2 Corinthians, 8:16-20
Bob Eckel · Feb 20, 2005
2 Corinthians (2004-05), No. 34
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826232136493

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, 2 Corinthians chapter 8. And when I was thinking about the lesson for this week and next, I was thinking kind of, why don't we do this in one week? And then I was thinking, no, why don't we do it in two weeks? So as assigned, it's going to be a two-weeker. And I think, actually, there's an opportunity for us to have some discussion about the text before us.

Let's, before we get into verses 16 through 20, which is what I want to cover today, let's read the first six verses of chapter 8, and then we're going to hop down to reading 16 through 24. So who'd like to read? Who's got their Bible open? Bill, you got it? Let's read. If you do 1 through 6 in chapter 8, and then we're going to drop down to 16 through 24. Go ahead.

Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia. That is, a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy, and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testified that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints. not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. So we urge Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. But thanks be to God who put the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord.

We have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches. And not only this, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord himself, and to show our readiness, taking precautions so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift. We have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. We have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found diligent in many but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and my fellow worker among you. As for our brethren, they are messengers of the church, a glory to Christ. Therefore, openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you. Thanks, Bill.

Now, the reason I did the first six verses and then jumped to 16 is not to just omit the other section purposely, although in a sense I think that I did make a decision to omit it. In fact, verses 7 through 15 is really a lot of meat. And Hal and Jim have both been covering that section and done a great job. But this is really kind of the exemplary nature of the Lord Jesus Christ lived after the believer. I mean, the example is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and that's the basis by which this whole text is written and founded upon. So, don't be misled by the fact that we didn't look through 7 and through 15. It was just a matter of time.

But I think the first part of the chapter kind of sets the stage of where we're going right now. So let's turn to verse 16. In the interlude, but thanks to God giving the same diligence on behalf of you the heart of Titus. So we're returning really back to the sixth verse of this chapter. Let's go back and look at that again. "...insomuch that we besought Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also." So we leave the section 7 through 15 behind, or kind of in parenthesis, and we move on to verse 16 because again it brings up the person of Titus.

So, what we're looking at here is God giving or putting into it, it's a present act of participle, this diligence, and this is a God-given diligence, and the present act of participle implies that this is an ongoing action, that God just didn't do it once and say go at it, go get the job done. This is an outworking of the Lord through the Holy Spirit in Titus to pursue the task that the Lord had outlined for him. So hence, Titus is just full of zeal, and he really is the man of the hour, the day, the week, the month for the Corinthian church. And this is an outworking that's ongoing. This is not just a one-time only deal.

Let's turn to Colossians 3.17.

I believe that this is really the heart that Titus had for this ministry is exemplified by this type of statement in the Word of God. Paul says here, and whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

Does that really speak of Titus here? I think so. I think this reflects really the atmosphere that was surrounding Titus his ministry. Paul commends Titus for several reasons, I believe. The first is that there, meaning not only Titus, remember, Paul refers to it being administered to us.

I mean, he talks about the plural here. This is in Titus only. We find out that there's a brother that's been added. We're going to find out a little bit more about him in a minute, or maybe we're not going to find out more about him, because honestly I'm not sure who that is yet.

We'll talk about the possibilities, but But anyway, that they are, meaning Paul, Titus, they're all part of the kind of the same team in terms of the goals that are set forth in terms of bringing some finances back to Jerusalem and others, that the credit might not be suspected. In other words, Titus is a commendable brother in the Lord. And I think that Paul sets Titus up and he sets him up appropriately for the task at hand.

And, you know, the other thing is to kind of dispel rumor that he's really there to rob the churches. In other words, maybe this guy Titus has really kind of got another agenda on board. We're going to come back to that this morning, I promise. So this other agenda could be maybe just kind of pocketing a little money on the way and he's going to carry out the ministry, but maybe half-heartedly.

