The Contribution of the Saints: Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Review:
1. Financial Contribution
a. readily
b. proportionally
c. strategically
d. cheerfully
e. worshipfully
2. Hospitable Contributions (4-7)
2. Hospitable Contributions (4-7)
4 and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me. 5 But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia; 6 and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go. 7 For I do not wish to see you now just in passing; for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits.
What is hospitality? The Greek words used are Philoxenos which is compound word for the love of strangers. There was not a sense of general kindness to strangers in the ancient world. Hospitality was specifically love to strangers because strangers would not be received in a community without hospitality from some host. Colin Kruse writes,
The Letters of John A Note on Hospitality
Hospitality, then, is not something a person provides for family or friends but for strangers. They need such hospitality, for otherwise they will be treated as nonhuman because they are potentially a threat to the community. Strangers had no standing in law or custom, and therefore they needed a patron in the community they were visiting. There was no universal brotherhood in the ancient Mediterranean world
The church then acted according to the customs of this time and applied hospitality to those believers who might travel through their town looking for a place to stay. They would not have had an abundance of hotels or inns to stay at, so believers would open their homes to other Christians as they needed.
Hospitality is how Paul’s ministry thrived as he traveled from city to city planting churches. Paul writes to the Romans,
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
Peter also instructs the churches that when we practice hospitality, we do so “without complaint.” Much like our generosity, our hospitality is to be displayed with a sense of cheerfulness and not contempt or regret.
As a matter of fact, you can see all through the historical account of the early church, that homes that were opened to provide lodging and food to the traveling preachers and ministers of the gospel
Paul with Simon the Tanner Acts 9:43
Peter with Cornelius Acts 10:23
Peter with John Mark and his mother Mary Acts 12:12
Paul and companions with Lydia Acts 16:15
Paul and the Philippian Jailer Acts 16:34
Paul with Aquila and Priscilla Acts 18:2-3
Paul and Luke with Mnason of Cyprus Acts 21:16
Paul with Publius on the Island of Malta Acts 28:7
Paul’s words to the Corinthians imply for us their sense of hospitality for the apostle and they should challenge us to show hospitality and love. Paul of course is no stranger, and yet we would still use the term hospitality in the manner at which they were showing love to him as he stayed long amounts of time with the saints.
A. Be Available
A. Be Available
The first aspect of hospitality is much like that of generosity, we must make ourselves available to host people in our homes where we provide food and lodging or where we simply invite them over to a meal. Availability is the first step to hospitality because it was the way the church displayed the love of Christ to traveling strangers.
Paul is not forcing himself on the church but it appears that his ministry in Corinth has created relationships with people so that their availability to host him was understood in the apostles mind.
5 But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia; 6 and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go.
Sometimes our availability is a mystery to others because we do not live in such a hospitable culture. Our culture today of privacy, busyness, and individualism is a wet blanket to hospitality in the church. In order to change the dynamic, we must invite others to stay with us, to eat with us. When we travel, if there was a culture of hospitality, we would not have to book hotels and AIRBNB’s if the church networked more and offered up places to stay for the traveling saints.
Notice a great example of hospitality that we see in 3 John 5-8
5 Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren, and especially when they are strangers; 6 and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.
John writes to this dear brother Gaius and encourages him in his hospitality to traveling brothers in ministry. Gaius is commended for hosting these traveling ministers who he undoubtedly hosted in his home and provided for their needs when their traveling commenced.
Even if the opportunity to host a believer in your home does not include staying overnight due to room or space in your home, the love of Jesus Christ compels us to engage in a hospitable spirit to eat with and share a meal with our brothers and sisters in Christ out of love for one another.
What keeps us from this hospitality ultimately leads us to our second point component…
B. Be Sacrificial (Give up)
B. Be Sacrificial (Give up)
We understand that Paul’s request to stay with the Corinthians through the winter meant that his elongated stay would be one that would require a great sacrifice of attention and resources.
What is the longest that you have hosted someone in your home where you provided lodging and food? Can you imagine doing it for a few months with the uncertainty of winter months that would extend the stay until traveling is safe.
The foundation of hospitality is love of Christ that we are willing to lay down our own interests for the interests of others. It would be a great sacrifice of our time away from our own comforts and privacy to have someone in our home. It is exhausting at times but it also serves the individual spiritually as well.
