Read the first 12 verses of 1st
Corinthians 16 Let's see Those of you we've been Studying through
the scripture verse by verse in various books now for many
years some of us together In these first 12 verses you'll
hear a change in the tone from what we've seen in 1st Corinthians
so far that the doctrinal and the rebukes the the wonderful gospel in every verse. And you'll hear a change in the
tone here. Paul gives them some very practical
instructions. And at the end of this chapter,
some exhortations, but we'll look at just the first 12 verses.
And I want you to look though for how that even in just what
we might call everyday conversation almost. He's just constructing
them regarding some practical things, but listen to how even
in that, and the gospel's not just our doctrine, it's our life. And even just our regular conversation
should reflect that. Just our daily schedules and
habits, I guess this may be a good word, But you'll see, I think,
what I mean. Look at verse one, chapter 16,
verse one. Now concerning the collection
for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia,
even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week,
let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered
him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come,
whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, them will I
send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be
meet that I go also, they shall go with me. Now I will come to
you when I shall pass through Macedonia, for I do pass through
Macedonia. And it may be that I will abide,
yea, and winter with you, that you may bring me on my journey,
whithersoever I go. For I will not see you now, by
the way, but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord
permit. But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great
door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. Now if Timotheus come, see that
he may be with you without fear, for he worketh the work of the
Lord, as I also do. Let no man therefore despise
him, Conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me, for
I look for him with the brethren. As touching our brother Apollos,
I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren, but
his will was not at all to come at this time, but he will come
when he shall have convenient time. So, Just a few comments tonight
on these first 12 verses. Paul tells them his travel plans,
including coming to this church themselves, the Corinthians,
to collect an offering and to either travel to Jerusalem with
whoever they approve to deliver the offering to Jerusalem or
to stay over in winter with them Corinth and he gives them instructions
regarding the offering itself How even to gather it and for
it to be ready and As I say even in these what we
might just call practical things You see Christ at every step The first day of the week was
when the Saints were gathered together to hear the gospel like
we do and and to worship the Lord together, which of course
made it convenient to lay in store all of the offering, as
Paul put it, every one of you, the offering, everybody come
together and lay it by, and that's convenient. But also, this is
included in the worship because giving is worship. Giving to the ministry of the
Lord, giving to the, needs of the saints is worship. Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 8 that it's proof of the sincerity
of love. No doubt. Think about what giving
is. You can't serve God and mammon,
the Lord said. It's one or the other. You're
worshiping God or you're worshiping yourself. The reason money is
so important to people is because of what it can do for them. It's
not the money itself. It's what it can do for them.
They're either their own God or God is God. And giving is
a direct preference of one over the other, isn't it? It's a taking
from your own gain, which is of the Lord, by the way, which
we'll see in the very language. of this and given it's taken
from the flesh in a sense and given to spiritual things for
for spiritual things and as we've said so many times before spiritual
things is not always it involves the flesh too doesn't it it's
a spiritual thing to give to somebody that has physical needs
if it's a gift of love if it's if it's especially the household
of faith the saints because And you might say, well, what does
this have to do with Christ? What is laying aside an offering
and taking it to Jerusalem, to the church there? What does that
have to do with Christ? Well, absolutely everything. The only way that you can do
something for the Lord, according to him, that I can find, I can't
find it anywhere else, where you can actually do something
for the Lord, is to do it for one of his sheep. Is that what
he said? What else are you gonna do for
Christ? What can we do for him? He's the giver, not me. Not you,
not us. He's the one that gives us everything
we have, including what we give. See where it said, as the Lord
hath prospered you. We're gonna read David saying
that same thing in a little while. Lord of thine own have we given
thee. It's yours anyway. So what does that have to do
with Christ? The only way you can actually do something for
Christ, according to him, is to do it to one of his sheep.
So it has everything to do with that. And I'm not talking about
just meeting the needs of needy believers. When we give to this
ministry, we're doing that for each other, aren't we? Who is
all this for? Us. It's for whoever's interested
in the gospel. It's for his people that meet
here and worship together. So it's something that we're
doing for each other then. And that's how it's given to
the Lord. It's not that the Lord needs it. I think we need to get that.
