The Harmony of God’s People for Christ

1Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise. 2On the first day of the week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come. 3When I arrive, I will send whoever you approve with letters to carry your gracious gift to Jerusalem. 4If it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me. 5But I will come to you when I have passed through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia. 6But with you it may be that I will stay, or even winter, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go. 7For I do not wish to see you now in passing, but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits. 8But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 10Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do. 11Therefore let no one despise him. But set him forward on his journey in peace, that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brothers. 12Now concerning Apollos, the brother, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers; and it was not at all his desire to come now; but he will come when he has an opportunity. 13Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong! 14Let all that you do be done in love.

We have now arrived at chapter 16, the last chapter of 1 Corinthians.

Through these expositions of 1 Corinthians, we have worked hard through twenty-seven sermons to learn what the apostle Paul wanted to say to the church.

What Paul meant to say was this: we are one in Christ, each of us has been given a part to play, and every one of us must fulfill that part completely.

The reason is that God works through his people. Souls can be saved only when his people turn the unseen Kingdom of Heaven into a Kingdom that can be seen.

That is why Paul, too, was living as one who dies daily in order to fulfill his calling, and he said that when the world is judged on the last day, he would put on a spiritual body in Christ on the strength of that faith.

The holy saints, whom angels will one day serve, look forward to that day; and until the day they put off the body, they love the members of the one body, help one another, and extend the Kingdom of God. That is what a true believer looks like.

In Christ, just as believers are one body, so churches too are one body with one another. Since the Kingdom of Christ can grow only when the churches are healthy, churches must pray for one another and help one another so that every church on this earth can grow well.

But churches today, eager to swell their membership, care nothing for the gospel; intent on putting up buildings, they have lost interest in saving souls. The result is that they are causing serious problems in society.

Disputes between churches never cease, because each is driven by the greed to enlarge its own congregation.

Of course, to bring even one more person to hear the word, we must evangelize and the church must grow. But such human rivalry, far from lighting up the world, becomes a tool of Satan and, with the world’s own power, snuffs out even the lamp another church is holding up.

Let us never forget that the church is the gathering of those whom the grace of Christ has set apart from the world.

Christ stands at the center of the church, and the people who hope for heaven have become members of one body in him. Yet churches measure revival by the size of their buildings and by whether their congregations are large or small.

Human beings who ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil make their own thinking the standard for every judgment. So even after hearing the gospel, they behave just as the world does.

Because their hearts have been captured by a world that seems more powerful than the teaching of Christ, a visible church building, rather than faith in Christ, has become the measure of blessing. How much of the world one owns has come to outrank faith, and people are using God to gain the world they can see.

Church members have taken on this worldly way of seeing, and it is pushing churches to preach sermons that have nothing to do with the gospel, all to make their church higher, grander, and more impressive than others. In the end the members have lost the loyalty that would move them to give themselves for Christ and the saving of souls, and a false zeal has taken the place of faith.

Do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that every large church is wrong or that believers must live in poverty. I am saying that you must not chase after the world’s wealth and stray from the word of truth.

My earnest hope is that the large churches will preach Christ alone.

If the pastors of large churches would turn from the world and proclaim only Christ, nothing could be more precious.

Perhaps, through the faithfulness of large churches that refuse to follow the world’s ways, many souls could be saved with ease.

But since churches today are no different from the world at all, the world has no reason to persecute them. On the contrary, it may be taking pains not to offend the churches that are corrupting themselves, or their many members.

But, as you will see if you look at the words of Jesus in the Bible, a faith without persecution and tribulation is a false faith.

When you proclaim the word of Scripture, the sins of those who hear are exposed, so you are bound to come under attack. And just as Satan persecuted Jesus to keep him from preaching the gospel, he will stir people up to persecute you.

God’s law is not the law of this world; his people therefore cannot escape persecution from Satan, the ruler of this world. And since God sees things differently from the world, they cannot avoid tribulation in the world.

For this reason the church must hold fast to the word of truth to the end, and you must live out that word as long as you have breath.

