Christian Benevolence

Introduction: A New Policy of Benevolence

0:05 Today is that day in the so-called Christian calendar that has been called Easter, a day in which men ostensibly, for you kids that's just a nickel and 25 cent word that means on the surface of things,

0:23 are celebrating, whatever that means, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now you will be getting a proper Easter message this evening when Pastor Blaise will speak to you from the 16th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark. But the proper English or the proper Easter message that I was preparing had to be shelled for another time when we met on Friday and compared notes because I would have stolen about half to two-thirds of our brother's thunder and I trust instruction as well. And this left me asking the Lord what he would have me to bring and I felt constrained, I trust, by sound judgment and the Spirit of God and also and also and also I can testify with the consent of the elders to speak to you rather on a very practical theme this morning, a theme which is very much in order in the light of the new beginning in our church life that is marked by this, the fifth Sunday of the month of March, 1975. For today does mark the beginning of a new policy in the life and ministry of our assembly. The elders have decreed, not with the laws of the Medes, and Persians, but with a policy that will be in effect for the foreseeable future that whenever we have a five-Sunday month, which, as you know, occurs four times a year, all of the offerings for that Lord's Day

1:52 are to be designated exclusively for benevolent concerns outside of the circle of our own assembly, outside of the circle of our regular missionary responsibilities. Now, in the past, we have had special benevolent offerings. We have designated certain Sundays as days in which every penny given would go, for instance, to some of the saints who were deprived of much of their physical and material possessions in the flood out in central Pennsylvania several years ago. During the past year, you gave over $8,000 for relief work in Africa and in Honduras.

2:33 Also, we have always responded, as elders, and deacons out of the regular funds with reference to benevolent needs in our own congregation. Many of these things have never been made known to you because they would be embarrassing to the people involved. For instance, when someone is laid off from work, there is inquiry made almost immediately as to the financial status to see if benevolent offerings are needed. But we're talking about something that goes beyond these critical needs that come from time to time for which special offerings are made.

3:07 As the occasion arises, we're talking about something that goes beyond the regular meeting of benevolent needs out of the general funds of the church. We're talking about these special Sundays four times a year in which all of our concern will be actively to seek out needs in the Christian community outside of our own immediate circle and by the grace of God to respond to those needs. Now, as always, with the enunciation, with the initiation of a new policy, we as elders have sought to guide you as the flock of God by means of instruction from the Word of God. For our task is to shepherd the flock of God. And to shepherd you means to lead you by the Scriptures into paths of obedience to Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd. And if you are to engage in this activity, and now, if you are to be announced by the elders, if you are to engage in it in faith, then you must have convictions concerning the scripturalness of that activity. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin, and nothing can be of faith unless we are convinced it is rooted in obedience to the Word of God.

Defining Christian Benevolence and its Context

4:25 And therefore, speaking on behalf of the elders, I wish this morning to direct your thinking into some lines of biblical truth concerning the whole subject of Christian benevolence. And the way I propose to do it is as follows. First of all, I want to say a few words about the context of genuine Christian benevolence. Secondly, I wish to say something more about the foundation for genuine Christian benevolence.

4:53 And then, if time permits, I wish to say a few things in closing about the practical implications of this teaching of the Word of God on the subject of Christian benevolence. First of all, then, a word about the context, the context of genuine Christian benevolence. Let me, in seeking to flesh this out, define my terms. When I use the term benevolence in the study this morning, what do I mean?

5:18 It is not a biblical word, but it is certainly a biblical notion. The dictionary definition of benevolence is a kindly charitable act or gift.

5:31 Now, we are thinking particularly of charitable gifts, that is, responding, with tangible, substantial things to the needs of others. When I use the term Christian benevolence, I mean that which truly deserves the name of Christian. That benevolence which is done as a result of the redemptive activity of the triune God upon the hearts of men. I'm not using the word Christian in the way people use it when they say, Oh, yes, I'll do that.

6:03 That's the Christian thing to do. What they mean is that's the kind thing to do. That's the nice thing to do. When I talk about genuine Christian benevolence, I'm speaking of those charitable acts or gifts that flow out of the redemptive activity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the hearts of the people of God.

6:28 Only true Christians can engage in true Christian benevolence. For Jesus said, Make the tree good, and the fruit good, or the tree corrupt, and the fruit corrupt. So we're speaking then of those acts of benevolence which can only grow upon the tree of a true Christian, a planting of the Lord. Or to use the language of Scripture, Ephesians 2.10, We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Unless we've been created anew in union with Christ, we cannot perform those works that are truly Christian. And whatever works we perform, though noble in themselves, they are nothing but dressed up sins. They are what the old theologians would call bad good works.

