Stewardship with Integrity, Part 3
2 Corinthians 8:18-24
It's our privilege this morning to continue our series in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 which we've entitled "Stewardship with Integrity." Raising money has always been a part of God's purposes, giving His people a chance to participate in the ongoing of His kingdom. God's people have always given because their hearts are moved to do so out of gratitude for their salvation. But they have always sought to know where to give, what to give, how to give. And all of that is being addressed in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9.
We all wonder about campaigns to raise money. We've seen so many scandals, so many millions of dollars have been given to churches and ministries and the money has been unaccounted for and misused or used for purposes that aren't really biblical, aren't priorities. It makes us all a little gun shy.
I was sitting in a hotel in the Ukraine in the city of Kiev with another pastor from our church and a gentleman came in who was obviously an American and sat down with us. And we just introduced ourselves, first name only. And we said, "What are you doing here in the Ukraine?" And he said, "Oh I'm here from Evangelist So-and-so," well known television evangelist over here. And he said, "We're here with a camera crew." And I said, "Well what are you doing?"
"Well we're just taking pictures. We're just going everywhere and taking pictures of conditions and people and all of that, taking pictures of church services and so forth."
And I said, "Well what is the purpose of all of that?"
"Oh, we just take it home and show it on television and we estimate it will bring in about five million dollars. No ministry, just a way to raise money.
We know that goes on. You know that goes on. I know that goes on. And it makes us queazy about financial campaigns, makes us suspicious. We hear all the time about embezzlements. We hear about corruption in businesses and corporations, in small companies and large companies. We're very much aware of the fact that we have a society that is materialistic, that the love of money which is at the root of all kinds of evil is rampant in our culture. And we are justifiably leery. We wonder if the things that we hear are really true about certain ministries, are they really doing what they say they're doing. Are they really ministering in that way, or helping in that way? Those are questions that we need to ask and we need to have answered.
Paul in this particular portion of 2 Corinthians in chapter 8 from verse 10 down through chapter 9 verse 5 helps us by giving us some standards by which we can measure a stewardship effort. Standards by which we can measure appeals, solicitations and our own giving as well. In fact, this section covers those people who are collecting the money, those who are ultimately to receive it and those who are to give it. It just sort of wraps up the whole concept of a stewardship campaign.
The whole section, by the way, chapter 8 and 9, is about giving. And in specific the giving that is being done here is to relieve the poor saints in Jerusalem who don't have the basic necessities of life because of persecution and because so many of them are pilgrims from other parts of the world who when they arrived at Jerusalem were converted, stayed and have no employment. Their poverty caused the Apostle Paul to want to take a collection from the Gentile churches. He also wanted to cement the Jewish and Gentile relationship and he knew that a generous gift to the Jewish believers would go along way into unifying the church at heart.
So, Paul is in the midst of this collection. And the Corinthians are involved in it. They've been involved in it for over a year, as is indicated to us in this text, verse 10, where he says you began a year ago or last year. And so they've been involved in it for a while. They're already understanding of the need. They have already made a commitment probably to a certain amount and Paul is in the process of making sure that they meet their original commitment and that the money is collected.
But something is going on as we know underneath the surface. And what is going on is an assault on Paul's character. It is a severe attack on his integrity. And because of the severity of that attack and because of the implication, should it be believed, Paul is very careful to deal with how he is handling this money. People would love to be able to scandalize the church and scandalize God's people and scandalize God's ministers because they can uncover some mishandling or misappropriation of money. It is indeed scandalous. And the enemy is always looking for that to expose it and discredit the church.
So because there are those who want to assault and attack and destroy Paul, his collecting of this large amount of money, we're talking about a large amount of money, you're talking about thousands of believers in the Jerusalem church, there were probably over twenty thousand of them within a matter of weeks after the church was born on Pentecost. Now some years have gone by, we don't know how large that church is, but we're talking about a large offering. So large that all the churches that are in the Gentile world have been solicited to participate and the Corinthians should have been at it for a year and there was still more time before the Apostle would come and collect just their part. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 16:2 he says they need to set aside money every week, every individual so that when he finally comes the whole thing will be completed. You're talking about a very large amount of money.
This would be a perfect point of criticism, a perfect place to discredit the Apostle Paul. And so in the light of that in chapter 8 and verse 10 he begins to discuss how he is going about this offering. How he is, if you will, operating this stewardship drive.
