Giving and Gathering on the Lord's Day

1 Corinthians 16 and the Collection for the Saints

If you would take out your Bibles with me and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. We're going to be looking at verses 1 to 4. 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 the 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. May we pray. Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. We come to you, Lord, this morning asking that you be merciful upon us as we seek to understand your word.

I pray that you would keep me from error. I pray that you would open the hearts of your people to truth. And I pray that your Holy Spirit would use the words, that it would go out and be mixed with faith, that it would go into the ear, down through the mind, into the heart and very soul.

And Lord God, for those who know you, that this would be today a challenge regarding how we spend our life and how we spend the income that you have given to us. And Lord, for those who do not know you, Lord, that this might be to them a day of reckoning, where they hear the gospel, where they hear the truth that there is salvation in none other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

So Lord, let it be that your gospel be proclaimed in the midst of this message on the subject of giving and gathering on the Lord's day. We thank you, Lord, for this time of study, in Christ's name, amen.

Am I coming through? I don't feel like I am. My mic is on, at least. Well, maybe I have a dead battery. Oh, well, that means it won't come through the audio. I'll tell you what I'm going to do, and I'll put this back when I'm done.

But at least this way, if I go from here, can this work? If I try to discipline myself to stand still, then at least it won't be that the recording online will be completely lost. Because if I don't have any mic at all, that won't help.

So we're going to try and do it this way. All right. Over the years, I have heard many stories, more than once, that go something like this. I went to church one time, and the pastor was talking about money.

So I never went back. Ever heard that story? Ever heard somebody tell you that? I went to church, the pastor was talking about money, so I never went back. Well, I couldn't help but have these stories in my mind this week as I wrote this message, because I consider the fact that we often have people here for the first time.

And perhaps you are here for the first time, and it's been a long time since you've been in church, perhaps. And I can sympathize if you feel like, well, the only time I've been to church in the last six years, a guy talked about money.

I can sympathize with your plight, because there are a lot of charlatans out there who make it their business to talk about giving, and they fleece the flock of God for their own personal wealth and gain, and as a result, bring a bad reputation upon ministers of the gospel.

So I feel for you, and I sympathize for you. But I also want to say this. It would be a shame if you came here today and you thought that all we ever talk about is money. We preach verse by verse through entire books of the Bible.

I've been in 1 Corinthians now for going on two years, and we have come to a portion about contributions, and I'm not going to just skip it. I in no way apologize for preaching on this subject, but it would be wrong to consider the fact that this is all we ever discuss.

Likewise, I want to make another point. For those of you who I don't see any first-timers, I know we've got a recurring guest who could see you this morning, but we don't have anyone that's here for the first time, so maybe I'm speaking to the wind, but I'll say this for everyone else.

I'm also not saying this message today because it's a special offering day. Today is Pentecost Sunday. You were given a special offering envelope, but that just happens to have happened in the providence of Almighty God.

So none of this has been by any type of human design. So with that short preliminary explanation, I want to turn now to our subject for today. Paul is drawing his letter to a conclusion. That means our sermon series is drawing to a conclusion, and he begins to make some final statements to the church in Corinth.

The United Bible Society put out a handbook on the book of 1 Corinthians. I've used it all along as I've been studying for my sermons, and this is one of the things that it says regarding chapter 16. It says, chapter 16 is loosely constructed.

It generally continues the practical tone of chapter 15, verse 58. So with that being said, I want to read to you again verse 58 of the last chapter. If you have your Bibles, just look one verse up from what we just read, and it says, therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain.

The idea of standing firm and abounding in the Lord's work sets the theme for chapter 16, where Paul carries this thread through to the end of the book. He's going to discuss his travel plans. He's going to discuss his fellow laborers and his desire for the Corinthians to stand firm and to do so in love, which we're going to see that down in verse 16 later on.

But before he gives these final words of exhortation, he takes a moment to address the issue of contributions. Contributions or collections. We're told later that the collection that he's taking is for the church in Jerusalem.