When we show this kind of love and sacrifice, we are uprooting our norms and dying to our self daily. You may not get to enjoy those morning routines we come to love and appreciate, when people are staying in your home. Busyness and selfishness are the two enemies of hospitality. We are neither available to host or we just do not want to dirty our home to entertain, clean our home to entertain. Friends, neither of these obstacles reflect the love of Christ.
Instead, let’s open our homes and lives so that we can show Christ’s love through meals, fellowship, or lodging out of a concern for the welfare of others over ourselves.
C. Be Beneficial (Give to)
C. Be Beneficial (Give to)
Lastly, Paul indicates one other aspect of hospitality that is worth noting. He states in verse 7,
6 and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go.
Once Paul’s stay was complete in Corinth, Paul asks the believers there to send him on his way. The Greek term here means that to continue in the efforts of hospitality, you might provide supplies and encouragement in their ongoing travels. This word is used throughout the NT in the same manner.
13 Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them.
This concept could easily fit into my previous exhortation of generosity, but in respects to those hosted in our home, we should finish well with our care of them by sending them off with any needs they require in their travels. This is a great way to complete their stay reminding them that God is their great supplier.
19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Church you and I are used greatly in hospitality to reflect this doctrinal truth regarding our Great Provider. God uses his people to be a resource of care and generosity towards other believers in Jesus Christ. He affirms their faith that He will supply both their physical and spiritual needs as you are obedient to step outside your comfort zones, die to self and serve the needs of others.
3. Spiritual Contributions (8-9)
3. Spiritual Contributions (8-9)
Thirdly, we want to look at the spiritual contributions that the saints make in our lives. We have looked first at generous financial contributions. Secondly, we looked at hospitable contributions and finally we want to look at spiritual contributions. This comes from the opposite angle of this visit from Paul. We have seen his plans to stay with them and what they might do for him.
But now let us look at this from the other vantage point and see how Paul used that time for the gospel ministry. This aspect of Paul’s time with teh churches always included a resourceful and helpful time where Paul strengthen the disciples. He did not waste his valuable time vacationing around Asia Minor but instead he utilized his time on earth as focused on helping those along, increasing their faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A. Strengthen the disciples
A. Strengthen the disciples
So we can imply from Paul’s words here what his intentions are when he comes. He always used that time to instruct, to discipline and to encourage the saints in their faithfulness to Christ. It was not frivolous time, but fruitful time spent.
Remember with me his words in 1 Cor 4:17-21
17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. 18 Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. 21 What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
Notice that Paul is not planning sites to visit in Corinth like the Temple of Apollo or the fountain of Peireine. He was coming to deal with spiritual matters in the church. He was going to challenge and encourage the saints to grow in their faith in Christ and to turn from the foolishness of sinful pride. As we have studied this letter, we have seen Paul get down to business in discipline and correction for the saints, all the while doing so in love.
Paul knows that it is job to set elders in the church to lead them and as he comes teach and instruct so that the foundation of the church is built upon Christ. This letter is a good example of how Paul instructs the church in knowledge and wisdom.
1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Application So let me ask you how you spend time with other believers? is it a time of edification to your spiritual lives? Do you talk about the Lord together, pray together? Do you use your time together for the purpose of the Kingdom building, or just earthly living?
We can always use our time to simply just talk about sports, politics, the weather but how does that edify us? Its not wrong to talk about those earthly matters, but let us spend time among believers focusing on Christ, hid goodness and his glory.
15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
In his book Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life, Pastor and author Don Whitney writes,
“Even without the kind of persecution or opposition known by the Christians of Paul’s day, the world we live in is not conducive to using time wisely, especially for purposes of spirituality and Godliness. In fact, our days are days of active evil. There are great thieves of time that are minions of the world, the flesh, and the Devil. They may range in form from high-tech, socially acceptable preoccupations to simple, idle talk or ungoverned thoughts. But the natural course of our minds, our bodies, our world, and our days leads us toward evil, not toward Christlikeness.”
