Financial Partnerships

Well, we are last returning to the book of 2 Corinthians and the series that we interrupted on the eighth day of March because of COVID. Thinking that we'd be back to it long before now, but here we are. But I think it's time to return to this series because it fits so perfectly into the financial stewardship emphasis which makes a part of what we generally focus upon during missions month. We are coming now to the last section of chapter 8, having completed through verse 15 of chapter 8 on March the 8th. But because it has been nearly eight months, we need a little bit of review.

I don't think you'll disagree with me about that. Let's start by thinking about the church at Corinth. What was this church like?

Where did they come from? What do we know about that church that is important? And you will recall that on the second missionary journey, Paul, taking Barnabas with him now, or Silas, rather, with him now instead of Barnabas, first revisited the churches that were planted on the first missionary journey in the area of Galatia. Having satisfied himself that they were doing well, he began to look around for another field of service, another place to evangelize, another place to plant churches where there were no churches. And though he considered seriously a number of places throughout Asia Minor, God kept saying no, not there, no, not there, no, not there until eventually arriving in the port city of Troas on the northwestern shore of what is today modern Turkey. In the vision of the night, of a night, a call came to him from those over in Greece and Macedonia and said, come over here and help us. And Paul recognized that as the voice of God, and so he and his missionary company boarded the ship and traveled across the sea to Macedonia, started in Philippi. A number of people were saved, a church was established, but he was driven out there, moved on down to, I'm trying to think what was next, whether it was Bria or Thessalonica, one of the two. He went next to, let's say, Thessalonica, and I guess it was Thessalonica, it's coming back to me now more clearly. He went secondly to Thessalonica, preached the gospel, people were saved, but again, antagonism was stirred up, and the Jews persecuted him there.

He left the city of Thessalonica and went to Bria, and that's the only place where we find that the Jews in general had a respectful reception for him. Not that all of them became Christians, but at least they listened to what he said and waited carefully. These were, as our King James Bible says, more noble than those of Thessalonica.

There we've got the sequence. Thessalonica was second, Bria was third. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they heard the word of God thoughtfully, I forget the exact wording, and searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Souls were saved in Bria, and a church was established in Bria, three churches in the space of a few months ministry in Macedonia.

But when the Jews of Thessalonica heard what was going on in Bria, they traveled to Bria, and they fomented persecution and opposition there. And so the Christian said, you got to leave, Paul, you got to leave, Paul. And this time he went all the way down to the southern part of Greece, quite a considerable distance, left the northern territory of Macedonia, came down to the southern territory of Achaea, started in that great city, that historic city of Athens, preached the gospel on Mars Hill.

A handful of people believed, apparently not sufficient to stay and to organize a church. Paul left Athens, traveled westward, not far, but westward across the Greek peninsula to the city of Corinth, another great city in the Roman Empire, and there God gave him great success, not without opposition. In fact, he got very discouraged fairly early on, and I think he was minded to leave the city of Corinth, and again the Lord spoke to him in the night and said, Paul, continue on, for I still have many people in this city.

They hadn't believed yet, they weren't saved yet, but they were already identified as the people of God. I already have many people in this city, so you stay there and preach the gospel and gather them in, trophies of sovereign grace. And Paul did just that, and he stayed there and preached the gospel in Corinth and ministered a year and a half and established a strong church. Paul ministered longer in Corinth than any place else in one stretch than the city of Ephesus. Then Paul went on. Now, the passing of a few short years, some time later, Paul is now in the city of Ephesus writing the first Corinthian epistle to the church at Corinth. And he is answering their questions, they have quite a few, and he takes them up one by one, now concerning this, now concerning that, the questions wherever you have asked me.

We went through that book and identified the questions. Paul also dealt with a very serious problem, he dealt with a series of problems, but the most serious one was immorality in the church, undealt with. Paul considered that extremely serious, and he gave strong instructions, I mean the sparks were flying when he wrote chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians, and he told them, since you haven't done what ought to be done, I'll do it, kick that man out, I've already decided that that unrepentant immoral man must be excommunicated from the church, and you take care of it yesterday.

