THE GODLY WORK OF FOLLOW-THROUGH
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 30, 2021 under 2021 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; May 30, 2021 from 2 Corinthians 9:1-5
Theme: A ready willingness to minister in Jesus’ service is only good if it is followed up with faithful completion.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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This morning, we come to a passage of Scripture that might seem on the surface to be rather … well … ordinary.
Of course, there aren’t really any ‘ordinary’ passages of the Bible. The Bible is God’s Spirit-inspired word to us; and every passage of Scripture we read in it—indeed, every word—is of great importance. But there are some passages that describe great miraculous works of God; or that open our eyes to the enormity of the great spiritual conflict that rages around us in the heavenly realms; or that reveal to us the unspeakable riches that are ours in Christ and that help us to gain glorious victory over the troubles of this world. And then, there are passages like the one we find in 2 Corinthians 9:1-5. It describes what might only seem to be a common, everyday, ordinary matter of life.
In this portion of Paul’s letter to the Christians in the ancient city of Corinth, he had been encouraging them to resume a commitment they had made. They had promised to support a great relief effort that was being supported by lots of different churches to help with Jewish Christians who were suffering in Jerusalem. Paul had just gotten through telling them that he was going to send some coordinators and administrators of this gift to them. And in that context, he writes this:
Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you; for 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 9:1-5).
See what I mean? He’s writing to them to tell them that some people are coming, and so they should get their donation ready. How much more ordinary can you get? But it’s precisely the seemingly ordinary nature of this passage that makes it a very important and very relevant one for us to study.
You see; we experience the largest portion of our Christian lives on earth within the context of lots and lots of very ordinary things. I’m not at all denying that miraculous things often happen. I’ve had many such experiences; and perhaps so, I suspect, have you. They’re thrilling and exciting and affirming; and we can be grateful whenever God gives them to us. That God so loved us that He gave His Son to save us; and that Jesus rose from the dead to give us eternal life; and that the Holy Spirit has now taken up residence in us and lives the life of Jesus through us; and that we have the privilege of proclaiming the gospel and seeing other people believe on Jesus and experience new life; and that God answers our prayers and protects us and guides us; and that we are destined for eternal glory—these are all extraordinary miracles. But we still have to pay our bills, and buy the groceries, and do our chores, take care of our families and loved ones, and fulfill our ordinary responsibilities.
The fact is that most of the substance of this wonderful thing that we know as the Christian life is lived out through ordinary things like what we find in this morning’s passage—the basic, common-place kind of tasks and duties in which our Lord calls us to walk in obedience to Him.
And that’s why we should always treat these seemingly ordinary passages of Scripture about seemingly ordinary things very seriously. God gave them to us for a reason. They show us how to perform the basic, ordinary tasks of daily living faithfully—and all in such a way as to do them in the power of the Holy Spirit and to the glory of Jesus our Lord and Master.
That’s what makes the multitude of ordinary things in our life truly extraordinary.
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Now; let’s recall why it was that Paul was writing these words to these Corinthian Christians.
About a year or so before Paul had written the words of our passage, the Corinthians had heard about a great relief effort that was being put together for Jewish Christians. Paul was a big part of this relief effort; and when Paul’s co-worker Titus came to the Corinthian church, he encouraged them to get involved too. They were, in fact, very excited to do so. Back in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, 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 (1 Corinthians 16:1-4).
The enthusiasm of the Corinthian believers for this effort even became an inspiration to other churches. The believers way up north in Macedonia heard about the excitement of the Corinthians, and they got involved too. In fact, the Macedonian Christians gave so much that they even put themselves into poverty. So, this commitment on the part of the Corinthian Christians had become a great blessing and a great example to others.
But somehow, something had gotten off track. The Corinthians had lost their momentum. The willingness to help had still been there; but the actual collection of the funds had become neglected. And by the way; isn’t that often the way it is with us? We can easily get captivated by a vision for some great work for the Lord, and we can enthusiastically throw ourselves into it in the beginning; but the actual work of the task gets bogged-down along the way. And then—just like the Corinthians—we need to be exhorted to renew our commitment and get back on track. That’s pretty common-place stuff; isn’t it? But it’s also very important stuff.
Now; Paul was very gracious and careful in this letter. He didn’t scold the Corinthians. Rather, he encouraged them. He let them know how much of an inspiration they had truly been to the Macedonian believers. He reminded them of how sacrificial Jesus Himself had been toward them. He let them know that some highly qualified administrators were going to come alongside them to help them with the collection. But he also reminded them that a willingness to serve in the ministry of the Lord Jesus—while a truly good and wonderful thing in and of itself—is only really a good thing if it’s followed up with a full completion of the work.
