Giving of oneself & financially is proof of our love - Part 1
2 Cor: 8:8-15 · Roger Henderson · Aug 20, 2017
2 Corinthians (2017), No. 32
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261722224158

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

This is lesson number two on giving. Hal kind of labeled it, kind of rightly so, as you learned last week, giving in one's self and financially is proof of your love. So I kind of flipped things around. I got another outline of this section from J. Verne McGee. And so today we're going to be in the section called Exhortation for Giving. And then Randy's going to actually cover these last two we covered in one week. because of just the need to economize in some areas. And of course this is, Hal labeled this section I think as something different. What I find there is exhortation actually coming down the road too. And examples coming down the road. But it was a nice approach. And we're going to see lots of exhortation.

Paul is going to say this is my opinion. So you have to kind of take that, this is an apostle's opinion which is, which is pretty weighty in that time period. He's an apostle, this is my opinion, and so that wasn't taken lightly. I'd like you to go back to verse 1 in chapter 8 and read 1-15 if you wouldn't mind. I know it's a little bit, but if someone's willing to do it, that would be great.

Now brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord. begging us with much urging for a favor of participation in the support of the saints.

And this not as we had expected but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. So we urged Titus that he had previously made a beginning so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. But just as you abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need so that their abundance may also may become a supply for your need and there may be equality. As it is written, he who gathered much did not have too much and he who gathered little had no lack.

Great, thanks Randy. Actually, Randy's going to cover, actually I correct myself, he's going to cover the rest of the chapter next week, not in the chapter 9. I misspoke there, which will be good. OK, so this section has a lot of interesting things. I found it had to go through multiple times to kind of track with what he's talking about. And there's all these antecedents. What's the antecedent of this? I tried to mark them as I saw them. And if I got some wrong, tell me if you disagree. But hopefully I traced them pretty well. OK, so let's start off.

But just as you abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all earnestness, and love we inspire in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. So basically the first little phrase there is, but just as you abound in everything. And that Greek word for everything is pas, there's none excluded. Abound is the idea to be abundantly furnished, And it's actually in the present tense, so it means it's continually going on.

So this is kind of a little key, and I benefited by listening to what was taught about 10 years ago or so. So there's a couple of verses there that kind of are somewhat parallel to that. So let's just look at the first one. Could someone read in chapter 9, verse 8, in 2 Corinthians chapter 9? And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. So a similar idea, you know, God is able, and this says, but just as you abound in everything.

So I think the real parallel verse is the Ephesians verse, a very well known verse, Ephesians 1.3. And maybe you don't at first think it connects, but I think it is a strong connection to that verse. So could someone read that, Ephesians 1, 3?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. OK. So this question was asked about 10-15 years ago. Is this first little part, and I struggled a little bit with this, is this first little phrase here, is that speaking of our position or our condition? And some things jump out and I put the parallel verse in there and you think, what makes it difficult, you start looking at the rest of the verse, And it seems like it's telling a different story. I mean, there's a different aspect in view.

But this part, he's telling us that just as you abounded everything, and then in the Ephesians parallel of that is that you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. Already blessed. Thank you. And you're blessed in Christ, right Tom? So perhaps another way of saying it instead of the word to see after inspired in you, you should say, please note that you abound in this gracious work also that's already a precondition because it's already present.

I want to draw a line at the end of everything here. And then we're going to go on and talk about the rest of the things in there, because I think there's a and and almost like he left something out. I mean, you know, or just leave something out. But at least from my understanding, because I think this is seems to be clearly since we abounded everything, it would be. presumptuous of me to say that I abound in everything.

But in Christ, I do. In my position, I do. Then he's going to go along and talk about in my faith, and my utterances, and my knowledge. It seems like he makes the general statement, this is who you are in Christ, and now here's how you should, in faith, and so on. So the verse has both, which is a little challenging. But don't you think these other verses also You know, Paul talks all in Ephesians.

