Why Poor Churches Begged to Give - 2 Corinthians 8:1-6

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Good to have everybody once again, and we're going to go right back into II Corinthians and we're going to move on now into chapter 8, verse 1. II Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1, and again we like to remind our viewing audience of several things. We have all the past programs available on video, audio, or the printed page. Also, if you would be interested in getting our quarterly newsletter in which we announce various tours and so forth to the Holy Land, our TV log, we usually have an article or so on prophecy, why you drop us a note or give us a call, and we'll get you on our mailing list for that. Alright, this is a Bible study program, and like I always tell people, I don't preach at people, and fortunately this is the way people are receiving it. I've gotten more letters where someone says, what I like about your program, you don't preach at me. Well, we'll leave that to the preachers and the evangelists, and all we hope to do is just teach the Word, help people to understand what it says, why it says it, to whom it's being spoken, and it makes all the difference in the world. See, because if you go back into the Old Testament and read some of those things and try to apply it today, you're in trouble. I mean you're in trouble. So what do you have to do? It's still the Word of God, absolutely, but it wasn't written to us. It was written to the Jew under the Law, and so this is where we feel that we are reaching so many people who are confused. In fact, I had a lady call one Monday morning after she had seen the program, and she said, now Les, I am confused. I said, well what's the matter? Well, she said, the sermon Sunday morning was when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and said, what must I do for eternal life? His answer was, keep the commandments. I said, that's right. She said, then this morning you turned around and said, we're not under the Law, we're under grace. She said, isn't that a contradiction? I said, no, it's a change of program. I said, we're not under Law. Jesus today would not write to us to keep the commandments. Today, the message is, you believe the Gospel, and that's not a contradiction, it's a change in God's modus operandi. Now in Corinthians of course, Paul as we've been stressing over and over for the last several programs, that first in I Corinthians he had to deal with a church full of problems and he had to address them. He almost felt bad about it, but now within a year, we don't know exactly how much later, but sometime within a year later he writes this second letter, and it's just a whole different attitude. He's no longer condemning them for things, he is encouraging them, he is exhorting them, he is boasting about them to the other churches up and down Achaia and Macedonia, which were the two areas of Greece remember. But now he comes to a subject that is still pretty touchy today. He's going to touch their billfold. And so chapters 8 and 9 are totally instructions on Christian grace age giving. Now you have no idea how many phone calls we get where people ask, well what am I supposed to do? Well, hopefully from these two chapters we'll answer the questions from the Word. Now before we go into II Corinthians chapter 8 and Paul's admonition to the Corinthians to get their offerings in order, let's go back a minute to Galatians chapter 2 and see what prompted the apostle to encourage these Gentiles to bring their offerings. Now you want to remember these early churches meant in homes, they didn't have full paid pastors as we do now. They did not have building complexes that had to be maintained or built and paid interest on the loan and what have you. So the economy of these local churches was very limited, but still Paul is admonishing them to give. What was the purpose? Galatians chapter 2, and you'll understand from our past teaching that this is the Jerusalem Council at about 51 or 52 A.D. when the Jewish people at Jerusalem, Peter, James and John and the other members of the local Jewish congregation in Jerusalem, had called Paul up to Jerusalem to really settle the issue once and for all that he could no longer tell Gentiles up there in Antioch or in other areas where he had started churches that they could be saved without keeping the Law, without practicing circumcision and so forth. Well as we know and as we'll see when we study Galatians, Paul went to Jerusalem and withstood them to the face and said there was no way that he would ever teach his pagan converts recently come out of idolatry that they would have to keep the Judaic Law, that they would have to practice circumcision, because they are now saved by grace through faith plus nothing. And so they have this great conference, and I imagine it went on a good part of the day until finally Peter, by the work of the Holy Spirit, woke up and realized, now wait a minute, a long time ago, we know it was twelve years before, God sent me to the house of Cornelius, and He showed me that He could save a Gentile. So Peter said, I guess Paul's right, and so they gave in. That's Galatians chapter 2. So now then you come down to verse 9, and when James, and Cephas, that's Peter, when James, and Peter, and John, I always call them the inner sanctum, maybe that's not a good word, but that was the inner core of the twelve. And so when the inner sanctum, who seemed to be pillars, now what does that imply? They weren't what they thought they were anymore. What's happening? God's changing the program. He's coming out of Judaism and legalism, and we're coming into the age of grace. So they weren't the pillars anymore that they thought they were. But when they perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me in Barnabas the right hands of fellowship. In other words, just like we do today. When you come to an agreement, what did they do? They shook hands, and they agreed. Now let's look at what they said. Galatians 2. You go to the heathen, and they would go to the circumcision, or Israel. Plain as day. How people can miss it I'll never know, but I did for years, and I guess most people still do. But here was the agreement after this tremendous council at Jerusalem. Okay Paul, you continue your ministry amongst the Gentiles, we'll no longer force you to practice legalism and circumcision. You preach your Gospel, and we'll continue dealing with the Jew. But that's not what I wanted you to see. Galatians 2. Verse 10. Galatians 2. Only they would, that is Peter, James and John, only they would that we, Paul and Barnabas, should remember the poor. What poor? Well the poor Jews who were now stranded financially