Give for the right reasons

Let's go to the Word of the Lord. Second Corinthians chapter 9 verses from 6 to 15, words of the apostle Paul where he tells us: 6 “But this I say to you: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

7 “Each one give as he purposed in his heart: not sadly, nor out of necessity, because God loves a cheerful giver.”

8 “And God is mighty to make all grace abound to you,” say: all grace, “so that, always having all sufficiency in all things, you may abound for every good work;”

9 “As it is written: he scattered, he gave to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.”

10 "And he who gives seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, will provide and multiply your seed, and increase the fruits of your righteousness,"

11 "So that you may be enriched in everything for all bounty" note the use of the word all, all on several occasions, it is a language of abundance, it is a language of generosity, of blessing both from God and from us giving in many different ways, “so that they may be enriched in everything for all bounty, which produces through us thanksgiving to God.”

12 "Because the ministration of this service" this offering that he is organizing, "not only supplies what the saints lack, but also abounds in many thanksgivings to God."

13 “For by the experience of this ministration they glorify God for the obedience that you profess to the Gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all;

14 “Alikewise, in their prayer for you whom they love because of the exceeding grace of God in you;

15 "Thank God for his ineffable gift."

Now, I know that if you have not read the other verses of this chapter and even the chapter before this one, perhaps that language cannot be understood as well because the language of the Apostle Paul and the reference to "them" and "you" presupposes that you know what he is specifically talking about. I know that we are talking about general principles of giving and receiving blessing from God as a result, but the occasion that leads Paul to make these observations has to do with something very specific to his time and moment.

Pablo had been organizing a special offering as we have done these last Sundays by inviting you to give a thank offering to the Lord, with you, your children, your family or yourselves on behalf of your home, Pablo had been organizing a special offering for the poor who lived in the city of Jerusalem and he is writing to brothers who live in the city of Corinth, a prosperous, commercial, central city, and in Jerusalem there were many poor brothers who could benefit from the generosity of the Corinthian brothers.

So Paul had organized a missionary offering in a sense we could say to be taken to Jerusalem, the mother Church there, from where the Church came out, so that these churches that had received the Gospel from Jerusalem and the brothers there would bless as it says The Word: those of us who receive spiritual blessings make those who have blessed us receptive to material blessings, so there was that principle and Paul was organizing that offering and he had been preparing it for months, he had even prepared a group of people to come from Jerusalem to Corinth to collect that offering at a given time, also as they had done in other cities in the region such as Macedonia, etc.

So Paul is doing as we Pastors and those of us who raise funds for the Kingdom of God do, Paul is lifting the hearts of the people, he is encouraging them to prepare because giving to the Lord generally should not be something improvised, there are times when God wants so be it, but normally when we come to give him our offering, it is because there has already been a time of reflection, of thought and then we give to God from that center of sobriety, conviction, spiritual understanding of what we are doing and then Paul He was preparing the ground so that when these representatives of the mother Church arrived in Jerusalem, these brothers would be ready to give their offering and that it would be a generous offering, an offering that would even honor Paul himself, who was the spiritual father of these brothers in Corinth. , so that he would not be embarrassed that the brothers were not prepared for this offering that he had told them, these people are generous with God and you are going to see how you are going to bless the brothers in Jerusalem, then he is giving you a theological foundation.

All those arguments that we have read are oriented in that direction of preparing the hearts of the Corinthian brothers. People need to know why they give, they need to know the biblical foundations for giving and also the blessings that come as a result of giving.

As much as possible, we must give intelligently for the right reasons, not manipulating people, not making exaggerated or simplistic offers, not appealing to people's greed as unfortunately sometimes can be done when raising an offering, sometimes rather we can affirm the greed of people and tell them: that God is going to give you ten times what you give him and that if you give him a hundred he is going to give you ten thousand, etc., and that type of mechanical attitude is not appropriate, no it's good. I believe that in the Bible there are very beautiful, very solid, very sublime reasons why we should encourage and never let yourself be manipulated, brother, never let yourself be carried away by things that do not respond to the Lord. I hope that in these minutes that we are going to spend here you will receive some teachings that will help you in your life of generosity towards God.

