>> Jen: Hey, faithful listeners. Welcome to the Bible Explained podcast. I hope you guys are ready to discuss the last chapter of First Corinthians. I'm looking forward to tonight because I have a Christmas party with my youth students. As some of you know, I am one of the youth leaders at my church. I am the worship leader for the youth group and, and I absolutely love going to all my youth events. And this one
is the Christmas party that we do every single year. It is the funniest event of the entire year because we do like a, uh, white elephant gift exchange. And it's hilarious some of the things that the kids get. For example, this year, for my gift in contribution to the white elephant, I bought a bunch of pickle flavored weird things. So I have pickle flavored pop, I have pickle flavored toothpaste, and I also have pickle flavored silly straws.
So I'm very excited to see how the kids are going to react to the pickle flavored gift that I got for them. Tell me what you guys do for Christmas. If you have any Christmas parties going on, or tell me about a fun tradition that your family has during Christmas, I'd love to hear about it. You can contact me by looking at the description of this episode. My email is listed below. Go ahead and read First Corinthians 16, the entire chapter. I'll be reading this out of the web, as I usually do.
Feel free to grab a nice delicious hot cup of coffee or hot cocoa or hot tea. All right, let's go ahead and read the entire chapter of, uh, 1 Corinthians 16. Now, concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise on the first day of every week. Let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no collections are made when I come, when I arrive, I will send whoever you approve with letters to carry your gracious gift to
Jerusalem. If it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me. But I will come to you when I have passed through Macedonia. For I am passing through Macedonia. but with you, It may be that I will stay, or even winter, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go. For I do not wish to see you now in passing, but I hope to stay with you a while, if the LORD permits. But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are
many adversaries. Now, if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear, for he does the work of the LORD, as I do also. Therefore let no one despise him, but set him forward on his journey in peace, that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brothers. Now, concerning Apollos the brother, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers, but it was not at all his desire to come now. But he will come when he has an opportunity. Watch. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous.
Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Now, I beg you, brothers, you know the house of Stephanus, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have set themselves to serve the saints. That you also be in subjection to such and to everyone who helps in the work and labors. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanus, Fortunatus and Achaicus, for that which was lacking on your part they supplied, for they refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge those who
are like that. The assemblies of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you much in the LORD, together with the assembly that is in their house. All the brothers greet you, greet one another with a holy kiss. This greeting is by me, Paul, with my own hand. If any man doesn't love the LORD Jesus Christ, let him be cursed. Come, LORD. The grace of the LORD Jesus Christ be with you. My love to all of you in Christ
Jesus. Amen. As m you can kind of tell First Corinthians 16 is the last chapter of the book of First Corinthians, because it ends very final. And also the entire chapter of First Corinthians 16 is basically Paul wrapping everything up with a bow, just talking about a few things that he wants to discuss before he ends his letter. So reading the entire chapter, I would say that the theme of this chapter is
giving. Verses 1 through 8 talk about this special collection that was being made for the Christians in Jerusalem. There had been some famines going on during the day of Paul that would have affected Jerusalem. Not to mention that the Jerusalem church was very big and had a lot of poor people in it, had a lot of widows, had a lot of, um, fatherless children that they needed to provide
for. So it's possible that this gift that Paul is trying to collect for the Jerusalem Christians is going to the needy within the Jerusalem church, not necessarily to the church itself. So Paul says in verse 1, concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise. So Paul actually commanded the churches in Galatia to give, and now he's commanding the church in Corinth to give as well. He says, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you
do likewise. Now, every single time I talk about giving on the podcast, I get at least one person very angry at me, and I'm not exactly sure why, because giving financially is clearly commanded in the New Testament, and it's commanded throughout the entire Bible. But there's so many people that challenge me, and they're like, no, it's never specifically commanded because the word tithe is never used. And that's true in the New Testament to the word tithe is not used.
