WELCOME
Good morning First Baptist. We welcome you to worship this morning. Be sure to remember your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the week as you pray for them, and as the Holy Spirit brings their faces to your mind. Be sure to also connect with them in the ways that are possible. And if you have any questions or would like to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to contact the church through the church telephone and leave a message. (519-733-4144)
Call to Worship
“God made the earth by his power, fixed the world in place by his wisdom, unfurled the skies by his understanding.”
— Jeremiah 10:12
Prayer
As we come together this Lord’s Day, gracious Father, we acknowledge our dependence upon You for all that makes life good and precious. Every thought we have, each action we perform, the fellowship with others that seasons our days would not be possible without Your creative power. Once again, we pull away from the daily routine to express our thanks. In the name of Your resurrected Son, we pray … amen.
Song
Today's Message
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
The Collection for the Lord’s People
1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
10 And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, 15 as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.”
For our final installment of our message series, we’ll once again be exploring a stewardship theme, though a bit different from the one of two weeks ago. At that time, we looked at the prophetic book of Malachi, where the “giving” supported the ministry of the worship centre. This week we’re looking at one of Paul’s letters where this faithful servant of the early church is encouraging the Corinthian Christians to give for another important cause … one that we might refer to in our language as “Relief and Development.”
You might wonder how Paul got involved in this project. It really had to do with the Jerusalem Christian Church and the struggles these folks encountered after they lost the protection of Judaism. Now alone as a kind of sect (at least in the eyes of the Roman authorities) the new church faced persecution which resulted in a degree of poverty for many of the members. Paul took it upon himself to spread the word about their plight to all the churches he had helped to plant. To understand why, we need only return to last week’s message, where Jesus “tests” his disciples to see how they will respond to the material needs of the gathered crowd. Will the Corinthians grasp the importance of material need within the genuine ministry of the church? Certainly the “apostle to the Gentiles”, as Paul was known, understands this important ministry emphasis and intends to do something about it.
As Paul spreads the word about the plight of the Jerusalem Christians, he gets a good response. The Corinthian church is the first to agree to help … but something has prevented them from continuing. There is a condition we know today as “donor fatigue”, where the depth of the need extends beyond our energy. We’ve also mentioned “sticker shock” where people discover how much support it will actually take and wonder if it’s within their income capacity. One scholar suggests that it might have something to do with the “festive and victorious” nature of the Corinthian congregation, that didn’t fit with the long-term caring required to help their brothers and sisters in another church.
Paul proceeds very carefully here. Knowing that his authority is very tenuous, he states in v. 8, “I am not commanding you …”. The Christian movement was not yet much of an organization (maybe a good thing!). The apostle is acting like a superintendent or a bishop but has not really been appointed as such. It really is up to the members of the congregation whether they contribute to this project or not. He then proceeds to try to convince them, with theological reasoning, why they should consider completing what they began many months ago.
This is only a test … In fact, the word used here means more than “test.” Paul is pushing them in this issue to “prove” what they really are “all about”. “The proof is in the pudding” we sometimes say, suggesting that it’s really not what we know about the recipe or the ingredients that go into it … it’s really about how it all turns out in the end. In their “festive and victorious” church culture they had celebrated the truth of the risen Jesus … now was their opportunity to apply the broad implications of his ministry, beyond the joyous worship opportunities that they had been pleased to enjoy.
Sincerity of your love … The word for sincerity is a construct from the word for “woman” indicating the source of all life, that being the “womb.” The great apostle is trying to help these friends of his to find the “source” of their desire to give so eagerly at the beginning, so that they might continue. He soon suggests what the source should be … the love that is indeed the essence of the caring that comes from the Father himself. Among the three words used for love in the Greek New Testament, Paul certainly would not have used eros, meaning romantic love; and we would not have been surprised if he’d chosen the word philos which means brotherly or sisterly love. Instead, he uses that great biblical word agape which means “love” to be sure but, relies heavily upon the will instead of emotion so characteristic of the other two words. It also more perfectly fits the type of love that Jesus taught during his earthly ministry.
Through the earnestness of others … Paul is drawing a comparison here, between the responses of two groups of Christians. He outlines the response of the Macedonians in verses 1-5 and the contrast could not have been more striking. They continued what they started, with far less resources than the Corinthian church possessed. But the contrast deepened when their spirit was drawn into the equation. In v. 5 we read that they “begged for the favour and the fellowship of the service.” These Macedonian Christians had learned a spiritual lesson that, as of yet, had eluded the Corinthian congregation. They knew the good that can happen when “the service” (diakonia) is part of the Christian life … and they were eager to be involved in this collection for a group of saints many miles away.
We know the good that can happen as well. When I came to Windsor and learned of the ministry of the Windsor Baptist Refugee Ministry (Matthew House) I encouraged our congregation at Banwell to get involved. Here was a ministry that brought the world to our doorstep, that would give us a chance to show compassion to these refuges who had fled their countries of birth. I know that your congregation here at First Baptist recognized that great opportunity as well. Both of these churches have been the better for this involvement … and we have done it because we believed that it was the will of the Master to do so.
We’re not exactly sure what happened in this situation, whether the Corinthian congregation “came through” or not. But Paul faithfully and skillfully delivered the message, one that is relevant in our present day. May we learn the lesson from the Macedonian’s … that it is such a privilege to participate in the “fellowship of service!”
Prayer
As we mark the early developments in Your church we are once again grateful for its place in our lives. As we read the words of Your servant from the ancient text, we are reminded of the times that such “Macedonian generosity” has affected our lives. We praise You for Your Spirit that stirs up such a response to human need and pray that we may be found faithful when it is our turn.
Each one of us gathered this day sense the fatigue at the very mention of another test. But when we think of the high stakes in this ministry to which we have been called and how our Lord gave His very life, we look at these things in a different way. Having heard once again about the opportunity in Your Kingdom, we offer ourselves anew and pray that You will bring whatever it takes to make us into fit vessels for Your service.
Finally, our Father we bring before You the ones who perhaps feel they cannot come to You themselves. We think of students and teachers who eagerly await the day when they can resume full learning. We bring before You those who cannot work remotely and must put themselves in harm’s way simply by being on the job. And we pray for those whose illnesses of body and spirit represent a new chapter in their time on this earth. For Your ability to be “everywhere for the good” we give You humble thanks. In the strong name of the anointed One, we pray … amen.
Song
Benediction
“But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”
— Jeremiah 20:9