2 Corinthians 8 - [Daily Bible Study]

today Paul hits the Corinthian church up for money on branch together as it is written in Isaiah the problem I am sending my messenger ahead of you welcome to branch together my name is Jared and today we're reading second Corinthians chapter eight before we dive in let's take a moment and pray lord help us have still ready hearts today for whatever it is you have for us in this chapter we thank you for your servant Paul we thank you for the church in Corinth that they can be a guide no witness to us as we see this faith played out in real life I'm amazed I'm thankful I'm inspired by how these stories these letters can still speak to us today and the issues that those churches faced are the same issues that churches face the issues that those humans wrestled with are the same issues we wrestle with today there's something so powerfully just Universal for people of all different tribes tongues nations that that the good news can be communicated to people of all different places and through time that a letter like this 2,000 years has something to say to us today in this place and this time what would I pray for all those who are listening today wherever they are from whatever however far away they are whatever language they speak that you would speak to us in a unique and powerful way today in your name we pray amen second Corinthians chapter 8 we want you to know brothers and sisters about the grace of God that was given to the church of Macedonia during a severe trial brought about by affliction their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their port part I can testify that according to their ability and even beyond their ability of their own accord they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the Saints and not just as we had hoped instead they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God's will so we urged Titus that just as he had begun so he should also complete among you this act of grace now as you excel in everything in faith speech knowledge and in all diligence and in your love for us excel also in this act of grace I am NOT saying this as a command rather by means of the diligence of others I am testing the genuineness of your love for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ though he was rich for your sake he became poor so that by his poverty you might become rich and in this matter I am giving advise because it is profitable for you who began last year not only to do something but also to want to do it now also finish the task to that just as there was an eager desire there might also be a completion according to what you have for if the eagerness is there the gift is acceptable according to what a person has not according to what he does not have it is not that there should be relief for others and hardship for you but it is a question of equality at the present time your surplus is available for their need so that there are money ins may in turn meet your need in order that there may be equality as it is written the person who had much did not have too much and the person who had little did not have too little 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 we have sent with him the brother who was praised among all the churches for his gospel ministry and not only that but he was also appointed by the churches to an accompany us with this gracious gift that we are administering for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help we are taking this precaution so that no one will criticize us about the 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 we have also sent 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 as for Titus he is my partner and co-worker for you as for our brothers they are the messengers of the churches the glory of Christ therefore show them proof before the churches of your love and our boasting about you in chapter 8 Paul calls on the Corinthian church to be generous and give to the mission of the church one of the accusations and sometimes accurate accusations is that the church is greedy or always asking for money that's you know some a common critique of church they are people that are upset with church or have stopped going to church is that all they care about is money and things like that but let's look at how Paul talks about giving money for helping others there's some really good stuff in here so little bit of a crap little bit of background Paul is trying to raise money for the hurting Church in Jerusalem he tells Corinth about the Macedonian Church so he's talking to the church in Corinth he's trying to raise money for the church in Jerusalem and he's sharing an example of another Church this church in Macedonia ends up being this great example this other church in Macedonia it gave generously even beyond their means they're giving hurt them a bit and it was more than than expected the Macedonian Church was excited to give for the privilege that's the way you put it the privilege of sharing in the ministry of the saints what an incredible way to think of giving think about that whatever meaningful thing you give to think about it that way you make some money for some work that you do right you now have money to invest in your life you take care of yourself and your family and then you have some more money to invest what do you do with that money the Macedonians invested that money in helping other churches going through difficult times they invested that money in helping in the good news of Jesus and it going forward they saw that as a privilege they didn't see it as some other group or some other organization coming to ask me for money they said this is our life this is our community we are followers of Jesus it is our privilege and honor to invest any money we have that we're able to spare in helping other people who are following Jesus and seeking to help others man we we don't think about that way we don't think about money that way but think about that way for a moment God has given me work to do God has given you work to do I have made some money you have made some money I have taken care of some essentials you have taken care some essentials and now we have the privilege of investing that money in good things if you have some money you can spend it on some things that don't matter or you can figure out what matters and invest it and some things that you believe do matter I'd encourage you to figure out what matters to you figure out what is important to you and invest your money towards those things now chapter continues and Paul's argument to the Corinthians is this basically hey I'm not commanding you to give but if you love Jesus and others then you should give his argument is hey this whole Jesus thing Jesus was rich the Son of God and he became poor and gave himself for you so that you might be rich if he has made you rich and and he's playing with this word rich and poor here but and that's what Paul fundamentally believes we have been made rich all follow Jesus are now rich like we were poor in sin and brokenness Jesus was rich next to God on the throne of heaven and he came down became poor for us so that we could all be made rich says if that's actually what's happened and that's what we all believe has happened Corinthian church right if that's what's happened then why don't you take your riches and help make others rich so then Paul says give to help God's mission and his church if you have an abundance and there is a need give to make a fair balance that's what he's telling this church some good stuff some good things to wrestle with hopefully you have some food for thought today on giving and investing that is all for today join us next time on Ranch together [Music] [Music]

Channel: Branch Together

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Keywords: daily devotions, inductive bible study, Daily Video Bible Reading, bible study, protestant, christian, monmouth county nj, church

Id: 7ONA9pdBS_w

Length: 9min 42sec (582 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 21 2018