SETTING ASIDE FOR A GIFT OF GRACE – 1 Corinthians 16:1-4
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 19, 2020 under 2020 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; April 19, 2020 from 1 Corinthians 16:1-4
Theme: A financial gift that pleases God is one that is set-aside in a careful and reverent way.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
Click HERE for the live-stream archive of this sermon.
We’re in the very last chapter of Paul’s letter. And it’s a chapter that seems to deal with some of the mundane, ordinary sorts of things that would concern a church family. It touches on such things as fund-raising, or scheduling matters, or with long-term planning, or with welcoming and sending out various preachers and teachers. Just some basic ‘house-keeping’ matters. And someone might ask, “Is this really the time to focus on such things? After all, we’re all dealing with an enormous, world-wide crisis right now. Should we really be taking up our time with such small, everyday church matters when there are so many bigger things to talk about?”
And the answer is a definite yes. It’s true that we are all in the middle of a global crisis right now. And it’s true that we need to give attention to it in those areas that we can. But the way we, as a community of believers, deal with such large matters invariably has to work its way down to our personal faithfulness in the smaller, everyday responsibilities and duties. We would be getting things out of balance if we become so focused on urgent temporal matters that we end up neglecting our regular responsibilities and duties with regard to eternal things.
1 Corinthians 16 helps us to keep our focus—and especially right now, at a time when we particularly need help keeping our focus.
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Now; if you’ll read 1 Corinthians 16, you’ll find that—right in the middle of all of the instructions about regular day-to-day matters—there are two verses that set the tone for the whole chapter. In times of crisis, these two verses can help us place our focus back to where it should be. The apostle Paul wrote to his Corinthian brethren and told them;
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).
That five-fold exhortation stands out distinctively in this chapter. And let’s just take a moment to examine it a bit closer.
First, Paul told his fellow Christians to “watch”. In the original language, this happens to be one of my favorite Greek words. It’s grēgoreō. (I’ll bet you didn’t know that my name means “watchful” or “alert”.) As Christians, we are to be a watchful and alert people. We’re to be paying attention to what’s going on around us. And that is primarily so that we can be effective in prayer. The Bible tells us, “be serious and watchful in your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7). Second, we’re to be sure that we ‘stand fast in the faith’. That means that we are to be people who know what the Bible teaches, and who are careful to stay faithful to the things it teaches us. The whole world around us may try to distract us from the truths of our faith in Jesus; but we’re to ‘stand fast’ in it all, and be consistent and unmovable in the faith. Third, we’re to “be brave”. This word in the original language literally means to ‘behave like a man’. ‘Man-up’, is how we might translate it; but it applies to both women and men in Christ. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear,” as Paul puts it in 2 Timothy 1:7, “but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Fourth, we’re to ‘be strong’. We’re not to be a people who are undone by difficult circumstances; but who keep on enduring in our work joyfully while in the midst of the circumstances through the enabling power of Christ. And finally, we’re to ‘let all that we do be done with love’. That love is not to be a mere feeling or emotion. It’s agapē love—the self-giving, self-sacrificing kind of ‘active’ love that our Lord Jesus demonstrated toward us when He died for us on the cross.
My wife has created a piece of embroidery with 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 on it. It hangs on our stairway in our home; so that every time we go down the stairs into the living area of our home—and, as it were, into the daily business of life—we can see what those two verses tell us: “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.” And it reminds us to bring this five-fold exhortation into the ordinary, everyday matters of life.
Those two verses are found in the very center of this chapter—right in the middle of all of the everyday instructions about ordinary church matters. And dear brothers and sisters in Christ; when we—by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit—take that five-fold exhortation with us into the daily business of life for the cause of Jesus Christ, it calls us to do the ordinary things in a truly extraordinary way … and for truly extraordinary reasons. In Jesus Christ, there is nothing mundane and ordinary about us. We have a great purpose. We have a very high calling. All that we do has eternal importance and eternal significance.
And as this chapter illustrates to us, we’re to keep our focus, remember our high calling, and go about our business for the Lord ‘watchfully’, ‘steadfastly’, ‘bravely’, ‘strongly’ and by doing all things ‘lovingly’—that is, with the love of Jesus for others.
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Now; people everywhere are telling us that we’re undergoing times of great change. It’s a time, they say, for re-evaluating all of our priorities. I agree. But I choose to take it further than most people would mean it. I believe it’s a time for you and me—dear brothers and sisters in Christ—to re-evaluate why and how we do the ordinary things of life for the cause of Jesus Christ. We’re to stop doing His work dispassionately and without a sense of purpose. We’re to begin now to do the things He calls us to do in the manner that Paul exhorts us to do them through that five-fold exhortation in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14.
That leads us, then, to the various instructions that Paul gave to us about ordinary things in this chapter. And the very first thing that he spoke of is how we are to give financially to the cause of God’s work. In verses 1-4, Paul wrote;
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do 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, whomever you approve by your letters I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem. But if it is fitting that I go also, they will go with me (vv. 1-4).
