You may be seated. Please turn in your copy of the scriptures to first Corinthians chapter 16. This is the last chapter in this first letter that we have in our copies of God’s word. We’ll make it through this chapter and perhaps start second Corinthians in the new year. We’ve got a handful more weeks in this one and then we’ve got Advent and Thanksgiving and a handful of other topics and themes. So we’ll finish up in the next few weeks with this book. First Corinthians chapter 16 verses one through four. This is this whole chapter could be what you might call odds and ends or this and that.
These first four verses have to do with a collection that Paul was working up across all the churches where he had made missionary journeys in order to help the poor with relief in Jerusalem. They had both famine and persecution. And so this is something that they had asked him about, and he is writing to them about this topic to clarify to them what they should do. And so 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verses one through four, now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do on the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up. as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.”
Amen, the word of God. Let’s ask him for his help and blessing. Lord, you promised to feed your lambs and this is One of those main ways you feed your sheep. And so let the word of Christ dwell richly in us. May this word be sharper than two edged sword, may it pierce to our joints and marrows, revealing to us what we are and what we ought to be. And by your spirit, may you give us help to become the new creations we ought to be in Jesus. Help us we ask in the name of our savior, amen. It’s always the question that’s asked of the preacher. When do you preach on tithing? When do you preach on giving? When do you preach on money? And my answer is when it comes up.
We don’t do stewardship Sunday. We don’t do the faith promise thing. We, you know, we don’t, you know, do the used car salesman thing. What’s it going to take? to get you tithing by tonight, that kind of deal. But we do talk about it when it comes up. And so here it is, it comes up. So this is an interesting passage. I have never really thought of it in as great detail as I have this week. I’ve never thought of it in light of the whole picture of give it giving.
You probably have learned the concept of tithing from the Old Testament. You’ve heard the subject tithes and offerings. Maybe you’ve been in a church where every fall they ask for your pledge, and then during the year they badger you when your pledge isn’t, you know, it’s kind of something, that sort of thing. I’ve never been in churches that have done that. But I will tell you this from experience.
Growing up in a Christian home with Christian parents, we received a weekly allowance. It was $3. Um, back in the 1980s, that was big money, $3. And so every Sunday, uh, dad would tell us he had a, he had a change bowl, uh, where he kept his wallet and keys. He’d say, get 30 cents out of my change bowl and put it in an envelope and put it in the offering. And so year by year by year, and as a, got a paper route and as a. delivered furniture in the family furniture store and then got bigger and older and all the rest. You begin to do that and over time it’s part of your lifestyle.
My brother and I were chatting recently about some of the lessons we learned growing up and tithing and giving offerings to the Lord happened to be one of the things we discussed. And I said, you still give, don’t you? And you still do too, don’t you? Yes, we talked about that. And he asked me this. He said, have you ever missed it? He said, if you think about it, you could pay off your house. If you thought about it, you could take another vacation. If you really thought about it. And I said, I don’t think about it. And he said, I don’t either. Never, never missed it.
There is a rule, though, a principle today that gets passed around Christian leadership circles. And it goes something like this, it takes 10 young couples to replace one older couple in their giving. Pretty interesting statistic, isn’t it? One older giving couple takes 10 younger couples to be replaced.
Now you could ask and answer all kinds of questions why that is so. My guess is it has to do a lot with the older generation. Maybe perhaps like I did, you just sort of did it. You never missed it. I listened to Dave Ramsey on the radio here and there in the evening. I grew up listening to Larry Burkett, as some of you probably did. I think today it’s called Crown Ministries.
And those sorts of ministries always say, if you’re going to set a budget, start at the top. with giving to the Lord. Don’t say, oh, I got a little bit left over. We’ll begrudgingly give it. But start there. Your taxes are next because those come due. And then you budget. And there’s rules and percentages about your budget. Now, I will admit, living in today’s economy is very difficult. It’s a two-income world. It takes a lot to make it. It takes a lot to get by.
And so giving to the work of the Lord is very difficult if it’s not been part of your life. Now, I want to say this as a word of encouragement, not as a word of burden. If you’re struggling financially and you’re not giving to the work of the Lord, think about those principles we read in the book of Deuteronomy. As God prospers you and you honor him with how he prospers you, you will be blessed beyond imagination if you follow the Lord. always make a joke.
