What are our responsibilities in giving to our local church?  In a world of disagreement, there are three principles that undergird them all.  In this episode, we take a break in our series from 1 Corinthians and move into 2 Corinthians 8.

Factions within a church are produced from sin. Often, this sin roots in a trust of feelings and thoughts that do not align with Scripture. Our ignorance and knowledge of personal sin should help us guard against thoughts and emotions that divide the church and disparage others.

After the illustration of a field, Paul then uses a construction metaphor to teach the Corinthians.  They are all laborers responsible for building up the church - each other.  Since they are doing it as worship to God, it deserves their first and their best.

If we are on the path to spiritual maturity, there should be fruit that comes from our lives.  We should have a desire to walk by the Spirit, an appetite for deeper knowledge of Scripture, and a healthy self-awareness. 

Folly is often masked as wisdom.  In our spiritual growth, we must never come to the point that we think we know everything.  To do so is foolish.  If a mark of maturity is a desire to know more, then the mature should be acknowledging limited knowledge and a need to know more.  With this understanding, it was not Apollos or Paul the Corinthains were following, but their own foolishness.

God believes the church is important.  Therefore, it should be important to us.  Paul finished his illustrations by telling the Corinthains that church is a temple.  It is not constructed by human hands, but by the atoning work of Jesus Christ.  The gathered church is a display of God’s glory. 

Paul give 3 illustrations that allow the Corinthians to correct their view of the church.  There can be distinction in the church without division.  Using the idea of a field, Paul helps the church see that he and Apollos were merely servants working together.

This episode is an introduction to the sermon series from 1 Corinthians.  The root of compromise is never worldly circumstances; it is the worldly desires that linger within you heart and mind.

There is a proper division that exists, but it is not between God’s people.  It is salvation that creates a division between those that are in Christ and those that are in the world.  When “I” supercedes the cross, the unity of the church will always suffer.

Sin in the life of an unbeliever is always a Gospel issue and the same holds true for the believer.  The life of the Corinthian believers was hopeless prior to their conversion.  Most of them were not wise, powerful, or of noble birth.  On top of these truths, in God’s eyes they were foolish, weak, lowly, and despised.  However, through Christ they received righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.  The power of the Gospel leads to transformation.