Charity And Its Fruits Notes - Chapter 4

Chapter/sermon 4 is called "Charity Disposes Us Meekly To Bear The Injuries Received By Others". Having dealt with the issue of why love is so necessary, Edwards starts into describing the fruits of godly love with 1 Corinthians 13:34, that love is patient ("long suffering" in the KJV.)

Edwards starts by talking not about patience, but meekness. To Edwards, one expression of Christian meekness is how patiently we endure and forgive the injuries done to us.

Edwards starts by presenting a litany of ways we can injure others. He gives special emphasis to speaking ill of others, and of harboring grudges.

He then goes on to show how we are to meekly bear the injuries we suffer from others:

1. We must do nothing to avenge our injuries. This includes not only overt acts, but any speech or behavior that would show bitterness against the person for their acts. This does not mean that we aren't to reprove the offender, but that we must reprove politely, calmly and gently. Also, our reproofs should be concerned with the sin done against God, and not the injury done to us.


2. This lack of bitterness must be internal (within our hearts) and not merely an external act. The Christian love I feel toward someone should not be interrupted or destroyed by bitter emotions.


3. I should not let the injuries destroy my "inward calmness and repose of spirit." I'm assuming that this means I shouldn't let myself get worked up as I keep dwelling on the injury. Such lack of calmness makes it impossible to properly pray or meditate.


4. We should remember not to do anything that will increase the hostility between us and the offender, as this can prevent us from making him our friend.

Edwards doesn't believe that all attempts at defense or vindication are wrong, but says that it is wrong in "most cases."

Edwards then goes on to explain why patience is called "long suffering." The (self evident in my opinion) reasons are that:

1. We are suffer not just a few injuries from any person before taking action, but unceasingly, no matter how long this person injures us.


2. We are to suffer up injury up to the point where "needful self-defense" is necessary. Even, then (as mentioned above) we are to forgo this self-defense in most cases. And if we do take defensive measures, it should be with an attitude of Christian love towards the person we are defending ourselves against.

Having the established the when and how-to of being lovingly patient, Edwards then moves on to explain how Christian love makes such long suffering possible.

1. Our love for God causes us to imitate Him, and one of His most prominent character traits is His patience with the world.


2. Our gratitude to God for His patience to us will cause us to extend the same patience to others.


3. Our love for God leads us to humility, which causes us to be less resentful of the injuries we suffer.


4. Our appreciation of God's sovereignty leads us to see His hand in all that happens to us.


5. Greater love for God leads to treating earthly possessions as less important. Since people can only injure these earthly possessions, the more we love God the less we feel the injury.


6. People are more patient with those whom they love. We are commanded by Jesus to love our neighbors and our enemies.

Edwards then exhorts us to be patient with many examples:

1. Christ, who suffered mockery, intrigue, character assassination throughout His ministry without seeking revenge.


2. We live in a fallen world. To become upset at every injury would lead us to have a life of constant misery.


3. We have the examples of the saints (David running from Saul in 1 Samuel, Stephen being stoned) and apostles, who forbore much in the name of Christ. While we can never hope to match Christ's example, we can hope to match the forebearance of other men.


4. We are warned by Jesus that we will be judged by the patience and forebearance we show to others.

Edwards closes by presenting 3 arguments people make against patience, giving his counter arguments.

1. The injury is very great. Edwards responds to this by pointing out that our sins are greater, yet God still forebore them.


2. The injuries will keep going on. That's why it is called "long" suffering, says Edwards.


3. People will continue to injure us, possibly with even greater injuries. We do not know this for certain. Even if they do increase their injuries, we must remember that we are under God's providence, and He will not let us come to real harm.

Charity And Its Fruits Notes - Chapter 3

Chapter/sermon 3 is called "The Greatest Performances or Sufferings in Vain Without Charity" and goes into more detail on 1 Corinthians 13:3.

Edwards starts out by showing that it is possible to perform "religious deeds" or to suffer for one's faith without having any Christian love. His prime example of external performances is the Pharisees, who fast, tithe, etc. without an ounce of love within them. Likewise, people can feed, clothe and house the poor out of a desire for fame or to gain the applause of others.

Edwards also shows that people can suffer for reasons that have nothing to do with love of their fellow man. In an especially timely example, he points to the Crusades, when both Crusaders and Muslims sought death in combat thinking it would ensure their entrance into heaven/paradise.

