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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. Hey, family. Welcome to Second Corinthians chapters eight and nine. We get to talk about what so many people love talking about. We get to talk about money. Okay, in these two chapters, we got two chapters of the Bible just dedicated to finances, to money. Paul is raising funds for the church in Jerusalem. And so there's a lot of nuggets that I'm gonna pull out of this text, a lot of context, and we'll get some nerdy nuggets, and like always, we'll get a timeless truth at the end. Hey, if you have not done the reading for today, just go ahead, pause, stop the episode right here, do the reading. It'll be really, really helpful for you to navigate what's going on. So, okay, let's give context. Okay, In a normal context, the mother church really supports the children's. Like, the children, like the churches that they plant. It's rare that the church's. The missionary churches then support the church that originally sent out missionaries. So the Jerusalem church is really the mother church. This is the first church. Like, it's where people are actually first Christians. It's where Jesus dies. It's like ground zero for Christianity. And so what's typical, what's normal is, you know, there's a. A church that plants another church. And so the mother church supports the church that has been planted. This is like reversal of that. Paul is taking up offerings from Gentile churches in Macedonia, in Achaia. Corinth is in an Achaia or Achaia. He's taking up offerings from all these churches that have been planted by the church in Jerusalem to support the church in Jerusalem. So what's the context? That's a little odd. The context can be found in Acts, chapter 11, verse 28 in Acts. I'll actually just flip there and we can read it. If you remember, there's a prophet. Okay. Acts, chapter 11, verse 28 says, this one of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world. And this took place during the reign of Claudius. The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea. Okay, Judea is the Countryside that's surrounding Jerusalem. This they did sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. Okay, so that's the context for this offering. The reason that Paul is making such a big deal about this offering that's going to Jerusalem in Judea is because there was a famine. On top of the famine we got a lot of leaders who used to be working in the temple, who are no longer working in the temple because they're now Christians. And so we got a lot of people who would have gained, been gainfully employed in Jerusalem working for the temple who have converted to Christianity. And so also there's this moment in the book of Acts, like early on where they all sell their possessions and they lay their possessions at the apostles feet, real communist style. And the evidence of scripture doesn't say that that like worked well for them. Actually if, if we were just to do a little digging, we could maybe conclude that that didn't work well. This is actually a good place for me to give you a nerdy nugget. A lot of times when we approach the book of Acts we need to ask this question, is what we're reading descriptive or prescriptive? Sometimes the book of Acts is simply describing what took place, other times it's prescribing that what took place is what should now take place. In today's culture, like in our modern culture, you have to really know whether or not Acts is giving a description or prescription when it comes to selling all their property, laying the proceeds of the property at the apostles feet. It seems like that was descriptive that the Acts is saying hey, this is just what happened. It's not saying, it's prescriptive. And it seems as if this wasn't good for the church in Jerusalem. Holding onto property and owning property is actually good. And going the more communist style didn't really work that well. And now all these other churches are now going to have to support the church in Jerusalem. But Paul doesn't have an issue with that. Paul's glad to take up offerings all over the Greco Roman world to support the church in Jerusalem. And here's exactly how Paul describes this. We can go to Second Corinthians, Chapter 8. Here's a couple of nuggets. First thing, Paul is going to mention how generous the Macedonians are. And you can remember that one of those first churches that gets planted in Macedonia is Philippi. The church at Philippi. Okay now brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace. That's a key word here. The grace that God has given to the Macedonian churches in the midst of a very severe trial, Their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. So generosity is not just something that Paul or God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit of the Bible demands from people who are wealthy. Generosity is something that the Bible demands, period, whether you're poor or wealthy. Next, the extreme poverty welled up with rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. So the Bible also doesn't ask you to give according to your ability, but beyond your ability to actually stretch entirely on their own. They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people. And they exceeded our expectations. They gave themselves, first of all to the Lord. First they gave themselves to the Lord, and then by the will of God, they also gave to us financially. So it's not able. You're not able to give of your finances until you give yourself to the Lord. That means your heart, your mind. It's easy for God to get your wallet if he has your heart. Okay, so now Paul then says, hey, I want you to be like the Macedonians, okay? I know I'm using comparison to urge you toward generosity. Verse 8. I'm not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. So a lot of times we're just taught, nope, comparison's wrong. Paul says, no, I'm not. I'm not going to force you to give, but I am going to test your maturity. And the way I'm going to test your maturity is with your finances. And anyone who says, like, man, you know, I don't like church because they take up offerings or, you know, that person is immature because the reality is that your finances are an indicator on your values. Can't remember a couple years ago, I'd hired a CPA to just comb through my finances so that I could pay my taxes and begin to steward our money a little bit better. And the CPA called me and said, hey, I know exactly what you value. I've spent about a month combing through your finances. I've looked through every transaction that you have made in the last year. I know exactly what you value. Doesn't matter what you say you value out of your mouth. I know what you value because numbers don't lie. Men lie. Women lie. Numbers don't lie. The numbers tell a story. They tell that you value Chick Fil A. They tell that you value Wendy's. You value what you spend money on. And so you cannot say that you value God, you value the church, or you value the gospel being spread, or you value God's house, or