My first thought when I looked at 1 Corinthians 16:1-12 was, “Oh no.” That wasn’t my response, however, because I realized that I was preaching a text that looks (at first glance) like it was never meant to be preached. Though I did think that as I began to read it. It is, after all, filled with notes about Paul taking up a collection of money, sharing his itinerary, and then capping off with news that Apollos can’t visit right now but will come when he can. No, my first thought was, “Oh no” because I thought that preaching this text today is going to give the impression that I’ve been working to orchestrate this moment from sometime around the beginning of the year, if not earlier. Let me explain what I mean by starting with a brief note of some of the elements in this text.
In this text, Paul assumes a few things. He assumes that the Corinthians are committed to a mission larger than their own local church, that they’re willing to give financially and sacrificially out of their own pockets for the sake of the kingdom, and that they understand the need for people to disciple one another in personal ways, to name a few. I’m going to note some of these things as we work through the text this morning. But it isn’t lost on me that two weeks ago, on a Sunday night, I stood in front of the congregation and gave a state of the church address, sharing plans, hopes, and dreams we have for the church in which I said that we need to make disciples, be committed to a vision and mission larger than our own local church, and be willing to give financially and sacrificially out of our own pockets toward this cause. So, my first thought when I looked at this text was that it would appear that I had intentionally picked this text for this day in order to say that what I laid out two Sunday nights ago is indeed the biblical vision for the church.
So, let me start out by debunking that thought. It is true that I am a planner, who loves Microsoft Excel, and charting out things way in advance. I pretty much knew, for example, the order in which I would preach the books of the Bible fifteen years before we actually finished the canon this past year. And I do like to put out sermon cards that map out what text is going to be preached six months in advance. However, I have no idea what each of those sermons will look like ahead of time. That is, I knew what text I wanted to preach each week, but I had not begun to study the text and had no idea what points the text made that would make up my sermon. Nor did I know that we’d even give a state of the church address in our members’ meeting two Sunday nights ago. We actually first intended on giving a state of the church addresses in our first members’ meeting of the year, but that just didn’t work out, so it got bumped to April 19. And even then, I didn’t know what we wanted to say in the state of the church address until we had our elders’ retreat in March, long after I’d made the sermon card. And finally, even if I had known what I wanted to say in the state of the church address months ago, and even if I had thought that I should plan a sermon two weeks later that could be used to reinforce what was said in that address, and even if I worked to make sure the perfect text was selected to bring about that carefully crafted plan, I can’t imagine I’d ever land on 1 Corinthians 16:1-12. After all, a third of this text is taken up with Paul sharing his itinerary, where he says things like, “I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter.” Those words hardly send the message: “Ideal text for reinforcing the mission of the church!”
So, no, this text this morning was not part of a carefully crafted plan hatched months ago as I sat at my computer making up schedule cards and writing up the state of the church address. However, in the Lord’s providence, I do indeed think that this odd text near the end of 1 Corinthians that would be easy to ignore and skip over actually does reinforce what I think should be the mission of the church. That is, I think this text reminds us what should be our expectations for any local church as we seek to make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Christ commands, to the ends of the earth, which is the mission given to the church by the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Paul writes this final chapter, he focuses on a couple of main issues. The first is a collection that he and the Corinthians had already corresponded about, since he begins “Now concerning the collection for the saints,” a phrase he has used thus far in the letter to deal with things the Corinthians had already asked about or were somewhat aware of. It seems that the church at Jerusalem suffered great difficulty financially. We know, according to Acts 11, that many believers had fled Jerusalem because of the persecution Jewish believers faced there. Then, we know that there was a famine that had taken a toll as well. In addition, we know that when Paul went up to Jerusalem and was given “the right hand of fellowship” (Gal. 2:9), Peter, James, and John asked him to remember the poor, which most likely meant his poor brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. Therefore, Paul led a charge to gather a collection from a number of churches in Gentile areas to send back aid to the church in Jerusalem. This is what Paul mentions in verses 1-4.
