2 Corinthians 7:13-9:15

2 Corinthians 7:13-9:15

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The Joy of Titus

13 Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 14 For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true. 15 And his affections are greater for you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. 16 Therefore I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything.

Excel in Giving

8 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. 3 For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, 4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. 6 So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. 7 But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.

Christ Our Pattern

8 I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

10 And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; 11 but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. 12 For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.

13 For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; 14 but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack—that there may be equality. 15 As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.”

Collection for the Judean Saints

16 But thanks be to God who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus. 17 For he not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, he went to you of his own accord. 18 And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, 19 and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself and to show your ready mind, 20 avoiding this: that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us—21 providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

22 And we have sent with them our brother whom we have often proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, because of the great confidence which we have in you. 23 If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you. Or if our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. 24 Therefore show to them, and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.

Administering the Gift

9 Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you; 2 for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority. 3 Yet I have sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this respect, that, as I said, you may be ready; 4 lest if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we (not to mention you!) should be ashamed of this confident boasting. 5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.

The Cheerful Giver

6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 9 As it is written:

“He has dispersed abroad,

He has given to the poor;

His righteousness endures forever.”

10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, 13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, 14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 2 Co 7:13–9:15.

• Transcript

  Hey, good morning. Good morning friends Welcome to Coffee and devotions that are jump on the computer here. Make sure everybody's able to join us live. One second going to make sure that text message gets sent out. sending that out, make sure that we're going live over there. All right, I think we're good. Almost. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions is where every day you and I we get together. We have a little bit of coffee, get into God's word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2022 Lord willing, we'll make it from the book of Acts to the book of fight Lehman. I'm so glad to be with you this morning. Why don't we have coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this day. Lord, you're so gracious. Every single day you wake us up. You care for us. Father, we pray now that as we enjoy this coffee, we would even more enjoy your word. And we pray that you would teach us how to walk in light of your love for us in Jesus's name, Amen. All right, so we're at Second Corinthians chapter 13. Second Corinthians chapter 13. I don't know if you were with me last year. I hope you were as we went through the book of Job, and there were long sections that we needed to get through. Well, I think today is actually one of those long sections instead of breaking it up over multiple days. I'm going to take us from Second Corinthians chapter seven, verse 13, all the way through chapter nine. You'll see why in a moment. It's all connected. Here we go. Second Corinthians chapter seven, beginning at verse 13. Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort, and we rejoice exceedingly more for the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you. For in four, if anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so are boasting to Titus was found true. And his affections are greater for you, as he remembers the obedience of you all. How with fear and trembling you've received Him. Therefore, I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything what is pulsing here, you saying, hey, look I sent Titus to you and I was boasting about you. I was like, Man, this is a hot church. They're doing things wonderfully. You know, they're, they are, they're great. They're on fire for the Lord, the Holy Spirit's working them and I sent Titus for you received him and fear and trembling. You follow the Lord. You listen to the prophecies, and he came back with a great report and I'm so glad about it. Moreover, this is chapter eight, verse one. Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. The integrate trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty, abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints, and not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. So we urge Titus that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. But as you are bound in everything in faith and speech and knowledge and all diligence, and in your love for us, she's at you abound in this grace also, I was talking about your writing for Paul is the one who is carrying a bunch of money from Macedonia and Acadia, to the saints in Jerusalem to help the poor people there. And he says, the people in Macedonia it not only had they given themselves over to the Lord, but they found themselves in deep poverty. And in their deep poverty, they found themselves hearing the words of Jesus about the widow with her two mites, and out of their poverty, they gave an abundance to go help the poor elsewhere, saying is remarkable, but I don't want them to be outdone. I don't want you to be outdone. I want you to partake in this grace also. I speak first aid, not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. For you know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. And in this I give advice. It is to your advantage, not only to be doing what you began, and we're desiring to do a year ago, but now you also must complete the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to desire it. So there also may be a completion out of what you have for if there is first a willing mind. It is accepted according to what one has and not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean the other should be eased in you burden but by an equality, that not at this time. Your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance may also supply your lack, that there may be equality, as it is written here who gathered much had nothing left over. And he who gathered little, had no lack. Was Paul saying here, saying he wants to test their faith? Would they model Christ? Christ who is the king of heaven who had all the riches of the universe, became poor, on their behalf, became a man without a pillow to lay his head or home to sleep in. And now they have the opportunity out of their abundance to share with others, that those who are poor might not have lack or this is a type of biblical equality that he's talking about. Would they share their possessions with others would be an X Chapter Two type community. He's not saying this is a commandment. He's saying this as a test of their faith. He's saying is the Holy Spirit working in you like this? Would you sacrificially give? Would you care? Would you love for the