7:27 Now there are bad bad works, and there are bad good works, but there are still bad works. The Bible calls them dead works that can never be acceptable unto God. Now that's what I mean then by the terms genuine Christian benevolence. Now, we must be concerned to understand the context, the setting within which such true Christian benevolence is exercised.

The Context of Gospel Centrality and Supplemental Responsibilities

7:52 Because we have a number of visitors and a number of young converts, I feel it necessary to underscore just briefly the context out of which Christian benevolence must grow if it is biblical. And the context is one in which we assume we assert two things and we give ground or quarter to no one in these two things. And they are these. We are convinced that the Scriptures teach that man's greatest problem is that of his sin and his alienation from God.

8:23 Man's greatest problem is not the fruit of his sin. Ignorance, poverty, hunger, economic slavery, political slavery, racial imbalance and prejudice and cruelty, these are all the fruits of man's sin and alienation. And man's greatest problem is not the fruits. Man's greatest problem is his alienation from God.

8:48 He is a creature dead in trespasses and in sins. And this is the teaching, of course, of the entire Bible from the book of Genesis through to the book of the Revelation. The second thing that forms the context of true Christian benevolence is the assertion that the Church's primary task in contact with God is to proclaim the gospel of the grace of God which alone can meet His most basic need. When the Church comes into contact with man in sin, He contacts a man who not only has the root problem of alienation from God, but who lives and conducts his life individually and corporately with all of the fruits of his sin hanging on the tree of his sinful character. Now, what is the root problem? What is the responsibility of the Church? Well, is its primary responsibility to go plucking off some of the fruits of man's sinfulness?

9:48 No. The Bible teaches that the primary task of the Church when the Church confronts man as sinner is to proclaim to that man the good news of the grace of God which alone can touch the root of his problem.

10:08 That's why Jesus said in Luke chapter 24 verses 14-20, He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures and He told them thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer to be raised from the dead and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached, proclaimed in His name among all the nations. Paul says in Romans 1, I am a debtor to the Jew, to the Greek, to the barbarian, Scythian, bond or free. And what is he a debtor to do? He says in the next verse, I am ready to preach the gospel, to you who are at Rome also.

10:43 He felt himself a debtor to men but he knew that the primary way he discharged that debt was by proclamation of the gospel of the grace of God. That's why he could say when coming to Corinth, a town that like a tree was literally laden with the fruits of alienation from God. Pagan religion, temple priestesses who acted as prostitutes, immorality, ungodliness. But he says, when I came to you I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him as crucified.

11:19 And my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of men's wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Now the context out of which true Christian benevolence grows is a context in which those two assertions are understood believed and practiced. That man's greatest need arises out of his sin and alienation from God and that the church's primary task in confronting man in his sin is to proclaim to him the gospel of the grace of God. But the same Bible which teaches these two things also teaches us that the people of God have additional and supplemental responsibilities to God. to preaching the gospel of the grace of God. Jesus said in Matthew 28 make disciples of all the nations baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. The great task of the church is to make disciples to gather the disciples into visible communities of baptized confessors of Christ but then they are to be taught what?

12:41 Not just to make more disciples and to baptize more disciples but they are to be taught to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. So in conjunction with this great responsibility of proclaiming the gospel of the grace of God supplemental to that great responsibility are other coordinated and integrated responsibilities. And you see Christian benevolence fits in at that point. If you wrench it loose from those two foundational aspects you have no true Christian benevolence.

13:18 All you have is social kindness or some measure of social justice. Christian benevolence can only be found when man as sinner is understood and when the gospel as the key answer to man's need is seen in its centrality. But if we have truly embraced the gospel we become the bond slaves of Christ. And if we're the bond slaves of Christ then we're concerned to do whatsoever He commands us.

Biblical Foundation: Explicit Commands of Scripture

13:49 So much then for the context of true Christian benevolence. Now the heart of the message this morning what is the biblical foundation for genuine Christian benevolence? And I'm thinking particularly of only one aspect of that benevolence namely responding to the needs of our brethren. We do have a responsibility to non-Christians but my purpose is not to establish from the scriptures the precise nature of our responsibility to non-Christians in the area of benevolence but the foundation for genuine Christian benevolence particularly as it relates to the people of God.

14:26 And I've tried to gather the biblical materials under three heads. The explicit commands of scripture. Secondly, the apostolic example in scripture. And thirdly, a description of the righteous man in scripture.

14:39 First of all then the explicit commands of the righteous man. And then the explicit commands of scripture. And rather than glut your mind with a dozen texts I've tried to select two pivotal texts in the Old Testament and two pivotal texts in the New Testament. Now what are the commands of scripture with reference to genuine Christian benevolence?