Even when these performances and sufferings are done for spiritual and not temporal reasons, they usually involve some sort of attempt to earn the performer's entrance into heaven. The performer's purpose in doing the deed is not out of love for God, but rather to earn entrance into heaven on his own merit. In some cases (as was my own condition when I started my walk with Christ) the real motivation isn't so much getting into heaven as avoiding hell.

Edwards points out that such performances/sufferings are useless without love, because:

• God looks not at the external deed but at the motivation behind the deed.


• Love is what adds sincerity to our gifts. Without love, everything we do is merely an attempt to bribe God.


• Love is the some total of all that God desires. To withhold our love is to deny Him the only thing He wants.


• Religious deeds done with out love are hypocrisy, and amount to lying to God.


• Performances/sufferings done for any temporal purpose (gaining fame, public acclamation, etc.) amount to idolatry.

The application to today's sermon is a call to ensure that our performances/sufferings are done with a sincere love for God. A glass of water given in sincere love is more treasured by God than a multi-million dollar donation made without love. And, in a reverse application to the idea that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump", Edwards tells us: "Though there be a great deal of imperfection, yet, if there be any true sincerity in our love that little shall not be rejected because there is some hypocrisy with it."

Edwards lists 4 things that belong to the nature of sincerity:

Truth
Freedome
Integrity
Purity

Truth is present in our acts when our hearts contain what we show in our outward actions. In this case, truth is defined as the opposite of hypocrisy.

Freedom is present when we perform our acts out of love instead of a feeling of obligation or legal obligation.

Integrity, as Edwards describes it, is really whole heartedness.

Purity is present when our acts are "without spot before the throne of God." Bible study on my lunch hour would be pure, Bible study when I'm "on the clock" would be impure as I am robbing my employer.

A second application is that we should impress upon the unsaved how little good their good deeds will do them when they stand before God. This is probably even more true today when we are surrounded by people who think they are "good enough" to get into heaven.

And the final application is that we should exhort everyone to seek godly love with dilligence and prayer, and to seek it from God and not ourselves.

Charity And Its Fruits Notes - Chapter 2

Chapter/sermon 2 is called "Charity More Excellent Than The Extraordinary Gifts of The Spirit" and goes into more detail on 1 Corinthians 13:1-2.

Edwards starts out by showing the different ways that gifts of the Spirit are categorized, specifically:

• Common and saving


• Ordinary and extraordinary

Common gifts are those gifts possessed by both the saved and the unsaved. The ability to feel compassion or guilty are examples. Saving gifts are those gifts possessed by the saved only.

Ordinary gifts are those gifts possessed by every member of the church. Extraordinary gifts are those that are given to a few people as God determines the need. Extraordinary gifts are what most people think of when they use the term "Spiritual gifts" and include prophecy and speaking in tongues. Ordinary gifts are the ones we associate with Galations 5:22-23 and are usually called "Spiritual Fruits." An interesting little item is that it is possible for unsaved people to have extraordinary Spiritual gifts, at least temporarily. An example is in John 11:49-52, when the high priest Caiaphas speaking of the political necessity of killing Jesus, is actually said to be prophesying. Other examples are Balaam the prophet and Judas Iscariat, who was sent out and worked miracles with the other apostles.

Dispite this last item, Edwards points out that it is an incredible privilege to receive an extraordinary gift of the Spirit. He says it is a privilege second only to salvation. The reason for this is that the giving of extraordinary gifts to unbelievers is rare. They are normally given only to those for whom God has a special love: Moses, Daniel, John the Baptist and the Apostles. According to Edwards, the apostle John was given the privilege of seeing and recording what is in the book of Revelation because he was the disciple whom Jesus loved.

Yet for all it's privilege, Paul says they are less important than the ordinary gift of godly love. Edwards gives several reasons why this is so:

1. Christian love becomes part of our inherent nature, extraordinary gifts are something we wear


2. Christian love represents the Holy Spirit bestowing His nature to our souls/li>
   
3. Getting Christian love means becoming more like Christ


4. Only God's favorites and adopted children get the gift of Christian love


5. The extraordinary gifts will fail, love is eternal. What can be more precious, a gift that God gives (albeit rarely) to people He hates, or a gift that is only given to those He loves.