Yes, you're in your position, you are blessed, you're already blessed with everything. But, oh by the way, in your condition, you still, you know, As long as we're here, we don't hold on to that right now. Right. And he's going to come down to the last part. He's going to say, in addition to faith and utterances and knowledge, I want you to abound in something you may have not thought about in this gracious work, which we see to be the giving of monetary giving of themselves. to the Macedonian, well actually to the believers in Jerusalem. has shown in our hearts to give us the life, the knowledge, and the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So, your position first in that atmosphere of grace is really a condition. When we live by faith, that glory and grace is manifested and that relates to giving.

So, I think your position followed by condition. I know, but you read that, and when you first read that, you just keep going, but then you say, in my faith, Am I abounding in my faith? I say, Lord, I know I'm not abounding in my faith. I doubt you many times. I shouldn't doubt you, but I do. Do I always say what I should say?

And we keep going. I didn't want to put this on our shoulders, but we realize that we're... But even in this body here, we need to be reminded of positional truth. Absolutely. And in fact, scripture is consistent to remind us of that. Because if we didn't have physician, we're working to please God. And we fail repeatedly. So that's needed.

Good insights. Okay, that's great. Okay, so I just went through and, you know, I tried to add a little, you know, in faith, basically, Wiest has it in the realm of faith. In utterance, exposition of the word, it seems like is in view. In knowledge, gnosis. Especially the truth. And then, what I kind of observed, And I found someone else that kind of went along that line, too.

This reminds me of the fruits of the Spirit. I mean, it's not the fruits of the Spirit. They're love, joy. But it reminds me of, so this is what we have as we walk in the Lord. We have faith, utterances, knowledge. We have all that as of who we are in Christ. So it reminded me of that. We don't have to turn to that. But it just kind of reminded me of the list of the fruit of the Spirit. And we keep going here.

In all earnestness, That's diligence or zeal. Then we had in love we inspire in you. The translators kind of had this, it was either from us to you or we inspire in you. It's a little bit interesting, but it seems like basically in the love, love is in view from us to you or we inspire in you. Anyway, interesting.

But now the bottom line is, Paul gives an admonition at the end of this list. He says, see that you abound in this gracious work also. And that's where he's headed. And this whole thing is on this gracious work. The way he's coupled these concepts together reminds me of 1 Corinthians, the flow between 12 and 13, where he talks about knowledge and utterance. And those are all part of what the spiritual gifts that the Lord has done at the time when he's establishing the church, but then he gets to 13 where the crux is, but if you don't have love, you've got nothing.

You're making a lot of noise. I think this would be kind of a throwback as you point back to 1 Corinthians. It's rooted in love, since you guys know that you don't want to be clanging gongs, right? Be doing this too, abound in this also. And what we're going to see is that this gracious work is indeed a gracious work, because he's going to come down through here and he's going to get real particular about his giving. He's going to just dot the I's and cross the T's.

I don't want you to give if it's going to cause you a real burden. It's almost like he gave us these general statements about giving and how it's grace giving. But then he says, but I know the practicality. I know sometimes you may give when you don't even have anything. You may give up and incur debt. I don't want you to do that. That's not right.

It's from the Lord. It's grace-giving. It's from His grace, not from, well, can I suck it up here and look like I'm really a Macedonian? Well, I'm a Macedonian. I'm cool. And we're going to see the influence of Macedonia to Paul to Titus to the Corinthians. There's a flow. Their graciousness and their walking with the Lord influence. Paul says, I was amazed that they would even do that. I didn't want them to do that. And that seemed to affect Titus and then he wants the Corinthians to carry that on.

So it's pretty interesting. The gracious work. It's basically the giving to the needs of the saints in Jerusalem. So I like this. This is by Constable. Constable says, this verse elevates giving to the status of spiritual gifts on the same level as faith, speech, knowledge, zeal, and even love.

So I thought that was pretty cool. And then here's my little, you know, the example of the Macedonians flowed down to Paul, Titus, and the Corinthians. And then Paul, after this flow, and then he comes back and he writes him a letter and kind of recounts this whole thing. All right. Okay. So let's go on here. Okay. So we, all right.

