So we're aiming this morning to finish up this section on the Apostolic Church and the instruction that came in the context of the Apostolic Church. Then, Lord willing, next Lord's Day, we will begin with 1 Timothy, and especially in 1 and 2 Timothy, then, you have the transition to the post-apostolic church, Paul writing as an apostle, giving Timothy instruction for the churches as the apostolic age will be closing and the Bible will be completed, as we will be hearing about and thinking about this week and next week, even in our Second Timothy readings. But today we are still thinking about corporate needs, those things that sometimes you have giving through the church because there are a large number of recipients. For instance, we saw earlier In the book of Acts, those who did have a very large amount wanting to take care of widows and such and anyone as they had need and whenever there was need, they would sell. And they would bring the money and lay it before the apostles. And the apostles would oversee distribution. And that actually occasioned the need for deacons, because there was so much distribution that some people were falling through the cracks. Some people were being overlooked. And so that's one reason to give corporately. Another may be the anonymity. You don't want necessarily someone in the church to feel like you are their personal patron. and feel beholden to you in that way or humiliated or humbled before you in that way. And then there is almost on the other end, corporate giving because the need that exists is so big that it requires the giving of many people in order to cover the need. And then there's corporate giving that is corporate because it's from church to church, and that's what we've been considering the last few weeks. Churches in Judea needing help generally among them, and therefore the corporate giving of the churches in Macedonia and Achaia and Asia. giving for that reason. And that's what he is talking about already. We've been in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, but what he's talking about already in 1 Corinthians 16. And here, we have not just the need for corporate giving, because it's church to church, but a little bit of instruction about some of the logistics, biblically wise, and we'll see in a moment, mandated logistics for corporate giving, or particularly for collecting. So 1 Corinthians 16, verses one to four. Now concerning the collection for the saints, oops. Sorry, I had forgotten to unmute the stream. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, So you must do also, on the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside, storing up, as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters, I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem. But if it is fitting that I go also, they will go with me. So the first thing we see is that this is something that the Apostle is directing, and he isn't just directing it for Corinth. This is something that he has given as instruction, as order or command direction, to the churches of Galatia as well. Now, this is something that is important. Of course, throughout the Bible we want to know which things are unique to a particular congregation or a particular culture, and which things are generally for all the churches. And in the Corinthian letters, in particular, he will say things like, we have no other practice, nor do all the churches. And so the Lord gives us, the Spirit gives us clues like that, that say, okay, here's something that is broader than just for Corinth. or broader just for Galatia. And so this idea then of the collecting or actually not collecting but the laying aside being something that is done the first day of the week. Paul actually didn't want corporate collection. He wanted individual laying aside so that that would be handed over to those who are certified by letter. So he says, on the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters. And again, this picks something up that we saw in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. This value that they set upon integrity. I think sometimes, well not sometimes, I have often heard, we should just trust one another, we should just trust one another. And it's not really an issue of desiring and assuming the best things about one another and giving in judgment of charity. There is a love for uprightness. There's a value on uprightness and integrity. And so he actually had these congregations, each one certified by letter who the one who would carry the money. To Jerusalem is and that person Would then also return and attest to what was done What was done with the money? there's a very Very high value here placed upon integrity. In fact, Paul himself, A, this was his project desiring for the collection in Judea, and so he knew that there would at least be the appearance of a vested interest. B, he's a Jew, and so this collection of Gentile, generally, Christian funds for Jewish Christian churches. I'm sure you can imagine how, from your own experience, how easily the people's hearts are given to suspicion. If they're not careful to obey the law of God, their tongues become uncareful to his discussion right after their hearts. And so Paul himself was saying, I'm not even assuming that you're gonna certify me. If it is fitting, you could put my name on the letter that says I can carry for you, but if not, that's fine. Just certify him you will, and we'll send him ever you certify. And so there's this individual responsibility, each one determining for himself what to lay this intentionality and diligence. Many of you are familiar with this even in your own kind of personal finances of your household. If there's something that you want to be able to give a lot of money to, one of the better ways to do that is to decide how much you are going to lay aside for that And over an extended period of time