Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now come along.
Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here.
Today.
We're going to be picking up our study in 2 Corinthians.
It's been a little while.
We broke into some study in December, looking at the greatest
gift that was ever given in Jesus Christ.
And then we looked at how we can use the gift of the Spirit in
our life to serve others.
And then we looked at, for the last three weeks, goals for a growing
church.
And we looked at the first goal being that our church must be
centered in the Gospel, in what we preach, in what we live,
in, what we share.
The Gospel must be the centerpiece.
But then we realize that though many times we can be focused
on the Gospel, we might not be unified in the Gospel.
And so the second aspect of a growing church would be to.
To group, to come together, to.
To unify, to be, as the Bible says, in one accord in our purpose
for the gospel.
And then if we have our individual life centered in the gospel,
we're unified as a church in the gospel.
The next step, Scripturally speaking, in the Great Commission
is to go right, to take that into the world.
Um, and we know the Great Commission is to go and to preach
the gospel to all the world, to demonstrate who Jesus is and what
he has done for us to this world.
And.
And so we are gonna continue on with that here this morning.
The theme go, but how do we go?
We go as ambassadors for Christ.
That's really the theme of 2 Corinthians, chapter 5.
And we're going to be in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 here this morning.
But I want to recap just a little bit with you, because I know
it's been a while since we've been in Second Corinthians, so I
want to go back to Second Corinthians chapter five.
And we're going to start in verse number 17, our scripture reading
for this morning.
And we're going to see that as believers, and that's the starting
place for going.
To be a believer means to be transformed.
To be a believer means that we are new creations in.
In Christ.
And so 2 Corinthians chapter 5 tells us, verse 17.
It says this.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, and I, I Love that phrase
in Christ because it speaks of our identity in Him.
We're not just people that go to church.
We're not just people that have had some help in our lives.
We are people that are identified in Christ.
Christ is our life.
Christ is our hope.
Christ is our everlasting destination.
And that is to be with him in heaven forever.
Eternal life.
And so I, I, I thought about it this way.
Verse 17, it says this.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
And so when God saves us, and that means we come to him in faith,
we trust in him, and he extends grace and salvation to us.
So when he saves us, he transforms us into a new creation.
And so if you have your notes on the back of your bulletin, I,
I know that that's one of the blanks there.
But I, I want you to understand what that means.
That means this.
We are no longer identified by who we are in our flesh, in our sin,
in our failures, in our inadequacies.
No.
God now transforms us to be a new creation, a new creature in Him.
And that means that we have power given to us.
That means that we have provisions given to us.
That means that we have peace given to us.
There's a lot of things that fall in that category of having a
new identity in Christ.
But with that identity in Christ comes a purpose, right?
God doesn't just save us and change us and say, okay, now just
keep living the life that you want to live.
No, with that transformation comes a purpose.
And what is that purpose?
Well, he goes down further, right?
He talks about the ministry of reconciliation, which means we now
have a job to proclaim that to the world.
Like the ministry of reconciliation means this.
We have a job to reconcile people to Christ, to, to bring the
message of reconciliation to Christ.
And so he says, you have the ministry of reconciliation, verse
19, the word of reconciliation.
That's the gospel.
Then he says in verse number 20, now, then, we are ambassadors
for Christ.
What's an ambassador?
An ambassador is someone who represents somebody else in another
place.
So now we as Christians are, are living in a foreign land.
You say what?
I'm not a foreigner.
I, I live, I'm born and raised in America.
Well, here's the thing.
This world is not our home.
That the Bible says that now that we are saved, we are ambassadors
for Christ in a foreign land.
Because where's your identity?
Where is your residency for eternity?
Heaven.
Right?
You are an ambassador for Christ in this world.
And so the Bible says you are an ambassador for Christ, as though
God did beseech you, plead with you by us, meaning we pleaded
with you to come to Christ.
Now he is pleading with you to be an ambassador.
He says, we pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to
God.
And then he explains how that all can happen.
Verse 21.
For he hath made him to be sin for us.
He's talking about Jesus here.
So, so he says, the one who did no sin, who knew no sin, he is
the one that bore the weight of sin on his shoulders.
He's the one that paid the price for you so that you might.
That we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And so it's not our righteousness, it's Jesus's righteousness
on our account that gives us the opportunity to be on God's side,
to be his ambassador.
So we are ambassadors as we go.
And so the next blank there means this.
We have a new life in Christ, that new life is a new purpose.
That, that new life is a new way of thinking, that new life is
a new way of reacting.
It's a new way of loving, it's a new way of serving, it's a new
way of giving.
We're going to talk all about that in this study.
So he says, this is your new life, this is your new purpose.
And that is God calls us to be ambassadors.
He calls us to be ambassadors.
And so if you are a believer this morning, if you have trusted
in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have a job.
And that job is to be an ambassador.
Now you might say, well, what does that mean for me?
Do I have to preach every Sunday morning?
Well, that might not be what your role is as an ambassador.
And that's why we talked about the spiritual gifts back around Christmas.
Remember that?
We talked about how different people are equipped different ways
in the power of God to utilize what God has given you in the message
of the Gospel to the world.