So now I'm not speaking this as a command, but is proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also." So he says, I'm not speaking this as a commandment. And he's done this before, this isn't the first time he's kind of used that phraseology. He did that in other parts, like back in 1 Corinthians he talked about by way of concession, is on a command. He's done that a number of times. So, once again, we look at this, I'm not speaking this, referring back to this gracious giving, I believe. And question two, why didn't Paul make this a command? Because then it would be a law and you know that's not gracious giving.

That seemed to me to be that's good I like that. Hidden underneath this and it will probably be revealed more clearly further along is that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate I guess you could say umpire in this case and so that if you truly detect from God's word being revealed to you in a personal way by the Holy Spirit then go to it. You can do it. By God's grace you can. So it seems like I think Margaret and I have a little footnote basically. What's going to be the deal when we get down there? Let's just go down there.

Basically, giving must be out of God's grace. That's the whole message here. It's out of God's grace. If you make it a law, then you're circumventing His grace. Let's go back to the law and make a law. It must be 10%, right? Unfortunately, that's what a lot of Christendom does. They go back and make it a law, which is totally missing the point. I don't understand. They can say, well, we're under grace, but oh, by the way, did you give your 10%?

And by the way, there's other ways of giving besides the magic. Well, actually, as we saw last week, there's a process, right? You give yourself, you give yourself to the ministry, and then the third thing, you finally think about financial issues, right?

So basically he says, and the last part of this verse says, but as proving the sincerity or genuineness of your love also. So this is, you know, The fact that I didn't give you a command, the fact that you're going to do this is going to prove out that you truly had love, love one another. We see that in a lot of places, love one another. We're going to find that giving in this whole context is within the body of Christ. It's not addressing outside the body of Christ.

So the things that Paul lays down, the being careful about this and careful about that, and having equality, and this is a boy, if you listen to Macaulay, he goes off for two or three... We could protest this. Exactly. We could protest this. He's being discriminated against. Exactly. I'm being discriminated against. I know, right. I know, it's going to be equality, right? So we're going to learn what does equality mean in his discussion here. We're not giving enough to the temple down the street. Right.

So there's all kinds of interesting things that kind of show up. So this is basically, and the Lord, you know, the testing here, approving is with a view to approval. He doesn't want us to fail. He wants to reveal that the Holy Spirit's been working in our lives.

Let's read the verse in 1 Peter 1.7. So the proving of your faith, and that's kind of what he's about here. This giving is a proving of your faith. It's not how big it is, it's the fact that you responded by faith to what the Lord had you do. But your love, how you doing working on that in your own power?

Right, exactly. That's the atmospheric race that surrounds us, that love. Just FYI, this morning I was watching SportsCenter, I was walking out downstairs, and yesterday one of the football players on the Raiders sat out the National Anthem, actually two guys did. And so Derek Carr, the quarterback, puts his hand on Whomever who was sitting down just to show he loves him and I love everybody, you know, this it's so phony Oh, I know I in our flesh.

We can't love anybody the way the Lord Jesus Christ loved us. And so if that's not a demonstration of the exchange life your love for is proven by God's grace being manifested. Just a lot of the world system is so phony. And that's why it's important to keep in view. This is talking about it among believers. One believer is given to another believer and we're going to find out that sometimes that believer may have to give back to him. Maybe it goes both ways. And so we don't know what life may deal us. Something else you wanted to add, Randy? You don't have to. It's one of those things where us as believers is with the question, how are you doing with that?

If the answer is not well, there's a sanctification opportunity, there's a growth opportunity there where if we abide, those things should be true. If they're not true, are we abiding? Well, that might not be there. Or is the Lord choosing this as a place for us to grow?

This is a growth opportunity for Corinth. being asked to reflect, through the proving out, the work of Christ in their hearts. And I kind of think, the Lord in his wisdom, if the Corinthians had a problem with this, we may have a problem with this too.

