2 Corinthians 8:16-24

We've been going through the book of 2 Corinthians as a church together.

Our plan is before Christmas to finish as long as we can stay on track.

You'll recall that throughout chapters 1 through 7, Paul is defending his calling, his role as an apostle.

He is explaining how the new covenant works, different from the old covenant.

He's encouraging the church to take some specific actions in terms of forgiving those people who were under church discipline.

He's encouraged them to forgive that person and to open up their hearts to Paul, to reciprocate Paul's affection for them, to have open hearts, to have tender hearts back towards Paul and his ministry team.

Once we get to chapters 8 and 9, Paul gets down to business and is really dealing with the nitty-gritty effort of raising money with these churches in Corinth and Achai to contribute and pool their money together with the church's money from Macedonia and the churches in Turkey, Asia Minor.

They're putting their money together to care for the poor Christians, those suffering in poverty back in Jerusalem.

And so Paul had already talked about this in 1 Corinthians 15.

He wrote to them about this, or 15 rather.

And we see it also being shared with the church in Rome at the end of the book of Romans, letter to Romans.

And so Paul is now addressing this church and he's calling them to action.

They had been willing a year earlier to give towards this effort, to put their money together, but to date they were lagging behind on their action.

So for all of us who struggle with aligning our actions with our intentions, this is a great set of chapters, eight and nine.

We're really good.

How many of you are dreamers?

We got a couple dreamers in here, right?

Sometimes God puts things in our hearts where He's just working in us, like this vision, these ideas.

And that's great.

It says in Philippians that God works in us both to will and to do.

But there's this willingness that the church in Corinth had experienced where they were like, yeah, Paul, we want to participate.

We want to care for the poor.

We want to put our money together.

But when the time came to do it, they were not executing.

They were not finishing on that plan.

So eight and nine is this all about this collection for the saints.

And what we saw last week is that grace produces a willing generosity and a trustworthy administration.

And we're going to continue on those themes this morning.

Last week we pressed into the idea of finishing what love began.

So grace, the grace of God under the new covenant is at work in our hearts, producing this love.

But love works, it looks like something.

This week, the same grace gift is going to travel.

So we're literally going to get into the nitty-gritty of like going for it with grace.

And what does this look like?

Paul does not hide the risk of blame and he builds a path of honor.

One of the questions that comes up, like with any church or any ministry, is like, how's the money being handled?

Like, is there integrity behind the handling of money?

And Paul addresses this, he front-runs that concern by explaining to the church in Corinth, here's how we're handling this money between your area of Corinth and Achai and Jerusalem.

Here's how we're going to do this in an honorable way.

And we're going to see as we go through this just the outline of the honorable way of giving.

So let's look at a couple verses.

Well, let's let's pray because I'm going to read through the verses together, but let's just agree together.

Lord, we want you to speak into our hearts.

We know that the person you can teach is one who has humility, somebody who has this like tenderness of heart, a teachable spirit.

And Lord, heaven forbid that we give up a couple hours of our morning and be hard-hearted people, stubborn, and don't rise to the occasion of hearing your spirit.

So, Lord, we're here physically.

Lord, we want to be here spiritually.

We want to be tender-hearted before you.

Not just listening and receiving, but eager to obey.

I want that, God.

I want to obey the things that I hear your spirit saying in my life.

We all want that, God.

We want to go for it with you this week.

So teach us.

You know our stories.

Speak into our lives.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Let me read a couple of verses to you and then we'll walk through this.

And I apologize for the banging upstairs.

Somebody's having a great time doing yoga.

Verses 16 and 17, it says, Thanks be to God who put the same concern for you into the heart of Titus.

For he welcomed our appeal and being very diligent, went out to you by his own choice.

So we've talked about Titus.

Titus is like this dear fellow worker of Paul.

Paul like was anxious when Titus was away, and now he's gotten a report back from Titus about where the church is at.

And Paul is so excited because God put the same concern into the heart of Titus.

Now, what have we been talking about?

All in chapters one through seven, of like, where does the new covenant go to work?

What's the arena in which the new covenant works?

Is the law of God under the new covenant written on tablets of stone?

No, it's written on our hearts.

Right?

The whole dynamic of the new covenant is that God is at work in us.

That is what, when when Jesus held up the cup at the Last Supper, and he said, I want you to drink this cup.

It symbolizes my blood.

It is the cup of the new covenant.

What he's saying is that I'm going to go to the cross, and when I die and my blood is shed, a new covenant that's outlined in Jeremiah 31 is now going to be the living reality.

