Stewardship

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Money for the Church at Jerusalem

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People do not like you to talk about their money, but it is often necessary and beneficial. We have talked about the conditions back in Jerusalem where the believers were persecuted, lost their jobs and couldn't find others, thrown out of the synagogue and were outcasts socially.

Paul knew of their need and shared this with all the churches everywhere he went. Titus had done a good job at Corinth in resolving their problems and now Paul was working on their charity. He relates the concern that the churches in Macedonia had for the believers in Jerusalem and told them how these Macedonians first gave themselves to the Lord and them their money. This is God's order of things. Money without self is of little value in the eyes of Lord.

Notice this about the Macedonians. They gave out of their poverty. They were extremely afflicted and very poor, but they gave all that they had, trusting in the Lord to provide for them. Secondly, they really gave beyond their means. More that could be expected of them. More than Paul wanted to take from them, but overflowing with the Grace of God, they gave all that they had, freely, that's important. They even "begged" for the opportunity of taking part in this offering.

Notice how this affected Paul. He was proud of the Macedonians. So proud that he wanted the church at Corinth, a rich church, to know about it. Secondly, he really didn't want to take all of that money from these poor people, but he could not deny them the opportunity.

"Now", Paul says, "What about you Corinthians?" He told them about the good report concerning them, that he had gotten from Titus. How they now excelled in faith, speech, knowledge, earnestness and love. "Now". Paul says, "See to it that you excel in the gracious work (stewardship) also."

Give Freely

Paul was stressing stewardship, not as a commandment, but as something that we should want to do and want to do it freely because of our concern of others and the work of the Church. This is done out of a love that is "genuine". Genuine love produces Godly traits. They had excelled in much, now Paul wanted them to excel in stewardship.

This was the example set by Christ. Has there ever been any person that gave up as much for others as Christ? He was the Son of God, He was God, why would he give up so much to come to this earth, be despised, rejected, falsely accused, charged and crucified? The answer was simply He had, for mankind, "genuine Love". "He was rich, but He became poor so that by His poverty, we might become rich."

Sp Paul says to these Corinthians, "I do not command you, I simply give you my advice." Then he says, "Complete what was started in you a year ago." What was he referring to that happened a year ago? Most believe that he was referring to the visit by Titus, where, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Corinthians improved on "every point". Paul urged them to continue on in that vain.

In verse 14, Paul suggests that there should be some distribution of the wealth. At the present time, they were wealthy. The Brothers, in Jerusalem, were poor, indeed, they were in poverty. He was not suggesting that they do as the Macedonians had done and burden themselves with their contributions, buy rather simply give out of their abundance that should the time come when the tables were reversed, then those that they had helped might be able to help them. We have the promise of getting back more that we give, 10 times what we have given. It is a privilege, yes, even an investment.

Then Paul quotes from Exodus 16:18, the instructions given of God to the Israelites concerning the bread from heaven, manna, "Let each gather a days supply, and even though some will gather more than others, each will receive equally." Which turned out to be true for when they had completed the gathering, all had the same regardless of how much each had gathered. Notice some tried to lay some aside for the next day only to find that it got worms in it.

This is God's way. We, like they, must live by faith, ultimately, all will receive the same reward. (Recall the parable of the laborers, Matt. 20) Are we showing lack of faith when we lay away some for the future?

Messengers to Corinth

Here we see Paul sending two men as messengers to Corinth and Titus volunteering to go along with them. It appears that Titus was egger to go back to Corinth to complete the work that he had started a year ago and Paul believes that God has put this concern into the heart of Titus.

Well who were the other men that Paul was sending along with Titus? One, a Brother who was famous among all the churches for his preaching of the Gospel and one who had been appointed by the churches to accompany Paul in the work that he was doing. My guess is that it was Luke. Luke, a physician by trade, rendered invaluable service to a physically affected Paul. Luke joined Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 16) and his knowledge of Greek was a great aid to Paul.

Luke's Gospel and his Book of the Acts of the Apostles were the Christians first testament. Luke had been appointed to go with Paul because of his knowledge of the teachings of Jesus. Also, Luke could verify Paul's accountability of the large sums of money that he had collected from the various churches to take to Jerusalem.

Now, who was the second man? There is no real evidence but most believe that it was Apollos. Paul had, for some time now, tried to get Apollos to go back to Corinth. He had left there because of the divisions in the church. It would appear that Titus had corrected this problem and now Apollos could go back with the confidence that he could now be a Pastor to all the people. So Paul was sending these three men to the church at Corinth and he asked them not to let him down but to receive them graciously as he had been boasting of their love and cooperation to the other churches.

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