And giving is a touchy area. When somebody says, I want something out of your pocketbook, that's a big deal. Luke writes that they gave as they saw that there was need. Right, exactly. And in Romans chapter 12 there's the same sort of pattern as described in the church where you have to know that there's a need. Right.

And he always ties those together, or I'm sorry the Holy Spirit does in the scripture, with this idea of hospitality. Do you know one another? Are you spending time together? Is it just Sunday mornings and you just wave as you pass going to and from the pews? Or do you share that you have needs? Paul is sharing the Jerusalem of his needs.

Absolutely. Everywhere he goes he's... This is a big part... It's interesting until I kind of went through this for this time. I didn't realize the amount of time in scripture that the Holy Spirit Spends on this topic of providing for the Saints in Jerusalem. I like a minor issue, but it. For Paul, it was not. Multiple chapters, and we think about it almost never. I know. How often do you hear about providing for the saints in Jerusalem? How many saints are there in Jerusalem? Yeah, how many saints are there in Jerusalem? I don't know. Paul himself killed or chased them out of town. You can see why Paul says, you know, I'm the worst of the worst. Lord, I chased, I killed. Now my brothers in Christ, and then I chased them out of town, and I went after them.

Anyway, pretty interesting. So the earnestness and zeal of others, I believe that's referring back to the Macedonians. We kind of come back to them over and over again in their example and their zeal. Okay, so let's go on to... Okay, and this is a cool, this is really a cool verse. So in the midst of this we see, so what's the prime example of giving? Giving maybe not so much in the sense of financially, but giving of himself, basically.

It says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's actually the Wyss translation. I didn't mark it there. That top part is the Wyss translation. For you know by experience. So with that rendering, in fact, I'm 99% sure it's Gnosko. The know of experience. It is. Thank you. For you know by experience the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this says, that's something, present tense, continuous action, that's something that's in your mind, in your heart, and it is.

You can't, you think, wow. You can't think how many times that comes back to our mind. His grace and how His grace is provided to us over and over and over again. When you think, well, I'm not worthy of that, Lord. And you're not. You're not worthy of that. So we see that concept about, for you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in a bunch of other places. So let's just look at the Timothy passage. Could someone read 1 Timothy 1, 13 and 14? and injurious, but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly and unbelief.

And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus." So this is Paul, Paul to Timothy, and he's talking about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was more than abundant. And it mentions other things as well. So we start off with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. that though he was rich, and actually the though, or though being, is actually this word ami, which is the idea that the state in which something continuously exists, he continually existed as God, and therefore he was as rich as God is. God is richer than, in all aspects, God is richer.

And Philippians kind of talks about, Philippians 2.6, We may turn to chapter 2 and read this verse 6 first and then we'll look at the other ones.

So 2.6 for starters, the Philippians. Who although he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or taken. So he existed in the form of God, so it says he That's part one. So he was rich, he was God basically, and then we're going to see, yet for your sake he became poor. So it seems like this kind of tracks with the Philippians passage.

So can someone read 7 and 8 now? But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Right. So. So. So in a sense, it is kind of rhetorical here. But basically, this obviously isn't, you know, monetary. I know his. He didn't have. He was poor in a sense. But that's not the view on the fact that he said, I don't have a place to lay my head. Some man has no place to lay his head. He didn't. He wasn't rich in any way. But that's not the issue.

The issue was that he was God. unimaginably rich in all aspects, spiritually and everything else, but he gave that up in the sense it was cloaked, it was veiled while he was here with us. And he, as the verse says, he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, being made in the likeness of man. And it goes on that he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. So all that, he became, that's what I see as becoming poor. It's interesting to think about him being made as a fond servant. I know. I mean, the lowliness of the human existence, but yet, like a servant, but where was his service? His service was to his Heavenly Father. Right, exactly. It's an interesting and profound verse.

Right, and also he says, I do nothing except what I see the Father doing. I mean, it just always amazes me. And then the Holy Spirit says, All I do is focus on Christ. So we see that the total Godhead is totally together. I mean, there's no there's no room for separation there.