The first principle that I see here in these verses that I have just read is an invitation from the apostle Paul to embrace an attitude of generosity, of expansiveness in giving. As Christian brothers God expects us to be giving people, generous people, people loose with our money, our time, our resources, our talent, our gifts, we are happy givers, amen? God wants you to be a cheerful giver.

Paul invites us, the Word of God invites us to resist the impulse to be conservative with our assets and to grab, and instead invest generously knowing that we can expect a generous return for our generosity and our investments, so the first thing is to embrace that generous attitude of God who is the first.

What does the Word of God say? "Let there be in you the same feeling that there was in Christ Jesus", how did Christ give himself? he gave himself everything, he gave his height, he gave his glory in which he dwelt, he stripped himself of all that to come and bring salvation, and the Word of God invites us to adopt that same generous attitude of the Father who gave his only begotten Son.

God has always blessed generous people and I believe that generosity, expansiveness in giving, in every way, is like a pre-condition for God to use us. Right now it occurs to me, I don't know about the morning sermon, but if you think about Abraham, for example, God had a great blessing for Abraham, he wanted to make him the spiritual father of nations through centuries and centuries.

God wanted to turn this insignificant Bedouin into the father of faith and gave him a test, and said: give me your son, your only son and sacrifice it to me, and Abraham had a moment of terrible crisis, I give him this son who has given me born a hundred years old, I'm a father and I'm a grandfather, imagine. Abraham loved as a father and as a grandfather, and perhaps as a great-grandfather and great-grandfather at the age of one hundred, who knows, he could do it, and God says to him: Give me your only hope of procreation and continuity of your generations, and Abraham had a moment of crisis just like us sometimes, right? Sometimes we have those pennies there that we want for the retirement or for that trip to El Salvador or whatever and the time comes to give to the Lord.

I have heard testimonies from brothers who have sometimes changed plans they had sometimes because something has arisen in these times of construction, from years of our construction and you know what? God has repaid them in abundance, he has blessed them in many spiritual ways, I know that the Church is full of people who can testify to those miraculous provisions of God, amen? yes or no?

And we have seen: Abraham was willing to give his son and God says to him: Because you did not deny me your son, your only son, I will bless you in such a way that if the sand of the sea can be counted, your offspring can be counted , glory to the Lord, and that is what, God established a principle of generosity. We see it like this with David, we see it with Gideon, we see it with all the great men of God, we have to be willing to bring him a sacrifice, give it to the Lord and God blesses that.

The natural position of the human being is the opposite, our position is to grab, keep, retain, save, we are like little ants dragging our little lump to put it in a place to hide it there and use it one day, right? but God says: No, live differently, live generously.

I told the brothers my observation about the little girls who carry the flowers at weddings, at ceremonies. She knows that girls, it's something I always complain about, that they never throw away the flowers they have inside the basket, they throw away two or three and keep all the little flowers they have in the basket.

Yesterday Gregory celebrated a beautiful wedding here in the afternoon and there were two little girls sitting there in front, I came to greet the family who were here and I greeted them, they were beautiful in their little dresses, I started talking to them and told them Look, now when you go to deliver the flowers, because the ceremony had not yet begun, when you walk down the path, the center of the Church, you throw out all the flowers that you have inside, water them, because the idea is that Now when the bride passes by, she is going to walk on these little flowers, I decorated it for her and you know I became a poet (laughs), the time came and you know, they kept almost all the little flowers in the baskets (laughs).

Because? I think that because there is an instinctive tendency to keep valuable things. I think that the spirit kind of reveals itself at the idea of throwing those pretty petals to the ground and almost all of them do that (laughs). So I believe that God wants us to change the program and that we understand how beautiful it is to give, because those flowers that are thrown on the floor are not simply for throwing them away. If the girls had the complexity, let's say, to understand what is being done, you are preparing a path of roses for the beautiful bride that is going to pass, the idea is that she has the same path in her marriage as all the sisters who have married And that they have had a bed of roses that way, I'm sure (laughs), I don't like that laugh, it's like there's a half-nervous laugh, right? (laughs), what a blessing.

