John K. Jenkins Sr - Financial Freedom Series: The Spiritual Significance of Giving

Today is part 10 of the series, and next week will be the last week. My kids keep telling me, «Dad, it’s time to move on to the next series.» I think that people who are facing challenges with their finances and want to manage their money better appreciate this series. Amen! However, those who know that their father might step in to help them if they get into trouble want me to hurry up and move on to the next arena. Perhaps I need to tell my kids that there will be no rescue from me if they don’t learn these principles.

I want to discuss something with you that revolutionized my life. This is one of those passages of Scripture that has impacted me from the first time I heard it until today. I think about it all the time, particularly when it comes to giving. I’m going to talk about giving; in fact, I’m going to discuss the spiritual significance of giving. Once I learned what this passage has to say, it changed my life. Amen! I saw the fruit of applying this to my life in incredible ways, and I want to share it with you in hopes that you’ll understand.

Lean over to your neighbor and say, «Pay attention.» Now lean to the other side and say, «Don 't let the devil put you to sleep.» As a matter of fact, I don’t know if I told this crowd this last Sunday or not, but if I did, act like I didn’t. Let me say it again today: Look at your neighbor and say, «I give you permission to smack the daylight out of me if I fall asleep.» Go ahead and tell them, «Bust me upside my head.»

The thing I love about the Word of God is that God gives us clear principles to apply to our lives, and if we just act on them, He will bless us, reward us, and guide us. In 2 Corinthians chapter 9, my verses will be 1 through 8, but I won’t read them all at the start. I’m just going to walk through these eight verses.

Let me start by giving you some background. First, some history about 2 Corinthians. This letter is from the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. The church in Corinth was a carnal church with a lot going on; it had a lot of mess. The world thinks that when you come to church, you should come to a place where people are perfect, doing all the right things, and living holy and righteously. But the truth is that the church is not a social club for saints; it is a hospital for sinners. Yes, it is! It’s a place for people who are messed up, toe up from the flow up, and nasty to come for help.

I want our church to be a place where people come for help. I don’t want to be so holy and righteous that you can’t come unless you dot every «i» and cross every «t.» That 's not the kind of church we want to be. We don’t want to be one of those churches where you have to have everything together before you arrive. This is a church for messed- up people, and the pastor is the president of the messed- up ministry. Come on, somebody holler! I’m in the front of the line! I’m the top messed- up joker. Don 't say «Amen» too loud on that point, because this passage transformed my life.

Paul is helping these people in Corinth to get their acts together, addressing a whole range of issues, and one of the things he discusses is giving and its significance to their spiritual lives. I know some of you want to categorize giving separately and disconnect it from your spiritual walk, but giving speaks volumes about where you are spiritually. Amen! I think most of the applause came from over here in this section. Let me go over here; this is the crowd that will support me.

So, here’s what he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 9. Are you all there? In fact, I’m going to give you my first point. Here it is: the first five verses, verses 1 through 5, are a personal plea from the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. He is making a plea to the church, and here’s what he says in verses 1-5: «Oh, now concerning the ministering to the saints…» Can I stop right there? I need to elaborate on that for a moment.

Now concerning the ministering to the saints, he is talking to the church in Corinth about an offering they had agreed to give to the poor churches in Macedonia. He is saying, «I want to discuss ministering to the saints.»