Follow Through On Commitments

Transcript

GR 1819
11/01/2015
Follow Through on Commitments
2 Corinthians 8:16-9:5
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of 2 Corinthians together, we are in 2 Corinthians 8 and chapters 8-9 go together as Paul talks about a collection he is taking among Gentile churches to help meet the needs of Jewish believers in the church at Jerusalem. And it's an opportunity for the Gentiles to show their love and appreciation for the Jewish believers and the blessings that have come to them as Gentiles because of God's promises given to the Jews, the covenant made with Abraham that we Gentiles are privileged to benefit from the blessings promised to all nations. The Jewish Messiah died not just for Jews, but for the sins of the world. So Paul sees this offering as very important and an opportunity for these Gentile Christians to show their love for their Jewish brethren.

The church at Corinth is noted as a difficult church. In some ways that is sad because it is a church with overflowing grace at work in it, Paul testifies to that. Back in 2 Corinthians 8:7 he said, if you remember, “Just as you abound in everything,” then the end of verse 7, “See that you abound in this grace work also.” We are never done growing. The problem with the Corinthians as God worked in His grace in their lives there were many things that were tolerated or practiced there that shouldn't be. This made Paul's ministry with them more difficult. Much of his letters have to be taken up with explaining himself or defending himself, that's been true with 2 Corinthians. There was a challenge from within the church and the problems for Paul come from within the church. He suffered because of persecution at the hands of unbelievers. But when dealing with the churches the problems came when people were unsettled within the church. Paul didn't keep his travel schedule as he had told the Corinthians he would, and so we saw in the opening portion of this letter there were questions about his integrity and could he be trusted since he didn't do what he said in that area. Maybe that would raise questions in other areas. He talked about the ministry God had given him as an apostle, a minister of the new covenant. But that puts him in conflict with some of the teaching that had infiltrated among the church at Corinth. And after we leave chapter 9 we'll move into the closing chapters of the book that focus on Paul having to explain and defend his apostleship. And he said the real problem is unbelievers have infiltrated among the church and raised questions.

We're talking about money. This is another opportunity for questions to be raised about Paul. He is going to take a collection back to Jerusalem. The Corinthians are going to contribute to that collection. There are already questions about Paul and money. The questions in the letters to the Corinthians and the challenges vary, but one thing all the people have in common that are challenging Paul is they have problems with Paul. Whether it's about his integrity, his travel plans, his doctrine, and he's not unaware that some question him about money, they already have. It was in his first letter. This becomes foundational for understanding the section that we're moving into in chapter 8 and into chapter 9. The extra measures he has to take to try to deflect the criticisms that are coming.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 9. Paul raises the issues in verse 6, “Do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working? Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, does not eat the fruit of it; who tends a flock, does not use the milk of the flock. Even the law supports this, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” The point God was making with that is those doing the labor should benefit from their labor, as he applies that in verse 10. In verse 11 then he says the principle for his ministry is “if we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things? If others share the right over you, do not we the more? Nevertheless we did not use this right.” And he's talking about we don't have to use all the rights in our liberty, but examining it here. Paul is being extra careful about what might be said in his motives regarding money.

Verse 13, in the Old Testament the priests that served in the tabernacle were privileged to partake of the sacrifices brought to the tabernacle. Verse 14, so the principle is “the Lord directed those who proclaim the Gospel get their living from the Gospel. But I have used none of these things.” And I'm not writing to you to stir sympathy so you will do it. He wouldn't take it from the Corinthians because they wouldn't understand.

That didn't solve it, come over to 2 Corinthians 11, we'll be getting here. And here is part of the section where Paul will be defending his apostleship and responding to the attacks that come. And in 2 Corinthians 11:7, “Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preached the Gospel of God to you without charge. I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you.” We'll see as we get there, but you can't win. The critics of Paul have a more foundational issue with Paul. So if he took money, they would criticize him for being greedy; he doesn't take money, they criticize him, see he is not a genuine apostle, people don't even think he is worth paying. But what he really says is I robbed other churches. Now he didn't really rob them, but what he did is he took money from them to support his ministry to the Corinthians so nobody could say he was preaching the Gospel at Corinth for financial benefit.

