1 Corinthians 16 Round Two: Hey Fam! Be Nice to Folks!

A messy church can still be a miracle. As we walk through 1 Corinthians 16, we open Paul’s final pages and find a field guide for real community: generosity that’s planned, leadership that’s humble, and courage that never forgets to love. We share why the Jerusalem relief mattered, how weekly, proportionate giving forms a generous heart, and why transparency and local ownership make mission sustainable. This is practical discipleship for people who want their faith to show up in budgets, calendars, and everyday care.

We also spotlight the people behind the letter. Timothy, a young leader, needs gentleness from a sharp-edged church. Apollos, gifted but weary, models healthy limits when he declines a return trip. Stephanas and his household live as firstfruits, pouring themselves out for the good of others. Their stories expose a truth we all feel: communities thrive when encouragement is normal, honor is intentional, and correction is anchored in affection. Paul’s own example—staying in Ephesus because a great door is open despite opponents—shows how discernment and resilience travel together.

The heartbeat lands in one unforgettable charge: be on guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, and do everything with love. Corinth, a bustling port city with glittering diversity and constant tension, is proof that unity takes work. Yet the handwritten greeting, the shared offering, and the warm embrace turn a crowd into a family. If your team, church, or small group feels complicated, this conversation offers clarity, hope, and next steps grounded in Scripture and lived wisdom.

If this helped you see the Bible more clearly, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review. Your support helps more people discover the joy of digging deeper into God’s Word. What’s one place you’re choosing strength and love this week?

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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Community Shoutouts
• 1:46 Why Corinth Needed A Kindness Disclaimer
• 4:00 The Jerusalem Offering And Wise Giving
• 5:33 Travel Plans And Open Doors In Ephesus
• 6:04 Be Kind To Timothy And Notes On Apollos
• 7:30 Stand Firm And Do Everything With Love
• 9:05 How 2 Corinthians Came To Be
• 10:25 Unity Is Hard Work But Worth It
• 11:18 Prayer, Blessing, And What’s Next

