1 Corinthians 9:12-15 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Paul is saying to the Corinthians, your act of giving will not only supply the physical needs of God's people in Jerusalem, your beneficent act will also cause them to draw closer to God through their praises and worship. Because of your sacrifice, Christians in Jerusalem will be praising God for the gifts you supplied them. Even though you are giving a tangible, corruptible gift, what is really happening is you are giving a spiritual, incorruptible gift to God. You are causing the sweet smell of praise and worship from his beloved children in Jerusalem to rise to the nostrils of God. Therefore, his people in Jerusalem will be blessed by God because of their praises, and you, the Corinthian church, will be blessed by him because of your generous gifts.
This, of course, is what we want to occur in our lives. We want God's blessing to be upon our lives, and we want him to receive praises because of our obedience to God. And that will happen if we live in the right spirit, a giving, sacrificial spirit. In the flesh, we know when we serve others, others will probably also be concerned about our lives; friendships will probably develop. We usually benefit greatly from such relationships. For we have friends who will pray for us, work for us, help us. However, when we isolate ourselves in the community of believers, when we focus only on ourselves and our concerns, people probably will not get involved with us in a natural, friendly, and loving manner, for they will not know us. They will not know to pray for us. Their thoughts will not go to our needs, for they will not know us as an integral part of the community of believers.
In the previous chapters, Paul's concern was that the Corinthians would become self-centered, concerned only for themselves. He encourages them in this letter to lift their eyes up to the needs of the whole church. This should always be the attitude of the church of Christ. The body of Christ should care about our brothers and sisters around the world. We should care about our missionaries and evangelists. Our eyes, our sensibilities, should be on others as much as possible. When our attitude is such, we cause praises to God to emanate from many lips around the world. They will praise God because of the gifts and goodness that they have received from Christians. When we give to others, we benefit, for they will reciprocate by loving us and praying for us. This is a win/win situation. No one gets hurt and all are blessed.
This spirit of giving and loving is also necessary in the local church. When we get involved with the people across the aisle, we win and they win. They praise God because of our goodness and kindness to them, and we are blessed because we are carrying out God's will for our lives, to be his servants. Therefore, child of God, get to know the people in your church: hear their concerns, shake their hands, love them the best way that you can. They will praise God for your concern and love, and you will be blessed because you are doing the will of the Father. Remember, they will know us by our love. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8) This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:11) And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. (1 John 3:23) Paul encouraged the Corinthians to love by giving; we also should do likewise by giving of ourselves and our means.
No comments:
Post a Comment