So some people might be serving in the area of mercy, some
people might be serving in the area of ministration, some people
might be serving in the area of proclamation of preaching.
And so that list goes on and on.
And the Bible tells us that everyone comes together in different
ways to be an ambassador for Christ.
So that's the purpose, that's the mission.
And so that's the context, the recap of what Second Corinthians,
chapter five was all about.
And it was pushing us towards something called grace giving.
Grace giving.
And, and we left off in Chapter eight.
And it was speaking specifically of how God had materially
blessed the church in Corinth and how he was challenging the church
at Corinth to give back what they had been blessed with, with
their talents and with their treasure, specifically speaking with
their material blessings that God had given them.
And they used the Macedonian church.
So there was another church in Macedonia that was used as an example.
They gave out of their poverty, they gave out of their struggle,
but they did it cheerfully, they did it with excitement, and
God used their investment for the kingdom.
And so we're gonna go to chapter nine, Second Corinthians,
chapter nine.
This is gonna be our main text here this morning.
And we're gonna talk about grace giving as an ambassador for
Jesus Christ.
You know, the way that we live our lives now, as ambassadors, must
be different.
We must think differently.
And.
And one of those things would be thinking about giving differently,
because usually what the world teaches about giving is this.
And by the way, I'm not just talking about financial giving, even
though that would be an area of giving, but I'm talking about
giving in general.
Giving of your time, giving of your.
Of your talents, giving of your family, giving of anything in
your life.
And the Bible says that giving should be different.
As Christians, as ambassadors, we should be giving differently than
the world gives.
The way the world gives in many ways is this, hey, let me give
to you so that you give back to me.
You've heard that before.
Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
And it's that idea that the world teaches that, hey, you only
give if you can afford to give, or you only give if you get
something back or if it benefits you.
But the Bible says that there's a different way of giving.
Some people say, you know what?
I.
I will give if it makes sense to me, or I will give if it doesn't
hurt me.
And the Bible says, though, there's a different type of giving.
And so in Second Corinthians, chapter nine, we're going to see
that in our salvation, in our transformation, there is a renewal
of thinking, a renewal of giving.
And so, Second Corinthians, chapter nine.
Let's look at verse number one.
It says, for as touching the ministering to the saints, meaning
the service to other Christians, it is superfluous for
me to write to you, meaning, hey, I don't really need to write
this to you, but I'm gonna write to you anyway.
It's kind of like when I'm teaching.
I said, you guys all know the story.
And then I Tell you the story.
That's what Paul's doing.
He says, you guys know how to serve.
You guys know what it looks like to serve.
You guys know what it looks like to give.
And it's superfluous that I have to do this, but I'm going to
do this anyway.
That's what he says.
Verse 2.
For I know the foreignness of your mind for which I boast of you
to them of Macedonia, meaning, remember the Macedonians that were
the good examples of giving.
The reason why the Macedonians were giving so well is because of
your example.
He says, there was a time where you understood what it meant
to serve.
There was a time where you understood what it meant to give,
but you've slipped, you've regressed.
And he says, I've actually used you as an example for other
people.
And so I know you know what to do.
And so he says, I.
I boasted of you to Macedonia that.
That IKEA was ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked
very many.
Meaning you had zeal at one point.
I think all of us, if we are believers for long enough, we've
gone through seasons of zeal for the Lord, of excitement for the
Lord, but it's very tempting because of a lot of reasons, distractions,
pain, difficulties that we might regress in our zeal for the
things that God has called us to do.
And so in the renewal in our salvation comes that passion to change
the old ways and to live in the new.
And so there's that zeal there.
I mean, one of the most exciting things that I can see is
a new Christian and their excitement to do the things of God.
But one of the saddest things to see is a Christian that has waned
in that.
That they've.
They've gone back to the point.
Well, you know what?
What's the use?
Almost we get to a place where there's jaded Christians.
Meaning, yeah, look, we serve here and look what happens.
I get hurt again.
I stretch my neck out too many times and see, I'm paying the price.
And the idea is, is that's not the spirit that we're supposed to
have as believers.
Verse 3.
He says, yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you
be in vain in this behalf, that, as I said, ye may be ready.
Meaning, look, you were passionate at one point, but we're
sending some people to you to be stirred, to be renewed in your
grace, giving into your ministry.
Verse 4.
Less haply if they of Macedonia come with me and find you
unprepared we.
That we say not ye should be ashamed.
In the same confident boasting.
So he says, hey, I.
I don't want to be ashamed of your testimony.
If they come and find you and you're not in a place where you were
before, you don't have that same zeal that we told them about.
And.
And I thought about that, and.
And I thought about what that looks like.
And again, I.
I think that as Christians, one of the things that we need to
think about is.
Is.
Is how or who we are serving.
You know, we.
We are serving people, but ultimately we're serving God.
And if God was to come and inspect my life, if God was to come
and inspect Middletown Baptist Church, what would he say?
Would he say, hey, you know what?
Great job.
Keep it up.
Or if he walked in our midst, even though we know he's here, we
know that his presence is here, sometimes we forget about that.