Paul was writing here about raising funds in the church family for a Christian relief project. It was a collection that was being taken up by the church for some believers in serious need. It was for the ‘saints’ in Jerusalem. Paul was passing on some of instructions about this fund-raising project that he had also given to the churches in the Macedonian regions of Galatia. And to get the background on this, I need to take you to a couple of other passages of Scripture.
As you know, the church of Jesus Christ has its beginnings among the Jewish people in the city of Jerusalem. That’s where Christianity was born. Our Lord came as the King of the Jews. All the apostles were Jewish men. The Scriptures are of Jewish origin. Our Savior was crucified in Jerusalem. And it was in Jerusalem that the first church of Jesus was formed. And apparently, at the time that Paul wrote, the Christians living in Jerusalem were suffering great hardship. It might have been because of persecution. Or it might be because of the generosity that those first Jewish Christians had shown toward one another early on in the church’s history. But for whatever reason, these Jewish Christians were undergoing a time of need. And some of the local churches in other parts of the Gentile world—who rightly felt a great sense of indebtedness to the Jewish people—sought to put together a relief effort for them.
Paul wrote about this relief effort in Romans 15. He told the Roman believers that he hoped to stop by and visit them in his journeys;
But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things (Romans 15:25-27).
This was a great project of love. And Paul was very glad to have a part in it. He may have even had hopes that it would help him to reach his fellow Jewish people with the gospel; because if they saw how the Gentile believers from Macedonia were showing grateful love toward their Jewish Christian brethren, then it may very possibly open up the hearts of unbelieving Jewish people to the love of Jesus.
And somewhere along the line, the Corinthian believers heard about this effort; and they wanted to become a part of it too. Paul’s ministry partner Titus, who had been ministering to the Corinthians, had been encouraging them to become a part of the effort. And so, later on, in 2 Corinthians 8, Paul had given them further instructions and encouragement and told them;
Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.
I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:1-9).
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So; that’s what was behind these words that we find in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4. Paul wanted these Corinthian Christians to become a part of this great relief effort in a way that truly honored the Lord Jesus—in a way that was truly watchful, steadfast to the faith of the gospel, brave, strong, and loving with the very love of Jesus Himself.
And his instructions to them give some much-needed instructions to us, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s also our duty to support the Lord’s work. It’s our privilege to give. But we must learn to do so in a way that truly pleases and honors our Master. In these times of change, we need to do things differently than we had done them before. How do we grow to set aside a financial gift in a way that is more pleasing and honoring to our Lord?
In this passage—and in the larger context of the whole chapter—we find seven principles for doing so. First, we see that it is to be a financial gift that is set aside …
1. PURPOSEFULLY.
Paul wrote, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also” (v. 1). Do you notice that Paul didn’t have to explain much about the need that this collection was intended to meet? The Corinthians already knew about this collection, and they already knew what it was for. All that Paul had to do was say, “Do like I’ve already told the churches in Galatia.”
When God’s people give to a church—or give to a mission effort that the church is supporting—they should all understand where the money is going, and what it’s going for, and what the amount needs to be. The details need to be laid out sufficiently and clearly to the members of the church family. And this is because the people of God need to have a sense of purpose to what they’re doing. They need to be able to pray about it, and trust God together in it, and rejoice in how God works through it all. There needs to be a sense of a mutually-shared purpose to the cause.
It really doesn’t honor God to just give money blindly or mechanically. We need to do so thoughtfully, and with a sense of clear purpose. There’s no real joy to be had in giving in an uninformed manner. In 2 Corinthians 9:7, the apostle Paul wrote;
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity [that is, in a way that is forced]; for God loves a cheerful giver … (2 Corinthians 9:7).
As we change our priorities in the coming months and years, let’s change how we approach our attitude toward giving. Let’s not do it with an unthinking, perfunctory sort of attitude. When we give, let’s make sure we pray for the gift to be used by God—and ask for it to be successful in His cause. Let’s do this with a sense of holy purpose. That pleases our Lord.
Second, we see that such a financial gift should be set-aside …
2. SYSTEMATICALLY.
Another way we can say this is that it needs to be set aside according to a fixed plan or a deliberate pattern. In verse two, Paul urged the Corinthians to set this aside “on the first day of the week”. The first day of the week was Sunday; and that’s when the church family met together. And so, it made good sense that people be prepared to set-aside their support for when they all came together.
Having a systematic method of giving like that—having a fixed pattern of some kind—helps us to budget accordingly for the cause of God’s work. In our home, my wife and I write a check every two weeks; according to our regular income cycle. We write a check for the church family according to a fixed pattern. We also give that way for the missions and local ministries that we support. Our church pays our missionaries in a regular systematic pattern as well.
However you feel led to do it, keep at it systematically—not in a sudden burst that fades away after a while, but according to a fixed pattern. And that way, you’re able to support God’s work in a consistent manner.
