THE CHURCHES OF MACEDONIA

THE CHURCHES OF MACEDONIA

2 Corinthians 8:1-5 (KJV)

Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;

How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

You will, I trust, remember that much of 2 Corinthians chapter seven is taken up with the idea that the Apostle Paul and boldly boasted all over Macedonia, about the church in Corinth.

He begins chapter eight by boasting to the Corinthians about the churches of Macedonia.

This is a passage quite familiar to most of us as we have just completed our mission’s emphasis and Faith Promise, a plan that is based upon 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

Before we begin, I thought I would take a lesson to note the phrase, the churches of Macedonia.

First of all, it is “churches” not “church”.

The Bible knows no such thing as a universal, church that all Christians belong to and the phrase, “the church” to speak of Christianity as a whole is a doctrinal error that has HUGE consequences.

Yet it is so common in our language that almost all of us say it and never think twice about it.

There is no such thing in the Bible as one “the church.”

There are only local, “the churches”

The thing I want to focus on is that phrase, “of Macedonia”

It does not say, “at Macedonia”.

It does not say, “in Macedonia”.[1]

It says, “the churches of Macedonia”.

Using my Webster’s 1828 dictionary, I found three uses of the preposition, “of.” I mean to derive my outline from those three uses.

First the preposition is used to mean, 

I. FROM, PROCEEDING OUT OF

1 Corinthians 11:23 (KJV)

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

You see? The Lord’s Supper came from the Lord.

It proceeded from the Lord and was received by Apostle Paul

The instructions Paul gave, concerning the Lord’s Supper, were instructions coming from one source, the Lord, and then being delivered to another, Paul.

At least one of the implications that tells me is that a church ought to be made up of souls proceeding out of the community it finds itself.

Macedonia is a region, so we are talking about communities.

The members of the churches[2] ought to come from the communities where the church is located.

A church that builds itself by recruiting out of other churches is foreign to the principles we find in the Word of God.

Obviously, people move, transfer and get scattered, and when that happens, they ought to be free to unite with a sound church in the area they relocate to.

We find that principle in the Word of God, I think of Pricilla and Aquila who are mentioned in connection to two or three churches. Persecution in those days required some flexibility, especially among higher profile believers.

But for the most part, a church ought to seek to minister to the people of a community rather than just recruit people in from other places to fill a building.

The preposition is used to mean, 

II. A PART OR A SHARE

Matthew 7:9 (KJV)

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Here is a group of men.

This man is one of them.

He is a part of them.

We like to use that phrase that we are in the world but not of the world.[3]

But we can take that too far, and I think we have in many cases. We want to be so separated from the world sometimes, that we don’t want to contribute anything to our world.[4]

It’s part of that Christian Yellow Pages mentality where we only do business with other Christians.

That’s why, in our kind of church, there is almost always this trend where:

·   When the church is young, it sees growth and excitement, because literally everybody in it just came out of the community and still knows a bunch of the community.

·   Then the church reaches a stage where, the majority of the people in it just like to hang around with each other. They personally know very few people in the community.

·   Finally the church reaches a stage where the members get older and everyone they know is either in the church or settled in their lifestyle.

I believe that MOST of our social life ought to be in the church.

But if we have no part in the community. If we do not share in it in some way, we will stop being a church made up of members of the community.

Finally, the preposition is used to mean, 

III. POSSESSION OR PROPERTY

Matthew 2:20 (KJV)

Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.

After the death of Herod, Joseph was instructed to take Mary and young Jesus into the land that was the possession or property of Israel.

This is not to say that the churches of Macedonia were under the dominion of Macedonia. 

If there is anything we learn in the Bible, it is that a church answers to a higher authority than the state.

Our nation was built on that truth.

We are quickly losing it.

What it does mean is that a church is valuable to a community.

It is essential to a community.

I like what one preacher said this week, “Remember pastor, your church does not only do essential work, it does eternal work.”[5]

It used to be that developers would offer a piece of a new development to a church planter because a church was considered an asset in a community.

While perhaps fewer people think that way than they used to, it is imperative that we think that way of our church.

Jesus said, Matthew 5:13-16 (KJV)

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

·   It is the work of the local church to preach the saving gospel

·   It is the work of the local church to teach people to observe all that Jesus commanded

·   It is the work of the local church to equip believers for the work of the ministry

Every one of the founders of our country saw the value in churches in producing moral citizens.

They misunderstood the true eternal value of the church, but they did recognize it had value.

Conclusion

I believe that one of the most important things that can happen in your heart right now is that YOU begin to view your part in your church as essential, vital:

·   Worth the risk of health

·   Worth the risk of judgment

·   Worth the effort of caring for, promoting and drawing others into it.

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[1] Full disclosure, there are references in the book of The Revelation of the church “in” Sardis and so forth. Also the Bible references, in 2 Corinthians 2 “the church of God which is at Corinth”. I am not attempting to say that these terms have NO place in Bible understanding. I merely wish to say lay focus on the implications this term has.

[2] Or the vast majority of them.

[3] I think this concept derives especially from John 17. 

John 17:11 (KJV)

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

John 17:16 (KJV)

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

[4] I speak of our community.

[5] I think that was Peter Folger from Cleveland Baptist Temple.