Biblical Principles for Giving

Transcript

GR 1373
04/06/08
Biblical Principles for Giving
1 Corinthians 16:1-4
Gil Rugh

We're studying 1 Corinthians in your Bibles, 1 Corinthians 16.  We come to the close of Paul's letter to the Corinthians with chapter 16 and as is true with many of our letters, as we get to the conclusion there are a number of other things we want to comment on, and we do that with brevity and we draw the letter to a close.  The letter to the Corinthians has been a long letter, and keep in mind; these would be handwritten letters.  And Paul has covered a variety of subjects, some of them in great detail, like spiritual gifts that cover what we have as chapters 12-14 in our Bibles.  Chapter 15 has been the great section on the resurrection of the dead.  Now chapter 16 will be a variety of subjects and comments starting out with the matter of a collection that is to taken at Corinth for poor believers in Jerusalem.  Then Paul will talk about travel plans for himself and his plans to come to Corinth, the possibility of Timothy coming to Corinth, the possibility of Apollos coming to Corinth.  Then he'll give some general exhortations and words of encouragement.  And then he'll be ready to wrap up the letter with some closing greetings.

Just because these matters are more abbreviated doesn't mean they are any less important.  The Spirit of God is directing the Apostle Paul in what is to be said and what is to be said about certain specific matters.  We’re going to pick up with the first four verses, and let me read them for you in your Bibles.  “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.  On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.  When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem.  And if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.”

The matter of the collection for Jerusalem.  Keep in mind as they read this letter, they didn't have chapter breaks and verse divisions.  And it seems like you leave this tremendous theme of the resurrection of the dead, the transformation of the body of the living, and now we're going to talk about the collection for the saints.  And that opening expression, “Now concerning.”  It's been used several times by the Apostle Paul through the letter, and it indicates a transition to a new subject and it usually refers to a subject they have asked him about.

Back up to chapter 7 verse 1, “now concerning,” there is our expression. “Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it's good for man not to touch a woman.”  So they had written him a letter with a series of questions.  And usually he transitions to a new subject, it's addressing another area they have asked him about.  So in their letter they had a series of questions, areas they needed to have clarified.  And that's what he is covering here.  In chapter 8 verse 1, “now concerning the things sacrificed to idols.”  Chapter 12 verse 1, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren,” Then we come over to chapter 16 verse 1, “now concerning the collection for the saints.”  He's moving through these different areas.  One of the last is the area of the collection.

Now Paul doesn't give any background details in his letter here.  The Corinthians obviously had been instructed already regarding the collection for the church in Jerusalem.  When he talks about the collection for the saints in verse 1 of chapter 16, verse 3 at the end of the verse tells us he'll carry the gift to Jerusalem.  And in other portions of the Scripture, Romans 15, 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul elaborates on this collection being made for the poor in the church at Jerusalem.  The church at Jerusalem was a church that underwent ongoing persecution.  It was comprised of Jews.  Remember the church began in Jerusalem in Acts 2.  Jerusalem is the center of Judaism.  The initial converts to Christ were Jews.  But this creates a problem.  The Jews were universally disliked by the Gentiles.  Now the Jews who believe in Christ add to their troubles.  Not only do the Gentiles not like them, but when a Jew becomes a believer in Jesus Christ, now none of the other Jews like him either.  And if you live in Jerusalem and you were a Jew who converts to Christ that brings great pressure on you and your family.  Because now, you may lose your job.  The Jews will do all they can to keep you from succeeding in anything.  So if you lose your job and no one will hire you, how are you going to pay your bills, how are you going to meet the everyday needs of life?  What is the church to do?  So this is something of their condition.

Turn over to 1 Thessalonians 1.  1 Thessalonians was written to the believers at Thessalonica.  Thessalonica is a Greek city in Macedonia, up north in Greece from Corinth.  Paul preached the Word there, established the church there.  And he writes back to them in 1 Thessalonians 2, after expressing his gratitude to God for the way they responded to the Word of God, verse 14, “For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.  For you also endured the same suffering at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews.”  Now the Jews that are in Judea, the region where Jerusalem is.  The tribe of Judah had that territory, Judea being the region where Jerusalem is centered.  What does he want to do to encourage the Thessalonians who are experiencing persecution?  He encourages them by saying you are showing the same steadfastness in your commitment to Christ that the Jews do in Jerusalem, in that region, as they undergo persecution at the hands of the Jews.  So a reminder.  When you wanted to encourage someone in a time of persecution in the church, you could use the church in Jerusalem as an example of a church that stays steadfast.  Of course the Apostle Paul is well familiar with the persecution there because he was a leader of it in the early days and brought terrible suffering on believers.  But it didn't end with the conversion of the Apostle Paul.  The hatred of the Jews toward and Christians, and in particular Jewish Christians, didn't go away.  So this resulted in poverty for the church at Jerusalem.