6. Godly love also leads to greater happiness, because it causes us to be more godly. In Edwards words "Man's highest happiness consists in holiness, for it is by this that the reasonable creature is united to God, the fountain of all good."


7. The purpose of the extraordinary gifts is the propogation of the gospel and the building up of the saints within the church. Part of this building up consists of loving more like God does. This means that love is part of the end, and not just part of the means, and the ends are always more excellent than the means.


8. Edwards goes on to point out that not only are extraordinary gifts nothing without love, which shows the presence of God's grace, they actually increase the condemnation of the unsaved person. Judas' betrayal of Christ is made worst by the fact that we was an apostle, with the miracle working gifts possessed by the other apostles.

All of this leads Edwards to say: "If what has been said be well considered, it will appear evident beyond all doubt, that the saving grace of God in the heart, working a holy and divine temper in the soul, is the greatest blessing that ever men receive in this world..."

The application portion of this sermon is very small, consisting of telling the people to have a level of gratitude commensorate with the gift they have received, and to live more fully for Christ.

Charity And Its Fruits Notes - Chapter 1

Chapter/sermon 1 is called "Charity, or Love, The Sum Of All Virtue" and covers 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. There was little exposition of the verses themselves. This sermon was an introductory piece designed to introduce the topic and to show its importance and applicability in the Christian's life.

Before He could get into his title topic proper, Edwards first had to do some King James to English translating to show that the word "charity" in 1 Corinthians 13 referred to "love" in the Greek. And not just any love, but Christian love. He goes on to show the importance of love to the Christian as stated in the first 3 verses of the chapter: without love, all spiritual gifts and deeds done in obedience to God are worthless.

He then goes on to show that there is only one form of Christian love. Whether that love is directed towards God or our fellow man, it is one love.

Edwards has many reasons for stating what he does in the title. These reasons include:

• Love is what distinguishes Christians from others


• Love is the root of all virtues


• Without love, all "good deeds" are hypocrisy


• Love is the sum of all that is contained in God's Law

Christian love is what distinguishes Christians from others because of its origin, the Holy Spirit. God is love, so if the Holy Spirit dwells within us, so does love. To be without love is to be without the Holy Spirit.

According to Edwards, love is the root of all virtues because it makes all other virtues possible. He points out that it is easy to be merciful or forgiving of selfless to someone you love. Likewise, it is easier to show honor and respect to those we love.

Love prevents hypocrisy be allowing our deeds to be more spontaneous and free. Without love, all of our deeds would be forced. Edwards states that "Religion is nothing without proper respect to God." And as mentioned above, it is easier to respect someone we love. Indeed, without love our obedience to God lacks sincerity, making it worthless.

And the fact that that all of the laws were gathered up in the commandments to love God and each other was stated by our Lord.

Like any good sermon, there is also an application section. Edwards lists several applications, some of them being:

1. We can examine ourselves to see if we have the spirit of love within us.


2. We can judge our spiritual experiences by the love the produce in us, knowing that true Christian experiences increase our love.


3. We can see how many of the things we are warned about (envy, malice, bitterness) are dangerous. They eat away at our love

The exhortion at the end is that we must all seek God's spirit of love, to grow in it more and more so that our works of love (and therefore our glorification of God) may abound. Indeed, it is the spirit of love that separates those who love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Thoughts on Today's Bible Reading

I read through 2 Samuel 4-7 today, in which the LORD secures David's kingship over all the tribes of Israel, the "City of David" is captured from the Jebusites, the Ark of the Covenant is brought to Jerusalem and God makes a covenant to preserve David's dynasty.

I'm always struck by Nathan's response to David's question about building a house for the LORD.

One major difference we see between David the king and Saul the king is the way David doesn't do anything without first enquiring of the LORD. Yet when David asks Nathan about building a permanent temple for the LORD, Nathan gives his opinion, not God's.

No doubt Nathan thought his opinion coincided with God's. He was a prophet and therefore in repeated communication with God, David was especially loved by God and the request seemed an honest attempt to honor God. Nathan probably looked at David's question as a no brainer not worth having to pray over. God proved him wrong.

I should probably remember this when someone asks me questions about God, Jesus or the gospel. The question may not be the no brainer I think it is.