Come back to Acts 18, this is where Paul first visited Corinth and brought the Gospel. You see how he worked there. He leaves. Acts 18 opens, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. He had been in Macedonia, the churches in Macedonia that we've talked about—Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea—establishing those, preaching the Gospel in that area. He comes down and preaches the Gospel at Mars Hill in Athens, a very well-known setting. Now he is coming to Corinth. When he comes to Corinth, Acts 18:2, “he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.” We have historical records for that. So Paul came to them, they are fellow believers and they are of the same trade, verse 3, “because he was of the same trade.” He stayed with them, they were working by trade. They were tentmakers or leather workers. Often leather worker was another name for tentmakers, but they could be broader than just tents. But it was what Paul did, he worked with his hands to sell things so he could support himself, pay his bills.

“And he was reasoning,” verse 4, “in the synagogue every Sabbath trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia” where Paul had preached the Gospel and seen people converted and so on—Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea—“Paul began devoting himself completely to the Word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.” When Silas and Timothy followed him down from Macedonia, they brought gifts from the Macedonians. We won't go there, but at the end of the book of Philippians, a letter to the church at Philippi he remarks, “more than once you sent a gift to me.” So Paul took money from other churches to support his ministry to the Corinthians so there would be no question raised. Didn't keep them from raising questions, from questioning Paul's motives, challenging why he didn't take money as well as questioning and his having to explain why he didn't.

So you can imagine in this kind of environment now Paul is coming and saying he is going to receive money that was collected at Corinth and take it to Jerusalem. So Paul was just softening you up by looking like he wasn't going to take money from you. But he is going to come and we have spent all this time collecting this money because Paul has hands that are clean, of course. And he's going to take it to Jerusalem. Ha, ha—how do you know? How do you know he won't take off a significant amount on the way? And what he takes to Jerusalem will be minor. And he'll say, I had to have some for my expenses. Paul is going to deal with that, that's where we are in 2 Corinthians 8.

So come back to 2 Corinthians 8. I know some of you don't think this is possible for me but we're going to go slow. That's not the impossible part. Then we're going to go fast. It's a miracle, wait and see. So we'll spend more time on the first part of the section, then we'll be able to overview the last part. What Paul is explaining in 2 Corinthians 8:16 all the way down through 2 Corinthians 9:5 is what he is doing and why he is doing it that will help secure the integrity of this offering. He is going to first of all send three men to Corinth and they will be responsible to see that the Corinthians are following through on the commitment they made. They are not there to try to raise more money, they are there to encourage the Corinthians to follow through on what they committed themselves to do. Paul realizes with the passing of time some of the enthusiasm for this offering could have waned and it will be to their benefit. Paul is committed. When he comes he is not going to be taking an offering, he will receive what has already been collected. So these three men will vouch for their integrity, will help keep things above aboard. And then the Corinthians will also have opportunity, if they want to appoint representatives from their church to travel with Paul to Jerusalem with the offering. That will be fine.

We've talked about grace and Paul is going to refer to this offering as a work of grace again in this section we're going to look at. Paul poured himself and all his energy into what he is doing. He'll tell the Romans in the letter he'll write to Rome while he is at Corinth, “I'd love to come see you and preach the Gospel there, I can't wait to do that, but first I have to take the offering to Jerusalem.” We say, that's just money, anybody can do that. No, this is God's grace at work, it's just as important as anything. So we see the quality of men that are coming to Corinth to see that the offering is collected.

2 Corinthians 8:16, “But thanks be to God.” Again this is all emphasis on what God is doing, He is the one to receive the glory. Down in verse 19 toward the end he'll say it is for the glory of the Lord Himself. That word thanks as we noted when we just overviewed these two chapters is the basic word grace, charis. And thanks is a natural translation of it because in a context like this, that's what it means. And you can see how it flows because if someone is gracious toward you, that expresses thanks. Grace and thanks go together. So “thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus.” And you see this is a work of God. God puts the same earnestness in the heart of Titus. So God is at work here, as in everything Paul is involved in. We see him saying it is the hand of God, it is the work of God. We have talked about this. We live in the realm of grace, His enabling and empowering grace. He's not saying that God put the same earnestness in Titus to carry the Gospel to a new un-evangelized area, that would be the grace of God, but this is just as much the work of God in the life of Paul and Titus and the other two men that will be mentioned.