But no, God is giving and extending this diligence. Titus is a man of the Lord whose motives are clean and pure. because they're God-given, and there's no question. And Paul commends Titus for his dedication to the task. And then, secondly, is that the church might be all the more ready to contribute.

I mean, it's not only that Titus is an honorable man in the Lord, but also he wants to commend Titus so that the church is open to understanding what they may be giving to in terms of the God-given nature of that gift. Keep in mind, I mean, there are people knocking on our doors all the time for money, right? And I guess we're responsible, aren't we, to know where our money goes as believers. And sometimes we give out of kind of warm fuzzies and just a soft part of them something, and that may not be anything wrong with that, but I think Paul is really setting up in a very, very sound way the importance of understanding what happens to those funds that we are capable of giving on his behalf. So Titus is represented as an honorable man that Paul obviously thinks a lot of. Any questions at all about verse 16? All right, verse 17, back to the King James.

For indeed he accepted the exhortation, but being very diligent of his own accord, he went unto you. And that kind of seems like a contrary statement, but I think it's probably because he did accept the exhortation, he was diligent in going unto you. There's not this kind of, oh, by the way, he, you know, this is kind of a sidetrack. This is part of his diligence. coming under the Church of Corinth. Notice he accepted the exhortation.

You know, as believers we're often in the position of who's making that call? Is that the Spirit or is that the old man in terms of our conscience really trying to mislead us in doing something that's nice or good? I sense that Titus didn't have that contradiction existing in his own mindset, that he in fact had accepted responsibility and didn't feel forced to do this. We have no evidence that this is something that was made mandatory on him for him to prove his faith.

The Macedonians besought the Apostle with much desire to give unto him, and that's evidenced in verses 4 through 6, which Bill read this morning. Look at verse 4, beseeching us with much entreaty or much desire or strong zeal. that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints, verse six, insomuch that we besought Titus that he had begun, he would also finish in you the same. So the idea is that the Macedonian church, if you will, remember verse one, we're talking about the brethren that represent really the churches of Macedonia, they in fact had a great desire to give because of the credibility of these believers, Paul, Titus, and presumably this other brother who are going to be part of this.

So the question is, is this how the Spirit works? How does the Spirit work in this whole aspect of financial evangelism, if you will? How does he work through the body? Is there any pressure that you sense to give at this church? Is there a Titus among us who you feel that in any way is putting pressure on us to respond? No, and I sense that the relationship that Paul and Titus had with the Church at Corinth wasn't one of demand, but one of God's purpose, and I think that relates to the credibility and the truth of the Word of God that actually was exemplified in them as they move forward to meet this need in Jerusalem.

Okay, so the Spirit is never working by pressure and uncomfortableness. That doesn't mean things that the Spirit may not have of us are always easy, right? I mean, there can be tasks that are brought before us in terms of the Spirit leading us there that are quite difficult. And that can relate to financial matters, too.

I mean, remember last week how taught on equality, the idea of those with much, you know, are in a position to meet the needs of those without much. But... Jim, yeah. Jim, you taught last week, that's right. So, but in verse 14, but by an equality that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality. So, This issue of the finances in the pockets of believers is really something that ultimately the Lord has there for his own purpose and his own glory. Do we have any indication of Macedonians? What church is that?

Just wait a few minutes Doug. We're going to get there because there are a couple of inquiries here that are not totally satisfied, I think, by the word, but we'll come to that. That's fine. That's fine. It's a good question. I had the same question, actually, and it's still kind of not totally solved, but we'll come to this in the next verse, actually. Okay.

So very diligent or earnest. This is more earnest than ordinary. I mean, you think earnest is a fairly descriptive adjective, but this is more earnest. So the idea of being very diligent is really a responsibility Todd has accepted that really he was kind of thrilled about. I mean this wasn't just a casual opportunity for him.

