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We all Know About Seeds

11/10/2025

First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012
Sermon Notes (Sunday ~ November 9 2025)
Sermon Title–We all Know About Seeds
Text – John 12:20-26
Rev Cliff Jones

Do you like it when people ask you for money? I was invited to a community dinner. I felt honored to be invited because I wasn’t part of that community. But, I knew several people and they asked me to come as their pastor. We sat in a large room at round tables, 200 people. It was a nice buffet dinner. After dinner, the MC said, “Now, we are going to ask you to contribute to building a new community center. I didn’t know this was going to happen, but I figured I’d just skip on the pledge card and not turn one in. After all, I was a guest. Then, the MC did something completely unexpected. She handed the mic to a person seated at a nearby table. That person publicly announced through the mic how much money she would be giving towards the new building. Out loud! Then, she handed the mic to the person next to her and he announced what he would give. They went all around the table, every person telling everyone there what they were giving. I figured they were all board members and setting the example for others to give. I looked around for the people handing out pledge cards to each table. But then the MC went to the next table, closer to mine. Again, each person took the mic and said for all 200 to hear what he or she would give, and with each person, the feeling of panic got louder and louder inside me. Then, it was my table’s turn. There was no escape. Quickly, I calculated how much cash I had in my wallet. The mic was handed to me and I said. “I have $70 right here,” and I held out the money, and that seemed to be fine, but that was an uncomfortable experience. I don’t like being asked for money - and I suspect, neither do you.

You come out of a store and there’s a table with a cardboard sign: Girl Scout cookies for sale. And, we think, “Oh, they want me to buy something. We bought for years, until the kids grew up. Do I have to buy? But I love the thin mints! Consciously and subconsciously, we ask ourselves the question: why should I give money? Not just as individuals, but as a congregation, we ask each other for money. For the roof, fortunately the termite problem is long over, the kitchen, the budget. Why should I give?

We’re not alone in asking this question. The apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth, Greece, asking them to give to an offering that will support widows in the church in Jerusalem that really need help, but they haven’t taken much action on it. As a result, the apostle Paul addresses the why question. For his folks and for us, he addresses the why? Why should we give?

(Read II Corinthians 9:5 - 15)

Paul starts out by saying, “The point is this….” Isn’t that nice of him to tell us the point, right off the bat: “Sow sparingly, reap sparingly; sow bountifully, reap bountifully. When a farmer plants a crop in a field, he knows that the more seeds he plants, the more crop he will get. If you put just a few seeds down, you’ll only get a few plants. So, put in a lot of seeds and you’ll get a lot more plants. It’s the logic of farming. Plant small, get small; plant big, get big.

Some of you are Jersey gardeners. Every year you place your order of seeds, and every year you make the same mistake, because come August, you slide up to us and plead with us: “Would you take some tomatoes?” You plant more seeds than you need. You planted big, and you got more tomatoes than you can use. There’s logic to it; the logic of gardening, the logic of farming.

Paul is applying this logic to giving, too, generous giving; not just a little bit here and a little bit there. Generous giving, and generous giving comes from a generous spirit. Verse, 7:
v. 7 - Don’t give “reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”   Paul well understands the tendency to give a token amount and be done with it. Instead, he says, look inside yourself. Give with a generous, open spirit, instead of a half closed fist. The word we translate ‘cheerful’ here comes from the Greek word, ’hilarion - from which we get the word, ‘hilarious.’ “God loves an hilarious giver.” Be generous and plant big.

The logic of planting and reaping holds for farming. It holds for gardening. But, does the logic really hold for giving? Ask the mom pushing a wire grocery cart through the store, with two small kids seated in the cart, and when she gets to the checkout line, she has to pull out a SNAP food supplement card to help her pay for basic food. She may be a faithful Christian, a giving Christian. Is she seeing the logic of giving in her life? Or, how about the apostle Paul? Remember his catalogue of all he has gone through for Jesus: shipwrecked 3 times, beaten with rods 3 times, jailed, whipped 5 times, “through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” (II Corinthians 11:24 - 28) His own life shows us that the Christian doesn’t live a life protected, isolated from all danger, and living a life of ease. And, yet, he still insists that in giving, if you give generously, you will blessedly receive.

How can he say this? Well, let’s compare giving to gardening. Does it always hold that if you plant small you get small, and if you plant big, you get big? Well of course it does. It’s obvious. Always? What happens if it doesn’t rain? Or, there are too many insects. There are times when the logic doesn’t hold. There are exceptions. So, it’s generally true. Same with giving. We can’t assume there’s an automatic, multiplying response to our giving, but generally, when we give generously, God blesses us. Paul backs this up in verse 9: “As it is written, ‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”

Paul is quoting the Bible here, Psalm 112. “Scatter” here means liberally throwing the seed around. It’s a model of giving, an expectation that a person of faith will give to the poor, which certainly is a cause God approves of, “his (or her) righteousness endures.” The effects of that giving keep on going, and the giver’s relationship with God is strengthened, not because the giving justifies him, but because the giving reveals and strengthens the giver’s faith in God. Then, he goes on:

v. 8 - “And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything” - so far, this sounds like if we give, we automatically get in return, and we get in abundance; but Paul isn’t finished. Keep reading:   “And may provide in abundance for every good work.” That’s the crucial phrase. Do you hear what he’s saying? God will provide for us, so that we can provide for others. God does want to bless us. God does want to provide for us, yet He gives to us and blesses us, not just for our own needs and our own comfort. He gives to us, so that we will give to others and “to every good work.”

Let’s say a ‘good work’ of God would be to improve the health of all of us who live in this county. Jesus had a ministry of health and healing. His compassion for healing continues today. So, how does God improve the health of our county? Certainly, He answers prayers for healing. His Spirit brings Jesus’ healing touch. And, maybe, a health clinic in a new area would also improve the general health. Does God zap a new building into existence? He could, but God chooses to work through people who will give money to build that clinic. Why does the logic of giving generally hold? Because God will give to us, so that we will give to his causes? Verses 10, 11 restate this logic.

Verses 10, 11 - “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God….”. Think of this as a giving circle. We receive from God, take a portion of what God has given us, give it away to God’s good causes, which brings praise and thanksgiving to God, who then gives back to us.

And, here’s the beauty of it. God is searching for men and women who understand they are stewards, not owners. What they have, they understand, is a gift from God, to be passed on and used for God’s good work in the world. God is inviting us into partnership with him, to participate with him in doing good and in changing the world. And, when we partner with God and give, it brings real joy and satisfaction. There is a satisfaction in giving generously.

Only a few years after I graduated, I was asked to give $1,000 to help establish the US Center for World Missions and buy buildings to house it. We didn’t have an extra $1000. But, I really felt that if we gave it, we would have God’s approval. So, we gave it. I put us in a $1000 hole and God filled it. We were still okay financially. And the joy I felt in giving that gift, and the satisfaction I felt in seeing the Center come into existence was tremendous. In fact, that Center left a legacy that has touched the work in India that I’m participating in. All praise to God!

What has our text told us? It’s told us why we should give: the logic of giving is backed up by Scripture, and when we give generously, as stewards, God invites us into a partnership to participate with him over and over in his good works, that bring joy and satisfaction. Here are a few practical ideas to make this specific:

1. Determine to Give Generously.
Plant small, get small. Remember, that’s the logic of giving. So plant big. Give generously. How much is generous? When you have to stop and think about giving that much. Or, when what you are considering giving makes you smile. The Old Testament required 10% giving to God’s causes. We can consider that the floor of our giving, to move on up from there. But most people don’t start out at a tithe, or 10%, so, what do we do?
2. Peg your Percentage and Grow
Instead of giving an amount of dollars, give a percent of your income. Determine what percent of your income you are currently giving and grow it by 1 percent. For instance, say you have an income of $40,000, and you give $500. Do the math and that is 1 1/4%. Take the next step and increase it to 2% of your income. That’s $400 dollars. Is $400 a lot of money? Well, it’s a sum. If you needed an inexpensive new lawn mower, with tax, you’d pay almost $300. Need a new stove? The cheapest I’ve found is $500, and, if you needed it, you’d pay it. When we peg our percentage and grow it by 1%, we are trusting that God will continue to provide what we need, and even supply that extra $400 we gave and more. Growing 1% is doable. Peg your percentage and grow it by 1%, and watch your trust in God increase as He provides. Each year, increase giving a percentage. Discover what God will do with your faithfulness.

3. Thank God in advance for providing for your needs and pray for that good work you have given the money to.

What has this passage told us: God wants us to partner with him in giving to his causes. When we do so, we receive real joy and satisfaction. As we actively, generously give, God will bless us.   So, give generously, peg your percentage and grow it. Don’t forget to thank and praise God.

R.G. LeTourneau became fascinated with earth moving equipment. He became wealthy in the business, and, as a Christian, decided to practice the logic of generous giving. He practiced it so generously that his friends cautioned him to stop. “You’ve giving too much away,” they said. “You can’t keep this up.” His reply? “I shovel out the money, and God shovels it back—but God has a bigger shovel.” So, grab your shovel. Let’s see what God will do.

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