He puts the same earnestness, zeal, passion, enthusiasm on your behalf. I don't think you could survive in ministry with Paul if you weren't passionate about it, if you weren't committed, as we would say, heart and soul, if this wasn't something you could be enthusiastic about, put your heart into it. Paul was greatly used of God because doing the work of God even if it's the financial aspect, well, that's not as important as preaching the Gospel. This is the work of God in my heart and life, He puts this zeal, this passion, this enthusiasm in my heart. He's put the same passion and enthusiasm in the heart of Titus. That's greatly encouraging. You know, I draw upon the grace of God, His enablement, His strength and what happens? We pour ourselves into that ministry God is giving us to do, that way of serving Him, and we do it with enthusiasm. God has blessed us as a church. So many people have poured themselves, their passion, their heart is in it, into so many of the areas of the ministry which enables the body to function. Paul is testifying to the earnestness of Titus.

We have to say something about Titus. His name is familiar to us because Paul wrote a letter to him, the letter to Titus. So name wise he is familiar, but he's not mentioned very much in Scripture. Several times in the letters to the Corinthians, but outside of that just a few references. Evidently saved under Paul's ministry, but we don't have any details on it. He's not mentioned by name in the book of Acts, yet he is a man who traveled with Paul, was with Paul on key occasions.

Come back to Acts 15, we want to look at a few things about Titus. Appreciate the quality of men that Paul sees to be involved in this ministry of fundraising for Jerusalem. Acts 15 is what is called the Jerusalem Council because there is a meeting with the apostles and elders in the city of Jerusalem to resolve a key crucial theological issue on what is the content of the Gospel, what must you believe to be saved. So the chapter opens up, “Some men came down from Judea,” and you are aware in the Bible no matter where you are or where you are going, you come down from Jerusalem. You can be going to the far north, you come down from Jerusalem. You don't want to get confused the way we would talk about direction. No matter what direction you go, you are going down from Jerusalem. So they came down from Jerusalem and on this occasion they are going north.

“They began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” The confusion comes here because these are people who profess to believe in Jesus, they are Jews. So you have the problem within. This is where Paul has to constantly deal, the major issues fragmenting the church come from within. There is outside persecution, but that usually doesn't divide the church. What divides the church is what is taking place within. Here they are saying you must be circumcised to be saved. Paul and Barnabas have great dissension with them, they debate with them. Finally they say this has to be resolved. Remember the apostles have remained located and centered in Jerusalem. Even the persecution after Stephen under Paul's leadership before his conversion in Acts 9 scattered everybody but not the apostles. So that sort of becomes the theological center. So they are all going to go to Jerusalem before the apostles and elders. The end of verse 2, “They go to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.”

So they travel to Jerusalem, “they are received,” verse 4, “by the church, the apostles and the elders.” They give testimonies. Verse 5, “But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed.” Now we have confusion, they profess to believe in Jesus as the Messiah of Israel, they profess to believe that He died on the cross and was raised from the dead as the penalty for sin. They are believers but “they stood up saying,” verse 5, “it's necessary to circumcise them, direct them to observe the Law of Moses.” So they are not denying what we would call the Gospel of Christ, they are just saying that is not enough. There is a certain logic that they could claim because, as we've talked about before, God gave the Law to Moses. Why would He now say it is not necessary? He has just shown that His Son will come and provide salvation so now our keeping of the Law can be complete because of His finished work. Something like that.

So you have the debate go on. Peter stands up and testifies how he was the instrument used to bring the Gospel to Gentiles and they were saved by faith, without circumcision. And the Law was just a yoke, no one could ever keep it. So his conclusion, verse 11, “We believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they are.” We Jews are saved the same way Gentiles would be saved, everybody is going to be saved in the same way—by faith alone. By grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, as we would put it. And they are listening. Then James stands up, the resolution there. You don't have to keep the Law. You don't have to go out of your way to offend Jews, you have to be careful, but keeping the Law is not part of the Gospel.

Now why we're here, Titus is not mentioned, but come over to Galatians 2. He says as he opens the chapter, “After an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.” That is significant because as the chapter goes on we're talking about the conference at Jerusalem in Acts 15. It says in verse 3, “Not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.” Paul went up to the conference at Jerusalem ready to do battle, and he took with him a fellow worker who was an uncircumcised Gentile. He had Timothy circumcised because Timothy comes in a mixed line—one of his parents being Jewish, one being Gentile. Paul is not intending to offend Gentiles. Wrong for a Jew to be circumcised, it's a sign of being a descendant in the covenant line of Abraham, but it's not a part of his salvation. But he wouldn't circumcise Titus. So here we see, and we don't know how long Titus has been saved, evidently converted under Paul, we'll see that in a moment. But he is in the thick of things. He is there when they are battling over what is the Gospel that brings salvation. And they go on to talk about that. We just wanted to note Titus is there.

Come over to the book of Titus. We're talking about Titus so we at least ought to look at his book. Just look at Titus 1:4, he says he is writing this to Titus, “my true child in a common faith.” And that expression, similar to the way he would refer to Timothy, my son in the faith, seemed to indicate that Titus had been saved as Timothy had under the ministry of Paul. But we don't know when, perhaps on the first missionary journey as evidently Timothy was. A young man who had grown and he becomes a very reliable companion of Paul. Come over to Titus 3:12, “When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, I have decided to spend the winter there.” So you get an idea of what Timothy's ministry is going to be.

Come back to Titus 1:5. He traveled with Paul and he goes to places representing Paul, where Paul needs a reliable person who won't be shaken. And in Titus 1:5, “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.” Paul had Titus traveling with him to Crete, Paul had to move on from Crete but things had to be put together on a more solid basis in the churches at Crete. So he leaves Titus to do it. He has to appoint elders, make sure these men meet the qualifications. Why is this necessary? Verse 10, “There are many rebellious men, empty talkers, deceivers, especially those of the circumcision. They must be silenced, they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for sordid gain.” Titus is left at Crete, it's a difficult situation. False teachers have had such an impact that there are families in the churches at Crete that are already unsettled. So he has to appoint godly men to stand against the false teachers, oppose their doctrine, and get things in order. And he's off in another place as we read in Titus 3:12. Paul wants him to come and spend the winter with him in Nicopolis. Nicopolis is on the west coast of Greece. You know, being part of Paul's life and ministry was strenuous in many ways. You just didn't get in an airplane and zip over there, or an air conditioned car and drive. Travel itself was its own pressure. But Titus is a trustworthy man.

At the end of Paul's life, turn to the last chapter of 2 Timothy, look at verse 10. He tells Timothy, “Make every effort,” verse 9, “to come to me soon. For Demas having loved this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.” Sad testimony because Demas had been a man who had faithfully worked with Paul. He appears on others occasions. But he didn't finish well. He has gone to Thessalonica. “Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.” Dalmatia being what used to be known as Yugoslavia and now those countries that are there. Paul had him on another mission. He evidently had been in Rome with Paul in this last imprisonment here but he had to go out and represent Paul and minister in another area. So all this to say he is a man of proven quality, a man to be trusted. And he is the man who is going to be the point man for this offering. Paul picks the best. Well, it's material things, we're not talking about carrying the Gospel to a new area. Paul puts the best in. So you see the importance of this.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 8. God had put the same earnestness, zeal on behalf of the Corinthians in the heart of Titus that Paul had in his heart. And God gets the credit, but there is the response to that. I wish God would put in my heart some kind of passion for doing His work and serving Him. We have to go back to Philippians 2:12. This is one of the Macedonian churches. If I were being sent somewhere, I would have rather been sent to the Philippians than I would to the Corinthians. They don't seem to have nearly as many problems. Verse 12, “So then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Your responsibility, “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” That's why you do all things without grumbling and murmuring, if you recognize God is at work in me, am I grumbling about what God is doing? Makes sense. You work out your salvation with fear and trembling. It doesn't mean it doesn't require effort on my part, zeal, passion. What is the foundation of that? My submission to the Spirit who dwells in me and the enabling grace of God that I want to serve the Lord with everything I have. The world may view it as mundane and less important, I see it as part of my service in manifesting the grace of God in my life. So we don't live our lives in the realm of the mundane, just dragging ourselves along. We are instruments of God's grace, testimonies of that grace, as we will be for all eternity.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 8. Titus, “he not only accepted our appeal,” verse 17, “but being himself very earnest.” You see he puts it as earnest, he wants these Corinthians to know Titus is not coming reluctantly to minister among you and to help encourage this collection. He has a passion for you. Not a passion for your money, a passion for you and to see God's grace overflow in this area of your life. Just like you do with your children. You love them, you want to see them growing and maturing and developing in every area of their lives. This is how Titus saw the Corinthians, and he is like Paul. We read the Corinthians, I read the Corinthians and I say trouble, trouble, complaint, complaint, this, that, the other thing.