Come back to Romans 15.  Paul not only took the offering to alleviate the poverty of the church at Jerusalem, which you keep in mind is the mother church for the churches that Paul planted.  The church began in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2.  The apostles are centered by and large in Jerusalem.  When there was a doctrinal controversy among the churches, they held a council at Jerusalem in Acts 15 where they would come together with the apostles and resolve the doctrinal questions.  So even though Paul has established churches now in these Gentile regions of the world, they are all under apostolic leadership and apostolic doctrine.  Paul and the other apostles are the ultimate authority, and their teaching is what the churches are to follow.  We do the same thing.  Now we come to the collected writings of the apostles and prophets.  So we come to Paul's letter to the Corinthians, to his letter to the Thessalonians, to his letter to the Romans, to Peter's letters, to John's letters.  And we submit ourselves to apostolic teaching and doctrine.

But Paul is concerned that these churches in Gentile regions appreciate their Jewish background.  Because of the tension between Jews and Gentiles, this could easily carry over into the church that is to be comprised of Jews and Gentiles joined into one body.  Similar to what we have had in racial issues.  The background history of our country, even though blacks became believers in Jesus Christ and whites became believers in Jesus Christ, often they remained separated and segregated.  You can intensify that with the Jews, and so for the Jews to accept Gentiles as full participants in all the blessings in Christ, that was a major issue.  Remember Peter didn't even want to go preach the gospel to Gentiles in Acts 10.  That was such a foreign concept to him, that Gentiles could be saved.  And then you have Gentiles out here in Gentile parts of the world, like Corinth, and they are to accept and recognize the importance of the Jews who are believers and the important place that the church at Jerusalem has played.  Those are big issues.

So Paul also intends not only to alleviate the poverty of the church at Jerusalem, but also to help the Jews and Gentiles be solidified together.  There will be no place for a Jewish church and a Gentile church.  This is just another step in having the Gentiles acknowledge their debt and appreciation to the Jews and for the Jews to realize the grace of God is really at work in these Gentiles.

In Romans 15:25, but now I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints.  For the Macedonia and Achaia saints, these believers in Macedonia and Achaia.  Corinth is in the southern province, the province of Achaia in Greece; Thessalonica, Philippi and so on, are in the province of Macedonia.  Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.  So when Paul writes the letter to the Romans, he has collected some of this money and he intends then to be part of the entourage taking it to Jerusalem.  And they were pleased to do so and are indebted to them.  These Greek believers, the churches in Macedonia and Achaia, they are indebted to them, the Jews, for if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.  These Gentiles had to realize the great blessings that came to them through the Jews.  Their Savior is the Jewish Messiah, their promises as Gentiles go back to the provision for them in the covenant made with the father of the Jews, Abraham.  So important for the Gentiles to realize we owe a great debt of gratitude to the Jews.  [This comes to our attention]  In chapter 11 addressed this, warning the Gentiles not to become arrogant in their attitude toward the Jews, thinking they are better.  Because remember they were grafted in and became the beneficiaries of promises that come through the Jews.  So Paul says this is fitting that the Gentiles would come forward to meet the need of these Jewish believers in Jerusalem, because they have been recipients of spiritual blessings through these Jews.  The church began in Jerusalem.  So now they have opportunity, if you will, to repay a debt.  They are indebted to the Jews.  So this will be an opportunity for the Jews and Gentiles in the church from different parts of the world to solidify that bond that God has created in them in Christ Jesus.

At the Jerusalem Conference, which I referred to earlier, in Acts 15 when Paul met with the other apostles at Jerusalem to resolve a conflict over the place of the law in the church, Paul tells us when he wrote to the Galatians in Galatians 2 that those men recognized as pillars of the church—Peter, James and John—encouraged him even though they were commissioning him and acknowledging and recognizing that God had appointed him to be the apostle to the Gentiles, he was not to forget the poor believing Jews.  And Paul's response to that admonition in Galatians 2 was I was already committed to do that and remember the poor in Jerusalem.  In fact he has already taken money to Jerusalem. In Acts 11 he took an offering up to Jerusalem during a time of famine to alleviate the need of believers in Jerusalem.

