How does giving to a church impact my spiritual journey?
WATCH
Giving Grace, 3 of 4 from June 8th, 2025
"Giving is designed to improve the overall health of the entire body."
2 Corinthians 8:10-15 by Ryan Gagnon (@RyGagnon)
SUMMARY
This sermon explores the importance of transparent and accountable giving procedures within the church. It emphasizes that proper handling of finances not only honors Jesus but also encourages the body of believers. Pastor Ryan highlights the need for trusted individuals to administer church finances, proactive communication about giving, and the importance of planning in advance. He connects these practical aspects of giving to the larger spiritual context of following Jesus and participating in His mission.
REFLECTION & DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
💬 What have you intended to do but you've allowed life to get in the way? How has God been speaking to you about this?
💬 How is your personal stewardship of God's blessing in your life going? What if anything needs to change?
💬 Do you know the why, how and plan of giving at Neighborhood? If not what's stopping you?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
-
[The following transcript is automatically generated and may contain errors.]
Good morning church and welcome to our neighbors. Have you ever been a part of a project where someone asks you to do something and you go out to do it and it's pretty clear pretty early on that there's no plan? There's no rules, there's no procedures, no one knows what's going on, we all kind of collectively know this thing has to happen, but we don't know how it's going to happen, we don't know what we're going to do, how we're going to accomplish it. Raise your hand if you've been a part of one of those things. And how did that make you feel? Awful, right? Maybe there's infighting in the group, maybe one person's trying to take over, maybe one person's not doing any work, maybe one person's just sitting there judging everybody about how they're not doing what they should. It's just a mess, right? It's not fun. But isn't it kind of interesting that we all pretty much have had that experience? It's kind of sad that we've all had that kind of experience, too. Now, let's do the opposite, okay? So let's say you're a part of a project, or there's a task, there's something that needs to get done, and there's process, there's a procedure, there's clear communication, there's follow-up, there's accountability. Stacey is nodding her head because she's so excited about these kinds of things. Like, okay, who here has been a part of one of those situations? All right, there's less hands. That's real sad, right? But how did that make you feel? Great. Did that make you feel like you wanted to engage with that group more? You wanted to help out with more of what that group was doing? Maybe you wanted to be a project manager within that group on something else. You wanted to help. You saw where they were going and you wanted to be a part of it because there was a process, there was a procedure, there was something that needed to be done and we effectively communicated it. So you're probably sitting there wondering, why in the heck are you talking about project management? I thought we were in a series about giving. nods yeah probably well there's a reason for that but we're gonna learn today that proper giving procedures honor jesus and encourage the body that's what we're gonna learn today say it with me proper giving procedures honor jesus and encourage the body who's the body who's jesus The guy we should all be following, right? Okay, that's the sermon. There you go. But that's what it is. It's these proper procedures that are open, that are honest, that are transparent, that invite people in, are the kind of things that we want to be a part of. So we've been talking about giving over the last couple of weeks, and we've learned a lot about giving. Let me just do a quick highlight over the last couple of weeks. In week one, Pastor Michael was going over it with us, and we learned that giving is an essential part of God's work in and through us. We also learned the pattern of giving is God first, then others. And then we learned that giving follows Jesus' example of how he gave of himself to us. Last week in week two, we learned that giving grows our own discipline by teaching us proper stewardship. We also learned that giving is the way God takes care of everyone. So today, again, we're going to learn proper giving procedures, honor Jesus, and encourage the body. But before we get into that, as is our custom, let's pray together the disciples' prayer. So we have it up on the board, so we'll go ahead and read that together now. Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don't let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. So, let's get into a little bit of context, just to make sure that everybody's tracking. So, we're in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, okay? So we went through the first 10 verses last week, or two weeks ago, then last week we did 10 through 15. We're going to pick up in verse 16. But just to give you some context... Så vi hadde denne gruppen kyrk, som Paul utgjorde, som var en del av denne gruppen som startet alle disse kyrkene. Nå, den originelle kyrkja, kyrkja i Jerusalem, var på en svær tid. Det var en famine, ting var dårlig. Så Paul, omkring en år tid før det vi kommer til å lære i dag, hadde kontakt med disse kyrkja, og hadde skrevet dem en letter om en behov som kyrkja i Jerusalem hadde. This church needed some kind of offering to be able to kind of get by. It was a tough time for them. So we talk about giving within the context of the need was there, and the body was coming together to meet that need. That's where we left off, and that's where we're going to pick up in verse 16. So let's read. Amen. Amen. Amen. And not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill. We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us. For we aim at what is honorable, not only in the Lord's sight, but also in the sight of man. Chapter 9. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Akia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I am sending the brothers, so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be." Verset 4. Okay, so this is kind of what Paul's getting to the end of this point about giving, and what the expectations are going to be. So, he's setting forth essentially the guidelines, how this is going to go. So, back in the first letter, in 1 Corinthians 16, he writes to them giving a heads up that this is going to happen. That he's going to reach out for this gift, and we're how long later? A year later. So literally, the need was brought forth to them, and then a year later, now we're going to actually pick up the gift. So he begins by thanking God. Notice that, right? Paul explains who he is sending and why. He starts off with Titus. Now, what do we know about Titus? A couple of cool things. So Titus was the person who delivered the first letter to the Corinthians, right? Now, when Paul writes that letter, is he dealing with like a whole bunch of lovey-dovey awesome stuff? No, it's kind of rough. Paul's got some stuff he's got to deal with with this church that God equipped him to help start, and he sends Titus with this letter that is going to confront them about sin. It's going to confront them about the ways in which they're not following God, and it's going to answer some of the questions that they've been dealing with. And he sends Titus with this letter, and you've got to feel for Titus a bit. Imagine you're hanging out with Paul, and you're firing, you're following Christ. And then he says, hey, I need you to go travel a long distance and hand a letter to people you've never met before that they're screwing up. Anybody being like, yeah, send me. Yeah, right? That's what Titus did. So Titus goes and does this, but notice what it says in these first couple of verses. But thanks be to God who put in the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. People that you know tend to be people that you care for. So for Titus, he's with Paul, he's delivered that letter, And now it's come time to go and collect this gift that, remember in the last couple of verses, the people of Corinth were fired up about this. They had a zeal. They were excited to give when this opportunity was presented. They wanted to give. In fact, their desire to give actually spurred on, as we read earlier, the Macedonian churches to give even more. Because they had this really big heart for the people of Jerusalem. So Titus is with Paul knowing that it's time to go collect that gift, and what it says here is God was already working in his heart for the people of Corinth. So then Paul goes to Titus and says, I'm gonna send you, and Titus is fired up. He's following Christ. He's gonna go and he's gonna get to talk to his friends. He's gonna get to talk to people that he broke bread with, people that he had hard conversations with, people that he had to follow up on their sin issues and say, hey, how's that going? And now, at least a year later, he gets to go see them again. But it says, What is so beautiful about this is Paul attributes the care that Titus has for the people of Corinth, not to Titus, but to Christ. The care that God is giving us for our neighborhood is not of ourselves. It's of Christ. He's giving us the love to follow. How cool is that? And Paul's attributing that to him. And he says, With him we are sending the brother who is famous. So he's talking about Titus, and now he transitions to this brother who's famous, but he doesn't name him. Now, many commentaries will say this is Luke, and if you go back and you look in Acts, you can see in sections of Acts where it goes from Luke writing that and talking about Paul and his journeys, to then saying we, to then transitioning back to they. That's where a lot of people make that connection. But don't get lost in the detail of that, because it's not the point. The point isn't who he's sending, the point is why. So why is he sending this famous brother? The brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. And not only that, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of grace that is being ministered by us for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our goodwill. A lot of words to say, he's a guy people know, a guy people know that's following Jesus, and a guy people trust. That's the why. So Paul is sending them to collect this gift. They're literally going to collect the gift to take back to Jerusalem. And do