14:59 Well turn please to the chapter that was read in your hearing this morning. The 58th chapter of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 58. The chapter 58 of the prophet Isaiah.

15:16 The chapter begins with the prophet crying out to the people of God amidst all of their religious activity. Religious activity that involved not only regular temple worship but even this advanced stage of apparent piety they were fasting. And in the midst of this God lets the prophet know what he himself as the searcher of hearts knows. That this is all externalism.

15:42 That with all of the appearance at the temple with all of the parents seeking of the face of God it's nothing but a cloak and a sham for spiritual decadence. And so God through the prophet begins to penetrate through and tear back and pull away the veil the sham and lay bare the true state of the heart of his people. And he attacks this whole matter of their false notion of fasting. And this is what he says in verse 6.

16:08 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? In other words he says if you're going to exercise spiritual discipline and self-denial should it not be with a view to accomplishing this to loose the bonds of wickedness to undo the bands of the yoke and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every yoke and it's obvious that putting all of these things together mentioned in verse 6 it shows that the people of God are to be concerned with their brethren whose liberties are in any way being unlawful restricted. Here are men under the figure of being under a yoke they are oppressed and he says if you're going to exercise yourself in spiritual disciplines exercise yourself to see your brethren loosed from these yokes. Now verse 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house and when thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Now what do we have in verse 7? We have response to man's basic physical needs and necessities.

17:30 The matter of food the matter of shelter and the matter of clothing and God says if you're going to subject yourself to spiritual disciplines that are pleasing in my sight deny yourself to the end that your brethren may have his basic physical needs met bread shelter clothing and then God gives a frightening indictment at the end of that verse and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh it's the picture of a man passing by his brother in his nakedness and rather than stay long enough and let the sight sink in that it might affect the bowels of his compassion the man turns aside and hides himself from the flesh of his own brother. It's the picture of the man who says well if I look long enough and think long enough my conscience will go to work on me so rather than have my conscience trouble me I just won't look.

18:30 Now what is God saying? God is saying that this matter of Christian benevolence is a duty incumbent upon the people of God and that no amount of true worship in the right place they were coming to the temple doing the right thing they were offering sacrifices and praying no amount of this will substitute for a failure to perform these acts of benevolence to our brethren in need. And furthermore no amount of claiming ignorance will be accepted by God as a valid excuse.

19:08 God says you're responsible to see the naked flesh of your destitute brother and you're responsible to subject yourself to whatever disciplines are necessary to clothe his flesh and to feed him and to put a roof over his head. Furthermore God goes on to say in verse 9 then shalt thou call and the Lord will answer thou shalt cry and he will say here I am if thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke the putting forth of the finger and speaking wickedly if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in obscurity etc. This I will say I think is one of the key texts in the Old Testament demonstrating the commandment of God with reference to true Christian benevolence. Now a second key Old Testament text and I'm being selective is Proverbs chapter 3 a text with which God has been haunting my own conscience in past months and I trust he will haunt the conscience of this assembly.

20:19 In Proverbs chapter 3 the beginning of a new thought if you have a paragraph version you'll notice two lines are skipped between verse 26 and verses 26 and 7 withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thy hand to do it say not unto thy neighbor oh go and come again and tomorrow I will give thee when thou hast it by thee do you see the pivotal issue in this whole text is the adverb of time when it's used twice withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thy hand to do it say not to thy neighbor go and come again and tomorrow I will give when thou hast it by thee you see what God is saying it is not always true that my hands are full of the substance that can meet the need of them to whom it is due the apostle is conscious of this in those two great chapters on Christ Christian benevolence that we've expounded on previous occasions in 2nd Corinthians 8 and chapter 9 but it's in that very passage chapter 8 verses 12 to 15 that he enlarges on this concept he said look in asking you people to respond to the poor saints in Judea it's not that they should advance beyond you and that they should be

21:48 made rich at your expense he says no no that now your bounty may supply their lack that in the future their bounty may supply your lack so that there may be an equality that's what he's saying at one point in the history of the church brother A church A has its hands full of the ability to respond to the needs of those to whom it is due 50 years later church B who received from church A now has its hands full and church A is destitute and you see one of the things that God in his providence does is so to order even even famines and material prosperity and economic stability that the church will feel something of his own heart and that we will be forced by the sheer pressure of economic facts to be sensitive to the needs of our brethren and dear people God has wonderfully and in a way that frightens us as elders put it in the power of our hands to do much good from this little assembly last year to this little assembly $109,000 was given I don't know where it comes from I don't care to know except that the Lord has poured out the grace of giving and we must not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in the power

