Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. As we know, we mention it every
every time we open this for the Bible study. The Apostle Paul
has been talking about dealing with the subject of giving with
the Corinthians. Specifically, what is taking
place and the reason he's writing this in the first place is because
there were some poor brethren in Jerusalem. Jerusalem had some
very very poor brethren and a year before Paul wrote this letter
he knew that the Corinthians were talking about making up
an offering to send it to the poor brethren in Jerusalem. And he's telling them right here
that I want to encourage you to do what you were talking about
doing a year ago. He said that was a good thing
and I want to encourage you to do it. In verse 10 he said, and
herein I give my advice for this is expedient for you who have
begun before not only to do but also to be forward or willing
a year ago. You were willing a year ago.
Now, therefore, perform the doing of it that as there was a readiness
to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have."
Now, I was thinking this morning, I was thinking yesterday as I
was going through these notes, I got up this morning and I was
just thinking about it while our brother was praying for us.
Here I stand and my heart's desire is that we might have the truth
this morning. That's my heart's desire. I pray
we might have God's word, God's message, God's blessing, God's
spirit. Only God can do it. And it is
so relieving to me as I stand, it's a great concern. I go through
this and I see, is this God's word? Is it God's truth? The
great blessing to me and what is so special about our gospel
is we have words like this, finished. We have words like this, accomplished. Done. Done. The Apostle Paul is telling them,
I want to encourage you to do what you were willing to do.
Not only was it our Lord's will to do what he did for us, he
did it. He did it. It was not just in
the mind and the heart and the will, you know, he would be willing
to, uh, you know, that leper came up and said, Lord, if you
will, if you're willing. And the Lord said, I will be
thou clean. And not only was it in his heart
to do it, but he did it. He performed the doing of it
with a willing mind. Let this mind be in us, which
was also in Christ. Well, through the end of this
chapter, we're going to finish out these verses. He is going
to, the apostle Paul is going to tell them, I'm sending three
men. to get this offering, this gift. He called it a grace throughout
the chapter. I'm gonna send three men to take
this offering from you to the saints at Jerusalem. And in this,
he gives some good advice. This is very good advice. And
at the end, he says something that's a real blessing. I wanna
focus on that at the end of this. All right, we pick up with verse
16. He said, but thanks be to God
which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. Titus was a preacher of the gospel.
And when God calls a man to preach, not only does he burden him with
a message, whenever the Lord sends a message to a person,
it is a burdening thing. It's a consuming thing. You're
burdened with a message. I have to tell something. And
not only does God burden him with a message, he burdens him
with the realization that the gospel is what feeds God's sheep. They need to be fed. Without
the preaching of the gospel, they will starve. They will spiritually
starve. He burdens the man. He puts the
message in the man to go to whatever lengths it takes. to deliver
that message, no matter who it is, no matter how many it is,
that's irrelevant. It doesn't matter. Just like
if there was actual food involved in taking it to your own child,
if you were taking actual food to your own child, what links
would you go to to bring actual food to your own child or to
your own spouse or your own parents? What links would you go to? Whenever
I first started preaching, I started preaching because I wanted to
preach. That's why I started preaching.
Now I preach because I am concerned about the people I'm preaching
to. I don't just want to preach anymore. I've had plenty of opportunities
to do that. It's different. It's different. The Lord burdens the heart for
the one the message has to go to. And that is the burden that
God put in the heart of Titus. He said in verse 16, thanks be
to God which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus
for you. For indeed, he accepted the exhortation. But being more forward or willing
of his own accord, he went unto you. Now, Paul said, I asked
him to go and he would not have run without being sent. This is very important in this
whole mode of what's being said here. I want to interject a side
note. This is so important. Look with me, if you would, at
Acts 13. Acts 13 verse 1, it says, Now
there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets
and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger
and Lucius of Cyrene and Menaion, which had been brought up with
Herod the Tetrarch and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had
fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them
away. That's how it works. Every single
time. Every single time. When God calls
a man to the ministry of preaching, God calls the man. God notifies
everybody. And then he's sent. Everybody
starts to realize, I believe God has his hand on that man.
I think we ought to ask him to preach. I think we ought to send
him out to that congregation to preach. Everybody real realizes
that God calls the man. You know, a young man thinks,
well, if I don't let it be known, God, I might miss out. If I don't
go around telling everybody I'm going to miss it, that's not
how it works. Every single time, the Holy Ghost of God Almighty
calls the man, tells everybody, and the man is going out. He
is going out. You cannot, if God does it, it
can't be stopped. The man does not feel a burden
and then run with it. You can feel a burden after you
eat spicy food. And I know that's funny, but
it's so. Feelings come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. They're
very deceiving. People can feel led to do this
or feel led to do that, and then all of a sudden, I don't feel
led to do that anymore. I mean, they can be passionate about
it and then Total change of mind. Look with me at Romans 10. Romans 10 verse 14 says, how
then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? In Jeremiah 23, God condemned
the false prophets. He condemned all the false prophets
that did not have his message. They were not his men. He said,
they ran, but I didn't send them. I did not send them. If a man
feels a burning desire to preach, I know that feeling. If a man
feels an absolute inward burning desire to preach, here's the
only thing to do about it. Sit still. Deny yourself. That's what it
means when it says Barnabas and all those men were fasting. They
were denying themselves. Sit still, deny yourself, pray
about it. They were fasting and praying
and then wait on the Lord to call. Just wait on the Lord to
call. If God does not call, I promise
you don't want to go. If God does not call, you don't
want to go. Well, let's just go and see how
it turns out. Alright, now with that being
said, there is nothing wrong with a man having an overnight
bag packed. Nothing wrong at all. There's
nothing wrong with a man having an outline in order. Nothing
wrong with a man being ready if God calls a man he'll turn
that outline into a message. There's a difference in an outline
and a message and if God calls the man he'll make that outline
a message. But there's nothing wrong with being ready there's
nothing wrong with if a man desires the office of a preacher he desires
a good work. And there's nothing wrong with
that, but just wait on God to call. That's the key. Wait on
God to call. Don't go around telling everybody
that you want to be a preacher, especially that you want to be
a pastor. Don't do that. Don't tell anybody
that. Here's the reason why. The men
who are in the position to ask will say, wait a minute. That's
not how God moves. That's not how God works. Something's
not right here. I believe I as a young man needed
to be told. I believe it's a wise thing to
tell us. Sit still. Wait. Don't say anything. Leave it in the Lord's hands.
If it's going to be done, just let God do it. Wait on him to
call. I love how Eli told Samuel. You know what Eli told Samuel?
He said, go get back in the bed. That's what he said. What should
I do? Go get back into bed. And if
the Lord calls you again, then say, speak, Lord, thy servant
heareth. But until that time, don't run
here and don't run there. And he said, just go get back
into bed and just wait on the Lord. All right. That's our side
note. Go back to the text. Second Corinthians
eight. Verse 16, but thanks be to God,
which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you,
for indeed he accepted the exhortation. He was called on and he accepted
it, but being more willing of his own accord, he went unto
you. Not only did he accept the call,
he wanted the call and that's of God too. That is of God too. He was happy to receive the call. God makes his people willing
in the day of his power. When I came here, I wanted to
come here. There was only one thing in life
I wanted and it was to come here. God makes us willing. Verse 18,
we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel. throughout all the churches.
We don't know who this brother is. He said, we sent with Titus,
this brother. and it's not clear who he is. If you look at the end of chapter
13, the very last verse in the whole book, there's a footnote
at the end of 2 Corinthians 13 verse 14. It says, the second
epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi, a city
of Macedonia, by, meaning Paul spoke it, And Titus and Lucas
pinned it. So some speculate that that was
Luke. But other people speculate that
it was Barnabas. Some speculate it was Silas,
some Apollos, and some Mark. So we don't know. We have no
idea. Back in chapter 8, verse 18, we've sent with him
the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the
churches. All the churches knew who he
was. And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches
to travel with us with this grace, this gift, this offering of money,
which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and
declaration of your ready mind. Avoiding this, that no man should
blame us in this abundance, which is administered by us. providing
for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also
in the sight of men. And we have sent with them our
brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things,
but now much more diligent upon the great confidence which I
have in you." All right, he said, we're sending a brother with
Titus and with them, another brother. Three men. We're sending three men to handle
this money. I believe that's very wise. That's
just good and wise. I believe that ought to be put
into practice in every congregation of believers. Meaning, more than
one. That's what it means. We have
three men here, and two count. If one is missing, we have still
two that can count. And that's just wise. In verse
19 he said these men were chosen of the churches to handle this.
In verse 20 he said avoiding, he said we wanted to avoid at
all cost any appearance of evil. We want to avoid at all cost
any appearance of mishandling this grace, this blessing. this offering that has been given
we want to keep everything on the up and up that's what he's
saying and that's what we want to do here we want to keep it
on the up and up we want it in the foyer on the bulletin board
you're welcome to look at my salary you're welcome to look
at where every dime goes that goes, you're just welcome to. And everything that happens here,
other than we don't wisely disclose how much every person gives,
we put the total amount back in the back. But we would be
wise to make everything that happens in this congregation,
besides what everybody gives individually, an open book. There
needs to be no secrets. There needs to be nothing hid.
