As we return to our study on stewardship, our teacher Pastor Landis Fisher takes a look today into the normal pattern of offering in the Gentile Churches as directed by the Apostle Paul which illustrates how they valued the Gospel and wanted to participate in the spread of it to the whole world. Listen in as Pastor Fisher teaches this installment which he has titled: “New Testament Principles for Giving”
Old Testament Scripture Reading: 1 Cor 16:1 – 3 (NASB)
1Co 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.
1Co 16:2 On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.
1Co 16:3 When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem;
New Testament Scripture Reading: 2 Cor 8:1 – 9 (NASB)
2Co 8:1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia,
2Co 8:2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
2Co 8:3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord,
2Co 8:4 begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints,
2Co 8:5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.
2Co 8:6 So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.
2Co 8:7 But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also.
2Co 8:8 I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also.
2Co 8:9 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.
Transforming Power Statements:
1) The teaching of Dr. Luke from Acts and of the Apostle Paul shows us that there was no teaching among the Church i.e. “Tithing” per se, but rather a commitment to the “cause of the Gospel” for which the early members considered it to be valuable enough that they were willing to give literally everything to finance it’s proclamation to the world.
2) The sacrificial offering of Jesus the Christ, was valued so highly that it was realized that there were no earthly possessions that could even begin to compare to what God had given to the point that there were willing to fund the cost of the spread the good news with everything they had.
3) Even the Macedonians who were a poor Gentile church begged the Apostle to receive their generous offering to support the other saints who had given their all to get the Gospel out as far as to their country.