And he went and the Greek went forth. It should say he's going forth because this is an active verb indicating that this is the process by which he's going through. But often in the earlier writings it's put in the past tense. in that they expected it to have already occurred when, in fact, the text was written. So you just have to accept that for what it's representing there. All right. Okay, verse 18, back to the interlinear Greek.

And we sent with him the brother of whom the praise in the gospel is through all the churches. So the question comes up then, who is this brother? And I don't know that I can give you an answer to that this morning after some diligence on my own part trying to seek out who this brother really was in terms of looking at parallel passages, commentaries, etc. So let's think about who this might be. It could be Luke. actually, it's interesting, if you turn to 2 Corinthians 12 18, which you don't have to turn there, but in the Greek there's an article before the term brother. I mean, Luke is identified as a brother of Titus, and I don't know about you, I mean, Wayne's my brother, but he's not my brother by blood, but he's my brother in the Lord, right? And you would think that in context in the Greek that ultimately that Luke was just simply a Christian brother of Titus's, but in fact in the Greek there's an article that says his brother. Now, does that mean his blood brother or does that mean that it's his brother of the Lord? I don't know that we want to overly interpret that, but I do think it's been raised as a possibility that Luke may in fact be his earthly brother. I would tend to be more broad in my interpretation that it's his brother in the Lord, but it's an interesting article before brother that may imply something more than simply his brother in the Lord.

Luke was also with Paul at this time. If you turn back to Acts 26, which I don't want you to do, you get an idea that Luke is really part of the ministry, and this is Paul's second missionary journey. Luke's with him, at least in part, during that journey. So maybe Luke fits the criteria from that perspective too. Paul states in the Scripture repeatedly companions of travel. This must be stated a number of times.

I just gave you two examples in 2 Corinthians 8.19, which is the next verse, and Acts 19.29. Luke was the most prominent, having been his companion preaching the gospel. And that was true during Paul's first entrance into Europe. And that was actually his first missionary journey. Luke was with Paul. So Luke is kind of tied up in the ministry and tied up in the evangelism. So is it possible that this brother that Paul speaks about to be with Titus is Luke? Again, support by indirect evidence, not direct. But is this a criminal case or a civil case? If it's a civil case, Luke might make it here. If this is a criminal case, the evidence of proof is not sufficient, right? All right.

The fourth point here is that, in addition, it had been five years since Luke parted from Paul and Philippi, and that was certainly sufficient time for him to be experienced and praised in the ministry. I mean, not that he already wasn't. But Luke and Paul had hung out probably mostly during his second missionary journey, and if we date that, think about this now, the book, the second epistle to the Corinthians was written approximately in 60 AD, but Paul's second missionary journey was probably, and again these dates are not perfectly secure, but it was probably 51 or 52 AD. So we're talking about five plus years difference between when Paul was writing this letter to the Church of Corinth and ultimately when Paul had shared Luke's presence in his own ministry.

So I'm just going to suggest to you that Luke is a possibility here, but beyond that I think you can speculate all you want. I mean who else this might be? I don't think it's Barnabas or Timothy, but who knows? It's a brother. And we learned that this brother has great praise surrounding him from all the churches. So it's obviously somebody like Titus who is credible to the task that's been given him.

In Acts 24 it says that the Macedonian brethren Septeter, Aristarchus, and Secundus did travel with him to Jerusalem. Let's turn back to Acts 24 a second because I think this is relevant here. We're going to have a cartography session here in a few minutes. So let's set the stage here in Acts chapter 20 where it says, and after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced them and departed to go into Macedonia. Remember, we're talking about here the churches of Macedonia.

And when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece. And there abode three months, and when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he proposed a return to Macedonia. And there accompanied him into Asia, Scipiter of Berea, and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and of Asia, Titus and Trophimus. Why do I just select these guys, Sopater, Aristarchus, and Seconus? Well, Berea is in Macedonia, and Thessalonica is in Macedonia.

