Making Money. Feeling Good (Chantilly)

2 Corinthians 9:7 CSB – God loves a cheerful giver.

Matthew 6:21 & 24 CSB – 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Godly money managers are cheerful because they set an encouraging example

2 Corinthians 9:1-2 CSB – Now concerning the ministry to the saints, it is unnecessary for me to write to you. 2 For I know your eagerness, and I boast about you to the Macedonians, “Achaia has been ready since last year,” and your zeal has stirred up most of them.

Hebrews 10:24 CSB – let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works….

Godly money managers are cheerful because they are confident in their Provider

2 Corinthians 9:8-9 CSB – And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. 9 As it is written:
He distributed freely;
he gave to the poor;

James 1:17 CSB – Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights

2 Corinthians 9:10 CSB – Now the one who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will also provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

Isaiah 55:10 CSB –
For just as rain and snow fall from heaven
and do not return there without saturating the earth
and making it germinate and sprout,
and providing seed to sow
and food to eat, so my word that comes from my mouth….

2 Corinthians 10:14 CSB – And as they pray on your behalf, they will have deep affection for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

John 3:16 CSB – For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Ephesians 2:8 CSB – For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift….

Romans 1:21 CSB – For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools

Psalm 37:25 CSB – I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread.

Peace comes when we live like God owns it all

1 Corinthians 4:1&7 CSB – A person should think of us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of the mysteries of God.
What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?

Deuteronomy 8:18 CSB – remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth

Action: If you want to trust God more, give first to God

Matthew 6:33 CSB – Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you, as well.

2 Corinthians 9:8 CSB – And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.

Practical Steps: How Cheerful Givers Give

Give Generously

2 Corinthians 9:6 CSB – The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.

Matthew 5:41 CSB – Jesus says, if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

Matthew 5:42 CSB – Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Jesus point: Live generously.

Give Eagerly (in a timely manner)

2 Corinthians 9:2 CSB – For I know your eagerness, and I boast about you to the Macedonians, “Achaia has been ready since last year,”

2 Corinthians 9:5 CSB – Therefore I considered it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance the generous gift you promised, so that it will be ready as a gift…

Proverbs 3:27 CSB – When it is in your power, don’t withhold good from the one to whom it belongs.

Give Cheerfully to Honor God

2 Corinthians 9:7 CSB – Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver.

God is a cheerful Giver

John 3:16, CSB – For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

St. Augustine, Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure; where your treasure is, there is your heart; where your heart is, there is your happiness.

Motivations for Joyful Givers

1. Motivated by Wisdom: Christian generosity is smart

2 Corinthians 9:6 CSB – The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.

2 Corinthians 9:11 CSB – You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.

Luke 6:38 CSB – Jesus said, Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over—will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Proverbs 11:24 CSB – One person gives freely, yet gains more;
another withholds what is right, only to become poor

Malachi 3:10 CSB – Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the Lord of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

“Enriched in Every Way”

Mark 10:29-30 CSB – “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, ³⁰ who will not receive a hundred times more,

2. Motivated by Love: To Help Others

2 Corinthians 9:11-12 CSB – You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.

12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³ Because of the proof provided by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone.