And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches;
The verse belongs to the appeal to the Corinthians to contribute for the poor believers in Jerusalem, holding up the generosity of the Macedonian churches as the example. It records that the brother was sent with Titus to help finish, to carry out, and to carry the collection for the saints in need. The brother sent with Titus was widely praised throughout all the churches for his gospel work. He had been chosen by the churches to travel with Paul and to accompany Titus and the other trusted representative in carrying and administering the contribution, so that its handling would be trustworthy and above reproach.
The verse is part of the directions on giving in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, especially chapter 8, which teach generous, self-sacrificing support to meet the needs of God's work and people. These chapters are to be presented to brethren for study, read in the churches to catch the inspiration of liberality, studied for teaching on giving and the use of money, heeded, and kept ever before leaders. The giving taught here means recognizing means as the Lord's entrusted goods. It means denying self instead of wasting them on selfish wants or withholding needed funds from selfish motives, bringing offerings and pleading for them to be received, giving liberally even beyond power after the Macedonian spirit, uniting willingly without complaint even when self-supporting, and meeting pressing emergencies in aggressive warfare including the needs of unworked foreign fields.
Applied concretely, a hard and destitute field is no excuse for doing scarcely anything in it, so the entire profits of books appointed for the Southern Field should be used to better its condition and not diverted by deception to fields with much better advantages in every way. The working of the Spirit is seen when a self-supporting church still unites willingly without complaint to give for other parts of the field, with offerings of between two and three hundred dollars as evidence of hearts stirred. When God by His Spirit stirs hearts to see the necessities of the work and helps His people see giving in a correct light, they deny self and gifts flow into the treasury for the proclamation of the message for this time. This liberality teaches the spirit of benevolence that should mark offerings, brings blessings to others and to those who manifest it, gains God's blessing, and as they impart they receive because God gives to them that they may give to others. God is glorified in believers through following these directions, and those who take the word of God as counsellor and act on Bible principles will have the glory of the Lord as their rereward.
Neglect and misappropriation of means that originate with God and belong to His treasury displeases the Lord. When light has been given such wrong is increased, will meet judgment, and requires restitution and doing more than merely beginning where work should have begun years ago.
The verse belongs to the appeal to the Corinthians to contribute for the poor believers in Jerusalem, holding up the generosity of the Macedonian churches as the example. It records that the brother was sent with Titus to help finish, to carry out, and to carry the collection for the saints in need. The brother sent with Titus was widely praised throughout all the churches for his gospel work. He had been chosen by the churches to travel with Paul and to accompany Titus and the other trusted representative in carrying and administering the contribution, so that its handling would be trustworthy and above reproach.
The verse is part of the directions on giving in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, especially chapter 8, which teach generous, self-sacrificing support to meet the needs of God's work and people. These chapters are to be presented to brethren for study, read in the churches to catch the inspiration of liberality, studied for teaching on giving and the use of money, heeded, and kept ever before leaders. The giving taught here means recognizing means as the Lord's entrusted goods. It means denying self instead of wasting them on selfish wants or withholding needed funds from selfish motives, bringing offerings and pleading for them to be received, giving liberally even beyond power after the Macedonian spirit, uniting willingly without complaint even when self-supporting, and meeting pressing emergencies in aggressive warfare including the needs of unworked foreign fields.
Applied concretely, a hard and destitute field is no excuse for doing scarcely anything in it, so the entire profits of books appointed for the Southern Field should be used to better its condition and not diverted by deception to fields with much better advantages in every way. The working of the Spirit is seen when a self-supporting church still unites willingly without complaint to give for other parts of the field, with offerings of between two and three hundred dollars as evidence of hearts stirred. When God by His Spirit stirs hearts to see the necessities of the work and helps His people see giving in a correct light, they deny self and gifts flow into the treasury for the proclamation of the message for this time. This liberality teaches the spirit of benevolence that should mark offerings, brings blessings to others and to those who manifest it, gains God's blessing, and as they impart they receive because God gives to them that they may give to others. God is glorified in believers through following these directions, and those who take the word of God as counsellor and act on Bible principles will have the glory of the Lord as their rereward.
Neglect and misappropriation of means that originate with God and belong to His treasury displeases the Lord. When light has been given such wrong is increased, will meet judgment, and requires restitution and doing more than merely beginning where work should have begun years ago.