23:17 of our hands to do it this may not be in our power a year from now while it is in the power of our hands God's commandment is withhold it not now two key texts in the New Testament we're just looking at the explicit commandment of scripture laying upon our consciences as the people of God the duty of engaging in Christian benevolence and believing you to be God's people I believe your conscience needs to be loaded with nothing other than the word of God so we're looking at the key text chapter 6 of the book of Galatians chapter 6 and in a paragraph dealing with the subject of monetary issues the apostle begins by saying in verse 6 let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things that is support your teachers that's just a discreet way of saying what he says more explicitly in Timothy don't muzzle the ox when he's treading out the corn and if God's put some corn dredgers in your midst who labor in the word and doctrine and who teach you and you receive of their material spiritual benefits then he said you must in turn show your appreciation by communicating that is sharing in all good things now it's in that setting that he says be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap

24:45 for he that soweth unto his own flesh now look at the context we usually associate this with riotous living but the context is communicating sharing in material substance and he says he that sows to his flesh shall of his flesh reap corruption but he that sows unto the spirit shall of the spirit reap eternal life and sowing to the spirit in the context as we'll see further on has to do with this nitty gritty business of benevolence let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not so then here's the conclusion there's a connecting of thought so then as we have opportunity let us work that which is good toward all men and especially toward them that are of the household of faith here is the commandment of God to the people of God to work that which is good to all men and here's the foundation of the doctrine of benevolence to non-Christians but he says especially and this is the area of our focus this morning especially toward them that are of the household of faith and in the context what is the working good well certainly if it includes all things it includes the lesser things if it includes every form of good it takes within its orbit the good that comes from responding to materialness the kind of things for which our gifts today

26:11 will be administered putting a roof over the head of a godly pastor in the midst of a Muslim culture where a church is seeking to bear witness to the grace of God helping the man to get out of a place as I mentioned a week ago Sunday in which you would not even keep your dog stalled that there might be a sense of dignity and self-respect and that the lovely little place the two-room house provided by the congregation with a little assistance from some Christians in another place may be a monument of the grace of God and a testimony to the non-Christian community that the gospel is that which touches the whole man and opens the hearts and the hands of the people of God well the second key text and perhaps the most profound in the New Testament at least in my opinion is 1st John chapter 3 1st John chapter 3 1st John chapter 3 the apostle in this second chapter in this third chapter I'm sorry having drawn the contrast between the righteous and the wicked has been focusing on the principle that the mark of the righteous is their love to one another he says in verse 14 of chapter 3 1st John we know that we've passed out of death into life because we love the brethren

27:39 he that loveth not abideth in death whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer he that loveth not and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him he's established the principle the presence of love to the brethren is the evidence of the work of God in the soul the absence of that love is the mute testimony that a work of grace has never been done now then someone asks the question yeah that's alright John you've given us the principle presence of love is the presence of life the absence of love is the absence of life but how can I tell if I have love John says alright I'll answer your question here it is hereby know we love because he laid down his life for us what does it mean to love it means to have the spirit of your savior inwrought by the Holy Ghost upon your spirit hereby know we love because he gave himself for us now having defined what love is now he says this lays a solemn obligation upon us and we ought then to lay down our lives for the brethren if love is to be defined by what it did in the heart of the savior then love in my heart for my brother means that if necessary I will give my most precious possession for him my very life we ought

29:09 we are under solemn obligation if we love our brethren to give our lives for them now notice the subtlety of his argument the inescapable logic the the almost pummeling power of his logic but he says who so hath the world's goods what are your possessions compared to your life you see they are nothing that's why the pictures in time magazine and on your newspapers will show people fleeing from Danang fleeing from Phnom Penh forgetting their possessions why because their most precious possession is worth more than all those things life itself that's why a man jumped on the undercarriage of a plane taking off from the airport yesterday his life was more precious to him but he lost it in the attempt as the undercarriage retracted and crushed him to death but why would a man do this because his life is his most precious possession now John says love in God and in his son moved him to give his life therefore if that love is in us we will give our lives for our brethren we are under solemn obligation to do so but he says if you have this world's goods something far less than life something upon which we put far less esteem than life itself if you have the lesser possession and you behold your brother in need

30:37 and you shut up your compassion from him how does the love of God abide in that man he says love in you will move you to make the hundred pounds of giving if you see a need that demands one pound and you won't respond with the one pound what makes you think you have the quality of hundred pound love within your breast you see the logic we ought to lay down our lives therefore if I have the opportunity of giving up my life but simply some of this world's goods and I shut up the bowels of my compassion how does the love of God dwell in me and John doesn't need to give the answer the answer is evident to every person who thinks of John's logic you have to conclude the love of God doesn't dwell in me therefore he concludes with the exhortation my little children let us not love in word neither with the tongue but in deed and only then are we loving in truth and I love the order we do not love in truth by the activity of the tongue upon the palate in conjunction with the larynx and the lips that's your speech apparatus throw in a little diaphragm he says let your love be something more than the well coordinated activity of all of the