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Well, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon, today, 1 Corinthians chapter 16. And if I want to give this one a title, it would be, hey fam, be nice to folks. Just, I don't know, you ever been around somebody that they are the nicest people in the world to you, but you you kind of want to give them a disclaimer before you introduce them to somebody else. Like, can you can you be nice to my friends? Well, that's exactly what Paul is doing as he is finishing up this family therapy session. And we're going to get to that in just a moment. But if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share, and subscribe to the YouTube channel. It really does help us out. Leave us a comment on the YouTube channel. Let us know how you are interacting with God's Word. If you're the podcast person, I love you so much. Thank you for leaving us those five-star reviews. I'm seeing those. They're really helping us get the word out. Thank you so much for sharing this. I hear more and more people. Just the other day, I was on a trip and I came across somebody and they were like, hey, I listened to the Bible Breakdown podcast and it blew my mind because I was like, how in the world do you even know about it? Well, a friend of a friend of a friend told a friend. And I love that we are slowly but surely developing this community. The man, the more we dig, the more we find. And we are just getting to know God by getting to know his word. So thank you so much for sharing the Bible Breakdown podcast with people. It is my honor to be your Bible tour guide and just to kind of gush about God's word every day. So I just, it gives me an excuse to brag on Jesus every day. So thank you so much for that opportunity. And also I want to say thank you for everybody that goes to our rallying point, the Facebook discussion group called the Bible Breakdown Discussion, where they are leaving amazing devotions every single day. We have a wonderful team that works really hard. So do me a favor, when you go there, read them and comment on those because it really encourages them to see that. And so if you have your Bibles, you want to open them up with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. I had this friend of mine who he had watched a movie called Napoleon Dynamite. And if you knew the movie Napoleon Dynamite, you thought that my friend was the funniest guy you'd ever met because he could turn any conversation into an opportunity to quote Napoleon Dynamite. But here's the problem. If you didn't know Napoleon Dynamite, you would think he was an idiot. And then because you weren't getting his jokes, he would like go even further, you know, and trying to really help you get the joke. Until finally one day, I had to start giving him like a disclaimer. And I'd be like, hey, look, I'm gonna bring this friend. He's never seen Napoleon Dynamite, so don't use him, please. Just be nice. And he's like, what person hasn't seen? I was like, I know, I get it. I get that's your thing, you know? And that's exactly what Paul is doing. Not Napoleon Dynamite, of course, but he is giving some last minute instructions. Because if you remember, he is trying to bring some harmony out of all this diversity and all this division that's going on in the church at Corinth. And he's getting ready to leave this letter and he's trying to tell them, hey, look, can you just be nice until I can get there? Can you I'm gonna send some people there? Don't hurt their feelings. I mean, it's just a rowdy group of people. And that's awesome because what I love about that is if God is willing to mess with and work with and mold this difficult church, that gives me hope too. That he's not gonna give up on me, even though I'm not cookie cutter easy either. And so this ending, while it is very kind of like like you go, wow, these people really were hard. Well, so were we, right? We're all at a different growth rate in the kingdom of God. And this helps us realize that if God's not going to give up on the crazy Corinthians, he's not gonna give up on us either, right? So let's read this and kind of see how Paul ends this letter as we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse 1 says this. Now, regarding your question about the money being collected for God's people in Jerusalem, you should follow the same procedure I gave to the church in Galatia. On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of money that you have earned. Don't wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once. When I come, I will write letters of recommendation for the messengers you choose to deliver your gift to Jerusalem. And if it seems appropriate for me to go along, they can travel with me. Now pause. Now, what's going on? Well, a lot of theologians think that what happened is when the day of Pentecost happened, way back in Acts chapter two, that a lot of the people who had traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost just never went home. They just stayed there as the early church was starting to grow and things. And because of that, a lot of people that started running out of money and different things. And so over time, as they were trying to then relocate their lives and all this kind of stuff, the church in Jerusalem was dealing with a lot of need. They needed help from different ones and because their lives had been totally displaced. And from among other reasons, a lot of these other churches would then send relief effort over there so that these people could continue to do the ministry of reaching out to the different Jewish people. And so what would happen is, is Paul would tell them about the need, and then churches like in Corinth would say, Well, we want to help. And so they would start to collect money. And so that then when missionaries were coming through, they would then send money on the way. So what Paul is saying is, Don't wait until I get there and then take up an offering. But if you want to give, go ahead and collect it so that I can be on my way as quick as possible. That's what he's saying. All right, verse five. I am coming to visit you after I have been to Macedonia, for I am planning to travel through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay a while with you, possibly all winter. And then you can send me on my way to my next destination. This time I don't want to make just a short visit and then go right on. I want to come and stay a while if the Lord will let me. In the meantime, I will be staying here at Ephesus until the Feast of Pentecost. There is a wide door for a great work here, although many oppose me. I love this. Verse 10. When Timothy comes, don't intimidate him. He's doing the Lord's work just as I am. Don't let anyone treat him with contempt. Send him on his way with your blessing, and when he returns to me, I expect him to come with other believers. So, in other words, can y'all just be nice? I mean, imagine how rough these people must be when he's like, hey, look, Timothy's coming. He's a young guy. Don't be rude. All right. Now, listen to this one. Now, about your brother Apollos, listen, I urged him to visit with you, to visit you with other believers, but he's really not willing to go right now. He will see you later when he has the opportunity. Now, what's that about? According to tradition, Paul, Apollos went to Corinth and he got so frustrated with the stubbornness and the division and all this kind of stuff, he just left. He's like, see y'all later. Bye, fam. I'm out. And so Paul apparently sent word to Apollos to be like, hey, look, I know they're hard, but they're different. They're new to Jesus. Give them a try. And Apollos was like, I get that, but no, I'm not going back. That's how difficult the church at Corinth was. Paul had to remind them to be nice to the young guy Timothy, and Apollos was not willing to go back. Doesn't that give you hope that if you're stubborn, hard to get along with, and sometimes rub people the wrong way, God can still use you. Even Apollos is like, I ain't going back to them crazy people. Thank you, Jesus. All right. Verse 13, be on guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, and do everything with love. You know that Stephanus and his household were the first of the harvest of believers in Greece, and they are spending their lives in the service to God's people. I urge you, dear brothers and sisters, to submit to them and others like them who serve with such devotion. I am very glad that Stephanus, Fortunus, and Archaeus have come here. They have been providing the help that you aren't able to give me. They have been wonderful encouragement to me as they have been to you. You must show your appreciation to all who serve so well. The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla, and all who others who gather in their home for church meetings. All the brothers and sisters here send greetings to you. Greet each other with a sacred kiss. Here is my greeting in my own handwriting, Paul. Now, what is that, real quick before we finish? What that was is a lot of times that these people would use an aminuensis. Now, what is that? Someone who dictate dictates a letter. So Paul, in this situation, he is in Ephesus, so he would stand there and he would dictate this almost as if he is preaching to the crowd, but then someone would be writing it down. But in order for him to be able to authenticate that it really did come from him at the end of the letter, just like this, he would write in his own handwriting so that you could see he did indeed write was the author of this, even though someone else wrote it down. So that's him saying, Hey, by the way, guys, this is me, actually. All right. If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed. Our Lord, come. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you, and my love to all of you in Christ Jesus. So as we finish up the book of 1 Corinthians, don't worry, we're going to be visiting the crazy cornflake church of Corinth a little while for 2 Corinthians. Because, let me tell you what happens in the meantime. Paul does come to the church in Corinth. And when Paul gets there, he is very gracious. He does talk to them, he does tell them what's going on. He talks about the person who is sleeping with his uh stepmother, and he's like, Y'all need to do that. And he's very gracious, and he's not quite as straightforward as he is in the letter because he loves these people. And so he does that, and then he leaves. They end up doing exactly what Paul has said, and they go a little bit overboard, and they really kind of go the extra mile. And so then what has to happen is that Paul has to write to them again in order to answer more questions and actually to tell them to be a little bit more gracious to people who have decided to repent. So there's this constant back and forth with this wonderful church that if we remember, it's kind of like the Las Vegas of the early church. That is this port city with all these different people groups. And it looked like probably a big party on the outside. But behind the scenes, there's a lot going on, a lot of diversity, a lot of disunity, a lot of things. And can I tell you that behind every organized, unified group of people, there's probably people working really hard to keep it that way. And so don't ever like let anything like deceive you to think that unity and all that is easy. It's hard work. But the juice is always worth a squeeze. And so as we end this letter, never forget to be on your guard, to stand firm in the faith, to be courageous, to be strong, but then to do everything with love. As Paul said, hey, listen, fam, just be nice to folks. Now that's not the answer to everything, but it certainly will get us a lot further down the road if we just decided to love each other as we have been loved by God. Let's pray together. I thank you so much for today. Thank you for the opportunity you've given us to share the kindness that you have given us. Though we know that that's not perfect. There's time for truth, and there's time for grace. But Lord, I pray you will give us wisdom to take those next steps. And to realize, Lord, that if you are so gracious with the church at Corinth, you're going to be gracious with us too. We're thankful for your word, and we're thankful that we know you a little bit better for having read it together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And amen. Never forget God's word says in 1 Corinthians 10 31, so whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. I love you, and I'll see you tomorrow for the Old Testament book, the Book of Ruth. See ya.