Bang! And then he went on and dealt with other matters, including some good sections of doctrine, but one of the things that was most concerning to him was the project offering for the saints in Jerusalem. He introduced that in the first epistle, chapter 16, you're all familiar, no, yeah, 16, after that great resurrection chapter, which is 15. In chapter 16, the opening words are quite well known, now concerning what?

The collection. As I have given instructions to the churches of Galatia, those four churches established in Galatia that he had revisited on his second missionary journey, as I gave instructions to the churches of Galatia, so also do you, ye in the old King James, on the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered that there be no gatherings when I come, and so forth, and whomsoever you appoint to go with me, I'll take the offering to Jerusalem, and so forth. Now, 2 Corinthians, this is about a year later.

Paul is now writing from Macedonia, northern Greece, probably in Philippi. He writes another epistle to the Corinthians, number one, to explain his delay in visiting them. He told them he was coming. He hadn't come yet.

Some of them were wondering where he was. He gives the explanation. Furthermore, he deals with a lot of criticisms that had come from somewhere, either from within the church or, who knows, false teachers outside the church, but Paul was dealing with criticisms, and he addresses a lot of those in the 2 Corinthians epistle. He pours out his heart to them.

It's a very emotional epistle in many ways. But then, finally, he comes back to this project offering, and he addresses that once again in chapters 8 and 9, two chapters to deal with this project offering for the saints in Jerusalem. And that's where we are in 2 Corinthians 8. In chapter 8, he opens by reporting on the remarkable giving of the churches of Macedonia, how they gave generously out of their poverty, they gave beyond their ability, and yet they gave, and God blessed them for it. He prods Corinth to get busy and do what they had promised they would do a year ago.

They had made a commitment to this offering, to this project, and it had not yet been fulfilled. So Paul says, get with it, get going. In fact, he says, I'm sending Titus to you to, in the words of verse 6, complete, complete this matter.

Did you see that? So we urge Titus that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. Giving is a grace. It is a reflection of the grace of God. It is a development of God's grace within us. It is a development of spiritual maturity. It is a development of the various areas of Christian living which God has showed us to follow. And Paul says that.

Remember? He says, now I'm looking for the exact verses here. I guess I'm going to have to pick them out of my notes. Verse 7, thank you, whoever that was, thank you. Verse 7, but as you abound in everything, they were well developed, and here he lists some things, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love to us. Those are things that they were doing very well in. What else?

See that you abound in this grace also, the grace of giving. They were developing well in every other area, but they were holding on to their pocketbooks. They were pinching those pretty tight. They were pinching that. Boy, this is an old expression. You'll know something of my age. They were pinching that nickel in their pocket till the buffalo jumped off.

I mean, they just didn't want to turn loose. And Paul said, come on now. This is all part of your Christian growth and development. This is part of your worship to God.

This is a part of the practical expression of your love. You express your love to the brethren. Here are brethren who are in need. We're giving you an opportunity to help, and what are you doing?

You're sitting on your pocketbook instead of helping. Come on now. Come on now. Come on now.

Come on now. That's what's going on in chapter 8. And so he urges them to follow through on their previous commitment. I give you this advice, verse 10. It is to your advantage. Sometimes we think that giving is only to the advantage of the recipient. Preacher, whatever you can talk out of me, that will benefit whatever it is that you're trying to raise money for.

Remember, remember, this is as important for you as it is for the recipient. This is not just a matter of supplying a need, though it is that. We don't dismiss that. But it's far more than that. This is supplying, you're giving is supplying a need in your soul, in your life, in your heart, in your development, in your Christianity. It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago, that commitment that they made a year ago, what you began and were desiring a year ago, and then you've let it drop. But, verse 11, you also must complete the doing of it.