Now as I told you, this is a very unusual portion of Scripture. It appears as a rather unimportant set of comments about an issue two thousand years ago that doesn't really have any value to us, but on a second look it exudes standards of stewardship that have integrity and becomes extremely important to us.
Now let me review what we've already learned here about stewardship. And again he goes in and out involving all kinds of issues, but they're all strategic to the full picture. First of all, stewardship with integrity calls for giving that is voluntary. He said that in verse 10, I'm just giving my opinion in this matter, it is to your advantage. This is not a command, he said back in verse 8. There is not a prescribed amount. This is completely up to you, it is to your advantage, it is for your benefit...no amount, no percent, no compulsion. That's how stewardship should be done. It should be done individually, each person making up his own mind or her own mind what to do and doing it.
Secondly, stewardship with integrity calls for completion of the project...completion. Verse 11, "Finish doing it," he says. Verse 10, "You were the first to begin a year ago, not only to do it but desire to do it, now finish doing it as there was a readiness to desire it in the beginning so there should be a completion of it." In other words, stewardship should be complete. If you were moved to the rightness of it and credibility of it and the appropriateness of it and you made the commitment then see it through, that's stewardship with integrity.
Thirdly, stewardship with integrity calls for amounts that are proportionate to what one has. Verse 11 he says at the end of the verse, "By your ability," in other words, according to your capability give. "For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a man has not according to what he doesn't have." In other words, God is not asking for what you don't have. God is not trying to make you poor. God is not trying to strip you and take away your food or your clothing or your place of rest. That isn't the idea. It's according to what you have. It is proportionate. If you have little, give little. If you have much, give much.
And then the fourth point, which we already discussed by way of review, stewardship with integrity calls for giving that balances resources, that balances resources on behalf of those in need. Verse 13 he says, "This is not for the ease of others and it is not for your affliction but by way of equality or balance."
Now remember, the critics would say, "Well, Paul's just trying to take money away from us to make us poor so he could make his Jewish friends rich. He's trying to make their life the life of ease, and ours a life of affliction." He says that is not the case. I'm not asking for more than you can give. I'm only asking that you give according to your ability, only that you give voluntarily, only that you give what you said you would give. That's all. And only by way of equality. And he means by that not a communistic equality, as we saw last time, but a balancing of resources. Verse 14 says, "At this present time your abundance being a supply for their want." In other words, they're in want and you've got more than you need, so share with them and that balances the resources. And he says, "In order that their abundance also may become a supply for your want." In other words, the tide may turn and things may change, persecution may break out in Corinth and you may lose all your livelihood and you may have to turn to the Jerusalem church some day to meet your need.
The end of verse 14, "That there may be equality again." Balance...in other words, those who have more than they need give some to those who have less. And then he quotes the principle taken from, as we remember, the book of Exodus in chapter 16 verse 15 it says, "As it is written, he who gathered much did not have too much and he who gathered little had no lack," and he's referring back to when they gathered the manna. Obviously young men could gather more than older women and in the end of the day they shared so that everybody had enough. And that's exactly the point. Stewardship with integrity calls for giving that balances resources. And when you're going to do things in God's Kingdom, that's how it works. In all honesty, that's how it works most of the time. Some of you can only give a little, and some can give a lot, but you share the same ministry, don't you? You share the same leadership, you share the same facility.
When I look at the Master's Seminary, for example, some come to the seminary and they are capable of paying their full tuition. Some are not. And so there are folks who have more money than they need and they give it to underwrite the schooling of men who have less than they need. That's just how the body of Christ works, isn't it? At the Master's College, for example, it costs us much more to educate a student than a student pays, and that's made up by people who have more money than they need giving to a scholarship fund to underwrite those students so that they can get their Christian education. That's the sharing of resources.
We send missionaries to the field knowing full well they can't earn a living over there to support themselves. So we support them who have more than we need. And we share that in the commonality of the life of the church.
And then a fifth and last point we concluded with last time, stewardship with integrity is under pastoral leadership...it is under pastoral leadership. Always know that whatever it is you're giving to is under the leadership of a team of godly shepherds and pastors. You'll notice that is the case here in verse 16, "Thanks be to God...says Paul...who put the same earnestness or zeal or diligence on your behalf in the heart of Titus, for he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he has gone to you of his own accord." Titus agrees with the whole enterprise. He agrees with the suitability of it and he agrees with the integrity of it. He agrees that it is right. He agrees that it is being handled right. He agrees that you need to participate in it. And so he has the confirmation of the godly Titus who is well known to the Corinthian church. He has made numerous trips there delivering letters, and they know Titus and they love Titus, as was confirmed back in chapter 7 in this very letter.