they know Titus? Come on, do they know Titus? We just talked about this. Do they know this brother? Well, they know of this brother, right? But now they know his reputation and what he's doing. It's the why, not the who. So it was very important for the Corinthians to understand why Paul was directing them this way. Paul understood that it probably wasn't wise that he be the point person on this offering. Think about that. In regards to Paul going and setting up this church, then moving on to other places, to then write to them and say that there's a need, It would make sense that Paul is helping to oversee it, but he's not the direct person who's picking it up. He's not the direct person who's counting it. An example of that in our churches today would be you don't find pastors normally collecting the offering directly or counting the offering. Because what can happen from that? There's a lot of concern. Where's the accountability? How do we know that the gift that the body gave was actually submitted into the bank so that it could be used for what God has it for? It's not the pastor that's doing that. Paul isn't the one actually doing it directly. He's the one directing it and following up on it, but it's not Paul doing the direct counting. And notice how he articulates this towards the end. We take this course, verse 20, so that no one should blame us about the generous gift that is being administered by us. For we aim at what is honorable, not only in the Lord's sight, but also in the sight of man. Now, this can get a little wonky. For we've read in other passages this idea of the issues of the heart, and not being showy, and not wanting to draw attention to yourself. But when it comes to the accountability, when it comes to this stuff, there's wisdom in having a process that you're not directly involved in. Because that is going to help the gospel continue. Because the goal is the gospel, not the bank account. The goal is to remove every possible obstacle someone could have to question whether or not you are being responsible with the gift of the blessing. Make sense? Everybody tracking with that? So Paul is going through this. We talk about this procedure, right? Giving and church finance must be administered in a way that makes sense to people. It has to make sense. If it's one of these shadowy things that we never talk about and it's not anything that anyone's aware of, that doesn't make sense. That feels wrong. But it needs to be open and honest and be administered in a way that everyone can understand. Paul is modeling that for us. And the best part is it tracks with what he said all the way back in 1 Corinthians. I'm going to read this for you. This is 1 Corinthians chapter 16. So Paul has told them ahead of time, because remember this is a year ago, This is what's going to happen. This is how we're going to navigate this. Making it make sense, right? So, this is the plan. Now, he's telling them who he's going to send, and more importantly, the why. Because understanding the why and how of giving encourages the body. You guys like that picture of Pastor Michael? It's pretty good, right? So, who can tell me what this is from? Five bonus points. The Gazette, okay? Now, who knows his wardrobe enough to tell me which one this was? What you got? He said Moverflow. Y'all heard him say Moverflow, right? This is the Moverflow Gazette that he just posted. So, just posted this to share with the body what God did in the Moverflow offering last week. And I took a lot of screenshots to get that look on his face, too. You guys don't want to see the outtakes. So understanding the why and how does what? It encourages the body. Because what was the idea that we talked about, right? Proper giving procedures brings honor to Jesus and encourages the body. Now how does it encourage the body? Because it's transparent. Because it's open, it's honest, it's available. We have a budget. You can see it. You can ask for it. We have regular meetings with our ministry partners where we go over the budget. We talk about where we are with the budget. We plan that for the year. And then we have follow-up meetings. We try to model what we're learning here today. It's very important. Not because of the money, but because of the gospel. What will happen so quickly in our world, and I think based on what we've read so far in this chapter, that will be a foothold that the enemy will use to block the gospel from people. Churches just want your money, right? That's what people say. They're just trying to take your money. The point of this is to show us that there's a reasonable way for giving and a responsible way to handle it. And if you want to honor Christ first, encourage the body second, you need to be proactive in your communication. I'd say a year before it happened is probably pretty proactive by Paul. Amen? I think that's worth a bigger amen. It's a year. Come on, right? This is what we're talking about here. He's literally giving them a heads up a year in advance. So think about that for us. That Moverflow offering, how cool was it that we got the video, the video said 1100 bucks, but then we got the blessing of God to be able to hear what today? What? Now, you can go with the number and get excited about the number, or you can see beyond the number and look at the