And if Jesus walked through those doors and he said, okay, I'm
time.
Time to inspect Middletown Baptist Church, where do we stand?
How many of us would say, hey, you know what?
Praise God, he's here.
How many of us would say, oh, boy, I gotta get some things in order.
I got.
I gotta.
I gotta organize a few more things.
You know, we have family in town.
It was Silas's birthday.
And as people are coming into our house, you know, Alicia and I
are scrambling to get everything ready.
And, you know, I guess we're never really ready to have people
here and get prepared.
They don't care.
But, you know, I'm the type of person, I want to make sure everything's
just right.
And it's not always just right.
All right?
Every time you try to have a plan, it doesn't work.
And so I'm not saying, is your life perfect?
Because none of us.
None of us will have a perfect life.
But the point is, is that, are we living because God's always concerned
about our heart?
Where is our heart in the matter of service?
Where is our heart in the matter of giving?
So he's going to talk about giving here in verse number five.
And we're going to see that in the renewal process, he's going to
give us, number one, a new desire.
Our desire is no longer to only receive, but now we have a new
desire to give to others and to give to the Lord.
Verse 5.
Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren
that they would go before you and make up beforehand your bounty.
Whereof ye had noticed before that the same might be Ready as a
matter of bounty and not as a covetousness, but this.
I say, he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly.
And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
So.
So he says, hey, there's a principle here.
There's a principle that if you are looking to invest into the
kingdom of God and receive these benefits, hey, you need to
give.
Now, he's not talking about this prosperity gospel that if you
give to God, he's gonna give you back more money.
Okay, that's not how it always goes.
But he's speaking of the blessings here.
He's speaking of a new desire.
He's speaking of the desire that I want to invest into the kingdom
of God.
If God has blessed me financially, I want to use that for
the kingdom of God.
Maybe God hasn't blessed me as much as someone else financially.
He talks about that.
He talks about the proportion of which you have been blessed financially.
But again, it's not always about the finances.
It's about how God has blessed me.
Maybe God hasn't given me millions of dollars.
Maybe he's given me an opportunity to serve in certain areas
of the church.
And I can give that.
I can give everything that I possibly can to the Lord.
And so it gives us a new desire.
The renewal in Jesus Christ gives us a new desire to invest in
different ways.
You know, we talk about investments in this world, and I'm
not talking about that.
I'm talking about eternal investments.
But before you're a Christian, you want to invest in things that
are for yourself.
Before you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you want to invest
in things that are going to lift you up.
The Bible says after that renewal, after that transformation,
the new desire is not to lift ourselves up, but to lift God up
and lift others up in that process, to edify, to put others
before myself.
That's the humility of Christ.
And so now it's not, hey, I, I, I just can't afford to give because,
you know, if I do this for that person, I might not be able
to get my extra stuff that I wanted this year.
The Bible says, it's not about you, it's about him and about others.
And so that's what that new desire is.
That new desire is a desire to see God lifted up, others lifted
up.
But then we see another thing.
It's, it's, it's new faith, right?
We, before we are saved, we have faith in something.
After we are saved, our Faith should be in him and him alone.
And so that's what we go back and we look at verse number six,
that, that idea of sowing and reaping, you know, if I trust God,
I'm willing to allow him to give me the, the, the, the bountiful
blessing, right?
I'm willing to invest in him if I trust in him, right?
Let's say, let's say someone came in today and they said, I have
this million dollar idea and all you guys have to do is trust
me and give me this money and I will turn it around fivefold.
But he really didn't show you reason to believe that hopefully
none of you are going to give him your life savings, okay?
You need to do your due diligence because that person is
not trustworthy right there.
There's no reason to believe that person in faith.
And so some of us actually treat God that way.
Some of us say, you know what, a guy's sitting up here on the front
pew and I say, okay, let me tell you, brother, I know where you
work and I know what you drive and I know what you do.
So therefore you should be giving this.
And if you don't, you got some issues.
You're not where you really need to be in Christ.
I have now gone into that person's life and tried to manipulate
his consciousness to and, and be the Holy Spirit in his life, to
try to delegate or to delineate what he should give.
You know what the Bible says here?
It says, every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him
give.
This has got to be a change of heart.
This has to be a change of desire.
It has to be a change of faith.
I could come in and say, hey, this is the person.
This is the percentage you have to give.
This is the amount you have to give.
Give me all your W2s and then we're going to see, you know, that's
right.
But, but again, we're looking at this in the New Testament.
We're seeing that this is a heart issue.
This is a heart issue.
Why you say why?
He says, because they're supposed to give.
Not grudgingly, not with animosity, not with like, oh, I gotta
give.
Another time this week, Pastor's up asking for another project.
It's this, it's this idea that we don't give with a sense of man
apprehension or ah, I, I just wish I could have bought this.
I could have gone on a cruise.
I, I, I could have done this, I could have done this.
And there's all these different elements to that.
That could be.
But he says, don't give grudgingly or out of necessity.
Why, here's the principle behind it.
Here's the heart issue behind it.
For God loveth a cheerful giver.
Now, let me just rewind.
There are some things in scripture that give us what we would
say maybe is a minimum, a good standard.