But Paul didn't need to talk about tithing because he talks about giving financially in many other capacities. For example, we talked about 1 Corinthians 9 already, and the entire chapter was basically Paul arguing how pastors should be financially supported by the church. So Paul talks about giving quite a lot, and he talks about supporting pastors, ministers, evangelists,
and ministries with financial gifts. And it's a command because once again, in verse one of, uh, 1 Corinthians 16, it says, now, concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise. Moving on to verse two. On the first day of every week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no
collections are made when I come. So what Paul is saying here is that he wants each person to give what they think they should give based upon their income and based upon what they can afford. Paul doesn't want to have the collections made when he's there because he wants to avoid peer pressure. As we know, giving should be something that each Christian does. But God wants a cheerful giver. He doesn't want somebody to give just because somebody else is giving or because of
peer pressure or something along those lines. He wants people to give what they can afford and what they have decided in their hearts to give. Which is why Paul says to have the collections be made on the first day of each week. Now, that would be on Sunday, which is just kind of interesting because everybody says that, oh, we don't do church the right way because we don't do it on the Sabbath, which is Saturday. But, uh, there's evidence right there that early church actually
did meet on Sunday. And I wonder if part of it was because a lot of the Christians in the early church were also Jewish. And so they still did their typical, like, Sabbath routines, maybe even went to the synagogues on Sabbath, and then dedicated their time on Sunday to church. So people were to bring their financial gifts on the first day of the week, every week until Paul got there. And then once Paul came, he would take
all of the money. No collection would be made when he was in town, he said, because he doesn't want any peer pressure taking place. But Paul would collect the entire donation, and then he would designate people to take it to Jerusalem. He says, I will send whoever you approve with letters to carry your gracious gift to Jerusalem. And if it is appropriate for me to go also, then they will go
with me. So Paul's like, if I can make it to Jerusalem to drop off this gift, then the men that you approve to go to Jerusalem, I will travel along with them. But then Paul kind of switches the subject here, and he says, I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia, but with you I will stay, or even winter, that you can send me on my journey wherever I go. And Paul says, I don't want to spend only a short period, period of
time with you guys. I want to see you. I want to spend a long time with you, even possibly through the entire winter. And then you guys can send me off in the spring to wherever I am going to go next. He says, I don't wish to see you in passing. I hope to stay with you for a while, if the LORD permits. Now, we know from the Book of James that it's always wise for us to admit the Lord's will in
every single aspect of our lives. So say we have some sort of plan that we're going to do in the future. It's far more wise for us to say we're going to do this if it's in God's will, because obviously we don't know the future. We can make plans, we can predict the future. We can think about the future. But as you all know, crazy things happen in the future, and sometimes plans have to get canceled. So it's just best to give God the authority in every aspect of our lives,
which is what Paul says here. He says, I will travel to see you if the LORD permits. But for the time being, verse 8. I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost for a great and effective door has opened to me. And there are many adversaries. So Paul was actually writing First Corinthians when he was in Ephesus. And Ephesus, I believe, was Paul's longest stay. Typically, when Paul went and planted churches, he didn't stay for very
long. Now with the Corinthians, he did stay for a year and a half, planting the Corinthian Church, and then he left. But I believe he stayed in Ephesus for a solid three years. So it's possible that Paul is referring to that, that he still has a lot of work to be done in Ephesus before he can come back to, uh, Corinth and visit the church in Corinth again. Because this great and effective door has opened to Paul, and he was going to walk through it. He was going to take that opportunity to
spread the gospel to more people. To more people, and to plant the church more effectively in Ephesus. Then verse 10, which is kind of a, uh, cutesy verse. If Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear, for he does the work of the LORD, as I do also. Therefore, let no one despise him, but set him forward on his journey in peace, that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brothers. So Timothy was one of Paul's partners in the faith. He was a very young man when Paul first
met him. He was a boy of mixed heritage. So I believe his mother was a Jew and his father was a Greek. And so Timothy became one of Paul's kind of like quasi disciples and then eventually went off on his own and did a lot of, uh, things by himself. But Paul actually wrote the entire books of first and second Timothy to Timothy because of the missionary work that Timothy was doing. So. So in 1 Timothy 4:12, here's what Paul says.
To let no man despise your youth, but be an example to those who believe in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. Now, of course, I'm sure that this is the motto of every single youth group in America. Let no man despise your youth. And it really is. I think it was the motto of our youth group for a little while there. It was also the motto of my youth group growing up. Pretty much every single church, I feel like at some point in time has this verse as their
motto for their youth group. Unfortunately, the verse is kind of twisted a little bit to make it out as if older individuals are despising teens because they are youthful. It's, uh, a command for the elderly to respect the young people. But that is not what Paul is saying. In 1 Timothy 4:12. He is telling Timothy to be an adult, to not be a child or a disrespectful teenager that the elderly in the church can't stand being around. He's telling Timothy to grow up and to be an
adult. Let no man despise your Youth, but be an example to those who believe. So that is a command to Timothy, not the other way around. However, in 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, Paul does command the Corinthian Church to not despise Timothy because he is a green preacher. He says, if Timothy comes, see to it that he is without fear, for he does the work of the LORD, as I also do. Therefore, let no
one despise him. So that is in fact a command for the older individuals of the Corinthian Church to not despise Timothy just because he is a younger minister, but set him forward on his journey in peace that he may come to me, for I expect him with the brothers. And because Timothy was such a new evangelist, Paul was afraid that Timothy would get discouraged very early on if the churches just rejected him because he was
too young. And that is why Paul is asking the Corinthian Church to treat Timothy with respect, because Timothy does in fact, have knowledge of the Holy Spirit, despite the fact that he's young. And he does the same work that Paul also does. And this just shows right here that all Christians are equal, that they might have different roles and certain individuals have been given authority and leadership, and we're supposed to respect those leaders that have that
authority. But overall, there is complete and total equality among the Christian faith. In fact, my sister and I just did another discussions episode this week that I'll be airing this weekend about the Pope and the hierarchy of the Catholic faith and why Protestants don't have a Pope or a Pope like figure. In fact, in verse 12 of, uh, 1 Corinthians 16, Paul actually makes another point about how Christians are
all equal. Now, concerning Apollos the brother, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers, and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has an opportunity. This shows that Paul is not above Apollos, because even though Paul encouraged and urged Apollos to go to Corinth now, Apollos, uh, was like, no, I don't want to right now. And Paul said, okay, you know, if you don't want to go right now, that is
totally fine. So Paul didn't demand that Apollos, like, follow him or lead him or anything like that. Just as Peter wouldn't demand Paul to do anything, or Peter wouldn't demand any other Christian to do anything unless it was something biblical. That's the only way Paul and the other apostles would command somebody to do something is if it was a direct order by God or if it were
biblical. For example, at the beginning of this chapter, Paul did command the Corinthian church to give money to the poor of Jerusalem. And that's because that is biblical, that is scriptural. And there are so many passages in scripture that talk about giving to the poor. So that's the only way Paul or any of the other apostles or any other minister or leader should be commanding people to do something
is if it is biblical. But when it comes to things that are extra biblical, like Apollos traveling to Corinth, Paul had no authority over Apollos and no real right to command him to do that. But to conclude this chapter, Paul says, watch. Stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, and let all that you do be done in love. Now this takes me to Matthew, chapter 24, where Jesus was preaching to his disciples about his return.