That as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. Now, that's where Paul is going. This is chapter 8, and we're coming up now to our section for today.

That's the background. Now, in verses 16 through 24, which is our text for this morning, Paul addresses four partnerships that all have to do with finances in one way or another. He talks, first of all, about a ministry partner, secondly, an accountability partner, third, what I have called a behind-the-scenes partner, and finally, a financial partner.

Let's look at them one by one. First, a ministry partner, verse 16, 17, and 23, and this is reference to Titus. Verse 16, but thanks be to God, who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus, for he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord.

Verse 23, if anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you. A ministry partner. Who is he? What is his role? Why was he effective?

Who is he? He is Titus, mentioned a number of times in the book of Acts and in some of the epistles. In fact, there's one epistle that bears his name. As we go through the epistles, we come down toward the end, and we come to 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, which is the last in the order in which they're laid out in the New Testament. The epistle of Paul to Titus, three chapters, he's addressing Titus in that epistle. As Titus is on an assignment in the island of Crete, where there are Christians, where there are churches, Titus is there to help organize the churches, to ordain elders in every city and so forth. You can find that in the epistle to Titus. Who is Titus? He is evidently second only to Timothy as one of Paul's best and most trusted ministry partners. Timothy's number one, that's the ranking, that's the sense of ranking we get from the Scriptures. Titus is number two. There are other men who were faithful, and Paul commends them as well, and then there were quite a few who proved not to be so faithful, and Paul mentions some of them also. But Titus was number two in his effectiveness and helpfulness to Paul's ministry.

He was faithful, he was trusted, he was effective, is Titus. Who is he? That explains who he is. What is his role? And I'll speak to that generally and then specifically as to what his role is in this epistle in 2 Corinthians. What is his role? A ministry associate.

In verse 23, Paul says he is my partner. He's an associate with Paul. He is, as we would gather from that language and as we learn elsewhere, a preacher, a church planting missionary. That's his role.

What else? He is what we would call an apostolic emissary. What does that mean? Well, it means that when Titus came to Corinth or to Crete or to wherever Paul sent him, they were to understand, the people that he came to were to understand that he represents Paul. What he says is virtually what Paul would say if he was here, he is there as a representative, as an emissary for the apostle Paul. He is an apostolic emissary. My fellow worker, Paul calls him in verse 23, my fellow worker concerning you.

Not my fellow worker to help me in what I'm doing, though of course that's obvious, but my fellow worker concerning you. He's telling you what I told him to tell you. He is doing in Corinth what I instructed him to do. He is doing what I would do if I could be there. He is an apostolic emissary.

In short, he is Paul's personal representative to the churches, in this case to the church of Corinth. Question number three, why was he effective in his labors? And verses 16 and 17 tell us three things about him. Number one, he was earnest. Number two, he was submissive. Number three, he was eager. He was earnest. He was serious. He was diligent in his work.

But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. He was as serious about the work of the gospel as Paul was. That's what made him effective. But number two, he was submissive.

What do I mean by that? Well, he obeyed instructions. He submitted to the authority, the rightful authority of those who were over him. In this particular case, he submitted to the leadership and authority of the apostle Paul. Verse 17, for he not only accepted the exhortation, that is to go to Corinth, Paul said, I want you to go to Corinth. Titus said, yes, sir. He willingly placed himself under the authority of the apostle Paul so that he could effectively serve the Lord as a partner with Paul.

And that's what made him effective. He had this submissive spirit. We always have to battle the tendency to have a nobody's going to tell me what to do kind of spirit, even as Christians. That's not a good spirit. This is the spirit that makes us effective as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're willing to be submissive in those areas where we ought to be submissive.

And the Bible lays those out for us pretty clearly. Titus was submissive. He accepted the exhortation. But thirdly, he was eager because verse 17 goes on to say he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord. The picture is that of a man who was just chomping at the bit to go, but he couldn't go, at least he wouldn't go until Paul said go. Some would have said, but God's laid it on my heart.