In other words the world provides many opportunitites to distract us from using our time wisely, instead let us move forward in using time with other Christ followers to speak well of our Lord and all that he is doing. This moves our time together from simply “chewing the fat” to truly enjoying the meatiness of Christian edification. Parents, particularly fathers, this is so vitally important in the home with your kids as Deut 6 tells us
5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
Paul also uses his letters to address and correct issues in the church so that when he arrives, he is not seen as the grim reaper of church discipline, bringing death and destruction with him. Instead, he writes to the church in Corinth in his second letter,
8 For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— 9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Paul also wanted to strengthen the disciples by correcting them in their faith and walk with Christ. It is an act of love to steer the sheep away from the cliff and back on the path of righteousness. Paul uses his time to visit with them and his time while away correcting the disciples so that they might move forward in maturity in their faith.
Friends, do not let the world convince you that spiritual correction is unloving. Proclaiming truth about God is an act of love. Proclaiming hard truths about God is an act of love. The method that we do that should be in gentleness…but it is an act of love nonetheless. Paul’s words in this 2 Cor passage reflects his love for them and his desire to see them walk in truth.
Application:
One way that we can be spiritual contributors to other believers is to lovingly correct them so that they might grow in Christlikeness.
1 Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.
How can we say we love them if we ignore their sin? Maybe we have bad information or maybe a misunderstanding about some questionable situation in their life. Address it instead of ignore it out of a love for Christ for the brothers.
B. Fight the Battles
B. Fight the Battles
8 But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; 9 for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
A second spiritual contribution of Paul is the fight of faith for the church. Paul mentions to the Corinthians that his way to Corinth might be delayed because of effective ministry that includes many adversaries. I am encouraged and challenged by these words that Paul wrote to the Corinthians because I know that Paul was on the front lines of spiritual warfare. He was fighting the “proverbial lions” in Ephesus. He did not hesitate to address the polytheists of Athens. We requested an audience with the greatest leaders of Rome so that he might proclaim the gospel until his last dying breath.
All of this courage from Paul comes by way of the Spirit, in the name of Christ. Jesus fought the greatest battle for us by claiming victory over spiritual enemies now and physical enemies in his 2nd coming. For that reason, we are called to emulate Christ. We fight evil because He fought evil. He help to rescue the spiritually oppressed because He is our great rescuer from sin and death.
Our spiritual contribution then is to fight the good fight of faith.
13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
Let me say that when we fight against evil for the cause of Christ, we are honoring our Lord and we are encouraging the saints to fight with us. I am thankful for some brothers in the church who fight in this way. Let me name a few:
Paul Washer and his consistent plea to take the gospel to the nations
Voddie Baucham and his consistent fight for the gospel to permeate all cultural idealogies of this time
Jeff Durbin and his ministry entitled End Abortion Now
John MacArthur and his modeling and teaching on a healthy church that focuses on Christ
Denny Burk and his stand for the role of biblical manhood and womanhood.
These are just a few of the voices that encourage me as they fight the cause of Christ. They do not fight with swords or guns. They fight with relentless exposition
and preaching of the word of God. They fight with prayer for the saints and the lost. They fight with shining the light of Christ in a dark time that we live in.
Friends, as we think back to our early exhortation…using our time wisely on this earth also includes using it to press forward in fighting the spiritual battles that wage war against our souls and the souls of all in the church. There is no more important battle. Do not be deceived in thinking the battle is not real. Also, do not be distracted by Satan’s pleasures so that you forget the Lord has called you to fight by his power and might until He comes again.
3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
These words to Timothy apply to all the church. Fight church and in doing so honor Christ and encourage the saints that we are fighting this spiritual battle together.
I watched some of Saving Private Ryan this week in honor of the anniversary of D-DAY and the Invasion at Normandy. The violence of war is truly captured in this film’s attempt to recreate that horrible day. Without a doubt, one scene that keeps flashing in my mind, was the solders frozen in fear, hunkered down behind these metal obstacles called hedgehogs. The hedgehogs were anti-tank fixtures placed by the enemy, but they became places of refuge on that day for many men seeking to escape the gunfire from high on the ridge. In that scene, with bullets pouring down from the gun towers, it was the brave leaders would grabbed these fearful solders and urged them to push forward in spite of the gunfire. Why?
Moving ahead where better places of refuge and for these men and moving ahead got them to the goal of extinguishing those gun towers, taking the beach and ending the war. As the church, many of us are frozen with fear at times in this spiritual war and so we need others to come along side us and urge us to press on in the fight.