But there is a beauty in the symbolism, just as there is a beauty in giving to the Lord as well, there are beautiful biblical theological principles that allow us to give. Let us not keep the little flowers in the basket, in other words, our goods, our gifts, let us put them to work for the glory of the Lord.

As we prepare this morning to present this special thank offering, it is important that we too look at these Biblical principles, this call to be generous, and that we understand the beauty and beautiful paths that giving to the Lord prepares.

Do you know that last Sunday we had this young missionary from Kyrgyzstan with us, you remember? The Lord took me unexpectedly, I sometimes say to plan but this time it was, it was not planned, to tell you and the brothers of the 9 o'clock service, if they wanted to give an offering so that these brothers from Kyrgyzstan could advance in the purchase of a van for their missionary trips in that isolated country, and I told you: those who want to give something at the end of the service, there will be envelopes available there, did you know that at the end of the service we had $3,500? Give the Lord a round of applause and yourselves too.

I was surprised and even asked myself: why don't I also ask for an offering for myself and my family in that way, unexpected too, a little trip even if it's to Europe, a new Mercedes Benz, something like that, I don't know, what bless your Pastor? (laughs). The truth is that you continually surprise me, you surprise us with your generosity and selflessness, it is something very beautiful and this year God has forced us, he has forced us in a sense to be generous as never before due to all the disasters and catastrophes that there have been in the world, that terrible hurricane in Houston for example, thank the Lord we were able to offer to a couple of Hispanic churches there so that they could bless other churches as well, the terrible suffering of our beloved Puerto Rico also, thank the Lord, they took away Thousands of dollars in offerings were also sent there to churches, to different places, there are still brothers who are giving and traveling there.

Mexico was blessed, Caribbean Islands also English speaking. That is to say, you have had to be, and I have never heard any complaints from anyone. Perhaps I have heard the creaking of some elbows that have had to be bent more than necessary but that has been all, I have not heard complaints from anyone, it has been a great blessing.

And many times when that moment arrives, brothers, to ask for an offering like this, the truth is that I have to overcome an instinctive resistance in my heart to make people uncomfortable, I imagine. Monsters of people are created in my head saying: oh again the Pastor asking for money, again the Church, and I have to resist that because it is for the Church of God, and Paul encourages us to have a sense of tranquility in us .

Paul says never give out of a sense of obligation, never give under pressure, never give out of discomfort but rather give out of conviction after sober meditation on giving, and then and only then should we give. Never give out of manipulation or because they are looking at me, no please brothers, give from the bottom of your heart because if you give out of a sense of obligation or strict duty, you know what? he is impoverishing the beauty of his offering because God looks at the heart.

God is not ultimately interested in your money, you know? One day we will discover up there that giving is simply like a drill, it is an exercise, that is all, it is for our blessing, for our good, God does not need it, He is the owner of the gold and silver. He is the owner of the atoms that make up the paper money is made of, write that down for me somewhere so I don't forget it.

He is the owner of the cosmos, everything, the finger with which you hold the ballot, He is the owner of that, He made it. Then it is simply, we have to give to the Lord with joy in our hearts, with conviction and complacency. The internal state of our heart is more important than the offering we give.

Christ left us that marvelous illustration of the widow who gave everything she had, she gave twenty-five cents for coffee on Monday and she gave more than those who gave millions of dollars because she gave with sincerity, conviction, surrender to the Lord. It's not what you give but the heart with which you give, there's something good there too, write that one down for me too, I'm inspired today.

We have to make sure, brothers, that we find that inner place of comfort when we give to the Lord, we have to search there like the samurais, get inside ourselves and find the place of peace and joy, that is the most important thing of all.

Now where can this comfort come from, where can this joy with which we give to the Lord come from? Number one, I believe that we have to have a conviction about how much we have received from God. First of all, if you know everything you have received, the grace that has been poured into your life, the blessing that you enjoy every day, you will find a source of gratitude to the Lord and you will give generously to the Lord. Always think before giving of all that you have received.

