Presented January 31, 2010
The other morning, Tim Smay and I are having breakfast at a local eatery when the proprietor, learning that I was a preacher, said something like, “I imagine you’re always asking for money!”
I said, “Not really – I speak on it when I come to a passage in the Bible that does.” Then, right in front of the guy, I asked Tim, “Tim – you’ve been coming a few years. How often do I talk about money?”
Tim smiled, because I know he’d like to tease me any way he could, and then, for the sake of the gospel, he told the truth and said, “Maybe once or twice.”
I looked at the other guy and said, “May I tell you what the Bible says about money – may I give you a verse?”
He gave me the OK and I said…
2 Corinthians 9:7 (NIV) 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
He seemed pretty pleased with that verse. I think he felt like it let him off the hook.
It does…
…and it doesn’t.
What that verse says is that how you treat your money is up to you.
But what it doesn’t say, but what it true, is that God is very interested in how you treat your money.
In fact, if you look at the context of that verse, it reads like this…
2 Corinthians 9 (NIV) 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Then it goes on to say…
7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
We live in a world of sparing sowers. A world where people keep their grain – or their money – to spend on themselves and their families.
This sermon teaches us why God cares about our money. It’s because he cares about our hearts.
You can download this mp3 HERE.