I'm going to go on my own. Titus was more godly than that. And Titus was more effective because of his godliness.

And he said, I'd sure love to go, but it's not my place to do that. This is a church that Paul has established. This is a church that Paul is still providing leadership to. This is a church that Paul is still working with. If Paul can use my services there, then he'll tell me to go.

If not, I'll be happy to stay here and do whatever I can find that's useful until such time as the Lord tells me to go through the instructions of the Apostle Paul. So he was eager, but he was submissive and he was diligent. That's what made him effective. There's a lot of lessons there for us.

But here's an interesting thought. What was Titus' main concern in wanting to go to Corinth and be involved in the work of the gospel? He not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord. You say he was anxious to get there and preach the Word of God.

Well, no doubt he was, but that's not what this is talking about. What was Titus' main concern? It was to help complete the project offering in Corinth.

Back to verse 6. So we urged Titus that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. That's what Titus was concerned about.

So being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord. He had the same concern in his heart that Paul did. He was interested in seeing the Corinthian church develop in this area of their Christian lives, this area of weakness. He wanted to help them to develop in the area of giving. And so he became a ministry partner with Paul in financial development, in helping the Corinthian church develop in their giving to the Lord. And why was this important? Well, number one, it was for the glory of Christ. That's always the main thing.

But number two, as I already pointed out earlier, this was for their benefit. Their lack of development here was holding them back spiritually. Titus was burdened about that. I want to see these people going on.

I want to see them grow and glow. And this is what's holding them back. I'd love to get down there to Corinth and help them with this, if that's God's will. And Paul said, Titus, I want you to go.

And he said, I thought you'd never ask. And he was gone. That's number one, a ministry partner. Number two, an accountability partner. Now we come to verses 18 through 20. We learn about a second man. And we have sent with him, that is, with Titus, the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches. And not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us, with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord himself and to show your ready mind, avoiding this, that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift, which is administered by us.

What is this all about? Now we're talking about an accountability partner. First we talked about a ministry partner.

Now we're talking about an accountability partner. Who is he? He is an acclaimed brother, according to verse 18, but he's not named. We don't know who he is.

We don't know his name. But clearly he was already known to the church at Corinth. He was no stranger to them. He was an effective evangelist. He was a preacher. We read in verse 18, whose praise is throughout all the churches.

That speaks about his effectiveness. He was being applauded. He was being commended throughout all the churches for his work.

And what was it? Whose praise in the gospel is throughout all the churches. His work that brought praise related directly to the gospel. In other words, he was a gospel preacher. In the proclamation of the gospel, in the defense of the gospel, this man was very effective. He had the praise of many churches in regard to his work. He was a preacher. He was an evangelist. He was a missionary. So in this regard, he is very much like Titus, but we don't know his name.

And he is a qualified participant. Verse 19 tells us he was chosen by the churches. And that word, chosen, literally means chosen by the raising of hands.

What does that mean? Church vote. Now I would be tempted to digress at this point to talk about the different styles of church government and why I've come to the conclusion that what we call congregational church government is the one that is most conspicuous in the pages of Scripture.

It's not crystal clear in every case. And congregational church government is not exactly what some people think it is. It's not a free-for-all in every church business meeting, as it has become in some churches. It is congregational involvement. In fact, ultimately, congregational government, congregational rule, but under the strong guidance of spiritual leaders.

That's what keeps it from becoming a free-for-all. Elders have a strong responsibility in churches. And some people find that in Scripture and they say, well, our style of church government is the elders are going to take care of everything. We might from time to time report to the churches, to the congregation, but really they don't have a lot to do with it. It's all going to be taken care of by the elders, or in some cases, even by the bishops beyond the local church. Well, that's not what I find.

I find a balance. But important decisions are to be made by the congregation. And it's clear that the congregations were called upon here to select qualified men, mature men, godly men, men of integrity, to act as traveling companions with Paul when he delivered this church to Jerusalem, as a matter, number one, of safety, because it wasn't safe to travel alone with a lot of money in those days. I don't know that it's much safer to travel alone with a lot of money in our days.