I believe that there must also be in us that kind of lightness, that ease, that pleasure of giving to God and others, a sense of tranquility when sharing what we have with others, practice that. Give as if you were going to drink a glass of cold water, do not worry, do not think about how you feel, think about the ease in giving, that it is as natural as breathing.

Also another thing: it is necessary that there be confidence in us when we give that what we give will not impoverish us nor will it weaken us financially, but that our giving to the Lord will become a channel for the Grace of God that will return us and bless us as result of being generous, amen?

If you know that you are not impoverishing yourself, quite the contrary, you are preparing the platform for your blessing that comes from God. By being generous, you will give freely and even with joy, right? And that is what Paul says, look at verses 10 and 11 of this same chapter: "And whoever gives seed to the sower, bread to the eater, will provide and multiply your sown" is not talking about cement, he is talking about seed , planting is the place where the seed is deposited, so it is saying: that place where you store this seed, what is the equivalent in our urban culture? the bank, the account, will provide, it will multiply your bank account, your provision, your deposit, “and it will increase the fruits of your righteousness; so that you may be enriched in everything for all generosity, which produces through you thanksgiving to God.” That is a very beautiful language.

What he's saying is that when you give to others, when you give to the Kingdom of God generously, joyfully, you know? that God blesses you, and here it is very important, in all the ways that have been and will be. I believe that the Pastors and those of us who raise funds for the Church of Christ make a mistake in telling people: if you give God $10 He will give you $100, if you give him $100 he will give you $50,000, and then We impoverish, we turn God into one of those Las Vegas machines, right? that you press a lever and there are some wheels, and coins come out, no.

God bless you in all ways. It blesses you physically, it blesses you intellectually, it blesses you morally as you grow, it blesses your emotions, it heals your wounds, it gives you joy, it gives you hope for the future, it blesses your children, your family, your old age, it makes you a receiver, a receptacle of His Grace in various ways. So brother when you know that's what you're doing by giving, wow, who doesn't like that? everyone would want to give to the Lord with joy, that is your conviction.

Then Paul quotes Psalm 112, read it in his time, "the upright man blessed by God as a consequence of his generosity." One of the interesting things about that Psalm you will see is that the person who gives does not give for God to give but rather gives because God has already given to him. He gives in His righteousness, He gives in His prosperity that he has received. He is like a tree that simply produces fruit from its internal sap.

Have you seen a tree out there saying: okay, spring has arrived, I have to give? no, the tree simply fills with sap, it fills with life and in a natural way because of the life that is inside it it gives fruits of which we then eat. By the way, be careful because those two dishes are for me to take when the service is over, don't touch them (laughs) and I already have those grapes there, I know you well so be careful, there is a camera here watching them (laughs). "The just man blessed by God gives generously of his blessing." Brothers, we must not resist the fact that God gives to the cheerful giver, that is a Word that comes from the Lord.

Now I want to establish a principle or two and then we prepare. God's financial blessing due to our generosity and the generosity of the Corinthians is not simply for them to accumulate more money, more provision, more wealth, that they become misers accumulating everything, no. God blesses you, do you know why? so that you then abound in works of kindness and generosity towards others. In other words, generosity towards the believer must be something distinctive, something very common and typical.

"God" says Paul, "abundes in blessings for his children" and we have to abound in blessing for others, we have to be happy hosts, good hosts. The Bible says that we host each other because unknowingly some hosted angels. We have to give in generous ways wherever we can, as the saying goes: do good and don't look at whom.

Christians have to distinguish ourselves by abounding in every good work and it does not have to be just giving money, if God gave you knowledge of the Word, share it with others. If you are a healthy man and there is a child out there who needs a mentor because he doesn't have a dad and needs the warmth of a man, look, be a mentor. If there is a young person out there who is growing in their career and you are in a position to help them and advance them, become a mentor to that young person, mentor them in their professional career. If you are a mature woman with experience in marriage and there is a young woman who has just married, and you have a relationship with her, look, invite her one day to coffee and she herself will start asking you questions, and you will a spiritual mother to her.

