Westminster Seminary California Morning Devotion: Steadfast Faith and Fellowship

In this sermon, Michael Horton focuses on 1 Corinthians 16 and emphasizes the themes of steadfastness, encouragement, and Christian fellowship. He discusses how these principles are vital for nurturing a resilient faith community, drawing from his expertise in systematic theology and apologetics.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

The following is a message by Doctor Michael Horton of Westminster Seminary, California. For more information about this message or about Westminster Seminary, please visit us online at www.wscal.edu. Or call us at 888-480-8474. Father, we thank you that from east to west, north to south, the nations are streaming into those gates of Zion and bringing treasures to your holy hill. Father, we pray that this morning, as we open up your word, we will see marvelous truths in it. For we pray in Christ’s Name, Amen.

My passage from 1 Corinthians is taken from chapter 16, the first four verses. Paul writes,

¹ Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. ² On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. ³ And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. ⁴ If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. (1 Corinthians 16:1-4, ESV)

Now, as you’ve heard throughout this epistle, Paul has exhorted the Corinthian believers to grow up. They’ve been given much, and yet they haven’t made much of it. In fact, they have given themselves over to divisiveness, carving the church up into niche demographics much the way that Corinthian society itself was divided. It’s not a natural community at all, but an outpost of Christ’s heavenly kingdom in this passing evil age.

And so, Paul begins with the indicative, telling them who they are in Christ, and then gives them stern warnings about how they must order their lives. In that light, of course, they were divided into factions over a host of things: leadership, personalities, such matters as whether you should eat meat that has been used in pagan ceremonies. Division over spiritual gifts. Instead of building the body up, people were using their own spiritual gift for their own edification. And as one more opportunity to divide the church into groups, they were divorcing their spouses, suing each other.

The mark of discipline was barely legible in Corinth. Instead of being a beachhead for the spirit’s work in this world, the Lord’s Supper had been turned into a parody of holy communion. And yet, in all of this, the recipients of Paul’s stern rebukes remain the people he addressed in the beginning as the church of God in Corinth, those sanctified in Christ Jesus. And it’s within that context that we come to chapter 16.

And it’s easy to treat this as just one more passing remark, you know, the way we often do the last chapter or two of Paul’s epistles. I don’t know, Chloe. I’m not familiar with Phoebe. I don’t know who these people are. I’m glad that Paul had friends and people who were helping him out in his ministry, but this isn’t very relevant to me, and it’s easy for us to pass over this section as part of those parting remarks. But the collection for the saints in Jerusalem was not a parting remark for the apostle Paul.

This was a big deal. It’s mentioned in Acts, it’s mentioned in 1 Corinthians, it’s mentioned in 2 Corinthians, it’s mentioned in Romans, and often with elaborate description of what this collection entailed. This was no ordinary collection. This was far more significant for Paul than your average Sunday offering. It was a collection for the saints in Jerusalem, a very specific collection. And it wasn’t a collection that was just taken one Sunday or another Sunday, the first offering or the second offering.

This was a collection that was taken over many months, even in the case of the Corinthians, because they took a lot longer over a couple of years. It was a sizable contribution that Paul was going to bring to Jerusalem as part of the gift for the saints there, who were struggling under tremendous trials, tremendous oppression. There was likely a blockade due to broader Jewish agitation. Rome was cracking down, but also, especially the crackdown fell hardest on the Jewish Christians because they didn’t have the wider Jewish community, in many cases, to help them out.

And so, they were very dependent, very much in desperate need of material support. Paul already mentioned the collection in an earlier letter. He says that we do not have in the canon. The collection itself was to be a formal collection, not a passing love gift, but a formal collection of all of the saints. He assumes some familiarity with this major Jerusalem collection that he’s taking when he says, “Now concerning the collection of the saints in Jerusalem.” So, he’s assuming that they know what he’s talking about.

Everyone in the churches that Paul planted or to which Paul addressed his epistles was aware of this collection for the saints. In fact, he says, “As I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.” Not only is it formal, it is universal.

What we mean by Catholic, it was an expression of the unity of the body of Christ, which had become so fragmented on the local level in Corinth that Corinth has to be chided by the apostle Paul in this letter and in Second Corinthians to get its act in order so that it can really be part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. Not only is it a catholic offering, it is a local offering.

