seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Corinthians 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
It's just skewed a tad bit. Just enough to give a lot of preachers' fodder for the "collection reminder" sermons. It's just a tad bit off from what Jesus taught.... Jesus wanted us to give everything but He didn't say "smile".While I was reading this, I thought "trickle-down economics".
But then I saw this.... "God loves a cheerful giver". A bully I once knew said those same words when he took another boy's lunch money. I wonder who taught him those words... I should have asked him when I threatened to pound him on the head and took the money back. [He was a short bully and I was tall.]
Paul's still being sarcastic, according to the commentary.
For God loves a cheerful giver: Instead of giving in a grudging way or out of necessity, God wants us to give cheerfully. The ancient Greek word for cheerful (hilaros, used only here in the New Testament) is the root for our English word hilarious. God wants us to give happily because that is how God Himself gives.
True giving comes from a happy heart, and it also gives us a happy heart. The English poet Carlyle said that when he was a boy, a beggar came to the door when his parents were gone. On a youthful impulse he rushed to his room, broke his piggy bank, and gave the beggar all the money. He said that never before or since had he known such sheer happiness as came to him in that moment of giving.
Not all giving is cheerful giving. “Many gifts are thus given sorrowfully, where the giver is induced to give by a regard to public opinion, or by stress of conscience.” (Hodge) In Acts 5:1-11, Ananias and Sapphira stand as examples of giving for the wrong reasons, not out of a cheerful heart.
“It must be hilarious giving, giving out of the heart, because you love to give, not because you are bound to give.” (Morgan)
God is the ultimate cheerful giver. He delights to give to us. “It is not difficult to suggest why God delights in the cheerful giver. He himself is such a giver and desires to see this characteristic restored among those who were created in his image.” (Kruse)
Paul and Peter.... gotta get that money!!!
So, I was thinking about that song "you could have knocked me over". Paul claims he's on a mission for Jesus. He claims Jesus knocked him down. What if the words were skewed just enough to make it work... but really the "idea" of "using Jesus" against the people was what "knocked him over". What if instead of saying "Jesus knocked me down", the truth is "when the idea came to me... it knocked me right off my feet it was so good".
The idea.... tax the people and tell them "Jesus says smile". After all, Jesus agreed to pay the temple tax with a coin God gave Him in the mouth of a fish.
Paul realized in order to live in luxury he would need a mortgage, lights, water, sewage and parking. So, he would collect money for the "needs of the saints".... knowing Peter and he were the "saints". Whatever was left could go to the poor.
"Paul says smile."
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