The Joy of Open Hands

What if generosity is actually the pathway to joy? This week we’ll discover how God designed us to experience life not in holding tightly, but in releasing freely.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So, in that, we are in our third week looking at the joy of open hands. And if you have a Bible or an app, we're going to be working through 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 6 through 15. 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verses 6 through 15. We're going to try and see from an actual letter that Paul wrote to take up an offering where he was making this financial request to the church in Corinth, and they weren't alone. There was many churches a part of this. And he's trying to outline a theology of why we should be generous, why we should live generous lives. Because here's what's not going to be fruitful or helpful for you or for me is for our generosity to become uh to come from like manipulation or guilt or any sense of uh needing to please or satisfy God. That's not going to be good or healthy for our souls. Uh, what we need is a theology of why our stuff doesn't matter and why He is ultimately eternally more abundant than anything that we could ever seek to obtain in this life. Right? That's what we need to have come from our head and really rest in our heart so that we can live the generous life that God actually calls us to. And that's not just to us, that's to others around you. That's to neighbors, that's to coworkers and family members and brothers and sisters in the church. Like, how do we live with more joy-filled open-handedness in our generosity? So, over the last two weeks, we've been doing some heart diagnostic work together. Week one, we established the foundation, right? That genuine generosity isn't something that we discipline ourselves into, but it's actually what overflows from a heart that has actually been captured by grace. Week two, we sat with this uncomfortable truth that when God is rich toward us, our natural instinct is to enrich ourselves, to build bigger barns. We were looking at that parable in Luke 12 together, right? Whether those barns are filled with present comfort or future security, we we all tend to do the same thing. And that's two weeks of holding up this mirror of God's word that we might see ourselves rightly. One of the beautiful truths of Scripture and its function and purpose in our life is that it is a mirror that we're able to see ourselves in, that we might rightly see the sinfulness of ourselves, but also that we might rightly see the righteousness and grace of Jesus that has He has saved us and redeemed us. And so we've done that work, right? We've held up this mirror. And the mirror doesn't lie. That's hard work to do, it's hard work to preach, it's hard work to receive, but the mirror doesn't lie. And most of us, if we can kind of be able to process and discern, most of us have seen something in that mirror we'd rather not look at for too long. But here's what I want us to know before we open the text this morning. Diagnostic, right? The diagnosis of Scripture is only ever meant to lead us somewhere else. It's not meant to just abandon us in hopelessness, to see ourselves in the midst of our sin and depravity and just leave us there, right? Because what about a doctor who tells you what's wrong and then simply sends you home without treatment? Well, they haven't helped you. He's just made you more aware of your problem. That's all he's done. And that's not what's happening in this passage, that's not what Scripture desires for us. Paul, who wrote this letter, he's not content to simply leave us with a diagnosis. He wants to lead us somewhere far better. So this morning in the series is the turn. Right? We're working to understand what right generosity actually looks like. And more importantly, where does it come from? Not simply what it looks like, but where does it come from? And what Paul shows us in this passage, I would submit, is one of the most liberating and joyful truths in Scripture in regards to generosity. Joyful generosity is not something you manufacture, it's something you receive in the heart. John Chrysostom, a church father from the fourth century, said this about joyful generosity. Actually, this came from his homilies in 2 Corinthians. So this church father from the fourth century, he says this it is not the one who gives much who gives. Hear him, right? It is not the one who gives much who gives, but the one who gives with joy. For God does not seek your money, he seeks your heart. He does not need your stuff, he's not after your stuff, he is after your heart. And giving flows naturally and freely from knowing and trusting the God who has held absolutely nothing back from you. So we're gonna get into the text to understand that this morning. So 2 Corinthians 9, 6 through 15. Now, the first thing I want you to see is what Paul is not doing in this passage. Right? He's not trying to present some stewardship curriculum, like he's not rolling out Financial Peace University in Corinth here. He's not trying to provide a financial framework of how you ought to budget for your generosity and your giving. He's not even primarily talking about money. He's talking about the condition of the heart. Let's look at verse 7 together. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart. So he's speaking to the heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Now, here's what Paul does wonderfully in this passage. He gives us two failure modes of the heart. Two failure modes of the heart, two ways that people give that miss the mark entirely of what God is calling his people to. Reluctance and compulsion. Reluctance and compulsion. What are these? These are failure modes of the heart. And we're gonna dig into these a little bit later, but to contrast those heart postures, a heart posture of reluctance or a heart posture of compulsion, Paul then points to what God actually delights in. And he says this it's a cheerful giver. Now, the Greek word that Paul uses there for cheerful, hilaros, right? It's actually where we get the English word hilarious. And that's not accidental. He's doing this very intentionally. Paul's not describing simply just mild contentment or dutiful willingness when it comes to giving. He's describing an overflowing, almost surprised delight. Have you ever found something hilarious? It's typically something that you weren't ready for or that kind of caught you off guard, but in a good way. And it made you just overflow with joy and laughter and a giant smile on your face. The kind of generosity that comes from somewhere you genuinely can't believe about how much you've been given, and you can't help but to pour that generosity and that abundance back out to others. That's the person that God loves to watch give. Not the one who gives just enough to feel okay about themselves, or the one who gives simply because it's the right thing to do, but the one who gives with joy. A joy that's bigger than the gift itself. Right? When we give, we give with joy, and that joy ought to surpass the very gift that we're extending to another. And then Paul immediately tells us where that kind of giving comes from. 2 Corinthians 9, 8. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times you may abound in every good work. This here, verse 8, is the remedy for reluctance and compulsion. It's not a stronger will, it's not a more disciplined budget, it's not a more righteous determination within your heart, but it's knowing and trusting that God is able to make all grace abound to you. So the measure of our joyfulness and generosity is directly paralleled to the measure of which we know he is abundant and trust that he is abundant toward us, that he is able to give us all grace. Read those words carefully. All grace, all sufficiency, all things in all times. Paul's not describing a God who gives just enough to get by. He's describing a God of extravagant, overflowing, lavish provision for his people. A God who supplies not merely your need, but your abundance. Not just your need, but your abundance, and supplies your abundance specifically so that you can abound in generosity toward others. Let's look at verse 10. Look at verse 10. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. We talked about this a little last week, but God supplies seed to the sower, not to the spender or to the storer, but he supplies seed to the sower. The person who receives what God gives and immediately asks, What kingdom work can I do with this? Where can this be invested for an eternal harvest? And here's the inverted logic of God's kingdom. The sower ends up with more seed, not less. The sower ends up with more seed, not less. God multiplies what's released and entrusted back to him. And so here's what we need to see in this. The joy-filled heart of a generous person doesn't deplete, it's not loss, it deepens. It deepens with joy in the abundance of the grace of God. The open hand, it doesn't empty, it gets filled again. This is the economy of grace. And it runs on a completely different logic than the economy of fear, which is reluctance, or guilt, which is compulsion. Right? And then next, Paul he reveals this mystery in generosity. Look at verse 12. He says this for the ministry of this service, it's not just supplying the needs of the saints, but it is also overflowing in many thanksgiving to God. Your generosity, here's what Paul says: your generosity does something that you can't fully see. Yes, it meets a need. Yes, it provides for those who are without, who are suffering or struggling or in want, but underneath and beyond all of that, it produces something far more valuable. An overflow of thanksgiving to God. You see, when you give with joy, people don't just receive your gift, they receive a glimpse of God's character through it. It's not about the check, it's not about the bag full of things, it's not about the food that you can hand out. That is a wonderful and beautiful thing. But here's what we get to be: living witnesses of the very character of God, that through our generosity and act of grace, they may witness that and respond with thanksgiving and praise to the glory of his name. And so your generosity becomes a tangible testimony to the God from whom all good things come. And then Paul's moved to express this doxology at the end of the passage. He's been building this careful theological argument about sowing and reaping, about God's all-sufficiency, about the ripple effect of generosity, and then he just erupts, right? You can tell when Paul, so what is the doxology? It's this phrase of worship, it's this inexpressible joy where where you see Paul do this all throughout his letters, where he's just talking about the glory of God and the wonders of his grace, and then he just can't help but to erupt in almost song. And there in 2 Corinthians 9 15, he says, Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. And Paul's getting fired up at this letter requesting help for others in need because he is rooted, not he's not focused on the need, he's not focused on the manipulation and the guilt trip to try and get the need met when he's writing to this very wealthy Corinthian church. No, he's focused on the God of all grace and the glory of his son, and he just can't help but to respond in such a way. And that that word for inexpressible, it appears nowhere else in the entire New Testament. It means a gift that is so far beyond what words can contain that language simply fails. Paul reaches for the most spectacular language that he has. And he finds it inadequate to try and describe the grace that has abounded to us. What is this inexpressible gift? And it's Jesus, right? Preschool, Sunday class. Answer. Jesus, yes. You got it, Johnny. It's the Son of God. The Son of God given freely, poured out completely, not held back from us. It's the riches of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God did not give sparingly, He did not give reluctantly to us, nor did He give under some compulsion. No, God gave His Son to us, the inexpressible, inexhaustible, all-sufficient gift, and in so doing, established forever and for all, that He is the God who holds nothing back from us. He is the God of abundance that our minds cannot comprehend. That's where joyful generosity