And this dispels another criticism potentially and that is that Paul acted unilaterally, and that he just kind of ran his own show and everybody just lined up lock step or got booted out of the team. That's not the case. God put the same zeal in the heart of Titus and when God is involved in an enterprise, He will put that into the hearts of those who lead. We saw that last time. It is important that in any financial program the godly pastors are led by God to believe it is right. And they are leading in response to the leading of God Himself.
You need to look and make sure there are godly pastors, godly shepherds. You need to make sure their theology and their doctrine is right so that they are demonstrating the mind of Christ in what they do. The early church, you'll remember, laid their money at the Apostles' feet every Sunday because they wanted to put it into the hands of the godliest men. Honest, God blessed fund raising is in the control of godly teachers and preachers who have sought the mind of the Lord and walk intimately with Him. This is so very important...so very important.
The pattern then that we've seen unfold is that giving is to be voluntary and from the heart. It is to be complete. It is to be proportionate. It is to balance resources. And it is to be under pastoral support and pastoral leadership.
Now let's come to number six. And now we come to the large section in Paul's thought, giving has another element that must be there. Stewardship with integrity...listen carefully...must be handled with accountability...it must be handled with accountability. Now again I remind you, all these are answering potential criticisms. When Paul said you give whatever you want, he was answering the criticism that Paul is trying to put some burden on you. When Paul said give only out of what you have, he was answering the potential criticism that he's trying to take the very little we have and give it to his friends. Not at all, he's simply trying to balance resources. And when he would be criticized about acting unilaterally, he says no, God put it in the heart of Titus and he sees it as the purpose of God as well. All of these are directed at answering potential criticisms.
And there is another huge potential criticism and that is that Paul will misuse this money. It is a huge amount. It is referred to in this chapter as a generous gift down in verse 20. And that is a word only used there in the New Testament and means a very large amount. And the accusation immediately would come that Paul is a deceiver and Paul is a liar and Paul is in it for the money, and you're going to turn over all this money to this guy? Remember now, they had been making an effort to discredit him now for a long time, found some believers, and even though the Corinthians in the main had been convinced that the false teachers were in error and it reaffirmed their support of Paul, the seeds of that dissension were still there and the accusations ready to surface at any moment. Paul must deal with that and in doing so he starts in verse 18 to show the accountability with which the money is handled...very, very important.
Verse 18, "And we have sent along with him," stop there for a moment. Him being Titus, remember now Titus is going to deliver 2 Corinthians after its written. Paul is still writing here in chapter 8, he's not done and he says here, I'm going to send along with him, that is along with Titus who is going to come, bring the letter and help you with the giving, help you with the collection until I get there, I'm going to send along with Titus the brother. The brother is unnamed. I've heard people say it might be Tychicus, or it might be Trophimus. Some have said it probably is Luke because it says, "Whose fame in the gospel has spread through all the churches," and they think it's probably a reference to Luke's gospel. The problem with that, Luke's gospel was not in circulation yet when 1 Corinthians was written, so the people wouldn't have known of Luke's gospel, so it's not Luke. We don't know who it is. The name is not given, but they would know who it is.
You say, "How would they know?" Because he would be standing there with Titus when he delivered the letter. They would know him and they would recognize him. He didn't need to give his name because he was well known. It says he is the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches. He doesn't name the man and there's no way to know who he was for us, but clearly the Corinthians knew him and they knew him as a man who was famous for preaching the gospel, a distinguished preacher known and esteemed by all the churches, a prominent and unimpeachable brother who was sent with Titus to receive and transport the money.
And by the way, he is just another preacher, another shepherd, another elder, another pastor that adds to the credibility of this whole thing because you have a plurality of godly men who believe it's right. Here's another one of them. And he is given the care of this money. It's not just Paul's enterprise. It's not just Titus collecting it. It's Titus and this brother, this unimpeachable brother famous through all the churches.
I might stop for a moment to note. Churches are foolish to give the care of the money to lesser men. In the New Testament the care of the money, the choices of how it is spent were always given to the godly leaders, the preachers, the teachers, the Apostles, they were always the most trustworthy servants of God, they were always chosen to care for the funds. I grew up in a situation where churches typically had a pastor and a pastoral staff, under them or alongside of them serving were deacons who cared for the spiritual ministry and then there were the trustees and they handled all the money and they didn't have to be qualified to be deacons spiritually, they weren't qualified to be elders or pastors in terms of their giftedness, but they handled the money. And that's a tragic way to do things because you've put the money in the hands of those who are third in the chain of spiritual strength and biblical insight. You want to put the responsibility for that in the hands of those people who know the most about Scripture, who know the most about the mind of God, who walk most closely with Him.