We are not prosperity gospel people. I don’t have a jet airplane. I don’t need one. I can get here fine on foot if I had to. Um, that’s a joke y’all. Uh, we are not prosperity people though. That’s big in today’s Christian landscape. I guess we’ll just loosely call it.
But there is something in the scripture, if you follow the Lord in obedience, he will bless you abundantly. Remember in the book of Malachi, when the people of God are not giving to the work of God and Malachi gives that very scathing rebuke, will a man rob God? And he says, put the Lord to the test, put the Lord to the test and see if he does not out bless you.
Uh, and so the challenge I think today is to consider these things. Uh, I’m not raising money. I’m not, you know, trying to do this or that. I’m just trying to encourage you to be faithful. Remember when Jesus met one of the Pharisees met, uh, some of those who were trying to trick him into, I don’t know, give Jesus a gotcha.
And remember they said, Oh, but Jesus, I tithe. I mean, I give 10% down to the. I mean, exact thing. They got out their Casio calculator and said, I mean, here it is to the penny. Right. And Jesus said, so what? That’s the least of the commandments. It’s the weightier matters. And so there is this sense where giving to the Lord is the easy part.
But there is also this sense with where our hearts are and perhaps discontent in today’s busy and expensive world, there is also the hard side of it. It’s hard for us to reorient our lifestyles. It’s hard for us to reorient our living, our budgeting to give to the work of the Lord.
So I hope today’s passage will help us. It has a very specific direction. It’s concerning the poor people at Jerusalem during the first century. But it has these enduring principles that I think connect to some of the other giving principles in the Bible. So we want to think about them. Now, this is dangerous, what I’m about to say, especially on a communion Sunday. I got eight things for you, but they’re gonna be quick, I hope, Lord willing, and I dropped a song before communion. We’ll sing after communion, but not before.
Okay, first thing we wanna learn from this passage is about the idea of connection. The idea of connection, if you read in verse one, now concerning the collection, not connection, but concerning the collection for the saints. Paul is speaking here of the saints of God at Jerusalem, but he’s writing to Greeks and Romans and Gentiles at Corinth. And so we want to think for a moment about the connectional nature of Christians and the church.
We are associate reformed Presbyterian by our constitution. We have brothers and sisters in other Presbyterian and reformed denominations. We have brothers and sisters in Baptist and congregational and Episcopal and Anglican and all kinds of other fellowships.
But all who profess the name of Jesus, all who are one in Christ, whether they be Jew or Gentile, slave or free, are connected together. And so when others are in trouble, our hearts should hurt. and we should feel that deep connection. And we should, because the whole body of Christ is connected together into the head, Jesus Christ, we should feel a deep connection to one another, to the saints, to the holy ones who also call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, this particular situation where the Jewish saints at Jerusalem are suffering under persecution and under famine, It’s brought up in several other places. I think it’s in the book of Acts chapter 11. It’s also at the end of Acts when Paul is telling Festus or one of those Roman authorities why he was back in Jerusalem. He was bringing the offering and that’s where the Jews got upset and had him arrested. Uh, it comes up in Romans chapter 15. It’s again in second Corinthians chapter eight. So this is a big project of the apostle Paul, but in Romans chapter 15, when Paul is writing to the Romans, he had not yet been there. He’s planning to get to go see Spain and swing through Rome. He says to the Roman congregation, I’m collecting money from the Gentile churches for the poor and the suffering at Jerusalem. And here’s one of the motivations there is to give. He says the Gentiles owe the Jews for the spiritual gift of Jesus.
Can they not then help them materially? That’s a motivation, isn’t it? mean we could we could talk about budgeting and tithing we could talk about all the practical you know maybe skip Starbucks that kind of thing all the things you know you got to do to get your budget settled where you can you know meet all your obligations but how about this you have been given a heavenly heritage and so helping others materially is but a small thing we want to help all those who are the children of Abraham.
