Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Ultimate Financial Planner | New Testament | 2 Corinthians 9

Episode Date: July 11, 2023

Do you truly believe that God will take care of you? Do you hold on to your money out of fear you won't have enough for yourself? In today's episode, Keith uses 2 Corinthians 9 to discuss what it looks like to fully trust God with your finances. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Corinthians 9

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Sam Houston was a hero in Texas history who gave his life to the Lord later in life and asked to be baptized. As the story goes, he was taken down to a little country stream, and the pastor said, General Houston, you should take off your glasses because I'm going to immerse you in the water. There are also some papers in General Houston's pocket, so he took those out too. then just as he was getting ready to go in the water,

the pastor noticed that General Houston still had his wallet in his pocket. And so he said, General, you might want to take the wallet out because it's going to get wet. Houston responded, if there's any part of me that needs baptizing, it is my wallet. So General Houston was baptized, wallet and all. Maybe some of us need our wallet,

our bank account, our credit cards baptized. As Martin Luther, the great reformer said, there are three conversions that are necessary. The conversion of the heart? the conversion of the mind, and the conversion of the purse. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul continues to talk about money. He specifically is talking about giving our money away. Let's just go verse by verse, and we'll start in verse 6.

Paul writes, remember this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Paul uses a farming metaphor of sowing and reaping to teach us about our giving. If a farmer doesn't spread much seed, then at harvest time, he's not going to reap much of a crop. No farmer will spread his seed begrudgingly. He's not planting a seed saying, boy, this is hard to give away. I wish I could keep this seed for myself.

And the reason is because he knows that the seed will return a crop. If we hold onto our money, we won't have much of a spiritual harvest. It's the money given away in the name of Jesus that turns into spiritual blessings. That's why Jesus says that we can either lay up treasures on earth or on heaven, but not both. Randy Alcorn tells the story of one of the wealthiest men who ever lived. His name was John D. Rockefeller. After Rockefeller died, someone asked his accountant, how much money did John leave? And the reply was classic.

The accountant said, he left all of it. That makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, you can't take it with you. Well, it is true that you can't take your money with you, but it's also true that you can send your money on ahead of you. Anything we try to hang on here in this life will be lost, but anything we put into God's hands will be ours for eternity. If that doesn't take your breath away, you don't understand it.

Randy Alcorn says if we invest our money in the eternal instead of in the temporal, we store up treasures in heaven that will never stop paying dividends. Whatever treasures we store up on earth will be left behind when we leave. whatever treasures we store up in heaven will be waiting for us when we arrive. Financial planners tell us, when it comes to your money, think 30 years ahead, not three months or three years. But Jesus is the ultimate investment counselor, and he takes it further. He says, don't ask about how your investment will be paying off in just 30 years. Ask how we'll be paying off in 30 million years.

Another Martin Luther quote. He said, I've had many things in my hand that I lost, the things that I placed in the hands of God I still possess. Verse 7. Paul writes, Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

When Paul says God loves a cheerful giver, he is saying that it's not just that you gave or how much you gave, but why you gave. God cares about the motive behind your giving. In Deuteronomy 15, it says, give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart. Then because of this, the Lord your God will bless you and all your work

and everything you put your hand to. I give cheerfully when I think about how much God has given to me in Jesus. He's given me every spiritual, relational, physical, and material blessing that I have. It's important that I remember everything I have is a gift from him. I'm the steward of his money, not the owner of my money. I give cheerfully when I think about how God uses the money I give to him. Remember how Andrew gave Jesus some bread and fish and then Jesus multiplied it many times over to feed the crowds of people? God does the same thing with our giving. He takes the money we give him and multiplies it many times over to bring people to Jesus, to disciple people all over the world, to help high school and college students to navigate a very difficult time in their life,

to provide counseling that heals marriages, to establish churches that represent Christ in their communities. And the list goes on and on, a little bit of. of our money and the hands of Jesus can change a lot of lives. Now, sometimes the joy of giving precedes the giving, and sometimes it comes after you've given the gift, but the joy always comes. Here's verse 8. God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. This is God's promise to take care of you so that you can be a blessing for others. And did you hear the word all repeated. God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times

having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. Most people hold on to their money out of fear that they'll not have enough for themselves. Giving requires us to trust that God will provide what we need. Let's skip down to verse 12. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people, but it's also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. In Paul's day, wealthier residents were expected to give money towards services in the community. The rich were expected to spend a portion of their wealth to promote the common good, and in return they received honor and public praise and public inscriptions, lauding their service and preserving their legacy after their death.

Paul is saying that Christians give, not so that they'll get public praise, but so God does, because through our generous giving, people's needs are met, and God is glorified. The chapter ends with this. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. The indescribable gift that God gave us is Jesus. God gave to us so that we could give to others. God blesses us so that we can bless others. That's why it's correct to say that Christians spell love, G-I-V-E.

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