That's the new dynamic that humans relate to God under.

When you give your life, when you turn your life to Jesus Christ, you're stepping into the new covenant.

And we know that God designed us as what?

Blessable, image-bearing, covenant partners.

That's Genesis chapters 1 through 9, really Genesis 1 and 2.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

We're blessable, image-bearing covenant partners.

And the covenant partner that we are participating in, as long as you're a follower of Jesus, is you're under the new covenant.

The grace of God is animating your life.

Let me read to you a text message that I got this week.

I got this Friday.

Friday.

He goes to church with me and Bible study, and he has this interesting question that I also have.

He wrote this If the fruits of the Spirit are a sign of the Holy Spirit working in your heart, how do you actually produce that fruit in your life?

If you look at your emotions and you feel love, joy, peace, and patience, and they're not, but those things are not present in your life, how do you improve?

I feel like I'm constantly praying and reading my Bible, but I lack lack it when it comes to bearing emotional fruit in my life.

Does it just come with more time in Bible and prayer?

Or is there something else I should be doing to make these emotions come naturally?

Also, what does love for God feel like?

I feel gratitude, but how do I feel the love that I sing about in worship songs?

It's a great song.

Great question, right?

Anyone ever thought about that?

Of like, what is it, what does it look like for, okay, I'm a follower of Jesus, what does it look like for the fruit of the Spirit to take place?

And so one of the reasons why I like 2 Corinthians and just a normal, boring conversation about money, is we get this demonstration through Paul's letter of here is the work of God.

Here is Paul telling us about Titus that God put the same concern into the heart of Titus.

Now, Titus, he could have missed it.

You could miss it in your life.

You may just think that you're excited about this financial gift that's going to go to Jerusalem and you're talking with other people, and you may just think that it's just like that's normal life, but Paul's like got spiritual glasses on, and he's like, no, that's God working in you.

And the question I have for you, just from this verse here, the question for me is, am I tuned into all that God is producing in my life?

Do I recognize that the love, the desire, the vision that's there may be the fruit of just God dwelling in me, the new covenant, grace of God going to work?

You know, like Joe.

I just look out here.

Joe, he takes the wagon out on Monday nights, full of food, and then they spend a couple hours just talking with people in Fells Point and praying for him.

And it's like, where did that come from?

Because I know the conversation I had with Joe, and he's got other people now that go with him, a few people, and it's like, where did that come from?

But but where did that desire come from?

It's as it wasn't like Joe was there.

I don't think this happened to Joe, where all of a sudden this like glowing light happened in his car, and there was this voice of Joe.

Build the wagon, right?

No, that didn't happen.

The way that God works is he puts just these desires in our hearts, right?

He works in us both to will and to do.

But the thing that we grow in, the thing that we grow in as followers of Jesus is we begin to see that, oh, that's the Holy Spirit at work in me.

And the humble person says, I think that may be God putting that desire in my heart.

And Paul recognizes it for Titus.

Titus had this same thing put into his heart by God.

For he welcomed our appeal.

So Titus, he welcomed our appeal, but then he was very diligent and went out to you by his own choice.

So there's the thing that God is doing, there's the thing that God is doing through Paul, but then there's the internal thing that God is doing just in Titus on his own.

When we look at Ezekiel 36, and when God is telling the nation of Israel about this future work under Jesus, he describes this taking away a hard heart and instead having a heart of flesh.

That he's going to take away the stony heart.

So one of the dynamics is when you become a follower of Jesus, he gives you and I a new heart.

And what we are seeing, just in a very practical way with Titus, is that internal work.

Earlier in this letter, Paul described the Spirit writing on human hearts.

That was chapter 3, verse 3.

God here has put this earnest care into the heart of Titus, and Titus is willingly going along with what God is doing.

The prophets pictured God, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, they pictured God renewing people from the inside out.

Remember, under Moses, it was the law was written on your hearts, it was to be wrapped, you would put the law of God on your arms and over your foreheads and over your doorposts.

It was all external.

But under the new covenant, the whole paradigm changes.

It's this internal work that God is doing.

And there's just a simple cooperation of saying, Yes, God, I want to cooperate with the work of your spirit, just like Titus, just like Paul's beginning to see in this church.

Let's go to verse 18 and 19.

We have sent with him, so now we're going to move from Titus to another brother who's not given by name here.

We have sent with him the brother who is praised among all the churches for his gospel ministry.

So the first thing we see is that this companion of Titus is not named, but he's praised among all the churches for his gospel ministry.

