²⁷ Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.

Twice Paul cites the believers in Macedonia and Achaia as being “pleased” in their financial ministry to the poor Christians in Jerusalem. He describes their exemplary commitment in his second letter to the Corinthians where he says:

We wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For…beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints… (2 Cor 8:1–4).

In our passage today we discover their motive. They felt “indebted” to the Jerusalem believers, obliged. There is no sense in any of the biblical record that this was required as an ecclesiastical mandate by what some erroneously think of as the denominational headquarters of the church. While the Jerusalem church is indeed prominent in the story of Christianity’s expansion (as recorded in the NT), the formality of one church presiding over others, which eventually placed the Roman church at the apex, is not evidenced or taught in Scripture. The church, in post-apostolic times, degenerated into political ascendancies and power struggles among various sects and factions that claimed the Christian heritage. Paul warned that such things were inevitable (see Acts 20:28-30).

So what was the pull to support the Jerusalem Christians? The answer is simple: the Gentile Christians had a profound sense of quid pro quo. Those in Jerusalem gave them something, so the Gentile believers wanted to give the Jerusalem believers something in return. Favor for favor. Grace for grace. The Jerusalem church was the first to proclaim the Gospel of God’s grace and blessing, and from that the message went out to the Gentiles. So the Gentile believers felt a tremendous desire, upon the report from Paul of the physical needs of their spiritual benefactors in Jerusalem, to become their benefactors in material things. We also today should be motivated by their example and generously support those who have shared the Gospel of God’s grace and blessing with us.

Lord of grace, I commit to eagerly sharing financial blessings with those who have shared spiritual blessings with me.