“But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:
As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.” 2 Corinthians 8:14-15
Equality is when things are all the same in size, quantity, degree, or value.
Equality can be shown by using a balance scale, which is a scale with two arms, one on each side.
If someone was trying to weigh a tomato for example, they would take the tomato and place it on one side of the scale, and then they would take some weights or something that they knew the weight of and place it on the other side, until both sides were level and equal.
In baseball, there are nine players on each team that play on the field. You have a pitcher, catcher, 1st, 2nd, 3rd baseman, shortstop, and a left, center, and right fielder. Well say for example that one team decides that they are going to go and put 15 players out on the field instead of the normal 9? What do you think would happen? The umpires would come out and tell the manager of that team to take off those extra players until they are back even again with the other team.
In American football, this happens often. Sometimes when players get rotated in and out of the game to take a rest, occasionally a player will forget to come off of the field and that team will get penalized for having 12 men on the field, instead of the normal 11. Both teams need to be equal in the number of players on each side.
Well in the church, equality is also something that is required. And I’m not talking about the equality like men and women have the same roles in the church, because the Bible is very clear that men have certain roles that are reserved for them, and then there are the roles that the women have. The equality we are talking about has to do with: someone in the church has 10 working cars, and another person doesn’t have 1. When someone has an abundance of something and they see someone in need and they have the ability to help them, it is the Christian thing to do to help those in need.
Maybe someone in the church has a few different homes and aren’t currently using all of them, and another person just had their home burn down and needs a place to stay. What the person who has an abundance needs to do is help others.
It teaches us in Romans 2 that God is no respecter of persons, meaning that He doesn’t treat anyone any different than anyone else. Whether someone is rich or poor, black or white, He treats everyone the same. We are all sinners, and God gives each and every one of us the gift of salvation found in Christ Jesus. No one is excluded from this free gift, it is available to all.
In the parable of the workers in Matthew 20, everyone received the same wages for their labor. In this parable, those who worked the entire day received a penny, and those who worked for just the one hour received each one of them a penny.
“Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.” Matthew 20:12
The Jews had the word of God long before the Gentiles, but when Jesus came He extended His grace and mercy and now offers salvation to everyone. Everyone now can be saved, not just the Jews.
No one is better than another, no one receives special treatment. We are all equal in the sight of God.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 