Right.
You know, obviously, in the Old Testament, we see that there's
the 10%.
We see that there is that example.
And so some people would say to me, well, if I'm not giving 10%,
am I going to get turned away from God?
Well, the truth is, is that God's going to not take away your
salvation if you don't give 10%.
Okay?
So it's not a matter of the law, but it is a matter of the heart.
And so I would say Inspect your life.
10%.
Hey, it's a good number.
I think it's a good.
It's a scriptural number that we can see in the Old Testament as
an example.
But if someone says to me, well, Pastor, I'm giving my 10%,
and I've done it and I'm good and I've checked my box, and God's
pressing upon your heart for more, you really want to get into
the.
The details of the 10%.
So it's actually was a lot more than that.
Okay.
There.
And I don't have time to go into that because this isn't a message
about tithing or giving only financially.
It's about the idea of giving your life to Christ.
But what I would say is this.
Give cheerfully.
You could be giving 50% to the church.
And some say, pastor, be careful, be careful here.
Don't offend somebody, because we.
But here's the truth.
You could be giving 50% of your income to the church, but doing
it in anger and doing it with animosity and doing it with another
purpose outside of the purpose of glorifying God.
And God is not pleased with that.
Pastor Josh might be pleased with it.
Hey, we might be able to build a new building, okay?
But here's the truth.
At the end of the day, at the end of the day, who are we trying
to impress?
Who are we trying to glorify?
Who are we trying to exalt is Jesus Christ.
And so our heart.
It's a heart issue.
Giving is a heart issue.
And he says, here it is a new joy.
There should be joy in giving.
There.
There should be an excitement in giving.
I get to give to the church.
Not, hey, you know what?
I better give, or someone might be coming and checking on me.
I better give or God's gonna strike me down with lightning.
That's not the way that God's economy works.
But what we see is that God is characterized by grace.
But in so doing, we should be characterized by grace as well, and
we should be grace givers.
And so this isn't a message to say, well, if you don't love God,
then don't give.
It's, it's saying this, love God.
It's, it's always at the heart of the issue.
I, I, I hope that none of you are murderers here today, okay?
If you are, there's forgiveness in Christ.
But I will say, you know, we keep an eye out for you.
But, but here's the thing.
Just because we aren't murderers, the Bible says that there
is, there's hatred that can be in our hearts.
Remember Jesus, he took it a little bit further.
He said, hey, hey, you know, you've been told not to murder people,
but also don't hate a brother because it's a heart issue.
Why don't commit adultery?
He says, okay, well, then maybe you don't commit adultery on
the outside, but there's a heart issue.
There's, if you're lusting after another person, you've committed
adultery in your heart.
You see that God is always more interested in the heart.
It's manifested by your actions.
But sometimes what we can do as good Christians and people that
can look the part is we can make sure everything on the outside
looks good, but on the inside, it's not where it needs to be.
He's addressing here in verse number seven, God loves a cheerful
giver.
Only you and God know if you're cheerful as you give to him
in your finances and your time and your talents and your, and your
family and all those areas.
And so God loves a cheerful giver, but he gives you a new desire,
a new faith, and a new joy.
So as we are walking in the spirit, as we are walking in the
renewal in Jesus Christ, we will be characterized as Christians
who have a new desire to give to God, a new faith in giving to
him and trusting him in the sowing and reaping principle.
And then number three, a new joy in giving.
So let's move forward.
I put down this.
As we grow in the knowledge of the goodness of God, we all should
be growing in the knowledge of the goodness of God, how good he
is.
He's amazing.
As we grow in the knowledge of the goodness of God, we then will
see the blessings of giving to God and to others.
When we don't understand the goodness of God, we then sometimes
will not make the connection of the blessing that it is to be
a grace giver.
Why, let's look at it here, verse 8 and God is able to make all
grace abound toward you, that ye always having all sufficiency
in all things may abound to every good work.
Meaning this, as you grow in the grace of God and the goodness
of God, you will begin to see that there's blessings in giving
and not looking at it as losing something.
Going back to the world.
What am I losing by helping?
The Bible says.
Another perspective.
What am I gaining by helping?
I'm gaining the blessing of being a part of God's plan and purpose
in somebody's life.
So if I look at someone and they're in need and I go, I could
help them, but it's going to put me out.
The Bible says no.
Think about it as how can I be a blessing to that person?
And let's, let's attach it to our mission.
Go.
Well, we know there's a lot of people in Middletown that need help.
Maybe they need help financially, maybe.
Maybe they need help with resources.
Maybe they need help with connections.
Maybe they need help with a community.
Maybe they need help with parenting.
Maybe they need help with counseling.
What do we say?
We say, well, we'll help them and then when they get fixed, then
they can come here and be a part of us and we'll show them the
love of Christ.
No, we show them the love of Christ by giving them the things
that they need.
Hey, let's feed you.
But we're doing it in the name of Jesus Christ.
The reason why we love you is because Jesus told us to love you.
And Jesus loves you and therefore you can come to know him
in salvation.
We connect the gospel with the giving.
So as a grace giver, we're grace giving the gospel.