I know the religious sinner in me needs to get ahold of that. The Lord doesn't need anything. But he said, when you bless one
of the least of one of these, my brethren, you've done it unto
me. And so what does that have to
do with Christ? Everything. It's a proof of sincerity of
love, 2 Corinthians 8, 8, love for the Lord, whose ministry
in church is supported by these means. You know, the Lord, when
it came time for the disciples to pay their taxes, do you remember
what he did? You know, they asked him, do
we have to, you know, somebody confronted him and said, you're
paying your taxes. He said, he asked him, whose
picture is that on that coin? And they said, Caesar. He said,
you render to Caesar what's Caesar's and render unto God what belongs
to God. And he told his disciples to
go down and catch a fish. And the first fish they caught
had enough money in its mouth to pay their taxes. You think
he couldn't still do that? Something like that? Go dig by
that tree, 10 feet to the east of that tree. Okay, there's a
whole pile of gold under there. We could pay off this church
building, you know. But no, he gives us a privilege
here. It's worship unto the Lord. It's still Him doing it for us.
He's just doing it a different way. So love for Him. This is how
His church, His ministry is supported. And also love for Christ's sheep
who directly benefit from that. Not only in terms of earthly
needs being met, in the case of the church at Jerusalem, but also in terms of being able
to support those who preach as instructed by the way in chapter
nine of this letter to the Corinthians. But thereby all of the people
of God benefit by hearing the gospel and being led in the worship
of the Lord. So it's love for him and his
sheep. It's proof of that love. And
he lets them know Here that this is the same practice that he's
instructed the Galatians to follow Also, this is not unique to that
church or this church or any church. It's the way it should
be done But it's a privilege for everybody who know and love
the Lord him Or You know use these words a
lot those who are in on it And I think that's a good way to
say it Are you in on it? It was a long time before I came
to the place where, on a job that I would work in this world,
that I kind of wanted to be in. I didn't want to just be an employee
that just made money and went home. I thought about what this
company is doing, what services it provides, and I want to be
part of that. I don't want to just get by with what I can get
by with, you know what I mean? That's hard to do in this world
because you see a lot of snaky stuff in this world. That's not
hard to do in God's house. Look what's happening here. Are
you in on it? And notice again for a minute
the words, every one of you. This is important for a couple
of reasons. Not because it takes a village. That's a bunch of
nonsense. It takes God is what it takes. But listen, every one
of you, he didn't say, now whoever's able to, I want you to give. There's a reason why he didn't
say that. It's not because every little bit counts. Okay, that
may be true, but that's not it. Every one of you according to
how God has prospered you and let's focus first on those words
every one of you This reinforces the idea that this is worship
It's not just about the need being taken care of The Lord
is the one that brings about the need And he is the one that supplies
it if he uses us to do that thank God that he uses us But it's
not just about supplying the need. There is a need. And that
need being met is part of it. We need light in here. We need
air conditioning most of the time. And that's great that those needs
are met. But if that need is met by one
person or just a few people, and the rest have no part in
it, that is not biblical giving. It is not. And the reason for
that, and thank God for that one, or thank God for those few,
but every one of us are to support the ministry and the saints of
the Lord, because this is something that takes place between you
and God. It's worship. If we sit back and say, well,
I'm glad somebody took care of that. You haven't worshiped. And it's according as the Lord
has prospered you. Some can't give like others can.
That's completely understandable. But even children can be taught
to give a little bit. Give something. Worship the Lord
with that. Acknowledge to Him that all of
it came from Him anyway. It's by his providence that we're
rich and everyone in this building is rich tonight. Every one of
us is. You may not know it. You may
not see it that way, but look how rich we are. This particular offering was
for the church in Jerusalem. And we know this about that.
The church at Jerusalem was under great persecution. And this likely had something
to do with why they needed support from other churches. They were
constantly under great persecution, it seems. And in the beginning,
especially, we know that they were. But listen, this is what
our Lord said. As I've already quoted to you,
and let's turn there and look at it anyway, Matthew 25, 34.
I want us to see this in light of our text tonight. This is
what happens. When this church laid aside an
offering and it was delivered to Jerusalem, this is exactly what was happening.
Matthew 25, 34. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was in hunger and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you
gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in naked and you clothed me. This church in Jerusalem was
in need of basic essentials like food and clothing. The Lord said, I was in prison
and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee?
Or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger and
took thee in? Or naked and clothed thee? Or
when saw we sick or in prison and came unto thee? And the king
shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, and as
much as you have done it unto one of the least of these my
brethren, you have done it unto me. That's what was happening
when this collection was taken up. and delivered to Jerusalem. So what does that have to do
with Christ? What part of that doesn't have
everything to do with Him? It's personal for Him. How in the world otherwise could
we ever really do anything for the Lord? The cattle on the silver
and gold is mine, He said. He made everything, He is everything. He doesn't need help. He doesn't
need support. He doesn't need resources. How are you gonna do something
for the Lord? Bless God, he gave us a way to do it, didn't he?
