Bible Studies for Life for the Week of March 23, 2014 Put Your Money to Work Bible Verses: 2 Corinthians 8:10-15; 9:1-5. The Point: Be ready to give as the need arises. 1. Finish the Work: 2 Corinthians 8:10-11. (10) And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. (11) So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. ESV Paul does not command them on this matter but gives them apostolic counsel. He wants to encourage them through reasoning since genuine charity for others is not something that is created by way of a command or coercion. He also does not want to seem to criticize them, but he does want to tell them what he thinks is right. Their original intention was good, but if they do not carry it out, it would make them look bad. Paul shows his affirming leadership style by praising what can be praised, namely, their willingness to commit to the ministry from the beginning. 2. Acceptable Giving: 2 Corinthians 8:12-15. (12) For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. (13) For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness (14) your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. (15) As it is written, Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. ESV Corinth was far wealthier than the Macedonian churches, and the congregation had some members who were very well off. Paul does not mention anything about their poverty, so we may conclude that they were not in the same financial distress as the Macedonians. Stinginess has a way of expressing itself. Sharing from a surplus to give to this collection for the Judean churches accords with a divine principle about equity of material goods. The Corinthians’ current abundance would supply their current lack. This divine principle – no one has a surplus; no one has a shortage – was enforced by God in the time of the wilderness. Now it is voluntary, dependent on the working of God’s grace in the hearts of Christians. 3. Faithful Giving: 2 Corinthians 9:1-5 (1) Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, (2) for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. (3) But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. (4) Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated--to say nothing of you--for being so confident. (5) So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. ESV Paul wants to avoid the prospect of diminishing his readers’ eagerness if he should stress this matter too much. Because the three emissaries - Titus, who is called my brother (2:13), and the two brothers (9:3) - will explain all the details to them, there is no need for Paul to be specific in print. Paul’s admiration for their enthusiastic response to the collection is so great that he boasted about the Corinthians to the Macedonians. He compliments them and says: I know your readiness. His tone of voice is much the same as that of Jesus, who uses similar words when He encouragingly addresses the seven churches in Asia Minor and says, I know your works (Revelation 2:2,9,13,19; 3:1,8,15). Live It Out: What principles of Christian giving do we learn from Paul in these verses?
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 10:12:00 +0000
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