As you look at today’s churches, do they seem to you to be fighting the world for Christ?

Do believers seem to you to be sacrificing themselves to keep the word, doing their utmost to bear the cross of Christ?

They are bound by the world’s thinking: that because they believe in God they ought to live better than worldly people, that because God protects them they must never fall ill, and that because God blesses them their children must be more successful than everyone else’s. This is what comes of churches failing to teach the truth.

Can such churches be members of the body whose head is Christ?

No one who lives with no regard for the truth, who is ashamed of the cross, and who thinks nothing of not knowing the Bible will be able to become a citizen of heaven.

When you meet the Lord, what will you confess to him? What kind of faith will you say you lived by for him until now?

Since the Lord will surely ask you this, you must begin thinking about it now.

The apostle Paul said with confidence that when the trumpet sounds on the last day, the dead will be raised imperishable, and our mortal bodies will put on spiritual bodies that will never die again.

And he asked the church in Corinth whether they believed this.

The question had a reason: the Corinthians were being taken in by people who spread a false gospel and deceived them into thinking there is no resurrection.

Paul was indignant because the church in Corinth, which he had planted at the cost of his own life, was forsaking the truth, worshiping idols, and filling its heart with covetousness and lies.

As you can see from the way the world is going, Satan never rests. As a result, the world is growing ever more corrupt, and the wicked deeds once done in hiding, in the shadows, are now committed boldly, in full view of everyone.

Satan has worked so diligently that those who rule the world are changing its laws one by one in order to persecute God’s people.

But because the church has already compromised with the world for the sake of revival and success, those who do not know the truth do not even notice it.

To be sure, until now evil has prevailed over good in the world, and the wicked hold far more of the world’s power than the righteous.

Yet however much evil the world may do and however much it may sin, if the churches whose head is Christ become one and keep the word of truth, the Lord will help them.

Churches today are not proclaiming the word of truth as they should.

Even pastors do not properly know the Scriptures, and they have no interest in them either.

They pour their hearts into building churches and strive to increase their numbers so they have something to boast about.

They think that this is revival, that this is doing God’s work.

But Jesus never once commended anyone who strayed from the truth.

Now the church, its pastors, and its members must all be afraid.

Because no one knows when the Lord’s judgment of wrath will come.

I hope that you will put on white garments, make yourselves ready to meet the bridegroom, and live according to the word.

Acts 11:28-30

28One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius. 29As any of the disciples had plenty, each determined to send relief to the brothers who lived in Judea; 30which they also did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Just as Agabus had prophesied that a famine would come in the days of Claudius, a great famine struck Jerusalem, and its people were reduced to wretched poverty.

Paul encouraged the believers in Galatia to help the church in Jerusalem, and they did as he directed, helping Jerusalem with one heart.

Knowing that it had been able to receive salvation because of the devoted faithfulness of the apostles of the Jerusalem church, the church in Galatia gave its utmost to help them.

That is why, in chapter 16, the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that they should do just as he had directed the churches of Galatia.

From Paul’s letter to Corinth we learn that he planned to stay in Ephesus until Pentecost and then pass through Macedonia on his way to the church in Corinth.

But things did not go as planned, and he had to leave Ephesus in haste because of the riot stirred up by Demetrius, recorded in Acts 19.

While in Ephesus, Paul first sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia and pondered how he might spread the gospel further in Ephesus. He wanted more time to proclaim it, because God had opened a door for the gospel and because so many were opposing it.

Ephesus was a city that drew a large income from making models of the image of Artemis. So Paul told those who worshiped Artemis that things made with human hands are not gods, and that only by believing in the living God, who is at work, and in Jesus, who bore the cross, can anyone be saved.

Hearing this, Demetrius gathered all the craftsmen who made images of Artemis and told them that this man Paul, by teaching that the images they made were not gods, was showing contempt for the temple of the great goddess Artemis and at the same time threatening their prosperous way of life.

At this the people flew into a rage. Declaring that they could not forgive a man who had blasphemed their god, they seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s fellow workers from Macedonia, and dragged them into the theater.

When a great uproar broke out, Paul wanted to go into the theater, but officials kept him from entering, and the town clerk barely managed to dismiss the assembly.

Those who feared their income would fall were bent on killing Paul, so he hurriedly left Ephesus and set out for Macedonia.

If even Paul, a man of prayer, came under Satan’s attack when he preached the gospel, then we too must prepare in prayer before we go out with the gospel.

1 Corinthians 16:10

10Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do.

Some were slandering and opposing Paul, the man who had given his life for the salvation of their souls; and the believers in Corinth, though they knew the truth, failed to stand against them as they should. All this shows how heavy a ministry Paul bore.

Paul sent Timothy, together with Erastus, through Macedonia to Corinth. The task Timothy had been given was to bring the Corinthians to repentance through the word.

At this time Timothy was a young pastor with little experience, so Paul repeatedly taught him to be an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity, so that no one would despise his youth. Timothy was a pastor, but his inexperience left Paul greatly worried about how the troubled members of the Corinthian church would treat him.

People who had lived in a place steeped in philosophy and the empty wisdom of the world were coming into the church and twisting the truth, which made Timothy’s task a weighty one.

Because Timothy followed Paul’s faith and gave himself to the truth alone, he served the church in Corinth well.

It was not, of course, because Timothy was wise that he settled those problems completely. He governed by the truth, and it was the word of truth that brought them to repentance.

When we proclaim the gospel, whoever the hearer may be, if we preach only the truth, we have nothing to worry about, because the Holy Spirit is at work for their salvation.

1 Corinthians 16:14

14Let all that you do be done in love.

For the church in Corinth to stand upright, every member must carry in their heart the love God has given and act in faith.

God’s love is a love that laid aside its own glory and took the lowest of places; a love that forgives sinners who betrayed their Creator and listened to Satan; a love that atoned for the sins of all humanity, which failed to recognize its Savior and killed him on a cross.

Only those who carry that love in their hearts can devote themselves and remain faithful.

Because the heavenly love that God’s people carry rises above the world, it does not seek its own advantage.

Because they will not give up the new wineskin to satisfy their own greed, those who carry the love God has given have hearts that give and sacrifice.

Stephanas, who displayed this love of God before the world, received Christ in Athens, returned to Corinth, and led his whole household to the faith; he also helped his slaves, who were as good as his property, to receive the gospel.

In those days, to share the gospel with one’s own slaves, one’s own property, was a love no one could ever show without being certain of an eternal world more beautiful than this one.

Paul told the church to submit to believers who, like Stephanas, live for Christ alone and to those who labor for the gospel, and to supply what they lack.

In verse 18 the apostle Paul stressed that they should acknowledge such people, who had refreshed his spirit and theirs. He stressed it because the work of God can never be carried through unless the church recognizes the burdens of those who work at the front.

If we do not help those who give their all to set an example of the word, those who labor for the gospel will face great hardship.

In every letter the apostle Paul recorded the names of the coworkers who had labored with him. He did this to make it known that he had not worked alone, and that he had been able to accomplish the Lord’s work because he had coworkers.

By mentioning their names, he made sure that those faithful saints would receive God’s blessing; and by making their names known, he moved the churches in every place to help his coworkers.

David, too, when his years as a fugitive were over and he returned to the city, set the mighty men who had been with him in positions of importance and helped them prosper.

Paul’s heart was the very same as David’s. His conduct sprang from a humility that gave all the credit to his coworkers.

1 Corinthians 16:2

2On the first day of the week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.

Paul asks them not to scramble to make the offering for the Jerusalem church when he arrives, but to set it aside and collect it ahead of time.

In other words, he is telling them to pray thoroughly to God for Jerusalem and then to give, so that as members of one body they would not harden their hearts.

In the early church, Christians mostly met on the Sabbath, but after Jesus rose from the dead they gathered on the first day after the Sabbath.

