Love under pressure

1 Corinthians 16 ESV

Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers. Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people. The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Collection:

Now About: A new topic is introduced with the words ‘Now about’ (peri de), which, as we have seen, is a typical introduction for a new subject

Jerusalem who are suffering financially.

7 :1 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

The Unmarried and the Widowed 25 Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.

The collection was a matter of great importance to Paul. He devotes two chapters to the subject in 2 Corinthians 8–9 and returns to it in Romans 15:25–29.

the gift for poor believers in Jerusalem signalled the solidarity between Jewish and Gentile churches and the spiritual obligation the latter owed to the former (Rom. 15:27)

26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27 For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.

Why Jerusalem?

Owed Rom 15:26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27 For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.

This is what the church does: Its how the church supports other outpost.

I dont beef with anyone I burped

This is ground zero for some of Paul’s most vicious sins against the Jesus and his church.

And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. Saul Ravages the Church 8 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Acts 9:1 “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest”

Elwin Wilson

In January 2009, former Ku Klux Klan member Elwin Wilson confessed to being part of the white mob that bloodied Lewis and another Freedom Rider in Rock Hill, South Carolina, nearly 48 years earlier.

"All I can say is that it has bothered me for years, all the bad stuff I've done," Wilson said. "And I found out there is no way I could be saved and get to heaven and still not like blacks."

John Lewis

Lewis noted in his 2012 book “Across that Bridge” that Wilson was the first of his attackers to apologize for his actions. Wilson traveled to Washington a short while later to meet Lewis face-to-face and ask for forgiveness.

Lewis say:

“Without a moment of hesitation, I looked back at him and said, ‘I accept your apology,’” Lewis wrote. “This was a great testament to the power of love to overcome hatred.”

Informed by his Christian upbringing, Lewis’s philosophy came into focus in 1958, when the 18-year-old began attending weekly nonviolence seminars in the basement of a Nashville Methodist church.

Lewis says:

“When you can truly understand and feel, even as a person is cursing you to your face, even as he is spitting on you, or pushing a lit cigarette into your neck, or beating you with a truncheon – if you can understand and feel … that your attacker is as much a victim as you are, that he is a victim of the forces that have shaped and fed his anger and fury, then you are well on your way to the nonviolent life,”

Acts 16

And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family

Business bitnes

The church in Corinth has shown their tale.

Whatch how yall treat my young bole

10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. 11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.

12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.

Apollos said nah Apollos (see commentary on 1:12) plays a significant role in the letter, especially in the discussion of the divisions in 1:10–4:21. Certainly Paul did not think that Apollos was responsible for the divisions fomented by his followers, since Paul strongly urged Apollos to visit Corinth.

but at the same time he desires that they might help me on my journey. The verb (propempō) is regularly used for supporting and helping those engaged in mission (cf. Rom. 15:24; 1 Cor. 16:11; 2 Cor. 1:16; Titus 3:13; 3 John 6).

He’s been writting this letter inside of conflict.

People are responding to the Gosple. But there are some sharks/allegators

Acts 19:30 “But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him.”

Love under pressure

8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

Are you built for opposition?

I didn’t ask if you are ready to fight…

Paul is Paul

1 Cor 4:16  I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

Acts 19