We want to help all those who have faith in Jesus and are in need. And so the first thing we want to think about from this passage is the connection that we have with other believers. The second thing we want to see from this passage is the need, the need that exists with people that we are connected to. Now it was the early church and the saints at Jerusalem were in great need. We could think about our fellow believers in other parts of the world that need our assistance. But the need is, as I’ve mentioned, a hardship in Jerusalem.
First, there is a famine somewhere in Acts, maybe chapter 11 or so. There’s Agabus the prophet who says under God’s guidance that there will be a severe famine and that it will last a really long time and people will be in great need. This kind of echoes back to the story of Joseph. And we see God has sent Paul ahead to provide for those under that great hardship and lack of food. And so there’s this great need for relief, but also you’ll remember in chapter seven of Acts where Paul, or actually Saul is a prominent figure, there was a great persecution that broke out.
The Jews were persecuting the followers of the way. Remember Paul, the chief of sinners was persecuting those who profess faith in Messiah, Jesus Christ. Remember Paul was holding the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen. After Stephen dies, Luke writes in the Acts of the Apostles that a great persecution broke out. And so all these years later, the effects of persecution and the present famine are causing great material need among the saints at Jerusalem.
And so Paul wants the connected church to meet those needs. And so the third thing this passage shows us is Paul’s project, his project to meet those material needs through the giving of the connected church. the apostle who has great influence, who’s traveled around the cities of the ancient Rome and the Mediterranean Sea. He is using his third missionary journey not only to preach the gospel in new places, but to go and remind the people where he has been before that they should be doing these biblical things. But he’s also using it to tell them about his project. Hey, we got poor folks that connected to in Jesus, connected to in Abraham, connected to in faith. They need your help. They need your material help.
And his plan is to pass through all these churches and return to Jerusalem at some point with a group of people representing all those churches and with a bunch of coins, a bunch of Roman coins that will help provide relief. And so his project is to provide relief through the saints in the connected churches to the folks in Jerusalem at need. Fourth thing this passage shows us is it is a command of the apostle. He says, now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, as we’re from his first missionary journey, so you also are to do.
Um, he doesn’t come along and say, you know, we’re, we’re, you know, we’re getting up shoe boxes, you know, for the Christmas drive or, you know, participate if you want. Uh, apparently the need is so great. The famine is so bad. The persecution is so hard. Paul feels in his apostolic authority, it must be right to demand of the churches he visits. We must help the people.
Uh, and so as each prospers. as each has ability, they are to put aside funds. They are to store up funds. They are to give these funds to the church treasury so that when he comes, he can, with that traveling entourage, take it to Jerusalem to meet the need.
Now, I mentioned that second Corinthians chapter eight, which would be what his fourth letter to the Corinthians. He mentions this project again, And he says to the Corinthians, this is this is the. Theological weight Paul puts behind the giving, he says, you you folks excel spiritually, you excel at faith, you excel at prophecy, you excel at tongues, you excel it. He gives this list. You’re really good at these things now. Excel at giving for the poor in Jerusalem. I mean, that’s laying it on pretty thick, isn’t it? But he commands them, excel in this opportunity so that you might help serve their need.
Now, he understands, he speaks of it in these various places where this project is mentioned. He understands that over in one of the regions where Philippi is, Berea, Thessalonica, they are also experiencing a very dire time financially. And he’s going to say at the end of Romans, they gave out of their poverty. He’s going to say they wanted to be part of this relief so badly that they gave richly out of their poverty. And so the connection we have to other people, the needs that they have are our needs. And so Paul has this project. He issues this command.
And I think the beautiful part of this passage comes up in this next word, their willingness, their willingness to participate, not just the Corinthians, but those at Thessalonica and Berea and Philippi and the churches throughout Asia minor and Galatia, they have a genuine love for the saints. And so they have a deep desire by the grace of God to assist those others.
Now, If you’ve ever been in a hard spot before and someone quietly came to you and helped you, and then perhaps later you get in a position to be the helper by the Lord’s grace, doesn’t it overwhelm you? Doesn’t it burden you to say, you know, I’ve had need before and it was met? This person has need and I have the ability to meet that need. And so I gladly will. In fact, they’re so excited. They say, we want in, we want to be a part of this. Sign us up. You don’t need to badger us, beg us, cajole us. We want in.
