Welcome to Good Hope Through Grace. Welcome to Good Hope Through Grace. I'm Pastor Jeff Arthur, Sr. of the Elizabeth Baptist Church in Bancroft, West Virginia. We're coming to the end of the First Corinthians in our study, and tonight we're in First Corinthians chapter 16. We finished the resurrection chapter last week, chapter 15, and tonight our focus is going to be on giving. on giving now in verses one through four of first christians uh... chapter sixteen uh... we want to notice a collection that was being taken up for the saints at jerusalem so you listen for that we'll go ahead and read our first four verses which is probably all will cover tonight in the broadcast we get a little bit early then i'll move on uh... in chapter sixteen but our focus is mainly going to be on verses one to four this is now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. and if it be met that i go also they shall go with me let's pray heavenly father we're thankful for everyone that's listening tonight those who are driving into cars and those are sitting at home by the radio lord and we pray your blessings on them we pray that you bless me as a teach and you would open uh the understanding of those who are listening that perhaps they'd be blessed as a result of what they hear tonight in jesus name i pray amen Now, we're going to entitle this message tonight, The Collection for the Saints. The Collection for the Saints. And what had happened is, as I said, the Jerusalem church had fallen on some hard times financially. And we don't know exactly what the problem was. You can look and see some examples. For instance, like in the book of Acts chapter 11, they had been helped before. And the, let me read you about that. Acts chapter 11, and I want you to notice verses 28, I'm sorry, verses 27 through 30. And in these days came a prophet from Jerusalem to Antioch, and there stood up one then named Agabus and signified by the spirit that there would be a great dearth throughout all the earth, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, and these were the disciples of Antioch, this was a Gentile church, and Paul was there at this time. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt at Judea, which also they did, and they sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. So this was in the early part of the Apostle Paul's ministry. and they had took relief to the Church of Jerusalem then. Well, here there is continued problems. They are continuing to have financial difficulties. Now, they could still be experiencing the effect of the famine. They could be experiencing the effect of a lot of their church members having to leave Jerusalem because of persecution. And remember, one of the things they did, they served the tables daily for the widows that were in their church. So they were in financial straits at this time. So what the Apostle Paul was doing is he was organizing a relief offering to help the Jerusalem church. and this relief offering would come to them from the gentile churches that had been started under the apostle Paul's ministry. Now let me read you another text here out of the book of Romans chapter 15. Paul had spoke about this to the Church of Rome. Romans chapter 15 and I want you to notice verses 25 through 27. He mentions his trip coming up going to Jerusalem. But now I'll go to Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. Whereas please them of Macedonia, that's the churches of Macedonia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and Achaia. Of course Achaia was where Corinth was at. to make certain contributions for the poor saints which work Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. So when therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them that disfruit, I will come by you into Spain." So the Apostle Paul was speaking of this relief effort this collection that he was taking up from the churches. Now, of course, he didn't do none of the collecting. As a matter of fact, as we're going to see, he would have people appointed. He'd have all the gatherings done by the churches. He never handled no money. And then they would send representatives from the church to bring the collection from that respective place, from that respective church, to the Church of Jerusalem. They'd go with the Apostle Paul. So he was very wise, always wise for minister not to dabble in money, focus on preaching the gospel, and not so much on money, because that can lead into danger, it can lead to false accusation, and it's better for a man of God not to fool with it, and he didn't. He just know the Jerusalem church had a need, and then he spearheaded this relief effort that would come from offerings from the Gentile churches that were established under his earthly ministry. Churches of Macedonia, churches of Achaia, churches from Asia. And they would send a group of people, some representatives from their churches would come and they would go with him and they would bring the money, the help to the Church of Jerusalem. Now that's good cooperation, is it not? They were helping one another. Now one thing you've got to remember, these were churches of light faith. They were grace churches. They were churches, like I said, of course the Apostle Paul, they were sent out from the Antioch Church. And the first church was at Jerusalem. Then you have the other churches that started. The Antioch church was the one that sent out the first missionaries. And then you have in the scriptures, you have Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and Colossians, all these letters. These were churches. And the Apostle Paul, everywhere he went and people were saved, he established churches there so now what they're going to do is they're going to take this collection and they're going to send to help the church