So this is something of the background that we have as Paul begins 1 Corinthians 16 and says, now concerning the collection for the saints, the believers.  And as he mentions at the end of verse 3, this is for the believers at Jerusalem, Jewish believers.  He calls it, “the collection.”  And the Greek word here is an unusual word, it only appears here in the New Testament in verses 1-2, where it is called, “a collection.”  In fact it didn't even appear outside the New Testament for a while and some had thought maybe Paul coined this word himself.  But it has since been found in other places outside the New Testament, and it refers to gathering up money, not so much the money itself but the collecting of the money, the gathering together of the money.

Now he just moves right into this.  They've asked him for further information on it obviously, going back to chapter 7 verse 1.  He probably told them that they should be collecting money and now they want a little more detail.  So let me tell you about the money you are collecting for the saints, God's people at Jerusalem.

Paul will elaborate on this collection in much greater detail in his next letter.  This is a collection. It's going to take a period of about a year for this collection to be made and then for the trip to Jerusalem to be taken.  So this is not something that is happening, there is an immediate need for urgency, we have to get this money quickly and go to Jerusalem.  Remember this is the condition of the church in Jerusalem, this is the state in which it lived.  It's in a condition of poverty.  Initially some of its own resources could be used.  Remember in Acts 4 Barnabas sold some land he had and gave it to the fund in the church at Jerusalem to meet needs.  You know what happens over time, pretty soon the resources within are used up.  So it will take some time, Paul is going to refer to this in his next letter to the Corinthians as we saw in Romans 15, and he still hasn't been there with the money.  But that's his plan, it's a long term plan.

I want to turn over to 2 Corinthians with you, chapter 8.  Paul uses the word “collection” in 1 Corinthians 16, and he uses some other words and I just want to draw your attention to some key concepts Paul sets before us on this matter of collecting money from believers for believers.  And it gives you some insight.  Paul talks much.  All of  2 Corinthians 8-9 are about this collection for the saints in Jerusalem.  But you know what?  Paul never talks about money.  But he uses a whole variety of words which gives us a theological picture of what really is taking place in the giving of material possessions.  And I just want to highlight some of these words with you out of   2 Corinthians 8-9, then we'll go back and be ready to move quickly through the verses in 1 Corinthians 16.  I think they'll fit together rather clearly.

Let me just mention the Greek words to you and then how they are translated in this chapter as a background.  I think the most important word used in chapters 8-9, and it shouldn't be surprising, but it is in the sense that it's used so often.  And it's the word “ grace,”  charis is the Greek word carried over into English.  It means favor or something undeserved, something given graciously, to reuse the word in a different form.  And Paul uses it in chapter 8 and it is used here seven times.  It is used in 2 Corinthians 8 more often than any other chapter in the Bible.  I just find that fascinating.  A chapter like Romans 5, one of the great theological chapters of the Bible, but it doesn't use the word grace as often as 2 Corinthians 8, which is a chapter about money and giving.  I think Paul's intention here under the direction of the Spirit is clear.  This giving is inseparably founded and rooted in the grace of God displayed to them in Christ.

Look how the chapter opens up, “Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia.”  You know what he's talking about there, the money collected.  He doesn't say I want to make known to you the money that was collected in the churches of Macedonia.  No, he tells them, I want to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia.  They gave out of their deep poverty.  The churches of Macedonia are undergoing their own persecution and difficulty, but they gave out of resources they didn't have, so to speak, because they wanted to help the church at Jerusalem.  So he says, I want to tell you about the grace of God which was given.  I mean, a different way to talk about giving money.  If I say we're going to have the ushers come forward and take up the grace of God this morning.  We'd say, I don't know if that's the way to talk.  But that's exactly what Paul says about the churches of Macedonia.  The grace of God was given there in the churches at Macedonia.

