2 Corinthians 9:9-10 ~ 20191110 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

11/10_2 Corinthians 9:9-10; Increase The Harvest of Your Righteousness; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20191110_2cor9_9-10.mp3


Paul is talking about the abounding grace of God, that God is able to make all grace abound to you, in order that you may abound in every good work. He will supply all his sufficiency at all times in all things so that you may abound in all good work. This is the abounding grace of God to us. This is the ever-flowing supply from the all-sufficient God.

In encouraging generosity; Paul uses the metaphor of farming – scattering seed bountifully. A farmer must not be stingy with his seed. A farmer worried about the waste of throwing good seed into the dirt to die does not understand farming. The harvest will be directly proportional to the amount of seed scattered; sparse sowing will produce sparse reaping; bountiful sowing will produce a bountiful harvest.

But Paul focuses on the heart and attitude of the giver. It is not good to give merely out of a sense of duty or obligation, what one ought to do. It matters what one wants to do. God is after our hearts; he is out to transform our desires. The seed must be scattered 'upon blessings'; out of a blessed heart; a cheerful heart, a heart made glad by God's experienced abundance.

2 Corinthians 9:6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

In verse 9 he supports his assertion that the bountiful sower will be met with God's abundant provision with a quote from the Old Testament, from Psalm 112.

Whose Righteousness?

2 Corinthians 9:9 As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”

Without going back to look at Psalm 112, it would be easy to make a false assumption about this quotation. The context in 2 Corinthians 9 is God's abundant supply, and we might read the 'he' as referring to God; God has distributed freely, God has given to the poor, God's righteousness endures forever. And while these are all true statements, that is not what the Psalm is saying. It will be worth our time to go back and read all 10 verses of Psalm 112 to see the context of the quotation. So keep a finger in 2 Corinthians 9 and turn back with me to Psalm 112.

Psalm 112:1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. 4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous. 5 It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice. 6 For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. 7 He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. 8 His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries. 9 He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor. 10 The wicked man sees it and is angry; he gnashes his teeth and melts away; the desire of the wicked will perish!

The 'he' in verse 9 is clearly the 'man who fears the LORD', who is upright, who is gracious, merciful, and righteous, whose righteousness endures forever. He, the one who deals generously and lends, who acts with justice in everything, he is the one who has distributed freely. He has given to the poor. The righteousness of the upright man will endure forever.

Righteous Living

Righteousness is such a central topic in the Scriptures. So what can we learn about righteousness in Psalm 112?

The righteous man in Psalm 112 is blessed by the Lord. His house is blessed; his descendants are blessed. The righteous one fears the Lord. He finds great delights in God's commandments. He walks in the light, he is gracious and merciful, he deals generously and lends, he conducts all his affairs with justice. He is not afraid of bad news; which means that he is not exempt from hardship or trials; he does experience setbacks, he does have enemies; but he is not shaken or afraid because his trust is always in the Lord.

This is what a righteous life looks like.

Righteousness that Endures Forever

The promise to the righteous is that he is blessed by the Lord (v.1-2), that his righteousness endures forever (v.3), that the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever, his righteousness endures forever (v.6). His righteousness endures forever (v.9).

This is an amazing promise, a staggering promise really, because we read in Ezekiel

Ezekiel 33:12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him when he transgresses, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it when he turns from his wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by his righteousness when he sins. 13 Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.

That's heavy, because God is telling his people not to rest in past performance. If you've lived a righteous life and then you sin, your past righteousness doesn't save you.

But here in Psalm 112 we are told that the righteous person is blessed by the Lord, and that his righteousness endures forever. How do these seemingly opposed ideas fit together?

None Righteous

We need to step back and look at the bigger Biblical picture of righteousness. Psalms and Proverbs repeatedly contrast the righteous and the wicked; blessings poured out on the righteous and justice on the wicked. But the Psalmist also affirms the fact that 'no one living is righteous before you' (Ps.143:2) and when we get to the preacher in Ecclesiastes, he says

Ecclesiastes 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

The book of Job repeatedly asks this question: “How then can a man be in the right before God?” (Job.25:4; cf. 4:17; 9:2; 15:14).

