Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The way the body of Christ gives and stewards what is given should make Christ beautiful. The church must wisely manage what is given to leave no avenue to discredit the gospel of Christ. Today, Pastor Rich lays out six principles for responsible giving from 2 Corinthians 8, 16-24. Let's listen in. This is part two of a message that was first preached on July 6, 2014.
To hear more, you can visit www.delightingrace.com. There is a delegation of three that we find in this paragraph, 2 Corinthians 8. There was a delegation of three who were approved and entrusted with the administration of this large collection. The first one is Titus. We find him in verse 16. Thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.
Look with me once again down at verse 23. If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you. And so Titus is the first one in the delegation. He is a partner and a fellow worker with the apostle Paul.
Paul was the founder of the church, so he was a trusted individual. But it also becomes clear that Titus was a person who was not wanting to seek his own glory, but he was seeking the Lord's glory. The same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. Titus was a genuinely caring person.
He wasn't building himself up. His ministry was all about the Corinthians and ministering to them to the glory of God. And therefore, he was one who was entrusted with the task of administrating this large collection. The second one we find in verse 18. And we have sent with him, that's with Titus, we've sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches. Interesting, Paul simply refers to him as the brother. You have to understand that this letter was written by Paul to the church, and it was delivered by Titus. So when the church gets there, the delegation of three had already been there. And personally, in real life and time, in space and time and history, they were introduced as persons to the church. And then Titus gives them the church, and then the letter was read publicly to the church. And so everyone knew who this brother was.
Paul didn't name him for some reason, but everyone knew who he was. And it's interesting that he points out that this brother with us, with this gift, verse 18, sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches. He was affirmed by the congregations, his praise, that is his public reputation of the churches, that he's chosen by the churches. And his public reputation is that he is faithful in the gospel of Christ, in the proclamation of the gospel of Christ, and that is the focus of his ministry. And he's been very faithful in that. And so he is chosen by the churches to travel with us.
And that's a very important point. This is not another person that was just handpicked by Paul. This person was chosen by the churches to travel with him.
So there is a broad scope of approval for this individual who is entrusted with the administration of this collection. The third person in this delegation, then we find down in verse 22. And we have sent with them, that's Titus and the brother, and here Paul goes again, our brother. So we have Titus, the brother, and our brother.
These three guys in the delegation. He didn't name him, but the Corinthians knew of whom he spoke because they had already been introduced to him. So our brother was probably one that Paul and the Corinthians knew in common.
But this was a person, look what he says about him. We've sent with them our brother, whom we have often proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent because of the great confidence which we have in you. What is Paul saying about him? This man has a humble life of known service. And he has proved diligent in many things. He has been entrusted with many responsibilities, small and great. And in every one of them, he has proved faithful and diligent. You give a task to this man and he does it. There are several people like that in this church, where you give them, you ask them to do something and you know that you never have to ask them again because they'll get it done.
And this is this sort of person. He proved diligent in many things. He had a pattern of faithfulness. So you have these three, Titus, a partner and fellow worker with the apostle who seeks the Lord's glory. You have the brother who is affirmed by the congregations, chosen by the churches to travel with us.
And then we have our brother who had a life of known service who proved diligent in many things with a pattern of faithfulness. And that was the delegation entrusted with the task of the administration of this large gift, this large collection for the Christians in Jerusalem. Now, principle number four then takes us to the principle is accountability. The principle of accountability. He says in verse 19, that which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord and to show your ready mind. Verse 20, avoiding this, that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us. When he says avoiding, the implication there is that Paul made sure that safeguards were in place so that there was no room for anyone to bring blame against those who were entrusted with the handling of the funds.
It was all out in the open. Paul knew that it was very important to keep a good reputation through wise stewardship so as not to bring any reproach to the gospel of Christ. And so he says, providing, verse 21, providing honorable things not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. Here is clear cut accountability, providing honorable things, not just in the sight of the Lord.
Why is that? Is not God himself the ultimate accountability for us? Well, indeed he is, and we will give account of all before him in the end. But meanwhile, it can be claimed dubiously that one is doing ministry and yet being dishonest or being greedy.
And that has happened many times through the history of the church. And Paul says, we're not going to let anyone have that perception of what we are doing here. It's not about us. It's not about our greed. We're not in the business of living off of other people's money. This is for the Christians in Jerusalem.
This collection is to glorify God, to show the love of Christ. And that's what this is about. And we're not going to give anyone opportunity to bring fault or an accusation against us. But providing things honorable in the sight of men.
What is that? That is, if you would, in the financial sense, peer review. It's accountability at the human level so that others looking in can see and they can observe and they can be sure that everything is above board here. There is nothing happening under the table. There are no dishonest dealings here.
Unfortunately, those safeguards are very, very necessary. And many of you have given charitable to many things. But I remember I recall speaking with Dr. Jim Burse, who is one of our missionaries who established Haiti Bible Institute. I was down there last October.
We'll be again this October. And you still see the devastation down there from the earthquake several years ago now. And there are many charitable organizations that are doing this. They're in Haiti. And what Jim pointed out to me is that when this earthquake happened and there was just a flood of charitable donation that came down to Haiti, all of a sudden, where these organizations that generally have good reputations, reputations of integrity, in these chapters here, with the level of corruption that there was in this area, he said when these donations started coming in from America and around the world to Haiti, all of a sudden, within a couple of weeks, in the parking lots where these charitable donations are, where these organizations are, all of a sudden, you see the parking lots lined with brand new SUVs.
And these were organizations that were not willing to be accountable for the funds that were given. And Jim Burse recognized that as we practiced, he said if the people in Haiti who really need the funds, if they're going to get the money, someone has to take it down to them in person and give it to them directly. And that's what we did.
We took a collection and you were generous and we sent it down with Jim and he gave it to those who genuinely needed the help. That's a necessary accountability. Otherwise, we would be unwise stewards of what God has entrusted to us. There has to be that accountability. And with that accountability, the fifth principle is that there has to be answers.
Why? Because people will ask questions. People will ask questions. And Paul is anticipating these questions.
Look what he says in verse 23. If anyone inquires about Titus, middle of the verse, or if our brethren are inquired about, he's anticipating questions to be asked, whether it be from onlookers or from prospective contributors. Who are these guys who are going around and taking up the collection?
What are they doing and what are they like and who are they? Because people are going to inquire. And Paul need to make sure that everyone who was looking at this needed to understand that these guys were neither peddlers nor swindlers. They were not in this for themselves. This was a ministry to the glory of God. But if you look at this whole paragraph and look through this with me, look through this with me and through each one of these verses, the words that Paul uses, the tone that there is to this. Look with me, for example, at verse 16. He speaks of earnest care. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him.
The one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.. .