poor? But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus for He not only accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent he went to you have his own accord. And We have sent with him, the brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches, and not only that, but who was also chosen by the churches to travel with us with this gift, which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord Himself, to show you show or to show your ready mind avoiding this, that anyone should blame us in the laugh and this lavish gift which is administered by us, providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And We have sent with them our brethren, our brother, whom we have often provoked, proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, because of the great confidence which we have in you. If anyone inquires about Titus, he has my partner and fellow worker concerning you. Or if our brethren are inquired about their messengers of the church, the glory of Christ, therefore, show to them and before the churches the proof of your love and our boasting on your behalf. As a Paul is saying here, Titus is proven. We send to you this fellow worker this messenger of the church, this is God's Church, and you're not going to prove us wrong. He's sending them people who can be trusted so they could take the gift back to the brothers in Judea, and they can see that they're boast when they've been walking around and and the Jerusalem and Judea in that area. And they've been boasted about those people have been saved out on in a Kea in Corinth, that pagan place. Yeah, they love Christ. And you know what, they love you so much. They love Christ so much they even sent this lavish gift to you. So he continues in chapter nine. Now concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you, for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians that a Kea was, was ready a year ago, and your zeal has stirred up the majority. Yeah, I have sent the brethren, less are boasting of you shouldn't be in vain in this respect, that as I said, you may be ready left us some Macedonians Come with me. And find you unprepared. We not to mention you should be ashamed of this confident boasting. Therefore I thought it necessary necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time and prepare your generous gift beforehand which you had previously promised. That it may be ready as a matter of generosity, and not as a grudging obligation. He says, right. I want to make sure you have advance notice, right? We don't want to show up and you know, knock on the door, and then say, Hey, we're here and you didn't expect us to be here. You promised this money pledged it a year ago. We're going to become and we're going to be collecting it and I don't want to come with a Macedonians down you know, from Philippi or something. And they're, they're poor and they see you guys in your abundance and, and you're like, oh, no, I gotta go to the bank and get my money. Nice. Go ahead and get it ready. Because when we come to you, we're gonna get it. Or we don't want you to be ashamed of this, right? This is your gift. We don't want you to do it grudgingly. We don't want you to be surprised by this. We're gonna be common, just like we talked about a year ago. So we can store up this money and we can do it as a blessing. They've been having this you know, this campaign this mercy fund campaign for for a year now. It says go ahead and start gathering it up right so when I come, were able to send it off to Judaism, verse six of chapter nine, but this I say he who sow sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work as it is written. He is not just he has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. Now, may He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness? While you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes Thanksgiving through us to God for the administration of this service, not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also as a bounding through many Thanksgivings to God, while through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ. And for your liberal sharing with them and all men and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding God's grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift, right what is Paul? Getting out here as he's finishing up this section? God loves a cheerful giver. Are you saying that he doesn't want them to give this morning to people in your day you know, not grumbling about it, not complaining about it, but because they love Christ and because they love others, they're gonna give those people who have been who are giving liberally, you're going to reap liberally. They're going to receive it well. And so he's telling them here, we're going to we're going to be collecting this offering. And this is a good thing, right? We want the people in Judaism people boast about you. You've heard about your faith. They've heard about your reputation. And so we want them to be able to, to rejoice, right to be filled with with joy of what God has done in you. They're going to be boasting in you. Just like you get to boast about the liberality of Christ in your life. I've worked filled with thanksgiving and out of our thankful hearts for all what Christ has done for us. We're able to then give to others with a cheerful attitude. And so this whole section you know, chapter seven, the end of chapter seven all the way through the end of chapter nine is really about how we receive grace from Christ. And because Jesus has been so gracious with us, because Jesus humbled Himself and loved us emptied Himself and was so kind towards us know, our blessing is to get to turn and to be generous with others. Now, some of you feel like oh, I don't have much to be generous with. That's not what it's about. It's not about the amount you give. It's about the love your show. It's about where your heart is. So don't be concerned about oh, I don't have that much to give. No matter what. Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. And maybe, maybe you don't have much. But the Lord sees that sacrifice. The Lord sees that love. But maybe some of you who are at a different spot in life. It'll Lord bless you abundantly. He's given you all sorts of stuff. He's given you all sorts of means. Maybe you've been savvy with money. Maybe you've run a business, maybe you've been a consultant, maybe you have, have just invested well, and the Lord has given you an ability to make money. Praise God. He's given Christian some Christians the ability to this out of your heart would you give to those who have need out of your abundance would you provide for those who haven't needed it? Right, this is what the Lord is showing here. How do we show true religion? By caring for the orphan and widow in their distress? When did we see you hungry and give you a drink of water? When did we see you or when did we see You thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you hungry and give you something to eat? When do we see you naked and clothe you? When do we see you in prison and visit you? When you did so to the least of these? You did it to me? Do you have the capacity to give a whole bunch of water? Or do you have the capacity to give just a little bit of food? I would encourage you be an active part in giving out of a generous heart. For the Lord loves a cheerful giver. The Lord himself is a cheerful giver. He gives us our daily bread and he's given us a Son Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we pray thanking you so much for the great gift of Jesus Christ. Who has given us his righteousness who emptied Himself out and became poor for us. Lord, in our poverty and in our abundance. We pray that we would be generous always remembering the pattern you set for us. And we pray that Your Holy Spirit might well up and also heart of gratitude and thankfulness. That when we see others in need, we would show love and kindness in Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. We have a heart of gratitude. And I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Transcribed by https://otter.ai