What a wonderful thing that is. What a wonderful thing. This
is how, this is how. And then always we remember that's
the Lord actually doing it for us, but what a privilege. to be able to do something for
Him. Who prospered us to be able to give? Well, Paul said it,
the Lord did. Give as the Lord has given you
something to give. Give based on that. Give in proportion
to that. Didn't he say? Now, who has blessed
us with the privilege? Well, I've never thought of giving
as a privilege. He said what's more blessed to give than it
is to receive. That's a blessing. People in this world give a whole
lot to promote a false ministry. They give in order to be accepted
of the Lord, which is blasphemy. They think the Lord's pleased
with them when they give in the sense that that recommends them
somehow to God, I've done my duty. No, you haven't ever done
anything for the Lord in the sense that it's meritorious.
as far as it contributes at all to any righteousness before God.
That's why we call the Lord Jesus, the Lord, our righteousness,
because he is our righteousness. All of it, all the time. So that's, they give it to all
the wrong causes for all the wrong reasons, but we have this
privilege Uniquely the people of God have this privilege of
actually giving something to the Lord. That's what that's
how he said it Turn with me to first Chronicles
29, please And you know, it's a it's a great
blessing to be able to To get to have this lesson not as a
rebuke. I but just to show you what's
happening, because y'all are so generous and every need is
met by the Lord, but through you, and I'm so thankful for
that. This is not a rebuke or reproof
of any kind, it's just reminding us how we worship Him
in so many way, in everything, in everything. But look at 1
Chronicles 29 10, Because this puts it all in perspective, and
this is a passage of scripture that would do us well to always
have in our minds, not word for word, just the principle of it,
just the truth of it. 1 Chronicles 29.10, wherefore
David blessed the Lord before all the congregation. And David
said, blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our father forever
and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness
and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty,
for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine
is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over
all, and in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand
it is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now therefore,
our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am
I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so
willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee and
of thine own have we given thee. The occasion of this was how
that all the people brought whatever gold and silver they had or whatever
materials they had for the building of the temple to worship the
Lord in. And he says, we're just giving
you back some of what you gave us, Lord. For we, verse 15, are
strangers before thee and sojourners as were all our fathers. Our
days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O
Lord, our God, all this store that we have prepared to build
thee in house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand and
is all thine own. I know also, my God, that thou
triest the heart and has pleasure in uprightness. As for me and
the uprightness of my heart, I have willingly offered all
these things." He's not talking about purity of heart as in righteousness,
but he's just saying, you've given us a willing heart. The
Lord loves a cheerful giver. You've given us a willing heart.
I have willingly offered all these things and now have I seen
with joy thy people which are present here to offer willingly
unto thee. So what perspective on the whole
thing He thanked God that they were able to give. That's the
right mindset. And so it's not just about specific
needs being met. Thank God the needs are met,
but that's clearly part of it. But it's also a personal thing
between the believer and the Savior, between the Lord, it's
worship. The word liberality in verse
three, I think that word is translated grace, like 300-something times
in the scriptures, and the next closest is only six times. It's grace. Those to whom the
Lord has been gracious are gracious people. I can give testimony
to that. That's His doing. It's Him that
worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. That's
His salvation. Just another thought or two notice
in verse 7 that all of our plans Our intentions our actions are
always subject to this wonderful qualification if the Lord permit He's telling all these plans
Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna stay in Ephesus for
a while until Pentecost and then I to go through Macedonia, and
I'm gonna visit you when I do that, and I'm gonna either, if
you want me to go back to Jerusalem with whoever you decide is trustworthy
to take that gift to Jerusalem, if you want me to go with them,
I'll go with them. Otherwise, I'll stay in winter over with
you, and then you can get me ready, you know, provide whatever
needs I have, and then I can go from there to preach the gospel
from there somewhere else. So he's laying out all these
plans and letting them in on it and involving them and then
he says this We will do all of this. I will do this if the Lord
permits If the Lord will we shall live
and do this or that in that way I think James said that's what
we ought to say Go to now you that say tomorrow I'll go to
this place and I'll stay this long and I'll prosper and and
everything's gonna be good. What are you talking about? What
we ought to say is, if the Lord will, we shall live and do anything. But then if he lets us live,
then we'll do this or that, whatever it is that he permits. You know, there's a couple of
things about that. Obviously the sovereignty of God is so magnified
in that. He's the one that runs things.