He says in verse 42, therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your LORD will come. But understand this, if the owner of the house had known what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when
you do not expect him. And so Paul says as his final closing statement to the Corinthian Church, to watch, to stand firm in the faith, to be courageous or be brave, or if you look at the Greek, to be like men and to be strong. And not only that, to let everything be done in love. Because love is the most important
thing. So Christians are supposed to be like warriors, loving warriors, I suppose, where we are watching for Jesus, we are waiting for him, but we are also being brave and courageous while we're here on Earth, because Earth is scary. You know, things are happening all the time that are kind of creepy. For example, the one I can't stop hearing about right now is the drones. It's like the new mass hysteria. Couple years ago, it was Covid. There's always something scary
happening. So Christians are supposed to be brave and courageous and strong like warriors while we wait for Jesus here on Earth. But in the meantime, we're also supposed to be very loving. In fact, everything we do should be done in love. And that is very difficult to do. Obviously not love of self, by the way, love of our fellow man. Because love of self, self love can actually turn our focus on the wrong thing. It will turn our focus on ourselves.
And that is something that helps breed pride and arrogance. So when Paul talks about love, he's not talking about self love, but he's talking about love of our fellow man. Then he commends these three men named, uh, Stephanus, Fortunus and Achaicus, because they visited him at one point and brought gifts. It says that I rejoice at the coming of these three men, for that which was lacking on your part, they supplied.
Paul was very blunt, and he was not afraid to tell the Corinthians that they kind of sucked sometimes. They refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore, acknowledge those who are like that. So not only are us Christians supposed to give to people, but we're also supposed to acknowledge people who refresh others through giving and through labor because they deserve a reward. They deserve recognition for what they are doing. For example, I'm going to call out one of my friends at the church.
His name is Kyle, and he is a huge servant. He is always at the church whenever there is something to be done. If you ask him to do something, he will be there with bells on. He will show up. When my husband and I were moving, Kyle was there at my old house, helping us pack boxes, helping us clean things, helping us move everything. And then he showed up the next morning and did it all over
again. People like Kyle should be recognized a lot more than they are, because they are true servants and they are refreshing others with their labor and with their gifts as well. Then for Paul's final words. The assemblies of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you along with their assembly that is in their house. And all the brothers greet you. So greet one another with a holy kiss. That was the common way for people in Paul's day to show affection. Similarly to
like a hug. Nowadays, this greeting is by me, Paul, with my own hand. If any man doesn't love the LORD Jesus Christ, let him be cursed. This curse that Paul is talking about here is a cursing that the Jewish temple would do to people who, uh, sinned in the Jewish community. They would be excommunicated for a month from the temple. And then once that month went by, the priest would go visit that man and see if he repented or he was sorry for what he
had done. And if he wasn't sorry, then he would have a much longer time period of not being allowed back in the temple until he repented again. Then after however long that was, the priests decided that this man was completely unrepentant. He would be excommunicated forever and no longer be considered a Jew. So that is the same thing that Paul is talking about here, that if somebody doesn't love the LORD Jesus Christ that he will be cursed by God the same way that the Jewish people would curse
somebody who was apostate. But then Paul says, come LORD, the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ be with you all. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen. Um, so I hope you enjoyed the end of First Corinthians. We are not going to have an episode out of the New Testament next week because obviously Christmas is right smack dab in the middle of the week, so I'm going to be taking Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday off next week. Tuesday's episode will be the candlelit Christmas podcast episode that I do every single year, so make sure to stay tuned for that. And then Monday's episode will be just the normal episode from First Kings. So we'll have a little bit of a break next week, but I hope you guys have a wonderful and restful rest of your weekend. I will see you all on Monday for an episode from First Kings. Happy listening and God bless.