There needs to be nothing Does that make sense? It's just
wise. We're a family. There's nothing
to hide. There's nothing to. It's wise,
very wise. So anyway, he said we wanted
to avoid any any appearance of mishandling this verse 20, avoiding
this, that no man should blame us in this abundance, which is
administered by us, providing for honest things, not only in
the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And he said
in verse 22, we've sent with them our brother whom we have
oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more
diligent upon the great confidence which I have in you. So Titus
and two brothers, and look what he says about these three men.
Verse 23, he said, whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my
partner and fellow helper concerning you. He said, I vouch for him.
I vouch for him, I vouch for his message, I vouch for his
character, I vouch for his motive. And he said, our brethren, if
they be inquired of these other two men, watch this, he said,
they are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. Now that's strong language. That's strong language. He said
they are the glory of Christ. I want to finish this lesson
on that note. I want to finish this just looking
at that for one second. I spent some real time trying
to figure out who these men were. That's how I realized we have
no idea, and that's how I realized this man says it's him, and this
man says it's him. I tried to get every commentary
I had on 2 Corinthians 8. I was just curious. He said these
men were the glory of Christ. I never could find out who they
were. It's not mentioned. Then I realized the blessing
in the fact that the Lord did not give their names. The sweetness
of the fact that the Lord did not reveal who they were when
he said, they're the glory of Christ. Every single believer
who is called of God to be his child, if a sinner has truly
been made to be God's child, any true brother or sister's
name can be put into that blank. Any brother or sister, it doesn't
matter who they are. Any brother or sister can be put into that
blank. All of God's true people are
the glory of Christ. Now they are not Christ's glory. He's our glory. He is literally, outside of Him,
we don't have any glory. He is our glory. Does that make sense? But we're
not His glory. In the sense, without us, He
has no glory. We glory in everything that He
is. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. He's our glory. But He does not
glory in what we are in the flesh. That's not what He means when
He said that. We don't in our flesh bring glory to Him. We do not add to or affect His
glory in any way. His eternal glory doesn't depend
on us at all. Not at all. But we, His people,
are the evidence of His greatest glory. If you want to see His
greatest glory, look at a redeemed child of God. Look at a redeemed
sinner against God, rebel against God. Just look at Luke 2 with
me. Luke 2 verse 10. And the angel
said unto them, fear not for behold, I bring you good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people for unto you is
born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ
the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. lying in a manger and suddenly
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace,
good will toward men. That's the glory of Christ. That is His greatest glory, the
peace and the good will that He brought to sinful man. Look
right here in verse 28. This is where the Lord is brought
to the temple at supposedly eight days old and Simeon's there waiting.
The Holy Ghost told him he wouldn't die until he'd seen the Christ. And they bring him in and he
sees this child. And verse 28 says, Then took
he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine
eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before
the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the
glory of thy people Israel." The glory, that's the glory of
Christ, the salvation, the glory of thy people. Ephesians 1, I'll
just read it to you, Ephesians 1 says, You'd think I could quote it.
Ephesians 1 verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein
he hath made us accepted in the beloved. That's the praise of
the glory of his free gift. He made us accepted in the beloved
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace, the glory of Christ. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. God forbid that I should glory
in anything except the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every soul that was crucified
with him, redeemed from the fall, quickened from death to life,
every prisoner set free, every single one is the evidence the
recipient, the proclaimer of the glory of Christ. They all
say, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give
glory. That's how you can spot them.
They say, Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. May that glory be in us. May
that glory, may we be seen as the glory of Christ, the recipients
of His glory, recipients of His work. All right, so back in the
text, in 2 Corinthians 8, the last verse says, Wherefore, show
ye to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of
our boasting on your behalf. He's telling them, you give these
three men, we sent these three men and they're recipients of
God's grace, recipients of the glory of Christ. And he said,
I vouch for them. And he said, you know, you've
made up your gift, you've made up your blessing. And he said,
you give it to these men as a proof of your love to God and love
to his people. and proof of our boasting on
your behalf that God has put grace into your hearts. And what
he's saying is, you can give it to these men and you don't
have to worry about what's going to happen to your money. That's
what he's telling them. A lot of people, you know, they
give their money and they want, I want my receipt now and where's
the money going? I need to know. And am I going
to get my name on the plaque in the foyer? You know, how much
do you have to give? He said, you just give it to
these men and you don't have to worry about it. God's in control
of it. God's gonna do whatever he sees fit to do with it. We're
giving unto the Lord. We're not giving to anything
else or anybody else. And that's how it is for us.
We just, everything we do, we just trust the Lord's in control
of it. His will is gonna be done in it. And we just don't have
to worry about it. All right, may the Lord bless
that to our hearts. You're dismissed.