There's there's not a disagreement So that with the purpose that that through his poverty Through his poverty Might become rich Okay, so So once again, I don't think we're looking at financial things here. The Ephesians passage, I'm sure there's many, but this is the one that kind of occurred to me, Ephesians 2. They're talking about the riches that we have. Can someone read Ephesians 2, 4-7?

But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are saved. and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Yeah, I know, that's just... Well, the fact that we're seated with Christ in the heavenlies is just, you know, in our position, obviously we're not there physically, but just the fact that we have that place is just mind-boggling. and just beyond what we can really take in. So we have become, because he became poor, so that we can become rich. So it's pretty amazing stuff. So you talk about motivation for giving. He gave everything.

So why are you hesitating, if you will? I mean, if there's some hesitation, there shouldn't be. And he's going to set the parameters that you shouldn't do it willy-nilly and you shouldn't do it if you're going to go into debt. He sets the parameters on this. I want you to encourage the Corinthians to get back in the business of giving. That's a big paraphrase. But it's not a commandment. But it's not a commandment. And it's not a commandment. And it's not a commandment.

And it's going to start out right here in verse 10, the very first words, I give my opinion. So I always say, Apostle's opinion, that's pretty important. So anyway, I give my opinion on this matter. And this matter, I'm jumping ahead. What is this matter? It's this continuing matter of giving, of giving to the saints in Jerusalem.

Opinion is the idea that it can be advice. When you give advice, it can be a judgment, like you render a judgment. Which I don't think is, and the view here is advice. So he's giving advice, if you will. And the advice that he's, that he's talking about here. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Could someone just read verse 25? 1 Corinthians 7. Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion, as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy. So he kind of gives a defense, if you will, of his having an opinion or having advice.

For this is to your advantage, profitable, who were the first to begin a year ago. Begin what? Okay. Okay. That's the challenge with all this, this whole section. that they'll say it, that, what, okay. So, okay. I have an opinion. By God's grace. By God's grace. Okay.

It seems like, you know, from the context of what's been talking about, it's this gracious giving he's talking about. for his to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago. It seems like in the context it says they apparently gave in the beginning to the poor saints in Jerusalem.

He wants them to basically carry that on. And he's going to use this little phrase, this is kind of interesting now. So there's two aspects to this. There's to do this, to do this and to desire to do it. So first of all, he says not only to do this, to give to the poor saints in Jerusalem, but also to desire to do it. And that kind of reminded me, Paul made a big deal about their giving beyond how much the Macedonians gave, and they had a desire to do it. He says there's two parts, a desire to do it, a desire to give, And then the actual giving.

You may have a desire to give, but maybe you don't have any money. And he's going to say, don't do that. That's the one you don't want to do. But you need to have a desire to do it, and then actually to do it. But a desire doesn't always lead to giving, even if you don't have enough.

Exactly. I'll relate to that. I know. Well, actually, as I've been reminded many times, And my husband and wife relationship, I said, well, I thought about doing that. I'll say, well, that was a good thought. But you didn't do it. You know, you have all the good thoughts you want to have all the good thoughts you want. So, you know, I'm convicted that many times.

You've got to do it. You may have the desire to do it, but you've got to do it. And that's what he's telling him. You have a desire to do it, but you've got to do it. Go ahead. I kind of think the reverse of this as well. You might be doing it, but you don't want to do it. You're doing it grudgingly.

He's going to cover that. We're getting to that. He wants you to be a hilarious giver. He wants you to have both parts. He wants you to want to do it and do it. Exactly. Like I said, we're giving it and we have the desire to do it. This is very practical here. Desire to do it. The desire word is actually intent, purpose, to have in mind. It seems like he said you started a year ago. He says, I want you to finish this.

But now finish doing it also so that just as there was readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. That's pretty key. But now finish doing it also. Complete doing it also. The purpose of that, just as there was a readiness to do it, a desire to do it. It's interesting, it's almost like a super-emphasis, the eagerness to be desirous. That's how Weiss brings it across. Readiness to desire. It's a super-intensifier or something like that. So there may be also the completion of it by your ability. to complete it by your ability. This is going to be pretty important. By your ability. What you have, literally what you have.