comes from. Not from trying harder, but from seeing more clearly the lavish grace of God toward us in Jesus. So here's the claim at the heart of this passage: Joyful generosity flows from knowing and trusting in God's abundance. Joyful generosity flows from knowing and trusting in God's abundance, not from moral resolve, not from guilt, or this carefully constructed plan that makes generosity feel manageable to us from knowing, deeply, personally, experientially knowing that the God you belong to is the God who supplies all things, who multiplies all seed, who has already given you the most inexpressible gift imaginable in his son. When that knowing, church, when that knowing goes from your head and it rests in your heart, something shifts inside of you. The posture stops being reluctance and it starts being this eagerness. Who around me has a need? What brother or sister is in want? Where can I be a blessing to my neighbors or coworkers? Where's the eagerness there? Because I've seen, I've known the way in which God has abounded toward me. It stops being compulsion and it starts being joy because you get to participate in the work of the kingdom. You see, the joyful giver has genuinely believed what Paul says in verse 8 that God is able to make all grace abound to them, that in Christ they have all sufficiency in all things at all times, that the God who supplies seed to the sower has distributed freely. Right? The one who is operating and living in joyful generosity, they're not just giving from their surplus or from their security, but they are giving from the abundance of a God that they have come to actually know and trust. But many of us, we're not living in this reality yet. Like my own maturing in generosity. I'm just getting wrecked by this series because I'm standing up here preaching to myself first and foremost. I'm trying to grow and understanding and maturity in this. Many of us we're just not living this way because for many of us, our generosity is often filled with reluctance or coming from compulsion. And it's not because we don't believe in generosity. This is what I'm talking about. Going from the head. We are a theologically sharp church. We love right answers, we love precision, we love to be able to navigate the challenges of scripture, right? But but for a lot of us, it's just stuck up here. And it hasn't worked its way down into a transformation of being. Where truth becomes faith and faith becomes sight because we actually live our faith out rightly before others. You see, most of us we're giving out of something other than a deep intimacy of the knowledge of the gospel and a settled trust in God's abundance toward us. Here's how I think this shows up for many of us. For many of us in this room, our generosity is marked by reluctance. And so we give reluctantly because we don't trust in God's abundance. Why do we give reluctantly, like fearfully driven in some ways, because we don't trust in God's abundance. We give occasionally when the cause is compelling enough or the moment feels right, but every time we do, Something inside of us tenses up. Why is that? Because we see giving as a loss. We feel the loss of letting go. Whatever we are giving is money that we could have spent on the next experience, the next adventure, the next thing that makes life feel full and rich. And so our hand opens so cautiously and slowly, and then it just closes so quickly. And we give the minimum amount that lets us feel okay on the inside about ourselves and what we've done before we allow ourselves to truly trust in his grace. Underneath that reluctance is a trust problem. You see, we don't actually believe that God has or will provide. At least not in a way that feels settled and restful and confident to our heart. Again, we believe it in theory. If I asked any of you in this room, you would say, of course, God is eternally abundant toward us. Of course. Okay, but what about right here? Practically, we're living as though what we release is gone. And it's never coming back. And now I just have to wrestle with and calculate the loss versus the desire. Because my desire is for this stuff, this thing, this experience, and I have to do some type of mental calculation to determine is the loss actually worth the potential risk or loss of the desire. It's as though generosity is a subtraction problem rather than a sowing opportunity, as the scriptures show us. And so the gospel remedy for us is verse 8. God is able to make all grace abound to you. Church, he is able. The God who causes land to produce plentifully, who supplies seed to the sower and multiplies it back to him. That God is not going to let a generous heart go empty. And so our reluctance is ultimately a failure of trust. A trust in a God of abundance who has and will give abundantly to his people. Others of us, though, we give from compulsion because we haven't fully known God's abundance. We haven't fully known God's abundance. We may give consistently and faithfully. We do what a good, responsible, God-honoring Christian is supposed to do, but it's not joyful. Our giving is much more an act of religious duty. It's a box to check, it's an obligation to fulfill. And often present, even in the midst of our faithful consistency, there's a mild resentment about it underneath the surface. That generosity, it's like a tax that we pay for belonging to the kingdom. We haven't felt the overflow of joy that Paul is describing. We haven't ever experienced the almost hilarious delight of releasing and sowing something significant because we haven't fully known God's abundance of grace in Jesus toward us. Again, we can articulate the theology, but the grace of God, the inexpressible gift of verse 15, the all-sufficiency of verse 8, it hasn't traveled from our head to our heart. We haven't known it. It's as if we're working to pay off some debt in our consistency, in our duty, and this compulsion. It's like we're trying to pay off a debt that's already been canceled at the cross. What are you going to give to God? We cannot give with joy when we're giving to satisfy an obligation. Because obligation never ends, and obligation is the fuel of compulsion. And