day of thanksgiving.
00:16:16
Speaker
I want you to listen for one word in what he says, providence. He knew that God worked sovereignly over them, and providentially God had allowed them to experience all the blessings they had. Listen to what? These are his words. This is a historical document. Whereas it is the duty of all nations.
00:16:38
Speaker
to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor. And whereas both houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.
00:17:03
Speaker
To be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. I thought, that's so well said.
00:17:21
Speaker
He's just simply saying, all that we have in our country, it's only ours because God has been good and gracious. And in His providence, He supplied our needs. You know, I find it interesting that that's what they were writing about. That's what they were saying. They always knew that all the blessings we have, they came because God was good and God was gracious to us.
Cycle of Grace and Gratitude
00:17:46
Speaker
You know, I hope we don't forget that as a nation, as a people, that all the people living in the United States, whoever they are, would all recognize, you know, what God has providentially blessed us as these United States. I also want to
00:18:04
Speaker
Look at this passage with you a little bit and think about, okay, if we have a supply chain problem in 2021, what would be the best response for us? I wonder if there's a spiritual route that we should go back to God and say as a people, humbly before God, Lord, you know what? We've forgotten.
00:18:26
Speaker
we're assuming we're the ones, you're the one that supplies our needs. And so we could come back and we could remember things like we see written right here. For example, verse 8 says that God's the provider of our needs, right? It says, and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency
00:18:49
Speaker
That's when we have enough, right, for what we need in all things at all times. And I'm thinking, thank you, God, for how you supply our needs. You see how it's all connected together? He's the provider, but there's a purpose, like I said earlier, for the plenty. There's a purpose for plenty. When you have more than what you need, there's a purpose there. God is saying,
00:19:13
Speaker
that you may abound in every good work. Verse 11, you'll be enriched in every way to be generous in every way. So God doesn't want us to be like a miser. God wants us to say, oh Lord, I wanna invest in your work. I want your gospel to be spread around the world. I wanna see what you can do. That's why you bless me.
00:19:35
Speaker
So it's so interesting how he supplies the seed, he satisfies the need, but then he multiplies the deed. It's like, you're just, say, giving one, you're giving an offering, and all of a sudden, it's like it touches people around the world, and they get touched, and they're grateful, and they say, you know what, I believe I'm gonna give because someone gave to me. You see, the third principle of thanks plus giving, it looks beyond our gifts,
00:20:05
Speaker
and beyond our gathering to glory, glory that's gonna go to God. Seeing God glorified through giving is the third principle.
00:20:14
Speaker
Try to picture in your mind this, it's sort of like a cyclical flow chart. It's like a circular chart, okay? So at the top of the chart, think this in your mind. God expresses his goodness to me by giving me grace. So I've been given grace, I've tasted God's goodness. So what's my response?
00:20:37
Speaker
gratitude, Thanksgiving. I'm so grateful in saying, thank you, Lord. So I'm so thankful that there's an overflow that causes me to say, you know what? There's something I would like to share with somebody else that's in my life. So you share with somebody else. Out of gratitude, we're generous to others. Those are the first two points that we just looked at. As you go into the third point, keep that flow chart going in your mind. At the bottom of the flow chart, we could write these words.
00:21:07
Speaker
Others, others that we have given to, now they're grateful. And you know what they're gonna do? They're gonna glorify God. And they're gonna say, thank you, God, for how you blessed me through these people. Let me read those verses, verses 11 through 13. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. You see, it comes along with it.
00:21:34
Speaker
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, the people who receive. So now I'm thinking, okay, so it started out with God's goodness, God's grace to us.
00:21:57
Speaker
Out of gratitude, we are generous to others. And then it goes down to others now are grateful and they're gonna glorify God. So now I want you to go to the fourth and final principle. It's found in verses 13 through 15. We're looking at principles of thanksgiving, but we're breaking the two words apart. Thanks plus giving. What's the final principle? It reminds us of how sharing the gospel
00:22:26
Speaker
sharing the gospel occurs through our giving.
00:22:30
Speaker
Do you know that when you give an offering to this church, do you know that people in Columbus hear the good news? Children, adults, teenagers, people all across this county even hear the good news of Christ. Whenever you give an offering, do you know that a part of our offerings that we receive are sent to the Colorado Baptist Association? It represents a major portion of South Texas. There's four different counties involved.
00:22:59
Speaker
Do you know that also when you give to us, we're saying let's share it with the children's home. There's two children's homes and they're loving on kids, they're providing for kids. And so every time, not just one month, but every time this is taking place. So you see what I'm trying to get at? I'm trying to say that our offerings, our giving, it results in people hearing about Jesus. People seeing Jesus.
00:23:28
Speaker
People encountering him through missionaries. You know, for example, we have missionaries in Greece. We have missionaries in Nicaragua. We have missionaries in Japan. We have missionaries in Ethiopia. We have missionaries in Papua New Guinea, in Mozambique, in El Salvador, in Canada, in Mexico.
00:23:52
Speaker
And if that's not enough, those are just the individual missionaries, but our church also, we contribute to the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. I'm saying every time we give.
