Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 26.
now, I want you to know dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has
done through the churches in Macedonia.
They are being tested by many troubles and they are very poor, but they are
also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.
For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more.
They did it of their own free will.
They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the
gift for the believers in Jerusalem.
They even did more than we had hoped for.
Their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us
just as God wanted them to do.
So we have urged Titus who encouraged your giving in the first place to
return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving.
Since you excel in so many ways in your faith, your gifted speakers,
your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us, I want you to excel
also in this gracious act of giving.
I am not commanding you to do this, but I am testing how genuine your
love is by comparing it with the eagerness of the other churches.
You know, the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, so that by
his poverty, he could make you rich.
Here is my advice.
It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago.
Last year, you were the first who wanted to give, and you were
the first to begin doing it.
Now you should finish what you started.
Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched Now by your giving.
Give in proportion to what you have.
Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly and give according to
what you have, not what you don't have.
Of course, I don't mean your giving should make life easy for
others and hard for yourselves.
I only mean that there should be some equality right now.
You have plenty and can help those who are in need later.
They will have plenty and can share with you when you need it.
In this way, things will be equal.
As the scriptures say.
Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over and those who
gathered only a little had enough.
But thank God he has given Titus the same enthusiasm for you that I have.
Titus welcomed our request that he visit you again.
In fact, he himself was very eager to go and see you.
We are also sending another brother with Titus.
All the churches praise him as a preacher of the good news.
He was appointed by the churches to accompany us as we take the offering to
Jerusalem, a service that glorifies the Lord and shows our eagerness to help.
We are traveling together to guard against any criticism for the way
we are handling this generous gift.
We are careful to be honorable before the Lord, but we also want everyone
else to see that we are honorable.
We are also sending with them another of our brothers who has proven
himself many times and has shown on many occasions how eager he is.
He is now even more enthusiastic because of his great confidence in you.
If anyone asks about Titus say that he is my partner who works with me
to help you, and the brothers with him have been sent by the churches
and they bring honor to Christ.
So show them your love and prove to all the churches that are
boasting about you is justified.
I really don't need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers
in Jerusalem, for I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the
churches in Macedonia that you in Greece were ready to send an offering a year ago.
In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the
Macedonian believers to begin giving.
But I am sending these brothers to be sure you really are ready,
as I have been telling them, and that your money is all collected.
I don't want to be wrong in my boasting about you.
We would be embarrassed not to mention your own embarrassment if
some Macedonian believers came with me and found that you weren't ready.
After all I had told them.
So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure
the gift you promised is ready, but I want it to be a willing gift.
Not one given grudgingly.
Remember this.
A farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants
generously will get a generous crop.
You must each decide in your heart how much to give and don't give
reluctantly or in response to pressure.
For God loves a person who gives cheerfully and God will
generously provide all you need.
Then you will always have everything you need and plenty
leftover to share with others.
As the scriptures say, they share freely and give generously to the poor, their
good deeds will be remembered forever.
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then
bread to eat in the same way.
He will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great
harvest of generosity in you.
Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.
And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
So two good things will result from this ministry of giving.
The needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met and they will
joyfully express their thanks to God as a result of your ministry.
They will give glory to God.
For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you
are obedient to the good news of Christ and they will pray for you
with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you.
Thank God for this gift to wonderful for words.
Now I Paul appeal to you with the gentleness and kindness of Christ.
Though I realize you think I am timid in person and bold only
when I write from far away.
Well, I am begging you now so that when I come, I won't have to be bold with those
who think we act from human motives.
We are human, but we don't wage war as humans do.
We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down
the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.
We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish
everyone who remains disobedient.
Look at the obvious facts.
Those who say they belong to Christ must recognize that we belong
to Christ as much as they do.
I may seem to be boasting too much about the authority given to us by the
Lord, but our authority builds you up.
It doesn't tear you down, so I will not be ashamed of using my authority.
I'm not trying to frighten you by my letters.
For some say, Paul's letters are demanding and forceful, but in person, he is
weak and his speeches are worthless.
Those people should realize that our actions when we arrive in person
will be as forceful as what we say in our letters from far away.
Oh, don't worry.
We wouldn't dare say that.
We are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are,
but they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves
as the standard of measurement.
How ignorant we will not boast about things done outside our area of authority.
We will boast only about what has happened within the boundaries of
the work God has given us, which includes our working with you.
We are not reaching beyond these boundaries when we claim authority over
you as if we had never visited you for we were the first to travel all the
way to Corinth with the good news of Christ, nor do we boast and claim credit
for the work someone else has done.
Instead, we hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of
our work among you will be extended.
Then we will be able to go and preach the good news in other places far
beyond you where no one else is working.
Then there will be no question of our boasting about work done
in someone else's territory.
As the scriptures say, if you want to boast, boast only about
the Lord, when people commend themselves, it doesn't count for much.
The important thing is for the Lord to commend them.
I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness.
Please bear with me for I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself.
I promised you as a pure bride to one husband Christ, but I fear that somehow
your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted just as Eve was deceived
by the cunning ways of the serpent.
You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a
different Jesus than the one we preach or a different kind of spirit than the
one you received or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.
But I don't consider myself inferior in any way to these super
apostles who teach such things.
I may be unskilled as a speaker, but I'm not lacking in knowledge.
We have made this clear to you in every possible way.