I have shared with you, my professor early in my training said, “teach Corinthians early, it will cover all the problems you'll have to deal with.” What a testimony for a church. Look at Indian Hills, examine their history, you'll cover every problem you are going to face—immature, divisive, untrusting. Paul says I see you overflowing in grace. Titus is enthusiastic about you. These are not basket cases, these are the children of God, the work of His grace. And Titus is himself very earnest, the same earnestness as Paul. He has gone to you of his own accord, he responded to my appeal but he didn't come because of my appeal. That's the point. He not only accepted our appeal, but he had the same passion for you that I have. So he came of his own accord. When Paul talked to Titus about how beneficial it would be if he would go to Corinth, Titus was already ahead of him. I would love to go to Corinth, that's been the desire of my heart to go and see this through and see them grow in grace in this area. Not like I joked—“do I have to go to Corinth?” You know what they are like, Paul. They are going to be complaining about you, they're going to be complaining about this, they are going to find fault with that. There are teachers there that shouldn't be teaching, we know that because Paul is going to cover that in 2 Corinthians 10ff. We know his apostleship is still under attack at Corinth. And yet Titus has a zeal for them. We want to appreciate that and trust that will be characteristic of a passion to be used of God in other people's lives, even here in helping them with their finances and handling it in a way that manifests grace.

Verse 18, it's not only Titus who is coming, there are two other men and they are not named. Maybe they are not known in the church at Corinth and Titus will introduce them. But they will know something about them when they come. They have the complete support of Paul and high recommendation. “We have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the Gospel has spread to all the churches.” Here is a man whose ministry in the Gospel has become well known in a variety of churches. We sometimes think of that word fame as somewhat shallow, flimsy. But it's a word that mean praise. He has a reputation that is to be respected, he is well known, he has been greatly used in the ministry of the Gospel and many of the churches are aware of this. An established record. Again, Paul having men of highest quality. He has fame in the Gospel. I'm not going to pull him out to carry an offering, anybody can do that. No, anybody can't. Besides, this is all part of the ministry of God's grace, remember. We lost sight of this, we can become careless, lackadaisical and not have that zeal and passion about what we are doing. We say, anybody can do this, but God has put me here to do this. It is because of His grace working in my life. I can do it with “a smile” in my heart, passion in my heart for it. It has to be done well. How privileged I am to serve Him in this way.

So we have the brother. And he is not only well known among the churches in the ministry of the Gospel, but he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us. So what Paul is doing is deflecting any criticism. And you never deflect it all. I've come to expect that no matter what the conflict that happens in our church, I will be part of it. And that's true of the leaders, that's true here. And if Paul just sends Titus, what do they say? Of course he sent Titus, who do we know that is closer to Paul than Titus? So what kind of check on Titus is he going to be? You just have two men who would agree to support one another. So let me tell you, I have a third man coming and he wasn't appointed by me for this task. He is so well known with a godly reputation and effective ministry in the churches, they appointed him to come. So he is an outside person, if you will. Inside, and Paul calls him a brother, and he shares in the same ministry but he hasn't been a close traveling companion, evidently, in Paul like Titus has been. And he is traveling with us, and Paul keeps bringing it back “in this grace work,” this gracious work. Paul keeps, like we said, he doesn't talk about money, he keeps talking about grace. This grace work. Now this man is traveling with us as we come from Macedonia, perhaps he came from Galatia or the churches in Galatia or Asia. We don't know, but he is traveling with us in this grace work.