And you say, well, how does that look when I give my tithes and
offerings to the church?
That.
That looks that way because you're then investing into the kingdom
of God so that we're able to reach more people, we're able to
go further, we're able to do more things in the name of the gospel.
Folks, I would encourage you individually and corporately as a
church, when we help people, in which we should be helping people.
When we help people, we do it in the name of Jesus Christ.
Unapologetically.
I do this because I love you, not because you deserve my love,
but because Jesus loves you and he called me to love you.
And so we do that in the gospel.
So as we grow in the knowledge of the goodness of God, we see the
blessings of giving.
But then I want you to go back and look with me to verse number
eight.
And God is able.
We could just stop there.
He's able and God is able to make all grace abound toward you.
God has abundant grace upon your life.
But I want you to see this next point as we grow in the understanding
of God's grace.
By the way, what is grace?
Things that God gives us that we do not deserve.
Okay, Salvation and everything else.
As God is able to make all grace abound towards you.
That ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound
to every good work.
Meaning this, as we grow in the understanding of God's grace
in our life and the scope of God's grace in our life, we begin
to trust in his sufficiency for our life.
Meaning all I need is Christ.
All I need is Him.
He will not let me go without.
He will not let me get to a place in my life where I cannot recover.
He will always continuously, forever pour out grace and be enough
for me.
So therefore we don't look at what we're losing again.
We're looking at what we're gaining in Christ and the sufficiency
of knowing Him.
Folks, some of us need to.
And I'm a love.
I love you when I say this, and I'm saying this to myself.
Some of us need to rely on God more.
Some of us need to trust in Jesus more instead of trusting in
things that we have that give us that security.
How.
I don't know how many of you, when you were growing up, maybe had
a security blanket.
You needed that blanket with you when you were a child.
And, and.
Or maybe some of us have left a security blanket, but we've gone
to something else to give us our security.
And you can fill in the blank for that.
I can sit here and give you a thousand different things that could
give us security.
Folks, the only thing that's going to bring you sufficiency is
forever, is Jesus Christ.
And that's what verse eight is saying says, God is going to pour
out his grace.
And when you understand his grace, you begin to trust in him
because you know that he's enough.
I'm not afraid of losing anything.
I'm not afraid of missing out.
Sometimes I have the.
What do they call it?
Fomo?
Fear of missing out.
Folks, as a Christian, we're not missing out.
This world has nothing to offer.
There's no sufficiency in the things of this world.
The Bible says it is only Christ and Christ alone who extends
as sufficiency to us in every area.
You name it, you name it.
As a pastor, you know, you hear, I don't know what I'm going
to do with my kids.
I don't know what I'm going to do with my spouse.
I don't know what I'm going to do with my own life.
I don't know what I'm going to do with my finances.
I don't know what I'm going to do with my job.
Folks, I'm going to tell you, I don't know either.
But I know God has got it.
God has got our country.
God has got our world.
God is in control.
He is on the throne.
And so the sufficiency is this.
Hey, we can take steps.
We, we, we can take a risk.
We can go, we can trust, because God has got us.
Now what can happen is.
Let me, let me just play the other side of the card.
Well, I'm a Christian and I can make decisions that I want to
make and I can be risky and I can not be discerning and I can just
make decisions and then just hope God blesses them.
That's not what this is talking about.
Because.
Because if you're not resting in the truth of God, if you're not
resting in the righteousness of God, if you're not resting in
his will and His Word, then you can make a ton of decisions that
can pull you away from understanding his sufficiency.
The goodness is, is that God is big enough to even grace us in
our shortcomings.
But a lot of times what happens is that people say, well,
you know what?
God doesn't love me.
And the truth is, is that it might be that he does love you.
And he loves you enough to let you make some decisions in your life.
He gives you the freedom to make decisions.
God didn't create robots.
And so we have to make the decisions that align with Him.
And so as you understand his grace and as you understand his goodness,
you begin to trust in his sufficiency and ultimately, ultimately
to the sufficiency of His Word.
Folks, you know what?
This, this Bible that I'm holding in my hand, the Bible that
you have there in your lap or that you can read on your tablet
or your phone, all things, all scripture is given by inspiration
of God.
And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction, righteousness.
It's enough.
This is enough.
You don't have to say, well, I know the Bible says this, but look
at what's going on.
I know the Bible says this, but you don't know my situation.
The Bible says this, but I can't afford folks, that's.
The Bible says this, period.
Thus sayeth the Lord, we trust it, and there's sufficiency there.
What the world is trying to tell us is this, hey, the Bible's
okay, and it could be a.
A thing that you have in your life as a guidebook, but when something
else contradicts it, we might need to pick that.
The Bible says, if something contradicts the Bible, it's not worth
our time, it's not worth our investment.
And so he goes further here.
He says, as we grow in our understanding of God's grace, we
trust in his sufficiency.
And, and so we.
Let's go further.
Let's look at verse nine.
Says, as it is written, he hath dispersed abroad.
He have given to the poor.
His righteousness remaineth forever.
Here in this passage of Scripture, he's actually quoting
an Old Testament passage, and which, which Paul frequently does.
