God's word. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collection when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. I will visit you after passing through Macedonia for I intend to pass through Macedonia and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing, I hope to spend some time with you. if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord as I am. So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I'm expecting him. with the brothers. As far as we read from God's word, the highlight of the letter of 1 Corinthians was this lengthy and beautiful chapter 15, which focused on the implications from the most pivotal event in human history. the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and what it means for all of us as believers. The biggest event has the biggest impact and it really touches all of our lives every day and all the aspects of our lives. So that brings us to the main point of today's sermon from these verses. Since Jesus rose again, there is a permanent impact on our Christian community. Number one, what we have, we share for needs and for kingdom advance. Number two, we're friends to each other, sharing life, from verses five to nine. And lastly, we welcome everyone across all dividing lines, verses 10 to 11. First, starting off then in verse one, you notice the first two words, and if you're with us through our study of 1 Corinthians, you might remember these two words, now concerning, indicate the start of a new topic for him. So the signal to us of a new topic is now concerning, and then he gives the topic, the collection for the saints. Hmm, interesting. Paul instructed them, the church in Corinth, to collect money in the church in Corinth in the same way that Paul directed those over in the churches of Galatia to collect money. That's what he says next, the collection of the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do, verse one. What did resurrection living in Corinth have to do with financial inequality in the churches over in Galatia that required collecting money over there? How is this example relevant to the church in Corinth? Well what they would have realized, but you might not realize, is that there was a famine in Galatia that had created a financial squeeze for some, but not for others, resulting in a climate of inequality in the area of Galatia and in the churches in Galatia. So these instructions that Paul had given to the churches in Galatia for how to get through that problem were to become the standard operating procedure for all churches, including the church here in Corinth, whether in the regions and remote areas of Galatia or whether in the city of Corinth, whether in famine or not in famine, whether struggling with finances like the churches in Galatia or struggling with unity like the church in Corinth. So Paul gives three steps that are really universal. The church in Galatia, the church in Corinth, and all churches since then. What we've become accustomed to arose out of these verses. The way that we collect and oversee and use money in churches around the world has come from these verses. This should sound familiar. These are the things that we do. Three steps. Paul gave three steps now. Collect consistently, share proportionally, and share deliberately. I'll say those again and we'll go through those. Collect consistently, share proportionally, and shared deliberately. Step one, collect consistently. We see this in verse two. On the first day of every week, which of course you know is Sunday, since the resurrection of Christ, the Lord's day or the first day of the week, the time of worship is Sunday. So sharing did not come naturally to a divided church in Corinth any more than it comes naturally to any sinners in any generation. But the growth pattern of Corinth toward making sharing become more of a natural part of their hearts and their behavior was to commit themselves to do what Paul's directing and instructing them to do here, which is to every week on the first day, every Sunday, to take up a collection, to individually and as families share and use that opportunity regularly each week. And it's the same for us. That's why we take a collection each Sunday. Occasionally, from time to time, people say, why don't we just mail it in? Why don't we just download it on a website? Why don't we do it once a year? This is why. These verses are instructive for all churches everywhere. It's part of our worship to God. to collect consistently. It's working within us the constant mindset of giving. It changes our behavior and changes our thinking. So step two, step one was collect consistently. Step two, share proportionally. That's written also in verse two. Listen, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper. So the more God gave each, the more each has resources with which to share. And please note, that doesn't mean that the wealthy were expected to share while the non-wealthy were exempt from sharing because it hardly matters, it's so little in amount. No, that's not what's taught in scripture. Their proportional amount is small, yes, sure, but it's still expected from God through his apostle Paul that each would give. Notice in verse two the phrase, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper. Each, each of you is inescapable, each of you. And Paul taught that sharing proportionally was true for each of