Remember, I think we just saw this proverb. Proverbs 19, 21,
there are many devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel
of the Lord, that shall stand. Whatever God has purposed. Our
plans are one thing, his purposes are another. He always let the Lord have his way. Yeah. Does that sound right? Based
on what we see in the script, let's let the Lord have his way.
No, if the Lord lets me have my way, I'll do what I want to
do. As with religion and just about
every aspect of it, it's the opposite that's true. Oh, how we ought to honor him
in that. But also, how wonderful is it to know that the Lord's
not gonna permit us to follow through on anything that's not
best for Him and for us. Lord, don't let me. Don't let
me go where I shouldn't go. Don't let me do what I shouldn't
do. And I don't know the difference. What a wonderful blessing that
is. The Lord's not gonna permit me to mess up. Unless he's gonna teach me something
by that, somehow or another, he does do that. But ultimately,
all things work together for good, and that's why. If you're
fixing to do something that ain't good, and you don't even know
it, you don't know what would happen, he knows the end from
the beginning. He won't permit it. I'm so thankful
for that. So let's see. Also in these verses,
just generally, verses one through 12, how that all of Paul's concern,
everything that he takes into consideration with regard to
his plans and what he exhorts them to do, all of his exhortations
to them and his instructions to them are governed by just
a few things. The welfare of God's church,
Jerusalem in this case, Them by them having the privilege
to be a part in that The great trouble has gone to here to see
to it that those believers had the things that they needed The
prospering of the Lord's work Which is preaching the gospel
verse to you Make sure when Timothy comes
now that you I love how he says that he might come without fear.
Apparently, Timothy was a young fella, and he was just learning
the gospel, and the Lord had used him to preach. He had, well,
I say just learning the gospel. His grandmother, Lois, had taught
him the gospel since he was a boy. But he's very young, and the
Lord's using him, and he said, you know, make sure that he's,
you know, comfortable, you know, not, Not overly fearful, apparently
he was probably pretty nervous about all of that and preaching
and things. And he said also, you know, make
sure he has what he needs. So he's concerned with the furtherance
of the gospel. And then particularly, he was
concerned with taking advantage of every opportunity given by
God to tell sinners who Christ is and what he did, verses eight
and nine. I'll tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost,
for a great door and effectual has opened unto me, and there
are many adversaries. The Lord has opened a door here
for me, so I'm gonna stay right here until that door shuts. So
that's what Paul was motivated by. The church, the gospel, the preaching,
Christ. People knowing who Christ is
and what He did. The ministry of the gospel. Listen
to 2 Corinthians. Yeah, let me just quote these
to you. 2 Corinthians 2.12, when he talks
about a great door being opened. That was something he was always
concerned with. Where is there an opportunity for me to preach
the gospel? Second Corinthians 2.12, furthermore,
when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was
opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because
I found not Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them,
I went from thence into Macedonia. Colossians 4.2, continue in prayer
and watch in the same with thanksgiving with all praying also for us
that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery
of Christ. In all of his schedule and plans
and itinerary, it was all about that. May God open unto us a
door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ for which I'm
also in bonds that I may make it manifest, that I may make
it clear, that I may make it plain, the simplicity that's
in Christ as I ought to speak. And this is what all of it was
all about and is about. It's what it's about now. And
we have the apostle as an example here in that, but may God give
us grace to heed the exhortations of Scripture in these same matters
As we have, Paul, for this wonderful example, listen to these exhortations
from the scripture. Galatians 6, 7. Let's turn there, please. We're
about done. Let's look at this together. Galatians 6, 7. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. Now you hear that scripture probably
quoted some here and there out of its context, which is not
all bad. It kind of stands alone in a
sense. But listen to what he's talking
about in regard to that. Verse eight, for he that soweth
to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. that he that
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Sowing seeds, all of life is
compared here to working a farm. And what a beautiful picture
that is, because think about the clarity of that. When you
sow seeds, everybody knows you don't just open a pack of seeds
and start flinging them. It's hard, hard labor to plant
crops. So you work hard, you till and
you labor out in the sun and you have to cultivate that. And there's weeds and briars,
the curse is you'll eat bread by the sweat of your face because
thorns and thistles shall this earth produce. And sure enough,
it does. And so by the sweat of our face
in this picture, and for, you know, I don't know what we do
now. What do we even do? That's, you know, I sold forklifts. What, you know, what good does
that do anybody really? But farming, that's real, isn't
it? That's just something real. I think we're so far removed
from what makes sense these days, but that's another subject. But
look at the clear picture of this. You work, you labor, you
sweat, and what's the result of it? You get to eat. That's
pretty plain. That's putting it, that's cutting
it down to the bare essentials of what life is about. Labor,
work, strive, sweat, and then benefit from it. Benefit from
it directly, from that. And so you see that, but the
Lord uses this this simple picture of all of life. What are we doing
here? Just to make this simple exhortation. Those that sow to the flesh,
if you're sowing things that return on are fleshly things. In other words, if your purpose
for laboring in this life is to benefit temporally, fleshly,
carnally, That's what you'll get. And you know what it is?