of jerusalem now what's different about this is that the jerusalem church was was made up of jews and uh... here you have gentiles by physical birth but uh... sending to help them now one of the things this would do was this would be an expression of love and appreciation towards the Jerusalem church. Of course, the gospel came to the Gentiles from the Jews. The Messiah came through the Jews. The first church was located in Jerusalem. The scriptures came to us through the means of the Jews also. So the Gentiles has a debt, so to speak, towards the Jews. And that's one of the things the Apostle Paul said that we are their debtors. So we should seek to help them in these financial matters. Let me read that text again in Romans 15. It has pleased them barely, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. So one of the things this would do is show love and appreciation to the church of Jerusalem and their Jewish brothers in Christ. Now, that would help bridge that gap and there wouldn't be a Jewish church and Gentile church. The Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ Jesus. And one of the things this would do, not only would it show love to them and appreciation, but it's also working together with a sister church to help them. In the book of Ephesians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul, of course the church of Ephesus, the Apostle Paul had a great ministry there at Ephesus. There was a great church started there. There are seven churches in Asia, but Ephesus is one of the best churches in the area, I'm sure. I mean, you read the book of Ephesians, and one of the great books of the Bible is the epistle to Ephesians. But in Ephesians chapter 2, Here's what he says with regard to Gentiles and Jews. That at time past you were without Christ. Now he's speaking to the Gentiles. You that were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. So it says you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, and having no hope and without God in the world. And that was the condition that the Gentiles was in. basically under the old covenant. But now, here's a text I read a little while ago, but now in Christ ye who were afar off are made near by the blood of Jesus. For he is our peace, speaking of Christ, who hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Now, that was the intention. Under the new covenant, a Jew and Gentile would be brothers in Christ. As I said, there would be a Gentile church and a Jewish church. were actually, according to the teachings of the New Testament, were spiritual Jews. Philippians 3.3 says, you are of circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Messiah Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Romans 2 says, he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. So we're spiritual Jews. so it's not like under the old covenant where you go to the temple there's a middle wall there and the Gentiles could go just to that point they weren't allowed to pass that point so there was a separation between the Jew and Gentile but not under the new covenant and here it says in Ephesians 2 he's broken down that middle wall that middle wall or partition between us he's broke it down so that's gone now uh listen this text i love this ephesians 2 14 he is our peace who have made both one what's he talking about but he's on by the gentile jew we are made one in Christ, and we would be part of the same churches. There wouldn't be a Jewish church here, then a Gentile church here. We're one in Christ Jesus. So we can be part of the same churches because we're brothers and sisters in Christ. Whoever trusts Christ as their Savior, we're brothers and sisters, regardless of what your nationality may be. that broke that middle wall that partition that was there under the old covenant during the days of the temple that's been broken down in Christ and he's made us both he's made us both one so this would help that this offering would show love and appreciation to them now let's go back to our text here in First Corinthians chapter 16. So that's the collection that this is talking about in verse 1. It's the collection for the saints. Now there again it uses the term saints and of course the collection for the saints here is for that we know from other texts that this is for the Jerusalem, the Jerusalem church. And again, it refers to them as saints. Anyone that's saved, anyone that's trusted Christ Jesus as their Savior is called a saint. So it refers to the saints at Jerusalem. as being saints and here in first corinthians chapter one of verse two when he's when he's writing this epistle uh to uh the corinthian church which was located in acaia which was southern greece he also refers to them as saints first corinthians chapter one and and the verse two into the church of gods which is at korah to them that are sanctified in christ jesus and it says called to be saints so this offering this A love offering that was taken up by the Gentiles was for the saints which were at Jerusalem. That's what the collection was indeed for, saints. And a saint, of course, is anyone that has trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. It's a shame how the word saint is used. It's used for someone that is a super Christian. That's how we use it. We'll talk about someone that we think is really a great Christian. We say, oh my, they're a saint. You're made a saint. That means a holy one in Christ. And first Corinthians 1 says you're called to be a saint. And that's that inward calling that happens the day you were saved. Holy Spirit opens your heart, opens your understanding, and He draws you to Himself, and you trust Jesus as your Savior, and you become a saint. uh... that word is used we've seen it used several times uh... in the book of first corinthians uh... first