But Derbe is really what we would call part of, at that time, Asia, or Turkey today. I mean, Derbe is a different geographic area. And so Gaius is of Derbe, and Timothy is of Asia, as I guess is Tychicus and Trophimus. So I mean the issue here is where these people have arisen from.

So these guys here potentially could be listed among those that Paul had made acquaintance with previously on other expeditions and could be potentially the brother that would now join Titus in the trip to Corinth. Speculation entirely. And we'll leave it at that. All we know is that this this brother who accompanied Titus was highly esteemed and praised in the gospel in the churches that he represented. Any other thoughts about this, about who this might be? Okay. All right, Doug, to get to your question now. We'll just lay the sheet off. In verse 19, it says, "...and not only this, but also having been elected by the churches..." Now, keep in mind that this brother is being elected by the churches.

"...a traveling companion for us in this grace, being ministered by to the himself..." Interesting, this is again the interlinear Greek. "...ministered by to himself of the Lord glory and eagerness of us." In other words, the King James makes it a little easier and your version might even be more clear, where it says, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and to show our ready mind. So it's really the Lord's glory that actually is being portrayed in this companion, this fellow traveler with Titus in terms of the ministry to obtain support for the Jerusalem believers.

Alright, so Doug, your question, what churches? And Jim and Hal and I were talking about this a little bit after Jim's session last week. Think about today's church structure. If somebody said to you that the churches appointed a missionary or an evangelist or a someone to do the deeds of accruing resources for a church impoverished because of the times, what would you think of? Hal, you can leave the class now. I feel like dancing in the spirit. You don't want to see that either.

So what churches? I mean, there are churches in Asia, there are churches in Thrace or Greece, in Achaia, which is really Greece, and Thrace, which is east of Macedonia. So there are churches all over the place here in the Mediterranean region. Is this all the churches that have appointed this brother? Or is this the churches meaning all the believers in a local congregation?

If you look at Philippians 1.1, that describes kind of a church. You think about the local church, but this is plural, and you can't get around that. So what churches are we talking about here? Are there bishops and all this kind of stuff? Is this denominational? Churches are all established, right? All right. Local gatherings. Where do you think? Do you think it's Macedonia? I think it could be, don't you? I mean, it seems like we're steeped in the Macedonian tradition here of what this ministry is all about. So, I don't know.

I mean, I think that we don't have to get bogged down here either because we don't really understand exactly what inter-church structure was all about at that time. All we know is that Paul was in the business of finding or founding churches and that those churches operated presumably on the same truth one to the other, unlike today.

I mean, today, churches, goodness, what does that mean? Goodness, this morning, look at your choices about where you could be going and be in a church. And the worldview, the problem with the church today is the worldview lumps all the churches kind of together, doesn't it? With the Catholic Church.

Oh yeah, to a large extent. The moral, when it says the Christian Church, Oh, the Pope, basically, right? The Pope represents the Christian Church from the non-biblical view, for sure, I think. I mean, that's a broad statement, but I think it's probably not far from the truth.

Yeah, Wayne. I know, just like Paul starts out the book, you know, to the Church of God, which is at Corinth, so he's speaking to the Church as the believer, happened, this group happens to be at Corinth or wherever they are, you know, in different places, so the church. Remember, the letters to Corinth, right? And these people are approaching Corinth now, or in Corinth, to try to carry out this mission, if you will. Right?

I think he's speaking, you know, the churches are the church at different places. Oh, so you think these are all the local churches in Corinth, or do you think that these are churches outside of the Corinthian area? I think it can be outside of it. Yeah, okay. Well, I think honestly that in context the best answer is this, is that we're talking about the churches of Macedonia.

And we're going to look at a map a second in terms of the second missionary journey of Paul and how that relates to Macedonia. But how these churches communicate and ultimately chose this companion of Titus' I think is unclear. We don't understand much about church structure and church communication at the time. All we know is that Paul was in touch with many of them through his epistles and through personal interactions with people that had also been on travels with him or maybe even independent of him.