in Jerusalem. A lot of people don't stop to think of that. Now here we are, 52 A.D. That's about 20 some years after the crucifixion and Pentecost. I put the crucifixion at 29, Pentecost of course would be in the same year. So here we are 20 years or more after Pentecost, and the main prerogative of Peter, James and John is that Paul not forget these poor Jews in Jerusalem. Now let's go chase it back. Where did they come from? Go back to Acts chapter 2, and after I had explained to this lady that I was referring to in the opening remarks, I knew I couldn't just do it in a statement, so I just point blank aster. I said, have you got about 5 or 10 minutes? And she said, yes. And I said, would you like about 10 minutes of a personal one on one Bible study? And she said, oh I'd love that. So I took her back all the way through the Old Testament, the Abrahamic Covenant, how that Christ came to the nation of Israel and presented Himself as their Messiah, and how they rejected Him, and went through the whole gamut, and how that Israel continued to reject here in the early Acts, and then God raised up this other apostle and sent him to the Gentiles with the Gospel of the grace of God. And when I was all through, she said, it's so logical isn't it? Yeah it is. It's so logical. There's no way you could bring the whole Gentile world under Judaism and legalism and the Law, because now with the work of the cross completed and finished, God could pour out His grace on the whole human family, not just Israel. But back here in chapter 2 of Acts, it is still God dealing with Israel, and you all know the account, the day of Pentecost, verse 36 of chapter 2. Therefore Peter says, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified, Lord and Christ. See He's dealing with Israel. Now then, you come down to verse 42. Now the reason I brought you here, who are the poor in Jerusalem? Verse 42, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, the twelve, the teachings of Jesus in His earthly ministry, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers, and fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. Verse 44, And all that believed were together, and had all things common. They sold their possessions, and their goods, and they parted them, or they parceled out to all men, as every man had need. Now what was that? That was a total communal system of living. Whatever they had, they put it into a common kitty, and then the twelve, Peter, James, and John, and the others, parceled it out to these believing Jews according to their needs. All right, let's move on to chapter 3, or 4. Chapter 4, verse 32, And this is all in Jerusalem. These are all Jews. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul. Boy, wouldn't that be great if we could say that about churches today? Oh my, listen, again I get so many phone calls of people who are in churches that are dividing, and they're in controversy of one sort or another. Well, this group didn't have that problem. They were all of one heart and one mind. Neither, reading on in verse 32, Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them. Nor was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses. Did what? They sold them, and brought the price of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet. And then distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. Verse 36, And Hosea, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, the same one that ended up helping Paul, which is being interpreted the son of Consolation, who was a Levite, and of the country, or the island of Cyprus, having land on Cyprus, of course, sold it, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now back up again, if you will, to chapter 2, verse 5, Acts chapter 2, verse 5. And there were dwelling, or abiding at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, because this was a feast day, remember, a religious feast day. This was Pentecost. They were out of every nation under heaven. How far had they come? Oh, hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles for the feast days at Jerusalem. All right, so here on the day of Pentecost, you've got Jews who have come to Jerusalem from maybe as far east as India, and Babylon, and Syria, and Greece, and Rome, Spain, maybe even Great Britain, North Africa. All these Jews would come back to Jerusalem for these feast days. All right, but on the day of Pentecost and following, when Peter and the 11 were preaching, a lot of these Jews believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Kingdom is coming, because as soon as Israel had believed, the King would come, remember. Now these believing Jews, once they became believers, and the King and the Kingdom is just over the horizon, it's coming, well, who's going to go clear back to Babylon? I mean, after all, the King is coming. Why go clear back to Rome? The King is coming. Why go clear back to Spain or North Africa and eke out a living amongst those pagan Gentiles when the King is coming? So what'd they do? Hey, it was real handy. Stay in Jerusalem, live out of the common kitty, because after all, it was a stopgap measure until indeed the King would come and the Kingdom would be set up. But Israel did not respond. The King didn't come. And what happened to the kitty? Well, it ran out, see, it ran out, just that plain. They didn't have a runaway stock market, and they didn't have 25% interest, and so the kitty went dry. What happened to the people? Hey, they ended up poor, poor. They had sold all their goods. They were no longer able to even probably buy a ticket back home, and so here they are. They're caught in Jerusalem, but God is just. These people were caught in a legitimate cause because they had believed the Gospel of the Kingdom, that the King was coming, and so God is going to take care of them until they would die a natural death. Oh, how is God going to take care of them? With this agreement that Paul made with Peter, James, and John that wherever he would go in his ministry, he would remember the poor saints in Jerusalem. Now then, before you go back to II Corinthians chapter 8, now let's come into I Corinthians. We touched on it a little bit in our study back then, but let's look at it again. I Corinthians chapter 16. And he just barely touches on it here compared to II Corinthians where he spends two chapters on it. We're not going to get through them today. I can see that already, but we'll take it as far as we can. But I Corinthians chapter 16, beginning at verse 1. Now he says, "...concerning the collection for the saints," well, what saints? Jerusalem saints, see? "...as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye, upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered, that