Sermon Tone Analysis

It’s hard to conclude a letter, especially one of this length.

Imagine Paul and the fellow writing this letter as he dictates it—Paul, being guided by the Holy Spirit, working through the many complex issues in Corinth, his scribe trying to jot it all down without the help of a computer or a stenotype.

This is ink and quill and parchment work, and that, I have to imagine, is quite difficult.

This is a good-sized letter by the time it’s all said and done (in my Bible, it’s 12-pages, front and back, small font, double columned).

It takes about an hour to read in one sitting.

That’s a long letter.

Now imagine trying to wrap it all up in a few short sentences.

It’d be really hard to do, but Paul does it masterfully.

Paul, guided and gifted by God to write this letter to the Corinthians, is writing:

This letter is addressed to and is written for the Lord’s people—there and then, and here and now.

This letter is, no doubt, directed to the 1st century church situated in that large, busy city of Corinth—we have to read and understand it as it would make sense to them.

We can’t divorce this letter from its context or its setting.

But we must remember that this letter is meant for us as well—for all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—it’s meant for the Church international and Church interdependent.

At least five Roman provinces are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 16: Galatia (verse 1), Judea (verse 3), Macedonia (verse 5), Achaia (verse 15), and Asia (verse 19)—very different cultures and conditions; European and Eastern, Jew and Arab, Greek and Roman, urban and rural.

The Church of Christ has, by the power of the gospel, spread into all these areas and to all these different people.

And this is just the 1st century after Christ!

Think now of how far the gospel of Jesus Christ has spread, and think about how many places around the world small parts of His church have sprouted up.

We are an international people.

The church is not beholden to one country, to one people, to one race, to one language—and praise the Lord it’s not!

If this was good news for only one group of people, it’d be pretty poor ‘good news’, indeed.

The Church is international; we are spread out, far and wide.

This reality should lead us to thanksgiving.

And also to prayer, for we know there are a parts of the world the gospel has not been preached and many peoples who have not heard.

We are international, and we are interdependent.

We need one another, desperately.

We need the witness and example of persecuted Christians to encourage us and teach us and to help us grow in our faith.

And Christians around the world have need of our vast resources and certainly our prayers.

>Paul closing remarks, the Spirit-led instruction and godly examples in this chapter are directly applicable to us, here and now (no surprise, is it?).

In light of everything that has led up to this point in the letter, we are meant to be a community who lives in light of the event that changed the world (the resurrection of Jesus Christ).

Knowing all that He has done for us, this is our only fitting response: to give and work and serve until He returns.

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Corinthians, the last chapter, Chapter 16.

Please keep your Bibles opened in front of you as we work our way through this chapter together.

Keep on Giving to the Lord,

The church in Jerusalem was facing a severe famine, this prophesied famine which spread over the entire Roman world.

This famine would have hit the region of Judea especially hard because it wasn’t a very wealthy area, especially right around Jerusalem where the first church (the mother-church) was.

In every church Paul was responsible for, he stressed the opportunity, the privilege, the responsibility they had to meet the needs of the saints—their fellow believers—in Jerusalem.

There really is no better way to cement a relationship than to support, financially and prayerfully, another person or group of people.

Think about the impact this would have on the tense relationship between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.

Paul is urging the Corinthians to adopt the habit of setting aside a regular amount each week, on the first day of every week.

This shows that disciplined giving is meant to be a part of the regular worshipping life of the church (and that it has been part since its inception).

This isn’t something someone came up with recently; this is God’s idea.

The amount of money to be set aside is determined by each individual Christian (each one of you) and set aside.

The Corinthians were to consider how they’d been blessed and in what manner they should give.

Planned, systematic giving is what Paul is calling for.

And this money would be handled scrupulously and eventually distributed in Jerusalem.

All of this begs the question: is this meant just for the Corinthians, or is there something here for us?

It’s a good question.

The principles apply for certain.

Don’t we honor this teaching every week?

Every week we pass the offering plates and give of our tithes and offerings.

Every week, we do this on the first day of the week (we gather on Sundays because we’re resurrection people).

Every week, we give in accordance with our income.

Paul’s message is “Keep on giving to the Lord.”

We can’t decide that we’re done giving back that small portion of what He’s blessed us with.

We don’t get to hoard it or spend it or do with it whatever we please.

We give because it belongs to Him.

I was raised to tithe on the money I made and even the money I was given.

My parents were really good to teach us and to model this for us.

It was a foregone conclusion, giving.

It’s just something you did, because you were supposed to, and because the Lord had been so good, why would you not want to give?

Over the last year, Meghann and I made the decision to increase our giving, to step-out in faith and give.

It’s incredible: we don’t miss that money, and, in fact, somehow, we’re better off financially than we were when we gave less.

I can point to several people in this congregation who have told me the same.

“Keep on giving to the Lord.”

I don’t have to tell you this.

The members of this church know well what it is to give to the Lord.

Like Paul would say to the Corinthians in his second letter, you have outdone yourselves:

Because of your generosity, we were able to give large financial gifts to our church-supported missionaries, over and above what we give each month.

Because of your generosity, each month we give away somewhere close to 25% of all offerings given.

It’s absolutely astounding.

I’m not just patting you on the back, though I am patting you on the back.

I’m saying “Well, done.

And keep on.”

Keep it up.

There’s no stopping or slowing down, there’s no retiring or aging-out.

You don’t get a pass because you’ve done it for a while.

This is something we are called to do—to give to the Lord in order to help His people—until the Lord returns.

Keep on giving to the Lord.

Keep on Working for the Lord,

Paul is making some travel plans, if the Lord wills.

If the Lord is willing, Paul hopes to stay with his Corinthian friends for a while.

But Paul tells his buddies in Corinth that he’s going to stay on working in Ephesus.

Why? Two reasons:

a great door for effective work has opened for him

there are many there who oppose him.

That last reason seems to me—cowardly as I am—a good reason to leave, not to stay.

That there are many who oppose [Paul] would be ample reason for most people to pack their bags and skedaddle.

Paul knows that working for the Lord will often result in opposition.

And he’s determined; determined to keep on working for the Lord, no matter the opposition.

This takes guts.

This takes courage.

This takes faith.

The Church faces opportunities and opposition both.

Think about all the opportunities before us.

The building where Rich Hill Christian Church gathers is strategically placed in the heart of Rich Hill, on a busy intersection, a perfect location for lemonade stands and gospel witness.

We have all these opportunities to work for the Lord, to share His Good News, to love our neighbors and to tell others about Him.

As we pursue the opportunities, we will, no doubt, face some opposition along the way.

And yet, we know that we are in good company and we believe that the presence of opposition doesn’t mean we’ve moved out of the will of God.

Sometimes opposition means we’re smack-dab in the middle of God’s will.

Opposition isn’t bad.