Now, it's interesting that he's not asking them to take money and set it aside for themselves. Not that that's wrong and not that that shouldn't be done, but this particular collection is a collection on behalf of a sister church, the church in Jerusalem that was in need.

And we're not told why they are in need, but we have some historical accounts that sort of help us to understand why they may have been in need. The first, of course, is that we know that the church in Jerusalem was under great persecution and those people who had defected from their Jewish heritage and become Christians, many of them had lost family, had lost fortune and had lost their ability to make a living.

And so it is perhaps that the offering that's being taken was being sent purely as a relief effort for those who have lost everything for the sake of Christ. Another one that I thought was interesting, one of the commentators that I was reading said it may have been that the communal living that had happened in Jerusalem, you remember reading in Acts two that they had all things in common, they shared everything, perhaps a nefarious person had come in and misused that communal, you understand communal living can, it only works if people are fair and just and righteous to one another.

And perhaps someone had come in and nefariously misused the church's funds or stolen them and in such a way had left many people without. Again, that's pure conjecture, but I think it's reasonable to assume that something like that could have happened.

But the third one is probably the most likely and that is in the 11th chapter of the book of Acts, we are told that there is a famine that is coming to Judea. This actually came through a prophet who told of a famine that was to come and so likely this famine has come and has wiped out food and wiped out the ability to grow food and so now they need funds to purchase from other areas and so the churches that have not endured this famine are helping those who were enduring the famine.

And I think that's probably the most reasonable reason for this collection. It would be almost like us in our modern day if there was a church that had been hit with a hurricane and had leveled their building and we came together and we collected for sending them services and goods and finances to help them rebuild.

So we can understand what the need is, we can understand why the contributions are being taken and we can understand why the apostle Paul is making it his mission to call upon the churches of God to love one another and to support a church in need, the church in Jerusalem.

So this is the context of this particular call. He says in the passage that he's already made this appeal to the churches of Galatia, that would have probably been Southern Galatia, which would have been Iconium and Derbe and Lystra.

You remember those churches mentioned in Acts? These are the churches in Southern Galatia, which modern day would be our Southern Turkey. He's already appealed to them and he'd said to collect and as I come through, I'm gonna pick up the collection and take it with me as I go to Jerusalem.

So these are the foundation stones upon which this text is written. And so with that being laid as our foundation, I wanna now say a few things about this subject because ultimately the subject comes down to the subject of money.

And there is a truth that I've been wrestling with all week in preparing this message. And that is that money is a profoundly spiritual thing. Money is a profoundly spiritual thing. You say, I don't understand.

Well, we cannot read the Bible much less the New Testament and not be confronted with the reality of how serious the subject of how we handle money expresses how we actually are spiritually. In fact, the Bible has more verses about how we handle money than it does about heaven and hell combined.

A financial writer gives what he believes is the reasoning for this. He says, there is a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about and handle money. It has been said that you can get a good idea of someone's spiritual life by looking at two key locations.

One is their calendar and two is their checkbook. Two locations will tell you where their lives really are invested. One where their time is spent and two where their treasure is spent. Their calendar and their checkbook will tell you a lot about their spiritual life.

Think for just a moment about what the Bible says in so many areas about the subject of wealth. Matthew 19, 24. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

Matthew 6, 24. No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Proverbs 11, 28. Whoever trusts in his riches will fall.

Ecclesiastes 5, 10. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money. Nor he who loves wealth will he be satisfied with his income. It'll never be enough if that's what we love. Proverbs 11, 4. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath.

Psalm 62, 10. If riches increase, set not your heart upon them. That means if you gain wealth, don't let that become what your heart is invested in. It's important to understand from these texts that wealth itself is not a sin, but it is sinful if our wealth owns us rather than we owning our wealth.

If we use what we have for the glory of God, then it is wonderful and he will often increase it to use it even more to his glory. But if we are selfish, self-centered, greedy, and personally seeking our own, it will show the condition of our heart.