It's being administered by us, served by us. Same word that Paul used for his ministry in preaching the Gospel. It's the word of being a servant. We get the word deacon from it. This serving. I'm just a servant. Well, that's right, that's what Paul was. So I'm just a servant here. “This is for the glory of the Lord Himself and it shows our readiness,” who we are, to be used. It's for the glory of the Lord Himself. Isn't it great to live a life where all of our life is to bring glory to God, doing things that other people won't? I just can't put my heart into it. Well, maybe I need to get apart with the Lord and say Lord, your grace is to be the motivating factor of my life. You don't have me in places where my service is worthless, you don't put me in situations where there is no point to it. I'm here by your appointment, to bring glory to you. Your grace can provide for me and in me the passion and the zeal, and I need to see this in such a way that I will apply myself with that zeal. It's for the glory of the Lord. We're not just going to transport money from this location to this location, we're doing something for the glory of the Lord that is a testimony of His grace and the love and the bond among God's people.

“We are taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift.” Why do I have Titus? Why do I have this well-known man of fame in the ministry who had been appointed by the churches? “We are trying to take every precaution so no one will discredit us in our service of this.” And I love the way Paul talks about it, it's not just a gift but it's a lavish gift, it's a generous gift. Because how else would you give when you are displaying God's grace that overflows in your life.

And then he quotes from Proverbs 3:4, “For we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men.” Wouldn't want to have any question. And unbelievers, he realizes they are mixed in and he has to deal with them in the letter to the Corinthians as well, but we have to be of good reputation. So we wouldn't want the unbeliever to be able to point and say Paul didn't take money when he came and preached at Corinth, but he lays the foundation. Then when he comes back, he can take it and really milk it out of the people. So he's careful that there wouldn't be anything that would not look right.

“We have sent with him our brother.” Here's another one. We're going to have a third come in. “We have sent with him our brother whom we have often tested.” Another unnamed individual but Paul has had opportunity to minister with him on repeated occasions. We have often tested him, he has come through the fire, so to speak. This word tested usually used to refer to those who have passed the test, been tested and approved, often tested and found diligent in many things. You see what the Apostle Paul is looking for—someone who is faithful in what he does. If you are not faithful in little things, how will you be faithful in much? As Jesus talked about during His earthly ministry. Is there some little thing I can do? Then I pour myself into it because I'm doing it for the Lord. It may not be much in the eyes of people, but it's a way for me to bring glory to the Lord and manifest His grace. We have often tested him, found diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you. Paul has been concerned that they understand these people coming are not just people who couldn't care less about the Corinthians, they just care about the offering they are getting. These are people that think well of you. He has confidence in you.

So we know something about the church at Corinth. Whether he has ever been there we don't know. He's not named, but he has heard of it, Paul has talked to him. “As for Titus he is my partner, fellow worker among you.” He and Titus have ministered together, Titus has been Paul's representative to Corinth and the Corinthian church on prior occasion. So he is my partner, my fellow worker. We are fellow-shippers in the ministry. As for our brethren they are messengers of the churches. The word apostles here, but they are not apostles in the limited sense, the word apostle is a ‘sent one.’ And these are apostles of the churches, they are sent, representing the churches. They are a glory to Christ. So you can see here, here are men who would care about you, whether they have ever been there or not. Just like you might go to a church you've never been to or meet believers, you care about them. If you have opportunity you want to be used in their lives positively. Maybe you are someplace and you say, I'm only going to be here a month but I'd like to help in any way I can. That kind of thing, an opportunity to be used in their lives.

“Therefore openly before the churches,” there you see the testimony of the Corinthians is at stake. “Openly before the churches show them the proof of your love.” As we talked about and we looked at passages. People like to say I have love, it's in my heart. But if it is true biblical love it will come out in practice. It's a demonstration that your love is genuine and real, and Paul sees this offering as that. Then we looked at the passages, if your brother has need and you have opportunity to help and you don't, how can you say you love him? You don't just love in word, you love in deed.