The other issue Paul takes up is his travel itinerary and the travel itinerary of his fellow laborers. He mentioned his own travel plans in verses 5-9, Timothy’s travel plans in verses 10-11, and Apollos’s travel plans in verse 12. But as we look at this text we can see something more than details about a collection and travel plans. We see certain expectations that Paul had about how the church should think and work that should help us understand what expectations we should have as a church today. These expectations are what I want us to see this morning. And the first is that,
Now, I’ll admit, I can get uncomfortable talking about money behind the pulpit. This probably stems from two sources. One of them is that I never want to appear as if I have some kind of agenda to get everyone’s money and somehow that result in my personal gain. That is obviously not the case. The other is that in the years of my youth I felt like there were a number of shady things I heard of regarding money. The biggest money scandal from a preacher was of course Jim Baker, who would plead for money on television and was involved in a scandal to pocket it. But I also remember going to a preaching night of a highly regarded traveling preacher who said from the pulpit, “If you want to see the glory of God, just look in my garage and take a look at my white Mercedes-Benz, and if you want to see a little more glory, look at my black Mercedes-Benz next to it.” Those things made me want to distance myself from talking about money. I didn’t want to come across as one of those conniving men.
However, as I continued to study the Scripture I realized that my willingness to distance myself from talking about money wasn’t a reflection of my godly character. In fact, it was a great weakness in my labor of shepherding a people well. After all, Jesus says that where you treasure is, there will your heart be also, so if I was unwilling to talk about our treasure, how could I say that I care about your heart? Moreover, I realized that in my attempt to be above reproach I had created a category of godliness that was beyond what Paul and Jesus experienced because they talked about money a lot. That is to say, my category of godliness was no godliness at all. It is probably better labeled self-righteousness.
You see, the Bible does not share my embarrassment in talking about money. The Bible knows it’s a big, personal topic, and the Bible enjoys dealing with big, personal realities. And next to Jesus, Paul leads the charge in talking about money. It’s almost difficult to find a book Paul writes in which he doesn’t deal with the topic of money in some form, and 1 Corinthians is no exception.
Paul fully expected the Corinthians to be a church made up of individuals who each gave toward the needs and work of the church. Paul addresses this issue of giving in verses 1-4. He writes, “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.”
Now, I think we can notice a few things about this giving:
1) It was done through a collection (an offering) as the church gathered on Sundays.
Paul says that on the first day of the week they were to set aside money and store it up. What Paul means is that on the first day of the week (Sunday), as the church gathers, they are to take up a collection, Sunday by Sunday that can be stored up, so that when he comes, the collection will be ready and there will be no need to collect any more money. This idea, then, of gathering money as the church gathers on Sunday for supporting the work of ministry seems to be a practice that stems back to the New Testament itself.
2) Paul expected every individual to give toward this collection.
Paul says in verse 2, “On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside.” Now, Paul could have just said, “You who are wealthy put something aside,” but he didn’t. He wants each of them to give. And I think that this is because giving allows all of us to store up treasure in heaven and demonstrate where our hearts are, not just allowing the rich to do so.
So, for us, we expect every member of the church to be a giver, storing up for himself treasure in heaven, showing his treasure is greater than this world, and contributing to the work of ministry.
3) Paul expected the gifts to be proportional to one’s prosperity.
Paul continues, “Each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper.” It seems that though Paul envisioned everyone in the church giving, he didn’t expect everyone to give the same amount. Rather, he knew that the Lord had blessed certain individuals to prosper more than others, and consequently, they’d give a greater proportion than another who’d not prospered as much.
Again, we recognize this ourselves, don’t we? We don’t expect every one of our members to give the same amount. The Lord has prospered some more than others, and thus he has enabled them to give in greater proportion, but the gifts of greater proportion aren’t necessarily better than those which make up a lesser proportion. Remember the widow, who gave all she had, and though it was only a mite, she was praised by the Lord.