In verse 4, they were begging us with much urging for the favor.  That word translated favor is the same Greek word, charis.  For the grace of participation.  Down in verse 6, the end of the verse, so he would also complete in you this gracious work.  Our two words ”gracious work” are the translation of one word “grace.”  That He would complete in you this grace.  The end of verse 7, see that you abound in this grace, translated gracious work also.  Then you come to verse 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.  You see even though, like our English words they can often have different shades of meaning.  So I'm not saying these other translations are wrong.  But that root idea, that clear idea always permeates it—grace, favor.  He can use this and remember, if they read this in Greek or had it read to them it would be the same word being used consistently.  Charis, charis, charis, grace, grace, grace.  You come to verse 9 he doesn't change.  When he starts out and talks in verse 1 about the grace of God which was given, referring to the money that the Macedonians gave, he uses the same word as when he comes to verse 9.  You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and what He did, because it's all tied together.  And what the Macedonians did, came out of the work that Christ did, and it's all the grace of God at work in our lives.  And that's the beauty of it.  Not the money or the amount, but what really is taking place in the lives of God's people in this giving.

Down in verse 16, but thanks be to God.  That word translated thanks is the same word, grace.  But grace be to God.  The idea of thanks conveys the idea, but it's the favor that comes from God and now is offered back to Him as a form of our gratitude and thanks.  We don't have time to go through all the words—chapter 8 verse 1, verse 4, verse 6, verse 7, verse 9, verse 16, verse 19, all using the word grace.

You come into chapter 9 he uses the word grace three times.  Verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound to you.  So you see God's grace comes to me to enable me to do and give graciously, give so that my giving is a manifestation of grace, because it comes from God's grace being bestowed on me and in my life.  Look at how the chapter ends, chapter 9 verse 14, while they also by prayer in your behalf yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable grace gift.  So you see God's grace.  So for Paul, oh well I divide, we talk about grace we're talking about salvation over here.  We talk about money that's just material things.  Don't blend the two.  For Paul I'm talking about grace, that's what our lives are, grace.  This gift, I'm not talking about money, I'm talking about God's grace.  And this give I have from the Macedonians, this is grace because it was the grace that God bestowed on them that moved them to give like this.  So you have concrete grace here just as you had in the work of Christ.

Second word used in 2 Corinthians 8-9 is the word koinonia, a word that seemed to be really popular back in the '70s and '80s.  You know, everybody wanted to have koinonia groups.  It's a word that means to have fellowship, the word means to share in common. So the fellowship, to be a participant.  It's in chapter 8 verse 4, that the Macedonians were begging us with much urging for the grace of koinonia, participation, fellowship, in support of the saints.  We want to be able to share in this grace and fellowship in this.  Chapter 9 verse 13, the end of the verse talks about the liberality of your contribution.  That word translated contribution is the word koinonia, of your fellowship to them or with them.  We read Romans 15:26, there Paul said for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution, koinonia, a fellowship for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.  They are going to share together with them.

You know biblical giving is a very concrete way of having fellowship with other believers.  And that is true.  You know as people begin to pull away.  If you would chart my giving as a member of this congregation, then all of a sudden you would see it would stop, and now for the next six months to a year I'm not giving anything.  You would say either he has lost his job, come into some dire financial straits, or he is withdrawing from the group.  Right?  I remember many years ago, and I don't know anything about what anybody gives, I don't see your giving records, I don't know what individuals do.  A number of years ago when people left this church for a variety of reasons, but the person who was in charge of finances did make the observation without revealing any identities, you know some of those have not been giving now for over a year.  In other words those who looked at the giving could say, they had withdrawn from the group, they weren't really fellowshipping with the group for some time before they left.  And that's true of us, right?  If you all of a sudden, I'm uncomfortable, I'm beginning to pull out, now that affects how my giving is.  Right?  So it affects my fellowship.  Now if you don't think there is enough fellowship here, just give more money.  No, that's not the total answer.  But it is one thing.  You know when I'm giving I feel part of it, I am part of it, I have a greater concern.  Sometimes when we have a project and some agree and some disagree, some people will say, I'm not going to give toward that.  Why?  That's a way of saying I'm not going to share in that, I'm not going to be a participant, I'm not going to fellowship in that area.  So our giving is a way of fellowshipping.  Here they can fellowship with the church at Jerusalem from a distance, and that's what giving does for us.

