Epistles of Paul 60

Well, good evening, everyone. Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and chapter 9 exhorts the Christian brethren to take up a collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem.

And he is encouraging them to do so as liberally as the churches in Macedonia did. Paul is using a little bit of initially a little bit of psychology in a sense. He could say that by asking them, hey, do it as well as the Macedonians have done. But he actually, in these first 15 verses of chapter 8, which is what we hope to cover today, Paul looks at it in three different ways. He looks at it by citing the example of the Macedonians. That is from verse 1 to verse 7 and a little bit of verse 8. And then in verse 8 and 9 he refers to the Jesus Christ's example. And then from verse 10 to verse 15 he looks at it from the point of their own interests, the value to them personally. And so through these different perspectives he highlights three principles of Christian liberality, of being liberal, of being giving as a Christian, which we will summarize at the end of today's message. We're going to start by reading 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verse 1 through 3. In 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verse 1 through 3, Paul cites or mentions, now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do so also. On the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. And when I come, whenever you approve by your letters, I will send to bed your gift to Jerusalem. So he's saying, look, on the first day of work, you do the job of getting all the gifts and the collections of things together to help the brethren in Judea, in Jerusalem. And so, based on that, now on chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians, he now is encouraging them or exhorting them to get that collection going. It's like a second motivating or inspiration speech, let's call it that. And so, let's read in verse 1. Moreover, brethren, that is 2 Corinthians 8 verse 1, we take known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. We make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. Now, the Macedonians had given a very good example. Macedonia is the area of northern Greece, and Corinthians, as we know, is in the area of southern Greece. So, let me just share with you a map which I've shared with you previously, but it's just to help you see a little bit what we are referring to. We're referring about Paul's third missionary trip. He left Antioch. He came through the areas of Galatia, or southern Turkey, and then he got to Ephesus, and there in Ephesus, he wrote 1 Corinthians. Later, as he moved up, he then was waiting for news of that letter, and he was anxious, and then he got news of that letter, and then he wrote to them 2 Corinthians, probably around the area in Macedonia, or the area of Philippi. Now, the area of Macedonia is this region, which is today called northern Greece, and so it'll be churches like Philippi, like Thessalonika, the Thessalonians, and Berea, the Bereans, you know, you know the story about the Bereans, and surrounding areas as well. So, we're talking about these areas here in Macedonia. So, let me just stop sharing.

All right, so we see Paul citing the example of what the Macedonians did, and it's interesting that he was writing from Macedonia, and he was writing about, in the year of about 55 AD, probably towards the fall or winter or 55 AD or early 56 AD. Now, Macedonia itself was a province which was a poor area. A provost was impoverished. From what indication we have, it seems that it was plundered by the Roman authorities, and Paul is saying, look how they have been so gracious. Look how liberally they gave. And they are a poor area, area where people don't have much. And therefore, from that point of view, he's asking, should you match that or even go beyond? And that's what he's saying here in verse 1. We make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. In other words, God's attitude of giving, look how the churches of Macedonia are exemplifying that giving attitude. And then he continues here in verse 2, and he says that in a great trial of affliction.

So even though they were going through trials, financial trials, or whatever trials they were, probably in deep poverty, they still gave. He says, in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. You know, even though they were going through this trial of financial difficulties, they still gave. They were liberal. They abounded in the riches. And in a sense, shaming the churches in Corinth. And so Paul was, in a sense, in this case, putting a church or a group or a congregation or area, say, hey, look at how these have done, and shouldn't you have done equally, or better?

And so now we read in verse 3, for our bare witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing. It's interesting. He mentions three things here.

One is according to their ability. Secondly, beyond their ability. And thirdly, freely willing. And so, yeah, we have three, let's just call it, elements or principles of giving.