Was I wrong when I humbled myself and honored you by preaching
God's good news to you without expecting anything in return?
I robbed other churches by accepting their contributions
so I could serve you at no cost.
And when I was with you and didn't have enough to live on, I did not
become a financial burden to anyone.
For the brothers who came from Macedonia brought me all that I needed.
I have never been a burden to you.
I never will be as surely as the truth of Christ is in me.
No one in all of Greece will ever stop me from boasting about this.
Why?
Because I don't love you.
God knows that I do, but I will continue doing what I have always done.
This will undercut those who are looking for an opportunity to boast
that their work is just like ours.
These people are false apostles.
They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ,
but I am not surprised, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves
as servants of righteousness.
In the end, they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.
Again, I say don't think that I am a fool to talk like this, but even if you do,
Listen to me, as you would to a foolish person, while I also boast a little such.
Boasting is not from the Lord, but I am acting like a fool.
And since others boast about their human achievements, I will too.
After all, you think you are so wise, but you enjoy putting up with fools.
You put up with it.
When someone enslaves you, takes everything you have, takes advantage
of you, takes control of everything, and slaps you in the face.
I'm ashamed to say that we've been too weak to do that, but
whatever they dare to boast about, I'm talking like a fool again.
I dare to boast about it too.
Are they Hebrews?
So am I.
Are they Israelites?
So am I.
Are they descendants of Abraham?
So am I.
Are they servants of Christ?
I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more.
I have worked harder.
Been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number,
and faced death again and again.
Five different times.
The Jewish leaders gave me 39 lashes.
Three times.
I was beaten with rods.
Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked once.
I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.
I have traveled on many long journeys.
I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers.
I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles.
I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts and on the seas, and
I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not.
I have worked hard and long endur, many sleepless nights.
I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food.
I have shivered in the cold without enough clothing to keep me warm.
Then besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches
who is weak without my feeling that weakness, who is led astray, and I do
not burn with anger if I must boast.
I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am God, the father
of our Lord Jesus, who is worthy of eternal praise, knows I am not lying.
When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Titas kept guards
at the city gates to catch me.
I had to be lowered in a basket through a window in the
city wall to escape from him.
This boasting will do no good, but I must go on.
I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord.
I was caught up to the third heaven 14 years ago, whether I was in my
body or out of my body, I don't know.
Only God knows.
Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body, but I do
know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that
they cannot be expressed in words things no human is allowed to tell.
That experience is worth boasting about, but I'm not going to do it.
I will boast only about my weaknesses.
If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so because I would be
telling the truth, but I won't do it.
Because I don't want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see
in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such
wonderful revelations from God.
So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger
from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud three different times.
I begged the Lord to take it away each time.
He said, my grace is all you need.
My power works best in weakness, so now I am glad to boast about
my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me.
That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses and in the insults,
hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
You have made me act like a fool.
You ought to be writing commendations for me for I am not at all
inferior to these super apostles, even though I am nothing at all.
When I was with you, I certainly gave you proof that I am an apostle
for I patiently did many signs and wonders and miracles among you.
The only thing I failed to do, which I do in the other churches, was to
become a financial burden to you.
Please forgive me for this wrong.
Now, I am coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you.
I don't want what you have.
I want you, after all, children don't provide for their parents, rather
parents provide for their children.
I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the
more I love you, the less you love me.
Some of you admit I was not a burden to you.
But others still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery,
but how did any of the men I sent to you take advantage of you?
When I urged Titus to visit you and sent our other brother with him,
did Titus take advantage of you?
No.
For we have the same spirit and walk in each other's steps
doing things the same way.
Perhaps you think we are saying these things just to defend ourselves.
No, we tell you this as Christ's servants and with God as our witness.
Everything we do dear friends, is to strengthen you for I am afraid that
when I come, I won't like what I find and you won't like my response.
I am afraid that I will find quarreling, jealousy, anger,
selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behavior.
Yes, I am afraid that when I come again, God will humble me in your presence
and I will be grieved because many of you have not given up your old sins.
You have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality, and
eagerness for lustful pleasure.
This is the third time I am coming to visit you, and as the scriptures say, the
facts of every case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
I have already warned those who had been sinning when I
was there on my second visit.
Now I again warn them and all others, just as I did before that
next time, I will not spare them.
I will give you all the proof you want, that Christ speaks through me.
Christ is not weak when he deals with you.
He is powerful among you.
Although he was crucified in weakness, he now lives by the power of God.
We too are weak just as Christ was.
But when we deal with you, we will be alive with him and we'll have God's power.
Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine.
Test yourselves.
Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you.
If not, you have failed the test of genuine faith as you test yourselves.
I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority.
We pray to God that you will not do what is wrong.
By refusing our correction, I hope we won't need to demonstrate
our authority when we arrive.
Do the right thing before we come.
Even if that makes it look like we have failed to demonstrate our authority
for we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth.
We are glad to seem weak.
If it helps show that you are actually strong, we pray
that you will become mature.
I am writing this to you before I come, hoping that I won't need to deal severely
with you when I do come for, I want to use the authority the Lord has given me
to strengthen you, not to tear you down.
Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words.
Be joyful, grow to maturity, encourage each other, live in harmony and peace.
Then the God of love and peace will be with you.
Greet each other with a sacred kiss.
All of God's people here send you their greetings.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
This concludes today's reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.