So in Acts 14.23 it says, And when they had ordained them elders in every church, so it suggests that there's some some process that has an overseen capacity to it. And had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. Now again, this verse is out of context, but I'm just using this, and when they had ordained them elders in every church, Is that all local bodies that are part of the ordination process of the choosing of elders in a local church only? Or is this a broader perspective of a region of churches, such as Macedonia, where in fact the process is overseen by someone who's in that position?

Have you thought about that at all, in terms of what the church structure might have been at that time? No. I mean, the only thing we know is what the scripture says about the church here, the church there, the church in Philippi, the church in Corinth, and even those in Achaia. So I would go for the specific churches that are mentioned. Any other thoughts or wisdom on this particular verse? We don't even know whether, let's take Thessalonica for instance. We don't know whether there was just one church there, or whether there were small groups.

Right. You know, it's a good point, Doug. You tend to think, don't you, when you think about the church at Thessalonica, as you read about it scripturally, don't you think about one body in Thessalonica? I mean, that's the way my brain works. It's one body of believers in Thessalonica. And, you know, everybody's on foot, but there could have been 15 different congregations in Thessalonica, right? All feeding off the same letters that Paul had sent. They pass them around the city.

I think this is all pretty speculative, and it's really probably not very important, is it? I mean, if you really think about it. But the issue is it's neat to kind of try to reflect on what the process might have been. Yes? I just made a point in the history of Thessalonica, about 200,000 population. At that time? Yes.

So that'd be tough to have one church, right? What's interesting is, what are the names of these elders? We know of Paul, but we don't know the name of the elder. So, James was not so much placed on the elder, but placed on Jesus. Well, is the they up there the apostles, when they had ordained others in every church? Let's turn back to that, Jack. I haven't looked at that this morning again. I kind of forget who they was. Let's take a look there.

1423. Let's start with 21, and when they had preached, let's see, the disciples, okay? So they are the disciples, let's go back to 19, and there came there certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Nevertheless, as the disciples stood around him, he rose up and came into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe, and when they had preached the gospel, I guess Paul and Barnabas, maybe at least, perhaps the disciples too, to that city. I presume it's really Paul and Barnabas here that they are referring to. And had taught many, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained elders in every church. So that would tend to make me think that Paul and Barnabas are the ones ordaining. But elders in every church, as Doug suggested, is that every local church or is that in a region?

I think we're not sure and I think we can quit speculating at this point. I tend to like in context the interpretation, Doug, that the churches are the churches of Macedonia but because back in verse 1 through 4, moreover brethren, we do you to whitter the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.

And I sense that that's really where the text that follows flows out of. Can I make one more comment? Yeah, sure. Oh, absolutely. You know, it could be the deacons' role as well. You know, you're talking kind of in the context of the elders. But, you know, in Acts 6, we see that the deacons are appointed to take care of some of the more physical needs of the widows who are being overlooked and barely getting any food. So, I'm just throwing out that it could also be someone who could be a deacon, not only just someone who could be an elder. This is an issue with the finance, making sure it's getting to that. That does tend to be more of a deacon role, so it's an elder role. And the term elders and deacons doesn't come up in context in 2 Corinthians 8, right?

I mean, but you're right, it could well represent that type of an individual. Okay, let's turn to the map here a second, because I think it's maybe relevant to geographically get a little bit more oriented to the region. So this is Macedonia up here, and this is Thrace, and this is Achaea, which now is known as Greece, and this is Asia, which to a large extent is Turkey in the Middle East. So here are the churches that are part of Macedonia, if you will. First of all, it's important to know that the boundaries of Macedonia varied substantially over the centuries. And when I did kind of an online look at what Macedonia is today, Macedonia is more contrite, it's more geographically confined today, but it's still a region of the world and Europe that's called Macedonia. It really relates to Albania and to some extent those regions surrounding there and northern Greece. But anyway, the capital was Pella, which is 24 miles northwest of Thessalonica, so somewhere around here, it's not shown on the map.