32:05 apparatus of human speech let us love in deed then we are loving in truth and I know of no passage in the New Testament that to me is more powerful in bearing home upon the conscience the biblical foundation and obligation of Christian benevolence for you kids let me try to illustrate suppose one of you fellows has got 25 model cars you've worked on them with your dad for several years you've got them all lined up on top of your bookcase but then there's one very special model car and you'd be willing if necessary to trade away all the others to preserve this one you see now John is saying see that very special one you don't have that on top of the bookcase you've got that in a special case all of its own up where none of the brothers and sisters can touch it and break it and all the rest now he says this if you really love your brothers you'll be willing to give your special car that sits up top above all the other 25 now he says if your brother comes along and asks for one of the 25 and you won't give him that it's obvious you'd never give him the one that's sitting up on top would you if you wouldn't give him one of those you know ordinary ones you're never going to give him your best one right now that's what John is saying your best car is your life and he said if the love of God is in you you'll give that for your brother but if you have your 25 little cars and you won't part with one or two of them

33:33 how dwells the love of God in you girls we could change the illustration and talk about your dolls okay so you've got 25 little dolls you've collected them you know these dolls from different countries one of my daughters likes those alright and you've got your Irish doll and your Japanese doll and all the other dolls but then you've got that very very special doll and she's in a place all her own now God says if you really love you'd be willing to give that special doll but if you're not willing to give one of those 25 dolls let alone that special one do you really love it do you feel the force of John's logic brethren sisters that's the solemn obligation of Christian benevolence if we have this world's good and we have it a wealthy man is a man who is categorized as wealthy because he has beyond what is necessary for supplying the barest necessities to sustain life I've been doing a lot of meditating the past few days on Jesus' words after this manner pray ye give us this day our daily bread literally give us day by day our bread for today and in many parts of the world that's a very real prayer the working man hopes that the labors of the day will be adequate to provide bread for the next day and that's it and the wealthy man is the man who like in our own country the average American spends only 20% of his total income for food that's the lowest ratio upon the face of the earth

Biblical Foundation: Apostolic Example and Description of the Righteous

35:03 in most cultures they spend 70, 80, 90 100% of a day's wage to provide what is not even an adequate caloric intake to sustain life brethren can we know that our brothers and sisters redeemed by the blood of Christ are in this need and shut up the bowels of our compassion can we say well I just don't want to examine that I don't want to hear about it shall not he that searches the heart know that we are shutting up the bowels of our compassion I do not scold you this morning your graciousness and benevolence has gone abroad and caused encouragement to many but dear people listen we've only begun to open our hands and the bowels of our compassion we've only begun and the solemn obligation is laid upon us from the old and the new testaments the explicit commands of scripture to Christian benevolence now very hurriedly the second line of argument or demonstration the apostolic example as they've been as they ministered and shaped the emerging churches the apostles had a peculiar authority so that whatever they enjoined upon the people of God as custom in the churches became

36:31 apostolic law it became regulative for the church of Christ throughout all of the ages so there is a valid apostolic tradition it doesn't exist over there in Rome a la Roman Catholicism and a la Pope Paul and all his cohorts but there is a genuine apostolic tradition Paul says mark those that walk contrary to the traditions that you've received of us and when we read through the book of the Acts and the epistles we notice that one of the apostolic traditions was this concern for active genuine Christian benevolence and time will not permit a careful study let me just give you the references and you can look them up at your leisure in Acts 4 verses 34 and 35 we have that incident at Jerusalem when the believers were of one mind and one soul and voluntarily without any directive from the apostles they came and it says they laid their goods they sold their lands and possessions laid them at the feet of the apostles and the apostles then made distribution according as any man had need now nowhere did the apostles command this originally we find no instance in the epistles where this is laid down as a rule but the principle that's interesting is this that when the believers did it in the overflow of their love to one another the apostles did not say no no no no go back and take all your possessions they willingly adjusted to this excess of love

