18 October 2027

Duty and Joy: Joy

2 Corinthians 9:1-10

Last week I talked about the value of the old-fashioned sense of duty – to others and to our church. The concept of duty is not flashy or impressive, but it matters, and with that in mind I said that those who have joined themselves to the body of Christ through a local church do have a duty to support it as they can. But I then added that giving to the church out of duty alone is baseline sort of stuff. There is a better and more satisfying reason to give, and that is to give out of joy. So let’s talk about that today.

But before we can do that, I need to explain what I mean by “joy.” I do not mean happiness. I know we use the words interchangeably, but I want to draw a clear distinction. I want to talk about happiness as a feeling, and joy as an attitude. Specifically, happiness is the feeling of well-being that comes when everything’s going well; joy, however, is not dependent on circumstances. Let me give a scriptural example. The New Testament book that is most filled with joy is Paul’s letter to the Philippians, which he wrote from prison while awaiting execution. Whatever Paul meant by joy in Philippians, it wasn’t “Hey, things are looking up!” Another way to put this is that happiness is the absence of suffering; joy is the patience, perspective, and wisdom that can be found in the midst of suffering and on the other side. Psalm 30, which we read earlier in the service, says, “weeping may endure through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Happiness is temporary. Because it grows out of pleasant circumstances, it goes away when those circumstances change. But joy is resilient. Happiness, being a feeling, is an individual experience; joy happens in relationship and connection to others. Happiness is something that can be looked for and found. If you can improve your circumstances, you can achieve happiness. Money can buy happiness, just not a kind of happiness that will last. The happiness you buy achieve on your own only endures until the next shiny thing appears. But you can’t buy joy. Joy is something that we find, or rather, that finds us when we’re focused on someone else. God doesn’t promise us happiness, because God doesn’t promise us pleasant circumstances. But those who seek God first inevitably discover joy. 

So when we talk about giving out of joy, I don’t mean getting everyone “pumped up” and excited about giving. I mean giving from a place of peace and purpose, giving as an expression of concern for others, and out of the experience having been through hardship ourselves. Giving out of joy is not about the money or time that we give, but is about the reason that our gift is given. So let’s look at our scripture today. In the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul is in Asia minor taking up a collection of relief money for the Christians in Judea. There is some reason to think that there may have been a crop failure and famine in that region, but all we’re really sure of is that the Christians in Judea and Jerusalem were desperately in need. So Paul is sending messengers to all the Christian churches in Asia Minor, in Macedonia, and in Greece (which our text will call “Achaia”) with appeals for money that Paul can take to the Judean church.

We read 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, verses 1-10:

9 Now it is not necessary for me to write to you about the ministry to the saints, 2for I know your eagerness, which is the subject of my boasting about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you may not prove to have been empty in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be; 4otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—in this undertaking.  5So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you, and arrange in advance for this bountiful gift that you have promised, so that it may be ready as a voluntary gift and not as an extortion.

6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9As it is written,

‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
   his righteousness endures forever.’

10He 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.  

Let me talk about Paul for a moment. You can divide people into two categories: task-oriented vs. relationship-oriented people. Task-oriented people are the movers and shakers, the CEOs who “move fast and break things,” as they say in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile relationship-oriented people are the ones who come along behind and clean up messes that the task people have left. Task people make things happen; relationship people make things last. We need both. Paul was a task person. He was a doer who planted churches all around the Mediterranean and, at one point or another, offended every one of them. Fortunately, he had relationship people like Timothy and Titus, who could put out his fires. I think Paul did actually care for people – he really wanted to help those Judean Christians, he was personally unselfish, and he did have deep, enduring friendships – it’s just that when there was a job to be done, Paul could come across as a bit of a bulldozer. We get that to some extent in this fund-raising passage as he tries to pump people up to give generously, sets up the giving totals as a competition between churches, and maybe even comes across as a little bit manipulative – “I’ve been boasting about how much you would give; I wouldn’t want you to be embarrassed!” 

But behind all that is something deeper. Paul wants people to give, but even more than that, he wants them to want to give. He doesn’t want anyone to give because of external pressure – our translation says, bluntly, “extortion.” He says to give “as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or out of compulsion.” He then adds, “God loves a cheerful giver,” which indicates that what matters most to God is not the amount of the gift, but the attitude of the giver. This is what I mean by giving out of joy. It’s when giving is an intentional expression of care.

Before going on, though, I need to pause for a side quest. In verse 6, Paul says, The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Now here is a verse that is beloved by prosperity gospel preachers everywhere, who take it to mean that if you give lots of money, then God is obligated to give even more back to you. Giving to God as a financial investment. That’s not what Paul meant. It can’t possibly be what he meant, because his own life proves the exact opposite. Paul gave up everything to follow Christ, and in return he got beatings, imprisonment, humiliation, stoning, and so on. No, clearly the harvest that awaits those who give generously is not monetary or even physical. To go back to the distinction that we started this sermon with, the reward of generosity is not the happiness of pleasant circumstances; it’s the joy being with God. 

So how do we get there? How do we get from Beginner Level (giving out of duty) up to Expert Level (giving with joy)? I don’t know that I can give you a simple answer. What I can do is give you one consistent observation from my nearly 30 years in this role. People who are actively involved in the ministry of the church are also the people who give most generously of their resources. 

I know. Duh. What would you expect? And yet too often we don’t make this obvious connection. In my years in ministry I have seen so many denominational plans come down the pike for increasing giving – using challenges and campaigns and rewards and all sorts of external motivations – but I have never run into a stewardship plan that begins with making sure the church is doing ministry worth supporting and getting people involved in it. Maybe we should try that for once. After all, the goal of the church is not to raise money. The goal of the church is to minister to people in Christ’s name. When a church is doing that, as we are, then people will get involved, as you have, and when people get involved and see lives being touched and transformed, then they will support that church in all the ways that they are able. Financial stewardship is not a goal, but a result. It’s not a purpose; it’s a side-effect of doing ministry. (“Ask your doctor if getting involved in ministry is right for you! Side-effects include ... generosity.”)

So, as we embark on another pledge season, let me tell you about the ministry that our church is already doing. First, there’s the direct ministry that we do: Inclusive Ministry Church and Friends at the Lake, both designed to present Christ’s love to people who are marginalized in our culture. Then there’s the cooperative community ministry we are a part of: serving at The Community Table and Beacon House and special collections that we take to support a wide range of local, national, and international mission projects. Then there are the ways we support other local ministries through our building. We host three different Narcotics Anonymous groups, at least three different support groups for people with specific diseases, a grief group, classes for seniors through the Aging and Disability Resource Center. And I can’t even begin to name all the ministries that various members of our church have gone and gotten involved in without even telling us about: the Stand in the Light Memory Choir, Meals on Wheels, you get the idea. One challenge question that we pastors are sometimes asked is: “If your church disappeared tomorrow, would anyone in your community miss it? Would they even notice?” 

You bet they would. 

So this season I invite you to consider what you will give to the ministry of this church – both time and money, both to our regular programing and to our special project to repair and renew our Fellowship Hall. But give nothing out of compulsion. Determine how you want to serve, give what you are able to give, and then give out of joy.