And so we give not only of our material blessings from God to others, There are times where we are called to give of our very selves, as Paul has done, and so also the Lord Jesus. In 2 Corinthians chapter eight, when he’s appealing to the Corinthians to be willing to do this, he mentions the churches at Berea, Thessalonica, and Philippi and says, you know, they’re broke, they’re poor, but they’ve given the widows might. They’ve given not out of their abundance, but out of their poverty, and they’ve given all that they could And he says to the Corinthians in second Corinthians eight, they’re just like Jesus. He who was rich beyond all splendor for our sakes became poor in order that we might have the riches of heaven.
And again, there’s theological, there’s biblical motivation. Paul says that ought to make us willing. We are connected to other people. And so by the grace of God at work in us, we’ve been blessed before by others. We’ve been changed by Jesus. He is saying there ought to be a willingness in your hearts and in your minds and in your pocketbook to help others. The next thing, number six is a readiness.
There is a readiness in this project every Sunday, every Sabbath, first day of the week. The Jews held their Sabbath on Saturday, but since the resurrection of the dead, the believers have practiced a Sunday morning, Lord’s Day, a Sunday gathering. And so he says every Sabbath lay something aside and bring it and put it into store. and in that store, in that treasury, through this system and through this plan, when I come and, you know, there’s a wide ranging window of when the apostle will swing through Corinth on his way to Jerusalem. You know, he’s got a winter some places, they can’t travel across the sea at other times and seasons.
And so he’s just saying, you need to be ready. When I swing through, there better be an envelope. When I swing through and their case, there better be a money bag. There better be an entourage. There better be letters of accreditation that you are sending these people with this gift to Jerusalem. And so there is a readiness.
I think a principle for the church, always be ready to help the poor. I did not look into this tradition, but it seems to me. I’ve been to some churches before where, when you come up to receive the Lord’s supper, There is a second opportunity for offering and it’s an offering for the poor. I seem to recollect that I could be really wrong and whatever.
It’s a really good idea if nobody’s done it. But I think I seem to remember that that perhaps on Lord’s Day Sundays, there is a tradition in some churches where There is an offering taken for the poor. It’s the moment where you’re going to receive God’s grace through the Lord’s Supper. And it’s a good time to be reminded that there are those without.
But there is a readiness. There is a sense where the local church ought to be ready. Johnny on the spot, able with a system and a place to help those who are in need. Well, the seventh thing I think this passage shows us is a principle. And there’s other places where Uh, the Bible speaks of how we help and how we serve one another. Uh, one of those places is Galatians 6, 10. It gives us this principle. We are to do good to others, especially those who are of the household of faith.
Uh, and so this principle that we have funds ready and available to help those within the congregation, uh, every single day, I kid you not every single day, the phone rings at church. And if you call the church phone, it’s going to come to my cell phone because I don’t live here. Just work one hour a week, right? I wish. But I’ve gotten to where if I don’t, if it’s not one of my contacts, one of you or somebody I know, I can’t answer it because we constantly get phone calls. Hey, preacher, my power bill is due. All right. Hey preacher, we’ve got 19 kids and the water got shut off. I mean, it’s always a grandiose story.
And you sort of get the spiritual ability to discern these things. And from time to time, we do outside help. But there are folks who dial for dollars. I mean, their job is to get on the phone and call churches and get a hotel paid for the night or whatever. And when it seems right, we do help from time to time. But generally speaking, the phone never stops ringing. And the answer I always give is, We help those inside our congregation.
It’s very biblical. We help those inside our congregation who’ve fallen on hard times and need a hand or help. It’s part of being connected. It’s part of being the body of Jesus Christ. And so that principle is one that we ought to live by. We love the household of faith. And we love to help one another. Does that mean you can’t support the poor in other areas? Absolutely not. But the church, I believe, has a priority.
Probably the most trouble I ever got into as a minister was preaching Galatians 6, 10, and there was a bleeding heart liberal lady on the back row. She was visiting the church and she met me at the back door. That’s why I don’t go anymore to the back door. And she ripped me up one side and down the other about how I didn’t love the poor. Just saying what the Bible said, lady, take it up with the Lord. That’s probably what 27 year old me said. It’s not all I said either. She found another church, I’m guessing. It was it was something while I lost my hair.
