THE POWER OF ENDORSEMENT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel.

What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.

In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. As for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.

There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people. For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.

2 Corinthians 8:16-24, 9:1-5

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Endorsements are important.

I’m not talking about this from an advertising sense where let’s say a sports team, race car driver, or golfer wears names on their uniforms or vehicles to promote companies or causes. No, the king of endorsement I am talking about is when someone endorses someone by praising them for their quality of work or character traits.

If my wife and I are looking for a contractor to do work on our home, we are usually reading reviews people have left or seeking referrals from our neighbors who may have had similar work done. If a worker has a large number of positive endorsements from others, then you can feel confident that they will do a good job for you.

Personal trait endorsements can happen for different purposes. When a politician is running for office, they will often try to get someone to endorse their campaign so to garner more votes and win the election. A person who seeks employment may be asked to provide referrals to provide feedback on the prospective employee’s work ethic and moral makeup. If that person gets hired, they may eventually be in the running for a promotion and would hope that there would be plenty of endorsements to move up to greater levels of responsibility.

As we look at the closing verses of 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, and move through the opening five verses of chapter 9, we find the Apostle Paul using the power of endorsement to promote those who would be assisting him in the work of the ministry. In this instance, the backing is for those who would be involved in getting the promised gift for the church in Jerusalem.

First, we find Paul talking about Titus, his “partner and co-worker”. Immediately, he wanted the Corinthians to know that God had put the same concern for them in Titus, who was coming with “much enthusiasm” and fully on his own accord.

Second, we find Paul telling the Corinthian Christians that someone would accompany Titus, a man Paul referred to as a “brother” (meaning brother Christian) who was praised “by all the churches for his service to the gospel”. Further, this brother was “chosen by the churches to accompany” Paul and his fellow missionaries as they carried “the offering” which they administered “in order to honor the Lord Himself” and display their “eagerness to help”.

Ultimately, Paul was carefully choosing the men who would manage the “liberal gift” donations because he hoped “to avoid any criticism of the way” they administered the funds, He wanted the church in Corinth to know that he and the others were “taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.”

So Titus and a brother Christian of Paul’s were going to Corinth to receive the offering earmarked for Jerusalem. They would be joined by a third person, another brother Christian who had often proven that he was zealous and felt great confidence in the Corinthian believers. Together, the scriptures tell us that two brother Christians were “representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ”.

With these three men coming for the distinct purpose of collecting the offering for Jerusalem, Paul issues a slight warning. He had been bragging up the Corinthian church and he didn’t want them to let him down. And so he encouraged the church to “be ready” to provide the “generous gift” as promised and to do so with eager joy so not to make it appear that they were giving grudgingly.

Finally, Paul finishes by asking the Corinthian Christians to show the visiting men “the proof” of their love and validate the pride that Paul and his fellow missionaries had for the church in Corinth.

Through the power of endorsement, Paul sought to facilitate a smooth collection of the giving for the Jerusalem church. The Corinthians knew they could trust the emissaries were coming as representatives on behalf of God Himself on a mission to bring aid to a sister church in Jerusalem.

What’s out takeaway from this?

We need to learn from Paul’s tact and moxie because he fully knew the power of persuasion. It was a gift God had given him to convince Christian believers to live and give as God desired. We need to be positively endorsing all positive aspects of church ministry and the people involved with the intent of encouraging people to give to the work, whatever it might be. If we do, then we can ensure our church congregants are willfully giving out of a preponderance of care for the church and a desire to advance the kingdom work of God here on earth.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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