The Apostle Paul was organizing a collection for the suffering saints in Jerusalem. The churches of Achaia, including Corinth, had been eager a year earlier. Desire had not yet become completed giving. Paul used the poorer Macedonian churches as an example and then called the Corinthians to finish what they had begun. The same pattern applies to grace giving and faith promise commitments for worldwide evangelism today.
Finish what your willing heart began (verses 10-11)
Paul wrote, “And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.” The Corinthians had shown willingness. Paul commended that eagerness. He then pressed them to perform the doing of it.
A missionary cannot buy a plane ticket with good wishes. A family on the field cannot pay rent on enthusiasm alone. Between caring about missions and actually supporting missions stands follow-through. Grace makes believers willing. Obedience, itself a work of grace, helps them finish.
Grace is not only spontaneous. It can also produce planning that lasts after emotion fades. Videos and invitations at a missions conference may move hearts. Emotions rise and fall. A decision made by faith and the leading of the Holy Spirit can continue after the excitement passes. The Corinthians had been willing a year before. Paul now called them to faithful action.
Lottie Moon wrote from China with an urgent appeal for workers and an offering. Annie Armstrong organized the response. She wrote more than a thousand letters and circulated tens of thousands of envelopes. The first Christmas offering exceeded the goal and sent additional workers. Inspiration required practical feet. Paul was doing similar work: the Corinthians meant well; now they needed to complete the gift.
Missions giving does not replace tithes and general offerings. It is a grace gift beyond them. Three ways remain to support worldwide evangelization: going, praying, and giving. The church needs a fresh generation of labourers as well as faithful financial follow-through. If the Lord truly lays a commitment on a heart, He also supplies the grace to keep it.
Give according to what God has entrusted to you (verses 12-15)
“For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.”
God does not measure the gift by what a person does not have. He receives it according to what He has entrusted. The believer of limited means is not expected to give as a wealthy believer gives. The aim is not to crush anyone with an impossible burden or to ease others at another’s expense. Paul wanted present ability to meet a present need so that there might be equality.
Giving bountifully means giving in a way that reflects how God has blessed a person. Sparing giving fails to match that blessing. Faith is not promising a sum one does not possess in order to look spiritual. It is trusting God and obeying with what He has already given. Regular commitments then allow the church to support missionaries who can count on the help.
R. G. LeTourneau famously pictured himself shovelling into the Lord’s work while God shovelled back with a larger shovel. God enabled him to reverse the tithe. That is not the standard required of every believer. Stewardship remains. Prices rise. God knows. He can still lay on a heart a commitment He intends to provide through grace, so that individuals and the church together do their part in the Great Commission.
A six-year-old boy once gave all six dollars he had so two people in Spain could receive Bibles. Compared with larger gifts it was small. God did not expect a child to give as a businessman gives. The goal is to be a channel of grace, sacrificial yet measured by what has been entrusted.
Handle God’s money in a way that honours God (verses 16-24)
Paul thanked God for putting earnest care in Titus’s heart. He sent Titus with a brother whose praise was in the gospel throughout the churches, and another proven brother. They travelled with the grace being administered “to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind; Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us: Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.” Those men were messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. The Corinthians were to show the proof of their love.
Everything a believer owns belongs to God. The believer administers it. At Faithway Baptist Church, one hundred percent of missions gifts go to missions. None remains for local staff or local needs. A written missionary policy governs how funds are handled. Missionaries are reviewed so that support goes to those who are actually doing the work they claim. The church seeks a high percentage of faith-promise funds for church-planting efforts, with other portions for orphanages and genuine helps ministries. The reason is simple: the money belongs to the Lord.
Paul listed trusted names so the Corinthians would know the offering would reach Jerusalem with integrity. The same care honours God today. Support roles and helps ministries have their place when they genuinely assist those who plant churches and make disciples. Funds sacrificially given by God’s people must be used for worldwide evangelization.
Paul’s appeal reached both heart and hands. The Corinthians were willing. They needed to finish. The gift would be measured according to what they had. It would be handled with care so that the Lord was honoured throughout.
As the missions conference approaches, believers are urged to pray sincerely about their part as individuals and families, to decide what they can give from what God has entrusted, and then to follow through. Hudson Taylor said God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply. When the work is truly His and is done His way, He gives the grace that finishes.