Preliminary Notes About Charity And Its Fruits

I think I'll use the Memorial Day weekend to (finally) get a start on reading Jonathan Edwards' book "Charity And Its Fruits". The book is actually a series of 16 sermons on 1 Corinthians 13 (the famous "love chapter") that Edwards gave in 1738 to his congregation in Northampton. My hope is to hold to a schedule of one chapter/sermon a day, though I'm not going to dogmatically stick to the schedule at the expense of learning.

I have looked over the book a little. The first thing that you notice is the language. In some ways it's harder to read Edwards than Calvin or Augustine. This is because they have been translated more recently than when Edwards wrote his sermons. Even the free translations of Calvin and Augustine on the internet use more contemporary English than did Edwards. It's also interesting to note that Edwards didn't attempt to dumb down his grammar for his flock. It will be interesting to see how well I keep up with him.

It'll also be interesting to see how his writing effects mine. I have noticed in the past that I often take on the writing style of what ever I'm reading at the time.

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Thoughts from today's Bible reading

I read through 1 Samuel 26-29 today. The period in chapters 27-28 appears to be a very dark period in David's life.

Despite being protected from Saul by God, David gives in to fear (and probably tiredness as well) and flees to the Philistines. This time he is welcomed by the Philistine king and allowed to live in a city far from the royal city. From here David conducts raids on his host's allies, killing anyone who might be a witness to his actions.

This must have been a very discouraging time for David. He has been worn down by living on the run and off the land. He has to be wondering how long this will go on. He has repeatedly refused to kill Saul when given the chance, leaving it to God to deal with the man He has annointed. Yet the weeks have turned into months and years and God has let Saul live. David sees no end to the running.

So he takes shelter with a human king, away from his land and living among the enemy of his people. He now has a city to inhabit, a house to live in and a bed to sleep in. And he is safe from Saul. But he is living a lie. (Actually, several lies and a very ambiguous oath.)

I wonder if the raids he conducts are designed to ease the guilt he feels at trusting a king other than God.

Still, there is hope. If God will forgive David his fear and doubting and still make him king, He will forgive me when I doubt and fear in my weariness and keep calling me son.

Notes from Ravi's appearance (Part 3 of 3)

Ravi was the speaker, talking on the subject "The Loss of Truth and a Proposal For Its Recovery." He started with a brief history of modern thought.

He started with the Renaissance, when man, not God, became the measure of all things. Art held sway as man was thought of as an artistic being. A major problem that started to arise was that it is very difficult to deal with absolutes in art.

After this came Rationalism, which saw man as a thinking being.

Next came The Enlightenment, in which man became an empirical being. Proponents said "If it isn't mathmatical or experimental, it is illusion." This statement failed its own test.

After the Enlightment came Kant, and man became a skeptical being. The 20th century saw Existentialism, in which man became a desparate being.

The final step was Postmodernism, which said you can't even make sense out of language. Ravi saw this as a continuation of Satan's original lie "Has God really said?"

Ravi's history lesson was followed by a description of the gulf separating the East and the West.

In the West Christianity has been marginalized, even ridiculed. In the East it is acceptable to criticize Western religeons but Eastern religeons are protected.

In the West religion has been evicted from academia. In the East there is a resurgence of pride in ancient wisdom.

In the West theology (which starts with God) was replaced by religion (which starts with humanity). In the East religion was always seen as a process and pursuit.

In the West truth was displaced and nothing replaced it. In the East displacement of truth was not felt because culture was the driving force.

Ravi also pointed out that Christianity is the only religion that claims a supernatural rebirth. This means that if we don't show an increase in the fruits of the Spirit in our lives we deny the supernatural. Ravi pointed out that it is only after we have helped and touched others that we can begin the work of apologetics. Apologetics that is not lived out is merely "cerebral flexing" that won't convince anyone.

Notes from Ravi's appearance (Part 2 of 3)

The second speaker was Stuart McAllister, who talked on the topic "Barriers and Bridges for the Gospel."

He started out with the theme "The key issue is a person, not a concept." Pointing to Peter's confession of Jesus as the Christ (Mark 8:27-29), he talked about how the purpose of the church, and witnessing, and apologetics, is to answer peoples' question "Who is Jesus?"

