11.05.17 Delight in Giving

2017-11-07

Download 11

Check out Second Presbyterian Church! Read along with 2 Corinthians 9:1-15. In this podcast: 1. Anthem of the day: "For the Fruit of All Creation" (Green/McCullough) 2. Sermon BONUS: "We Give Thee But Thine Own" (because someone forgot to turn the recording off!) Sermon excerpt: The word for “cheerful” Paul uses here is “hilaros” in the Greek, which sounds an awful lot like our word “hilarious.” “Hilaros” is an adjective that means joyous, cheerful, propitious, no...

Check out Second Presbyterian Church!

Read along with 2 Corinthians 9:1-15.

In this podcast:

1. Anthem of the day: "For the Fruit of All Creation" (Green/McCullough)

2. Sermon

BONUS: "We Give Thee But Thine Own" (because someone forgot to turn the recording off!)

Sermon excerpt:

The word for “cheerful” Paul uses here is “hilaros” in the Greek, which sounds an awful lot like our word “hilarious.” “Hilaros” is an adjective that means joyous, cheerful, propitious, not grudging.[i]

And it is only used this one time in the New Testament.

God loves it when a gift is given “hilaros-ly” because it is a reflection of the way God gives: lovingly, generously, and open-handedly.

Giving “hilaros-ly” is one way of obeying the second greatest commandment (love thy neighbor) which immediately spills into the greatest commandment of loving God, two commandments which are inseparable.[ii] Part of the way we worship God is by giving cheerfully as we are able to the needs of others.[iii] And when others see the way we delight in our giving, so Paul reasons in verse 14, they in turn will praise God.

[i] Strong’s Concordance, “hilaros"

[ii] Best, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Intepretation, p. 86.

[iii] Ibid., p. 87.

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