Title: Happy Missionaries, Happy Saints
2 Corinthians (44) Happy missionaries, happy saints (2 Corinthians 11:7-10)
< The Apostle Paul's Pure Devotion >
To put it simply these days, the Corinthian church was a large church in Bundang, but the Macedonian churches were small local churches. If so, the Corinthian church should be responsible for his fee, but the Macedonian churches sponsored it, so it felt as if he stole the finances of the churches in need. Why did the Apostle Paul not receive a fee from the Corinthian church? It was not to be a burden or a burden (verse 9).
When the apostle Paul was ministering in Corinth, he made a tent to cover his living expenses, but it was not enough. Several Macedonian churches, such as the Philippi church formed around Lydia, made up for the insufficient cost of living by sending donations. As such, the Apostle Paul acted carefully so as not to be a burden to the Corinthians, and was purely dedicated to the salvation of souls without any human calculations.
In the end, the apostle Paul tried to protect the Corinthian church from false teachers who boasted of spirituality, gifts, and mystical experiences, not to gain anything from the Corinthians, but because they were afraid that they would be deceived by false teachers and steal their souls and material. . That is why he was admonishing false teachers not to lose heart. In matters of money, the apostle Paul and the false teachers certainly had a contrast.
Of course, God's work requires material resources, so we must have an attitude to support the ministers with material materials. However, we must be careful so that we do not get swept away by false shepherds who see the saints as “money bags from which money comes.” The material that has been swept away in this way causes another material to be swept away, gradually increasing the belly of the false shepherd. The reason Korean churches are the most reviled is because of doubts that some churches see 'members' as 'money bags' rather than 'souls'. Of course, which church and which shepherd would be completely free in this matter?
Why was the Apostle Paul a ‘happy missionary’? It was because they had their own source of income through the making of the tabernacle. Whenever he was in a hurry, he was able to solve the problem of making a living by making a tent. Therefore, there was no need to be bound by any position, and there was no need to use any human calculations to win the hearts of the saints. He didn't notice the members of the church, and he didn't have to worry about his resignation or retirement. The fact that he was able to do ministry with less money than others through the “tent-making ministry” was an important condition for his happiness.
< Happy missionary >
After meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, the Apostle Paul regarded everything as excrement and had already finished preparing for an eternal hero. So, he was ready to leave the church he had planted without any regrets. But why does the Apostle Paul write a number of letters to the Corinthians, lengthily apologizing for his situation and trying to reveal the reality of false teachers? Because it was unacceptable for the Corinthian church to go down a path that was taken over by false spiritualists.