² On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:2, ESV)

So the Church of Corinth, in its weekly worship on the Lord’s day, is to express its unity not only within the body of the Church of Corinth, but also outside with all of the churches. It’s also an official offering. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

Though an apostle, Paul respects the integrity of this local church and its officers. It’s going to come from the Church of Corinth as an apostle. He will send the officers, most likely deacons, with that gift to Jerusalem, but he will send those whom you accredit by letters. And he even adds, if it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. So he puts himself in their hands in working out the details of this diaconal responsibility.

We learn a little bit more about this gift that he’s talking about in Romans 15:14. We also see the strong theological significance of this offering, especially in the epistle to the Romans. Paul says, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.

But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus.

¹⁷ In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. ¹⁸ For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; (Romans 15:17-19, ESV)

And it’s only after that that Paul talks about his planned visit to Rome and the collection for the saints in Jerusalem.

²² This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. ²³ But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, ²⁴ I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. ²⁵ At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. ²⁶ For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. ²⁷ For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. (Romans 15:22-27, ESV)

This is not an ordinary offering. This is a passion of the apostle Paul’s. It’s amazing to see how much energy he put into this offering. It is tied up with his apostolic commission as the apostle to the Gentiles.

Do you see the connection there between his commission of preparing the Gentiles as an offering of thanksgiving to God and the offering that the Gentiles are to make, not only of themselves, but of their material goods for the saints who are in Jerusalem? This is a concrete application of what Paul said in Chapter 1:

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16, ESV)

In Chapters 9 through 11, of course, he’s made the argument that salvation has come from the Jews. Salvation is coming back to the Jews. But in the meantime, there is this space for gentiles to be grafted into the vine. And so there’s a priority in Paul’s mind given to the Jews and especially to the Jews in Jerusalem. At the same time, Paul had been the one who had spearheaded the council in Jerusalem, arguing for the inclusion of the Gentiles without their having to become Jews. And there was, of course, some disagreement there, and some Jews in Jerusalem may have thought, well, Paul isn’t really one of us anymore. Paul’s become a gentile.

And here we see that Paul is only concerned about the gospel and how the gospel has torn down that dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, uniting them into one body. Really, his whole theology in Ephesians of the two peoples becoming one is concretely realized in this offering, as it should have been at the Lord’s supper as well, and indeed was not in Corinth.

And so Paul sees his calling as a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the Gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This is a concrete expression of what God is doing in these last days. Probably more difficult for some of the Jerusalem saints to receive this gift when it arrived than it was for the poor people spread across the empire to do it.

It’s tough, you know, it’s difficult to take the charity of people you have thought were beneath you. And yet, Paul saw it not only as something the Gentiles needed to do, but as something that the Jews needed to receive. They needed to be on the receiving end of hospitality and generosity, and indeed, charity from the Gentiles. This would express the unity of the body of Christ. That’s what the collection of the saints is generally for. Paul. What about its place in the collection? The place of the collection in 1 Corinthians? First of all, the indicative.

Paul has told them already who they are in Christ. In chapter one, he tells this mostly gentile assembly that they are sanctified in Christ, Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. you’re not just out there struggling alone. Don’t just look to your own interests and the interests of your local church. Think about the broader communion of which you are a part.

They are recipients of God’s grace, Paul says, and you were enriched, he tells them, in all speech, in Christ and all knowledge. Paul had planted the church. He could say this from firsthand experience. He had imparted to them all kinds of knowledge. And he tells them that while he was with them, he preached nothing but Christ and him crucified. He proclaimed the gospel clearly and fully in such a developed way that they were well trained, they had all sorts of knowledge, and yet they are so immature. What did they do with this knowledge?

They divided into factions. Now, they should be teachers, but in fact, they are infants in Christ. Tough words to tell a congregation you planted. You are infants in Christ. It’s difficult for me to even talk to you as I would normal Christians, because you’re infants in Christ, although by this time you shouldn’t be. They had even used the Lord’s Supper and the spiritual gifts as an occasion for one-upmanship instead of for the building up of the body of Christ.

So instead of a choir, the church in Corinth had become a platform for virtuoso performances, sort of the Corinthian version of American Idol, an opportunity for people to show off and to carry their little banner around. I am of Cephas; I am of Paul; I am of Apollos. What is his imperative then, in the light of this indicative? He says, restore the marks of the church, preach the gospel, Christ and him crucified.

