SEEDTIME AND HARVEST 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 Rev. Dr. Louise B. Barger November 6, 2016

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1 SEEDTIME AND HARVEST 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 Rev. Dr. Louise B. Barger November 6, 2016 It seems that from the beginning of the Christian church congregations have been asked to state their intention for future giving; to make known their intentions, about their giving in the future so that future planning can be done. Where there is ministry happening it is necessary to have commitments: the commitment of people and their abilities and time; the commitment of people to establish priorities (we are all busy people; we are busy about what we need or want to be busy about); the commitment of financial resources to undergird the ability to do ministry for Christ. The church at Corinth had pledged an offering to help the church in Macedonia fulfill their ministry opportunities. Paul writes to the Corinthians, praising them for their decision to share their financial resources so that ministry might happen with the people in Macedonia. Paul couches his encouragement and thanksgiving in language that the people in Corinth would understand. It's been said that if one's sermons always go over the heads of one's listeners, it isn't because the preacher has superior ammunition. It's because one's aim is poor. Paul's aim was right on target. Paul was writing to a people who would have been very familiar with farming. Many of them probably earned their living by planting and harvesting crops. They would have known something about using the right seed to get a bountiful harvest.

2 I grew up in a family that always had a very large garden. When those summer vegetables were harvested, we ate bountifully and then we canned food for the winter. Each year before planting season the seeds or the seedlings were very carefully chosen. Otherwise, the harvest would have been poor. There was always the anticipation of a great harvest, a great return on our sowing. One kernel of corn yields 2 ears. One tomato plant yields many tomatoes. Maybe you're like me, fascinated with those huge vegetables that get brought to the contests to be weighed in. We never harvested an onion from our garden that weighed 16 pounds. We never harvested a zucchini that we could use for weight lifting. The answer to why that was so is very simple. We never planted the kind of seed to get those results. What you harvest is a result of what you sow. Paul urges those Christians at Corinth to be faithful to give of their best; to plant good seed; to invest liberally in the ministry of Christ. I'm sure that there were members of the church in Corinth who were just making ends meet. Perhaps the weather hadn't cooperated and the harvest was poor and the money was scarce and hard times had befallen them. Circumstances change from time to time for every one of us. Paul was asking them to be faithful with what they had, not with what they didn't have.

3 Paul was reminding them that God provides for those who trust God; sometimes in the most unexpected ways, the most unusual ways, but always right on time, no matter what our age or our financial resources. Paul, being the former rabbi that he was, would have been thoroughly familiar with the promises of God given by the prophet Isaiah. It is a promise that gives us comfort and assurance as we increase in years. God said, "Listen to me. You have been borne by me from birth, and have been carried from the womb; Even in your old age I shall be the same, And even in your graying years I shall bear you! I have done it and I shall carry you.... I am God and there is no one like Me. God continues, "Your name (each one of you) is inscribed, is written, in the palm of my hand." God literally holds God's children in the palm of God's hand. What an amazing thought! Some of you here may remember, or maybe you read about it, or your grandmother told you, about drawing water from a well rather than turning on the facet. There also was a time when in the kitchen there was an ice box with a block of ice from the ice house in it rather than a refrigerator. If that ice box became too crowded with perishables, the mother might lower a bucket of fresh milk down into the cold water of the well to preserve its freshness.

4 But on rare occasions, the milk container would spring a leak and milk would flow into the water in the well, and with frantic efforts, the well would have to be "drawn dry" to get all of the contaminated water out. In actuality, just the contaminated water was removed, because you can never completely draw all the water out of a well because water is constantly flowing into it. It is a picture of the living water about which Jesus talked. It is ever flowing, it is ever replenishing its supply. No matter how much we draw upon the resources that God has given us, they are constantly being resupplied. I want to be clear. I do not preach "prosperity religion." I do not tell you that if you give with great generosity, if you invest all of your time and your talents and your spiritual gifts in the ministry of this church, that God will make you rich in money and possessions, or give you stellar employment, or find for you the right person to marry, or give you a larger house in which to live, or whatever else it is that you would consider riches in your life. But I do believe that blessings abound when we give first of ourselves and then of our resources that God has entrusted to our stewardship. What kind of blessings, what kind of harvest, might the giver, the sower, receive?

5 Perhaps we might be reminded again that all whose lives we touch with our resources are made in the image of God; are persons of worth and significance, and value; Perhaps we will have a new-found faith that when we give, God will replenish and meet our needs; Perhaps we will come to a new understanding that God intends the provision that God gives to us to be used in supplying the needs of others as well as ourselves; Perhaps we will come to see ourselves as channels of God's grace; Perhaps we will come to understand that all that we have we hold in trust; we are simply trustees, stewards, caretakers, of what we possess. The sower whom Paul is describing went out to sow the seed, but he didn't sow in neat rows, dropping seed in well-defined places. He literally took a handful of seed and broadcast them over the ground. The wind took it where it would. And the sower not only sowed one time; he came back to sow a second time. He made sure that the seed was everywhere so that the harvest would be bountiful. The righteous person is lavish in whatever they give, lavish according to their ability; broadcasting it across needs just as the sower in biblical times broadcast the seed into the prepared soil. And the statements of intent that we will make are meant to enable this congregation and the individuals within it, to be witnesses of the salvation offered by the living Christ; to purchase materials for teaching God's Word in our Christian Education ministry; to enable a ministry to children and youth that is second to none; to reach out to our community with lunches and dinners; to support our missionaries, the Chettis; to speak justice to those who find none;

6 to provide a music ministry that blesses us and reaches out to our community; to provide a beautiful place, a sanctuary if you will, a place to worship and glorify God. The mission of the Church universal is described by Luke in the Book of Acts in Chapter 4. We are to meet regularly to encourage one another and worship God; to share with those outside the church about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and invite them into a saving relationship with Him; to care for the needs of one another and for others in need. The Law about giving to the Church of Jesus Christ is the same law that governed the giving to the building of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The declaration of God to the people in the wilderness reads: "Tell the Israelites to bring Me an offering. You are to receive the offering for Me from each person whose heart prompts him or her to give." Our giving is to be a contribution of the heart. A gift for the building of the Tabernacle and all of the ministry and worship that would happen there and from there. So may our giving always be, the giving of ourselves first, and our resources as God leads from the heart. So may our giving be with joy and praise and thanksgiving to God, who has provided for us such great grace, so great salvation.