One of the passages I was reading this week as I was thinking about this was 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6, 17 to 19 shows us there were actually wealthy people in the early church. People often think everybody in the early church was poor.

Well, not everybody. I mean, there was Lydia who was a seller of purple. She was a businesswoman. She probably had at least some wealth. She invited the church missionaries to stay with her. You know, she probably had a nice home that could entertain guests.

And this is what it says. It says, ask for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

That's Paul's admonition to Timothy regarding those who have wealth. Tell them if they have wealth, don't be prideful. Don't be haughty about it. Don't set your hopes on your wealth, but be generous. He's not saying it's wrong to be wealthy, but he is saying that if we are wealthy, we have responsibility that comes along with that.

Wealth is really not the issue. The issue rather is how we use our wealth when it is entrusted to us. And I've said many times, if you are an American, you are by very nature of existence, more wealthy than a great deal of the world.

The average American dishwasher has more calories go through its ducts and out through your sewer lines than do go through many bellies of people in third world countries every day. We live in one of the most, if not the most prosperous nation in the entire world.

And so we bear responsibility to live in accord with that. You know, the American poor is different than poor everywhere else in a lot of ways. So having set that as sort of a stage for what we're gonna talk about, I want us to look at this text and see what Paul says about giving.

And we're gonna ask the question, what principles can be gleaned from this command to the Corinthians? What principles can we apply to our own lives in the church in 2019? And really there's two points in the text.

There's actually, and what I've said is the explicit and the implicit. There's the explicit that's concerning giving and there's the implicit, which is concerning gathering. Remember what I said, there's two areas that talk about our affections.

One is our checkbook, the other is our calendar. So we're gonna look at two things from this text today. We're gonna look at giving as the explicit teaching of the text. And then we're gonna look at gathering as the implicit.

And you'll see what I mean when we get there by implicit, because he doesn't command us to gather, but gathering is expected and assumed in this passage. And so part of what we're being taught. Let's look first at giving though, because that's the explicit teaching.

And so we move from the explicit to the implicit. The explicit teaching concerning giving, he says, now concerning the collection of the saints as I directed the churches in Galatia, so also are you to do.

On the first day of the week, each one 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. Now we'll get to verse three in a minute. I just wanna stop right there.

This word collection is not found anywhere else in the Bible except for here. And it's used here twice. The word literally just means collection. So it's not as if we have to try to spiritualize it or find some strange meaning for it.

It's just not a word that's common, only used in this one place. And it means, based on our understanding of the Greek language, simply to collect money. And Paul says concerning the collection, which means they already knew about it.

He says concerning the collection. This is the same construction that he has used in chapter seven, verse one, chapter seven, verse 25, chapter eight, verse one, chapter 12, verse one. And now he uses it again here in chapter 16.

It's a construction meaning concerning the blank, meaning concerning what you already knew. You knew about this. I've already talked to you about marriage and divorce. That was earlier. I've already talked to you about eating meat, the idols and those things.

He's already, this is a conversation they've already had. They already know about it. This isn't a surprise. Concerning the collection. You know the collection. I don't have to tell you which one it is.

You know what it is. You know what it's for. Paul is directing them to be prepared. Concerning the collection, be prepared. Rather than scrambling at the last minute, rather than having to go from house to house to house, I want you to come together and put something aside.

That way, when I come, the offering's gonna be ready to go. I don't have to go and beg at everybody's house for what's needed. It's gonna be ready to go. Now, I wanna make a point. This passage is not in the imperative, meaning it is not in the construction of the command.

Paul is giving them a command, but not so much is he giving a command to all churches at all times. This is a, it's a command to them. But because it is a command to them, it becomes an example to us.

This is a command to them about a specific offering, about a, at a specific point in time. And through that, it becomes an example to us. What can we learn from Paul's statements here? And I have, I've written down three things.

This passage gives us three examples to follow regarding giving. Number one, giving should be done regularly, regularly. All right? He says, on the first day of the week, and I would venture to mean his meaning is, or venture to say that his meaning is every week, that we do this regularly.