Another word that is used in these two chapters is diakonia and we're familiar with it because the word deacon comes from it.  It's the word to serve.  It's used in chapter 8 verse 4, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the serving of the saints, the support.  That word translated support, our basic word deacon, diakonia, to serve.  It's a way of serving the saints.  So you'll note in that verse, verse 4, he's used the word grace, he's used the word fellowship, he's used the word serving.  The grace, the fellowshipping in the serving of the saints, the service of the saints.  Down in verse 19, the middle of the verse, Paul says that this gracious work, this grace, that word gracious work translated into a single word grace.  To travel with us in this grace which is being administered.  That word translated administered is the word diakonia or deacon.  Which is being served by us, if you will.  We are serving in the doing of this.  Also in verse 20, no one will discredit us in our administration, our service of this gift.  So our giving is a way of serving other believers.  You know, I want to serve the Lord more.  Well one of the ways I do is I evaluate my giving.  That's only one aspect but you understand, money here, we sometimes just see it as something out here.  The Bible doesn't divide our lives up in that way.  My life now is a life lived in the realm of grace.  All aspects of my life are to be involved in my fellowship with the saints, in my life of serving because it's a life of love that gladly serves others.

Another word that he uses, the word haplotes, a word not quite so familiar to us in English.   The word haplotes, it means liberality, and it's translated that way.  Chapter 8 verse 2, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.  How do you put this all together?  They have a great ordeal of affliction, yet they have abundance of joy; they have deep poverty, yet that overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.  I mean, this gift is liberality.  He doesn't call it money, we don't know if you counted it, it seemed like a little or a lot.  Well Paul was saying it was a lot in light of their poverty.  Like the widow's mite that Jesus drew to the attention of His followers.  She gave so little humanly speaking, but it was so much.  But Paul says it was liberality.

Down in chapter 9 verse 11, you will be enriched in everything for all liberality.  Verse 13, the liberality of your contribution.  Paul doesn't tell them how much they should give, he never brings a tithe or a percentage in.  If everyone will just give this percentage we would have . . . That's not the issue, the issue is whatever you give, if it was measured by what you have, it would be considered liberal, a lot, a bountiful gift, a great gift, as other translators give it.  Great liberality.  That's a relative thing.  I mean, a person living in Macedonia is living in deep poverty, their liberality doesn't amount to much.  It's like the widow's mite, but it is a lot considered in light of what they have.  Someone else gives a lot, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to what they have.  What ought to be true of us all is its liberal.  Doesn't matter how it compares among ourselves.  It's compared with ourselves.  But Paul doesn't mind bringing embarrassment in to motivate.  The Macedonians didn't have much, but they gave liberally.  I'm concerned that you Corinthians don't embarrass yourselves and embarrass me by giving what wouldn't be viewed as liberally in light of what you have.  Remember Paul had closed 1 Corinthians 15:58 by talking about them always abounding, overflowing.  Well here is an area you can overflow with your liberality in giving.

Another word, eulogia.  Now this is another word you know.  The Greek word that has become familiar to us is the word that gets carried over into English and we've carried eulogia over.  When you go to a funeral someone gives the eulogy, the eulogia.  The eulogy is two words—eu is well and logia to speak.  You speak well of someone, you give the eulogy, you give words of praise concerning them.  It means to speak well, to be a blessing, you bless them, you speak well of them.  2 Corinthians 9:5 uses it twice, where it is translated bountiful gift.  I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead of you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, your eulogia, your previously promised blessing.  You see how Paul can put the pressure on.  He didn't tell them what to give, but I've had the men come ahead of me, I'll be arriving but I want to be sure that everything is what you would want it to be and I would want it to be.  So the same would be ready as a eulogia, a bountiful gift, a blessing, not affected by covetousness.  You know Paul has talked about this offering, he wrote about it in his first letter, he's already been talking about it.  You know what happens over time, we start out and we're motivated, I want to be part of that, I want to be part of helping the church at Jerusalem.  I want to give toward that.  I want to give generously.  But you know with the passing of time you begin to think, I could use that money.  Maybe I overdid it, maybe my liberality was too liberal.  And so Paul is concerned the Corinthians may rethink and begin to reduce what they've planned to do.  And this becomes an individual thing now because the church is not doing this corporately, these are individuals in the church that will come to the church in Jerusalem as a gift from the church at Corinth.  But it's an individual matter.  Pretty soon I'm looking at things and saying, I could buy a new horse or a new chariot.  We could eat out twice a week, maybe I could . . .  I'm still going to give but . . . So I don't want to be affected by covetousness, it's to be a eulogia, a blessing, bountiful gift.