I guess it depends on where you're going. That's why I don't usually carry a lot of cash. Some people do. They love to have that big wad. You know, they want to pull out the money clip and take it off and peel off the bills.

All right, if that suits you. But sometimes I have a hard time putting together enough money to buy a hamburger. Other times I have a little bit more in my wallet.

I happen to have more now because I just got home from a trip, and I usually carry more when I'm traveling because you never know when you're going to need some cash unexpectedly. But it wasn't safe to carry. They couldn't actually fold up their money in that day and stick it in their pocket.

It was gold and silver. They had to carry it in bags. They needed protection.

They needed safety to travel. But Paul doesn't even mention that aspect. He assumes they all understand that part. But he says these men, this man and another one that we're going to see in a moment, were chosen by the churches for financial accountability. So that I, Paul, am not the only one who's handling, carrying, and delivering this money. Paul, do you feel tempted to help yourself to some of it?

I don't think so. He doesn't seem to indicate that this is a temptation that he needs help with. But it's just an important principle of biblical church finances that there be clear accountability. We can see that all the way back to this section. And this unnamed brother was chosen for that purpose. He is an accountability partner, a trusted representative of the churches, chosen by them by vote. How many of you vote for Brother So-and-so to travel with Paul with this money? Everybody in favor, raise your hand. All right, all opposed?

Same sign. Good. Brother So-and-so was approved.

Thank you. It was a congregational vote. He said, I didn't know that was in the Bible.

Here it is. It's a congregational vote. He was chosen by upraised hands by the churches. As a matter of financial integrity to represent the churches, there's another interesting thing here. In verse 23, all of these who are representing the churches in this are called apostles.

It doesn't say that in the English. But if anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you, or if our brethren, this one and another one I'm going to mention, are inquired about, they are, and this word in my Bible is messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. That's why when Southern Baptist churches send their representatives to the national convention, they are called what?

Messengers. They take the word right out of the English Bible. But the actual underlying word is apostles. That's the Greek. An apostle like Paul?

No. Apostle like deacon, like other words, elder, for example. These are all words that have more than one meaning. And sometimes they have a general meaning and sometimes they have a more specific meaning. And there is a specific meaning. You might say a technical meaning for the word apostle when that means an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ like Paul and Peter.

But there are also times when it's used in a general sense. An apostle is always an authorized representative. So Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ, he's an authorized representative of the Lord Jesus Christ in a very special way, an apostle of Christ. These, brethren, are all authorized representatives of the churches because the churches all voted to make them their official authorized representatives. They are the messengers or apostles of the churches.

And all of this is important to bring proper honor and glory to Christ as verse 23 tells us. And so the second person that we're dealing with here is an accountability partner. Number one, a ministry partner. Number two, an accountability partner. An accountability partner in financial integrity. Even an apostle needs this.

And those who are truly trustworthy will welcome this kind of accountability in financial matters. And those who resist or resent it, they're the ones you better really watch out for. Well, I don't think that's necessary. What's the matter? Don't you trust me? What did Reagan say? This wasn't in the Bible, but he had it exactly right.

What did he say? Trust and verify. That's what this is teaching when it comes to church finances. Trust and verify. It's not that I don't trust you, but I'm going to help you remain trustworthy.

I trust you and I hold you accountable. Well, that's an awful lot of trouble. It's awful burdensome. It really is. And it's harder in these days of COVID than it ever has been before.

And I won't go into that, but it makes it difficult even to follow out the procedures that we have had over the years for accountability and trustworthiness. But we still insist on maintaining that here in this church, and it ought to be maintained everywhere where the Lord's work is involved. This is the way it ought to be done. So that's number two. Number three, we have another partner that I've called a behind-the-scenes partner. Who is he? Verse 22. And we have sent with them, with Titus and with this unnamed financial accountability partner, who is, according to verse 21, providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And we have sent with him our brother, whom we have proved, whom we have proved, says Paul, diligent in many things, but now much more diligent because of the great confidence that we have in you. And he goes on to say this man also was chosen by the churches. He is an authorized messenger.