Later, we're going to see that this is the day that they gathered on. Why the first day of the week? Because this was the day they gathered. He didn't tell them to put it up on the Sabbath. He told them to put it up on the first day of the week.

Why? Because that was the day the church was gathering on. Giving was a regular part of the Christian life. MacArthur makes this point in his commentary. He says, the point is that giving must occur regularly, not just when one feels generous, not when someone just feels particularly led, not when someone feels particularly instructed to do so, but it should be a regular part of the Christian life.

People say all the time, well, I didn't feel led to give. Well, what do you need? What I got, I mean, I'll write you a note. You know, I can give you a prescription. What do you mean you didn't feel led?

I wasn't moved. Okay, here's a point. If you wanna write this down, it's a good thought. To give regularly, we must plan to give. To give regularly, we must plan to give. When Paul says on the first day of the week, he's giving them a structure, a plan.

He's giving them a time, a reminder. Some people, and again, I hope no one would think I'm arguing with Paul here. Because I do it a little differently. Our family plans our giving on a monthly basis.

But we do plan to give, and every month, the church can expect from us our gift. And we treat it that way, and I may even move to a weekly gift just because of this passage. I may be moved to a weekly gift.

But the idea is still the same, right? It's a plan. The only way you're gonna give regularly is if you make a plan to give. Because if you don't make a plan to give, you're gonna forget. And you're gonna get to church and realize you're not ready, you're not prepared.

You haven't made a plan to give, you're not gonna give. Oh, I'll do it next week, and then you'll forget then too. Because it doesn't become a regular plan in your life. So whether it be weekly, whether it be monthly, is not really the issue.

What it is is that you've made a decision. You're going to give, and you've made a plan to do it. If we do not make this a regular part of our lives as believers, we will probably give inconsistently and unfaithfully.

Hear that again. If we do not make a plan to give, we will probably give inconsistently and unfaithfully. So that's number one. We need to give regularly. How do you do that? Make a plan. Follow your plan.

Paul gives you a good plan on the first day of the week. Be ready to give. Number two, we are to give proportionately, proportionately. He says in this text that we are to put something aside as he may prosper.

I like the NIV, and I'm not always a fan of the NIV, but I can use it at times because it does sometimes give what's called a dynamic equivalent of what is being said in the Greek. And this is what it says in the NIV.

It says, in keeping with his income. Set aside in keeping with his income. You have to understand, beloved, not everyone is expected to give the same. I hope that goes without saying, but obviously Paul felt the need to say it.

So I think it's important that we do express it. Not everyone is expected to give the same because not everyone has the same to give. Some folks are independently wealthy. Others have less income and more responsibility in the home.

So it really does depend a lot on your particular circumstance when it comes to your giving. And Paul is applying this principle. Luke 12, 48 says to whom much is given, much is required. All right, so as we prosper, as our income increases, as our wealth is increased, so too does our responsibility increase.

Simple enough, right? That's proportionate giving. Now, I wanna make a statement about that because notice that Paul does not give a percentage amount. Many people point to the tithe principle and they say, here is the standard.

And I wanna simply say this, the old covenant scriptures did have a tithe principle, but it really is not anything like what modern people think about tithing. Most people think tithing is a 10 across the board, but in the old covenant, tithing was much more akin to what we might modern express as taxation.

It was a way that the theocratic nation of Israel was maintained and it ended up, if you add up the taxes or tithes rather, it ended up more like 23 across the board, not 10%. It was not just a straight flat, as some people say, a flat tax.

It wasn't just a straight flat tax. It was much different than what most people think about. And so I wanna simply say this, there is nothing wrong with the principle of 10%. In fact, it does predate the Mosaic law.

When Abraham offered an offering to Melchizedek, he gave a 10th. And so there is something that is principial about the 10 model. If Abraham can give Melchizedek 10 and that becomes foundational in Israel, then certainly we can use that as a point of starting in the church.

