It's a simple concept, but it's often misrepresented or misunderstood. The idea that whatever you give to God comes back to you multiply. What's the truth? Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah reveals the underlying principle behind this teaching.
and how you can be blessed by putting it into practice. Listen as David introduces today's special and timely message. Getting through giving. I'm sure you've heard it said, my people you believe in, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. And um If you ever put that principle to test, you'll discover that it's true.
I know you like to receive, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's blessed to receive, but it's more blessed to give. Because when you give You set a chain reaction in place that doesn't stop. And I could tell you many stories about that, but we're going to stick with the scripture as we open our Bibles together today to 2 Corinthians chapter 9, a very famous passage for people who teach on stewardship. But this is about the stewardship of life, not just about the stewardship of your resources.
So don't turn this off. Don't say, oh, he's going to talk about money, because I'm not. I'm going to talk about life and principles that will help you grow in your relationship with Christ and become the person you truly want to be. Friends, during the month of July, Almost every day, I have told you about this incredible book that we've made available. Unlike anything we've ever offered before, this 350-page hardback book has been given in response to the anniversary of our nation and the principles that this book tells us were a part of the founding of our nation.
This nation was founded upon the Word of God. Those who were there when it happened. Actually say that. And the Bible is everywhere illustrated in the Foundation of America. The book 100 Bible Verses That Made America is available to you today for the last time.
We're making this offer. Rob Morgan wrote it, It Will Bless Your Life. It will be a good primer for you as you think about history, and it will remind you of the blessing you have as an American. I hope you'll take advantage of it, get a copy of it by sending a gift of any size today to Turning Point to help us do the work that we do, sharing the gospel around the world. When you send your gift, ask for this book and it will be on its way.
Well, here's our lesson for today, the last one in this series. Here is getting through giving from the Word of God. Why is it more blessed to give than to receive? Because when you give, you receive. That's the whole thing.
This truth that is more blessed to give than to receive is a paradox in the minds of most people today. The message of the paradox is here in Luke 6.38, but the meaning of it is basically described for us in a couple of passages in the New Testament, the first one being 2 Corinthians 9.
So if you have your Bible, you might want to turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 9. And here we read in verse 6 of the ninth chapter. But this I say. He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. And he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Now, go back and read that verse with our two words. He who gives sparingly will also get sparingly. And he who gives bountifully will also get bountifully. You see, it's not the reapers who determine the harvest. It's the source.
It's not the receivers who determine the harvest, it's the givers. Many Christians today need to learn the power of this. For as long as we hold on to things that God has given us, refusing to allow them back in. To His program, we will never see the increase He wants to bless us with. But not only that, not only is it true that we receive if we give.
But number two, we receive what we give. Galatians 6:8 says it this way: for he who sows to his flesh. will of the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. What that says is we get Not only if we give, we get what we give.
In all the years that I have heard Luke 6:38 taught, and it's usually taught in every stewardship message somewhere along the way. People always talking about Luke 6:38, given it shall be given to you. It's a great principle. And in all the years that I've heard it taught, I don't think I've ever heard anybody teach it. in its context.
Because in the context of Luke chapter 6, this little verse isn't about finances at all. It is a principle that works in the financial realm, but its primary meaning in Luke chapter 6 is something totally different. If you've got your Bibles and you still have Luke 6:38 there, just go back and I want to read the verse before Luke 6:38, you'll see what I mean. Here's what it says. Judge not, and you shall not be judged.
Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.
You see, We receive If we give. And we receive. What we give.
Now notice thirdly, we receive more. Then we give. In 2 Corinthians 9:10, it says, Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for the food supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. God has arranged for things to grow and develop. That's God's plan.
If a farmer planted one kernel of corn and went out after the whole season and all he got back was one kernel of corn, that would be an exercise in futility. There would be no incentive in that at all. But if we sow, we will reap. And the Bible says we reap not only if we sow, and we get not only if we give, but we get what we give. And now here it says we get more than we give.
Whatever you invest comes back to you. In greater amounts, whether it's an emotion, whether it's giving a gift, whether it's love, whatever it is, whatever you invest comes back. Over and over again, Paul uses this word for abundance. He wanted these believers to recognize the fact that when we invest with God, God always gives us back more than we invest.