And I think it's important to see that as, as a believer, God has
been faithful not just in one area of our life, but he's been faithful
in all areas of our life, and he's been faithful to those before
us.
And he will continue to stay faithful to us for as long as he
has given us life.
And so I think so many times we forget about the full scope of
God and His goodness.
And so, so he quotes there in Psalm 119, and he says, as it is
written, he hath dispersed abroad.
He hath given to the poor.
His righteousness remaineth forever.
Remember what 2 Corinthians, chapter 5 said, It's his righteousness
on our account.
His righteousness remains forever in our lives.
And so this perspective, this perspective of God's goodness and
his grace allows a believer to live with gratitude, contentment,
and fruitfulness.
Let's see the passage of Scripture that points us to that.
Okay, he says now, verse 10.
Now, he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread
for your food and multiply your seed, sown and increase fruits
of your righteousness, meaning he that ministers, he's that.
He's that sowing that seed to the sower.
He's the one that is ministering the provisions and multiplying
those provisions and giving us fruitfulness, verse 11.
Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness which causeth
through us, thanksgiving to God for the administration of this
service not only supplieth the wants of the saints, but is abundant
also by many thanksgivings unto God.
So the Bible says here that as we have this perspective of grace,
giving and being ambassadors for Christ, it allows us to live
with gratitude.
We see it there.
It says, thankfulness, thanksgiving to God.
Verse number 11.
We live with gratitude like, I'm thankful for what I have.
The world says, don't be thankful for what you have.
Get more.
Be discontent with what you have.
And the Bible says, no, live with gratitude.
And when you live with gratitude, you will live with contentment.
So think of from this perspective, what do I deserve?
I deserve nothing.
What do I have?
I have everything in Christ.
Therefore I can live with gratitude and contentment.
I have enough.
I'm good.
And then what happens is, is that when we live our lives with
gratitude and contentment, what does he say in verse number
11?
Bountifulness comes fruitfulness.
You want to be a fruitful Christian, Live with gratitude, live
with contentment.
When you live that way, God is going to bless us with wonderful
fruit in our life.
Verse 13.
Whilst by the experiment of this ministration that they glorify
God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ.
Meaning when we.
I know that's hard to kind of fathom what he's saying there, but
what it says is this.
When you put yourself into the obedience of the gospel, other people
will glorify God by you glorifying God by you living out
the gospel in your life, by you giving the gospel to other people.
What will happen is that other people will then begin to trust and
glorify God as well.
And so with the gratitude and the contentment and the fruitfulness,
comes the results.
And I want you to see the results here.
Biblically speaking, we see that the needs are supplied.
So, so initially, the needs of the people are supplied.
I.
If you go back to verse number 12 says for the administration of
this service, this type of grace giving not only supplies the
want of the saints.
Okay, so, so what this means is that people's needs are supplied.
People are taken care of with this lifestyle.
When we live in the grace of God, it's.
And we live in the sufficiency of God, people's needs are taken
care of.
No one's gonna go without.
But then we see number two.
We see that there's thankfulness, he says, but is abundant
also by Many thankfulness, thanksgiving unto God.
So there's thankful hearts to God.
So how we can impact our community with this type of living
would be that people's needs are supplied.
Number two, people are thankful to God, not just for us,
but they're thankful to God, which then brings em to a place where
God is glorified.
That that's what we see there in verse number 13 was by this experiment
of this ministration, meaning by living out this ministry, people
glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ.
Meaning the more that you live the gospel, the more people will
glorify God.
Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before men that they may
see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
The whole purpose is to proclaim the gospel not so that we
can grow the church, but so that we can get glory to God.
And glorifying God would mean that the church grows, but it would
also mean that we give to those in need, that we produce folks
that are thankful to God.
And then ultimately what we see here is this verse 13.
Your professed objection to the gospel of Christ and for your
liberal distribute distribution, meaning your, your
gracious giving on unto them and to all men.
So, so you give verse 14 and by their prayer for you.
And so what happens is, is actually the Bible tells us here
that we lead people by giving them needs, by giving them the gospel
that brings them to a thankfulness to God, which means
God is glorified.
Which means then it says that they're gonna pray for you.
So, so essentially this is discipleship.
It's winning people to Christ and then them praying.
If they're praying for you, that means that they're growing in
their faith and that, that we can understand that there's this
reciprocal giving back and forth.
And so he says by their prayer for you, which long after you, for
the exceeding grace of God in you.
And so there's this wonderful idea that there's going to be prayer.
We pray for them, they pray for us.
And there's this hope that we can see that the, the gospel of Jesus
Christ is spread through the exceeding grace of God in us.
And so he goes on to say verse 15 and this is, this is awesome here
he says he's talking about giving Christians giving.
He's talking about Christians giving materially and all these other
ways.
But then he, he kind of changes it.
He kind of changes to make the bigger picture.
He says verse 15, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
So what is he saying here?
He says, if you want to know what it means to be a grace giver,
watch God.
God is the greatest gift giver ever.
And he says, thanks be to God for this unspeakable gift.
Or in the Greek, you could also kind of see it as indescribable.