4) Paul expected the giving to be carried out in a manner of integrity.
It’s interesting, isn’t it, that Paul doesn’t just say, “Let’s just trust everyone to handle the money properly. You’re sending the money to Jerusalem, just trust it’ll all get there.” No, rather, he says, “And when I arrive, I’ll send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.” That is, Paul fully anticipated the church picking men whom they trusted, writing a letter that probably said something like, “These are trustworthy men, bringing you our gift of (this certain amount), and we know it all has made it to you in their hands,” and then sending it with them. That is just wise. It guards against unnecessary temptation and says that we deal in integrity with money.
So, here at Cornerstone, we make it our aim to do the same thing. The money is collected publicly, and then it is counted by two trusted men, at least one of whom is an individual we’ve appointed a deacon, and they count the money in an office that is visible to all outsiders. Then, after confirming the count with one another, they write that number on a slip that is then passed on to the financial secretary, who re-counts it herself, confirming that number before depositing it, and attaching the deposit slip to the original paper where the money was calculated to show that all that actually was collected was deposited. Then, the elders get a financial report, confirm it with the financial secretary, and report every quarter the income and spending of every penny that comes in and is spent by the church. Is that overboard? I don’t think so. Rather, it is required to ensure everyone that we’re handling money with the utmost integrity.
5) Finally, Paul expected the Corinthians to give not only to their own needs but to the work of the church beyond themselves.
Now, the Corinthians obviously gave financially to the needs and work of their own church. Paul makes clear that elders are to be given double-honor in 1 Timothy 5, which is a clear command regarding money. That is, those who labor to benefit you spiritually should be able to be benefit materially. Paul has argued the same thing earlier in this letter. Second, we know that the Corinthians were responsible to care for the needs of their own members. Again, in 1 Timothy 5, Paul will say that widows in the church should be cared for. First, we should make sure their family is doing so, but if they don’t have family or the family is unable, then the church cares for them. So, we are safe to assume that each individual in the church at Corinth was giving to care for the needs and ministry of the church at Corinth.
However, they also had a vision to give financially to causes that extended beyond their specific local church and their city. For one, this collection was for another church – the church at Jerusalem. So, that’s one way their mission carried them beyond their own local church. But also note that Paul tells them in verse 6 that he’s coming to visit them “so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go.” What Paul means is that he expects them to help him financially to go and minister elsewhere once he leaves Corinth. Interestingly, earlier in the book he argued that though he deserved material blessing from them for working among them, he wouldn’t take it. But here he notes that he will take their material gifts as he plans to go and help another congregation. Paul expected their hearts to be willing to give to the cause of the Great Commission even beyond their walls.
And even when he tells them that Timothy is coming and exhorts them to “Help him on his way in peace,” I think that includes financial blessing as well. Thus, we see clearly that Paul expected the church to give financially toward causes beyond their own local assembly.
So, should we expect the same as a church? Yes. We have our own needs and ministry here that require finances. We have a building, pastors, and individuals who need financial help among our own body. However, our mission as a church requires that we give toward the Great Commission being fulfilled far beyond these walls. We are planning this August, for example, to send Timothy and Haley O’Day to plant a church in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve already sent out pastors to Sardis and Martin, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, and Washington. We have missionaries in California, Botswana, Peru, and many other places. We invest in interns who aren't members of our church and cost us, but we believe are a worthy investment because we’re training them to go plant churches and make disciples. And we could go on. And we want to do more and more and more of this.
As I said two Sundays ago in our members’ meeting, I want to send out hundreds all over our nation and around the world who will labor to plant churches that will make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Christ commands, to the ends of the earth. And we freely acknowledge that this will take money, even much money. But the expectation of the New Testament is that churches will give toward a mission that is bigger than their own local congregation.
Therefore, let’s not be embarrassed to talk about money, to disciple brothers and sisters, bringing up the conversation of how they’re giving, and to pray that God may enable us to give and do more. Let’s all get in on giving, give in proportion to how God has prospered us, collect and use our money with integrity, and use it to support the work of the Great Commission in our own church and to the ends of the earth. That’s my prayer for us.
