EARNEST CARE WITH GIFTS TO GOD
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 23, 2021 under 2021 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; May 23, 2021 from 2 Corinthians 8:16-24
Theme: We should show earnest care in handling whatever may be given by God’s people toward God’s work.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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We’ve been studying from 2 Corinthians 8-9, and from what it teaches us about giving to the Lord’s work.
We should never shy away from this important subject. We should always treat it as something that is inherent to the Christian experience—something intended by God to be a crucial part of our life together with Jesus. It has its basis on the person of Jesus Christ. He gave all of Himself for us upon the cross. And as His followers, He now calls upon us to give of our time and of our resources—and indeed even our very selves—in order to spread His gospel to others.
In this section of his letter to the Corinthian Christians, the apostle Paul had written some careful instructions about giving. There was a major relief effort going on to support suffering Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. Several other churches had put this relief effort together. Paul’s ministry partner Titus had encouraged the Corinthian Christians to get involved, and was going to go back to them to help them complete this work. And so, Paul was writing to them about some basic principles of Christian giving.
Thus far, Paul had written only about the act of giving this abundant gift. But now, there were some things that Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians to know about the ways that this gift itself would actually be collected and administered. In 2 Corinthians 8:16-24, he wrote:
But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord. And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind, avoiding this: that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us—providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And we have sent with them our brother whom we have often proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, because of the great confidence which we have in you. If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you. Or if our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. Therefore show to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf (2 Corinthians 8:16-24).
If you look carefully through those words, you’ll find a repeated theme. It’s the idea of ‘earnestness’ or ‘diligence’. In the original language, a form of the Greek word that is translated as “earnest care” or “diligence” is found four times in this passage. And that’s what this passage is stressing to us; that as followers of Jesus, we should show earnest care and careful diligence in handling whatever may be given by God’s people toward God’s work.
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When I was thinking about this New Testament passage, my mind was often drawn to another passage in the Old Testament. That other passage is found in the Book of Ezra.
In the Book of Ezra, we’re told about how the people of Judah—who had been in captivity in Babylon for 70 years—were being released to go back to their homeland. The king of Persia wrote letters for them—authorizing their return. Their first priority was to restore the temple that had been destroyed, and to reestablish the ministry of the priests of God. God had raised up a very holy man named Ezra to lead His people in this effort; and God even moved sovereignly upon the heart of the king of Persia and many of the leaders of his people to give them all the money that they would need for the work.
And so; when the time came to travel the long distance back to the land of Israel with this great treasure, Ezra fasted and prayed for God’s protection. And in Ezra 8:24-30, he wrote about how carefully he handled this sacred treasure;
And I separated twelve of the leaders of the priests—Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them—and weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the articles, the offering for the house of our God which the king and his counselors and his princes, and all Israel who were present, had offered. I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, silver articles weighing one hundred talents, one hundred talents of gold, twenty gold basins worth a thousand drachmas, and two vessels of fine polished bronze, precious as gold. And I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord; the articles are holy also; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers. Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the leaders of the priests and the Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord.” So the priests and the Levites received the silver and the gold and the articles by weight, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God (Ezra 8:24-30).
Ezra went on to describe how, on their long trip to Jerusalem, God had protected them along the way from ambush and from the enemies of their people. They finally arrived and waited three days; and then he went on to say,
Now on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the articles were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui, with the number and weight of everything. All the weight was written down at that time. The children of those who had been carried away captive, who had come from the captivity, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. And they delivered the king’s orders to the king’s satraps and the governors in the region beyond the River. So they gave support to the people and the house of God (vv. 33-36).
I marvel whenever I read that passage. The treasure that had been entrusted to them was for a very sacred purpose—given for the cause of rebuilding the temple and reestablishing the holy priesthood of the people of God. And so, it wasn’t treated merely as money. It wasn’t treated carelessly at all. It was treated as a sacred and holy trust, set apart to accomplish a very holy work. Its managers and administrators were carefully selected. It was treated with the utmost accountability and integrity and care—both starting off and arriving. It was handled in a responsible and worshipful way—and in such a way as to bring glory to the God of Israel.