37:59 and they said alright if you want to do that fine we'll sit down and divvy it up and they made distribution according as every man had made there is tacit apostolic approval upon that spirit though there is no explicit apostolic regulation directing us to the form that that spirit must take you see the difference then when we read on further in the book of Acts we come to chapter 6 and what happens well there's some widows they don't have social security they don't have widows benefits they don't have decreasing term insurance and the rock didn't exist then nor Metropolitan nor John Hancock nor Continental there just wasn't no such thing as a life insurance company and widows were destitute and they were well what did the early church say well God has wonderful lessons to teach widows remember there in the Old Testament provided through the miraculous intervention of Elijah you widows trust God for a miracle that's the way some people would say I've come back sick from the mission field because I've heard this until I could scream well we're to be concerned with men's spiritual needs we're not to get involved in their material needs is that the attitude of the apostles no no in fact they were so convinced that they had a solemn obligation for the people for the material needs of widows that it began to cut in

39:29 to their higher calling namely word and prayer so what do they do they do not try to change the mind of the church about this concern they redirect the administration of that concern and they say look out among you seven men full of good report full of good report full of the Holy Ghost whom we may appoint over this business and it's interesting that the whole account of the choosing of those first we assume first deacons is bound to be bounded by the first couple of verses of Acts 6 and then verse 7 in which there is the testimony of the multiplying of disciples and the power of the word of God preached you see so sandwiched between this multiplying of disciples by preaching and the further multiplication of disciples by more preaching is this tangible concern for the need of the whole man in the life and fellowship of the church and then there is a key text in Galatians chapter 2 and it's amazing again how much theology and practical divinity is bound up often in a little aside in Galatians 2 Paul's purpose is not to teach Christian benevolence he's vindicating the purity of the gospel that he preaches so he's telling these Judaizers alright I've been up to Jerusalem I've seen the big shots I've seen the pillars of the church if that's what you want to call them and there's just beautiful sarcasm and irony throughout the Bible this whole thing

40:58 he says look verse 6 but from these that were reputed to be somewhat whatsoever they were it makes no matter to me God accepteth no man's persons he says you want to call them big shots fine there ain't no big shots in my book but he said furthermore they didn't tell me anything they added nothing to me the gospel I preached was received from heaven he said they did give me a little advice now look at verse 10 only they would they gave me the right hand of fellowship they said you're kosher apostle we'll buy your claims to apostleship you're alright Barnabas has convinced us we'll shake your hand Paul you go to the uncircumcision Peter will labor primarily amongst the circumcision but they said Paul be careful be careful to do something that we're careful to do and it's this only they would that we should remember the poor which very thing I was all so zealous to do not a choice little word yes Paul God has a peculiar ministry for you amongst the Gentiles he has a peculiar ministry for Cephas among the Jew but wherever you go extend this apostolic tradition begun at Jerusalem that the people of God are a caring people do not shut up the bowels of their compassion from the poor and Paul says my conscience bears witness that I was careful so to do

42:28 and what is the record of second Corinthians eight and nine but an exposition on this he was careful he wrote letters and he stirred up people he used holy tact and holy guile he butters them up on one page and then he cuts them down on the other oh what a masterful display of sanctified human psychology in chapters eight and nine of second Corinthians shames them on the one hand praises them on the other what's his concern to stir up the churches to abound in this grace of remembering the poor saints who are in Judea and so I say the second line of biblical evidence that forms the foundation for genuine Christian benevolence is the apostolic example and then very quickly look at the third line of biblical evidence what I'm calling a description of the righteous and again I'm being selective one Old Testament passage one New Testament passage you don't often get a trip and then to bear Sheba like this with me so I hope you've not found the exercise too tedious turn to the 112th psalm if you will please psalm 112 here is the description of the righteous man the title of the psalm the prosperity of him that fears the Lord praise ye the Lord blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth

43:56 greatly in his commandments here's a description of the true believer and in the midst of that description look at verse 9 one of the characteristics of the righteous man who fears the Lord is this he hath dispersed he hath given to the needy his righteousness endureth forever his horn shall be exalted with honor he hath dispersed he hath given to the needy now someone who's very articulate in the biblical theological understanding of the scriptures will say ah but Pastor Martin don't you know that that's a description of Christ and in him there is the perfect and I am fully aware of all that my brother but I'm also aware that when the apostle Paul is seeking to buttress his exhortation to Christians to give in 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9 you know what verse he quotes from the Old Testament this very verse this very verse he quotes it in 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 chapter 9 and verse 9 to buttress his exhortation to the believers that they abound in this grace God is able to make all grace abound to you that you always having all sufficiency and everything may abound unto every good work as it is written he hath scattered abroad he hath given to the poor his righteousness abideth forever and he applies that directly to the humble saints of Corinth

