True Charity
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
“Charity begins at home.”
This is one of I’m sure many charity quotes we’ve heard.
But according to the Bible, what is true charity.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
1 Corinthians 13 is known as the “Love chapter”.
But in the King James Version, the word love, “agape” is translated as charity.
While not the best translation for modern times, translating agape as charity does have some merit.
After all, true charity comes from a place of love for others.
In this chapter, Paul tells us a lot about love and charity.
Love is more important than speaking in tongues, the gift of prophecy, knowledge, understanding, and even faith.
Love suffers long, is kind, does not envy, is not puffed up, is not rude, does not seek its own.
Love thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but in truth.
Love bears all things, believes all thins, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Of the three virtues in this chapter, faith, hope, and love,
Love or charity is the greatest of all.
I think the most important aspect of charity, the one most closely linked to agape love, is the desire for what is best for the other.
Widows
Widows
Honor widows who are really widows.
We are told to honor widows, which is important,.
Read the book of Ruth,
Naomi and Ruth were widows.
They had little.
Ruth had to glean in another’s field just for something to eat.
Literally, scrounge for food.
But we are not to honor all widows?
Why?
But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God.
Remember that line, “Charity begins at home”?
Paul is telling Timothy that line is true, in this case for widows.
In today’s society, we think government should provide charity.
We pay taxes for those institutions and believe that is the end of our responsibility.
Rather like Ebenezer Scrooge.
But God tells us that we owe it to our parents and grandparents to take care of them in the old age.
Most of you have seen our farm.
Almost since the day I laid eyes on it, I’ve had plans for what I could do to take care of my family.
Not just Pamela and Joelle, but my father, step-mother, and sister.
I remember having a discussion with my step-grandfather one day about Social Security.
He didn’t want to be a burden on his children.
But he had married by grandmother!
I literally owe my existence to her, and others.
Do I not also owe the sweat of my brow and work of my hands to take care of her and the rest of my family?
As Paul tells Timothy in verse 8
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
My grandmother was not a widow, and my father is not a widower.
But we also live in the 21st century.
In the time Paul is writing this, widowers still owned and inherited land, and the produce thereof.
It was rare, if not impossible for a woman to own land beyond her home.
Which is why Ruth had to glean.
So a real widow was financially in trouble.
Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
A real widow is alone
She trusts in God.
She reaches out to Him for her needs.
And God frequently uses others to provide for them.
That’s not to say all widows are so pious.
But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. And these things command, that they may be blameless.
Widows who live indulgent lives are dead.
Paul explains this in verse 9.
Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man, well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work.
For a widow to be cared for, provided charity, she had to meet certain criteria.
She had to be at least 60 years old.
Paul explains this more in just a few verses.
The wife of one man.
Have a good reputation.
Brought up children.
Been hospitable to strangers.
These are all very good traits.
But notice something important.
A widow is not due charity simply because she is a widow, or even because of her age.
Charity was for those who needed it, and had earned a reputation not to abuse it.
But refuse the younger widows; for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry, having condemnation because they have cast off their first faith.
Young widows were not to be taken into the group of widows.
Why? Weren’t they widows?
Because they are young, they will most likely desire to marry.
They will grow wanton, lustful.
Just as Naomi told Ruth and Orpah to stay in Moab.
And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.” So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.
It wasn’t that Paul wanted to harm these young widows,
But that he wanted what was best for them,
Which meant husbands and children.
To become a true widow, they would of had to give up that future.
And when their desire turned toward a husband, they would have abandoned the faith they had placed in God to provide for them the rest of their lives.
But there is more.
And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
We’ve all read about what happens to the idle poor,
They find ways to “game the system”, rather than ways to get our of their poverty.
Similarly, imagine a young woman, with plenty of life to live, but nothing to do?
No house or family to care for.
How would she spend her time?
That is why Paul said:
Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
Provision for Those in Need
Provision for Those in Need
God told His people Israel to make provision for others,
To offer charity, but not as we think of it today.
‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.
The Israelites were to make provision for the poor and stranger not by offering them money or food, but the opportunity to gather such from their harvest.
Compare that today, were all someone needs to get money and food is to show poverty.
What does that do to the person’s spirit,
For them to become dependent on others for their very existence.
Denied the dignity of providing for their own.
Remember:
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Not to mention what happens to the idle poor.
And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.
How much better to offer them the dignity of work.
The chance to earn,
To offer a hand up, rather than a hand out.
Does that not show more care for what is best for the poor,
Rather than a show of caring that cripples them and their decedents?
That’s not to say there aren’t times when giving to others isn’t appropriate.
“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Every third year an Israelite was to take his tithe, his tenth of that years produce, and store it up to give to those in need.
The Levite, because he had no inheritance in Israel.
The stranger, orphan, and widow, because they had little if any way to provide for themselves.
The stranger probably didn’t arrive at harvest.
The orphan, as a child, could do little work.
And the widow may have her hands full taking care of that orphan.
Conclusion
Conclusion
True charity is not simply providing food and shelter, but what is best for those in need.
Have you seen the damage that modern charity has done to the family?
The poor dependent on government hand outs, generation after generation.
Fathers discouraged from being part of the family.
Leading to the destructive habits of those fatherless children.
What about the damage done in foreign lands.
Farms and markets wiped out by free food from afar.
Industries destroyed by the acts of charity.
God wants us to look at charity as agape love.
Look not for the easy way, but best way.
Seek not to show off, but to show up.
Offer a hand up, rather than a hand out.
Remember, God so agape loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
But He still expects us to accept His gift if we wish to enjoy it.
Should we not agape love those whom we offer charity to as well?