And now, dear brothers and sisters; in this age of New Covenant grace—now that all of the promises of the Old Testament priesthood have been fulfilled for us in Jesus Christ—should the gifts that are given by God’s people for His kingdom’s work be treated as any less sacred than that? Shouldn’t they, in fact, be treated as even more holy?
And I want to make it clear to you that I don’t ask this as someone who handles the offerings that are given to the church. That is not my role. When I first came to this church, I made it clear that I am not to be involved in handling the offerings—and I and our church leaders have maintained that principle. I don’t wish to know who it is that gives; and I don’t wish to know how much is given by them. Other leaders in the church bear that responsibility. Rather, I say this as someone who is a church member and a fellow-giver with you. Those tithes and offerings and gifts that we give are sacred. And that’s not just true of money only. Anything that we are moved upon by the Holy Spirit to give—whether it is from our riches, or from our time, or from our abilities, or of our talents—is a sacred gift given by God’s people for God’s work. And when such gifts are given with that attitude—and when they are handled accordingly—they are blessed of God and bring about eternal results for the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
And so, that brings us back to 2 Corinthians 8:16-24—and to the gift that was given by the churches to help out the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. In this morning’s passage, we’re given an example of how such sacred gifts to God’s work should be handled.
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Now; first notice that the apostle Paul and his co-workers dealt very carefully with this gift by …
1. CHOOSING RESPONSIBLE ADMINISTRATORS.
In this passage, Paul mentions three carefully chosen administrators of this sacred gift. He gives us the name of one of them. The other two remain unnamed. But he makes it clear that all three were men who could be trusted. In verse 23, he says of Titus, “he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you.” And of the other two men, he said, “they are messengers of the churches”—or literally, “apostles” (that is, “sent ones of the churches”). Paul placed the care of this important relief money into the hands of some truly reliable men of God.
The first man that he mentioned was Titus—the one that he quite honorably referred to as his ‘partner’ and ‘fellow worker’ concerning the Corinthians. In verses 16-17, Paul wrote, “But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord.”
Titus was a remarkable man. We first read about him in the Book of Galatians. Paul wrote about how early on in his ministry—when he and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to the leaders of the church to explain the gospel that he had been preaching to the Gentiles—he took Titus along with him. He told them of how he preached a gospel of grace through faith in Jesus to the Gentiles—and not a message of trying to earn salvation through the law of Judaism. And he wrote that not even Titus—who was a Greek—was compelled to be circumcised. He said that this came up because some false brethren came sneaking in to try to put the Gentile believers into bondage to the law; “to whom we did not yield submission, even for an hour …” (Galatians 2:5). So, Titus stands out—early in the history of the spread of the gospel—as a living illustration of how God saves people by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and not by conformity to the law. We all owe a great debt of thanks to God for this man Titus!
We also read about Titus in a New Testament letter that Paul wrote to him. Paul had appointed Titus to be the pastor of the church on the isle of Crete. It was a very tough assignment. Titus had to deal with many false teachers and many disobedient Christians; and he had to work hard to establish sound biblical leadership and appoint godly leaders who would lead the people in Christ-like living. But Titus was the man for the job. And as we’ve seen elsewhere in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, this man Titus was instrumental in bringing about a great deal of good in the life of the Corinthian church. He even helped to restore them in their relationship to the apostle Paul.
This whole idea of the Corinthians becoming involved in this great relief effort was Titus’ handiwork. He had encouraged them to do it. And so, he was the right man to put in the position of administrative leadership over this effort. In verse 16, Paul said that he was thankful to God that God had put the same ‘earnest care’ into the heart of Titus that Paul himself had for them. Paul deeply loved the Corinthians; but he was confident that he didn’t have to be there himself to coach them along. Have you ever sent someone out on a task—but worried that they wouldn’t care about getting it done as much as you do? Well; Paul knew that Titus would coach those Corinthians along and help them just as much as if Paul were there to do it himself; because Titus loved them just as earnestly (and there’s that word, in the original language, that I told you about earlier) as he did. He knew that God Himself had put that love in Titus’ heart.