So he says we chose this brother not because he was an accountant, we chose this brother not because he was good in finances, not because he worked for the local bank, and not because he owns his own business. We chose this guy because he was a famous preacher and his character is unimpeachable through all the churches.
Verse 19 adds, "And not only this, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work." It wasn't just Paul's choice, it wasn't just Titus' choice, although perhaps they were a part of initiating the interest in this man, it came to the churches to appoint him.
Somebody might say, "Well, Paul, I mean, Paul and Titus and they're in collusion and they picked one of their buddies. Not the case. He has been appointed by the churches. Not just Paul's man, there's no personal control on the Apostle's part. It was not, by the way, listen carefully, it was not that Paul couldn't be trusted, he could. It wasn't that Titus couldn't be trusted, he could. It was that people couldn't be trusted. They can't be. There's always people looking to criticize, right? This isn't to protect Paul, this isn't to protect Titus, this is to protect Paul and Titus from false accusations that they're mishandling the money. Paul could be trusted. Titus could be trusted. But the people seeking to destroy Paul couldn't be trusted. And they didn't...they didn't stop, they were relentless. They wanted to make an accusation stick and this would be a great one.
So you put in place unbiased people appointed by the churches whose responsibility it is to stick with the whole procedure and know it inside out. This brother has been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work...he says...which is being administered by us, we're administering it, but he is there so that the churches have a representative to see how carefully this whole process is being attended to.
When I think about how we do things here at Grace Church, the pastoral team gets together and determines how the money should be allocated to what ministries. The elders come alongside and affirm all of that. There is a finance committee on the elders that looks carefully at all the financial issues so that they know exactly what is being spent and how it's being spent and they discharge their oversight of that. Every month a report is given to the elders of that procedure. There is an internal audit committee, that is a group of people selected from out of our congregation who are not a part of our staff at all, and they audit constantly the financial condition and the financial statements of our church which are under the care of skilled accountants who keep all the records. And then externally there is also an audit company, a world-class audit firm that audits our books every year to attest to the validity of our financial accountability, it attests to our practices and that our purposes are fulfilled within all the guidelines of appropriate conduct financially. So we have the finance committee, we have an internal audit committee and an independent audit committee.
And somebody might say, "What's the matter, don't you trust yourselves?" No we don't trust the criticisms of those who would tear us down and tear down the gospel. Furthermore we are a charter member of E.C.F.A. which is Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which is the highest standard setting group for financial accountability of Christian ministries in America. We have been a member since the initiation of that group, so is the Master's College and Grace To You a member, because we want no person to be able to look at anything which we produce financially and not see the complete integrity of everything. That's just because we want to be wise against those who would seek to slander, slander Christ.
And so, in verse 19 Paul says, "This brother, this gospel preacher with the unimpeachable character has been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work." He's a permanent auditor, he's there all the time. Its being administered by us, but he's there overseeing it. And then he gives a two-fold goal, "For the glory of the Lord Himself and to show our readiness." He says we're administering this for the glory of the Lord Himself. We don't want any reproach to fall on Christ. We don't want any disrepute on His name. We don't want anybody criticizing how we handle money. We don't want any false accusations that can stick. And to maintain the glory of the Lord we have this guy traveling with us as we carry out this entire operation so that the Lord is never dishonored, never justly criticized and no accusation can stand and additionally, to show our eagerness.
In other words, you remember in Galatians 2:10 they said remember the poor, and Paul is simply saying we're taking all these careful, careful steps so that you can see our eagerness and our readiness to meet the need of those poor saints in Jerusalem. We take these pains for the sake of the Jerusalem church so that they can get all the money and for the sake of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the right reasons, for the sake of the purpose of the giving and the sake of the glory of the Lord we have this accountability.
Financial matters demand honesty. We live in a world today that is consumed with consumption, materialistic, self-indulgent. The love of money has produced all kinds of evil in our society. There is robbery on every front imaginable...imaginable. The single greatest crime in America outstripping all other crimes, consuming more money illegally is cheating on Income Taxes, and from there it goes to the outright machine-gun robbery of b