there be no collections when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters," in other words, letters Jerusalem. Do you see how plain that is? So what God is now laying on the hearts of these Gentile believers is the necessity of those Jewish believers who got caught, you might say, in the fact that the King and the Kingdom didn't come. And they were poor. They were destitute. All right, let me take you another one. Go back to Romans chapter 15. Let's begin at verse 25, because I'm sure anybody who knows anything of history realizes that at this point in time there were no mission boards. There were no foreign missionaries to support. There were no huge church plants, as I said in a previous program, to support. And so what was the need? Well, for the local church there wasn't that much. They were meeting in homes, and they didn't have to pay salaries or anything like that. But their responsibility was these poor believers in Jerusalem. All right, Romans chapter 15, and beginning at verse 25. But now He says, I go unto Jerusalem to minister to the saints. Now He didn't have a ministry amongst the Jews, so He wasn't talking about preaching to them. So what was His ministry? Financial help. Verse 26, For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia. Now this is the same area that His Corinthian letters are dealing with. It hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a contribution for the poor saints who are where? At Jerusalem. See how plain it is? Verse 27, It hath pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. In other words, the Greeks in Achaia and Macedonia were not out in left field by giving offerings to these Jews at Jerusalem. That was apropos. That was as God intended it. Why? Here it comes. Verse 28, For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their, Israel's, spiritual things, then the duty of the Gentile is also to minister unto them, the Jew, in what kind of things? Carnal or material things. See that? That was the responsibility. You see, as yet Israel had not been totally set aside. The Temple was still going, Israel was still in the land, and these Jewish believers were destitute and they didn't have a welfare system. The priesthood of the Temple certainly wasn't going to take care of them because they had embraced Jesus of Nazareth, whom these religious leaders of course detested. So they were in an island of need. And the only hope they had was the collection from the Gentile believers as it would be sent to Jerusalem. Got that? Alright, now then in light of all that, I suppose my time is about gone. Now chapter 8. Verse 1 again. Verse 8. Moreover brethren, we do you the wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. Now I hope you know your geography. Macedonia is northern Greece. That up right next to Yugoslavia. Achaia was southern Greece, the area around Athens and Corinth and down on the Mediterranean Sea. But all of Greece is mountainous. And whenever you have a rough mountainous countryside, at least back when most people eked out a living agriculturally, how much material wealth did these people have? None. They were poor themselves. See? There were a million congregations out in that mountainous area of Greece. This is who Paul is referring to. Verse 2. How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, now you see this is something America doesn't understand anymore. That there can be joy without material wealth. Now you talk to most of us who remember the Depression. The 30's Depression, not the 87. The 30's Depression. I think most of you remember at least part of it like I do. How much money did we have? None. None. There wasn't money for anything. Were people as downtrodden and depressed as they are today? No. No. People were happy. You know, I can remember asking my old dad after, you know, machinery came in and tractors and all this, and I said, Dad, how in the world did you stand farming with a bunch of horses? And you know what his answer was? Well, we didn't know any better. And that's so true. Well, the same way in the Depression. People were poor, but they didn't know it. And so what were they? They were happy. And the same way with these poor people up in Greece. They didn't have anything materially, nothing. But they had all kinds of joy and happiness because they had been removed from paganism with all of its superstition, and with all of its fear, and they had now been set free by the Gospel. Alright, read on. So in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. In other words, no matter how poor they were, they could still what? They gave. And they gave liberally. Alright, move on. Verse 3. For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves. In other words, Paul or Titus didn't go in there and do a bunch of promoting, arm twisting. No. All they did was express the need that the Lord was laying on them to give, to help the poor saints in Jerusalem. Verse 4. Praying us with much entreaty that we should receive the gift. Do you get that? As poor as these believers were in Greece, they actually begged Paul for the opportunity to give to those saints in Jerusalem. Quite opposite from today, isn't it? Oh, what an opposite. Today it's just as if people have to twist people's arm and you've got to have a telethon of one sort or another in order to get people to give. But oh, they didn't hear. They almost the other way around. They begged the apostle for the opportunity to take of their offerings, and with much entreaty that we should receive the gift. Now verse 4. Continuing on. Verse 4. And take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints in Jerusalem. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord. Now this is where it has to begin, isn't it? It doesn't do a nickel's worth of good for an unbeliever to give to the things of God. God doesn't need it, God doesn't want it, and God can get along just fine without it. But He expects the saints to give as He leads them to give, not with any legal binding, not with any legal ramifications that you will give this, but know under grace you give as we saw in Corinthians, as God has prospered you give as the Lord lays it on your heart and not according to a set of rules and regulations. But they gave first themselves to the Lord, in other words they stepped into God's saving grace, and then they might open themselves up to the Apostle Paul and his ministry. And then verse 6, in so much that we desired Titus that he had begun so he would finish in you the same grace also. In other words, Titus is picking up the mantle from the Apostle Paul to gather these offerings for the poor saints in person. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.