The first one is we should give according to our ability. Obviously, we can't give what we don't have. And so they gave according to their ability. And you and I, as we are able, big part, we give according to our ability. The second principle about giving, that is mentioned here, it says, and yes, beyond their ability. It sounds maybe a bit contradictory, but sometimes we make a sacrifice and we go beyond what we typically can, and we take our out of our own needs to give to others. So it's sometimes we go beyond that and we sacrifice, make a sacrifice. And thirdly, the third principle, yeah, in giving, they were freely willing, which means, freely willing means that you choose your own course of action. It's like you got a free moral agency. You freely willing, but they were willing to give of their own free will. They did it willingly. Their giving was voluntary. They were not forced, and they were not doing it in a grudging way, grudgingly. So yeah, we have the people in Macedonia. They were giving according to their ability. Some of them were even sacrificing a little bit, and they were doing it willingly. They were doing it voluntarily. And then verse 4 says, imploring us with much urgency that we should receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints. In other words, Paul is saying that the Macedonians, it's not because we solicited them this great act of kindness, but they, on the other side of it, they implored on us, they entreated us to accept their willing, voluntary gifts. So they said, please, and do it urgently with a sense of urgency. And then he said, and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints. It was for the the apostles and the ministry and those that would be appointed by Paul and others to take upon themselves what it says here, the fellowship of the ministry, and it was do their part in ministering to the saints. In other words, to accept the responsibility of administering it to the needs of those that are poor in Judea. So he said, they implored with us with much urgency, with much urgency. And then verse five says, and not only as we had hoped, we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us. Yeah, it's a very, very important principle. Think about the basis of giving must be founded. The basis, the core of giving must be that we give first ourselves to God. That must be the prime, the first and foremost, what we gotta do. We gotta give ourselves to God first.

In other words, we gotta completely surrender ourselves to God. That is the first and primary purpose and goal that we have. Put it another way. The Bible and God and Christ says, love God with all your minds, with all your souls, with all of energy, with all our bodies. We are to give ourselves to God fully. And therefore, God owns us. And since God owns us, we must be willing then to give to others, willing to help others. And so, that's what it says here in verse five. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord. They put God first. They surrender themselves to God, and then to us to serve, to give to others by the will of God, because that's God's will. And so, yeah, it shows the point of what God is looking at. You see, God is not necessarily looking at the amount or the quantity of what you give.

We look at the example, for instance, of widow's might. She proportionately gave more than many others, right, because she gave of everything she had. So, she gave of the scarcity that she had. Proportionately, she gave a lot. So, God is not necessarily looking at the quantity because all she gave was two mites. But he looks at the willing attitude. He looks at the heart. He looks at the intent, our spiritual intent. And so, God wants us first to give ourselves of ourselves, and then he accepts us. Now, continue in verse six. So, we urge Titus that as he had begun, so we'll also complete this grace in you as well. So, like Titus had gone and visited them and been ministering to them, we asked Titus to collect what they had gathered. So, he said, look, I'm sending Titus to do this. Now, this he addresses a little later. Also, from verse 16 onwards, which we're not going to cover today, but Paul was ensuring that the gift, if it was money or whatever it was, the donations or physical things or non-perishable things that they could take to Judea, they were handled by other people, not by himself, to avoid accusations that he was quote-unquote misappropriating funds. In other words, that he was diverting the gifts to himself for his own profit. So, yeah, he is mentioning that he sent Titus to do that, and to complete this, to collect what they had gathered, that gift. Verse 7, but as you abound in everything, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all the diligence, and in all love for us, it's interesting because in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, he was very corrective, and he mentioned, you are carnal, and so could it be that he's saying to some of them, to some of them, that's what you think. That's in some of you, in your minds, it's the way you think that you are great in faith, great in speech, great in knowledge, great in all diligence, and in all love for us. But clearly, a lot of the Corinthians, because the second epistle has been a very encouraging, encouraging and complementing letter to the Corinthians, to those that had repented a change, clearly he says, just like you abound in that, and that is in this spiritual attributes, in these spiritual areas. Then he says, see that you abound in this grace also. In other words, then therefore see that you are bound in this physical giving. In other words, seeing that you have really abounded or exceeded in spiritual characteristics, it should not be difficult for you now to exceed also in this physical act of giving to the brethren in Judea. Verse 8, now after he comparing the Macedonians, he starts focusing, in the sense, like a link step. That's one of the principles about speaking, you speak a point, and then you have a link step to the next point. This is like a link step, linking what first the Macedonians done. He says, look, you have done well spiritually. And yeah, in verse 8, he's linking that, and he says, I speak not by commandment. So now he's starting to look at it from the point of what is Christ's perspective in this situation. And he's saying, I'm not commanding you. I'm not giving you, I'm not forcing you. So it's not by command, but I'm testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.