And not only that, but he was also appointed by the churches to accompany us with this generous gift that we are administering for the glory of the Lord Himself and to show our eagerness to help.

So here's what's going on.

You've got Titus, but then you've got this unnamed brother who is, notice here, appointed by the churches to accompany us with a gracious gift.

Do you see what Paul's doing?

Paul's about to handle money.

I guarantee you the ceiling's not going to fall down, even though it sounds like it.

Yeah, it's yoga, I know.

Well, no, it might be one of those um ball, heavy balls.

Today's this morning is one of the more loud.

It must be the heavy ball, I think you're saying.

Yeah, scratch.

Yes.

Um, but notice what notice what's going on with this um with this handling of money.

There's, it's not just Paul hand picking the people that will manage it.

It's other, the other church designating somebody from their church who's going to accompany Paul.

Now, wouldn't you, if that was the process of handling the money, wouldn't you trust it all that much more?

That the handling of the money is somebody that you pick, not somebody that necessarily Paul or Titus picked.

So Paul is weaving into the process something that is honorable and has a the this ability for it to be trustworthy.

But notice this as well.

It's an act, this is an act of grace.

He calls it, he's gonna accompany us with this gracious gift.

The grace of God is producing real things in our lives.

Back in chapter 6, Paul said, you know, I'm worried about you that you're gonna receive the grace of God in vain.

It's possible to be somebody that has the grace of God over you, but it's not going to work and producing a gift.

Notice also the brothers are honorable and they have a gospel reputation.

In verse 18, here they are called, um, they're they're praised among all the churches for this gospel ministry.

So they're men that love Jesus, but they're also a people who are honorable.

It reminds you of in Acts chapter 6, when there was this issue around food.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

Remember when the Hellenistic or the Grecian widows were not being served and were not getting food?

Do you remember that?

And they were like, hey, we need our people, our Grecian widows need to get food just like the Jewish widows need to get food.

And so there was this the apostles said, well, we can't leave our role of teaching and prayer to serve tables, but let's appoint some qualified people who can handle this process.

It was similar in that they were they were praiseworthy men that were appointed.

And lastly, I just want you to see in verse 18 that it's for the glory of Christ.

They have this, they're accompanying us, Paul says, with this gracious gift that we are administering for the glory of the Lord Himself, to show our eagerness to help.

Do you remember who you are?

You are a blessable, image-bearing, covenant partner.

When we say that you're image-bearing, that means you bear the image of God as you're gonna do September 28th tomorrow.

Oh, it's my mom's birthday tomorrow.

Yeah, September 28th.

As you do September 28th, you're gonna bear the image of God.

And the question is, are you going to, is the glory of the Lord Himself gonna come from your life in how you administer the gift of God upon your life?

He's given you grace through his son.

You're under the new covenant, grace is just flowing out of the tap.

Okay?

Imagine like you turn on a faucet and grace is just flowing out.

But that that, you know, like if I'm gonna brush my teeth, like that water flowing out doesn't affect my toothbrush until I took my toothbrush under the water, right?

You got to get under that flow of grace.

Now that flow of grace is upon you, but the question is, is what is it gonna produce in your life?

What real thing, what gift is going to be administered?

Because here we have grace, gift, administered for the glory of the Lord.

You bear the image of God, and the radiant glory of God should be shining out of your life in my life.

That's how God designed you.

You're not a dog, you're not a camel, you're not an ostrich.

None of them are the image of God.

You're the image of God.

That means you have this capacity to radiate the glory of God.

And here, how is the glory of God seen?

Is it through some amazing worship song?

No.

What is the glory of the Lord being seen through?

A bunch of churches putting their money together.

A group of guys going on a boat or donkeys and camels and walking across deserts to make sure that money gets to these people who are suffering.

And Paul says the glory of the Lord is radiating out of that.

The image-bearing people of God have the glory of God radiating.

Do you have a low view of your vocation or a high view?

Is the glory of God, as the grace of God is upon you?

Do you see the glory?

Do you recognize the fact that the glory of God is radiating out of you as you're being just an amazing mom, as you're caring for your kids, as you're making that meal, as you get up and you manage, as you're managing your household, as you're doing chores, as you're doing your schoolwork at school, as you're going to work, as you're interacting with your neighbors, as you're caring for your kids, the glory of God.

You have the capacity for the glory of God to shine out of you because, saints, you're under the new covenant.

Man, we got sound effects this morning.

Like city, we got city sound effects.

I love it.

Do you remember when God at least it's not going to jump?

Amen.