But I wanna say this, compulsory tithing was not a New Testament concept. Compulsory tithing was part of the theocratic nation of Israel. The New Testament does not demand a compulsory tithe. In fact, on times when I've taught on giving in the past, I have said, and sometimes people get upset with me, oh, pastor, don't tell them they don't have to tithe.

That's not what I'm saying. My point is some people give tithe, they give 10 and they could do more, but they're satisfied with just 10. That's all God wants. You see what I'm saying? Sometimes tithe is less than what you should be doing.

Oh, you didn't wanna hear that, did you? Either way, the church does not stand with a stick in its hand and demand to see your checkbook, because we do not practice a compulsory tithe. I think 10 is a good starting point.

I think for many, it's a good way to plan. Remember I mentioned before, having a plan, I think it's a good way to plan. But if you are giving 10 begrudgingly, if you are giving 10 not cheerfully, it is not coming from a heart that is right anyway.

Sort of like the Billy Graham with his wife story. I don't know how many of you heard me tell this story before Billy Graham went. This is before Billy Graham was Billy Graham. I think he was William at that point, but Billy Graham was preaching at a little small church and he went there and they sent the offering plate around and he was sitting out in the...

And he tells a story. He said he was sitting in the pew and as the offering plate comes around, he reached, he had a dollar and a $20 bill. This is back when $20 was a pretty reasonable amount of money.

And he reached in his wallet thinking he was grabbing the $1 bill and he grabbed the 20 and dropped it in before he realized. And of course he's not gonna go fish it back out. And so now it's gone. And not only that, but the lady who was supposed to write his check for the honorarium forgot to do so.

And so not only did he give away what money he had probably for the week's groceries, but also he did not receive his honorarium for his preaching duty for the evening. And so as he was leaving with his wife on the way home, he was telling her how he begrudgingly felt regarding his gift.

And she said, well, you know, it's sad too that you're only gonna get credit for the dollar. I always thought it was a great story. And again, he tells it, you know, as a true story, but it's just funny because, you know, do we give, if you give 10 and your hand is holding that check harder than it should, you know, maybe you should evaluate your heart if that's not what you can give.

Not under compulsory. We're gonna talk about that more in a minute, but seriously though, there is no compulsory tithe. Third thing, and I gotta move quicker because I got a lot more to say. This, I don't know, maybe standing still makes me go slower, but this mic is tethering me.

The third thing, we give regularly, we give proportionally, we give systematically. Now, when I say systematically, what I mean, because some people might think that's odd to say, what I mean here is that when the money is given to the church, it is handled in a way that is upright and above board.

Paul made sure, if you look in verses three and four, when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. What's that? Well, in very simple terms, the people that have been determined by the church to be trustworthy, to handle money, they're gonna be the ones who take the money and take it to Jerusalem.

And he goes on to say, if it seems advisable that I should go, I will accompany them as well. Why? Because it may be that it's such a large amount of money that there may need to be an even extra bit of security and help in delivering these funds.

And so there's a systematic approach to how these funds are being handled in the body of believers. You say, why is that? Why are you bringing that up? That happens after I give my money. Yes, that's true.

It does happen after you give your money, but it doesn't mean it's unimportant because handling money is serious business. And if you didn't feel like you could trust the people handling your money in the church, you wouldn't feel comfortable giving your money to the church.

It is not wise to take a flippant approach to how we handle money, because it is very easy for people to be lured away by the temptation that money involves. Judas was the treasurer of the 12. Remember that?

John 12 .6 and Matthew 26 .15 tells us that not only was he the treasurer, but what was he lured away by? 30 pieces of silver. Therefore, a systematic approach to money handling among God's people is wise.

In our church, we have a small group of people called the trustees. They are the finance committee of the church. They work alongside the elders. The elders, of course, oversee the ministry here at the church, and the job of the finance committee is to oversee the income and distribution of funds and ensure that everything is done with the utmost integrity.

And it also helps that the elders, at that point, don't even see who gives what, because the finance committee is responsible for that. We, rather, are responsible to simply give them encouragement and oversight and to encourage the congregation to give.