And so he's linking this to focus them to compare. Not only is now, as he compared against what the Macedonians done, now he's looking at from Christ's perspective and what Christ has done. And so now he looks at what Christ has done, and therefore he is encouraging them first to follow the example of other churches of Macedonia. So he is again linking back at what others have done.

But he says, I'm testing you if you are just as diligent, just as sincere. And that's what he says here. I'm speaking on my commandment, but I'm testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. Are you just as diligent as the Macedonians way? Because in the end, that's Christ's perspective. He looks at what are we doing? What is our diligence? Because Christ is testing our hearts in everything we do. And now he looks at what Christ has done, which is what he addresses in verse 9. He says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. That is a very profound verse that says a lot. It really says a lot.

Now, let me give an example. Yeah, if you, and I know we aren't, but if you were a multi-millionaire, would you give up everything and become poor? Completely poor. Give up everything. Give everything and become poor to whoever, to others, to the church, to whatever.

Would you give everything and become poor? Now, think about the situation here in Matthew 19.

About this man that came to Christ and asked him, What must I do to have eternal life? So let's turn to Matthew 19. Matthew 19. Matthew 19. I'm going to start reading in verse 16. Now, behold, one came and said to him, to Christ, Good Teacher, good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? What is it that I need to do to be in the kingdom, to be in God's family, to have life eternal? And so Christ said, Why do you call me good?

No one is good, but one that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. Keep God's laws. And he asked, well, which ones? And Jesus started citing just a few. Shall not murder, shall not commit adultery, shall not steal, you shall not be a false witness, honor your father and your mother, and love your neighbor, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So he's basically focusing the laws of the Ten Commandments, but particularly the ones that are related to loving your neighbor as yourself. And the young man said to Christ, verse 20, Matthew 19, All these things I've kept from my youth, I've done it all.

In a sense, it's a little bit self-righteous, isn't it? I mean, I wish we could say I've done it all, because I can't say it. We all lack. But anyway, he said, All these things I've kept from my youth, what do I still lack? And Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. It is an interesting statement. He says, You have a lot of material possessions.

And we know, because he says this, but when the young man heard that, saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. So he was a fairly wealthy person. And Christ said, You are like an example I mentioned shortly ago, a little while ago. You are like a multimillionaire. Give it all away and become poor.

Now, let me ask a couple of questions. He's gone against money? No. Abraham was a very wealthy man. Isaac was a very wealthy man. Jacob was a very wealthy man. For instance, we look at when Joseph was in Egypt. Jesus, Jacob, had money to go and buy food and things like that. He was a wealthy man. But for this rich man, the problem is money was his God.

And this is a thing that we need to consider. What sort of priority do we give to physical things? But let's ask a question.

Was Christ asking the rich man to do something? This rich man?

Was Christ asking him to do something that Christ was not prepared to do? That Christ was not prepared to do?

You know what? Christ did give up everything.

He gave up everything for us. Turn to Philippians 2. Philippians chapter 2. And we're going to read now verse 6 and 7.

Philippians chapter 2 verse 6 and 7. And basically, he says, let this mind be in you. And this comes from the previous verses in Philippians chapter 2 about being humble, having the same mind, the same love, one accord, one mind. He steamed others better than ourselves. And he says, let this mind be in you. But in verse 6 he says that Christ, who being in the form of God, in other words, he was of the God kind, he was of the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. It was not, let's call it, identity theft to be equal with God because it was God. We read that in John 1 verse 1. And he says, but made himself of no reputation. In other words, he gave everything up. He gave up being a God being and became a human being, because he says, and he came, he gave himself, you know, being a part of, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of man. So he emptied himself of being of the God kind, and he became a human being. It was God in flesh. He became fully human. He gave up the glory. He gave up the environment of the kingdom of God, and he became a sperm cell placed in Mary's womb by the Father's power. He was born as a baby. He lived 33 and a half years as a servant, and he died for our sins. He gave all his wealth, all his riches. He was a multimillionaire, and he gave it all up for us. Well, it does say, of course, because he says in verse eight, so he humbled himself, and then he says, therefore, verse nine, God has highly exalted him.