them, whether they had a lot of resources or whether they had hardly any resources. Do we not remember the teaching of Jesus about the widow with two coins? She gave them both, which shows you her heart. And it hardly helped the budget for the temple. But it was a blessing, and it was commanded, it was obedient. and it was a blessing to her. God knew the smallness of her two coins. God knows the proportional amount true for each of us or the largeness of the amount proportional for each of us. God's word actually also here counteracts common logic. Logic that goes through the mind of a person struggling financially in particular. He or she might say, hey, I'm so tight on resources. I don't know how I can spare it. And besides, it's not like my giving this much will make any difference. I'm not going to ask for a nod or a show of hands, but isn't that the type of thinking that we're tempted to do? And he addresses it actually here. The answer is yes, it will make a difference. First, It will be you living as you should be living under what God instructs here. As a member of the resurrection community, you fit, you belong, and it's also part of your instruction. It's good for you. And secondly, you need to start believing that your behavior will impact the community in the hands of God. Two fish become feeding thousands in the hands of God. And so let me illustrate with a true story. A doctor who had served poor people in a French village for many years announced his retirement. The village leaders decided that he had done such good in his work for their community as a doctor that they would have a retirement party. But all those in the villages that he served were poor. What could they do? You can't have a retirement party without some sort of acknowledgement, but they didn't have much. And yet, God caused grapes to grow around them there in France, so each of the villages actually had their own wine. So the village leaders thought that through and decided that they'd ask each villager to bring one pitcher of wine to donate from their own wine, from their own wine cellar, towards a larger barrel of wine to be given together to the retiring doctor. And on that day then, when the village did gather and each brought a pitcher, there was a ceremony and they honored him with various speeches, you might expect, and they presented the gift of this barrel of wine to him, which somehow they got home to his house. So that evening, the doctor at home decided to sample his gift. He drew a glass from the barrel and found the entire barrel was pure water. Each villager had fallen into the thinking that we're addressing here. If I don't give wine, will it really matter? So no one gave their wine. Every villager gave water. It illustrates the mindset problem of those financially struggling Christians who ask the wrong question when we ask, will it make any difference if I don't share? The correct question to ask is, what does my Savior want me to do since I too am a part of the resurrection community? I have been made alive together by his death and resurrection with my brothers and sisters, and this is what we are doing. The answer is clear that God wants each of us to share. Step one, share consistently. We gather every week and it's a part of our worship. Step two, share proportionally. You're not expected to give what others can give. Step three then, share deliberately. It's in our next passage. The same verse, verse two at the very end. Share deliberately. Here he's teaching that sharing can't be an afterthought. This is what Paul was getting at with these words. So that there will be no collecting when I come. What would be the drawback if that were to happen? They had not collected ahead of time. Here comes Paul. Now Paul is with them. What's he guarding against? Well, it's a spiritual concern about their purposefulness, their deliberateness, their true priorities. What else were they doing in preparation for Paul's arrival? And what distractions might it cause if they're supposed to focus on Paul's teaching and focus on fellowshipping with Paul when Paul arrived? If each of them are screwing around trying to follow up on this idea of helping the churches next and sending that money along with Paul, what a distraction that would be. And it reveals what their focus was, was on my money and my belongings. And that focus turns them inward and away from each other and away from those churches out there that Paul could bless with their donation. is why we write in verse three, and when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. You have to get it ready ahead of time. You have to give deliberately. See, the only antidote to selfishness is right here in this process. The selfishness results in isolation. But the other-mindedness results in deliberately sharing my money or my belongings. And this sharing is what we each do to take ourselves out of selfishness towards community. It is the antidote that provides community. the antidote to selfishness that provides community. It's the means by which we become more connected to each other, which is what the resurrection has done. It's made us connected to each other. We share in this resurrection life. We share in the lifestyle. We share in the community. We share in our destination together of heaven. We share our savior. Rather than remaining separated from one another, in heart and in