If someone has recently accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and you can take one of those books and teach them instead of them having to come for some reason that they can't come to the service, offer to go to their house for four days and with a little coffee there give them the class.

If you know that there is someone in a hospital, I thank you for everyone in our Church who visits the sick in hospitals, you know? like Mayra Rodríguez, whom we honor on other nights, and so many of you that when I cannot go or one of the Pastors cannot go, you go as pastoral presences. How much blessing is spread in this Church by generous people.

Sister Marta Garzón, others in Honduras, the sister, you know who you are, brothers X, Y, you are the pastoral presence of this Church in many places where we cannot reach. We are going to become givers, that is what it means, we have to abound in every good work not only with money but with great acts of grace.

And you know what? the latest and the ushers can get ready, and the brethren can be up here in a little bit, you know what's the best thing about being a generous community? The apostle Paul says that this results in thanksgiving and praise to the Lord.

When a community like ours adopts an ethic of giving and being generous, we become a machine that generates thanksgiving and glory to God because people, seeing our generosity, are encouraged to thank the Lord for all that He does through of us.

Know what? When we collected this offering for the brother from Kyrgyzstan, on Sunday night I called Brother Doug Tony who is the principal of Youth with a mission where he was staying, I told him: look, I'm surprised, when we were making an offering suddenly the Church gave $3,000 and he didn't know it was $3,500, and he knows that Doug's expression was: you know what? your Church is such a generous church and you are so special, I thank God for you, and that came from your heart, and I believe that is what happens.

Paul says: now that you give, the brothers in Jerusalem are going to give thanks to God. Brothers: a Church like the Lion of Judah and I am not saying it, God knows my heart, it is not to give us glory, we know that everything is by grace and mercy, there is no pride, but through all the things that are done, the academic resource center, Alfa working with immigrants, missions in Honduras, the Dominican Republic, work with the children of The Shrines Institute, what we do with the homeless brothers on Saturdays, visitations to, there are so many things, our work at the of New England for unity and revival throughout the New England region in so many ways, you don't know how we serve as an instrument that you're continually saying, thank God, thank God, thank God, a working immigrant in Alpha he thanks God for having someone to help him fill out his paperwork, to unify with his family.

We are becoming a platform for expressions of gratitude to ascend to the Throne of God, how beautiful that is, how beautiful. When you bless someone in the Name of Jesus Christ and identify yourself as a member of the Kingdom of God, as a priest of the Kingdom of God, that generates profit for the heavenly Father who ultimately must be the end, the target of everything we do. let us do, His glory, His honor only, we do not keep any glory for ourselves, only for Him.

And the last thing the apostle Paul says is that: your offering to the Lord of generosity, your giving life to the Lord, you know what? blesses you too because people are going to pray for you too, wow what a blessing. One also receives his ñapita, don't believe it, one is also blessed in so many ways. God blesses you and others bless you and pray for you, and then what happens? you are more prosperous, more blessed, you give more praise to the Lord, more prayers for you, more blessing, a great cycle of grace, an economy of blessing and grace, and that is what we unleash by being joyful givers.

May the Lord this afternoon deposit in us a seed of generosity, we are going to be happy givers and we are going to live lives that glorify the Lord with His generosity, may the Lord bless us. And now we place this in your heart, in your spirit, and I want us to release all pressure. This has to be a great gesture, it is something sacred, it is something beautiful in that, do you know the word liturgy? It has a negative connotation for evangelicals, but liturgy is where the word service comes from. Paul actually uses it in this text, it is adoration, it is the instruments that we use, symbolic, to praise the Lord, and what we are going to do now it is a beautiful liturgy in the beautiful sense of the word.

When you come with your family by yourself and bring your offering to the Lord, expressions of praise to God are ascending and therefore, right now I declare a special stillness over this town, a special ease, no one is going to feel obligated, no one is going to feel threatened, this is God's people participating to the extent possible to bless His Church.

This is going to generate an advantage for León de Judá in many ways, our missions, different types of things that we do, repairs and all that, it is going to strengthen the finances of our Congregation and it is going to be a beautiful way of this weekend. we express gratitude to God for his countless goodness.