First Corinthians 16:1-4 The Collection for the Saints

Well, good morning. So those four verses seem kind of not too exciting, right? In fact, I was reading in preparation for this and some said, ho hum, what's the big deal about these four verses? We can zip past those guys real quick. Well, actually, you could. You could do that. You could say, well, there's a collection out there.

But this is kind of the last topic that before Paul, in Paul's letters, he often will end with greetings to different believers. And that's going to be the case later in the rest of this chapter. But this first part is going to be the last area that he was asked about by the Corinthians. And so Paul's going to give his his instruction on collection for the saints.

So that's what we're going to see here. So let's look at the outline here. This is from McCauley. So basically it turns out that this collection, the background for this collection is that there's these These saints in Jerusalem, and they're called the poor saints at Jerusalem in several passages in scripture.

So Paul was concerned about these saints. And it's really a very interesting thing. We'll see a verse that ties their poverty and their affliction directly into Paul before he was a believer, which I was kind of astounded. So Paul has a, he's invested very much in these poor saints at Jerusalem.

So the collection is for them and he said the collection method or the way he wants the Corinthian church to act is the way he instructed the churches in Galatia. And we're going to see those churches where they are. shortly. And then he has a plan. And it's going to be in the first day of the week and we're going to talk about that a little bit. And he's going to instruct them, he's going to explain to them about this collection and that actually it's going to be a gift of God's grace of what we're going to see. And that's where the neat part of this comes into play.

That the gifts are from God. They're God's gracious gift through believers. So actually Macaulay has like six points he has, the time, the participants, the preparation, the amount, the execution, and the honesty. He breaks those two verses down into those six things.

I'm not going to exactly do that, I'm just going to kind of walk you through and you'll see where we're going. We're going to spend a lot of time talking about God's grace here. the word charis, a lot. And we're going to see that it's a rich area. And actually what we're going to see is, this isn't the last time we're going to see this topic about giving and gifts for the saints. When we get to 2 Corinthians, the plan is, and Mike and I have decided, we're going to finish up here in 1st Corinthians and we're going to continue on in 2nd Corinthians. So we're going to see again this topic come up again in the 8th and 9th chapter of 2nd Corinthians a lot more actually two full chapters devoted to talking about collection for the saints, gift for the saints. So we're going to get a, this is the first exposure to this but we're going to get more detail as we get into Chapter 2. And then next week I'm going to start into the kind of the end part of the chapter where he talks about his personal plans for Corinth and for Ephesus and then his friends and then there's actually parts beyond that. So let's get into it here.

Okay, the poor saints of Jerusalem. Here's some background. So Macaulay says here that It seems that the Corinthian church had heard about the collection, the extra collection Paul was getting together for the poor saints in Jerusalem and wanted to make a contribution. So they wanted to be part of this contribution Paul was putting together. And think about this, they couldn't fly in jet planes, they couldn't drive, they walked, or maybe donkeys or carts, I'm not sure what they had, but it was pretty It was a slow-paced deal.

So it took many years to get this collection together, it seems like. So this wasn't a real fast thing. So we see that in many books of scripture, we're going to see this idea of this collection. And it seems like, well, when does the collection ever actually get there?

And we're going to see that as well. And we're not sure why they're exactly poor, but there's a couple of verses that kind of point to that. They're apparently, and I couldn't find more, people mentioned this, I listened to several people, several people I like to listen to, Macaulay, and I listened to Merriman, Ron Merriman, and others, I read Constable, and they talked about this famine in the area. I couldn't find any details about that, but apparently there was a famine in that area. around Jerusalem. But one of the biggest things seemed to be this great persecution, we're going to look at this verse shortly, that occurred and Paul was part of that. He was part of that in a negative sense. This is back when he was persecuting Christians.

And then finally, Paul, at the Jerusalem conference, he was asked to remember the poor. And actually, I got new insight when I see the poor. You know, when I taught this section, we taught this Galatians earlier, you know, a year or so ago, you think, well, that's just the poor. There have been many poor. And it maybe refers to, but it seems like the poor really focuses on this group of believers in Jerusalem. So that's kind of some new insight that I kind of, God is going through this. Okay, some related verses. So here's a verse that talks about, so this is Saul, this is his name. So Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him, Stephen, to death.

And on that day, a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. except the apostles. So it seems like there was a group of believers that stayed in Jerusalem, but they were under persecution. They were hunted down.

Paul was part of the gang that did that until he met the Lord in the Damascus Road. So he was part of that. So I kind of wonder actually that maybe one of the reasons why this was on his heart was because he had been instrumental in this persecution. He was part of the bad guys that were doing that, so to speak. So another verse in Acts kind of speaks to this.