And look at how that shared sense of earnestness demonstrated itself. Paul encouraged Titus to go to the Corinthians and help them along in gathering this gift. But he found that he didn’t have to encourage him hardly at all; because—as he says in verse 17—“he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent (there’s that word again), he went to you of his own accord.” Paul didn’t have to persuade Titus; because Titus was already persuaded from within himself—and went on his own initiative. Now; that’s a man who could be trusted—a man in whom God had placed a sincere love for the Corinthians, and who was truly motivated to work with them to gather the gift together, and to make sure it got to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem safely, and to help the Corinthians grow in the process. With Titus in charge, it would get done well.
But notice that, even as great a man for the job as Titus was, he didn’t do the work alone. Paul went on in verses 18-19 to mention yet another trusted administrator. He said; “And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift …”
Who was this other brother? There have been many guesses and much speculation. But the fact is that—for some very wise reason—the Holy Spirit has not seen fit to give us that information. It seems clear though that, whoever this brother was, he was well-known among all the churches in Macedonia and Achaia—and perhaps beyond—for his faithful work in the gospel. He may have been a great evangelist; or he may have been a great missionary. But the point is that he was not an obscure person. He was well-known and well-reputed and well-praised for his work. He was a man of good evangelistic conviction and experience. What’s more, he was even specially chosen by the churches to travel along with Paul and Titus and the others in the delivery of this important gift. Paul didn’t choose him himself, but rather he was chosen by the churches at large. When someone who is so well-known also has the endorsement of many other churches—and who is even appointed by them to the task—then you know you have a man you can trust.
And there was even a third trusted administrator. He also was unnamed; but he’s mentioned in verse 22; “And we have sent with them our brother whom we have often proved diligent in many things (there’s that word again!), but now much more diligent (and there it is yet again!), because of the great confidence which we have in you.”
Again, the Holy Spirit has chosen not to tell us the man’s name. And it may not be that the Corinthians knew him. He may not have been well-known among the churches, like the other unnamed man was. But he was certainly well-known to Paul and his co-workers. They had often put him to the test; and had proven him diligent “in many things”. I heard a very famous businessman once say that the way he learned whether or not he could trust a man was ‘to try trusting him’. He gave him a task; and if he proved trustworthy in it, he give him another. That’s the only way you can know. And Paul and his ministry partners had found this man to be consistently trustworthy and faithful—and even diligent—in whatever task he’d been given.
But there’s more. This third man—who had already proven diligent—was now made even more diligent because he shared in the confidence that Paul and Titus had for the Corinthians. When someone shows diligence in a task, and when there’s a growing sense of confidence among others because of it, it becomes infectious. It spreads an attitude of diligence all around.
Now; there’s a great lesson to be learned from these three men—Titus and these other unnamed brothers. The gifts that are given by God’s people for the advancement of God’s work must be entrusted to those who will handle it with holy diligence. Such administrators must not merely do ‘a job’; but must deeply and diligently love the people of God whom they serve. They must be motivated by a reverent fear of God to do the task. They must have a good reputation within the Christian community—and even beyond. They must be tested, and proven to be reliable and trustworthy.
Such well-chosen administrators in God’s work build up confidence among God’s people.
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But we see more from this passage. Not only did Paul show diligent care with this gift by choosing responsible and trustworthy administrators for it, but also by …
2. SAFEGUARDING A TESTIMONY OF INTEGRITY.
It was not enough that he had confidence in these administrators. He wanted to make sure that everyone who observed it all could have confidence in their work. And so, in verses 20-21, he wrote; “avoiding this: that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us—providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.”
Think back to that passage in the Book of Ezra. We’re told there that when Ezra was given the great gift from the king of Persia, he then selected twelve of the leaders of the priests. And before they all traveled with the gift, he weighed out the silver and the gold and the articles that were offered for the rebuilding of the temple before them. Then, he instructed them to weigh them all out again before the leaders of the priests and the heads of the people when they got to Jerusalem. This was all done; and Ezra tells us that it was all written down. Things were managed in a clear and accountable manner; so that there could be no questions that anyone could have about what was given. And that’ was also why these choice men were selected in handling the gift that was being collected from the Corinthians. It was a very large gift that was being collected. Paul called it a ‘lavish’ gift. And so, he wanted to make sure that no one could have any questions about it.