then, little by little, what is laid aside becomes stored up, like he says here. So the idea is that by by each first day of the week, each first day Sabbath, each one lays something aside. He is able to store up as the Lord prospers him instead of spending as the Lord prospers him, in which case you don't store up anything. But those of us who are convinced of the wisdom of that for saving for ourselves, I know probably each one of us has this similar experience of rejoicing. You decide in your heart, cheerfully, generously, according to what the Lord has enabled you to be able to do, and you give a significant amount, and it seems significant enough for the weekly amount that you give. But then by the end of the year, you add up all those weeks and you're actually amazed at how much you've been able to give. And what a great blessing it is to be able to do that. But then especially if there are people giving in that way, it becomes all the more important to have this integrity with accounting. integrity with administration, with dispersing what has been given. And so those two things are tied together. Notice he does not consider a part of his apostolic function to be involved in the collecting or the carrying. There's something analogous there to the apostles divesting themselves of being the ones before whom the money is laid and the ones who administer the gift, thinking back to our time in Acts. Now, one of the reasons that it is important that this be done with deacons now and not so much elders is because Very quickly, the apostles themselves got their living from their ministry, and there were elders then, as we're going to hear when we get to 1 Timothy 5, who get their living from the ministry. The elder is worthy of a double honor. I happen to think, and I know it's different from where we are, I happen to think that the use of those words when we get there, 1st Timothy 5, it means that every elder well, he should be doing work to that extent as well, but he should receive to such an extent that double the median or double the average overall. But there's a ministry of elders that we covered in Acts 20 that is also expected. But in 1 Timothy 5, there's also that, especially who labors in preaching and teaching. Well, one of the things that Paul had done is that Paul had not taken, advantage is not the right word. It's not really taking advantage. Paul had not claimed that which was rightly his due as an apostle, as one who was ministering in spiritual things. And this was one of the reasons why This was one of the reasons why some people in Corinth were not esteeming Paul's teachings. The guys who came in and they had the really slick presentations and they sounded great, they were also the ones who charged the big speaker's fees. And so there were those in Corinth who were listening to the guys with the big speaker's fees even more than they listened to Paul the Apostle. And when he's correcting them for that, he wonders out loud to them if he's made a mistake in not claiming that which is rightly his due, that they share with him in material things, as he is the one by whom the Lord is ministering to them in spiritual things. He says, am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I'm not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is chapter nine, 1 Corinthians nine. My defense to those who examine me is this. Do we have no right to eat and drink? Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? Whoever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man, or does not the law say the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. Is it oxen God is concerned about, or does he say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless, we have not used this right but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who minister the holy things, each of the things of the temple, those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. And so this is a special corporate need, that there would be those who are the ones who are getting their living from preaching the gospel. There's been an increase, I've actually seen it promoted by the Home Missions Agency of of a NAPARC denomination that may or may not be densely centered in North and South Carolina, a value upon what is called bivocational ministry. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 actually says bivocational ministry is not desirable. It's not something that is the ordinary way the Lord wishes to provide preaching for his people. the Lord wishes, the Lord wills to call and gift and grace men who will give their life to preaching. And so their ministry and the means of grace is gonna take up so much of their time that they actually aren't able to spend time earning the money that is necessary, not only for themselves to eat, but for their wife to eat. Now, don't take me wrong. We are content. We are well cared for. We are well provided for. This is not personal on my part. In fact, if you all and several of you young men may end up being called to the ministry you know, something that you need to hear is a big part of being, having the grace, the graces of the spirit for the ministry is the ability to be content with little. And not to claim your right to teach a congregation what the right of a minister is while saying, and I gladly give up my rights. But that's for the minister to do. Oh, I forget what the, there's a cheeky saying among UK churches. You keep him humble, Lord, we'll keep him poor or something like that. But the minister has a duty to value the communication of the gospel, the effectiveness of the ministry so much that his compensation never becomes an issue for the congregation. On the other hand, the congregation ought to value the ministry so much that his compensation never becomes an issue for the minister. There's a goal then on both sides that the preaching of the gospel, the ministry