554
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
September 1928
“all grace.” The Season — “always.” The Sphere —“all things.” The Specialty — “make us abound.” Notice the “alls” o f 2 Cor. 9:8. All grace; always; all sufficiency; all things— and every good work. —o— T he ;?R ewards of G iving What does God promise the generous in Isa. 58:10-11? What does He say He will do for the liberal in Prov. 11:25? What does a man always gain when He helps the poor? (Prov: 14:21.) Why cannot a Christian lose what he gives to the poor? (Prov. 19:17.) If we would know something of the glory o f God in this life, what course must we take? (Isa. 58:7-8.) What is the great law o f spiritual bless ing laid down by Jesus? (Lk. 6:38.) How may we obtain a specially great reward? (Lk. 6:35.) —o— G olden T ext I llustration First they gave their oven selves to the Lord (2 Cor. 8 :5 ). , When a Christian has already surren dered himself to the Lord, he will be apt to think of all his gifts as put into the pierced hand o f Christ. A pastor was once taking a missionary collection and said: “I want each of you to give today as though you were putting your money right into the pierced hand o f Jesus Christ.” A lady went forward afterward and said: “I was going to give a half dollar but I did not.” “Why did you not do it?” asked the preacher. “ I could not put a half-dollar in His pierced hand,” she answered, “when I have a hundred dollars in the bank that I can spare. I am going to give that.” How much greater our gifts would be, if first o f all, we would give ourselves to Him. • Glad Giving 2 Cot. 8 :1-9:15 Memory Verse .—“ God loveth a cheer ful giver.” 2 Cor. 9 :7b. Approach .—Show the children some pieces o f money arid tell them that money is a good thirig when it is used in the right way. Tell them how Paul was col
Permit us to say that our propo sition on inside back cover is one you will surely wish to know about. Look now !
Once
Again -
example that the. Corinthians were urged to imitate. It is love that is the essence o f sacrifice. The form o f giving is sec ondary. In His case, it was life. In their case it was but money. Alas, how little is required of most of us and how grudg ingly have we given! Have we stopped to think of the height from which He stooped for us—the depth of humiliation to which He descended? Do we recall that He found no resting place between His throne and the cross? He suffered all this voluntarily, and earn estly prosecuted the work of our salva tion. His only object was to pour His fullness into our em p tin essH is riches into our spiritual poverty—to raise us to heaven that we might share its glories with Him. And will we withhold from Him anything—even ourselves? Paul, would have.them understand that God accepts willingness where means are not. On the other hand, where means are, willingness can only be tested by performance (v. 11). W e can test all our big sentiment about liberality by our own self-denial. Slothful sympathies count for nothing. Many tell what they would do if they were rich, yet it. is not their habit to give even as they are now able. If men are without a sense of their obligation to Jesus Christ now, they would not prac tice giving if they were rich. Feltham says: “Alms should, come out of a little purse as well as out of a great sack” (v. 12). Let there "first be a will ing mind.” In handing out a real sac rificial gift to the poor, we may be .touch ing the very throne o f God, for He who sits there receives\.the gift and, records it in His book of remembrance until the rewarding day. A liberal heart will have a liberal hand, be it full or empty. “H e which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly” (2 Cor. 8 : 6 ). It has been said that no man is thoroughly converted until' his piety reaches his pocketbook. How few have learned the blessing of cheerful giv ing! Christ has a claim upon our pos sessions but leaves the question “How much?” to be determined by ourselves.. Thus we ourselves decide whether or not we shall have a bountiful reward. God has a special love ' f or the Christian who gives "not grudgingly or o f necessity,” but “ cheerfully." : - No soul has ever dealt generously with God without soon discovering the truth o f 2 Cor. 9 : 8 . Spiritual blessing is insep arable from Christian liberality. “ God is able to make all grace abound toward you.” I f God is pleased, we cannot be losers. Many are ready to think they may want what they give for Christ’s work. They.forget that what theyigiye for His glory, is far from being lost. Pre cious seed cast into the ground is not lost, though buried for a time. The sower shall receive again with increase. Is it not worth something to be an ob ject of divine love? “ God loveth a cheer ful giver.” Is not the love and favor of God better than all other things, yea, bet
ter than life itself? Not only may we lay up treasures in heavenly rewards, but God is able in this life to make our charity redound to our advantage. How dare we distrust His goodness? “He is able to make all grace abound toward us.” He can cut our expenses and double our incomes if He sees fit. He can certainly give us large increase of spiritual bless ings, without which temporal blessings are worse than useless. No wonder the apostle offers up a prayer (vs. 10-11) that the Corinthians might be gainers and not losers. It is God that “ministereth seed to the sower” (v. 10). Is He not able also to “ increase the fruits o f our righteousness” ? One of Matthew Henry’s quaint sayings sums up this prayer: “Works o f charity are so far from impoverishing us that they are the proper means truly to enrich us.” Let us meditate upon the words of v. 15— "God’s unspeakable g i f t ”—J e s u s Christ. Stand in the presence of this matchless display o f God’s love ;and ask yourself: “ What doth the'¡fiord' require o f me?” He who for your sdkë gavé His only begotten Son, asks you for His sake to give your heart to Him and something o f your substance to the cause of human happiness. Someone has said that in the day when we come face to face with this “ Unspeak able Gift-” we shall wish that every penny we haye given thé poor had been a dol lar ; when those whç> have begged from us on behalf o f the suffering, but whose importunities we have often complained of, will be counted our best, benefactors and when it will be more valuable to us to remember, one hour passed in the gar ret o f the,, poor than a hundred spent at the tables of the rich. —o— S ermonettes on S tewardship W e may give without loving, but we cannot love without giving (2 Cor. 8 : 2 ). God’s reward is based upon the will to do, not the ability to do (2 Cor. 8:12). Three rules o f giving: (1). Bounti fully—2 Cor. 9:6. (2). Deliberately—v. 7. (3). Cheerfully-gv. 7. It is blessed to give out o f the abund ance o f poverty rather than out of the plenitude of wealth (2 Cor. 8:2 ). Before you give your money, give the greater gift —yourself (2 Cor. 8:5). The value of gifts is reckoned, not by the amounts given but the degree o f will ingness and cheerfulness exhibited (2 Cor. 8:12). Increase comes by giving, not keeping. The way to lose is to keep (2 Cor. 8:15J. Blessed is the man who regards giving a privilege rather than a privation (2 Cor. 9:7-8). Stretch forth your hands not only to heaven but to the needy (2 Cor. 8 : 11 ). The Source o f grace—“ God” (2 Cor. 9:8 ). The Subject —“you.” The Sover eignty —“able to make.” The Supply —
lecting money from the Christians in the church at Corinth to help the poor Christians in Jeru salem. H e r e is where love comes in again, for if we love people we can not help giving to them when there is a need.
Lesson Story .—What is the greatest thing in all the world? (Review.) W e learned in our story last week what won derful things love would do. When we love people we just want to help them in every way possible. In our «story today Paul is taking up an offering for the many Christians in Jerusalem who were poor because of the many bitter perse cutions. Paul remembered how he him self had persecuted the Christians before he was saved, and he is very anxious to do all he can to help them.
Made with FlippingBook Annual report