Third, Paul encouraged the Corinthian Christians to set-aside …
3. PERSONALLY.
In verse 2, he wrote, “let each one of you lay something aside”. There were, very probably, some wealthy people in the busy merchant city of ancient Corinth. And as we read earlier in the letter, there were also some not-so-wealthy people in the church. He wrote, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called” (1 Corinthians 1:26). And if any of those wealthy and noble people attended the church, the not-so-wealthy and not-so-noble Christians might have been tempted to let their wealthier brethren carry the load. But that doesn’t honor God.
What He wants to see is each one of us—as followers of His Son—gratefully sharing in the work to the degree that He has called us. And so; one of the ways that we set-aside a financial gift to God’s work is by making sure that we make it personal. Each one of us must bring the matter to the Lord.
I found a great story about this in a book by an old preacher named Alan Redpath. He wrote;
A truly Christian man became increasingly interested in missions, and at first he prayed, “Lord, save the heathen.” Then, “Lord, send out missionaries to save the heathen.” Although he prayed earnestly, this did not satisfy him, so he began to pray, “Lord, if you haven’t anyone else to send, send me. But if you can’t send me, send somebody else.” He still was not satisfied until he settled down to this form of missionary praying: “Lord, send whom you will. If it could be me, how I would love it. But if not, then teach me to pay my share of the expenses.”1
That, I believe, truly captures the heart of this whole idea of setting aside “personally”. However God calls us to give to His work, we must invest ourselves personally into the work as we give our financial support to it.
Paul went on to show that a financial gift honors God when it is set aside …
4. PROPORTIONALLY.
Paul wrote that each one is to set aside; “storing up as he may prosper”. The word “prosper” basically means to travel around for business in a profitable way. And so, it’s not God’s call that someone gives beyond what they are able; but rather to genuinely give in accordance with however they may have been blessed in their work and in their supply. I praise God that He doesn’t call us to give more than we are able. But He certainly does call us all to give; and He doesn’t want us to be satisfied with giving less than we are able. As He blesses us with the ability to give in a sacrificial manner according to what we have, He calls us to thus give proportionally.
Do you remember the story we’re told in the Bible of the widow that gave to the temple treasury in Jerusalem? Some who were rich came and threw in a great amount of money. But this poor widow came and cast in only two mites—just two of the smallest Roman copper coins that were minted. It was little more than a dollar or two, by our standards today. But it caught Jesus’ attention. He praised her action and said,
“Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood” (Mark 12:43-44).
It’s not the amount that the Lord looks at. It’s the heart attitude of sacrifice—given in proportion to what we have—that He cares about. May we please the Lord by giving in a manner that is proportional to what He has given us.
Paul also wanted the support for the Lord’s work to be set aside …
5. HONORABLY.
He wrote in verse 2 that everyone should give on the first day of the week, in proportion to what God has given them, “that there be no collections when I come”. He didn’t want to show up and find people scrambling around frantically; trying hurriedly—and perhaps even a bit grouchily—to get things together. That kind of giving is not honorable to God.
When it came to the Corinthians, Paul was particularly concerned about this. He even sent some of his co-workers ahead to Corinth to make sure things were going well in the effort. He wrote;
… I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority. Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready; lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation (2 Corinthians 9:2-5).
From out of a ‘grudging obligation’ is a terrible way to give. The way we give to God’s work should be honorable—from out of a glad and thankful heart, and with thoughtful preparation. As we are re-evaluating how we do things in the months to come, let’s make sure that we prepare our offerings ahead of time—and bring them in an honorable way.
We’re also to give with a sense of …
6. ACCOUNTABLY.
The gift that is given is given to the Lord for His holy work. The gift itself is holy. And so, it must be handled in a holy and upright manner—with every effort to care for it with full integrity. Paul wrote in verses 3-4; “And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem. But if it is fitting that I go also, they will go with me” (vv. 3-4). Paul didn’t pick-out who would bear the gift to Jerusalem; because he didn’t want to, in any way, appear inappropriately connected to it. He let the Corinthians chose who they wanted to bear it; and he would write the letters of approval for them. And if there was a need for it, he would travel with them.
But the point is that it was all handled carefully and in an accountable manner. The way God’s work is funded needs to be done in such a way as to bear a positive witness for Him—with no questions needed to be asked, and no eyebrows having to be raised.
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So then; from this passage, we see that in order to please God in the way that we support His work financially, it needs to be done purposefully, systematically, personally, proportionally, honorably, and with full accountability.
And let’s add one more. It must be done …
7. REVERENTIALLY.
As Paul said in verses 13-14; “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.” We must keep our focus prayerfully on what He is doing in this world, keep true to what He calls us to believe, conduct ourselves in a brave and confident manner, rely on the strength that He provides, and—most of all—do it all with the love of Jesus that has been shown to us.
That’s a great way to give—a way that truly pleases our Master.
Click HERE for the live-stream archive of this sermon.
1Alan Redpath, The Royal Route to Heaven: Studies in First Corinthians (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1960), p. 225.
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