It says, And in proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. And I assume that includes Jerusalem. And this they did, sending in charge Barnabas and Saul to the elders. Okay, so with that in mind, here's our verses for them. I'm just gonna reread them again. Now concerning the collection for the saints.

As I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week, underline every, this is every week, each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper so that no collection be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gifts to Jerusalem. And if it is fitting to me to go also, they will go with me. Okay, so let's kind of get into it here. Now concerning the collection for the saints, Logia.

So actually there's a family of words and I think by count there's about nine words in scripture. in the New Testament that talk about the idea of gifts or giving or something along that line, giving, it could be giving of yourself possibly, but you're giving many times material things to other believers.

And many times the focus is a believer giving to the needs of another believer, not so much outside the body of Christ, mostly focused on the body of Christ. This section will now give Paul's direction to the churches at Corinth for the collection of the money. So it's for the saints, and the Amplified has this, for the relief of the saints, God's people. So Macaulay, a good point here, the collection was used for the saints, which points to a church cause, it's not a social cause. And we find in today's church, churches that claim Christ as their Savior. Many times other issues get wrapped in there, but the focus of scripture is on collection for other believers.

As I directed the churches of Galatia, directed us to a point, a range, give orders. So let's look at, here's a picture. Actually it was from one of Vern's presentations. And it actually shows four churches, and actually McCauley kind of, not four churches, four cities or four areas. They're the other Antioch, Pisidian, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, all within that blue circle.

So when Paul visited those areas, those cities, on his missionary journeys, so those are the places that he gave direction for their giving program, if you will. So he's gonna repeat those directions, if you will, to the Corinthian church. It says, so you do also, so you Corinthians do also, Paul will now give his instructions on giving. So it's pretty straightforward his approach.

It's not rocket science. But one thing that comes across is not tithing. Tithing is a thing that was done for the nation of Israel and that's one of the areas and maybe when we get to 2 Corinthians there we'll get more deeply into going through kind of comparing tithing with what the instruction we get in the New Testament about giving and they're diametrically opposed. Tithing is really not for the New Testament church.

So it's on the first day of the week. So you could say first day of the week is the same as saying Sunday by Sunday. So we're going to see here a lot of practical stuff. He's going to say I want you to think about this Sunday by Sunday. I want you to, on the first day of the week, and the first day of the week, we remember the Lord's resurrection the first day of the week. So that's something that the church has done historically through its almost entire existence.

And then here's a passage that comes up when Paul visits Troas. He uses that phrase on the first day of the week. When we were gathering together to break bread, Paul began talking to them. the people in Troas, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. So what if I said the service is going to last until midnight? Will you guys be around, do you think? Probably not. And I wouldn't be able to talk until midnight either.

So fortunately, that's a good thing. So anyway, my point here is that the first day of the week is just synonymous with each time you meet week by week, Paul wants you to do something. He has some instructions for you week by week, Sunday by Sunday. So the interlinear, I know Bob likes to use it too, the interlinear, I want this middle section, I wanted to kind of get some clarity to it, so it says each of you set something aside, and it could be by or with, depending upon, I like with better, with himself at home.

So one of the key things you're gonna come across here is that he, He's not talking so much about bringing your gift to church, so to speak, or bringing it to the synagogue or wherever they're meeting. He's talking about you being a steward and planning ahead.

Giving in the New Testament is planning ahead. It's not the spur of the moment. And that's a good thing. This is good for me to remember, too. We were talking on, I think, Wednesday in Mike's study about, and this is giving, maybe, to people that are in need, you see on the street, possibly, and maybe they come into church sometimes.

It's good to have a plan, because otherwise, your emotions get involved. And maybe they're good emotions, maybe you, it's exactly right, but Paul directs these believers to do it week by week, plan it out. He doesn't want emotion to get the best of you, so to speak. Each of you are to give, though all cannot give the same amount. The responsibility to give was equal. So everyone was to give. And I was just a little caveat to that.

We're gonna see that other verses teach that sometimes under grace, you may not have anything to give. And of course, what's cool is here we're gonna see this is you managing your funds. So you might not move it from column A to column B on that week. Maybe you wait for two weeks and move it to column A to column B. You know, you and the Lord work this out. You go to the Lord, Lord, hey, we have a tough time. We can't give what I'd like to give this week, but I'll just, maybe next week.