But that’s not all I want us to see in this text, though I promise you my other points will be much briefer.
It’s interesting in this text how intent Paul is on being with the Corinthians face-to-face. He tells them in verses 5-9 of his plans, Lord-willing, to come see them and spend a long time with them. When it looks like he’ll be delayed, he tells them in verses 10-11, that he’s sending Timothy to them, and finally in verse 12 he tells them that though he’s unable to come now, Paul has urged Apollos to visit the Corinthians as well.
Why? I mean, travel is hard. It’s expensive. Why go through the trouble and expense of dealing with people face-to-face? I think the reason is because the ideal situation for discipleship is that it is done face-to-face. That is, if we’re going to make disciples, we can’t do it simply by isolating ourselves in a room and writing books. No matter how good those books are, we’re simply made to grow and learn and be disciple through face-to-face relationships. This is a reason why Jesus said in the Great Commission, “Go.” He could have said, “Write letters.” But that’s not the Scripture’s vision for disciple-making.
The Scripture’s vision for disciple-making is that believers go to people who haven’t heard the gospel and speak the gospel to them, baptizing them if they believe, and discipling them in a relational community of believers. That’s what we’re trying to do here. It’s why we’ve set up a number of outlets to be with other believers in the church and benefit from being face-to-face with them. And it’s why we’re willing and longing to send out many to go make disciples through face-to-face encounters all over the world.
Let us, therefore, invest ourselves in the lives of one another so that we may demonstrate living in obedience to Christ's commands so that others may learn to imitate our faith. And let us send out many so that others with whom we cannot reach without someone going to them might obey Christ as well.
As Paul makes his travel plans, we see all three of these elements in his writing. First, he makes plans. Paul has a mission and vision to make disciples, and he plans to that end. He plans to visit the church in Macedonia, spend a good season among the Corinthian believers, then go to another area, being sent on by them. But he’s not going to leave immediately because he plans to stay where he is and labor until Pentecost.
Do you see his planning? This is good. This is why that we as pastors take time to think and pray and plan how we hope to lead the church in fulfilling the Great Commission. It’s one reason why we have our internship and are hoping to build up seminary classes in the area. We know that if we send out individuals to be missionaries, pastors (vocational and non-vocational alike), and church planters, then we must plan to equip them. So, we’re putting things in place to do that, investing in those causes, etc. We plan, and it’s good that we plan. We simply don’t drift toward obeying the Great Commission. We must plan how to do that. This is good.
But we also recognize the Lord’s providence. Paul says in verse 7, “I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.” We plan, acknowledging that God might have something else for us. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve made plans before the Lord only to have the Lord shatter and change our plans. That’s great. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan. But it does mean that we plan with full understanding and delight in the fact that the Lord may well divert us from those plans to something else.
And, finally, we don’t let obstacles divert us from the mission Christ has given us. Paul was commissioned by the Lord to make disciples among the Gentiles. He went to Ephesus, and was persecuted, constantly in battles. He could have determined that this meant he should abort the mission. But he didn’t. He kept planning how to accomplish the mission, kept working, kept laboring, and he tells us in verse 9 that despite many adversaries, the Lord had opened a door for effective work. That is, God was enabling him to fulfill the commission Christ had given him in Ephesus, and he wanted to take full advantage of it.
I want us to work the same way. We may see some of our hopes and dreams turn out much different than we hoped. We may see some hardships we didn’t anticipate. We may see some failures. We may struggle financially. But we know the mission the Lord has given us. We must make disciples of all the nations, and we cannot let any obstacle thwart us from planning to do that, praying toward it, giving toward it, and laboring for it. We must be a church that says to the Lord. We will obey, whatever the cost. And we will obey because he first loved, shed his blood on a cross, and rose from the grave for us. Let us remember that now as we come to the table. Amen.