blessing, because remember what we learned last week, that giving is a blessing to the giver. So think about all the people that got the blessing of being a part of the ministry to those young people for the rest of their lives. They were able to give to that, and the blessing from that, it's awesome. It's a bigger idea than the number. Paul continues in verse 22, and he says, And with them we are sending our brother, whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are our messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. So give proof before the churches of your love and of our boasting about you to these men. Paul continues now, and he talks about another brother that he doesn't mention by name, but talks about knowing That this guy is the real deal. Because he's seen him in action. He's seen him follow Christ. He's seen him be about what God would have him be, not what the world would have him be. Therefore, Paul says he's trustworthy enough to send on this mission with Titus, with the famous brother, and now this other brother. So we got a team coming together. This is like Ocean's Eleven, but in the Bible. Right? They're coming together to go do this thing. It's pretty encouraging. It's pretty exciting. And Paul then goes back to Titus and says, my partner, my fellow worker, for your benefit. And then he closes this up by saying, as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. So give proof before the churches of your love and of your boasting about you to these men. Paul is encouraging them. And we're going to get into this a little bit more in the next couple of verses, but he's encouraging them, you said a year ago that you were fired up about what was going on in Jerusalem and you wanted to bless them. I've boasted about that. I've championed that to the people in Macedonia. Remember that when these people come. So what we're learning in this section is that giving and church finance must be administered by trusted people. Now, what you see up there is someone many of you may have never met before. That's Patrick Fox, and that's Emily Fox, and those are their two adorable kids. Okay? There we go. sorry that's them okay it's patrick and emily now patrick is one of the pastors down in sebring patrick is in charge of a lot he does a lot of things and one of the things that he does is he works on with the finance teams so we have elders we have a finance team and these folks are the ones running reports and checking when it comes to budgeting getting us that information and they're keeping an eye on that stuff But there's people on this team, this trusted team of people, that you don't know necessarily, and I wanted to put them up here, because a couple of them are sitting right here right now, but I didn't want to put their pictures up without talking to them first. We have a team of people that count the offering that you give every week together. We have a team of people that take of their time, that go and sit down and they count the offering, they load it into a computer system, there's accountability, there's checks and balances, that information goes back to Patrick and his team, and they work just to make sure that everything is being handled the right way. Why? Because understanding the who of giving encourages the body. Be encouraged, neighborhood, that there's a team of people that give of themselves and care about this body enough to serve every single week in that way. You know who doesn't want to count? Everyone. Nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants that to be the thing they do. And if you do, and I'm completely wrong here, bless you. But that's such a service to the body. So the body should be encouraged by the who, by the what, and by the why. How cool is that? Also, think about this for a second. How cool is it that there's a family right here on the screen that maybe you've never met before that's following Jesus and is blessing us every single week? That's so encouraging. And Paul is encouraging them that we can trust this gift that you are giving is being administered by trusted people. But he doesn't end there. Last section here, verse 1 of chapter 9. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints. I know your readiness of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Akia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I am sending the brothers that are boasting about you that you may prove empty in this matter." so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated to say nothing for being so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead and arrange in advance for a gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. All right, now this can get a little in the weeds. What Paul is saying here, that very first verse says, I could continue to write about the reason that you should give and why it's important. But I feel like I've nailed it. It's superfluous. It's unnecessary. I don't need to say more. You get it. You understand based on the last verses that we've read through the point in giving. I don't need to continue to talk about the giving and the why behind it. But I do want to say to be ready. Because this team, this Ocean's Eleven group, are coming to pick up this offering that you said would be ready. And remember what we read back in 