Praise the Lord.

Um you remember when God came to Abraham and said, Abraham, I'm choosing you to be the father of a nation.

And through that nation, there's going to be this blessing that comes to the whole earth.

What did that functionally mean for Abraham?

That meant procreating with his wife Sarah.

It means.

Having this son, Isaac, Isaac having kids, and there being a lineage that goes on, and then Jesus being born of that lineage.

But do you notice that term that God uses with Abraham?

He says, Your family is going to be a blessing to the whole earth.

That is that image-bearing nature.

Again, I think, I feel like this one of the things that the Spirit wants to minister to you and I this morning is that the work you do is not mundane.

There is this ability for glory to come from your life.

You good, Robin?

Help Robin out.

I have water here if she wants some.

Can you help her, Avery?

So Abraham is this working example of the glory of God coming from his life as he just does something that is just like having a family.

I want you to have that kind of vision for your week.

That the capacity for the image of God to come from your life is so real.

Let's go to the next two verses, verse 20 through 21.

We are taking this precaution so that no one will criticize us about this large sum that we are administering.

Indeed, we are giving careful thought to do what is right, not only before the Lord, but also before people.

Really, really important.

Notice here we have for the second time we have this word administering or administration, right?

You see that?

And he says, we're taking this precaution.

What's the precaution he's talking about?

The people, right?

These appointed brothers that are going to go with Titus and Paul to bring the gift to Jerusalem.

And they're taking this precaution so that no one will criticize us.

Now he knows a lot about criticism, right?

We've seen that the context of this letter is that Paul's taking heat and grief from the super apostles who've come into town and are criticizing Paul about, you know, not charging for his ministry, not being a good speaker.

There's all these things that they were accusing Paul of.

So Paul's very familiar with the criticism, and he's explaining we're doing this so that we are not criticized as we carry this large sum of money.

And we're giving careful thought not only to do what is right, not only before the Lord, but also before people.

This is really important principle that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, where the decisions you make in your life are not just because they're right before God, but people are watching you.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

So there are things that Paul says, listen, we make, we decide to limit some stuff in our life, not because God told us, you know, we have to limit these things, but it's for the sake of appearance.

Christians are watching you, Christians are and and non-believers are watching your life, both are watching you, and the question is is your life commending God and the gospel and the ministry?

And it's worth thinking about.

It's in Mount Airy, you know, they do weird things in the middle of the night.

It's like, yeah, let's rip the mailbox out.

Well, then I needed to get a new mailbox, so I got a new and I put it in.

Well, my neighbor is special.

And they noticed that we hadn't put the numbers on the mailbox.

We had bought them, we just were slow to put the numbers on.

And people were trying to deliver stuff, and so she took it upon herself to buy us the numbers for the mailbox.

But the sign that she bought for us is hideous.

Yeah, hideous.

And meanwhile, we got the numbers put onto the sign, and so I had this moral dilemma.

Do I put this sign onto the mailbox out of love for my neighbor?

Even though it's really ugly, or do I not?

And I still haven't decided what to do.

But that thought process, like if I wasn't didn't love Jesus, I'd be like, I almost threw the sign in the trash yesterday.

But it's because I love Jesus and I care about my neighbor knowing Jesus in the future and having a relationship with them and the opportunity to share the gospel with them that I paused.

And I didn't just chuck it into the trash can.

And for Paul, he's talking about let's put this money together, and people are going to watch this whole thing and this collection.

Is there integrity in the process?

The last or Proverbs guides us in this way.

Before we go to the last two verses, he says, Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you.

Tie them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

Then you will find favor and high regard with God and people.

Do you see that?

The Proverbs we're talking about both the audience of God and the audience of other people.

Here he's saying, Let loyalty and faithfulness never let them leave you.

Tie them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

There is this reality as New Covenant Christians, as God is doing this incredible work inside of us.

It would be easy to say to the people around us, well, forget you, because I have Jesus in my heart.

But no, that's the wrong attitude.

God's doing all that.

God's working in Abraham, God's working in you, all because of the external world.

Right?

He's pouring grace upon grace into your life because he loves your neighbor.

He loves your coworker, he loves your kids, he loves your spouse.

You're this conduit of grace so that you can be a blessing to others.

Final two verses.

We have also sent with them our brother.

We've often tested him in many circumstances and found him to be diligent.

So this is the third brother that we're talking about here.

Okay?

So we have the first unnamed brother.

Now we have a second unnamed brother, and they say, he says, We've also sent them with them our brother.

