2 Corinthians 12:17; Did I Make a Gain of You

2 Corinthians 12:17 Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?

The Apostle Paul clarified with the church in Corinth that he has not taken any inordinate gain from them. He has coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel (Acts 20:33). Not him nor those whom he sent to Corinth.

2 Corinthians 12:18 I desired Titus, and with himI sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked wenot in the same steps?

1 Corinthians 4:17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

1 Corinthians 16:10 Now if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do.

He has laboured with his hands and with the support of others for the spiritual advancement and well-being of the Corinthian church. The collection that he organised was for to help the poverty-strickened saints in Jerusalem as a result of persecution. This collection, he has entrusted to trustworthy men to ensure the orderly collection and safe delivery of the gifts.

His labour was constrained by love, whom his Lord has laid upon his heart to fulfil the Great Commission.

The hymn writer Horatius Bonar (1843) well articulated such a life in the hymn “Go Labour On”.

1 Go, labour on: spend and be spent,
your joy to do the Father’s will;
it is the way the Master went;
should not the servant tread it still?

2 Go, labour on: ’tis not for naught;
your earthly loss is heav’nly gain;
men heed you, love you, praise you not;
the Master praises – what are men?

3 Go labour on: enough while here
if he should praise you, if he deign
your willing heart to mark and cheer;
no toil for him shall be in vain.

4 Go, labour on while it is day:
the world’s dark night is hast’ning on.
Speed, speed your work, cast sloth away;
it is not thus that souls are won.

5 Toil on, faint not, keep watch and pray;
be wise the erring soul to win;
go forth into the world’s highway,
compel the wand’rer to come in.

6 Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice;
for toil comes rest, for exile home;
soon shall you hear the Bridegroom’s voice,
the midnight peal, “Behold, I come.”

Amen.