Sowing Bountifully – October 9, 2022 – Eddington Presbyterian Church

Deuteronomy 26:5-11, 16-19, II Corinthians 9:6-15
October 9, 2022

It’s always a challenge to think about sermons during Stewardship time. Too often it becomes a matter of figuring out how to “compel” the people to give. A lot of preachers take that approach.

Well, I feel like we’re in a different place these days. As I’ve said many times throughout the pandemic, you have been good stewards! You’ve stepped up and supported the church, even in these difficult times. And so, my message has been, and still is, “Keep up the good work.” And isn’t that a much more “uplifting” message?

That’s why I love the way Paul talks about stewardship. He is very “uplifting!” I wanted to use another passage today, in addition to the one I read from Corinthians. But it would have been too much reading. So, we’ll wait and focus in on this one in a couple of weeks. But for now, just hear the beginning of this. Paul is writing this to the Philippian church. And this is how he begins that letter.

“I thank God in all my remembrance of you, and every time I pray for you, I pray with joy, thankful for your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now.” (Philippians 1:3-5.) Paul has a great pride in his people. And he tells others about their good work. He “brags on them!” Well, I have to say that I’ve had a similar pride in all of you these past few difficult years. And I’ve been bragging on you!

And it’s been a good thing! Because I’ve always believed – pandemic or not – that the heart of Stewardship is encouragement. It is not compulsion – compelling people – as Paul says. He told the Corinthians that we shouldn’t give reluctantly, but cheerfully. Listen again to these words he wrote to them.

“Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (II Corinthians 9:7.) I shudder to think of how often God’s people have been “under compulsion” to give! I shudder to think of how much “compulsion” I may have given over the years! But it’s probably not as much as you might think. Because I’ve always had an aversion to “compelling” people. I’ve always been “turned off” myself when I’ve heard people say that “the money is running out!” or “We’ll be padlocking the doors.” I ‘ve never liked that approach! That’s compulsion! And that leads to reluctance! There’s both of the things Paul was talking about – reluctance and compulsion.

Paul would say, “No!” “God loves a cheerful giver!” Remember that Paul’s writings are chock full of wonderful encouraging words, words that I love! Throughout his letters we find words like “encouragement,” “forbearance,” and “edification.” He was all about “upbuilding” the church! And that’s pretty amazing if you think about it. Because at first he was “hell bent” – literally – on tearing down the church! And then he met Jesus on the road to Damascus! And now, he was all about encouraging people, and he wanted to “build them up!” I think that was definitely the Holy Spirit working within him! God’s power transformed him into a very positive and uplifting person!

So here we have this passage from II Corinthians today. And as I’ve said before, when I read a passage of scripture, a phrase will often “jump out at me.” That’s one of the ways the Holy Spirit works when we read the Bible! Try it sometime! Read a Bible passage, concentrate on it, and see if a word or phrase doesn’t “jump out” at you! Well, the phrase that jumped out at me this time was “He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

Last week I talked to you about “God’s bounty.” It was World Communion Sunday, and we read that day the words of the psalmist, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” (Psalm 116)

Well, Paul tells us that God’s bounty is all around us! It’s there if only we will look for it. But in addition to that bounty, we also have the bounty of God that we receive when we sow bountifully. Do you see that? And as I say that, I want you to notice that this is Paul being not only inspirational, but he’s also being very practical.

Think about it, if you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. And I’m not just talking about offering here. If you don’t give your faith much of your time, if you don’t think about God all that often, if you don’t pray much, if you don’t have fellowship with other believers, you may find that you’re sowing sparingly. It’s like planting a garden or a field and not using much seed. You won’t get much of a result will you. That just makes sense, doesn’t it? This is Paul being practical!

Over the years, whenever people have told me that they were worried that their faith, that it didn’t seem very strong, and didn’t seem to mean all that much to them, the first (and practical!) I would ask them has always been, “How much are you putting into it?” I might also have asked, “How much are you sowing?”

Because if you “sow bountifully,” if you put your all into your faith, if you worship God regularly – and I’m not just talking about corporate worship here in Church. If you worship God daily, if you pray, if you seek to learn, if you take time for things inspirational or edifying, then you will be like the garden or field that is well seeded and well-tended. You will reap bountifully! That makes sense, too, doesn’t it?

And of course, “Practical Paul” is talking about sowing bountifully in terms of generosity. He’s practical in that way, too! And he’s very encouraging about it! But let’s be careful here! We’re not talking about “giving in order to get!” There are too many churches that preach that message! You’ve heard about this thing called the “Prosperity Gospel.” “You want more in your life, give more to the church.” That’s what they say. They’ll even put people up in front of the church, or on TV, who say, “I gave to the church and got a big check in the mail the next week!” You’ve seen them, I’m sure!

That’s not what we’re talking about here! That’s not why we sow bountifully! And that’s not the “reaping bountifully” Paul’s talking about. And yes, Jesus did say, “And all these things will be added unto you.” But the first part of that sentence is “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” The “sowing” that we do in our giving is directly tied to the “sowing” we do in our life of faith. We cannot separate those two things!
Over the years, I’ve heard people question whether or not we should have a time of offering as part of worship. And I’ve always answered that, for God’s people, the offering has always been seen as an act of worship! It’s tied to all of the other devotional things we do in our faith!

So, it’s Stewardship time. But as I like to point out, it’s always Stewardship time! This is the time we focus on it. This is the time we think about why we seek to be good stewards. This is the time we celebrate being good stewards! And so this is the time we remember that when we sow bountifully, we reap bountifully!

Prayer

Eternal God, we cannot be the people you want us to be unless you give us the strength to do so. And so we ask for your Spirit to be in our midst, and in our hearts, that we may truly celebrate your bounty among us! We thank you and praise you for your bounty to us. And we pray these things in Jesus’ name and for the sake of his kingdom in our midst, Amen!