Like Amy, Stuart stressed that we should emulate Jesus. His point was that Jesus never tried to pressure or argue anyone into accepting him. Three memorable items:

• The call is to witness, not coercion


• We need to follow God's leadership and not pressure


• We need to let trust in God, not fear of failure, energize our efforts.

In a tie-in with what Amy said, Stuart used the first 2 items to point out that the purpose of apologetics is to answer peoples' questions, not to convert by argument.

He then briefly discussed the issue of absolute truth, mainly talking about how people bandy phrases like "absolute truth" and "objective truth" around without really knowing what they mean.

He wrapped up by referring to 1 Peter 3:15, that we should be ready to present a defense for our faith. He said something that probably stuck with me more than anything else said that day: "We should love people to prepare to answer their questions." He also gave some practical steps we can do to prepare ourselves:

1. We need to read books that deal with the questions people raise about Christianity.


2. We should practice with friends on how to answer oft repeated questions.


3. We need to get out of the churches and into the malls so that we'll know what questions people have.


4. Each of us must find a personal articulation of what is meant by the truth, that corresponds to God's Word, so that we can answer people with clarity and confidence. (And without sounding like we are giving canned responses.)

Notes from Ravi's appearance (Part 1 of 3)

I had a chance to see Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias and some of his staff in person this past Wednesday. It's taken me this long to get around to going through my notes on the event.

The first person to speak was Amy Orr-Ewing, on the topic "Why Trust the Bible?"

She started out with an interesting statistic: Jesus asks 157 questions in the gospels. Her point was that if we are to emulate Jesus when we witness to others, we must begin by asking the person questions to draw out what they think and believe. At the very least it shows we care about them.

This struck me today as being a major point. We often think of witnessing as just another one of the things that Jesus told us to do, along with repenting and being baptized. We often forget the reason we are called to evangelize: that our Lord loves the people we are talking to. If I, the person representing Jesus to the "witnessee", don't love that person, how can I expect that person to believe my message that God loves him/her enough to send His Son to die for them?

Amy went on to talk about three common questions that apologists have to deal with:

1. Isn't it all a matter of interpretation?


2. Where did the canon come from?


3. What makes the Bible different from all other holy books?

According to Amy, question 1 stems from the modern belief that there is no such thing as absolute truth anymore. She had no real answer for the question on absolute truth except to suggest that we bring people into the scriptures by showing how the texts hold together internally as well as with other external documents.

The answer question 3 also supports the answers for question 1 in a way. One thing that makes the Bible different from other holy books is the amount of scrutiny it has undergone since its creation. This scrutiny has been done both by believers as well as unbelievers. This is contrast to other religions which are often very reluctant to let outsiders look into the manuscript origins of their holy books. She pointed to parts of her own Bible where the translators had included footnotes showing alternative phrasing and words that have been found in the various copies that the translators had at their disposal.

One interesting piece of information that came out in discussing question 3 was this: we Christians often equate our Bible with the qur'an. This is incorrect. Because Muslims see the qur'an as God's perfect revelation of Himself, and since the qur'an is considered by Muslims to be the miracle that proves Islam is true, we should equate the qur'an with Jesus (who was called "The Word".)

Some notes on today's Bible reading

I've been using one of Discipleship Journal's "Read the Bible in a year" schedules. Today's reading was 1 Samuel 4-6. This covers the Philistines capturing the Ark of The Covenant and its return.

I've been trying to decide which part most closely identifies who I am. The good news is that I think I'm moving beyond the Israelites shown in chapter 4.

First they go to war with the Philistines after drifting away from the LORD. Then, when they lose their first battle they ask "Why has God done this to us?" This sounds like a godly question, except they don't wait for an answer. They immediately attempt to manipulate God via the Ark.

I don't think I'm as bad as that anymore. I have pretty much given up trying to find the prayer technique/formula that will let me manipulate God.

If anything, I think I'm the cattle used to pull the cart when the Ark is returned to Israel. I accept God's will but I do a lot of lowing in the process.

Actually, now that I think of it, the cattle are one up on me. They do God's will without turning to the left or the right. I take a lot of detours.

First post

Some information upon which to start making assumptions about what kind of person/Christian I am.

My favorite version of the Bible

My church

The book I'm trying to find time to read