And so you do it as the Lord directs you. set aside, to set aside in a proper place, assign a place, pera, with himself, and this is Vine talks about the verb implying rest, or remaining at rest, so actually in the inner linear it brings it across and they have that at home in there, with himself at home, pretty cool, so this putting aside each week, You're, and maybe in today's world, you're on your computer and you move it from here to there, or maybe you don't even do that. Maybe you say, well, I've talked with the Lord, I think I can do X, Y, Z. And I'm just gonna remember on this date, I'm gonna put it aside, and so when it comes time, I know some brothers and sisters, they wait for a certain time of the year, and they do it, their finances, and they figure out when's the best time for them to do it.

To make the most money in their savings accounts or whatever and it's pretty cool. So that's what it's all about You're playing this out with the Lord Okay, it says So to set aside with himself is to indicate the gift was under their control. So the gift had not left their control yet and And that's part of Paul's plan here. He hasn't left their control yet and storing whatever he may, whatever he may have prospered. So the New Testament picture is that as you're prospered, as God prospers you, then you give. You give in proportion to how you're prospered.

That's the picture. And that's where, that's the opposite of tithing. Tithing says, we gotta cross the board, you know, if I'm well off, 10% doesn't hurt too much. If I'm hurting, 10% can be a lot. That can put you, you know, underwater, so to speak.

That's not the New Testament picture. As you're prospered is the picture. He may have prospered and his present tense, a passive voice. So Vine says here, the continuous tense, which is the present tense, suggests successive circumstances of varying prosperity as week follows week. So some weeks, like I said, may be good. Some weeks aren't so good.

So that with a purpose that, no collection be made when I may come. So this introduces, and as I studied through this, I kind of found out that if you look at Paul's life, if you're looking for a, he's gonna send you an email, so to speak, or a letter out saying, I'll be at Troas this week, I'll be there on Monday the 21st of September, I'll be at so and so.

He never said that, he said, if the Lord wills I'll be here in the summer or the winter. I may stay over this, I may do this, and it's a lot of maze are in there. Uncertainty. He didn't, he did not, he allowed for the Lord to direct his steps otherwise.

So a lot of his writings are about when I may come here, I might be here, at this time I may not be here. And in fact the Corinthians we're gonna see at the start of 2 Corinthians, they got upset about that. They said, well, Paul, you keep changing your mind. Well, I don't think he was changing his mind. I think he was allowing for the Lord to direct him where he should be at any time in his ministry. So when I may come, the other part, he didn't want them to wait the last moment.

It's like, imagine if we knew, I don't know, who could come here that we don't know. I'm trying to think of, I don't know, Anyways, some famous person, some preacher of the gospel that came, and we're going to give him a special gift. Well, you could get all pumped up. So-and-so is coming. I'll get my gift, and I'll bring it right here, right away.

He doesn't want you to do that. Paul, it's interesting. He wants you to save up at home, and then, you know, he doesn't want you to do it at the last moment. He doesn't want emotion to get involved. Paul did not want the pressure of the believers when he arrived.

Okay, so that's verse two. So now on to verse three. So now, when I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters. So the practice seemed to be that Again, it's when I arrive, he didn't say, I will arrive on a certain date. When I arrive, in certainty again, whomever you may approve, and approve is this word that we often think about as a documento.

It's the idea to test with a view to approval. So the picture here is that you're going to You're going to examine the person you're going to have carry your gifts. You want an honest and trustworthy person. You're going to test him, make sure he's the right person to carry these gifts to Jerusalem. I will send with letters. Paul planned to send a representative from each of the contributing churches or possibly groups of churches to Jerusalem with a gift. I will send them with letters. Then I'm thinking about the letters.

One purpose of the letters was to introduce a person, say introduce someone, here is brother so and so and he's bringing the money. Another possibility for the letters was to detail maybe how much money. So maybe you actually had a ledger, if you will, and you said, brother so-and-so is bringing XYZ dollars and so-and-so other brother, he's bringing, you know, what, ABC dollars. And so you would know that would be a way to make sure the money actually got there. This paper says this and the money doesn't match that. So that's a possibility. So the procedure is to guarantee honesty, to make it transparent that the gifts are getting to the recipients.

To carry your gifts to Jerusalem. This turns out to be a, looks pretty benign, but it's pretty cool. To carry your gifts to Jerusalem. To carry it, literally it's to carry the gift of you, And the word gift here is our second word. There's nine words I mentioned that are used for giving. This is the second of those. It's charis, which is a very familiar word, grace. And Vine likes to say it's deeds of grace. The bottom line of your gift is deeds of grace is actually money. But there's actually more to it than that. So you could expand the translation here to say, to carry the grace of you to Jerusalem.

