God Loves a Cheerful Giver

Sermon Text for Nov. 19: II Corinthians 9:6-15

“The Lord loves a cheerful giver”, says Paul, and I say, “The Lord may love a cheerful giver but I hope he accepteth from a grouch.” That is the wonder of giving in the church. Giving provides us an opportunity to express joy and thanksgiving for what God has done in our lives. Giving is a way of smiling at God, the way we smile at someone we love with all of our hearts. For others of us it is a discipline that if it were put to words would say something like, “God, I really do believe, let this offering be a sign of my desire to be more faithful.”

Cheerful giving is a biblical ideal to work for if we’re not there already. Cheerful giving might make us laugh or it might just give us a quiet joyful feeling deep inside that says, “God and I make a difference. But some of us are not there yet. Rather than feeling cheerful, some of us feel resentment when the church asks for money. For many of us the subject of giving is taboo. If that’s how you feel, then giving is probably a growing edge in your faith. It needs to be practiced as a kind of prayer.

God loves a cheerful giver, one who recognizes the wonder of the community of faith, who believes that when the faithful join together and trust in God, miracles happen. God loves a cheerful giver, someone who wants to be a part of God’s story, and a partner in God’s work. Deuteronomy tells us that it is through giving that the ancient Jew became a part of God’s story. Every year at harvest the faithful brought the first fruits of the harvest to the temple, and recited a brief faith history and at the end of the story, added, “And now here am I.” It was a way of claiming his place in the family of God. And giving is one way we claim our place in God’s family also.

This fall we have been dreaming about what might be possible when we join one another in giving the first fruits of our labor to God. We have even boldly asked God to join us in creating a miracle. Some of us have been perplexed by our theme, “Let’s make a miracle happen together”, because we’re not sure that miracles really happen anymore. Some of us have been intrigued by the possibilities, and we’ve wondered what God is going to do here at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. And some of us are excited because we can see that the miracle is already unfolding.

The promise of scripture is that we will have enough for ourselves when we offer our gifts to God. Paul says, “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance so that you will always have enough of everything.” Some people get confused by these kinds of promises. Some preachers promise riches to those who give to the church, as if God operates a great heavenly lotto that one only has to invest in the church to win. But God doesn’t promise riches, only sufficiency. Others, in an attempt to raise money, insist that “You can’t out give God” which is probably true, but it assumes God wants to be in a giving contest.

I believe that a more biblical concept of giving begins with God’s command. God commands the first ten percent of our income in the same way that God commands that we honor our fathers and mothers and that we do not steal or kill. Giving of the first fruits is a commandment, but as with any law it only defines the least acceptable behavior. And for Christians there is something more. Christians give out of love and respect for God and each other. We give because we believe that we can make a difference, even if our gift is very small.

Many years ago I worked one summer in a poverty stricken village in New Mexico. It was the only place I ever saw children with rickets for lack of milk. Driving into the village reminded me of pictures I had seen of a third world country. One week during the Sunday School lesson we told the story of poor children in Appalachia, and of mission workers there who strived to get them food, clothing, and medical care, in addition to telling them about Jesus. One day one of the children suggested taking up an offering to help the children in Kentucky.

I was amazed. I wondered how my poverty stricken kids in New Mexico could give anything to help poverty stricken children in Appalachia. But over the next couple of weeks we took an offering for the poor children in Appalachia. I think we collected about a dollar. Somehow the children had captured the essence of Christian stewardship. They heard of a need and offered what they could. They heard of someone who was hungry and fed her; of someone without clothes and clothed him; of someone who was sick and in prison and visited him.

God did not make the children in New Mexico rich. But their hearts grew about two sizes larger, and they joined in the great line of believers that stretched all the way back to Abraham and Sarah. They showed themselves to be children of God.

I will never know what any of you have pledged to the work of the Church. Whatever it is I pray that you have offered enough so that your heart grew two sizes larger just writing the number on the pledge card. I pray that it was enough so that you won’t stop smiling all week because you have shown yourself to be a son or daughter of God.

Copyright © 2006 by Dwight R. Blackstock