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 twenty-five
cent word that means on the surface of things—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 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 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 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. 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 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 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. 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. 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 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? 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. 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.
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 am 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. 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 sin. They are what the old theologians
would call bad good works. 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. we must be concerned to understand
the context, the setting within which such true Christian benevolence
is exercised. 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 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. 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 from God. And man's greatest problem is
not the fruits. Man's greatest problem is his
alienation from God. 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 men 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 responsibility of the church? Well, is its primary responsibility
to go plucking off some of the fruits of man's sinfulness? 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. That's why Jesus said
in Luke 24, verses 45-48, 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 sins 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, bombed
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. 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 and my speech and my preaching
were not with enticing words of men's wisdom but in demonstration
of the spirit and the 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. The
same Bible which teaches these two things also teaches us that
the people of God have additional and supplemental responsibilities
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? 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. 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 bondslaves
of Christ. And if we're the bondslaves of
Christ, then we're concerned to do whatsoever He commands
us, 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.
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. First of all, 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? 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 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. 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, Is not this the fast that
I have chosen? In other words, he says, if you're
going to exercise spiritual disciplines 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 unlawfully restricted. Here are men under the figure
of being under a yoke. They are oppressed. And he says,
if you are 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. 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 brother 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. 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. 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 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. In Proverbs chapter 3, the beginning
of a new thought, If you have a paragraph version, you'll notice
two lines are skipped between 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, O go, and come again, and tomorrow
I will give thee, when thou hast it by thee. 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 Christian benevolence
that we've expounded on previous occasions in 2 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, 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 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. Fifty 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 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, $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 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
commands of Scripture, laying upon our consciences as the people
of God, the duty of engaging in Christian benevolence. 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 six of the book of Galatians,
chapter six, and in a paragraph dealing with the subject of monetary
issues, the apostle begins by saying in verse six, let him
that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all
good things. That is, support your teachers.
It'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 dreaders 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. 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 material necessities, the kind of things for which
our gifts today 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 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. The Apostle, in this third chapter,
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, 1 John, We know that we have passed out of death into life
because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in
death. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer. 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 new testimony that a work of grace has never
been done. Now, then, someone asks the question, yeah, that's
all right, 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, all right, 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, 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 almost
pummeling power of his logic. But, he says, whoso 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
Da Nang, 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. 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,
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 not 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 apparatus of human speech. Let us love
indeed, 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 fellas 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, then 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, 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. In most cultures, they spend
70, 80, 90, 100% of a day's wages. 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 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 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. And they said, all right, 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 widow's benefits.
They don't have decreasing term insurance. And the rock didn't
exist then. nor Metropolitan, nor John Hancock,
nor Continental. It had won no such thing as a
life insurance company. And widows were destitute. 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, 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 material needs of widows
that it began to cut into 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 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 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,
all right, 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
this whole thing. 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 a kosher apostle.
Well, we'll buy your claims to apostleship. You're all right.
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 also zealous to do. Isn't that 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. And what is the record
of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 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 8 and 9 of 2 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 from Dan to Beersheba 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 greatly in his
commandments. Here is 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'm 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 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, you know what verse he quotes
from the Old Testament? This very verse. This very verse! He quotes it in 2 Corinthians
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 at Corinth 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 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 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
full. 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 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 to eat. I was thirsty, and ye 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 who's 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. You see, Lord, you're God in
your omniscient. And Lord, we must have had a
lapse of memory. But we don't remember this. 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, 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 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
XX clothing and quietly, without any ostentation, without checking
with the elders, without forming a committee, without organizing
a board, he just 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 on 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. 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, inasmuch 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. 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. 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. It
is the message proclaimed. Peter said, God made choice a
while ago that 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. And so the liberals are all wrong. They're 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're unsaved here today, if you're 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. Far better
to go to hell with one less sin charged to your account. If you're
going to hell in unbelief, don't go with the added sin of indifference
to human need. But, my friend, you'll go to
hell still. And all the benevolence of unregenerate men will simply
make their hell a little less in the intensity of torment,
but it will be hell nonetheless. The hour is coming when Jesus
Christ will come in flaming fire to take vengeance on all that
obey not the gospel. The proud liberal who said, I
am no sinner. I will not adopt this biblical
notion of human depravity and the basic evil of the human heart.
It's offensive to me. It cripples my pride. God says,
all right, I'll cut you down in your pride. Oh, may God help any who may
be infected with that error. But this teaching we've considered
this morning exposes an error on the other end of the spectrum.
The era 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. And evangelicalism
has said we want the roots without the fruits. This is no straw dummy. I've
heard it with my own ears in these past weeks as I've seen
young people Growing up in a church situation, I said, what's going
to be done to help them get out of this economic slavery? There's
no job that will make them a viable commodity on the job market.
And a missionary says, well, I've wanted to do this and set
up a little carpenter shop, be very inexpensive, teach them
skills to make some basic things that could be sold in the bazaar.
But I'm told that's not our concern as missionaries. so that a 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's not our concern. Brethren, this is a stench in
the nostrils of God. It's the spirit condemned by
our Lord when the disciples were with the multitudes and they'd
been hearing the Word and their spiritual needs were met. They
said, Lord, it's getting late. Better send them into town to
get something to eat. We've done the spiritual thing. Lord, let
them take... Jesus said, Give ye them to eat. Give ye them
to eat! Oh, that the Lord would expose
in any of us any remnants 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 vision of 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
1 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? 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 shall 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 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, O beloved, God has much
more to give. And the more we draw out our
souls to the hungry, the more God in covenant faithness will
pour in the life and power of His blessed Spirit. Give, and
it shall be given unto you. Good measure and pressed 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 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 cannot contain. Well, may the Lord 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 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 receive them
from Him.