I know some churches where the pastor collects the money. And while I wouldn't necessarily say that a pastor doesn't have the ability to do such a thing, I certainly know that it provides no barrier and no accountability in such a case.

If the same hand is taking the money out of the pot and into the bank and there is no checks and no balances, I think that can be a very dangerous situation. And so I'm thankful that we do have a setup here, which seeks to be God-honoring and seeks to be systematic in how we handle finances.

So I'm hoping to tell you all that simply to say that I hope that this would encourage you that when you give to the church, you are not simply giving in hopes that it's gonna land where it should, that we have taken a systematic approach to how we handle the finances of the church.

And it never is going to end up in any individual's pocket to go out and simply do what he or she wants to do at any given time. So with that being said, I wanna give you a succinct overview of what we've just said and here it is, it's very succinct.

Every Lord's day, everyone should contribute everything he is able and every cent of it is to be managed properly to the glory of God. That's a simple overview of what Paul just said. Every Lord's day, everyone should contribute everything he is able and every cent of it is to be managed properly to the glory of God.

That's it, that's Paul's point. That's how giving should be done. But for a moment, I wanna add three quick thoughts to that because not only should we give regularly, not only should we give proportionately and not only should it be handled systematically, but we should also, three more things really quickly, we should also give willingly and cheerfully.

That's number four. That comes from 2 Corinthians 9, seven. Each one of you must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves what kind of giver? A cheerful giver.

So willingly and cheerfully is number four. Number five, generously and sacrificially. I combined these so I didn't have 18 points. How do I know I should give generously and sacrificially? Well, if you wanna write a scripture down, 2 Corinthians 8, one to four, Paul is speaking about the church of Macedonia.

He says, we want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty has overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.

For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. They were literally begging, how can we do more?

What can we do and can we do more? That's generous, that's sacrificial. What's one of the greatest stories in the gospel about giving? Jesus saw the woman who was only able to give what accounted to basically a penny, two mites, mark 12, 42 to 44, and Jesus said, about her what?

He said, truly this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing in the offering box, for they contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put everything she had to live on.

She gave a sacrifice. I want you to think about this. Obviously, we don't tell you to come in and give everything you have to live on every week, because then we'd have to figure out a way to feed everybody.

But there is a question that should come to our minds. Does my giving really cost me anything? Is there really any sacrifice that goes into what I'm giving or am I really just giving out of my overflow?

Have I ever given up some new bauble that I wanted because I knew the church was in need? Have I ever given up maybe going somewhere because I knew the church was in need? Have I ever given up a trip because I knew a missionary had a need?

This is a real question. This is sacrificial giving. This means, and everything I just mentioned, baubles and trinkets and trips are nothing. These are the extras. It's still the extra. Do we know what it means to give sacrificially?

And do we practice it? I think it's a good question. Sixthly, and finally on this point, is the subject of giving. We are to give regularly, proportionally, systematically, willingly, and cheerfully, generously, and sacrificially.

And finally, we are to give worshipfully. Worshipfully. When we come into church, here's what people do. And this is so funny because it ends up almost always with music. So like, you know, Devin and Steve probably appreciate this.

You know, people come up and they'll say, they'll say, oh, well, worship was great. And what they mean is the music was great. That's normally what they mean, right? But worship doesn't stop when the music stops.

In fact, I think it was either R .C. Sproul or John MacArthur was invited to a church to preach and the guy came out and he said, now that worship's over, we'll have the preacher come speak. And they said, no.

And he came out and he said, just so you know, worship hasn't ended. Worship's continuing now with the study of the word. And so worship is happening from the moment we begin to the moment we end. And I mean, worship's going on all the time in our life, but the service of worship is from the moment we start to the moment we end, which includes our prayers, which includes our singing, which includes our study, includes our participation in the table, but it also includes our giving.

It's the last thing we do here. We give our offering to the Lord, not to earn favor, not to purchase a seat in heaven, but as an offering of sacrifice to the God who has saved us. We're not hoping that God will love us more.