But we've heard of Philippi. We've heard of Thessalonica. We certainly have heard of Berea. It's mentioned in the scripture numerous times. So this is kind of the region that ultimately has presumably multiple churches. And we know there's one in Philippi. We know there's one in Thessalonica. And we know there's one in Berea. So anyway, and here's just an idea.

Paul's second journey kind of came up through, you can't see very well here, but it's kind of this line here from Antioch coming down up through here and up through this region and ultimately down to Corinth. So Paul's second journey traversed Macedonia. And it's appropriate to, I think, think in context that the churches at Macedonia are those that were ordaining and encouraging and praying for these individuals as they move forward.

Now the combined effort was between Titus and this companion was also done to produce a readiness on the part of Paul and the brother to undertake the responsibility. I think it's important to recognize that the alms that were to be gathered were being bestowed for the relief of the church at Jerusalem, a church ministry. This isn't a one-man deal here. I mean the idea is that we, representing this This opportunity by more than one individual, I think, produced credibility to the fact that the alms were being bestowed for many. The second is the union of the brother with Paul in this affair of the collection was done to guard against suspicious injurious behavior that was really to be to the glory of the Lord. So the idea of having one more person other than just Titus be responsible for this enhanced the accountability of the task that God was working out in them. And then the final thing is the fear of suspicions arising as to their appropriation of the money.

And we'll come to that in verse 20 in a moment. So there's lots of reasons to have this important task represented by more than one individual. And keep in mind that when there's two or more, you're accountable to one another. I mean, that's why we have more than one elder here, right? We have Hal and Mike and Roger and Vern all kind of accountable one to the other, not that we're not trusting in any given one of them, but it's important to be spiritually accountable. And I sense that that really was an important part of this task at the time.

So verse 20, avoiding this lest any one us should blame in this bounty being ministered by us. That's the millennial Greek and the King James, avoiding this that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us. And we're going to kind of tease that out here in a second with some modern day examples. So avoiding this is kind of a present middle participle, which it means to set or arrange.

So we want to arrange this so nobody's going to be blaming anybody here. So the idea of two or more people ultimately, again, enhances the accountability so that no one would be blamed for any misgivings in this ministry. And I think this shows good conduct and great prudence of the Apostle on his care and solicitude that the ministry be not blamed. Paul knew, in fact, that he had many enemies and how subject they were to suspicion and jealousy and particularly in the abundance in which this was.

This was not a small gift. I mean, you get every reason to believe that this gift to the Jerusalem believers was no small ante. And these guys are going from place to place gathering these funds. I mean, they could, in today's standards, could probably be tracking millions of dollars back to Jerusalem in terms of all the churches that were being appealed to to support this ministry. So we're really, I think, committing this to the Lord that their care and trust would be ultimately accomplished in this important task. So anyway, I kind of thought about this a little bit in terms of not, you know, doing the entire section this morning but saving some for next week. I thought we'd go a little bit tangential here for a second. I thought that kind of looked like Vaughn on the left there a little bit. What do you think? Now that, and I don't know, is that Doyle or is that, maybe that's Howe. I don't know, is that Howe? Too tall, too tall for Roger.

Mike's a little trimmer than that though, isn't he? Well, anyway, you know, the blurriness is not, I mean, that's the way it was on the web too. So, I mean, it just kind of pulled it the way it was. So, I mean, anyway, this looks a bit problematic, doesn't it? Although the garb of these, if you will, elders, quote-unquote, is a little different than what we see here on Sunday mornings. But as we extend this a little bit further, I think I just got something that's kind of FYI for a point of discussion here. And this is the Alpha-Mega Report, which is an online prophecy ministry. And I thought this was a bit of a tease here this morning.