45:24 who respond in this act of Christian benevolence are you one who fits that description you delight to disperse and to give to the needy God is able God says such acts of righteousness endure forever and then the New Testament description of the righteous you've already anticipated the passage I'm sure Matthew chapter 25 when in the last day that day we heard about so clearly in the Sunday school hour this morning when all men stand before the Lord of glory sitting upon the throne of his glory the Lord is speaking to the righteous verse 37 then shall the righteous answer now what happens in that dialogue beginning with verse 3 verse 34 then shall the king say to them in his right hand they're described further as the righteous come ye blessed of my father that's the righteous inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for and when the Lord would publicly demonstrate to the entire moral universe that when he admits these people into his presence he is admitting those who are truly the righteous they have had a righteousness imputed to them and they have had a righteousness imparted to them he now wants to make public demonstration that's what this scene is this is not a dissertation

46:53 on how you become righteous you go to the book of Romans for that you go to the book of Galatians for that a man is not made righteous by the deeds of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ this is the public demonstration of the reality of the righteousness not only imputed but imparted and how is he going to vindicate the justness of his action taking them into his presence he says here's how I'll do it I will say to the righteous come ye blessed inherit the kingdom for I was hungry and ye gave me drink gave me to eat I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me sick and ye visited me in prison and ye came to me and like every truly righteous man they're amazed you see the person was always telling you how many souls he won how many tracks I'm suspicious of him the man who keeps records on his deeds of piety is probably a terrible hypocrite they're shocked when the Lord vindicates his action in welcoming them into his presence by saying you did this and this and this did you learn you're God and you're omniscient and Lord we must have had a lapse of memory but we don't remember this

48:21 you're vindicating the genuineness of your work in us by saying that we fed you we clothed you we gave you to drink we visited you but Lord we can't recall any such incidents and what is the Lord's response verse 40 and the king shall answer and say unto them verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren even the least even the least even the least even the least he did it unto me and who are his brethren in the gospel of Matthew the Lord answers that question explicitly in Matthew chapter 12 in the last five verses we have the record of people who come and say Lord your mother and brethren are without seeking for you he says who is my mother and who are my brethren and Matthew 12 50 gives the answer those who hear and do the word of God the same are my mother and my brethren he's talking about the family of God the family of faith and here's the picture of a humble believer who mourns his own sin and lack of love to Christ but he hears of a brother or sister who doesn't have adequate clothing and what does he do he goes to his closet and he takes out some of his excess clothing not his rags he takes out some of his good excess clothing and quietly without any ostentation without checking with the elders without forming a committee without organizing a board he just

49:50 quietly goes maybe slips it under the door doesn't even let the brother know he's been there then he goes home convicted Lord did I give as much as I should then he hears of another brother who doesn't have the wherewithal to provide adequately for his family and he thinks of his own bounty and he sits down with his wife and have a little family powwow and how they can cut back here and a little bit there and it's really not necessary to be trading in that car every couple of years and some of these other unnecessary expenses that are the fruit of our own luxury and our affluent way of life and they learn to cut back here and cut back there and they're able to send a little check to provide and yet their hearts smite them that they've done so little that's the picture here Lord when did we ever see you he said in as much as you did it unto the least of these my brethren you've done it unto me that's a description of the righteous whose bowels of compassion are open to the tangible felt needs of his brothers and his sisters well I submit to you then that these three lines of biblical evidence should be adequate to show that there is biblical warrant for active Christian benevolence the explicit commands of scripture the apostolic example the descriptions of the righteous now if you'll permit me because I've got a lot of catching up to do remember I haven't preached here for four weeks

Practical Implications: Exposing Errors and Receiving Blessing

51:19 I want to just bring this to a conclusion now by some practical implications of this teaching the first one is this this teaching that I've tried to set before you this morning constitutes an expose of two of the greatest errors in our own day there is on the one hand the error of liberalism which presses for social concern without gospel roots that's a tragic error and I fear that much of the evangelical world is being infected with this mentality that says preaching the gospel is not only proclaiming it is also doing this no no no no don't mix up preaching with doing something else preaching is preaching proclaiming is proclaiming and you don't do that with your hands you do that with your mouth and the bible is very clear God is ordained by the foolishness of the thing preached and the very word the Holy Ghost used there in 1 Corinthians 1.18 refers both to content and manner of communication it is the thing preached Peter said God made choice a while ago that by my mind I would preach by my mouth not my hands or my feet but by my mouth the Gentiles might hear and be saved Acts 15 and verse 9

52:46 and so the liberals are all wrong they are totally unbiblical when they say that we need not be concerned with the doctrine of sin the doctrine of redemption the doctrine of the grace of God let's just go out and infect with a holy infection the sores of society with the open hand and with compassion oh my friend listen if you are unsafe here today if you are a stranger to the grace of God in your heart and to the spirit's work in revealing Christ and making you a new man or woman boy or girl listen I am not saying you should not respond to human needs hell with one less in charge to your account if you are going to hell in a difference to human need but my friend you will go to hell still and all unregenerate men will give you a talk but it will be hell Christ will come in flaming fire to take you vengeance on all out liberal who said I am God says alright