Because if you think about it, God is working working through believers, and I like what our brother Hal had to say about this, a financial gift is a grace gift, out from the grace of God. If God is moving within the body of Christ, moving within individual believers, he's gonna motivate them to give in accordance with his plan for whatever. And so if they're in tune with God, they'll give and it will be a gracious gift that came from God as a source.

So here's a verse that we're going to study down the road a piece, but it has the same word charis in it, and it reads as follows. It also has some other things that kind of talk about giving. It says, but just as you abound in everything, in faith, in utterances, in knowledge, in all earnestness, in love, we inspire in you, see to it that you abound in this gracious work also." So if you notice they're abounding in faith, utterances, knowledge, earnestness, love, and then at the very last he says, so we springs it across as you, Corinthians, in this grace, this grace of giving, also be super abounding. So that's something that was on Paul's heart about giving to the Lord, the gift is from the Lord to other believers. So let's spend some more time with thinking about this. A financial gift is a grace gift, out from the grace of God.

So I had the privilege of listening to go back to 1975, and here at Holly Hills in 1975, our brother Ron Merriman presented these passages. And so he had some principles that he talked about. Now listen to the tape of that. They're available, you know, if you're interested in listening to Ron Merriman from 1975, you can do that. They're, you know, they're available. And it's pretty cool.

He covered these passages, and so I liked some of the things he had to say, so I'm going to share some of these things with you. First of all, true giving to the Lord is a grace. And then what I did was, you're like this, I'd like Merriman, but then I also like what Hal did, so I mixed them together. Okay, well, if Malloy and Merriman were here, maybe they'd say, Roger, you can't do that.

But I think it's good, it's good. Okay, true giving to the Lord is a grace. And Hal shares, it's out from the new man who is created in Christ and led by the Holy Spirit. So that's the whole modus operandi of giving in the Christian life. You're in fellowship with the Lord, and you're being led by the Lord to give. And it's not some mysterious thing, I don't think.

It's just living your life, moment by moment, saying, well, thank you, Lord, I've got this. And you know, I could help this need. There's this need I've come across at church. I could help this need, or I could, you know, whatever. So you and the Lord are working together, not working together. He's leading you. The believer under grace understands that whatever he has, God has allowed him to have only for a time. I've been thinking about that.

We're in the process of thinking about selling our house and buying a new house. Well, it's just, it's scary, you know. First of all, the price of your house has gone up Check the price of your house someday. If you've got people who own houses out there, I mean, it's just gone up ridiculous. Well, if the price of your house has gone up, the house you might want to buy has also gone up. And the house you really want probably has gone up even more than that. So you start looking at these numbers and you say, whoa, look at all this money, Lord.

I don't know. It's scary. So it's, anyway, it's his money, which is the bottom line. So the believer is a steward of God's blessing. True giving is always with forethought. I really like, this is really cool. This really kind of resonated with me. This is from Merriman again. It was forethought. It's not pressured. It's not emotional. We're not to give grudgingly.

Oh boy, I gotta go to church now. I gotta put something in that slot back there. One thing, I thank the Lord every time we don't pass the collection plate because the collection plate, what does it do? It puts pressure on you, right? Oh, there it goes past. Somebody will see me and I won't put money in it. What will they think of me? You can slip that money in, come early, stay late. You don't even have to put it in the slot. Give it to Wayne and Sue behind your back or whatever. Whatever you want to do. No pressure. That's the whole idea. Get emotion out of the picture.

It's to be planned. That's what verse two talked about. First, you plan out your giving. I hope I'm not putting a guilt trip on you when I'm, I'm not intending to, I'm just intending to show you God's grace. But I'm thinking, well, maybe this is gonna twist their arm too, that's not the idea. Okay, the third point.

True giving is a stewardship, but it begins with yourself. You're a steward, God has given you You know, he's giving you your life, he's giving you your career, he's giving you finances, he's giving you your children and grandchildren. And so you're to be good stewards of that, and money is part of that.

So it says, and this is what we're gonna study down the road, in 2 Corinthians 8.5, and this, not that we expected it, but they first gave of themselves to the Lord. We're gonna see that's part of the picture. There's a pattern here.

You start out with giving yourself to the Lord, and then it goes down the ladder, so to speak, and the bottom line of that is, that's when giving is appropriate. You don't start at the top and, I give first, well, I better give something. No. You have a relationship with the Lord, and it flows out of that relationship. So it's a top-to-bottom approach.

Not, well, just give us some money. That's not the idea. So the fourth thing is, true giving is a privilege of everyone in the body of Christ, rich or poor. So here's a verse, and this is amazing, this is where in 2 Corinthians, Paul, there's this group of believers, I think it's in Macedonia, I think it's Macedonia. They have very little, but they want to give a lot. And Paul says, I don't really think you guys should be giving anything.