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Paul directed them to set something aside each week. So the idea would be that all you're really doing is going over, taking what you've set aside for this, and then have it together so that when this group comes, you can hand it over to them. But Paul knows we're people. And life happens. And stuff gets in the way. And the tire blows out on the car. And the this and the that. And this and that. And oh, I thought the power bill hit the bank account, but it didn't hit the bank account. And all the things that happen, and our intentions, as we learned last week, are not sufficient. Our intentions are not actions. intending to do something, and doing it are different things. And Paul is pointing this out to them, that hey, they're coming, and they're expecting that there's going to be this gift that you said you wanted to give. And you understand that if you don't give it, you're actually robbing yourself of a blessing, because as we've learned over these past couple of weeks, that it's a blessing to give. It's a blessing to be used by God. And Paul is pointing out, don't rob yourself of that. Because they are coming. Now notice what he also says too. He says that some of the Macedonians will probably come with him. So just think of the logistics here for a second. He's going to send the crew, they're going to get there, and they're going to work on getting the gift together. So while they're working on getting the gift together, Paul is going to come at a later time. When Paul comes, he's coming from the churches in Macedonia, Some people from those churches will probably be coming with him. Now, in the previous verses, two weeks ago, we saw that the churches in Macedonia gave well above and beyond what Paul could have ever expected. And part of the reason that God used to equip them to do that was they were so encouraged by what they had heard about the brothers and sisters in Corinth, and how they said they were going to meet the need of the church in Jerusalem, So they were encouraged by Corinth, and I know we're talking about multiple places here, but I don't want to lose you. They were encouraged by the people of Corinth, and God used that to get them to give even more, and they gave above and beyond what they could expect. So now picture a second, you're one of those Macedonian people, and you gave roughly a year ago. And you come into town with Paul, and the crew is there, and you're like, hold on, they're not giving? What? What? I thought we were all on board with this. I thought we were a team. I thought we were all fired up about Jerusalem. That's what you said, Paul. Do you see the problem? So Paul is pointing out to them that if they were to not do what they said they were going to do, that would be a discouragement to the gospel work. Think about that. Now we're talking about finances, so it feels weird, but it's still an encouragement-discouragement issue. Think about how encouraged we were when we heard what happened with the MOverflow, right? Think about how that could have been not encouraging had we not followed God and did what He told us to do/ Do you see it? Do you see what Paul is talking about here? It’s so important. So he goes in and he explains to them they're coming, and he wants them in that last verse, it to be a gift that they desire to give, not something out of obligation. Not, oh, I feel like I have to do this. I gotta write that check, I gotta... No, that's not the point at all. That's not following Christ. If I begrudgingly walk up to someone and say, hey, have you heard about Jesus... Am I supposed to talk to you about him? He changed my life. Am I going to do it? Am I going to do it too? But when we talk about finances, that's exactly what we're doing. It's exactly the same thing. Is there a cheerfulness in knowing that it's all his anyway? He gave us everything, and we get the opportunity to give a portion of that back. There's a joy in that. And we learned that giving and church finance should be planned in advance. It makes sense to plan this stuff in advance. We talked about the budget. We talked about how we build that budget. We talked about how we have meetings regularly to look at that budget and see where we are so that we can be responsible and reasonable about how we navigate these things. But the point is, understanding the plan of giving encourages the body. For those of you who were here last week, I did use AI for some of the pictures. I only did it on one this time, and if you look closely, you can see where AI screwed up all the words. But that's not the point. Exactly. The point is, understanding the plan encourages the body. So body of neighborhood, understanding our budget and the plan that we have, that God is equipping us to introduce our neighbors to meet and follow Jesus, should be encouraging. It shouldn't be something we don't talk about. It shouldn't be something that we hide. And we don't, by the way. We over-communicate that stuff on purpose, because Jesus is not ours. Closing it up, just a couple of things to remember. Put yourself in Paul's shoes for a second. You go into these places, you introduce these people to Jesus, you start these churches, and you move on to another place. And you do that, and you do that, and you do that for years, and