26 AUGUST (PREACHED 27 AUGUST 1868)
A cheerful giver beloved of God
‘God loveth a cheerful giver.’ 2 Corinthians 9:7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Chronicles 29:6–18
What is meant by ‘a cheerful giver’? The rest of the verse tells us what is not meant and so helps us to see what is intended: ‘not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.’ Not grudgingly—not giving as though you wished you could avoid it, and therefore giving as little as possible, counting the pence and reckoning them to be as precious as drops of blood, but giving with an ease, a spontaneousness, a freeness, a pleasure; this is a cheerful giver. To be this one must give proportionately, for cheerful givers reckon how much they should give and how much as good stewards may be expected at their hands. He who has a large income gives grudgingly if he gives no more than one who has but a tenth as much. He who has few expenses and lives at a small cost cannot be said to give cheerfully, if he gives no more than another man who has a large family and large outgoings. He evidently gives grudgingly if he does not give in proportion.
Much has been said about giving the tenth of one’s income to the Lord. That seems to me to be a Christian duty which none should for a moment question. If it were a duty under the Jewish law, much more is it so now under the Christian dispensation. But it is a great mistake to suppose that the Jew only gave a tenth. He gave very much more than that. The tenth was the payment which he must make, but after that came all the freewill offerings and all the various gifts at different seasons of the year, so that, perhaps, he gave a third, certainly much nearer that than a tenth.
I do not, however, like to lay down any rules for God’s people, for the Lord’s New Testament is not a great book of rules; it is not a book of the letter, ‘for the letter killeth’, but it is the book of the Spirit, teaching us rather the soul of liberality than the body of it; instead of writing laws upon stones or paper, it writes laws upon the heart. Give, dear friends, as you have purposed in your heart, and give proportionately, as the Lord has prospered you.
FOR MEDITATION: As far as possible our giving to God should be private (Matthew 6:3–4), but nowadays when many give by cheque or banker’s order, a few may be in on the secret and see how much we give. But God alone measures how cheerfully we give in the light of his knowledge of how much we retain (Mark 12:41–44).
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 3), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2005), 246.
A cheerful giver beloved of God
‘God loveth a cheerful giver.’ 2 Corinthians 9:7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Chronicles 29:6–18
What is meant by ‘a cheerful giver’? The rest of the verse tells us what is not meant and so helps us to see what is intended: ‘not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.’ Not grudgingly—not giving as though you wished you could avoid it, and therefore giving as little as possible, counting the pence and reckoning them to be as precious as drops of blood, but giving with an ease, a spontaneousness, a freeness, a pleasure; this is a cheerful giver. To be this one must give proportionately, for cheerful givers reckon how much they should give and how much as good stewards may be expected at their hands. He who has a large income gives grudgingly if he gives no more than one who has but a tenth as much. He who has few expenses and lives at a small cost cannot be said to give cheerfully, if he gives no more than another man who has a large family and large outgoings. He evidently gives grudgingly if he does not give in proportion.
Much has been said about giving the tenth of one’s income to the Lord. That seems to me to be a Christian duty which none should for a moment question. If it were a duty under the Jewish law, much more is it so now under the Christian dispensation. But it is a great mistake to suppose that the Jew only gave a tenth. He gave very much more than that. The tenth was the payment which he must make, but after that came all the freewill offerings and all the various gifts at different seasons of the year, so that, perhaps, he gave a third, certainly much nearer that than a tenth.
I do not, however, like to lay down any rules for God’s people, for the Lord’s New Testament is not a great book of rules; it is not a book of the letter, ‘for the letter killeth’, but it is the book of the Spirit, teaching us rather the soul of liberality than the body of it; instead of writing laws upon stones or paper, it writes laws upon the heart. Give, dear friends, as you have purposed in your heart, and give proportionately, as the Lord has prospered you.
FOR MEDITATION: As far as possible our giving to God should be private (Matthew 6:3–4), but nowadays when many give by cheque or banker’s order, a few may be in on the secret and see how much we give. But God alone measures how cheerfully we give in the light of his knowledge of how much we retain (Mark 12:41–44).
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 3), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2005), 246.
26 AUGUST (PREACHED 27 AUGUST 1868)
A cheerful giver beloved of God
‘God loveth a cheerful giver.’ 2 Corinthians 9:7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Chronicles 29:6–18
What is meant by ‘a cheerful giver’? The rest of the verse tells us what is not meant and so helps us to see what is intended: ‘not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.’ Not grudgingly—not giving as though you wished you could avoid it, and therefore giving as little as possible, counting the pence and reckoning them to be as precious as drops of blood, but giving with an ease, a spontaneousness, a freeness, a pleasure; this is a cheerful giver. To be this one must give proportionately, for cheerful givers reckon how much they should give and how much as good stewards may be expected at their hands. He who has a large income gives grudgingly if he gives no more than one who has but a tenth as much. He who has few expenses and lives at a small cost cannot be said to give cheerfully, if he gives no more than another man who has a large family and large outgoings. He evidently gives grudgingly if he does not give in proportion.
Much has been said about giving the tenth of one’s income to the Lord. That seems to me to be a Christian duty which none should for a moment question. If it were a duty under the Jewish law, much more is it so now under the Christian dispensation. But it is a great mistake to suppose that the Jew only gave a tenth. He gave very much more than that. The tenth was the payment which he must make, but after that came all the freewill offerings and all the various gifts at different seasons of the year, so that, perhaps, he gave a third, certainly much nearer that than a tenth.
I do not, however, like to lay down any rules for God’s people, for the Lord’s New Testament is not a great book of rules; it is not a book of the letter, ‘for the letter killeth’, but it is the book of the Spirit, teaching us rather the soul of liberality than the body of it; instead of writing laws upon stones or paper, it writes laws upon the heart. Give, dear friends, as you have purposed in your heart, and give proportionately, as the Lord has prospered you.
FOR MEDITATION: As far as possible our giving to God should be private (Matthew 6:3–4), but nowadays when many give by cheque or banker’s order, a few may be in on the secret and see how much we give. But God alone measures how cheerfully we give in the light of his knowledge of how much we retain (Mark 12:41–44).
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 3), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2005), 246.
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