Thus says the Lord of
hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord…
Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of
hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat,
but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe
yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into
a bag with holes… You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when
you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of
my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own
house…
Now concerning the
collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also
are to do. 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. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter
to carry your gift to Jerusalem.
The point is this: whoever
sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also
reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is
able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all
things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
Haggai 1:2-9, 1 Corinthians 16:1-3
& 2 Corinthians 9:6-9
In the above passage from Haggai, the prophet told the
people that the reason they were not prospering was their neglect of the temple
in Jerusalem, ‘the house of the Lord’. They had returned from captivity in
Babylon to rebuild the temple but they had forgotten it as they not only
rebuilt their own homes but furnished them with disproportionate extravagance. They
had hoarded what wealth they had: having failed to sow in generosity, they did
not reap in prosperity.
In writing to church at Corinth about sowing and
reaping, St Paul was following up a previous letter in which he had encouraged them
to put aside their gifts on the first day of each week and to do so in
proportion to how they had prospered.
I do not think that Paul meant to establish a schedule
for all ages and cultures when he said to give on the first day of each week
but only guiding the Corinthians how best to do it at a time when wages were
paid daily and Christians came together to worship weekly. In saying that they
should give in proportion to their income, he was following established
principles for the Jews.
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2013.
Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright
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