2 Corinthians 9:6–11

For instance, giving is sowing, so the laws of sowing and reaping apply to it. If seed is scattered with a sparing hand there is a scanty harvest; if with a bountiful hand, a bountiful harvest. It cannot be otherwise, whether in nature or in connection with the things of God. In giving to others we are sowing grace.

Quoting from the Proverbs, he reminds them how true it is... that the bountiful sower will be a bountiful receiver (Prov. 11:24-25; Prov. 22:9).

Who can fail to understand this simple picture? It is a very pointed challenge. We might look back over our lives and say, "Well, there has not been much in my life for the Lord." Then we would need to apply this principle the apostle teaches and say, "Well, the reason is we have not sown bountifully. The reason why we have not reaped a good healthy crop is because we have not sown in a bountiful way."

He that sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and he that sows with blessings will also reap with blessings. It is no question of correspondence in kind, but it may be spiritually also, and so much the better... God does not despise what is given to the poor believers; but the spirit of giving is far more important than the gift.

As to sowing "bountifully," some have observed that this puts special stress on the generous spirit shown in giving. It marks the person who is glad to give as to the Lord. The reaping will be that of true blessing also.

It does not mean that a man who puts a pound into the collection box is sure to reap five pounds, or indeed any pounds at all. It means this. We may be ready to sacrifice ourselves for the welfare of God's people, for the progress of God's work, for the help of God's service. Then God is ready to let us reap blessing in our own souls.

Sowing and reaping stand in the natural relation of cause and effect. Yet a secret moral tie also binds them together. The one is the act of man; the other is the gift of God. He watches the sowing, and assigns the measure of return. What is scattered freely by a heart that trusts in God, He gives back with overflowing increase. What leaves reluctant hands will disappoint expectant hands.

It is, of course, true that we reap as we sow as to quantity. 2 Corinthians 9:6 emphasises this side of the question... That other passage enforces the truth that as surely as God is God, we reap as we sow as to character or kind. We cannot sow one kind and reap another kind... Men cannot sow thistles and reap wheat.

God does not despise what is given to the poor saints; but the spirit of giving is far more important than the gift. So the apostle follows up the saying he had just applied: each one gives just as he has decided beforehand in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity. For God loves a cheerful giver… To grudge and grieve over a gift is unworthy of one of His saints. To demand it is no less unworthy of His servant.

He told them that each one should give "as he has decided in his heart." He also took care to send some brothers ahead of his own arrival, to collect what they had planned to give. That way their gift would be ready as a willing blessing, not as something squeezed out of them… He did not want them to give under pressure — not in appearance, and not in fact. He had no wish to force out unwilling gifts, or to work them up into a generosity beyond the faith and grace they had, which they might later regret.

Neither sorrow nor constraint must have any place here. God is the centre and the final aim of all true kindness. As He has given, let each true child of His give. Believers should see giving not as a necessity, but as a privilege. For giving is God's own delight. We know Him only by His indescribable gift, and His heart is always toward those who copy Him in His ways. In a time of pure grace, no one is obliged to give, except by the sweet compulsion of His love. There are no task-masters in the house of God.

Note the joy we have here: the very opposite of giving grudgingly or of necessity. It reminds us of 2 Cor. 9:7, "God loves a cheerful giver." The word translated 'cheerful' is hilaros, and from it we get our word 'hilarious.' But of course it carries none of the bad sense that word has picked up in our day.

It is worth thinking about this every time we are asked to give to the Lord's cause. Remember, as the box or the basket comes into my hand, that "Jesus is sitting opposite the treasury." His holy eye rests, not on the purse, but on the heart. He weighs, not the amount, but the motive. If the heart is right, the amount will be right, according to His judgment. Where the heart beats true to His person, the hand will be open to His cause.

Every man will purpose in his heart according to the state of his heart. If our hearts are right, and enlarged by living in the love of God, we shall give generously and cheerfully too. We shall give in the style of God Himself; and God loves those who are like Himself.

It is true that God has now revealed Himself in Christ according to His own nature, with heaven and eternity in view. It is true that He has given us life in His Son, redemption through His blood, and union with that glorified man at His right hand... But this does not stop the way God governs, or the pleasure He takes in blessing large and generous hearts. It was so of old; it is so now. Special privileges do not cancel His general principles.

Psalm 112:9 is quoted in verse 9 for the generosity of the man that Psalm calls "a good man." It will be the character of the godly in Israel in a future day. They will be identified with their Messiah, and their hearts will be widened by grace toward others. The results abide forever.

There is no need to change the meaning of "righteousness" here or anywhere else. It does not mean "benevolence"... but it includes it. Righteousness means acting in keeping with the relationship you are in. Those who admit that everything in their own case is of grace should generously remember the needs of others, above all in the household of faith. What could be more consistent than that?

First of all, notice that giving is not a matter of charity. The Old Testament passage quoted in 2 Corinthians 9:9 reads, "He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness [not his charity, his righteousness] endures forever." That plainly shows that for a Christian to give is not charity in any sense. It is common, ordinary righteousness. God has poured in so much upon us that it is only righteous for us to hand out blessing to others.

He who sows seed by dispersing abroad what he has to give has to do with a God "who is able to make all grace abound." ALL grace, note it — grace of every kind, grace in spiritual things and grace in material things. So the generous giver is "enriched in every way to be generous in every way." God enriches him so that his giving may go on and expand. This enrichment may not come in material things. God may choose to enrich him in spiritual things instead. Then the man who began by giving a little money may end by handing out a rich store of spiritual blessing.

Later in this letter we hear of the righteous man, who shows the moral characteristics of God. He scatters widely and gives to the poor, and his righteousness remains forever. Only wealthy people can afford to give away. We are made wealthy in the favour of God; there we are more than satisfied. And in the things of God, giving does not make you poor: "One gives freely, yet grows all the richer."

If the Christian gives, no one should treat it as something wonderful and unexpected, deserving high praise. The case is rather that if he does not give he is unrighteous. It is plainly wrong for him to receive such a wealth of blessing from God and give out nothing as a result. It is not only wrong but dangerous. If a reservoir has a large intake and a choked-up outflow, a disaster of some sort is certain.

This is not a wish or a prayer, as the older English version makes it… Compare Isaiah 55:10. It is an assurance. The God who richly provides for us loves to give us both the means and the openings to bless others. He delights to acknowledge and reward these fruits of righteousness as if they were ours, though in truth they come from His grace and are His work through us.

It is God who provides the seed so that things can grow and fruit can appear. God is the real source of all fruitfulness and blessing… We can provide the very best seed for our gardens. We can dig the ground. We can do everything the gardening books tell us. But if the rain does not come and the sun does not shine, nothing will happen.

God did not give these blessings to make His people comfortable in this world. He gave them so that they would be enriched in every way and made generous, so they would have something for anyone in need.

Paul is dealing with the care of poor believers in Jerusalem. Remember that the apostle John plainly ties that kind of care to love between believers… So when we acknowledge the duty to love God's people and act on it by meeting their need, as here, that is righteousness… This side of righteousness — practical righteousness, as it is sometimes called — is too often forgotten. Yet it fills a large place in Scripture.

If he gives sparingly, he reaps sparingly. If he gives generously, he reaps generously. Either way he reaps, and usually in spiritual things… God enriches him so that his giving can go on and grow. That enrichment may not come in material things. God may choose to enrich him in spiritual things instead, so that the man who began by giving a little money ends by handing out a rich store of spiritual blessing.

It meets their needs, but it also overflows and rises into many thanksgivings to God. Those who receive it praise God, because such giving shows submission to His name… It stirs them to pray, with deep longing for the people who show such grace.