corinthians chapter uh... fourteen let me give you an example of it being used but it's used several times in the epistles not only first corinthians but second corinthians this word saint used to describe them just a shame uh... it's just a shame that it's has lost it's meaning in a lot of ways today It says, God's not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. So the Gentile churches were also called saints, as the church of Jerusalem would be referred to as the saints at Jerusalem. It just means holy ones. When you become a saint, you become a saint by trusting in Christ Jesus as your Savior. You're made a saint by God's grace. said this before you don't become a saint by your works though if you are a saint you seek to do good works because you represent the lord you become a saint in christ jesus that's how you become a saint eternally too late to become a saint after you're dead and you can't become a saint based on your works you become a saint based on Christ's works. Okay? When you receive Christ as your Savior, your sins are imputed to Jesus. His righteousness is imputed to you. You're separated from the world and you're made a saint in Christ Jesus. So, the term saints here was who this offering was being taken up for. This was their brothers and their sisters in Christ that were located of course, at Jerusalem. Now, let's notice who the givers of this offering would be, and we've mentioned it, but we'll mention it to you again. It says, now, concerning the collection for the saints, as I've given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. He says, now concerning the collection for the saints, I have given order to the churches of Galatia even so do ye. Now there again you see the giver was the churches and here it mentions the churches of Macedonia. Now let me go back to Romans 15 and read you a little text there from chapter 15. I want to read that to you again. It says in Romans chapter 15, in talking about the Gentiles, it says, By which cause I have been much hindered from coming to you. He said, Where so ever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you. For I trust to see you in my journey and to be brought on my way, the other word, by you. But now I go to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. They use that word saint there also. Where it pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution to the poor saints which are in Jerusalem. So there we see that again this offering was intended for the saints in Jerusalem. The givers of that would be the churches. And it mentions the churches of Macedonia The church of Achaia, and we read that earlier in the broadcast this evening, it was Gentile churches. We also know from other places, the churches of Galatia, where he went on his first missionary journey, Lystra, Derv, Antioch of Pisidia, other churches, they all sent an offering, sent representatives to go with Paul to carry that money. And those men that went with him are listed in the book of Acts chapter 20 and the verse four. So the givers of this was the churches. Notice the word churches in the plural. And that's because it was local churches. That's what the Lord works through. Everywhere Paul went, there was churches established to carry out the commission. The commission was given to each church. When you study the New Testament, when Paul went on missionary journeys, everywhere he went, that people were saved, then he established him in the churches and he established, he placed elders there. Listen to this at the conclusion of the first missionary journey, Acts 14. It says, and when they had ordained elders in every church, that means they started churches, this is at the conclusion of the first journey, everywhere they went that people were saved, they established local churches because people need churches. They need a place they can come and assemble. Scripture says to forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the habit of some is. People need a church. A place that they can come and attend and sit down in and be watched over and encouraged and where they can come and bring their talent to and where they can come and hear God's Word. I mean the church is a teaching place. The job of the church is to make disciples. You do that by spreading the gospel. When someone is saved, a disciple is made, they would be baptized and they would be taught. And that's what they did in the New Testament. So the ones that was taking up this offering, they were churches. They were churches. And they were Gentile churches, as we've already pointed out. But I just want you to know that people need a church. People talk all the time about the universal church. Well, A universal church doesn't exist. A universal church doesn't assemble. You see, the meaning of the word ekklesia is an assembly. If you're talking about all the saved, you're talking about the kingdom. If you're talking about all the saved, you're talking about the family. But once you have citizenship in the kingdom, which comes by faith in Christ, and once you're in the family, then you need to have a church. And that is a local church. The problem is this universal church view has killed people's desire to be a part of a local church. And what I think has happened is that the universal church is being confused with the kingdom and the family. The kingdom one day will assemble, will be gathered together in the clouds of heaven. You can call that an assembly there, but right now, no universal church assembles. It's just something that we're using to describe all the sages, so people don't go to a church. They'll say, I'm part of the true church. I'm not part of any local church. Well, when you read a New Testament, what Paul established, he established local churches. And saying local church is like