behavior and in money. It's the way by which we become generous towards each other, generous together as a group, even generous to others that we could do together rather than being more and more selfish, more and more alone, sharing deliberately. is an aspect of the resurrection community. He continues in verses three and four, even providing basic instructions for the organization, how the church should operate well, according to what we would today call sound financial principles. Paul knew how important it was that all the money arrangements were done in a trustworthy manner, with full integrity, so that all would be satisfied with how things are handled. Proper sharing, proper handling and distribution of funds is what builds trust and love across the Christian community. So the community of the church perpetually has guarded itself against mishandling of money down through these last 2,000 years since this was written so that our trust and our love can continue to be built up good money integrity has been one of the necessary elements that has propelled the missionary endeavor of the kingdom advance around the world from the days of Paul to our day today so that Christian churches now exist in every nation of the world. We ourselves in our nation are the product of missionary work that grew since these days. The issue of money within churches is tied to a church's community integrity, its community trust, and its community love. The justice issue of money being unequally distributed among humans, equality versus inequality, privileged versus underprivileged, is answered thoroughly by the church, by Christ, by his kingdom. The issue of injustice goes much deeper than just the money itself, just the dollars and who retains what. The issue of justice touches on love, it touches on integrity, it touches on trust. And the church has these answers because the church has all of this equipment through Jesus, through his resurrection. We have the answer for the deeper issues around all money issues through the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Which brings us to our second point, it's more than just money. He's not just writing about money. He's now writing about what that does to our relationships. Second point, we're friends to each other, sharing life. Paul became a friend to them. He's not just the distant apostle writing to them, saying, get this thing together. He's saying, I wanna see you. He didn't just desire financial sharing in the churches. He's not just some giant financial person creating structures that they all should follow. He desired to be kept as their friend and them as friends to him, them as friends to each other. Look at his next verses, how he writes this out again and again. Verse five, he desired to visit them. Verse six, he stated that he wanted to stay with them, perhaps all winter there, and to do so, Paul was open to receiving from them financial help for his missionary journey. He blesses them with his teaching, they bless him with financial help for his next stop on his missionary journey. Notice what he wrote in verse six. Perhaps I'll stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may help me. Friendship is a two-way street, and it's two-way even financially. It's both giving and receiving, depending on the day, depending on the need. Paul received as much as he gave. Verse seven, he didn't just desire to spend time with them while passing through, hey, I'm gonna be in town. He received financial support from them, yes, but that wasn't the reason for him stopping there. Let me just pick up some funding from you. He wanted to spend significant time with them. Why? Because it's more than money. There was good friendship there. There was gospel friendship in the resurrection community. And if the Lord permitted the time, they would all enjoy the fellowship time together. Verse 8, Paul revealed and explained his travel schedule to them. He revealed his reasons for that travel schedule and how the Lord was directing him. which was the subject, of course, subject to the Lord's providential rearranging, and they knew that, and he knew that. Verse 9, he opened his heart to them about the gospel work he was doing, both the encouragements and the discouragements of that gospel work, and he wanted to share life with them together honestly and openly. And friendships, he recognized, just like money, need to be protected. His aspect already back in verse three was that he's wisely taking steps to protect the friendship by sending trusted people along with the delivery of gifts of money from one church to another so that they don't start accusing Paul of having stolen their money and there goes the friendships. He's already protecting friendships by good processes back in verse three. Another aspect in verse four is he's willing to go personally himself if it was wise to do so in order to maintain and deepen his friendships with them alongside of good financial processes. The church that Christ was building up by his resurrection power through his apostle Paul was becoming a community that did not merely provide funding for projects, but also provided strong brotherly, strong sisterly relationships that steadily moved towards deep and abiding friendships. In verses three through nine, put it all together, Christians were being taught by Paul, by his example and by his words, not merely