But there is this principle there is there is this principle of taking care of those within the body of Jesus. Yes, we help those outside the church in all kinds of ways, shapes and forms. But our principle, our priority is to help. There’s another side to this principle, though. Every Sunday, every Lord’s Day, we gather. Every Lord’s Day, we take up an offering. It’s over here. It’s in the back.
Um, every Sunday you are given the opportunity to be a cheerful giver. You were given the opportunity to support the work of the Lord. Every Sunday, uh, you are given the opportunity to worship the God, worship God, show your heart and make provision not only for the work of the church, but for those in need.
Uh, that principle is important. Uh, from time to time, we’ll have someone in the church who is unemployed or underemployed. And our prayer for them, especially on Wednesday night when we gather in the chapel, we pray that God would grant so-and-so work so that they can provide for their family, help the poor, and support the work of the church. That is why God gives us income, to provide for our family, support the work of the church, and to help those who are in need. It’s not just, dear God, give me a job. I’ve got too many Netflix subscriptions. or I’ve got a six bucks Starbucks habit, those sorts of things. We want to provide for our families, help those in need and support the work of the church.
And so this principle is tried and true across both our budgets, the church budget and the way we fund it. The last thing I want to mention is the word practice. And I don’t want to be dogmatic, I don’t want to be legalistic, but I want to give you maybe a gentle sanctified nudge.
Giving to the work of the Lord is the greatest privilege, the best investment you will ever have. And I don’t just say that because I’m the preacher and I get my salary and all. I told you at the outset of the message, I was taught to give to the church as a kid and I’ve never stopped. It’s always been a blessing to me.
I support the work of our church. Our family supports student ministries where our kids are up in college. We love to give a wheelchair every year to Johnny Erickson Tata’s ministry. There’s a lot of things our family likes to do and it’s a great joy. We don’t miss those funds. It’s a blessing because God has blessed us to give. And so we get to enjoy these things as I’m sure many of you do.
It is very hard, I want to say again, to start giving to the work of the Lord mid-budget. If this is not where you are, but you believe by the spirit and word, this is where you need to be. Let me encourage you to make it your practice. Start small, but get there. I love Dave Ramsey says, if you’re ever gonna make headway in a budget, you probably better be eating beans.
This past spring when dad was sick and driving to Chapel Hill for a couple weeks, you know, I was heading down Maple Avenue, hitting the Starbucks, you know, I’d get over there and, you know, need to eat lunch, need to pay for parking. Daily commute, stuff like that, you can spend two, three, four hundred bucks a week if you’re not careful. You know the math, right? But we get our lifestyles out of sorts where we’re not eating a sandwich at home, but we’re eating a sandwich out and You know, it’s 20 bucks to grab lunch these days. And so let me encourage you to say, oh, there’s no room in my budget. I can’t possibly. Oh, I bet you could.
I bet you could figure out where to pare back and put into practice these principles which the Lord teaches us. It is our duty to support the work of the church. It is our duty to help others in need. And perhaps we start with the widow’s mite. but remember God commended her, the Lord Jesus commended her. So let me encourage you to put yourself in a position to make these things a practice in your life.
The most familiar passage from all of this that the Lord Jesus gives through the pen of the Apostle Paul is from 2 Corinthians chapter eight. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. Amen, may it be so. Let’s pray now. Prepare for the Lord’s Supper. Our God and Father and Savior and King, we thank you for the chance to think about a little sliver of life in the early church where your people were in need and the church was called upon to meet that need and do so even from positions of weakness and poverty. Lord, we thank you that you’ve given to every one of us a setting in life, a situation in life where we can all do something We can all do something because you’ve been so good and gracious and kind to us, right? These principles into our hearts and put these practices into our lives so that we please you and receive your blessing. And we ask now that as we come to the Lord’s table, as we come to commune with you in the body and in the blood of our savior, Jesus, we ask that you would remind us that the Lord Jesus who was rich beyond all splendor for our sakes became poor in order to grant us the great heritage that was his the riches of heaven bless us now with these truths that they may be so in our lives in the name of Jesus we pray amen