2 Corinthians 9:1-5

 ¹There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people. ²For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. ³But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. ⁴For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. ⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.

Veggies

A farmer shared some of their vegetables to their neighbor. Their neighbor cannot express her joy in word but her facial expression is easily understood as gratitude. The neighbor embraced the farmer not just once, not twice but at least five times. She smiled so sweetly, and her daughter explained that her mother was truly grateful for the generosity of the farmer.

Normally, what do we sense when it feels like we are blessed? We sense peace and gladness. We sense calmness and tranquility. We sense no worry whatsoever. We are not heavily burdened by any concern. And we can readily share our blessings to others who are less privileged.

Such is practical manifestation of God’s grace and love for us. It’s so wonderful, isn’t it? Truly, we always have concerns in life. It’s God’s grace to have positive expectations that everything is taken care of by the Lord. And then, we deeply appreciate when God blesses us even more.

Indeed, when God blesses us, we remember to thank him prayerfully. Together, let us be reminded by Psalm 95:1-7, ¹Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. ²Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. ³For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. ⁴In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. ⁵The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. ⁶Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; ⁷for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.

Regularly, we gather as a church to express our gratitude and praise to God for the many blessings he showered in our life. We praise God for his blessings. We listen to his word. We return his right portion and our offerings. We pray and testify of our glorious adventure with the Lord.

But we always have needs and wants. We want more and better adventures. We want to have great health. Worldly satisfaction is temporal. Complaint of needs is very tiring recurrence. But when we sense blessings from God, we are grateful. To be thankful to God is satisfying and desirable.

God designed his commands for us to be grateful. Can you agree? He promised in Malachi 3:10, ¹⁰Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

Many church members have personally tested that God is faithful to his promise, and he throws open the floodgates of heaven and pours out so much blessing so that we diligently return his tithes and our offerings.

The sense of being blessed by the Lord may arouse us to be ready to give and share our abundance to others, especially to the Lord’s people. The Corinthians responded willingly when Apostle Paul challenged them to give readily. Their enthusiasm to give fired up many believers to give.

1. Fire Up

¹There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people. ²For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.

Apostle Paul instructed the Corinthians to prove their sincerity to give for the service to the Lord’s people. And, he expected that they will respond readily. Titus reported that they excelled in everything as manifestation of God’s grace. Paul expected them to excel also in the grace of giving.

The Corinthians did not wait for them to be told again. They were very enthusiastic to give which stirred up and fired up many believers to share their abundance and contribute relief goods to be sent to poor believers.

Actually, Apostle Paul testified in Acts 24:17, ¹⁷I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.

Apostle Paul and his mission team brought relief goods to the poor believers in Jerusalem who were affected by severe famine, but opponents of the gospel of Christ accused him of causing trouble or riot. Possibly, when Paul was distributing relief goods, people surrounded him. So, those envious accusers wanted to dismiss the mission ministry of Apostle Paul.

Relief Goods

Many years ago, the Philippine government distributed relief goods to families affected by typhoon. Many people complained against the free relief goods they received. They received bags of worn out old clothes. The people felt insulted of what they got. They thought, they deserved better.

So, one Christian church collected stackable goods to be distributed. Every church member was fired up to contribute even financially. Church leaders determined that the collected items should be given only to few families who were affected by the typhoon. So, they prayerfully identified few families as recipients of their generosity. It was intentional generosity.

When we share our abundance, we have to be intentional and be prayerful of who could receive what we may share. We should intentionally use generosity to help potential believers be reconciled to God.

Let’s reflect on Galatians 6:7-10, ⁷Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Many among us have gift of generosity that may fire up anyone to be generous. Willingness to share abundance can stir up other believers to be good and kind to the family of believers. There are many opportunities to be generous but be intentional of who should be the recipient of generosity.        Prayerfully choose the recipient and don’t just find anyone out there.

2. Find

³But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. ⁴For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. 