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As I was reflecting on this passage, I thought back to some other passages of Scripture. I found that this quality of bringing a work to completion is one that we find often very clearly emphasized to us in the stories of the Bible.
Think of Moses. What a tremendous task it was that God had given to him! God called him to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt and to head off to the promised land. Along the way—in the midst of the wilderness—God gave him the pattern for the building of the tabernacle and for establishing the priestly ministry. It was an enormous task. But in time, all of the workers were organized. All of the materials were gathered. All of the priestly garments were made, and all of the priests were anointed for service. And Exodus 40:33 tells us;
And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work (Exodus 40:33).
It was hard work. But it was all brought to completion so that it could be said that the work was ‘finished’. Think also of King Solomon. His father David had wanted to build a temple for the Lord. But God gave that job to his son Solomon instead. David provided everything that would be needed; and after he became king in place of his father, Solomon worked for seven years building it. And in 1 Kings 6:14, we read,
So Solomon built the temple and finished it (1 Kings 6:14).
Or think of the enormous work of the people of Israel under Nehemiah. They had returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. The city was in ruins and the city wall had been broken down. But God used Nehemiah to organize everyone together for the work. The people had to build while under the threat of their enemies all around. The work was laborious, and the opposition was intense; and there were many times when everyone was tempted to quit. And yet, they trusted God and kept at the work. And finally, in Nehemiah 6:15-16, Nehemiah himself reported;
So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God (Nehemiah 6:15-16).
Or think of the apostle Paul himself. In his first great missionary journey with Barnabas, they went out at the commission of the church—by the Holy Spirit—to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. They met with intense opposition along the way. Paul was even once dragged out of the city, viciously stoned, and left for dead. That would have made a lesser man quit. But he rose up, and went back to the city, and kept at the work. And in Acts 14:26, we read that after they finished their missionary circuit and preached a final message in the regions of Pisidia;
From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed (Acts 14:26).
Or think—best of all—of our Lord Jesus. In His wonderful prayer in John 17—just before He would go to the Garden of Gethsemane to be betrayed and arrested and crucified for us—He prayed to the Father and said in verse 4;
“I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).
Wasn’t that His victorious cry from the cross? “It is finished!” (19:30).
That’s the quality we find among so many of the great heroes of faith in the Bible—and most of all, from our Savior Himself. They brought the work that had been given to them to a finish. They took holy intention all the way to faithful completion. And that’s what is being taught to us in this morning’s passage. It may seem like a very ordinary thing. But it is a truly crucial thing to our Christian life. In the Lord’s work—and through God’s enabling help—a ready willingness to minister is only a good thing if it’s brought to faithful completion.
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Now; let’s look a little closer at these words of exhortation from Paul. What we find first of all is that …
1. A READY WILLINGNESS IN MINISTRY IS A GOOD THING TO HAVE.
Paul began in verse 1 by writing, “Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you …” He had been writing to the Corinthian believers about some of the background details of this relief effort, and had been explaining the itinerary of the administrators of the funds as it related to them. But as far as their willingness to be involved, Paul didn’t have to write about that. He was already certain of it. This wasn’t a letter written to encourage their involvement, because their willingness had already been established and proven to him. In verse 2, he went on to say, “for I know your willingness …” He puts that in a form of the verb that expresses that he knew it as a once-and-for-all fact. He knew those believers very well. In the Book of Acts, we’re told that he had spent over a solid year-and-a-half with them. He was absolutely convinced of their willingness.
In fact, their well-established willingness to help out in this effort became a matter of ‘holy bragging’ by him before other churches. In verse 2, he went on to say that he knew their 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.” ‘Achaia’ was the name of the region in which Corinth was located; and Paul had boasted to the churches up north in Macedonia, about a year or so prior, that the churches in Corinth and in the surrounding area were ready to move forward. This had even become an inspiration to the Macedonian churches to get involved—the churches in such cities as Thessalonica and Philippi and Berea. “If our brothers and sisters in Corinth are so strongly behind this,” they thought, “then we’d better get behind it too!”
A great lesson that we can learn from this is that our enthusiasm for a work of ministry in our Lord’s service—and our willingness to support it—can be a wonderfully inspiring thing. It can encourage others to be involved. I had a friend years ago who did a lot of work in the area of fundraising. He had many encounters with wealthy Christian donors. And he explained to me that wealthy Christians often let it be known what ministries it was that they support and who it was that they made donations to; because other wealthy Christians look around to see who is giving what to whom. When they see others within their circle—who they know and respect—supporting something, they themselves become encouraged to lend their support too.
