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THE KING’S BUSINESS
power, but then death’s defeat and our victory will be complete. How Paul tri umphs over death and defiles hiija in the contemplation o f that great day: “ O death” he cries, “where is thy victory ?, O death, where is thy sting?” “The sting o f death is sin,” but if there were no sin there would be no sting in death, indeed there would be no death as we now understand it; there would simply be an immediate transformation to immortality. “The strength o f sin is the law,” i.e., it is the law that hrings sin to consciousness, stirs it up and causes it to be imputed, and reveals its sinfulness (cf. Rom. 3:20; 4:15; 5:13; 7:9-13). But God gives us the vic tory (over sin, over the law, over death). What a victory! No wonder Paul burst forth: “Thanks be to God!” This victory is “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” What is th(e conclusion o f this great doctrine of the resurrection o f the body? Very prac tical : in view o f it we should be “stead fast (settled in our faith ahd character), immovable (not carried about with every wind o f doctrine), always abounding in the work o f the Lord.” The reason why we should always be abounding in the work o f the Lord is because we “know that” our “labor is not in vain in the Lord.” We know that our labor (the word for labor is a strong one, denoting hard and painful toil) will have full and sure reward. Sunday, January 6. i Cor. 16 : i, 2 . As the national existence o f the Jews drew toward a close Jerusalem and Judea • became the seat o f many troubles that involved the people in poverty, and the Christians at Jerusalem became more or less involved in the general distress. Paul carried these people on his heart wherever he went, and raised money to relieve their need (cf. Rom. 15:26; Acts 11:29, 30; 24:17; 2 Cor. 8 :4 ; 9:1-12). He who had been the bitterest enemy o f the $aints in Jerusalem (Acts 9:1) now became their warmest, most constant and active friend. He does not speak o f them here as the poor, but as “the. saints.;’ He does not emphasize their need, but their worthiness,
and their being brethren. The saints in Corinth iwere to have fellowship with the distress o f the saints in Jerusalem (cf. ch. 1 :2). Paul had recently passed through the country o f Galatia (cf, Acts 18:23), and while there, had raised money for the saints in Jerusalem (Gal. 2:10), and now writing from Ephesus (Acts 19:1), he stirs up the church in Corinth by the exam ple o f the churches in Galatia. In like manner he stirred up the Macedonians by the example o f the Corinthians (2 Cor. 9:2), and the Romans by the example of the Macedonians (Rom. 15:26, 27). Good doing is- contagious and spreads .widely. Little did the churches in Galatia realize how widely their beneficence would bear fruit. It is bearing fruit yet. Paul instructs them to give by a regular method, systemat ically and proportionately. One will give mpch more and much more easily and joy fully if he “lays by him in store” each week, than if he gives in big lumps now and then. Proportionate giving is the divinely pre scribed plan o f giving: put aside each : week in proportion to what you have made. Paul does not say that the proportion shall be a tenth o f our income. The tithe (or tenth) was the Jewish law, and a Chris tian will certainly. not be more niggardly than a Jeiv. But many a Christian is not satisfied to give only a tenth (2 Cor. 8:9). “The first day o f the week” was the day that Paul by Divine inspiration appointed for thus setting apart each week a propor tion o f one’s income. “The first day” was especially dear to Christians. On it Christ arose from the dead; on it the Holy Ghost was given to the disciples (Acts 2 :1 ; cf. Lev. 23:16) ; on it Jesus showed Himself to His disciples again and again (John 20:19- 26). It was the day upon which the stone rejected o f the builders was made the head o f the corner, and in which we are to rejoice and be glad (Ps. 118:22-24). It was the day upon which the old physical and new spiritual creations began. It was the day in which Christians met together to break bread (Acts 20:7). It is the day *hen Jesus still especially manifests Him self (Rev. 1:10). Creation, .Redemption,
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