54:14 I will cut you down in your pride oh may God help any who may be infected with that error but this teaching we have considered this morning exposes an error on the other end of the spectrum the error of an evangelicalism which claims such a preoccupation with the roots of the gospel that it will have nothing to do with the fruits see liberalism says we want the fruits without the roots we want compassion and social concern liberalism has said we want and this is no straw dummy I have heard it with my own ears in these past weeks as I have seen young people growing up in a church situation and I have said what is going to be done there is no job that will make them a viable commodity on the job market and a missionary says well I have wanted to do this and set up a little carpenter shop be very inexpensive teach them skills to make some baby sold in the bazaar but I am told the pastor and his family are able to have a little basic protein a missionary wants to teach him how to raise a few chickens that is not our concern brethren this is a stench in the nostrils of God it is the spirit condemned by our Lord the people were with the multitudes and they had been hearing the word and the needs were met

55:44 they said Lord it is getting late better send them into town to get something to eat we have done the spiritual thing Lord let them take Jesus said give ye them to eat give them to eat so that the Lord would expose in any of us any remnants of this area of this error that is a hangover from a narrow truncated view of God's concern for the whole man so this teaching constitutes an expose of these two great errors liberalism and a truncated narrow visioned evangelicalism but secondly it reveals the nature of true biblical holiness what is true biblical holiness? is it a shiver and a shake? some kind of ecstatic feeling? breaking out into ecstatic languages? is it some kind of transport into some semi-mystical state where I hear angels wings fluttering? no no the scripture says in 1st John 2 6 he that saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk even as he walked you know what biblical holiness is?

56:51 it's being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and the Christ who marches through the pages of scripture is the Christ concerned for the whole man starting with the roots and all the way out to every fruit Christ was never concerned to deal with fruits without roots but neither was he satisfied to deal with roots and not fruits and the more we imbibe the spirit reflected in those words the more we are being conformed to the image of our blessed Lord and then thirdly and I've held this for last but because the Bible mentions it I cannot be silent this teaching points the way to increased blessing from God upon our own assembly and upon our own lives what did God say in Isaiah 58? he condemned the sham he pointed the way to true fasting and then how did he conclude his exhortation? he says then shall thy light rise in obscurity then shalt thou be like a watered garden that's a legitimate motive and I'm convinced dear people that one of the reasons God has been pleased only one he alone knows all of them but I'm convinced one of the reasons God has blessed us with such a spirit of unity and love and wholesome openness in our assembly is because there's been a measure of drawing out our soul to the hungry being willing to put up with inconveniences

58:20 of the limitations of these things and not get our eyes filled with grandiose visions of the great imposing structures that will cause the world and the professing church to say my look what they have done and I believe with all of my heart one of the reasons God has blessed us with such love and unity and the continual increase in the salvation of souls is because to some little measure we've drawn out our soul to the hungry but oh beloved God has much more to give and the more we draw out our souls to the hungry the more God in covenant faith this will pour in the life and power of his blessed spirit give and it shall be given unto you good measure and press down shall you receive into your own bosom what is the Lord going to do well I don't know but I'm absolutely convinced that those are promises sealed in the bosom of God in the blood of the everlasting covenant and I believe with our act of benevolence today will come increased measures of blessing from God and I believe as we seek actively not sit back waiting for God to dump them before us but seek actively to know the areas of need where we may stretch out the hands that are now full that God will stretch out his hands full of blessing and pour upon us that which we need cannot contain well may the Lord

59:50 be pleased to take these thoughts from his word and so to move us that as we now give we've held off the offering to the end not to twist your arm no no because you've already come prepared with what you're going to give but that your giving might be the response to the word this morning giving in faith giving in the confidence that as you give for these needs of Christian benevolence you're giving in obedience to God you're giving in a way that follows apostolic example you're manifesting the reality of your professed righteousness and then you are giving in the confession that the Lord is concerned with the whole man you're giving as a manifestation of conformity to Christ you're giving and in so doing putting yourself in the way of further blessing from the great head of the church himself and my dear friend if you're a stranger to the grace of God God doesn't want your shekels he demands that you repent and believe the gospel may the Lord be used be pleased to use even what has been a word of instruction to his own to be a clarion call to bring you broken to the feet of Christ so that in union with him you may begin to give and think and live in such a way that your life will bring pleasure to your God will the men please come we shall commit our gifts to God in prayer and then we'll be back

61:18 and then receive them from you