It doesn't mean that we shouldn't describe it.
It doesn't mean that we shouldn't speak it.
It means that it's so big, the gift that God gives us in salvation
is so big that we cannot do it justice.
We cannot mind the depths of what it means to be resting in the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
You could sit here for days and talk about how awesome the gospel
is and you wouldn't do it justice.
That's what he's talking about here.
So he says, okay, you want to be a grace giver, follow your father.
Now what's this unspeakable gift?
We know that ultimately God is a gift giver in giving us wonderful
things here on this earth.
But the greatest gift that God gives us is that God gives us the
gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
So you could look at it this way.
Jesus is that greatest gift.
God the Father is the greatest gift giver.
Jesus and the salvation that he extends to us is the greatest
gift.
So he says.
And so I think of this.
Paul's explaining how to give.
And the whole time Paul's explaining how to give as a gospel
tool.
He says, man, he's just thinking about the gospel.
He's thinking about what God has done for him.
And so he gets to the end of the style and he just goes, thanks
be to God for this unspeakable gift.
And, and, and by context, we know he's not talking about the gift
that we give.
He's talking about the greatest gift that was given to us
in Jesus Christ.
And that is the salvation that we all have extended to us.
And so how do we understand to be a grace giver?
How do we grow in being a grace giver?
Well, it's understanding what God has done for us.
This next slide's gonna be a little small, so you might not be
able to read it up there, but I will try to read it for you.
Yeah, way too small.
Sorry.
I will read that for you.
As we experience God's greatest gift of grace, we share
that grace with others in our life.
Meaning this.
The more you understand what God has done for you, the more you
share that with other people, the more you understand the depth
of God's Love, the more you share that with other people, the
more you understand what God has given you, the more you give
to others, the more that you understand God's forgiveness, the
more you forgive others, the more you understand God's grace,
the more grace you give to others.
And so it's not trying harder, it's understanding Jesus more.
It's not.
It's not losing out.
It's what I'm gaining and growing to be more and more like
Christ.
And so he starts with the challenge of being a grace giver.
He ends with the reason why we should be grace givers.
Because of the greatest gift that was given to us in Jesus Christ,
folks, we have an awesome message to tell the world.
We have an awesome message to go and be ambassadors for Christ.
You say, well, what does that mean?
That means I go pass out tracks, maybe.
What does that mean?
I go build a building in the darkest place in another continent,
maybe.
But it also might start here.
Remember what we talked about last week?
Acts, chapter one, verse eight.
Where does it start?
It starts in Jerusalem.
It starts in my closest area.
So therefore, what does that mean?
That means, am I in my life being a giver, a grace giver.
As every man, as every person purposes in his heart before God,
as God has given to you, so we give back, stewards of God's grace.
Stewards, you say, well, how can I give back?
I don't have much.
Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.
Even if you were, Even if you didn't have anything materially,
you have the greatest gift.
If you're a believer in Jesus Christ this morning, I hope that
you are.
You have the greatest gift ever given to you.
You can share that gift with other people.
But if we're honest with ourselves, most of us are bountifully
blessed above and beyond our salvation.
So what do we do?
We look and pray for opportunities for God to guide us
to where we can give to his kingdom.
His kingdom might be, hey, we're trying to move forward in this
project to reach these people for Christ.
Unreached people in the 1040 window.
Hey, that might be what our goal is.
There's an unreached tribe in another land.
Or it might be, hey, Middletown has a lot of people moving
in and we need to reach people for the gospel here in Jerusalem.
And so I want you to be praying.
I am going to be praying about how God can lead me and the Spirit
can guide me to a place of where I need to give.
And I might need to give with that Agape.
Remember what agape means?
Sacrificial, not seeking my own self interest.
This is hard.
I mean, I know, I know the economy, I, I, I know, I know that
sometimes it, it, it's, it's difficult.
Trust me.
I know what my flesh tells me when God puts upon my heart to help
someone.
Well, by the way, some of us have that supernatural gift of giving.
Some of us don't.
I don't have the supernatural gift of giving.
That's not one of the things that God has poured out upon my life.
And so I rationalize my lack of desire to give.
I start saying, well, yeah, but look, I've got kids in my house.
Look, I gotta take care of this.
Look, I gotta do that.
We all could have excuses.
Now, some of you are supernaturally gifted in the gift
of giving.
You'd give someone the shirt off your back today.
You'd be like, hey, you want a car?
Here, take it.
You know, I, I love guys.
I, I, I, I'll come up to someone and I'll say, hey, I love
your shirt.
You want it?
And I was like, no, no, I don't want your shirt.
I don't want your shirt.
That, that's a giver, right?
Praise God for that.
But, but I would say, where, where can we all look into our own
life and say, lord, what do you want me to give for your kingdom?
How can I give as I go?
And we can use giving as the gospel.
And I encourage you to think about that as, as we move further.
Now, I'm gonna challenge us to come back next week, because next
week we're gonna talk about going and how we think, believe it
or not, how we think affects how we go.
And just as much as you can give the gospel by giving, by the
way, that you think can be a testament of the gospel as well.