And notice very carefully what Paul said in verse 21. He wanted to “provide honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.” That’s very important. Paul and his co-workers knew that the Lord watched over everything that was done; and that fact alone ought to motivate us to handle God’s gifts honorably. But he also wanted to make sure that people could look at it—even unbelieving people—and see that everything was handled honorably.
In Romans 12:17, Paul set a principle before us that we ought to pay careful and constant attention to—not only in our dealings with matters of church life, but also in matters of our own personal walk with the Lord. He wrote;
“Have regard for good things in the sight of all men (Romans 12:17b).
We very often give conscious thought to what is good and right in the sight of God; and it’s proper that we do so. And we also often think about doing right in the sight of God’s people. But God would also have us give conscious thought to what is commonly understood to be good and right in the sight of all people in the world at large—even unbelieving people. One great Bible teacher put it this way; “It is a foolish pride which leads to a disregard of public opinion.”[1] It’s simply not enough to say, “I don’t care what other people think. God knows what I’m doing—and I have His approval.” God would want us to also make sure that His honor and His witness are faithfully being protected in what other people know about what we’re doing.
The way that we have pursued this in our church’s ministry is that—many years ago—we began to use an outside accounting service to go over our church financial records annually. This ensures that we are not only having a faithful reporting within our church leadership of our financial activities, but that it is also handled responsibly before the eyes of the world. And as I suggested earlier; this shouldn’t just be with respect to the giving of money. Every aspect of our church life—our giving, our serving, our social activities, our teaching, our care for children—all of it ought to be able to demonstrate ‘honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men’. It may not be that the people of this world will accept the things we teach. But they ought to be able to say, “One thing’s for sure—these people are honest. They are on the up-and-up.”
Doing so safeguards a good testimony of integrity; and protects the honor and reputation of our Lord and His gospel.
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And there’s one more thing that we find in this passage. It would be the most important thing of all. Paul and his co-workers dealt carefully with this gift by …
3. PURSUING THE GLORY OF CHRIST BY THE CHURCH.
It wasn’t just that Paul wanted to make sure that things were administered well. It wasn’t just that he wanted to protect the integrity of the ministry. It was, above all else, so that Jesus Christ would be glorified through His precious bride—the church.
Paul hinted at this at the end of verse 19; when he spoke of this great lavish gift, “which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind …” Some translations have it that it was to show forth the eagerness of Paul and his co-workers; others—such as the one that I’m using—have it that it was to show forth the readiness of the Corinthians. But in either case, it was through the Lord’s church that this work—faithfully carried out—would result in His own glory. It was all “administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself”.
The same thing is also hinted at in verse 23; where Paul speaks of the administrators of this gift as “the messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.” Whether this meant that the messengers themselves were the glory of Christ, or that the churches were the glory of Christ, the point is the same. Jesus Christ is glorified through His people. And there can be no greater motivation for handling the things of God in an honorable way than to make sure it’s all done so that Jesus Christ receives glory.
At the end of it all—in verse 24—Paul said this to the Corinthians with regard to those who were administering this gift: “Therefore show to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.” He literally said, “manifest the manifestation” of it. Why? Because we are to do all that we do—giving, serving, helping, sharing, caring, praying, singing, testifying—for the glory of Jesus Christ.
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Dear brothers and sisters; I am learning from this in a personal way. I am seeking—as a man before God—to grow to be more diligent and reliable in my work, more willing to be accountable to others, and more intentional about pursuing the glory of Jesus Christ in all my service to Him. I have a long way to go; but I am pursuing this—and asking God to help me.
Please join me. And let’s do so as a church family; because as this passage shows us, we should always show earnest care in handling whatever it may be that is entrusted to us—and that is then given by us—toward God’s work.
1Charles Hodge, A Commentary on 1 & 2 Corinthians (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1978), p. 586.
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