No, we want to give. And that's what this verse says. For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participating in the support of the saints. They wanted to give to the poor saints in Jerusalem. And Paul said, you guys got so little, I don't think you should be given anything. But they didn't listen to him. They still wanted to give.

So I thought that was pretty cool. That's why I'm saying I'm not trying to pressure you. Well, Roger says that if I don't have anything, I gotta give. No, I'm not saying that. This is an example from scripture, okay? Okay, to carry your gifts to Jerusalem. Still hanging in there with that. Number five. So this is kind of a mixture of Molloy, the two Ms, Molloy and Merriman. So the first two are Merriman.

But you cannot give but you cannot give without being grateful I said right you can give without being grateful. That's true. You can give grudgingly something you can do That's not what you want to do, but you cannot give to the Lord. I'm sorry, but you cannot be grateful to the Lord without giving Anyway, I hope I miss those two.

Okay. Okay. How about the next two? God loves a cheerful hilarious giver and Let me, just a second here. Okay. And then the fourth point is, giving is a fruit of abiding in Christ and being led by the Holy Spirit. Okay, so there are the five things. So now, so the last verse here, and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me. So fitting is the idea that it's suitable, worthy.

So here's the kind of the dialogue about the apostle was open to the possibility of going to Jerusalem as part of a group, if it seemed best. After he wrote this letter he decided to go and that's recorded in Romans 5 15 25 and 26 but now I'm going to Jerusalem serving the Saints for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution to the poor among the Saints in Jerusalem. And then indeed he went.

This says in Acts 24, 17. Now after several years, I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings. So he did eventually, and through this long time period, he did eventually go and bring alms to Jerusalem and present his offerings. Okay, alright, so this, I mentioned there were nine, and maybe I won't go through all these, there are nine words that are used in the New Testament. for giving, so actually let me just do, so these, the first two we've looked at, we looked at collection, right?

Logia, that's used in verse one, and then the second word we looked at was charis, for grace, that was used in verse three, but there's also the idea of contribution or a fellowship, giving is a fellowship, giving is a joint participation in the Lord's work, we fellowship in that which we give to, So in Romans 5.26, and this is the two towns that contributed to this, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution to the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.

But there actually are a whole bunch more, I'm just gonna, so here's three more. Giving is a ministry, and that comes from the word for deacon. Ministry is also a service. And that's the idea of worship. And we could go into these. Maybe down the road we'll go into these more. I just want to kind of go over them briefly here. And then in some cases the word talks about, it talks about the amount.

It was a generous amount. And that's just, I'm not sure I can pronounce it. Abundant or lavish gift. Generous gift. And then we have the last three. It's a bountiful gift. And it talks about this bountiful gift, a gift of money that can be called a blessing. So it can be called a blessing, the ones who receive it.

And then lastly, there are two that are used in Acts about this alms being a merciful, responding to a need of an offering. And then lastly the one, now after several years I came to bring, this is the one where Paul finally gets there. I came to bring alms to my nation and to present the offerings. Okay, so now, so the last part here, I found something that I liked of Brother Hal, and he kind of put it, I thought, in perspective.

So how does this fit together? How does our giving fit together? And I think I've already kind of alluded to it. It fits first with our relation with our Savior, and then it flows down to our finally giving. So here's how it goes. The giving finances is only a portion of the total of giving.

Giving ourselves to the Lord, that's the first thing. Making ourselves and everything that he has graciously given us available to him. So we give ourselves, Lord, I'm yours, however you want to use me. Seeking wisdom and guidance from him on how we should allocate all that is his. It's his money, Lord, how should I allocate this?

Secondly, giving ourselves to the ministry of the gospel of the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, exercising our spiritual gift in the local church for the edification of the building up of the faith of the body, participating in God's ministry in defense and confirmation and establishment of the gospel of Christ, And then lastly, giving financially.

So I think that, to me, that really put it in perspective. As I was studying this, I was thinking, well, you know, we give more than just money. We give our time, we give our talents, we give our abilities, and they're all part of our life that involve with our Savior. They're all part of our life. And giving financially is, should follow as the final, if we need to help somebody financially, then we do that.

And the focus here as we saw through these verses was that it's within the body of Christ. All right, so let's close. We thank you, Father, so much. We thank you for your word. We thank you that it gives us really practical direction in terms of giving financially and that first of all it starts with knowing you as our Savior and our relationship with you and trusting and walking with you day by day. We thank you for that. In Christ's name, Amen.