But here is the point. He is not asking the rich man to do something that Christ himself did not do. Christ never asks you and I to do anything that he has not done himself.

You and I cannot outgive God, and you and I cannot outgive Christ. He gave it all. You know, why did he do that? So that we might possess what he had, so that we may have, ultimately, a spirit body in the family of God, in the kingdom of God, in glory. So let's read now with that in mind again, 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know the giving attitude, the kindness, the loving kindness, that though he was rich, he was a God-being. He had everything. He was rich. Rich. Yet for our sakes, he became poor. He became a man, that in the end was condemned to death for no reason. He did nothing wrong.

That you, that you and I, through his poverty, through what he did and died for us, we might become rich. In other words, we might have coheirs of Christ, coheirs of God, and co-inaritors with Christ in the kingdom of God. See, so this verse 9 is very, very powerful. And now continue. So Paul, as I mentioned, he looked at it from the position of what the Macedonians did. He looked at it from the position of Christ and what Christ's looking at. And now he looks at it from their best interests, from verse 10 through to verse 15, from their best interests. And then he says, let's read verse 15, and in this I give advice. So let me give you a little bit of counseling. It is to your advantage, it is your own best interests, not only to be doing what you began and were deciding to do a year ago.

You see, a year ago you said, yeah, yeah, we're gonna do it. We'll help the Reverend Injuridiah. But it appears that they had been a little sluggish in the execution.

And Paul could potentially be saying, look at what the Corinth is. They're doing so well in this and that and that. And others could say, yeah, but look at it. They've done nothing to help the Brethren Injuridiah. You see? So then Paul continues, yeah, in verse 11. But now you also must complete the doing of it. In other words, you said you're going to do it. Now do it. You talk to talk, now walk the walk. You made a commitment, now do it. You see, that as there was a readiness to desire, yes, there was an intent, a readiness to desire. So there also may be a completion out of what you have. So now we need to complete what you said you're going to do.

Love, unexpressed, is no love at all. Love, outgoing concern, is action, is doing. Now we're going to read verse 12. For if there is a willing mind, you see, first there has to be a desire, and then a willing mind, a willing mind. Now thinking about that, let's just briefly read Exodus 25 verse 2. Exodus 25 verse 2.

And this is the time when we're going to build the tabernacle, and the or rather the sanctuary, the tabernacle here, and it says Exodus 25 verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel that they bring me an offering from everyone who gives it willingly with his heart. You shall take my offering. And then he goes on listing different things. This is offering which you shall take from them. Gold and this and that and that so. But Yahweh says, from everyone who gives it willingly with his heart. And so he has the same point, willingly with his heart. So reading back to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 12, that first part, for if there is a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has and not according to what he does not have. You see, in first place, there has to be a desire and with it a willing mind, a heart and a mind. There's going to be the right willingness. Secondly, according to what one has. That's what it says, according to what one has. You give out of your resources.

You don't have to borrow money to give.

You don't have to go beyond the poverty line to give. For instance, for a holy day offering, you don't have to borrow money to give. You give from what you have. And basically, the church has never told you, except maybe for one occasion, maybe more, but very rarely has asked you to really give you money to help in a crisis and to really kind of empty your pockets, if you can. One situation that happened, to my understanding, I might be wrong, there may be others, but one was about 1978-1979 when there was the receivership against the church in the state of California and the church's accounts were locked and money was very tight because the receiver had the bank accounts locked. And so, to my understanding, Mr. Armstrong asked, please help out now. Please go out and be on. But that was once, maybe in over 40 years. I mean, before that, at the beginning of a domestic college and things like that, he did ask people to really give. But generally speaking, the instruction is according to what one has. You can't give off what you don't have. You just can't, and God does not expect that. Continue now in verse 13. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you're burdened. You see, so you're not giving what you don't have, so I'm not saying create a difficulty in your life, in your financial situations, so that others are going to be eased. And this is again an important principle, because now he explains the principle in verse 14, but by an equality.