We have often tested him in many circumstances and found him to be diligent, and now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.

What a great thing to be able to say about somebody.

I had somebody this morning who I talked to this week.

He's like, I can't wait to be there at church on Sunday.

I'm not only coming to church, I'm coming to help you load up the truck at eight o'clock.

I'm like, oh good, thank God.

Because my son Hudson, he's out today, and I was like, that's gonna be such a blessing.

I told him, I was like, man, that's gonna be such a blessing.

I don't have to call anybody else.

I don't have to call anybody of you to ask for extra help.

Because I got it covered.

I thought.

In the rain.

So Malik, so we got there this morning at 8 a.m.

to load up.

Meanwhile, eight pallets had to be unloaded off the truck.

So I was like, Malik, you handled help Donna over there with the unload.

I'll just load the truck by myself, which we got done, and it was great.

I got my stairs, my workout in.

But man, I'm going up and down those steps, and I'm thinking, man, that guy told me he was gonna be here.

No, he's still not here.

He's missing in action.

Diligent.

Do you see?

He was tested in many circumstances.

This morning we were in in class, and I didn't say it in the class that I'm teaching, but but some of the stuff that we're doing with homework and memorizing scripture and going through the lessons and showing up on time is me testing you.

Are you diligent?

Are you trustworthy?

Can you get to class on time?

Can you do your homework throughout the week?

I'm testing you because here's the thing.

As a church, we're growing.

As a church, there's gonna be more people that come in.

I need more people that I can trust.

I need to be able to be like Paul and be able to say, I tested you.

I found that you were diligent.

You're trustworthy.

I can rely on you that you said, hey, you're gonna be there.

Church doesn't get set up on itself.

We've got an awesome team.

But all this stuff is set up because amazing people were here at 8:30 a.m.

and put all the chairs up and the curtains up and the signs, and it was amazing.

That's the idea here for Paul.

He's like, I've got a guy that I'm sending to you, another guy.

I've tested him, he's been diligent.

As for Titus, so we go back to Titus.

As for Titus, he's my partner and coworker for you.

As for our brothers, they are the messengers of the church.

And what are they?

The glory of Christ.

They're image-bearing covenant partners.

The glory of Christ.

This is the last verse.

Therefore, show to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.

I read to you that text message earlier.

He was asking the question of like, how do you get these emotions in your heart?

But do you notice here that Paul is talking about the proof of your love?

Like that you can touch the love.

If you were one of these poor saints in Jerusalem, you would have gotten some of this money and you'd be able to say, listen, I can hold and touch the love of the churches of Macedonia.

I can see the love of the Church of Corinth.

Our church for eight years, we've been committed to that vision of the gospel.

Many of you, I was looking at it the other day, sometime in the last month, of like how many of us are volunteering or either be participating in waypoints or volunteering in church or at the Compassion Center.

It's like awesome stats.

Like the participation rate is like incredible.

And you guys are amazing.

The beautiful thing in that is that when you're giving away food on Friday and Tuesday, our neighbors can look at that banana or that baguette that they got or that rack of ribs or that frozen microwaveable meal and be like, I was loved.

I was loved.

They may not know your name.

You may be the nameless brother in this text, but they're pulling their groceries out of that bag, and they're like, I was loved.

I was loved.

That's what you're participating in.

Thank you.

So the Spirit of God takes this text, and the question I have for you is what's he doing in your heart with this?

As you look at your own life, how is the Spirit working, moving upon your heart, guiding you, encouraging you, teaching you, correcting you?

Whatever that is, and we're gonna bow our heads.

I want you to just take that thing and I want you to say yes to the Holy Spirit.

Lord, we want to obey.

We want to obey.

I know the things you're laying on my heart.

I pray, Lord, for each of us that you, as we've heard your the whisper of your spirit upon our hearts, that we would take those steps of obedience this week.

That you'd find in us not just hearers, but doers also.

That we would go away from this place as those that act upon what we hear.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you so much for the moments that we have in your word together.

Thank you for our neighbor upstairs who's exercising and for Robin that she didn't die from coughing yet.

That you're taking care of us.

But Lord, this week we lost Allie.

She was helping at the Compassion Center on Tuesday and then passed away on Thursday.

And we don't know whether we'll be back here next Sunday, which ones of us will be back.

And so, Lord, we just want to be a people that are obedient to you with the days you give us.

Um we pray that you would really cement our obedience, our response this morning.

And that you would just continue to help us see what it looks like for grace to be upon our life.

We love you.

I pray this in Jesus' name.

Communion.

Amen.