to share their money, but to share their very selves. Christian communities share their hearts, we share our lives together. A community like this was what the city of Corinth needed. A community like this was what the whole outlying rural areas of Galatia needed when they went through famine. This is what every place in the whole world, whether rural or whether urban, is searching for. Whether they know it or not, this is what we all need because we are designed by God to live in community. Whenever and wherever people were found to be crying out for justice in this world, have you ever heard people crying out for justice? What do they really desire? What they really desire is what God gives within his church, the resurrection community, people with whom we can walk through life together and have proper relationships back and forth, us to God, God to us, us to others. That's just living, that's peaceful living. This truth informs our relationships in the church, and it even informs our missionary efforts and our outreach efforts. We welcome, we always welcome new people. The poor people are welcome to come, and we have set up a system, according to these verses and other verses, to help poor people. Those who are struggling temporarily or long-term with finances, come here and we receive them and work with them with our own money that we've gathered ahead of time in order to set up what we call a deacon's fund, and we share not just our money, but our lives with them, and if they will just come worship with us and get involved, we'll call them brothers and sisters and eventually friends. The rich need to be reminded to share their money and share their lives along with their money. We don't just write checks and stay at a comfortable distance. We as Christians come close and get involved and learn names. And the poor need to be reminded to share, no matter how few your resources are. We don't just have a deacon's fund, we have deacon coaching. And the first principles of deacon coaching always are, you give to God first. You put your family budget together, and you give to God first. You literally give it, but I've got bills to pay. You give to God first. It's right thinking. It's equal giving. It's proportional giving. It's obedience to God. It's living the good life of resurrection in the resurrection community, and we go through life together, reminding each other and teaching each other these things. We share our property. We share our goods just as much as we share our hearts, our time, and our lives. I remember going on a youth trip and one person in this church loaned me a vehicle that could seat more students than the vehicle that I had to seat students. And I remember the students begging me to drive out onto the frozen lake. And I said, no, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. I'm not driving out onto the frozen lake with my own vehicle, so I'm not driving out onto the frozen lake with another's vehicle because this person is my brother or my sister in Christ. We share our property, we share our goods as we share our hearts and our time and our lives. What we often get wrong is right here. We leave that distance between donor and recipient. The donors and the recipients need to be connected. and to become friends, and the poor are not objects of our charity, they're people. People made in the image of God, and we pray, people who will embrace Jesus Christ by faith and become believers, and brothers, and sisters, and one day friends. We don't minister to some category called the poor. We minister alongside of our new friends, and they learn with us to continue to give and to continue to receive. We don't do this in the world's way, we do it in God's way. The poor persons that come to us, that God sends to us, to help us avoid the deceitfulness of riches, in turn what we give to them, we are helping them to avoid the powerlessness of poverty. And with those both working together, we realize God's at work. Those with much don't have too much, and those with little don't have too little. Become friends by the resurrection, friends with God's people. Last, verses 10 and 11, we welcome everyone across dividing lines. We've already considered one resurrection bridge that connects beyond economic dividing lines, but there are other resurrection bridges. What about a bridge beyond racial differences? These financial gifts, we know, were also going from the Gentile churches to Jerusalem. Look at verse 3, carry your gift to Jerusalem. What would be in Jerusalem? Believers who were Jewish. It's a largely Jewish church receiving a gift from a largely Gentile church. Is that not a victory? the races coming together. Jew and Gentile, perhaps the largest, most staunch racial divide there ever was. And it's conquered by the gospel. That's another bridge that the resurrection community crosses. It's racial bridges. What about a resurrection bridge for educational differences? You know, some blue collar, some white collar. Some have schooling and more and more schooling, and others don't have any. And Paul made that concept personal in verse 10 when Timothy comes. The community that Christ was building taught how to receive Timothy. Why? Because Timothy wasn't near as well-educated as Paul. Timothy wasn't near as credentialed as Paul. Timothy didn't have the same status and experience as Paul. Paul had multiple