So that's what he is saying, this will be the proof of your love, you passed the test, so to speak. “And for our reason of boasting about you.” Paul has bragged on them. So you see he never says I'm giving you a command, he never talks about money and amounts. But he says I've been bragging in a good sense. They are committed to the Lord of being used of Him in a great way in this offering.

Now we're going fast, the first five verses of chapter 9 in four minutes. We will make this date as a record in my 46-year ministry. The chapter opens up, he's just going to summarize now why he has done this. “It is superfluous for me to write to you about this ministry to the saints.” You already know about it. “I know your readiness of which I boast about you to the Macedonians,” he's in Macedonia when he writes this letter, “that Achaia has been prepared since last year, your zeal has stirred most of them.” I have already talked about them, your testimony and commitment of declaring what you were going to do has already had an impact. Not just you doing of it but your testimony that you are going to do it, your zeal has stirred up most of them. “But I have sent the brethren in order that our boasting about you may not be made empty in this case so that as I was saying you may be prepared.” I realize that Paul puts it delicately here. It's been over a year, I realize other things come in, you get busy and you may have just lost track of where you are and time, whatever. So I sent them just so you would be reminded and would have a chance to do whatever you haven't done.

“So I thought it necessary,” verse 4, “otherwise if any Macedonians come with me,” because he may pick up people from the church at Macedonia, which would indicate these two men traveling with Titus probably weren't from Macedonia, but if anybody, you know the church at Macedonia would say we have a couple of men who would like to come with you to carry that offering. “If any of the Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we,” Paul referring to himself, “not to speak of you, will be put to shame by this confidence.” In other words it would be embarrassing because I went ahead and told them what you said you were going to do. And if you don't do it, I'm going to be embarrassed. I've sort of put myself out on a limb here, I'm not going to say more than that except it could be embarrassing for you, too. That's what he is saying, how he puts it. So you don't see these three men coming here and we are here acting on Paul's benefit, get the money out. No, it's more than that. I've done it for your good, out of concern for you, I want you to look good.

Just like you do in your own family with your kids. What do you do? You know they said they were going to do something and other people are going to examine it. It's just have you done it? Are you ready? You'll be embarrassed because you told them you would do it. Did you do it? If they've said they will cut the neighbor's lawn while they are on vacation and you know the neighbors are coming back, I told them you would do a great job, it would be sort of embarrassing for me if you didn't. And it will probably be embarrassing for you because you are the one who said you would do a great job for them. That's sort of how Paul is putting it.

Verse 5, “So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go ahead to you, arrange beforehand your previously promised,” I just love the way Paul puts it, “bountiful gift, so that the same would be ready as a bountiful gift not affected by covetousness.” Paul can see no reason, and he keeps touch with the Corinthian church, that the Corinthian church should not be able to meet their commitment. That doesn't mean in a year or so some have situations that have changed for the worse and won't maybe be able to contribute as much. But others may have done better. But Paul sees overall the commitment of the church that they made, they should be able to do. And he doesn't let them off. “Whatever you do, remember, is between you and the Lord, and whether it is little or much, it won't make any difference.” We came to collect the bountiful gift, the lavish offering because that is consistent with what the Corinthians do. And that's what the Macedonians did compared to what they have, so the Corinthians, and he's not saying they have to do more, but they should do what they committed. That same zeal that gets you fired up to do should still be motivating you as you come to a conclusion.

So God's grace at work, using His people in special ways to do His work.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace. Lord, the blessings that are ours as Your children, saved by Your grace, cleansed from our sin, made new and now slaves, servants of the living God. Your grace working in us and through us, not just in mediocre little ways, but overflowing in our lives in what other people might look at as insignificant things. They are not insignificant, because I am doing this because God has placed me here, He has placed His responsibility upon me. I am His servant, demonstrating His grace in my life and work for the benefit of others. Use us together as a church family, that Your grace might overflow into the lives of others. We pray in Christ's name, amen.