Titus and Timothy returned to Corinth ahead of the group. They may have carried his 2^nd letter to the Corinthians also. They may have informed the Corinthians that Paul and his team were coming sooner. At that time, Paul and his mission team were in Macedonia visiting the Philippian and Thessalonian churches. Maybe, they went to visit the city of Berea also.

Paul boasted about the sincerity of the Corinthians to contribute to the offerings they carried to Judea. Some Macedonians were stirred up to be generous. Actually, Paul also used the generosity of the Macedonians to fire up generosity among the Corinthians. Truly, when we hear enthusiasm of other churches in the kingdom of God, we want also to participate.

VBS

One ministry that may fire up church involvement is VBS. Nearly 50 VBS staffs, young and old adults signed up to teach, assist in different slots of VBS available. Everyone involved in VBS was enthusiastic and looked forward to participate in the coming years. Enthusiasm is irresistible joy.

It declares in Romans 11:29, ²⁹God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable

God gave spiritual gifts to all believers. He called us to participate in the expansion of his kingdom on earth. If you can identify your spiritual gift, you can determine your calling. If your gift is giving generously, the Lord will supply your needs. If your gift is mercy you will be concerned of the needy.

Have you discovered you spiritual gift, yet? Maybe your spiritual gift is preaching or teaching the word of God. If you are called to teach or preach, rejoice. It declared in 1 Timothy 5:17-8, ¹⁷The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. ¹⁸For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”

God has prepared double honor that teachers and preachers of his word deserve. Enthusiasm in ministry participation attracts curiosity. Be ready to tell that God is gracious, and he sustains his servants. We serve the Lord because he fills our hearts with enthusiastic expectation that he has already delivered our provisions. Always keep in mind 2 Peter 1:3.

³His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 

The term “given” is properly translated as “delivered.” Everything we need for godly life has been delivered. Through knowledge of Christ, we receive everything we needs for godly life. Knowledge of him pertains to intimate relationship with Christ. As we grow intimate in our relationship with Christ, he sustains everything we need for us to behave righteously.

Let’s seriously reflect on Philippians 1:6, ⁶He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

God initiated our reconciliation to him. He sent his most precious Son Jesus Christ to sacrificially die of the cross as penalty for our sins. By his grace, God gave us faith so that we trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God initiated our spiritual journey. He surely finish it into completion. Amen!

3. Finish

⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised.  Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.

Apostle Paul was confident that the Corinthians collected offerings.

Titus took the initiative to return to Corinth. Previously, he visited the Corinthians. He was very much encouraged of their spiritual maturity. And he personally observed that the grace of God was very obvious in the life of the Corinthians so that they excelled in everything and ready to give.

The Corinthians were the first to contribute, and they desired to give again. When Paul returned to Corinth, he expected some Macedonians to join him and actually prove the sincerity of the Corinthians to contribute.

The enthusiastic involvement of believers encourages participation in certain ministries. We also want to personally experience the gladness they have while serving the Lord.  It is our prayer in Philippians 1:9-11, ⁹that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

God has wonderful plan for us that causes us to gratefully praise him. We’ve got to grow in knowledge and insight of Christ. We follow his words prayerfully so that we grow intimately in our relationship with Christ. As we grow closer to God, his plan for us become more apparent, and we trust his ways even more. Christ is the way and the truth and the life.

He prepared life that results to eternally praise and thank him forever.

Joshua

Under the leadership of Joshua, the Lord brought the Israelites into the Promised Land. Joshua and the Israelites were victorious against their enemies because they trusted the Lord. Joshua was grateful and declared in Joshua 24:15, ¹⁵As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Do you want to serve God by obeying his commands? Joshua has proven it that obeying God brought him victory. Israel obeyed and God brought them into the land he promised them. When we follow what God instructed, he surely blesses us to be victorious in everything we do.

Reflect on Hebrews 6:10-11, ¹⁰God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. ¹¹We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.

Discover your spiritual gift to determine your calling. Are you called to lead? Are you called to preach? Are you called to serve fulltime? Participate in the ministry God called you to serve him. Prayerfully give your all.

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