The last word we're going to mention out of this chapter, and then we'll go back and look at 1 Corinthians to wrap up, latorgia.  That's another word you know, latorgia.  We talk about the liturgy of the church, that's this word.  It's a word that means religious service or priestly service.  We usually think of it in the context of the more formal churches.  In Roman Catholicism we talk about the liturgy of their church, or an Episcopalian, the Lutherans.  The liturgy.  But it's true all of our religious services have a certain order, a pattern.  Liturgy refers to the religious service.  In the New Testament it can refer to priestly ministry.  That would be the liturgy, latorgia.

Down in chapter 9 verse 12, for the ministry of this service.  Now sometimes you get words that overlap in meaning so difficult to translate them into English so it gets confusing to us.  That word translated ministry is the word deakonia, deacon.  We might translate it the service of this service, but the word translated service is latorgia or liturgy, referring to priestly service.  So you could translate this for the service of this priestly ministry, because when believers are giving their money they are performing a priestly ministry, part of their service to God as a believer/priest.  That's why Paul wrote to the Hebrews, or whoever wrote to the Hebrews, and Hebrews 13:16, do not neglect doing good and sharing, referring to giving of their material possessions.  For with such sacrifices God is well pleased.  So there the writer of the Hebrews says the giving of our possessions, our material substance is a sacrifice offered to God.  So indeed it is a priestly ministry that we have.

So you can see how Paul can get so involved.  I sometimes early on thought, how could Paul get so caught up in this.  He had so many important things to do, so many theological issues to hammer out, so many matters relating to leading a godly life.  Now he's taking up a portion of his life making collections of money and he's going to take it to help the needy in the church at Jerusalem.  There are other people that can do that, that's not as important.  The Apostle Paul is willing to pour his life into it.  I look at the way he refers to this offering and I say, that is the Christian life.  It's a life of grace, it's a life of fellowship, it's a life of service, it's a life of blessing, a life of liberality, it's a life of priestly ministry.  That's what my giving is.  Is it important to my Christian life?  If I'm falling down here, I'll soon find ripples in my spiritual life.  Can I be covetous and still be a godly man?  Paul's concern that their liberality will be tainted by covetousness.  I don't want to be covetous because I know covetousness is a work of the flesh, not a fruit of the Spirit.

So come back to 1 Corinthians 16 and maybe in these verses as we just highlight them you can appreciate Paul's concern here.  “Now concerning the collection for the saints as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.”  So you have a question about it, I want you to do the same thing I told the churches at Galatia to do.  What did he tell the churches of Galatia to do?  He doesn't tell us except what is here in verse 2.  But he'll tell us the same pattern will be followed   So I think what he says in verse 2 is what he had already told the church at Galatia.  He founded the churches in Galatia in Acts 13-14 on his first missionary journey.  We're familiar with them—Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe.  He had already told them, he had come through this region again on his way to Ephesus from which he is writing 1 Corinthians—Acts 18, the end of the chapter tells us.  So that's probably when he gave instructions to the church at Galatia.  In other words, the pattern will be same for all the churches and wherever he established churches, Paul is challenging them to be part of this offering for the church at Jerusalem, to meet the needs of their poverty and to help join these outlying Gentile churches in a bond of oneness with the Jewish church that is the mother church of them all, if you will.

What is he instructing them to do?   Verse 2, on the first day of the week.  And Paul uses a Jewish expression here.  On the first day of the Sabbath, the way the Jews count the week in connection with the Sabbath—the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day.  And for the Sabbath, so it's the first day of the Sabbath.  It's our Sunday.  Here's what they are to do.  And the point here is not that this is established as the day we have to worship or the day we are to make collections or the day we are to determine our finances.  But there is an order here and there is a significance given to doing it at this time.  And we know very early the church did begin to observe the first day of the week as their day of worship in contrast to the Jewish Sabbath.

On the first day of the week each one of you, every believer in the church at Corinth is obligated by the Spirit of God by Paul to be part of this process.  Each one of you is to put aside and save, put by himself and treasure up.  Here's a good way to lay up treasure, not for yourself and not in a covetous greedy way.  But you put aside and treasure up, save.  As he may prosper.  So it says it's a personal thing that each one is required to do.  You by yourself, you put aside, put by himself.  Happens privately in that sense, there is the decision and you store it up.  This is going to happen week after week because this goes on over a year where they have opportunity to store this up and Paul will come and gather it and take it on to Jerusalem.

As he may prosper.  How do I know how much to give?  Do you think I ought to give ten percent?  Is the tithe for today?  You should give as you prosper.  Same thing Paul will tell them in 2 Corinthians 8-9.  The Bible never gives us instruction in the church so we should give this percentage or that percentage.  We always want to bring it to a percentage.  Well how do I know what to give?  Well sit down and look how God has prospered you.  Do this regularly.  Now for us today we may have more set salaries than they did in those days, but the point is the same.  I regularly evaluate how God has prospered.  As He may prosper, passive voice; as He has been prospered.  A reminder, God is the bestower of His grace that has brought us our possessions.  So I look and say how God has prospered me, and in light of that I determine what I believe I should give liberally.  I can't decide for you.  You can't decide for me.  Those are private matters.  We look and say, I think they ought to give more.  Well, that's none of your business, it's none of my business.  The biblical principle is clear, if you're not giving liberally you ought to give more.  If I'm not giving bountifully as a blessing I ought to give more.  But I can't tell you.  I might be giving 25 percent and that for me wouldn't be liberally.  Because if I'm taking in $100 million and I give 25 percent, well $25 million, that's more than everybody else gives all together.  That doesn't have anything to do with it.  I don't give according to the amounts that are measured by other people.  They say, we gave so much, but he has been prospered so much more.  To be giving liberally he has to give so much more, right?  I mean, we say, if we're all giving 10 percent we're all giving an equal portion.  That's not the measure God sets down.  That may be the measure you would think.  It is a measure that was established in Judaism, but it wasn't the only measure.  There were a whole series of tithes, not just one tithe.  We don't have time to go into that.  But the principle is, as you have prospered.  Isn't it nice, God keeps it [personal].  Well I'd like to have the pressure off, it would help if you just tell me.  Where do I start?  Do you think 10 percent is a good place to start?  Well, let's sit down and go over your finances, I guess.  Tell me every dollar you took in, tell me how you spent every dollar.  I don't want to do that.  Well then I guess you'll have to do it by yourself, just like Paul said.  Let him set aside, put aside by himself, as you'll note in the margin—put by himself as he may prosper.  That's a personal thing, maybe something you and your wife talk about, [.  .  .], you decide.

    So that no collections be made when I come.  In other words, this is all to be done on a plan.  It's not, they're taking the offering, let me see what I have.  I sure don't want it to go by with nothing.  Or Sunday morning I get up and say, where are the envelopes?  Here, put . . ..  This is to be planned.  I am to consider it carefully.  I mean, this is a matter of God's grace in my life, this is a matter of my honoring Him.  God doesn't need the money.  I mean the church at Jerusalem, God could shower riches on them from unknown places, He could save the emperor and that one person could fund the church in splendor.  I'm not doing this because God needs somehow to fund the operation He has going now.  This is the way God has chosen to do it to bring honor to Himself and bring His grace to operate through our lives.  Paul says, don't take this collection when I come   [I  know that  I’m not going to be here.] Paul's not here to get money.  That has already been decided and you've been faithfully planning this and doing it so when he comes all we have to do is put it together and go.  Whether it was given at the church on the first day of the week and stored up, or whether they kept it at home until Paul came, the Scripture doesn't say.  You read the commentaries and you can read the debate on both sides.  To me it's a nonissue at this time.  That's not the important thing.  But Paul comes, the amounts will be settled, whether they already have it at the church or the people that have it are going to bring it in.  I mean, they're not going to give as a response to his appeal.  He doesn't mind putting the pressure on, but putting the pressure on to be biblical is what he does.  He's not looking for them to give out of the emotion of the moment, so they'll have some time to be planning and doing this.

And when I arrive whomever you may approve.  I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem.  And you'll note in verse 3, you'll carry your gift.  You know what word that is?  Grace.  To carry your charis, your grace, charen here, to Jerusalem, your grace to Jerusalem.  A reminder.  I mean, [that’s] Paul's mind, we're talking about grace.  And when I get there I want you to select men whom you approve.  That word “approve” means to put to the test, that as a result of passing the test, approve them.  You select the men that you know are of proven quality that can be trusted with this offering, this collection, and we'll give it to them and they'll take it to Jerusalem.