so, what's the antidote for us? It's a deeper intimacy and encounter with the abundant grace of God in Jesus. You see, the reality is that both of us were giving out of a poverty of soul. One doesn't trust God, and the other hasn't fully tasted his goodness. But here in the text, there's a better way forward. There's a kind of giving that doesn't resent, that doesn't merely fulfill a duty. There is joyful generosity, and it flows from knowing and trusting in the radical abundance of his grace. Church, God has held nothing back from us. God has held nothing back from us. Do you want to try to picture the terrifying reality of God's abundant generosity toward you? He gave his only son for you. We can't fathom that type of generosity. We can't fathom that type of love for a people. We can't fathom that abundance expressed toward us. That's the theological ground underneath everything in this passage. The all-sufficiency of verse 8, the multiplication of verse 10, the overflowing thanksgiving of verse 12, the the doxology of 15. All of it rests in this reality. The God who is asking you to give with joy is the same God who has already given you everything. And I mean everything. He ends this passage by erupting into this praise and worship over the inexpressible gift of Jesus Christ Himself. What a joy it is to be able to participate. What a privilege to be a sower in the kingdom because I've already received everything that is beyond what I could even think or imagine or begin to comprehend. I've received it all in Christ. So what is all of this? The Son of God given freely, not held back, but poured out completely for people who never deserved such generosity. Look at Romans 8:32, Paul speaking about God's generous nature. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Lord or church, you have no want. Eternal, indestructible, overflowing. Life for everyone who believes. If you think that God would not provide seed to the sower, look at Jesus. The Son of the Father, the seed of the Father, sowed into the very earth we come from, that as he was raised up to new life, we might have eternal life in him. You see, that's the logic of grace. That's the logic of grace. If God gave you this inexpressible gift, Jesus, church, what could possibly remain that he would ever withhold from you? The Puritan preacher, John Owen, he wrote in his work, Communion with God, this. He said, There is no greater motive to liberality, freedom, than a right understanding of the grace of Christ. For he who knows how much he has been freely given will find it impossible to hold tightly to what he has. That's 1700s Puritan right there. That's men who understood all that they had been given to God by what am I trying to say here? I don't know. The lights are flash- I can feel the lights flashing in my brain right now. These are men who lived simple and modest lives, not because they were trying to earn righteousness, but I believe because they were intimate with the righteousness they had been given in Christ. The reluctant giver today, he's pinching every dollar because he's never fully trusted a God this radically abundant. The compelled giver is fulfilling obligations because he's never truly received this gift so free and full of grace. But when the inexpressible gift actually rests within our chest, when the full weight of what God gave and what it cost and what it purchased settles into the soul. Man, something irreversible happens. There's a real and present joy in the surrender of our stuff. Because you've finally seen. You've finally seen that you're already so rich that there's nothing left to be afraid of losing. The God who didn't spare his own son is not going to let the generous heart deplete and become empty. He multiplies what's released, he enriches us in every way so that you can be generous in every way. This is the abundant God we're being invited to know and trust this morning. So here's my prayer for us. That we would be a people of joyful generosity. It's that simple. I don't, I honestly, I'll say this as clear as I possibly can. At the end of the day, I don't even care about the generosity initiative in the building campaign. As much as I care that as you see your brother and sister hurting or in want, or you see your neighbor going without, or you pass by someone in need, and you're just able because you've been so wrecked by the grace of Jesus to just open hand whatever you need. What's mine is yours. I'll give you whatever it takes to help you get on your feet. Because I've known and trusted in the generous grace of God. I want us to be a church family so captured by the abundance of God, so genuinely overwhelmed by this inexpressible gift that generosity becomes the most natural, joyful, freeing expression of who we are. Because that's the giving that God loves. And it's available to everyone here who's willing to know and trust the God who has held nothing back from you. The vision in this passage. The vision in this passage is what? It's a church that looks like it's God. That's the vision being presented here. Can we be a church that looks like our God? And so here's my invitation to you this week, wrapping this up. Spend some time in verse 8. Let's just read it together. Not like out loud, don't do that. It's fine in your heart. Verse 8. God is able to make all grace, all grace, abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Man, this week pray that slowly. Pray that slowly till it goes from your head to your heart. Ask God to make it more than just a theological statement written with ink on paper. Ask him to make it the settled conviction that your giving flows from. Ask him to show you what it would look like to give not from reluctance or compulsion, but from genuine trust in his abundance. And then as that starts to settle in your chest this week, man, proclaim out loud, verse 15. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Let that be the well that your generosity flows from. Not obligation, not duty, not the fear of what you're gonna lose. The inexpressible gift. The God who held nothing back, not even his only son. Church, let's be a people who give like we actually believe that. Amen.