Today’s reading: Ezekiel 15; 2 Corinthians 9-10
I’m sure I have already written about this when we passed it before, but the promises around our giving in 2 Corinthians 9 are truly incredible…
Health and wealth preachers tend to claim that the more you give, the more God will give you health and prosperity. The implication of this teaching is that if you are sick or poor, it’s because you have not been faithful enough, trusted God enough, or given enough money away (generally specifically to their ministry). This teaching is squarely unbiblical, but it is so prevalent that it causes many churches to edge away from anything that could possibly be understood in that vein, and in the case of 2 Corinthians 9, that's a real shame.
Take a look at 2 Corinthians 9:6-11:
The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 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. As it is written, "He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."
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. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.
Paul doesn't hem and haw around this, worried that people might misunderstand him or take his words too literally. He directly says, multiple times, in multiple ways, that the more generously we give, the more the Lord will give to us. According to Paul, this is a direct causal relationship. Do you want more money? Then give more generously and God will give you more!
So are the health and wealth preachers right???
Not at all!
Health and wealth preaching focuses on the fact that God will enrich us in response to our faith and generosity, but that enrichment is for us. You will hear these preachers talk about how rich they have become as evidence of the truth of this teaching and of God's blessing on their ministry. But this is not what Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 9.
Yes, Paul does clearly see and declare a cause-and-effect relationship between our generosity and God's blessing of us with even more, but it is not so that we might be enriched, but so that we might give even more away. God does not enrich us so that we can have an abundance in all things, but so that we can have sufficiency in all things while abounding in every good work. God doesn't multiply our seed for saving and increasing our standard of living, but He increases our seed for sowing.
God doesn't give more to those who give generously to enrich them as a reward for being generous, He gives them more because they have shown themselves to be faithful stewards of His resources. To those who are generous, God entrusts more to be generous with.
I understand why so many churches edge away from stating this too strongly, not wanting to have people misunderstand and fall into the trap of these heretical preachers who are only in it to enrich themselves, but it is a real shame that this is not a promise we more boldly declare. Paul clearly had no issue stating it in as straightforward of terms as possible, and I would love to see what good could be done by God's people if we really took Him up on this one, giving to His work in radical generosity, trusting that He will abundantly supply us all that we need for life and continued/growing generosity.
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