00:24:06
Speaker
But the thing is, it all starts with God's goodness, with His grace, and then someone gets grateful and says, you know what? I wouldn't mind to give. So then they get generous, and then that generosity goes around, and it starts causing other people to be grateful, and then they start glorifying God. Then it goes on up, and the gospel goes all around this county, all around the United States, all across the world.
00:24:34
Speaker
all
Unity in Diversity
00:24:35
Speaker
because we said, you know what? I'm so thankful for what God has done. The last statement that Paul makes about this topic seems to sum it all up, doesn't it? Look at it right there. It's so clear, verse 15, thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift. You see how thanks and giving, they go together. Someone gives, and someone else says, thank you.
00:25:02
Speaker
God gave, and so each one of us say, thank you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. How would you describe Jesus? You know what the apostle Paul faced? He thought, you know what? He's so good. I don't even know how to say it. And so you know what the Greek scholars tell us? There's nowhere else you'll find the Greek word for indescribable, inexpressible. You know what the apostle Paul did?
00:25:30
Speaker
He said, I'm making up a word. I'm making up a word because I don't have a Greek word that describes that. And he said, when I think of Jesus, I can't quite get it all in of exactly what he means to me. And that's exactly what happened to the writer of this passage. Paul, once he encountered Christ, he trusted in the finished work of Christ, the Atonement of Christ, his life totally transformed. He said, you know what? For the rest of my life,
00:26:00
Speaker
I'm going to testify. I'm going to give thanks to God for how good and gracious He has been to me. You know, I believe those pilgrims, those pilgrims shared more than just money. I believe when they sat around those tables, they shared their testimonies. They said, you know what? We came across the ocean. There were moments we thought we weren't going to make it. We thought this ship is going down. We're going to submerge. But God was gracious.
00:26:30
Speaker
After that first winter, I lost my wife, lost my husband, lost my dad, lost my brother. You know, all kinds of different relationships. They say only three families were left intact after that first winter.
Call to Personal Faith
00:26:44
Speaker
So harsh. They were thinking, maybe we made a mistake. And then God sent Samoset. Then God sent Squanto. And they said, we have an incredible harvest now.
00:26:56
Speaker
And we are so grateful for this. And it's all a part of their time that they're giving these other people and saying, you know what, gather around our table. And so all of these braves from the Wampanoag Indian tribe, they gather around the table. And maybe with tears, maybe with triumph, they just share with one another. Because I'm sure that the Native American people, they had their own hurts that they also had.
00:27:26
Speaker
Jesus was invited to a nice meal like we're about to go down the hall and receive. A nice meal in the home of somebody that you wouldn't think would invite him in there. He was a Pharisee. His name was Simon. And right in the middle of the meal, this woman comes in just weeping. She comes in crying.
00:27:45
Speaker
And so part of her tears, they must have dropped down on Jesus' feet. His feet would have been behind him. They wouldn't have been under the table. They sat on cushions so the feet were behind. And so her tears must have fallen on his feet. And then she's like, oh my goodness. So she takes her hair and she wipes off his feet. And then she kisses his feet. And I'm thinking, wow, this is incredible. But that woman was so grateful.
00:28:12
Speaker
for forgiveness of her sins. But at the same moment, there was a Pharisee, Simon, the host of the meal, he's sitting there and he's looking at this lady and he's looking at Jesus and he's saying, I don't think he really is God, because if he were God, he would know she's a sinful woman. And so Jesus all of a sudden says, Simon, can I ask you something? He said, yeah.
00:28:38
Speaker
He said there was a landowner and he had two men that owed him something. One owed him 50 denarii, the other one owed him 500 denarii. But the money lender looked at both and he knew they couldn't pay it, neither one. And he said, you know what, I'm gonna forgive you of your 50 denarii and I'm gonna forgive you of your 500 denarii. And he says to Simon, which one loved him the most? And Simon says,
00:29:07
Speaker
I would think that the one that was forgiven more. Do you get what Jesus was trying to say? The more he's forgiven in your life, the more grace you've received in your life, think about where you were before and say, Oh God, I'm so glad that you gave me, not what I just served. You gave me what I didn't deserve. You gave me mercy. You gave me grace.
00:29:31
Speaker
That's what this day is all about for us, giving thanks. I want you to stand. Perhaps you're here and you would say, I don't know Christ personally. You guys speak as though you know Him. We do know Him. He came and He wants you to know Him. You can have a personal relationship with Him. Where it starts is when you say, I'm gonna come as I am. But let's go to Him in prayer and ask Him to guide us through this time of invitation.
00:30:01
Speaker
Lord, I'm so glad that you forgave that sinful woman who was standing there at that table. That should have been me, should have been me standing there at the table saying, I'm grateful God. She was thankful. There was a leper, only one out of 10.
00:30:21
Speaker
came back and said, hey, I'm so grateful you forgave me. I'm so grateful you healed me. You healed my life. Sin had really made a big mess in my life when I was in high school. And when I was in college, you healed me on the inside. And such a difference. And so Lord, I'm praying for anybody that's in here that needs to, out of gratitude, realize grace has been extended.
00:30:48
Speaker
But grace hasn't been accepted yet. Perhaps they've not received you. So I pray that today they would realize what they need to do is turn from their sin, turn to Christ in faith, and say, Lord, I'm ready to follow you as my Lord and Savior. You bless our time together, and we'll give you thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.