So you say to me, Pastor, what does that mean?
Well, listen to this passage of scripture in 2 Corinthians 9:8. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always having all sufficiency. in all things may have an abundance for every good work. God makes it happen. The more you give, the more you have to give.
God increases the resources we possess so that we may pass it on, not hoard it for ourselves. And the force, he said, of this principle is staggering. The problem is not on the divine side, but it's on the human side. The most positive statement in the New Testament follows: Will God? Keep his promise?
Yes, he says five times yes. And then he writes this verse again and underlines it like this. All grace, always, all sufficiency in all things for every good work. Five times in that verse, he uses those superlatives to say you can't ever get involved with God without it coming back to you over and over in an abundant measure. And this is fantastic, and it's not foolish, it's just factual.
It is based upon God's law of giving and receiving. It shows us that the right attitude plus a noble action equals a place of power and multiplication. If it's done with the right spirit, and the proper motivation.
Now, what this is all about as we look at this principle is that when we give. And only if we give do we receive. And when we give, whatever it is we give, that's what comes back. And when we give, what comes back to us is more than we have given. And here's the last one.
And this is the one most of us don't like. When we give We receive But after. We give. We don't receive always the same day.
Somebody said, I started. Last year during stewardship, Pastor, I tithed. I tied the first Sunday and nothing happened, so I quit. Mm-hmm. I mean, I think some people think I'm going to start tithing this week, and Monday morning, I'm going to go to the mailbox, and here's five times what I put in the offering yesterday.
Well, you try that on in the world of agriculture. You can't do that. A farmer doesn't go plant his seed and then come back and stomp all over the ground upset and angry because nothing's happened and it's only one day. There's a period of time between the giving and the receiving, between the sowing and the reaping. And that's why in the New Testament there are several verses of Scripture to help us while we're in the interim between having given and yet having not received.
And here are just a few of them you can write down that will help you if you happen to be there. Galatians 6.9, let us not grow weary. While doing good, For in due season we shall reap if we don't give up. 1 Corinthians 15:58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
knowing that your labor is not in vain. 2 Thessalonians 3.13. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And Hebrews 6:10, I love this one. For God is not unjust to forget your work and your labor of love, which you have shown toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints.
And do minister.
So you've given And it hasn't come back to you yet. Here's some verses to go to. Just remember. Listen to me. God isn't on your schedule.
He's not obligated to be on your schedule. But he's Never late. He's always Just on time. Amen. F.
B. Meyer, a great writer, reminds us that God can return to us our investment in a very unpredictable way.
Some people say, well, I sowed some resources, but the resources, I didn't see them at first, and then all of a sudden I looked up and the resources came back, and God had changed a little bit of the coinage, but they were still my resources coming back to me. And he wrote this little paragraph, and listen to this, see if this doesn't grab hold of your heart. He said, lend your boat for a whole afternoon to Christ, that it may be his floating pulpit. And don't be surprised if it returns to you filled with fish. Place your upper room at his disposal for a single meal, and he will fill it and the whole house with the Holy Spirit of Pentecost.
Place in his hands your barley loaves and fish, and he will not only satisfy your hunger, but he will add 12 baskets full of fragments. You know, the thing I love about God is, He's so unpredictable. And you just have to keep your eyes wide open to watch his hand because he may not do it the way you thought he was going to do it, but if he doesn't, he'll do it in a better way than you ever dreamed. Because he's the God who keeps his promises.
So you say, well, I've got the message of this, and I know a little bit now about the meaning of it. Let me just give you some motivation for putting this into practice in your life. This paradox will work only if you work it. And here's the question we need to answer right now. Why should I do this?
I'm going to give you five reasons. These are the things that Paul mentions that we should do. Most of them, 2 Corinthians, answers the question. Why should we learn to live by this law? Why should we take God at His word?
That He hardwired the universe to work through the giving and receiving principle.