Administer the sacraments properly as Christ instituted and restore church discipline in all of its various forms, including proper judicial operations for personal offenses, concern for the propriety and orderliness of worship, which had fallen into chaos, and the upbuilding of the whole body, as well as the evangelistic mission to their neighbors. The gospel is the substance of the indicative, and love, for Paul is the substance of the imperative. As we have been loved, let us love. And so you have that wonderful love chapter in chapter 13.

The collection for the saints is one really primary place where the indicative and the imperative are to find their concrete expression. Preaching and sacrament deliver the gospel to us, driving us outside of ourselves. So we are looking up to God in faith and out to our neighbors in love. This is what the gospel is supposed to do. And that’s why Paul starts over by telling them the gospel again as if they never heard it, because they haven’t been driven outside of themselves. They are introspective.

They are a church turned in on itself, not looking out to the world with concern for gospel mission and ministry, not caring for the saints, not thinking about how their own individual spiritual gift can contribute to the upbuilding of the whole body. And so, what’s happening in Corinth at a local level is going to inhibit their ability to participate in the catholic church at a broader level. The upbuilding of the whole body in evangelical love is not only expressed locally, but in broader connections and broader assemblies. So, finally, what happened?

What happened in Corinth with these collections? Actually, not collections, really the collection. It’s interesting. Paul thought of it as the collection. Picture it in your mind here, especially for Jews thinking of psalms that tell of the wealth of the gentiles being brought to Zion. Think of how they must have reacted when Paul is coming with diaconal representatives from gentile churches that have pork at their potlucks but have the same faith in Christ, bringing a giant box filled with money to relieve the saints from their material distress. What happened?

Well, we would like to say Paul shaped them up. They got their doctrines straight. They figured things out. They recovered the mark of discipline, and just checkbooks flew open. We’d love to say that, but it’s wonderfully comforting to those of us who live in the real church to actually encounter what happened in 2 Corinthians 8:1. Paul says,

¹ We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, (2 Corinthians 8:1, ESV)

This is Jewish guilt.

² for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. (2 Corinthians 8:2, ESV)

He’s being a little ironic here. They’re poorer than you guys are. They don’t live in a port city. They don’t make as much money as you do. But just as they abounded in poverty, they abounded in generosity.

³ For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, ⁴ begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— ⁵ and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. ⁶ Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. ⁷ But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. ⁸ I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.

⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. ¹⁰ And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. ¹¹ So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. ¹² For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³ For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness ¹⁴ your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. ¹⁵ As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.” (2 Corinthians 8:3-15, ESV)

Body of Christ is a commonwealth. It doesn’t mean that we’re socialists in the civil sphere, but it does mean that it is a commonwealth of saints. When one member of the body suffers, not just locally, but more generally, the whole body suffers.

And what Paul is saying is part of the catholicity of the saints means that God has given poverty to some Christians because the rich believers need them, and He has given rich Christians to the body of Christ, because the rest of the body needs them. It’s not just that the poor need the rich. The rich need the poor in order for them to grow up into Christ and to receive the spiritual blessings of belonging to one people. Where grace has been given, and now, like Christmas, gifts are being passed around.

All good gifts come from God. And because of the gift that we have been given, we therefore pass along our material and temporal gifts to each other. They even begged, Paul says, even begged in Macedonia and Achaia, these other places, to be a part of this wonderful gift of all of the churches to the Jews in Rome, the Jews in Jerusalem. And now, finally, let me just close with verses one and following of chapter nine.

¹ Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, ² for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. (2 Corinthians 9:1-2, ESV)

But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove vain in this matter, so that you may be ready as I said you would be. Don’t prove me a liar here.

Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated, to say nothing of you for being so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go ahead of you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we thank you that you have given us the greatest gift of all in your Son, and that you have united us, fellow sinners, in a communion of saints.

Father, we pray that you would help us to see that you care as much for the body as the soul and are as concerned for the material welfare of our lives as the spiritual welfare, proved by the fact that we anticipate one day the resurrection of our body.

And in the light of that, Father, we thank you for giving to us not only a diversity of spiritual gifts, but a diversity of socioeconomic backgrounds in our churches so that we can be one body and express the gifts that we have, whether they’re material or spiritual, and can give and receive. Help us, Father, to be better receivers of the gifts that poorer members in our congregations have to give us, and help us in return to give the material blessings back to those who need them. For we pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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