Paul systematically answers this question of righteousness in his letter to the Romans. He begins by establishing the fact that “None is righteous, no not one; ...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:10, 23).

Imputed Righteousness

And then he points to the righteousness of God,

Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

He points us to an alien righteousness; a righteousness not our own, from outside us; God's righteousness, given to believers in Jesus. We are justified; declared righteous by his grace as a gift. In Romans 4, Paul holds up Abraham as the prototype of God crediting or imputing an outside righteousness to a person who is not himself righteous.

Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

God counts ungodly people as righteous based on the righteousness of Jesus. He clarifies in Romans 5

Romans 5:18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Just as Adam's sin was counted against all mankind, so Jesus' perfect obedience to his Father is credited to the account of all who trust in him.

Isaiah 53 pointed us to this alien righteousness:

Isaiah 53:11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

The suffering Servant, Jesus the righteous sufferer, who bears our iniquities, makes us (sinners) to be accounted righteous. Jesus' own righteousness is imputed to us or credited to our account; his perfect righteousness is counted as ours. This is an astounding promise of enduring righteousness. We are fickle; but God ensures that our righteousness will stand for eternity!

Practical Righteousness

This is the theological truth that undergirds and supports this promise that the righteousness of the generous person endures forever. None are righteous, yet all who entrust themselves to Jesus are counted righteous in him, and that is a righteousness that will endure forever.

But it doesn't stop there. Some may be tempted to see this truth that it is not my own righteousness that counts with God, but rather Jesus' righteousness counted as mine, and conclude that seeking to live a righteous life doesn't really matter. As if fearing the Lord, delighting in his commands, walking in the light, doing justice and being merciful doesn't matter. It does matter. Because God not only counts us righteous in Jesus, we become part of his new creation. We are being made new. He is out transform us from the inside out. He gives us a new heart, new passions, new desires.

Jesus said:

Matthew 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, not because we keep the rules better than they do, but because we want more than anything to please God. We do what we do not in order to earn favor with God, but rather because God has freely shown us his undeserved favor.

Supplied to Scatter

2 Corinthians 9:9 As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” 10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

Paul supports his assertion that the bountiful sower will be met with God's abundant provision with a quote from Psalm 112. God will cause his righteousness to stand forever. In verse 10, he points again to God's abundant supply. Paul borrows language here from Isaiah 55.

Isaiah 55:10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Let's draw a few observations from this text. First, God is the giver. God is the ultimate source of all good. We see this over and over in this passage, and throughout Scripture.

Second, notice the order; He supplies seed to the sower and bread for food. First seed for sowing, then bread for food. I think the order is important. There is a priority of scattering seed over supplying one's own needs. God's abundant supply is first meant for scattering out to others, and then afterward for satisfying one's own needs with what is left over.

Consider Jesus feeding the multitudes. He broke bread and gave it to his disciples to serve to the crowds. It passed through their hands to others. They were no doubt hungry too, but they first took what they had been given and served those around them who were in need. After feeding the five thousand, they gathered twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over (Mt.14:20). After feeding the four thousand they took up seven baskets full of broken pieces left over. (Mt.15:37). Neither five small loaves and two fish nor seven loaves and a few fish would have gone very far among Jesus' twelve disciples. But in Jesus' economy it first passed through their hands to feed the multitudes, and then baskets were left over to supply the needs of his disciples.

We see this proverb in action.

Proverbs 11:24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. 25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Harvest of Righteousness

2 Corinthians 9:10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

He will not only fully supply but multiply your seed for sowing. Remember, all that you have is a gift supplied to you by God. He who supplied it is able to multiply it, and he is able to increase the harvest of your righteousness. Notice what the harvest consists of; your righteousness. According to Psalm 112, your righteousness consists of fearing the Lord and delighting in his commands, walking in the light, loving justice and showing mercy, giving to those in need.

God is able to cause your righteousness to endure forever. How will you scatter what God has put in your hand? Who will you show mercy to today? How will you cooperate with God as he increases the harvest of your righteousness? Will you act on the new desires he has placed in your heart?

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org