"But thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus. 17 For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord. 18 We have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches; 19 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, 20 taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift; 21 for we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. 22 We
have sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found
diligent in many things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ. 24 Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you."
II Corinthians 8:16-24
Good Morning Beloved,
Welcome to worship!
We're so glad to have you here.
When God influences the heart great things happen. Amen?
God’s people have always given because their hearts are moved to do so out of gratitude for their salvation. However, we are acutely aware of the fact that we live in a materialistic society. The love of money, which is at the root of all kinds of evil, runs
rampant in our culture. Therefore, we are justifiably leery. People often wonder if the
things that we hear are really true about certain ministries. Are they really doing what they say they’re doing? That is a valid question, one that certainly needs to be asked.
In Our text today, that apostle Paul, covers those people who are collecting the money, those who
are ultimately to receive it, and those who are to give it. In this portion of II Corinthians, Paul helps us by giving us some standards
by which we can measure a stewardship effort, stands by which we can
measure appeals, solicitations, and our own giving as well. It just
sort of wraps up the whole concept of a stewardship campaign.
Paul is organizing a collection for the church in Jerusalem. These poor saints in Jerusalem, who didn’t have the basic
necessities of life because of persecution. And because many of them were pilgrims, coming from other parts of the world, who when they arrived at
Jerusalem and were converted, they stayed and had no means of employment. Their poverty
caused the apostle Paul to take a collection from the Gentile
churches.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Father, we thank You for this day! We humbly thank for this opportunity to gather together, to offer our worship and praise, we're so grateful. Thank You for this precious fellowship. We thank You for Your Word today, for the practical instruction, we pray that You might help us to apply it to our hearts, our lives, so that we might be obedient to these truths that are about to be revealed to us today.
As we continue to study Your Word, we are often amazed, how thorough, how comprehensive, how relevant Your Word is, even today. Lord, search our hearts, we prayerfully seek Your will, that we might be guided by the Holy Spirit.
How gracious, how freely given are Your gifts to us, how abundant are Your blessings poured out for us, we pray that You would cause our giving to others be directed by that same love. Just as Christ sacrificially gave His life for us, may we also give to those in need, freely and voluntarily. May we store up our treasures where our heart is, in the Kingdom with You.
In His precious name we pray
Amen
Today's Message: For The Love Of God
In our ongoing study of the book of II Corinthians, we are so privileged to have come to the end of this eighth chapter. What a powerful passage! Over and over, we see God influencing the hearts of His people.
The
psalmist David says in Psalm 4:6-7, "Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?”
Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O Lord! You have put gladness in my heart,
More than when their grain and new wine abound."
Now, I invite you to open with me your Bibles to the second book of Corinthians. Follow along with me as I read to you our text, from II Corinthians 8:16-24.
"But thanks be to God who puts 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 precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift; for 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 things, but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ. Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you."
When God moves peoples hearts His work gets done. We
need to pray that God moves people to serve, to give, to build, to
share. It’s important that our hearts be open before the Lord. I want us to be moved, I want us to be directed by the Spirit of our Lord.
It is because of this concern, that God put into Titus’ heart we see that he
welcomed the appeal, he had his own enthusiasm and he went on his own
initiative. This is how we want people to respond to giving in the
church, giving to the needs of others! They each have their own fire, their own passion, their own conviction! We pray that God will place a concern in our hearts for others.
God is concerned for His people. God is concerned for His people.
Just look at Exodus 4:31, "So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped."
God is concerned and he does something about it. Beloved, we can’t be concerned
like God and sit back and do nothing. God is always concerned about the right things; People!
Let's be honest, more often than not, we are concerned about the wrong things!
Jonah 4:10-11 teaches us, "Then the Lord said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"
We cannot expect for someone else to do your part. We must involve ourselves in the situation, so that we can be of service. If its not obvious, we must ask how we can help. I have known many Christians, who have used the excuse, "Well, no one asked me for help." Allow me to just say, that as God's people, we must take the initiative and ask, "What can I do to help?"
Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan. Two religious leaders passed by, but each said, "Someone else will come..." However, the Samaritan said, "I must help." And help he did! He did not wait to be asked, he saw a need, and determined to do something about it.
God is not concerned about a church building, He is concerned about people. It’s amazing to me that many Christians, reduce Christ's church to just a
place that we go. As if it were a function. It’s just some place we go to.
If that’s how you view church then it would be far better for you to switch
churches! Because it's just bible talk. Being a follower of Jesus Christ is not just talk, its love in action!
Beloved, it's not the building, it’s the
people. It’s the family of God. We are not islands here. What I do
effects you! And you me. If I’m
negative, critical, ignoring the needs of others and not demonstrating godliness, than I’m just tearing down the House of God, not building it
up. We are called to build up His church.
Proverbs 14:1 says, "The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.
Proverbs 19:17 says, "One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, And He will repay him for his good deed."
In Closing...
There are many things that God desires to do with his people. I’m
thankful that God is able to influence the hearts of people and I’m
thankful that God is concerned.
The choices that we make effect others. We are called to take all of our
resources, talents and the wisdom that God has given us, be it counseling skills, money,
helping people to change and share that with other people. God doesn't bless us so that we can hoard those blessings for ourselves. He gives them to us to manage, on His behalf, to help others when there's a need. And when we leave them, we leave them knowing our concern, our care, our love. When we help to fulfill a need, we show it openly to them. And that’s essential to giving, that's giving with real integrity. It's voluntary, faithful to the need. Proportionate to what we have been given.
Therefore, let us give openly and eagerly because we want all to see that love of God.
May it be so...
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen