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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
November 30
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Today's Pathway:
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Paul has thus far encouraged the Corinthian believers to give to the offering for the suffering saints in Judea by citing both the examples of the Macedonian believers and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now, he gets to the crux of the matter: the responsibility of the Corinthians to follow these examples. He opens verse 10 by giving them his opinion ("advice") on what they should be doing. He says that this would be profitable ("expedient") for them. Apparently after the church had received Paul's first epistle they had begun to organize for the collection, but over the course of the last year they had lost sight of that, probably because of the difficulties that existed in the church at that time, and also the opposition that the false teachers had expressed towards Paul himself. So Paul tells them in verse 11 that it is time for them to get back to business and finish taking up the offering. They had been willing to do this previously, so now was the time to perform.
Notice that the second half of verse 11 says that their "performance" of the offering should be based upon what they have. Verse 12 indicates that their performance will not be based upon what they don't have. God does not expect His children to do that which they can not do. He never asks us to accomplish something that is beyond our abilities to finish. In I Corinthians 12:4-7 Paul writes that God gives different people different spiritual gifts, ministries ("administrations"), and energies ("operations"), and these are given for the benefit ("profit") of all. So not everyone can do the same things, and God does not call all believers to accomplish the same things. However, He does expect each believer to have a "willing mind" (verse 12). This is true in all aspects of our service to the Lord, and not just as it relates to financial giving. A "willing mind" simply means that the Christian is ready and willing to do whatever God enables him to do. The Lord will probably not ask someone who has a minimum wage job to give tens of thousands of dollars to his local church. However, He does want that person to be willing to do whatever it is that God tells him to do. And remember that we can do whatever God tells us to do, for as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13,
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
In verses 13 and 14 Paul makes it clear that he is not asking the Corinthians to shoulder all the responsibility for the relief of the believers in Jerusalem by themselves. He is expecting other churches to also follow the lead of the Macedonian churches. But in addition, he is explaining that he does not want this to be a burden to the Corinthians. At this point in time they should be willing to give from their abundance of material blessings in order to ease the burden that the Judean believers were facing. However, he wants there to be equity between the churches. In other words, there may come a time when the church in Jerusalem has an abundance of material goods and the church in Corinth is struggling, and at that point the Judean believers should give of their abundance to assist the Corinthians. Giving is not a one way street. Some people, and ministries, tend to be takers. They always have their hand out asking others to provide for them. And, if God has blessed us we should be willing to assist others in need. But, when those individuals or churches are prospering, they should be willing to reciprocate by helping us in our need.
We will continue looking at the subject tomorrow.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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