Well, first of all, if you do it, you will experience growth. It says in 2 Corinthians 9.10 that You will see a multiplication of the seed and an increase of the fruits of your righteousness. Whatever God touches grows. He's in the growing business. Let me just tell you, that works in a church too.
How does a church grow? It grows because God's involved in it. And when does it stop growing? When barriers are put up or they arise, and you don't take those barriers out of the way. As soon as you get the barriers out of the way, the growth continues.
And I could tell you the whole story of how that principle works here. Whatever God is involved with is alive and it grows. It will cause you to experience growth. And secondly, you will evidence your faith. In 2 Corinthians 9:13, he talks about the proof of the ministry.
And the thought here in this passage is that when we get involved with God and we take Him at His Word and we get involved in this principle, this paradox. That's an evidence of our faith and trust in God. And it proves that we really do believe what we believe. Giving is intangible evidence of the reality of our love. We understand that in our personal relationships, do we not?
Why do you give gifts to one another? Because you love one another. It's easy to claim to love God, but giving is the evidence of it. Actually, it's difficult to comprehend, at least from my perspective, how a man can love God and never, ever desire to do anything for him. After all, he's done for us.
If we really comprehend what He's done for us, we'll be looking for ways to get involved with what God is doing. We experience growth, we evidence our faith, and then it says we encourage other people. Verse 12 of the 2 Corinthians 9 passage says: For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, That means that through our giving we help other people. Oh, are we going to learn about this in these days that are before us? We're going to have to learn how to help other people.
As long as there's a collection of God's people, God's people should never be in need. And then it says here, we exalt God by doing this. How does this work? Oh, this is magnificent, folks. Look in your Bibles and notice that when we follow God in this process and we get involved in the giving and receiving.
We start a chain reaction. That starts here and goes all the way to heaven. Three times in this passage, there's a reference to this. Notice, 2 Corinthians 9:11, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, watch this, which causes many thanksgivings to God. In other words, Paul says, by your giving to the work of God, a lot of thanksgivings get to God.
He says it again in verse 12: For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God. And 2 Corinthians 9:15 adds a third little note. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. We give to the Lord, we give of our talent and our treasure and our time. That what happens is We start the symphony going.
And the symphony just keeps going and it ultimately gets all the way to God. And it says many thanksgivings. Several years ago, when we were talking about stewardship in the month of January. I tried to picture What happens to the money when it is given to the missionaries that we support around the world? And I wrote this down and I want to share it with you again.
First of all, the money goes into the church treasury. Then a check is sent off to a mission board, which allows God's missionaries to go out and spread the good news. And the mission agency translates the dollars into the currency of the country into which the missionaries are going or where they serve. And one day, an envelope arrives with a support check that says: We love you, we thank God for you and for your faithfulness in helping to fulfill the calling of our church.
Now watch. The people who gave Thank God. that they've had the privilege to give and they've been able to give. That's us. The people at the mission board, thank God, that the need of their missionaries is going to be supplied.
The missionaries thank God that so many people are supporting them in their work. The people who are reached by the missionaries thank God for the gospel and for those who brought it to them. And eventually, the members of the church hear all these good stories, and once again, they thank God for allowing them to be a part of such an incredible enterprise. Many thanksgivings. Go to God.
Did you realize that you have the opportunity to be a part of something as dynamic as that? We literally start the process of thanksgiving. Going to God. And all this ends in his exaltation. And then the last thing here is that we experience growth, we evidence our faith, we encourage others, we exalt God, and finally we enlarge our own capacity.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, says Paul in verse 8, that having all things, you may have an abundance for every good work.
Now, I don't know all the reasons why God blesses those who give, but I know at least one: He blesses them so they can give again. That's it. God prospers us not necessarily so we can raise our standard of living, but so that we can raise our standard of giving. He gives us more when he sees we're faithful with what we have, and when we get more, we have to increase not only the amount but the percentage. And the more we get, and the more we give, the more he blesses, and the more he blesses, the more we can give.
And if you love to give, just keep giving, because God's going to just keep enlarging your capacity to do it. And it's the most exciting, most wonderful, most thrilling thing in the world. you can ever be involved in. Hallelujah. You have the message of this paradox.