saying wet water. It assembles in a town, a city, or an area. It has a pastor. It has deacons. And it carries on the Lord's work till He comes. And this collection that they were taking was a collection taken up from local churches. And they were sending aid to help the church of Jerusalem. Okay? So let's go back here and let's work through our text here in 1 Corinthians 16. Again, we're looking at verses 1 through 4, and this was the collection, the collection for the saints is what we've entitled the message this evening. So let's look further. Now we know that the collection was for the Jerusalem church from Romans. and from other texts in 2 Corinthians 2, so we didn't take the time to look upon them. Now, he tells them also, not only does he show you who it was for, and the givers was the church, but it also gives the day that they were to collect it on. And they would collect it upon the first day of the week. Let every one of you lay by him in stores, God hath prospered him. that there'd be no gatherings when I come. Paul didn't want, when he visited Corinth, he didn't want them taking, gathering money, taking a collection when he was there. He wanted to focus, no doubt, on meeting with them, preaching, teaching, things of that nature. He didn't want to fool with the money. He didn't want to fool with it at all. He knew there was need of Jerusalem. He presented it to the churches and they would send representatives. They would do the collecting. It would be a church work and it'll be a collective work done by all the churches to help the saints at Jerusalem. Now it was done on the first day of the week. Now it seems that that was the day that they met on and when you take Acts 20 and verse 7 it mentions when the disciples came together to break bread was also the first day of the week and that is Sunday. Now, you can get a lot of arguments over things like that, and I just choose not to do so. The Bible doesn't tell you to worship on Wednesday. We worship on Wednesday, and we also worship on Sunday morning, and we worship on Sunday night. So, I think the problem is when people take the Sabbath day and make it a condition of salvation, that if you don't worship God on the Sabbath, then that's a breaking of God's command and you can't be saved if you do that. You're saved when you trust Christ as your Savior. The Sabbath day, I think, was fulfilled when Christ died on Calvary and rose again. It pictures rest in Jesus. There's a rest to the people of God, and the book of Hebrews speaks of the rest that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord. He is our rest. Hebrews chapter 4, listen to what this says here. It says, verse 2, I'm sorry, verse 1. Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as it well unto them but the word didn't profit them because it wasn't mixed with faith for we which have believed do enter into rest now what rest do we enter into we enter into the rest of salvation and the sabbath day what they did on the sabbath day was nothing you ceased from your labor and to break the sabbath was punishable by death and that's because of what the sabbath pictured to be saved You have to cease to labor to get saved. Now, it's not saying that those who are saved don't labor, but you're not laboring to get saved. You labor because you are saved. That's the reason why you labor. I don't do spiritual work or seek to keep the commandments to get saved by them. The day I trusted Jesus, I entered into His rest. It's the rest of salvation. Jesus said in Matthew 11, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden with your sin. So you realize you're a sinner and you're lost and you're undone. He said, Come to me and I'll give you rest. That's the rest of salvation. That's what the Sabbath day was a picture of. Like the Passover was a picture of Jesus. The Sabbath day was also a picture of the rest that we have in Jesus. The people fight over different days. We could meet every day if we wanted to. And there's evidence in Acts 2 that perhaps they may have, it says the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. So they could have met every day. But you need to have public worship. That's the important thing. i like worshiping on sunday it reminds me of the resurrection is there an example that perhaps they did so yeah first corinthians 16 1 through 4 acts 20 and verse 7 but it's important to come and be a part of an assembly and worship there now how are they to take a collection how much were they to take it says in the text as the lord has prospered them Sometimes the Lord will bless you with a little bit extra so that you can help other people with it. And that's the way this was right here. They were to set aside as the Lord had prospered them. And what they would do is then they would dedicate that to the helping the saints at Jerusalem. It was a good way of giving. And Lord would bless them and he would bless whatever their business was or he'd bless them in such a fashion so that they would actually have extra as they were prospered. And they'd set that money aside. and they would dedicate that to help the Saints of Jerusalem. So it was a free will offering given to help the Church of Jerusalem as an expression of their love for Him. Well folks, we're out of time already. I hope this has been a blessing to you this evening. I hope there's something in it that was a benefit to you. I pray if you don't know Christ as your Savior, you trust Him as your Savior tonight. May God add His blessings to His Word. That will conclude this week's Good Hope Through Grace. We want to ask you to join us again next week at 7.30 on Monday evening or you can join us anytime on the web at www.ghtg.org. Good Hope Through Grace is sponsored by the Elizabeth Baptist Church, P.O. Box 75, Bancroft, West Virginia, 25011.