Simple but Amazing

[Blue Lulu]

2 Corinthians 9:10

Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

So God supplies the seed to us the sower and bread (the word, Jesus) for food.  Then God multiplies the seed we have sown, it has nothing to do with us, but we get the reward of the increase of the fruit of the spirit and is counted to us as righteousness.

 

[AdHoc]

21 hours ago, Blue Lulu said:

2 Corinthians 9:10

Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

So God supplies the seed to us the sower and bread (the word, Jesus) for food.  Then God multiplies the seed we have sown, it has nothing to do with us, but we get the reward of the increase of the fruit of the spirit and is counted to us as righteousness.

 

You touch an interesting subject here. When our Lord sent His disciples the first time, He told them not to take purse or cloak. But in Luke 22 He changes this. It reads in verse 35, "And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. 36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it ... ." What shall we make of this?

The answer is that our Lord, Messiah to Israel, first presented them with the gospel of the Kingdom. And men under Law should take care of visitors and strangers. But now that Israel had refused both the King and His Kingdom, he is about to send His disciples to all men. And "all men" do not have the Law of Moses. So the Lord knew that full time workers in the gospel would need money. they could not expect the people they visited to give anything towards their cause. So the source of finance for a full-timer must be the other Christians.

But God does not let the GIVER suffer loss for ever. He hatches a very refined plan to bless all concerned. He supplies an abundance to certain saints. These saints must do two things. (i) They must live below their means so that money is left over, and (ii) they must have the attitude that they are investing in something that will bring returns. In Luke 16 the Master commended a bad steward for thinking ahead in his dealings with mammon. The bottom line is that the clever saint will regard any giving to the Lord's Work first, and to people in need second, as a FINANCIAL INVESTMENT. Whether a merchant or a farmer, both must INVEST some seed t make more. The seed could be sold immediately, but then there is nothing to supply next year. All farmers keep the best and most healthy of seed for the next year's crop.

The Old Testament Israelite received almost immediate reward for keeping the Law. He had only to wait for the next harvest to reap the blessings of the Law. But the Christian has a different economy of God. He must be prepared to wait till the Lord COMES and he/she is resurrected. The REAPING for a Christian is DEFERRED till the Lord comes (Rev.22:12). He / she must live by faith. They must believe that their obedience in giving will grow without him / her seeing it. The wise Virgins of Matthew 25 "bought oil" (that is, they paid a price) but the fruits of their parting with precious things came only when "they arose".

This introduces the next important point. What is the reward and what will get a reward? The reward is to be made a co-king with Jesus when He sets up His Kingdom on earth (Lk.19:17-19, Rev.2:27, 20:4-6). And what does one need to ENTER the Kingdom. All through the gospels a man is SAVED from the wrath of God for his SINS through FAITH. He is reborn by FAITH. He partakes of the divine life and becomes a son of God by FAITH. But for the KINGDOM and a CROWN, a man must be found exceeding RIGHTEOUS. In Matthew 5:20 it is YOUR righteousness that must exceed that of the Pharisees. In Matthew 13:43 it is those who did NO INIQUITY that "shine forth in the kingdom". In Galatians 5:21 and Ephesians 5:5 it is the UN-righteous that will be banned from the Kingdom.

Every Christian must have TWO righteousnesses. (1) For his relationship and audience with God, and prayers to God, there is NOTHING that a man can do to be allowed this. NOTHING can set a man up to be righteous enough for the glory of God's presence. So God allowed His Son Jesus to live a life under Law, and a life of obedience over and above Law. Then God takes this righteousness and IMPUTES it to those who believe in the Person and Work of His Son Jesus. We can contact God, praise Him and speak to Him ONLY because of what Jesus did. But in order to be found QUALIFIED to manage the Lord's affairs in the coming KINGDOM, a man must be both TRAINED and TESTED to see if HIS righteousness is adequate so that God does not have crooks managing His affairs. His REPUTATION is at stake. It is here that YOUR righteousness must be judged.

And it is here that God sets His value on your giving to the full-timers and to the needy. He gives the seed, but YOU must plant it, water it and weed the ground. He gives the MEANS, but you must invest it where it will multiple. And it is not MONEY that you want to multiply - for that will never get you into the Kingdom. A Rich Man "hardly enters the Kingdom". The Lord will judge every one of us, not for how successful we are in money, but how RIGHTEOUS you were in the management of the money that God gave. Did you give? Did you live below your means so that you had wherewith to give? Did you ask the Lord where to give, or did you just fritter your money on what you thought was right? Did you ask God how much to give each time? Where you prepared to go short so that a widow could have a roof over her head? These are the things that Christ will ask you about at the Judgment Seat (Rom.14:10, 2nd Cor.5:10).

Your title was very accurate - "Simple but amazing". Luke 22 is about supporting Gods' Work among the Nations. God will give you some extra seed - extra money. Will you spend it on luxuries for yourself? Or will you spend it on God's Work? Will you spend it as you think right, or will you follow God's plan. Will you pay - OR PRAY - and then pay? Will you be RIGHT before God on that fateful day whe you are asked to give an account of what you DID?