And that kind of goes back to verse 3. Back to verse 3 said, he wanted us to do, 8.3 said that according to your, before I testify that according to their ability, speaking of the Macedonians, so it's according to your ability, For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. So here's where he addresses, you don't give out of debt. I don't want you to become a debtor while you're giving.

Roger, does this also address talents? I mean, you know, you think about what people have the ability to do. And sometimes people don't give money. What they do is they give their talent. Whatever that is. Construction, or they're a good accountant, or they're a good doctor. I mean, whatever it is. They give that. Sometimes instead of monetary gifts. We kind of saw that in that chain. They give themselves to the ministry.

That would kind of fit under that category. It seems like he's pretty much focused on the monetary in this little section. You think this is totally monetary? I think he is, but it's a good point. Many times you might say that's all I can afford to give. I can give my talents. I can give that. Not just regular volunteering, but people have certain skills that take the place of monetary gifts. Exactly. For sure. For if the readiness is present, and that's assumed to be true, for assuming the eagerness is present, so he's assuming it's present, is acceptable according to what a person has. So he kind of focuses back, and we have to have it, back to verse 3a.

Not according to what he does not have. So I kind of proposed the question, he says, what about the case where Paul says, they gave beyond, back to verse, let's look at 8.3 again, so I won't get this wrong. For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord. Okay, so the question is, I'm just kind of being a little bit argumentative, I think that I answered it here, but, I don't think it contradicts it. But you might think at first, well, beyond, did they mean that was something they didn't have? Well, apparently somehow they made it work.

That's all I can say. Because to make 8-3 be consistent with 8-12, then he commended them in 8-3. He's not going to uncommend them in here. He's just saying, I don't want you to give beyond what you have. And he said it was not as we expected in 5-A.

I'm almost thinking that the Macedonians had a conference among themselves and saying, OK, you already laid out what you had. three-eighths of what we were wanting to give. And so we go to you, can you handle this? And you know, it's almost like they went through the whole roll call just to see who could help and how much without turning it into a shakedown. And that was, you know, so they could deal honestly and with grace with what the real situation was in their lives and still give above and beyond without turning it into a pride thing. Because this is by grace giving. Well, obviously they were able to handle it without...

He's addressing giving, you know, even though it says they went beyond, that beyond was they still had the funds to do it. It wasn't like they went out to the local bank and borrowed some money. They didn't have a local bank to do that. Well, they each pulled the money out from behind their mattress. Right. That they've been hoarding. It could be. They just thought they were that poor. I think this brings up the challenge of stewardship as a household.

How do you give what the Lord has called you to give? And the thing is that sometimes when your things are thin, the Lord still says, no, you need to do it. Earlier this year when I was unemployed, I had no income. And I was like, I'm giving the exact same amount to Holy Hills as I always give. But if the Holy Spirit had said, hey, you need to conserve resources, and for now you need to pause, I would have paused, and that would have been okay. But the Holy Spirit should direct your stewardship, and he's never going to direct you to debt, despite what some of the televangelists might say. And it's not to say you might not change your mind.

If that had been a prolonged no work situation. At one point you would say, well, I really need to provide for my family. So at some point, but at the point you're at, that was fine. And I think that's what we're going to see here. He's going to say, in some cases, you're giving to this body of believers. They may give back to you at some point. It's going to come back the other direction. That's why, quote, equality or actually I like the word fairness is actually a better translation. We'll see that shortly. Okay.

Alright, so, for this is not for the ease of others, and for your affliction, but by way of equality. For this is not for the ease of others. I think this is pretty good. For the collection is not being made in order that to others there might be relief from the stress and strain.

It's good and good. There's some, you know. OK. So it seems like that. Let me keep it up. It seems like that the issue kind of comes up and we kind of this is something that. It's taught, needs are taught. The word needs is used in my translation, but wants is also used in other translations. But the word basically is the idea, it's a valid, it's another word that I saw, I can't think of it at the moment. So there are needs and wants, and he's saying, I don't want you to make it, your giving to make it so good that they, you know, there still needs to be the pressures of life.