Corruption. Riches do make themselves wings
and fly away. Why do you labor for that which
is not? Why? But if what you do in this
world, even if it's physical labor, whatever it is, if you
do that to reap the spiritual, If you do everything you do to
honor and glorify God, that's gonna prosper, because God is
gonna be honored, and he is gonna be glorified with you or without
you. With you means everybody wins. But if you're so into your flesh,
you lose forever. And lose is not even a strong
enough word. You die forever. You see what he's saying? Sow
to the spirits, not the flesh. Do what you do to reap life everlasting. And don't be weary in it. Don't
be weary in it for in due season, we shall reap. We shall reap
one way or the other. This crop's coming home. If we faint not. That's the exhortation
here. Don't be weary. Don't quit. Don't throw up your hands like
the psalmist, Psalm 74, I believe it is, or 73, where he said,
well, the world, they don't give a hoot for God. They're prospering,
and we who worship the Lord, and there's nothing good happening
to us. It's vain, it's vanity. And then the Lord showed him
the truth, didn't he? Showed him the truth and he said, oh,
what an idiot I am. What a beast. What an ignorant
beast I was. God give us grace. We've got
a little while here, a little while. I'm gonna be 60 years
old. I can't say anymore I'm fixing
to be old one of these days. I can't say that anymore. I'm
old. We're all getting old, we're
getting old fast. Just a little while here. Don't
be deceived. God is not mocked. It's not complicated. Whatever
you sow, whatever you're hoping to reap, it better not be to this flesh,
because this flesh is a goner. It's a goner. God give us grace as we have
therefore opportunity. Let us do good. Whether it benefits
us or don't benefit us, let us do good. Unto all, especially
unto them who are of the household of faith. Have we not seen that
all through this? Especially them. Especially them. Because that's how you do it
to the Lord. That's how you do it unto him. Is our labor in this world fleshly
and concerning the things of the flesh or spiritual and concerning
the things of the spirit? And these final exhortations
in our chapter we'll look at more particularly next time if
the Lord is willing. But I want to just read verses
13 through 16 and make one final comment. Watch ye. Stand fast
in the faith, look at verse 13 of our text. Watch ye stand fast in the faith,
quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with
love. Man, it's so easy to get caught
up in hate in this world, isn't it? I'm so susceptible to that. There's a lot to hate in there.
There's a lot to hate. Why are we even concerning ourselves
with that? Why are we even worried about
that? Why are we even... Let's do what we love. Let's
do what we do in love. I want to surround myself with
those that I love and love me and let that be my life. to do good by God's grace, with
love. I beseech you, brethren, you
know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of
Achaia, that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of
the saints, and that you submit yourselves unto such and to everyone
that helpeth with us and laboreth. So as Paul is an example in his
very just everyday Instructions and practical matters travel
where to go what to do as Christ is all even in that He instructs
them the same Addict yourself to that which
matters And submit to those that do in
other words be a helper with them a fellow laborer with them And here's my prayer God let
us in on it let us in on It don't look like it in this
world, but God's doing something marvelous. He's doing something
wonderful. He's doing something glorious in this world. And may
he give us the heart to be in on it and open to us the door
to actually do something for him. And being a blessing to his sheep and to open a great door to us
to exalt Christ in whatever way he permits, whatever way he gives
us to do that, to do what we can like the woman
with the alabaster box, she did what she could. Make us able and willing, Lord,
to do something for you and to know But the only reason we have that
privilege is because you've done everything for us. Let's pray.