PhDs, what we would say today, and he has ministry success and planting 14 churches, and those churches are planting churches, and Timothy's just getting started. And here's another resurrection bridge. Corinth needed to give a resurrection welcome to Timothy, and they had to be taught that here in verse 10. Why? Because they're both doing the work of the Lord. Listen to verse 10. When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you. Why? For he is doing the work of the Lord as I am. Another resurrection bridge, status differences. The culture of Corinth was similar to the culture of America. Very interested in credentials and status. What's your occupation? What's your experience level? What's your degree? Where did you go to school? How much money do you make? And where do you live and what do you drive? As soon as you ask all those questions, people will size us up and judge us based on it, right? It's a meritocracy. And it's the same in Corinth. And Paul had more success than Timothy, more experience than Timothy, and you could go on and on. And so what he writes in verse 11 is fascinating. He writes, verse 11, so let no one despise him, despise Timothy. Now despise is a very strong word, even in English. The Greek word that Paul actually originally wrote here communicated intense hatred. Don't let anyone hate Timothy. What? Who would hate a minister of the gospel? Paul's an apostle, Timothy's a minister, but still, who would hate Timothy? He wrote that right in the letter. because it's possible for human beings to develop the wrong approach to others across some gap, across an economic gap, across an educational gap, across a racial gap. Building resurrection bridges is what the Christian church culture is like, and it's different from the American culture. The culture in the resurrection community is we reach across all such divides, we learn how to share our lives, we learn how to open our hearts, and we learn how to welcome others. It's a beautiful thing that this call so strong for resurrection community building, building resurrection bridges comes right after the powerful chapter 15 about the resurrection because we need that. We're going to need a lot of power to live this way. We need to look to the resurrected one himself who's gone before us and swallowed up our sin and our death. We look to the resurrected one who in triumph rose Over all the dividing points of all kinds, whatever was causing the divisions in Corinth was overcome and mended by the resurrected one. We can look today to the resurrected one who keeps on walking before us and walking along with us on this pathway of building more bridges in the community. Jesus shared his belongings with us, shared his life with us. He even gave away his own life for us on the cross. and then conquer death by his resurrection. And so when we look to ourselves, we can't do this. We can't build a community like this by sheer willpower. But when we look to Jesus, the resurrected one, we find hope that we can, by his grace and in his strength and by faith, learn to build God's designed resurrection community within his church. What have we seen? Jesus rose again. There's a permanent impact on the Christian community. What we have, we share for needs of others and kingdom advance. Number two, we're friends to each other, sharing life. And number three, we welcome everyone across all dividing lines. In conclusion, we could summarize with three practical steps to take away. for living in the resurrecting community. Number one, we share our money until we become generous. We share our money until we become generous. We share, as we saw, consistently, proportionally, deliberately. We set aside a portion of every paycheck and we share it until our hearts become generous. First step is to share and share again and share again until it becomes natural for us because actually Jesus changed our very nature and it is natural for us to be generous. Step one, we share our money until we become generous. Step two, we share our lives until we become true friends. We share our lives until we become true friends. We get to know people, people who are very different from us within the Resurrection Church community and beyond the church community as we reach out. We connect with people on the other side of all sorts of divides. all sorts of division lines. We share our hearts. We share our lives with them. We keep going until we're actually friends. Share our lives until we become true friends. Step three, a third and last one, we bridge. We build bridges over dividing lines with only Christ's love to lead us. Wherever we go, outside of the church, wherever you work, wherever you live, your extended family, people who are unbelievers that you're trying to reach out to, troubled persons, When we start to help them, you're gonna find difficulty. And in that difficulty, you don't have enough love. You're gonna need the love of Christ to flow in you and through you and work towards having relationships, building towards brotherhood and sisterhood, building toward friendship with those who are in such broken need. We do all of this in the light of the risen Lord. who's already won our victory. Just remind you of all of chapter 15. In fact, I'll end with this, the very last verse of chapter 15. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Let's pray. Father, because Jesus rose again