And then you have the meaning of it. And you have the motivation to get involved in it. But here's the greatest thing of all. There's a model here. that the Bible gives us.
to show us how it works. And here it is. Here are some key verses that you all know. You probably even say them with me. John 3:16.
For God, so love the world. that he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Watch this. For God so loved that he Gave.
How did God give? And what did he give? He gave his son. All right? Romans 6:23.
For the wages of sin is death, but. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Ephesians 2:8 says, For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift. of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
So who was the original giver? Gone. And what did he give? His son.
Now, I already told you. That the Bible says you get If you give, And you get What? You give.
So how does that work with God? Huh. I'm glad you asked. For over in the book of Hebrews, there is an interesting phrase. in the tenth verse of the second chapter, and listen to what it says.
For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things.
Now, watch this. in bringing many sons To glory. What did Almighty God invest? He invested His Son, and what is He going to reap? He's going to reap many sons and daughters to His kingdom, just as the principle is illustrated in the life of our Creator.
Because Almighty God sent his Son into this world to die for us. Because of that investment, one day I'm going to be one of the many sons. And many of you are going to be some of the sons and daughters of Almighty God. God has many sons and many daughters. that are coming to glory, coming to Him.
because he made the investment. Aren't you glad God made the investment? Amen. Amen. He came here for you.
came here for me. He came here.
So that we might have. everlasting life. There's a story about a vicar in the Church of England who was kneeling beside the bed of one of his wealthy parishioners. And he was pleading with this man to give his heart to God. And the man was so feeble he couldn't speak.
So the vicar was saying to him: If you want to trust Christ, if you want to place your life in Christ before you die, I want you to reach out your hand and take hold of mine. And the man wouldn't do it. And the vicar said to him, Time is fleeting. It is going to be over for you before very long. You need to put your life in Christ.
You need to trust Christ. You need to reach out your hand. And take hold of my hand. And we will pray together. And the dying man Would not Do it.
And his life began to fade, and finally the old man died. His lifeless, pulseless hand fell open. and in his hand was the key to his safe. He clutched the key to his safe. all the way to the end of his life.
rather than reach out his hand to receive Christ. As if he could carry his possessions into the next world. How foolish. He died without God. Throughout our culture today, that's one of the main reasons why people don't get involved with God.
They are afraid that if they do, it won't come back to them in a way that they're comfortable, and so they hang on to what they have and they miss everything God wants them to have. Let me tell you something, and I want to say this with all the passion in my voice. Whatever your plan, whatever you think you got going, you haven't got anything going compared to what God wants to do in your life if you would just let go. and open your hand and receive him. He came all the way down here in his son, investing himself for you.
All he's waiting for you to do is to say, okay.
Okay, Lord. I won't hang on to my stuff. I'll hang on to you. And he will bless you. And he will give you a life that's more exciting than any life you could ever have imagined.
We've been talking a lot about that. But why? Why would you not make that decision? And why would you not make that decision today? You know what?
Okay. The Lord had to teach me some lessons about this along the way, but He taught them and I learned them. And these last years of my life, I have. Spent much time practicing this principle of getting through giving. You cannot out give God, whether it's through your finances or your life or your talent, whatever it is that you offer to Him.
He will always be more abundant back to you than you can ever be to Him. And um I hope you've learned that lesson. If you learn it about life, it will spill over into the way you use your resources, the way you treat people, the way you look at those who are less fortunate than you are, and it will make a difference in your life. I hope you'll take advantage of it. And hey, Get to church this weekend, will you?
Just for me, do it, do it. because the Word of God tells you to do it. Do it because I'm asking you to do it. You cannot be the person God wants you to be if you don't go to church.
So get to church. I'll see you right here on Monday. God bless you. Have a great weekend. For more information on today's special message from Dr.
Jeremiah, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly magazine Turning Points and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of Robert J. Morgan's inspiring book, 100 Bible Verses That Made America.
It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard New International and New King James Version, available in your choice of handsome and durable cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org/slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us Monday as we begin the series Powerful Principles from Proverbs on Turning Point with Dr.
David Jeremiah.