And if it's fitting for me to go also, they will go with me, verse 4.  Paul doesn't know what his plans will be at this point.  Later it will become clear, he's going to Jerusalem and he will accompany this offering.  But you know what?  Even if Paul goes these approved men from Corinth are going.  Think about it, Paul is going to collect money from the churches in Galatia, he's going to collect money from the churches in Macedonia, the churches in Achaia.  Now Paul just comes through here and they all give their money to Paul, he gets to Jerusalem.  Who knows whether Paul brought it all to Jerusalem or not?  Pretty soon those who  [. . .]  --you know: “I think Paul had a new robe the last time I saw him.  Where do you think he got that?  I think he siphoned it off.  And you know he went by ship this time.  He didn't walk.  Where do you think he got the money for that ticket?  Probably came out of our pocket.  We intended it for Jerusalem.” But Paul will have none of that.  Even if he goes, you know what?  The men you pick will have the money you've collected.  The churches at Galatia, the people from Macedonia, same thing.  Paul will send letters if he doesn't go.  It was common in those days when emissaries went; they would have letters to introduce them.  We can understand that.  If you were going to see someone that maybe didn't know you, but you had a letter from someone they highly respect to introduce you.  In those days, obviously, they couldn't pick up the phone and call or anything like that.  So Paul says, I'll send letter with them.  Paul obviously knows the leaders in the church at Jerusalem, he's met with the apostles at Jerusalem, his letters will carry great weight with them.

But even if he goes with them, these men will go.  Everything will be done decently and in order, everything will be above board.  Paul will have to defend himself extensively in his next letter to the Corinthians against false accusations.  But you know what?  I don't have my hands on the money.  Good pattern to follow.  I don't have my hands on the money here.  You don't have to worry.  I don't count the offering.  I don't sign the checks.  Now some people have to, men that are approved, but that way it doesn't get all confused here.  But we just take the offering and give it to Gil and I guess he decides how it should be used.  That's not a bad idea, but it's not what we do.  And it wouldn't be good because we already have enough rumors that can start, right?  We don't have to start another.  We have people of approved character, and they handle all that.  Once in a while when Greg and I go out we drop the offering bag off that others have organized and put together and it goes into the bank.  We say somebody will pick this up after.  I don't know what they're picking up because I don't know what's in there.  And do I need to?  There is only one check I have to watch for, no two—the one I give and the one I get.

Well this is giving.  So how do you think about your giving?  Maybe next time we take the offering I'll say we're going to ask the men to come forward and receive God's grace today, because that's what we're doing.  Right?  It's just God's grace that He has bestowed upon me in Christ and He continues to bestow upon me to provide for everything necessary for life and godliness.  Now I'm giving it back to Him as an expression of thanks or favor or grace to Him, and it's a manifestation of that grace.  So I can join in the fellowship of the saints and serve them and be privileged to display in my life the magnificence of God's blessings and perform my priestly ministry.  That's what we do with our giving, that's why we don't say much about giving here.  Because it's our conviction that as we submit ourselves to the Spirit of God and to the truth of His Word, that Spirit will move in our hearts and lives and as we are obedient to Him we will desire to do what He wants us to do.  And those who are here visiting, unbelievers or guests that come, we don't expect them to give to the ministry here that way.  This is the privilege and honor that God has bestowed upon us in the work that He has called us to be part of.  And there are times that our giving is used to support other ministries, other churches that are in need, and that has been done and continues on and part of the way the ministry goes.

So that's how giving fits in.  It's not all about money.  It's about our walk with the Lord and the work of His grace in our lives.

Let's pray together.  Thank You, Lord, for Your grace, abundant grace, overflowing grace.  Thank You, Lord, that our lives are not segmented, broken up into all little pieces, but Lord, we live by grace and we live in grace.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich He became poor, that because of His poverty we could become rich.  Lord, that grace that has brought us salvation is a grace that permeates the lives of the saved.  And now as Your children we are privileged to have all of our life as a unified whole be lived by grace.  Thank You, Lord, for our material possessions.  It's true we sometimes segment that out, think of it as something not spiritual, not that important, something that can be taken care of lightly or with minimal thought.  Lord, may we grasp something of the greatness of the privilege and the greatness of Your grace that operates in this foundational and important area of our lives.  Lord, may we personally and as a church be characterized by overflowing liberality, that You might be honored.  We pray in Christ's name, amen.