Who is he? Another unnamed brother, this one apparently unknown in Corinth. The first unnamed brother, unknown to us, but known to them, so the context indicates. This unnamed brother, unknown to us, unknown to them, but Paul says he's known to me. I have found him to be diligent. He's proved himself diligent in many areas. He has been also selected by the churches, presumably the churches in Macedonia, as an authorized messenger to provide transportation and accountability for this gift, and he's coming. But what about this behind-the-scenes partner? Is he a preacher?

No. The evidence is he's not. But what is he? He is a gifted man in many areas, whom we have often proved, verse 22, diligent in many things. You know who kept coming to my mind when I was thinking about this?

And there are a lot of you who came to my mind, but you know who just kept coming to my mind over and over and over again? It's Greg Phillips. He is so gifted in so many areas, and so willing to help, eager to help in anything that he's capable of doing, which seems like nearly everything, except he's not a preacher, though he can teach. He's taught adult Sunday school class from time to time, and he does a very commendable and faithful job, but that's not his gift, that's not his calling, that's not his burden, that's not his desire. But he sure is gifted in a lot of things.

He is really good in a lot of areas. Aren't we thankful that God has people like that in the churches? My, oh my. And I could go around and start pointing out some of you. I mean, as I'm looking at you, I just see many, many, many who fit the same description. Thank God for people like that. Some who have many, many, many gifts, and they use a wide assortment of them for the glory of Christ. Some who maybe just have one or two, but they're just as diligent, just as faithful to those gifts that God has given them. And where would the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ be without people like that? Like Paul said in another section, everybody can't be an eye, everybody can't be an ear, everybody can't be a mouth, everybody can't be a nose, everybody can't be a hand, everybody can't be a foot. God has designed the body so it's got all these different parts and every one of them is needed. And only a few are mouths, preachers. But where would the mouth be without an eye, without an ear, without a nose, without a heart to beat, without feet to walk to where they're going?

I mean, you know, on and on it goes. And this is one of those people who has proved himself to be very diligent, though he is unknown to the church. He's only known to Paul, but he is a faithful man. He's a partner in the ministry in a behind-the-scenes sort of way. But he's also part of this financial accountability. And that brings us now to number four, a financial partner.

Who's that? That's the church, the church at Corinth, verse 24. Therefore, said Paul to the church now, show to them Titus, unnamed preacher brother, unnamed behind-the-scenes diligent brother, show to them and before the churches of Macedonia and Galatia, show to them the proof of your love and our boasting on your behalf. What's he talking about?

Give a decent offering for this project. Well, I don't like to hear preachers talking about money. And you're going to have to start cutting some portions out of the Bible. I don't like to hear preachers always talking about money because that's out of proportion to the Bible. I have actually known, I know one preacher who told me that he never preaches a sermon ever without mentioning tithing. He's got to get that in.

Just slips it in somewhere. In every sermon, no matter what the text, no matter what the subject, he slips in tithing. You say, wow, he must have a really generously giving church.

No, he struggles financially like you wouldn't believe. Well, you don't hear about tithing, about money, about giving every time you come to church at Beacon. In fact, somebody emailed me recently in response to one of the information snippets that I sent out about offerings recently.

About the low one a week ago Sunday and then the good strong one this last Sunday, thank you for bouncing back. And one of our members said, who has been in several churches, said, I've never been in a church where I've heard less about money and people give more generously. I've never been in a church where I hear less said about money and where people give more generously.

Well, that last part is a tribute to the grace of God working in you. When God's word, when God's Spirit is at work in hearts developing people to full maturity, one of the areas that will manifest that is their giving. And that's what Paul is showing here. And he's trying to prod them for their benefit.