And so we're going to talk about some deep topics coming up
in the next few weeks in Second Corinthians, chapter 10, about
how we can deal with thoughts that come into our mind and how we
allow those thoughts to dictate our lives.
And are we going to allow ourselves to have the word of God
dictate our thinking?
Are we going to allow our emotions or our culture or our pain
to dictate our feelings and our actions?
And so we're going to talk about that when we come back in this
series of, of going for ambassadors for Christ.
So guess what?
If you're a Christian this morning, you are qualified as an
ambassador, which means you got a responsibility, you got a Responsibility
to represent Christ wherever you go.
Not just at Middletown Baptist Church, but in Jerusalem, Judea,
Samaria, into the uttermost part of the earth.
And so I want you to go out now just as much as you are.
Hey, some of you grabbed the magnets that we had back there, and
some of you are going to put that in your car, maybe.
By the way, you are representing the Lord, but you're
also representing Middletown Baptist Church.
So make sure that you're careful about how you live publicly
if you're going to put your.
Put our name out there.
Okay?
But.
But I would say there's a.
There's a greater purpose, right?
So how I live my life in my workplace dictates who I trust in
how I love my wife dictates who I believe.
If I believe myself before God, I'm gonna act certain ways.
If I believe the world more than God, I'm gonna act certain ways.
So I would say in the bigger picture, yeah, you're representing
Middletown Baptist Church, but ultimately, how you live your life
represents who you are in Christ.
And that's the identity that we all should be striving to fulfill.
And so I'm gonna ask if you're able to this morning, every head
bowed, every eye closed as the music plays.
I do know that we've talked about a lot of concepts this morning,
but if we go back to that idea of being an ambassador, the question
is, is, am I walking?
God has already made me a new creation if I'm a believer this morning.
But am I walking in that new joy, that new faith, that new desire,
that new.
Am I willing to sow and be patient?
Because by the way, when we sow seeds, at least in my garden,
they don't come up right away.
And the truth is, is that sometimes when we sow the seed of
grace giving in our life, we may or may not see the result the
way that we expect it to come, in the timing that we expect, in
the way that we expect.
But the Bible doesn't say, hey, you know what?
If you give a thousand dollars, God's going to give you
2,000.
He might.
But you might give a thousand dollars and God gives you no financial
back, but he's going to give you fruit that means way more than
what our money system can provide, folks.
The greatest fruit that we can ever see in our life is the fruit
of people coming to Christ, furthering the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
That is the purpose, folks.
I believe in a prosperity gospel, but not the prosperity gospel
material blessings.
I believe in the prosperity of the kingdom of God.
I believe in the prosperity of the grace of God.
And yes, is God going to bless you financially?
He might choose to bless you financially.
Some of you in this room have been blessed beyond measure in the
finances.
True, true.
Question, what are you doing with it?
But secondly, maybe God has not blessed you with financial blessings,
but he's blessed you in many ways of service, many ways.
Are you stewarding that for the kingdom of God?
It's a convicting message this morning, but I pray that we all can
move forward as grace givers as we go as ambassadors of Christ.
If you have not trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
We've talked a lot about the gospel this morning, but here's the
invitation.
The invitation is this.
The Bible says to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, not believing
in the existence of a God, but to believe that Jesus is the one
who can save you from your sins.
For all have sinned to come short of the glory of God for the
wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The gift is not he makes your life the better.
The gift is that he saves you and gives you everlasting life.
And so this morning, if you have been trusting in anything outside
of complete, complete salvation in Jesus Christ, you can
come forward and you can trust in him as your Savior today.
The Bible says that if you believe on the name of Jesus Christ,
ye will be saved.
You will be saved.
There's no if, ands or buts about that.
There's no hesitancy in God's grace.
God is desiring.
He was not willing that any should perish, but all should come
to repentance.
And all repentance means is I'm turning away from my way of doing
things and I'm turning to Christ.
I'm doing an about face.
So someone in this room might need that here this morning.
Someone might need to repent and come to Christ and trust in him
and him alone for salvation, for eternal life.
That be the case, we've got a few folks up here that are willing
to show you in the word of God what it means to know Jesus as your
Savior.
But if you've trusted in Jesus as your Savior, this morning is a
challenge for us.
How are we going to go?
How are we going to give, as verse 7 said, are we gonna do it
cheerfully?
Are we gonna do it in a place of bitterness and anger and frustration?
Are we gonna do it with trusting the sufficiency of Christ
or trusting in the sufficiency of anything else this morning.
I encourage you to trust in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ in
every area of your life.
Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation work in hearts.
I encourage you Please encourage us this morning as you've
encouraged us so many times in the grace of God, Lord, in in the
forgiveness that you've extended to us.
Lord, I pray that we can be encouraged and and equipped and engaged
to go and to proclaim the Gospel message by everything that
we do in our lives.
Lord, help us to give you all that we can for the cause of the
kingdom.
We ask all these things in Jesus name.
Amen.
As the music plays follows the Lord leads here this morning.
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church
podcast.
I I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
If you would like to find out more information about our church
or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org
or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch
dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast.
Please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.
Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Have a wonderful day.