And that's what happens with welfare, I think, many times. Welfare is intended to help people get by, but it becomes their whole lifestyle. And so that's not good. So you say, don't go there. Don't make your giving. And also, don't make it a burden, this is the next part, for your affliction, that the pressure might be brought to bear upon you. You don't want to be depriving something that your family might need, but by way of equality, at least as a out of fairness to all? What does Paul mean by fairness to all?

I think the last verse explains that. At the present time, your abundance being a supply for their needs. So you have an abundance, it supplies their need. with the purpose that their abundance may also supply your needs. So he's saying, well, your abundance supplies your brother's need, but there might come a time when their abundance supplies your need. At some time, the Amplified tried to expand it. At some time, some other time, their surplus may in turn be given to supply your wants. Actually, I would say needs. There may be equality or fairness There may be equitable arrangements in this matter. So I think you kind of scratch your head and you say, well, what does he mean by equality here?

But then he comes with verse 15. And verse 15, it might not answer every single part. This is the last chart. So what's the context of verse 15? Verse 15 says, as is written, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack. So this is the example of the example. This is the account. of God providing bread or man in the wilderness. So let's just read through this little section here.

It says, Ephesians 6.16. Exodus. Exodus. Thank you. It's pretty different. It's okay. You're almost there. Sorry. What translation is he reading? Okay.

Exodus 6.16. This is what the Lord has commanded. And notice, this is under law. This is law, so this is what he commanded.

Gather of it, and he's speaking of the manna, every man as much as he should eat. You shall take an omer, which is about two quarts, I think is what I saw, two quarts, a piece, according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent. The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much, and some little." Some people went out there and said, I'm going to gather a whole bunch, and we're going to be chowing down tonight. Even though he said two quarts per person. This is the amazing part,

18. When they measured it with an omer, I guess they had their omer container, he who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man gathered as much as he should eat.

So it seems like the whole part of this is grace giving, right? If you're truly walking with Him and responding to Him, He'll work this out. He made it work out for these. Some people went out with the wrong intentions. I'm going to gather a whole bunch. But when they got to measuring it out, Two quarts per person? How did that happen? I thought I gave you ten quarts per person or whatever it was. So I think it kind of focuses back on this grace giving and all these opinions that Paul renders. He's basically saying God is going to work it out.

I want you to do this fairly. So this is what I saw as fairness but it's under grace. If you derive some fairness it could be slanted but he will work it out. and it will be fair in his sight. So I think this verse really explains the idea of fairness or equality. And we don't have to protest either. I think there have been some critics of scripture saying that we should have a socialistic kind of environment within the body of Christ that everybody has a say in. I mean there are a ton of verses and acts in this person. But I think if you look really, I'm in the interlinear now, and equity or fairness is a better interpretation of equality. That's the principle of Jewry. Fairness sounds, God is, I think the word fairness is used other places. Equitable. Equitable, that's fine. But equality, unfortunately in our society, that's going to get into other issues.

Plus, this is within the body of Christ. That's another whole aspect. He brought this out of the Old Testament, out of the law here, and said here's the same principle that's operating here with the Corinthians. So I'm going to let Randy close out the chapter. Oh good. It's pretty cool stuff. It's one of those chapters you think, oh, giving. How about grace or doctrine? Actually, it's pretty cool stuff.

Let's close. We thank you, Father. Thank you so much, Lord. Thank you for your fairness, Lord, which is maybe such an understatement. We thank you for you. We thank you most of all for our Savior, the Lord Jesus, and we thank you for the grace that you provide to us through his death on the cross, Lord, that we can enjoy this atmosphere of grace, Lord, and you've given us instruction here. Paul gave the Corinthians practical stuff. We pray that the Holy Spirit would lead us and guide us as we consider our part in giving to the ministries that we're involved with, Lord. In Christ's name, Amen.