you value God's people, or you value these things that are spiritual when you don't give. And so Paul says, I'm not commanding you, but I am testing you. I'm testing to see whether or not you're sincere. I'm testing to see whether or not your love is sincere. Because love is not an emotion. Love is a decision. And love is a decision that has a financial number attached to it. What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people, everyday people, learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing, and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community, a community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd. So there's three things that Paul is going to say is not okay said I don't want you to give because I've compelled you. You shouldn't give under compulsion. You shouldn't give because you're forced to give. Okay? None of this stuff. Okay? Here's what we need to avoid. Don't be a sad giver. Don't be a mad giver. Be a glad giver. Okay, I know that's super corny, but I love it. Okay? Don't be sad when you give. Don't give mourning what you could have done with that money. Okay? Also, don't be an angry giver. Don't give, but secretly in your heart be blaming the pastor or blaming the person who took up the offering. So don't give, but really internally be Harboring all these negative feelings. Paul says, be a cheerful giver. That I want you to. I want your emotions to be submitted to what you believe. Okay? I don't just want you to give because Paul's not after behavior modification. He's after heart transformation. And when you give, I want you to be happy about it. Be a cheerful giver. Don't give reluctantly or under compulsion, but be a cheerful giver. Don't be sad. Don't mourn what this money could have done or what. What this money could have purchased. Don't be angry. Don't be secretly harboring anger towards a person taking up the offering, but you're doing it to keep up appearances or whatever. Be cheerful. Don't just give, but do it in a way in which you are happy to do it. And then I'll kind of give you a timeless truth. So I've given you a lot of context clues for this financial gift that Paul is getting in Jerusalem. There's this spot. I need to find it quickly. It says this in 8, 19. Here's a nerdy nugget for you. What is more. So they're talking about Titus. Okay. What is more, he was chosen by the churches. Titus was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift, for we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of man. So saying, hey, we don't want our good to be spoken of badly. So the way that we handle this administratively is, like, really, really important. And Titus has been selected by some of these churches to be on the trip as we carry it. So why do. Why does Titus need to be on the trip as they carry it? Because it is not safe walking around the ancient world with a ton of money. Okay? There's no electronic giving in the first century. Nobody's swiping. There's no electronic bank transfer. They are actually taking up a physical offering with cash and coins and currency from all these churches, and they've got to walk it all the way to Jerusalem, which means they could get robbed. This is, like, really, really, really, like, dangerous. And. But Paul says, hey, we. We want to do this in such a way that people know that we're doing the right thing. So, hey, send. Send people to help us carry this gift. This is a nerdy nugget that you can kind of I want you to visualize what it would have actually been like to. To get this gift all the way to Jerusalem. It's a huge undertaking because all these churches are giving, and they're giving physical currency. Okay, let's end with this. Here's our timeless truth. I've given you context clues, nerdy nuggets, and let me now give you a timeless truth. I've had the privilege of going to Israel a handful of times, like, physically going to the land of Israel. There's nothing like it in terms of learning the biblical text and, like, learning theology and really, like learning, like, the context. A lot of the nerdy nuggets and context clues that I give, even on this podcast and on the armor platform, I learned them while I was walking around the land of Israel, walking around Jerusalem. So here's a really cool thing. Geographically, it's our timeless truth for the day, is that the Jordan river feeds two seas. Okay? The Jordan river flows into the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan river also flows into the Dead Sea. And it's kind of interesting because the Sea of Galilee, full of life, full of fish, but the Dead Sea is dead. The Dead Sea has no fish. It's full of salt. Which is confusing, because the source for the Dead Sea and the source for the Sea of Galilee is both the Jordan river and the Jordan river starts all the way in the mountains as a trickle, and it just kind of becomes this raging river. And when you're in the Land of Israel, it's really, really cool to see, and you can trace the Jordan river as it goes all the way into the Dead Sea. So how is it that the Sea of Galilee is full of life and its source is the Jordan river, but the Dead Sea has no life, and its source is the Jordan River. And it's because the Sea of Galilee has a source going in and a source coming out. And so therefore, there's life. The Dead Sea has no outlet. It just receives. It never gives. And because it never gives, it's dead because the water has nowhere to go. It simply sits there and it evaporates. It's dead. And if you want to die spiritually, have a source, but no outlet. And what Paul is saying is, hey, the Christian life is a generous life. If God can get it through you, he'll always get it to you. And the way that you die spiritually is by hoarding everything and collecting everything and by having a source but not having an outlet. The Sea of Galilee has the same exact source as the Dead Sea. It's the Jordan river, but it also has an outlet. And because it has an outlet, it remains full of life. There are people who think that the way that they become wealthy is by hoarding, collecting, having a source, but having no outlet, being stingy. And Paul says that always leads to death. But the way that you actually have life is by having a source. The Jordan river is your source. God's your source. The well of living water is your source, but also having an outlet. And the church in Jerusalem should be your outlet. Hey, Corinthians, this church over here, this should be your outlet. Be generous and let this grace of generosity be active in your life, because this is counterintuitive. The more you give, the more you actually have. And if you don't give, what you actually have will always be dead, and it will produce death for you. That's our timeless truth for the day. I love you guys so much. Tomorrow we're gonna wrap up 2 Corinthians. We're gonna talk about 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, 11, 12, and 13. You're getting through the Bible this year. I'm so proud of you. I. I'll see you right here tomorrow. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.