of the word would be the great thing. And this is one of those then corporate collection things, A, so that the minister can be well cared for, but B, to take this personal patronage or interest that we were talking about before in the charitable giving A few minutes ago to take that out of the equation that that would not be the main thing But that is a special corporate need and every congregation should be committed to Taking care of the one who is preaching so that as verse 14 Concludes that section saying even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel I didn't expect to finish that quickly, so we will start 1 Timothy in a moment. But any questions? Anything in those passages that you noticed and didn't hear or are wondering about? Okay. Well, praise God. Let's go on then into what is grayed out on your outlines. New Creatures and Christ's Kingdom in the Post-Apostolic Age of the Spirit. You remember we have been, you can actually flip your page over if you can see the really light gray there. There's God who made us to know him and to image him, and so he created the world. to be useful for that, but then we fell, and of course a great part of the fall is misusing the things of this world, not receiving them as from God and not employing them as for God, and God very quickly, by his grace, began redeeming, actually immediately began redeeming, And in the covenant of grace with Abraham, well, the covenant of grace begins even just outside the garden with Adam, but we saw with Adam and Noah and then Abraham and the nation that God had a nation in this world to whom he gave laws that showed everything that we have is to be received as a gift from God. Everything that we have is to be used as something that is entrusted to us for service to God. And there was not only then the nation of Israel, but then God himself invaded his world. And the Lord Jesus came teaching and practicing. And then the Lord Jesus, having completed his earthly ministry and ascended to glory, he poured out his spirit, and the church that he formed is now using material things, receiving them as gifts from God, and using them in the service of God, and they become his diaconal people. We are in the period of the second invasion of God into his world. God invaded in the sun in the incarnation. He invades by his spirit in a special way at Pentecost when the sun pours out his spirit. And one of the marks of the new covenant, as opposed to the church before Christ, before Pentecost, is now not just the spirit making people alive, not just the spirit helping people, but the spirit dwelling in people. And the one who is in Christ being new creation. And so we as Christians, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, we as Christians being the inaugural new creation, So the new creation that we're waiting for, that we long for, a new heavens and a new earth, it already exists. or it's already here in believers. And therefore, even while we use that which is from the creation that continues to groan and continues in bondage to corruption and decay, it is still employed according to the spirit and bringing not just God glory then as the one who gave you what you have. you have children, you glorify God by receiving it as something from him, and then you realize it's something you want to use for him. But you don't just glorify God generally, you glorify Christ. Because that desire in your heart to do that, and the follow-through in your actions to do that, that only comes from union with Christ, as we've been hearing especially in the midweek sermons in Romans 8 recently. But not only do you glorify Christ, but who is it that we have been hearing about the last two weeks of midweek sermons that has come to dwell in our hearts, to live in our hearts. And when he comes to live in our hearts, and this will give it away if you don't remember already, the Father and the Son come and make their home with us by the Spirit. Oh, we just gave it away. So you glorify the Spirit, especially, as the one dwelling in you, as the one who makes you grateful, and the one who makes you generous, and the one who works in you to apply the resurrection of Jesus to you, so that you consider every member of who you are. And remember, that wasn't just body parts. Right as we've been going through Romans every member of who you are is every aspect your time your possessions everything as a service unto the Lord Well, those things are established in the Apostolic Church, but now the ministry of the Word that the Spirit uses to bring people to Christ, to unite them to Him, and then the Spirit coming to dwell in their hearts because they are the children of God, That is not just for the apostolic period, that's for now. That's for your day-by-day, week-by-week. That's what we've been so excited about as the apostle is often using the first person, Romans 7 and Romans 8, and talking about himself, but we see that this continues with us as well, and we rejoice to see the triune glory of God on display even in things like what you do with the stuff that belongs to you, how you view it, and what you do with it. So that needs to continue, but already, even in Paul's ministry, there have been those who resist this view of themselves, this view of earthly life as being devoted unto God for holiness and service, and hating sin and putting it away, You're trying to have some idea of justification without sanctification and as the Apostle is thinking about by the Holy Spirit writing to Timothy about this transition from the apostolic period, when churches are being planted and started by apostles, to the period in which Timothy is going to be not just ministering in his own right, but what have we seen him, especially in 2 Timothy, emphasizing that Timothy needs to entrust these things to faithful men who will also teach others and so forth down through the generations.