It said in this report that fascist socialist Lyndon LaRouche, you've all heard of Lyndon, I think. He's a primarily candidate for president on the Democratic Party ticket. He announced a campaign to expose President Bush's core support group, the American Christian evangelical fundamentalist movement, if you will. And LaRouche is the first segment of a two-part expose in the first segment of a two-part exposé, is planning to expose the Zionist Christian right-wing church groups that are supposedly the driving force in Bush's Middle East policies. Now, we do not endorse LaRoche nor give him any credence per se, but his attack, new attack on the American conservative churches, opens up a portal for others in the news media to also make such attacks.

We suspect that the news media is laying the groundwork for such an attack probably later this year or perhaps not until 2003. You can see where this was dated, not until 2003. It was written a few years ago. Let's go on to the next page. All right, this relates, I think, to the text at hand this morning.

This also brings to mind information we've picked up from various sources quite familiar with the Illuminati. that the conservative Christian leadership in the USA, including seminaries, have been infiltrated by fellow travelers, companions, if you will, a.k.a. wolves and sheepskins, pretending to be Christians, but in reality are Satanists at their very core, been slowly installed in the positions of leadership, behind-the-scenes power controllers that manipulate these ministries and churches towards the goals of the Illuminati.

In other words, folks most likely your denomination, perhaps even your local church, is under their control and you don't even realize it. Second point here is that we believe that most Christian organizations, the building's mine by the way, most Christian organizations, not necessarily all, but most of any large size, for instance, if it garners a million dollars or more, Wayne we're safe here, right? Should be considered suspicious or vulnerable in one way or another. We suspect most large or even small broadcasters, TV or radio, how? especially national or regional enterprises, as well as the publishing firms and other Christian enterprises and organizations, including denominations, have been or are being manipulated or infiltrated directly by satanic fellow travelers. We would encourage you, the reader, to be alert to these possibilities.

Anyway, I think, you know, the question is, is this Satan's job in the organized church or even the body believers at a local or regional level? I mean, Satan is the prince of this world, but we don't have to implicate him, do we? I mean, there's all kinds of indiscretions that are the power of the old man and the flesh that are capable of these kinds of activities. We don't need Satan to put wolves in sheep's clothing.

So I think this is just a reminder that we live in an age wherein the Church is being looked at through dark-tinged glasses. And any example of financial unscrutiny really is a representative statement for the body of believers. But that extends just past financial aspects in our lives. I mean, this isn't restricted to just what we do with our money, although I suspect that that's pretty evident what your priorities are in terms of what you do with what the Lord gives you. But it really is something that I think reflects on our local body and ultimately reflects on the church as a whole. And I think that ultimately these kinds of things are worthy of our consideration as we think about what Paul and Titus and this companion traveler that was with Titus were thinking about at those days.

Number one, but what I do, that I will do that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion. What does that mean? It means that the way we carry ourselves financially and in other ways, ultimately gives an opportunity for other people to be as parasites and sacrifice, to suck out of that in terms of interpretation or perception, something that would not be glorifying to the Lord. So in 2 Corinthians 11-12, it just says what we do, we want to do it in a way that doesn't give other people the opportunity to ask questions that cast dispersion on the ministry.

Remember, it's not you and me, it's that other guy that lives out through us, right through the power of the Spirit. And I think The Paul-Titus companion scenario that we just looked at is really, I think, an admonition for us to consider ourselves and the way we carry ourselves, financially and otherwise, really to heed a position that only would bring glory to the Lord, not to somebody else who's trying to, in fact, be scrutinous in a negative sense of our behavior. Matthew 10, 16, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves." So again, walking in the spirit is one in which we clearly are sheep in a sheep pasture and not aka wolves in sheep's clothing. Romans 14, 16, let not then your good be evil spoken of. So even in this ministry that Paul and Titus and the companion traveler were wrapped up in, this other brother in the Lord, I mean that could have been a perfect opportunity to scoundrel funds and ultimately make them available to their own use. Ephesians 5, 15, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.