Equality, the word in Greek is 2471, isotase, which refers to a condition of, obviously, equality or equilibrium or balance. Don't take it as one to actually create a problem on another, but God's purpose is that when there is a need in one area among Christians, you help others, but it's to help the needy.

It's not to create a new group of people that had and now become needy. You see, so it really is to help those that are in need. That is need, in the needy situation. It's not just to just help them so they don't have to work.

That's not the case. For instance, as an example, we in the Church, generally speaking, tithe to the home office to collect locally, but there are some, what should I call it, congregations where they do take tithes locally, and right from the beginning of the United, that was agreed that those could collect local tithes, but once they cover the local needs, the overreach was to be sent to the home office to take care of others. And that's what we try and do to help others. That's why tithes are, generally speaking, sent to the home office, but there are some areas that have what we call some local portion of the tithes is kept locally.

And then he goes on and he says in verse 14, I do not mean that others should, I mean, verse 14, but by inequality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack, that there may be inequality, you know, so you help them, they help you, and everybody is helping one another.

And then he cites the example of manna. Look at us. As it's written, he will gather much and nothing left over, and he will gather little and no lack. That was the example in Exodus 16 verse 18, that those that took, you know, when they went out and collect manna, there were some that collected a lot and others that collected less, but no one lacked. No one lacked. You see, so there is therefore this principle of equality, of helping one another, but not necessarily to, as it says, that one should be eased and you burdened.

So these three perspectives that Paul highlighted, namely comparing to the Macedonians, secondly, comparing the example of Christ, and thirdly, looking at their own best interests, you know, the principle of according to what one has and to help one another, so there is equality. So looking at these three perspectives, basically Paul highlighted, as I maybe just, oh, reviewed them in a different perspective, he highlighted three principles of, as a Christian, to be giving to others.

The first principle is, there must be a certain readiness and a willing mind to give freely that is cited, for instance, from verse 3 in chapter 8, but it says that they were freely willing. You can see that, for instance, also in verse 12, if there is first a willing mind. So they must be giving freely, and that is with the intent of being gracious and not being a burden. We can see that in verse 7, that says that you are bound in everything, and then it says that you may abound in this grace also, that you may be gracious. And in verse 9, it says that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is the grace that Christ's given to us.

It's the graciousness, the example of Christ's graciousness. And then verse 13, it says that you is not there. One should be eased and others burdened. So there's going to be a willingness, a readiness, a willing mind to give freely, to be gracious, but not to be a burden. The second principle that one could highlight here is according as you have. You get that for instance out of verse 12, that it says, but if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has.

And also in verse 3 says, according to their ability. It was according to what you have. If too much is all you have, then you know that's it's according to you what you are able. So, but it's also the example there of sometimes of sacrifice that it says and sometimes beyond your ability. So at times you do that as a sacrifice. So the first principle is a ready mind. Second one is according to have. And the third principle is of reciprocity, of equality, and that we got from verse 14, but by an equality.

In other words, the the Corinthians were not to give to the Jews in Judea so that the Corinthians would be burdened. So it will be a principle of equality. And again, he gave the example of the manna to gather much in the other scattered lists. So there is a certain principle of equality. So, and so that is to give to those that have a need. And then it will be other times when that need would be reversed and we receive. So yeah, sometimes we give in certain areas, could be financial, could be in giving of our time, could be, and there'll be other times where we receive.

And we have to be gracious receivers as well. There are times when we may need we may need prayers for mannas, that we may need help from mannas. So there is a certain give and take in equality as as true Christians. So Paul in this section encouraged the brethren in Corinth about giving. And then in the next study, we're going to continue about how Paul delegated that to other people so that he would not be accused of misappropriating funds.