The Way it Is

DEVOTION

2 CORINTHIANS

THE WAY IT IS

2 Cor 11:7-12

7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. 11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! 12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about.

NIV

We are going to see what this is all about in the next verses but for now we need to see a truth in these words. Paul actually thought it was robbery for him to receive support from churches. Although he still took it, it appears he was not pleased about having to do so. Don’t missionaries deserve to be supported by the church? That is the way it has been as long as we can remember. We certainly would not expect missionaries to collect money from those they are trying to win for Christ. Yet Paul felt he lowered himself by taking support money from another church so as to not be a burden on those he was trying to win for Christ. It appear we have made this the way of things today. Missionaries do not have to feel as though they have lowered themselves at all, in fact, most denominations require those who are called to be missionaries to go around from church to church seeking support. It would be unheard of for them to actually find some kind of work to support themselves. Of course most of them are in some foreign land which would not allow them to work, so they have to get support from us. But then are they robbing us so as to live where they do and try to win people to Christ? That seems such a strange statement and it simply cannot be true, yet what are we to make of what is said here? Have we changed the truth to fit our concept of things? Our world, our times are surely much different than in the time of the Corinthians. Most countries have so many laws governing the way missionaries can function. We have to support them if they are going to be in those places winning souls for Christ. So we have changed the truth to fit our world’s way of doing things, at least from the point that missionaries surely do not feel they have lowered themselves by taking money from us, and we surely have been made to feel it is our duty to support them. But in another thought, are we not all supported to be, at least in some sense, a missionary to the world around us? But not in an official licensed, ordained, approved way, by the denominational headquarters. So we just have to accept the way it is, because that is the way it is. But should it be?