And I love 1 Thessalonians 5.22, and boy, you know, it's only the other guy that ultimately carries out that responsibility in us, isn't he?

Abstain from all appearance of evil. Boy, and that gets into the whole issue of choices of reading material, movies, clothing, I mean, everything that we can actually touch in our day-to-day lives. That's a pretty challenging command, isn't it? abstain from all appearance of evil. Now the question comes up, who is in the position of judging what's evil?

And as believers, we have tremendous freedom, do we not, in terms of what we do with our time and our money? But ultimately, I think that the Spirit is true to this role that He has in each one of us. It's not a yardstick that we're measuring up to here. We're not under law. but we're led by the Spirit, and that Spirit is what allows us to be comfortable in abstaining from all appearance of evil.

And keep in mind, I think the principle here in money or other areas is ultimately stumbling, too. I mean, there may be things that we have the freedom for, but ultimately if we're putting others in a position to stumble because of our decisions, then ultimately that could be perceived as an appearance of evil. So this, fortunately, this is a spirit-led thing. I can't tell you about your behavior. I'm going to have trouble figuring out my own.

But the idea here is that Scripture is really, importantly, admonishing us to walk in a way that have us abstain from the appearance of evil. So I think, and this is particularly evident, I think, in the text we studied this morning in terms of the way Paul established Titus in this ministry with his fellow believer to meet the needs of the Jerusalem Church. Any thoughts at all about what we've touched on here today? You know, just repeatedly, as we look at the whole book, Paul kept saying over and over, like he's open before then, he's of a pure conscience, and that kind of speaks to what he's walking There's not allowed there to be any potential stumbling blocks for people to bring up with his life.

You know, Jim, just to bounce off that a bit, and you're perfectly right in what you've said. How many times have you found yourself in a kind of an embarrassing situation where you made a mistake, and then you're trying to figure out how you're going to explain your mistake, and you start getting led down the path of confabulating some story? And ultimately, I mean, I've tried to heed this in my own life and teach my children this, but I mean, the best answer is always the transparent truth. I made a mistake.

And it just, it's just such a great witness to let other people see the reality of who you really are. And you know, when we're truly repentant of that, and we've made a mistake and we move on from there, the truth always works. And I sense the same thing in financial matters.

I mean, the idea of the church having open books in terms of the resources come in and where they go. And I know we're certainly in a position of great comfort around here. But what was attempted to be portrayed by some of these cartoons and things is the fact that many organizations may not be there.

But then are we thinking of the churches in Macedonia being all kind of representative of the truth of the gospel being lived out in the life of the believer of the local body? Are we talking about the denominationalism we have in this world in which we live.

That's a whole different ballgame. There are no denominations in the churches of Macedonia, right? We don't have Presbyterians and American Baptists and Covenant theologians there. We have the body of Christ. And fortunately, the body is what we're called to, not anything other than that in terms of this.

Any other comments or thoughts about this morning's lesson? The one other thing that hit me Bob is, like in verse 19, that all of this is to the glory of the Lord. And as you go through all of this, the giving, the giving of ourselves, the giving to ministry, the giving financially, Paul, you know, always focuses it, that it's to the glory of the Lord. Yeah, in that regard, I really encourage you this evening, this afternoon, but for next week, is go back and read 7 through 15 again, because that really is the source and foundation of the ministry we're talking about here. Verse 9, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

I mean, that's the thread that weaves this into the truth that's represented here. All right, let's pray. Father, we're thankful for this opportunity to look into your word and heed those valuable aspects of it that pertain to our own lives. And may we be encouraged by the example in Titus and his fellow companion here that they were admonished and gratefully accepted the opportunity to glorify you in their deeds and activities. We're thankful for that each one of us have that same possibility and that we're given all grace to do so to your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.