Maybe you and I don’t feel particularly wealthy (even though in comparison to a lot of people around the world, we truly are). But others who love our Lord know about us, and they also know that we are devoted to the service of the Lord’s work. They look at our lives and our activities with interest. When they see us demonstrating a ready willingness to support some work of the Lord, it is often used by the Lord to encourage them to do the same. Such sincere willingness to serve in the Lord’s work is a truly good and worthy thing—something that God uses.
But that leads us to another important thing to remember about this willingness to serve; and that is that …
2. IT MUST BE COMPLETED THROUGH FAITHFUL ACTION.
Somehow, the good intention of the Corinthian believers had become slowed down or neglected. The pattern of giving that Paul had called for in 1 Corinthians 16—that of setting aside a portion on the first day of every week—had not been kept up. And now, he was concerned that when he came, the gift would not actually be ready—or that it would end up being far smaller than it should be. And so, even though Paul was absolutely and sincerely assured of their willing heart, he wrote in verse 3, “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 …”
Some have suggested that Paul was being manipulative in all this. They have suggested that Paul had been going around telling the churches in Macedonia that the Corinthians had been ready from since a year before; and all with the intention that this would pressure and guilt-trip the Corinthians into giving. But that would imply that Paul was a devious person. No; Paul had already said that he knew of their sincere willingness a year ago. And in good faith, he had been bragging about their sincere readiness to the Macedonian churches. But now, he was going to send the brothers to help—Titus and the two others that he mentioned in chapter 8—so that the collections that had been neglected could be graciously resumed. He went on to explain in verse 4; “lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting.”
You see; it wasn’t just Paul’s word that was on the line. It would have resulted in the discouragement of the Macedonian Christians—and of others—if they had heard that the Corinthians were such willing supporters of this work, but that they then neglected to follow through. This would have been a let-down to others who looked up to the Corinthians. But it also would have been a cause for embarrassment for Paul who had spoken so highly of the Corinthians. And it would have also been a cause for shame to the Corinthians themselves.
I wonder how often my own times of halfheartedness or unfaithfulness in the Lord’s work have harmed others. In fact, I feel ashamed to think of it. Have others heard me speak with great devotion about some work of the Lord; but then, later, become discouraged when they didn’t see me follow-through? Have I put the fire in someone else for the Lord’s work, but then doused that fire by my own neglect? Have you? If we have, we should want to repent of it and make very sure that we demonstrate a faithfulness in whatever we commit to do for the Lord Jesus.
In verse 2, Paul said that the zeal of the Corinthians had been used by God to ‘stir up’ the Macedonians. And now, in a sense, the Macedonians were being used by God to ‘stir up’ the Corinthians again. When I think of this, I remember what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6. Timothy had begun his pastoral ministry with great zeal. But he needed encouragement; and so Paul wrote and told him;
Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands (2 Timothy 1:6).
In a similar way, the writer of Hebrews wrote to the Jewish Christians to keep on meeting and encouraging one another; saying,
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works (Hebrews 10:24).
We have an inescapable impact upon one another in the body of Christ. Our willingness can stir one another up to even greater faithfulness. But only if our willingness is brought to action.
And that leads us to one more point; that …
3. THEREFORE, WE OUGHT ALWAYS STRIVE TO BRING OUR GOOD INTENTION TO COMPLETION.
Paul didn’t want to come and find—to his sorrow—that the gift was not ready. If that happened, there would have to be an embarrassing scramble to gather the funds. Then, support would be given in a hurry and without a willing heart. There would be a bad taste in everyone’s mouth about it. And so, he went on to say, in verse 5, “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.”
That way, what Paul wrote in verse 7 would be protected:
So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver (v. 7).
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Now; I don’t think that this principle applies just to giving. It certainly does. But I think it has bearing on every area of our Christian life—and even on the seemingly mundane and commonplace things. Whatever it may be that our Lord calls us to do—whether to give or to teach or to comfort or to administrate or to work—it’s a great privilege to do it. It’s an honor. And by it, we bear witness to Him. But our willingness to serve is not enough. There must be a faithful follow-through. Our ready willingness to minister in Jesus’ service is only a good thing if—as much as it’s in our power to do so—it is followed up with completion.
And let me close by urging that this faithful completion of ‘ordinary things’ must never be done in an ‘ordinary’ way. It should never be done in our own power or initiative. It will only be a good work if it’s done in the power of Jesus Himself. As He Himself has taught us:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:1-8).
May we glorify our Father by our faithful follow-through—through the enabling power that only comes from abiding in Jesus Christ—and in all of the seemingly ordinary callings of our lives!
EA