Oh, he's just trying to get some money for the church in Jerusalem. That too. But that's way down the list of what's important here. What's important is what this does for you or your failure to respond.

What that does for you. That shrivels, that shrinks, that impairs, that impedes. Or when you respond, that enlivens, that grows, that expands, that blesses. And Paul said, now I've talked about my ministry partner, Titus. I've talked about, who was number two, I've talked about the accountability partner, that unnamed preacher.

I've talked about the behind the scenes partner, that guy who was good at doing a dozen different things. But now I want to talk about you, our financial partner with the other churches in this gift to Jerusalem. And Paul is saying, complete the project, be generous, and he states a number of incentives for that. Number one, as you give generously, well, whether you give generously or poorly, your performance is going to be known to these three men that I just named. Titus, unnamed evangelist, unnamed behind the scenes guy.

Your performance is going to be known to them. Number two, your performance will be known to the other churches. This is in verse 24. All the other churches are going to know whether you gave generously or whether you were stingy. Doesn't the Bible say that when it comes to giving, your right hand shouldn't know what your left hand is doing? I don't think it's biblical to report these things. When it comes to individuals, Paul isn't fingering any individual in the church.

He's not saying you are being stingy or you are being generous. Individually, it still remains a matter between them and God. But the overall response of the church is going to be known, and it's going to say a lot about the individuals in the church because churches can't give unless the people give.

Churches don't have any money except what the members give. But your performance will be known to the other churches. Number three, he says, your performance will be evidence of your love. You ever known one of those people who's just always saying, I love you, everybody? When they use that word so...can I use the word promiscuously? When they use that word so promiscuously, pretty soon it kind of loses effect.

Because they just love everybody. I love you, love everybody, love you, love everybody, love you, love everybody. Well, good. Here's a need. Will you help?

Oh, sorry. I love to talk about love, but I don't love to do anything about it. Your performance will be evidence of your love. And number four, your performance will vindicate Paul's confidence in you. He's made it clear that he believes the Corinthians are going to come through, and he's already stated that publicly to others. This is a good church. Yeah, they've gotten behind in their commitment, but they're going to come through, they're going to make it up, they're going to give.

Now Paul says, don't make me a liar. Do it. You've got it. You can do it.

Do it. I'll just zip through the lessons. We see a lesson here on the importance of financial accountability. I think that's clear enough. We see number two, a lesson on the importance of local church involvement. Do you see how that everything Paul does here is in some way connected with and through the local churches? That's really clear in this passage. Paul's concept of gospel ministry was always out from and back to churches. You say, are you saying you don't believe in parachurch organizations?

No, actually I do. But I remind parachurch organizations that you have legitimacy only as you are truly a servant to the churches. If you're not that, then you really ought to go out of existence. In fact, look back at verse 23. If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you, or if our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches, and then that last phrase, the glory of Christ. The glory of Christ, what does that attach to? The churches. They are messengers of the churches who are the glory of Christ. He said, well, I thought, here we go again, the tension between the church, one church universal bride of Christ, and local churches. I thought the church was the glory of Christ.

It is. Paul says the churches are the glory of Christ. They are too. And you don't really want to separate these two. You want to bring them together in a biblical way. And so the importance of local church involvement, number three, the importance of individual financial stewardship, and I wish I had more time to develop that, but as I've already said, churches only give what the members give. And finally, just to say in passing, and I'll have to say more about this later, that I've been struck again and again at how closely the way we have structured our Faith Promise program at Beacon parallels what Paul is doing here.

There are so many things that are either identical or very, very closely parallel. It's a good program to accomplish exactly what Paul is endeavoring to accomplish in the Church of Corinth and the other churches. May God help us to benefit from it. Shall we pray? Father, thank you for this portion of your word, which is instructive and helpful. May we receive it. May we believe it. May we respond to it to the glory of Christ. In whose name we pray. Amen.