“CHARITY”

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos

Pulpit Series Volume 21, Issue 03    April 10, 2011

I Corinthians 13:1-3 “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 profits me nothing.”


I Corinthians 16:14 “Let all your things be done with charity.”

Colossians 3:14 “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”

I Peter 4:8 “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

I Corinthians 13:13 “And now abides faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

Charity today refers to what used to be called “alms”; giving to the poor. Originally “charity” had a much bigger meaning.

Today we say, if a man has charity, one of the most obvious things he does is give to the poor. Unfortunately people have come to see it as if that were the whole meaning of charity.

Charity actually means “love”, in the Christian sense. But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion.

It is a state of will of choice, not of feelings. This choice comes naturally regarding ourselves, but we must learn to have it towards other people.

Our love for ourselves does not mean that we like ourselves. In fact there may well be things about ourselves we want to change.

In the same way Christian love, or charity for our neighbours, is quite a different thing from “liking or affection”. Think about it, we ‘like’ or are ‘fond of’ some people and not of others. No where in the word does it say we are to like everyone. In fact the Word says, as much as possible be at peace with everyone.

Some people are actually hard to like! It is important to understand that this natural ‘liking’ is neither a sin, nor a virtue (a good or admirable quality), any more than your likes and dislikes in food are a sin or a virtue.

It is just a fact!

However, what we do about it is either sinful or virtuous.

Certainly liking people makes it easier to be charitable towards them.

It is good to encourage our affections to ‘like’ people as much as we can (just as it is important for us to encourage our liking for exercise or wholesome food).

Some people are ‘cold’ by temperament and although that is unfortunate for them, it is not a sin. It is their make up. The ‘way they are’ does not excuse them from the duty of learning charity. According to the Word we are all called to the duty of being charitable (loving).

Luke 10:27 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.”

Galatians 5:14 “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

The rule for all of us is perfectly simple.

Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour;

act as if you did.

As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets: When you act as if you loved someone, you will soon come to love them.

The opposite is also true: If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. But, if you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.

There is, however, one exception.

That is, if you do him a good turn, not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show him what a fine forgiving person you are.

The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he ‘likes’ them.

The Christian, trying to treat everyone kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on, including people he couldn’t even imagine liking at the beginning.

This same spiritual law can also work in the opposite direction. The more cruel you are, the more you’ll hate and the more you hate, the more cruel you’ll become - and so on, leading into a vicious circle.

It would be good to remember:

Good and evil both increase at compound interest.

(interest paid on both the principal and on accrued interest)

That is why the little decisions you and I make every day

are of such infinite importance.

• The smallest good act today can in a few months lead you to go on to victories you never dreamed of.
• An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today, may allow the enemy of your soul an attack otherwise impossible.

When it comes to loving God, people are often worried. They are told they ought to love God...yet they can’t find that emotion in themselves.

What are they supposed to do?

The answer is the same as before when we spoke of loving our neighbour. Act as if you did.

Do not try to manufacture feelings. Simply ask yourself, “If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?” When you find the answer, go and do it.

Remember, feelings are not what God principally cares about.

Christian love, either towards God or towards man,

is an affair of the will. A matter of choice!

If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God". He will give us feelings of love, if He pleases, but we cannot create them for ourselves. But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. His love for us is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference.

His love for us is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of our sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.