As tension between Judaism and Christianity deepened over the Lord’s Day and Sabbath gatherings, from the early fourth century Christianity fixed the Lord’s Day as the church’s regular day of assembly.

Therefore Paul told them to give their offering on the first day of every week.

Paul presses the Corinthians to give, insisting that they must help the church in Jerusalem, because it is plainly right that the prosperous Gentile churches should help the Jerusalem church from which they had received spiritual help.

Sharing material things with the Jerusalem church, which had proclaimed the gospel at the risk of death, was simply what members of one body ought to do. Even so, Paul was concerned that the Corinthians might stumble, and so he told them about the faithfulness of the believers in Macedonia.

2 Corinthians 8:2-3

2how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their generosity. 3For according to their power, I testify, yes and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord,

After receiving the gospel, the Macedonian churches came under attack from the Jews. And though they endured severe poverty and affliction under Roman rule, they were filled all the more with a faith that gave thanks to God, who had given them the hope of the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

Persecution and poverty left them with nothing to spare, yet when they heard that the Jerusalem church, which had brought them eternal life, was in need, they gave beyond their power.

Paul passed on the story of this abundant generosity in the Macedonian church to the church in Corinth, so that they too might be moved to give themselves.

The Corinthians had been asked by Paul earlier to take up a collection for the Jerusalem church, but they were not eager to help.

Then Paul once more made known, through Titus, the sacrificial giving of the Macedonians, and through Timothy he helped the Corinthians abandon their false gospel and false faith.

When the Corinthians received Paul’s letter and heard how the Macedonians had given, they repented and their faith was restored.

Once their faith was restored, they finally realized that helping a brother or sister does not diminish what one owns or lay a heavy burden on one’s shoulders. It is rather a blessing that brings the abundant grace of God.

Afterward, the offering the church in Corinth gathered to send to Jerusalem was so large that a great work of God took place: Paul himself came to Corinth and carried the gift to the Jerusalem church.

The church in Corinth took Paul’s letter as an opportunity to turn back, and it took up its full part as a member of the body.

Anyone can love in words alone.

To give nothing to a hungry person and offer instead a promise to pray for them is something God does not bless, because it springs from a false heart that does not want to share what it has.

If we are his people, we must not merely know the love that Jesus Christ himself showed us; we must work for God, just as the Macedonians gave beyond their power.

Paul proclaims that just as the sacrifice of Jesus made sinners rich, so the devotion of God’s people will expand the Kingdom of God and save many souls bound for death.

Friends, we must not simply rejoice that we are saved; we must share the love the Lord has shown us.

To look around and see whether anyone near us is struggling, in spirit or in body, and then to help: this is what we who have received God’s love ought naturally to do.

1 Corinthians 16:22

22If any man doesn’t love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Come, Lord!

When we confess that we love the Lord, we are also confessing that we will walk the way the Lord walked.

But if I tell you that, on top of the cross of your own life, you must also bear the cross of Jesus, your heart will likely grow heavy.

Still, if you bear the Lord’s cross as the apostle Paul and his coworkers did, the cross of your own life will become lighter by comparison.

Whoever bears the Lord’s cross with all their heart will receive from God a reward as great as the weight of that cross, and they will not feel the weight of life.

It is those who know this secret who are God’s people.

Because Paul knew this wondrous secret, he gave thanks in all things, prayed without ceasing, and lived a life of constant rejoicing.

The apostle Paul had lived for the Lord with all his strength, and so he could cry out earnestly, “Come, Lord!” The faith of those who believe that the Lord will come is a faith built on the rock, a faith the world cannot overcome; it is the faith of children who have received God’s love.

Now I bring this exposition of 1 Corinthians to a close.

You have learned it all: how to live as saints, and what kind of faith to hold.

The gospel is not knowledge. It is your purpose, something to be lived out.

Only the faithful will, like the apostle Paul, be able to welcome the returning Lord with joy and enter the eternal Kingdom with him.

Like Paul, who gave his very life in devotion, may you fully take up your part as God’s people wherever you are, and receive the fullness of God’s grace. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.