you go through all the stuff that he's gone through. And we are pretty good at doing that part. But now put yourself in the mind of just an average person in Corinth. A guy showed up, introduced you to Jesus, changed your life. A whole new thought process. All you knew was a multi-god system. You didn't understand who Jesus was. You didn't understand any of this stuff. You didn't think that someone would die for you. You just thought that your life was a toy for the gods. And your life is completely changed and completely flipped upside down. And he says you're supposed to carry your cross every day, follow Jesus, and it's gonna be bad at times. And you do it. And then he says, hey, there's a church where this all kind of started. And that church is going through a really tough time. And I'm gonna ask for an offering from all of the churches that we can bring back to them. So then, you're thinking about this offering, and you're thinking, Jerusalem? Jerusalem's 1800 land miles away. It's an eight hour boat ride now. Then it would have been a multiple day journey on a boat. You don't know these people. You'll never meet these people. Odds are you'll never go to Jerusalem. You're not going to ever be a part of these people's lives. And you're asking me to give for a year of what I'm working incredibly hard just to stay out of poverty. And then you're asking me to give it to a dude I met who told me that I was sinful, who now I love, but there's other people with him, so I don't know if I really trust this thing. And you want me to give it to these people, and they're going to go away, and odds are I'm going to die never having seen them again. That's what you're asking, Paul? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't. Now do me one other favor. I want everybody for a moment to just look around the room and look, not weirdly, but really look at the people in the room. Seriously, do it. Take Jesus out of the equation. Have you ever even met these people? Pastor Michael and I joke about this all the time. We would not be friends if Jesus wasn't a part of this. There's no Venn diagram here. Okay? It's not there. None of it makes sense without Jesus. None of it. Nothing. The gift, the year, the giving it to people that you don't really know, none of it makes sense. Coming here on a Sunday morning sitting in a room to hear this doesn't make sense apart from Jesus. None of it does. That's the point. The point is Jesus changes everything or he doesn't. Paul understood that. Paul gave credit where credit was due in every situation to Jesus. From Titus to these other brothers that were moving of their life to go to a place to then take an offering back to probably be questioned whether or not they took money out of it for the rest of their lives. All of it only makes sense with Jesus. For us to then take this, go into our communities, talk to people that we don't know, that we wouldn't hang out with otherwise, that quite frankly sometimes are weird, and we're weird, and then there's this whole thing, and now you throw social media into it, and people can't even talk to each other. There's all this craziness, but Jesus offers redemption. And that's the only way anything makes sense. The rest of your life only makes sense if Jesus is at the center of it. If you don't make Jesus the center of your life, it will be busted and broken and won't make sense and will just frustrate the snot out of you over and over and over again. If Jesus is at the center of it, you'll be frustrated, but you will be redeemed and there is hope in what he's doing. And you are a part of it. The God of the universe loves you, cares about you, died for you, rose from the dead to show you that it mattered. And he's equipping you to introduce your neighbors to meet and follow Jesus. And we talk about giving. Giving is a component of that. A couple of questions to close us out. What have you intended to do, but you've allowed life to get in the way? How has God been speaking to you about this? How is your personal stewardship of God's blessing in your life going? What, if anything, needs to change? And do you know the why, how, and plan of giving at Neighborhood? If not, what's stopping you? Proper giving procedures honor God and encourage the body. He is the project manager that we can all trust. Father in heaven, you are everything. We bring nothing to the table apart from you. You have loved us, and you have been patient with us, and you have encouraged us, and you have never left our side. Thank you that you're you. Thank you that we can trust you. Thank you that you make it clear that life doesn't make sense without you. Father, if there's someone in the sound of my voice that does not know you and does not understand what Jesus has done, Lord, I pray that you would make that so clear. That you would put that on the back of their eyeballs right now. You would melt away all of the things that would pull them away from you and that they would meet with you in this moment. Lord, help them to know that they can trust you with their very lives. And that you have a plan for their life and it is greater than anything they could ever come up with on their own. We love you, Lord, and we thank you for the opportunity to worship you this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
