Latest / Reformed Thinking / Charity Disposes Us to Do Good (1 Corinthians 13:4) | Jonathan Edwards

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Charity Disposes Us to Do Good (1 Corinthians 13:4) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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  Hello, and welcome to another session of Reformed Thinking.
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  It is. It's just great to have you with
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  us as we open up the archives again.
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  It's good to be back. We are continuing our walk
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  through what I think is one of the most demanding texts we've
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  encountered in quite a while. We're looking at Jonathan
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  Edwards sermon series on 1st Corinthians 13.
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  The famous charity and its fruits.
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  That's the. One, and you use the right word
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  there, demanding. I think a lot of people, you
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  know, they come to 1st Corinthians 13 and they see it
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  as this, the soft poetic text. Oh absolutely, it's wedding
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  season material. Right.
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  It's red at weddings. It's on greeting cards.
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  You see it on decorative pillows.
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  But then you sit down with someone like Edwards and you
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  realize this chapter is actually a sledgehammer.
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  A sledgehammer to the ego. It is.
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  It's a really rigorous dismantling of our default
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  selfishness. It's a blueprint.
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  It is. It's not poetry.
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  He treats it as policy, a policy for the Christian life and to
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  Orient you, our listener, specifically where we are today,
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  we're examining the sermon called Charity Disposes us to Do
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  good. The verse is First Corinthians
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  13.4 and the specific phrase is just two words is kind.
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  Charity suffereth long and is kind, and that context is well,
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  it's everything here. In our last deep dive, we spent
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  the whole time on the first half of that.
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  The tougher Earth long. Right, which is all about, in a
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  sense, a kind of passivity. It was about meekness, bearing
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  injuries, taking the hits the world gives you without hitting
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  back. It was about what you don't do
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  when you're provoked. Exactly.
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  But today? Today, the coin flips
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  completely. It does.
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  We move from that passive bearing of evil to the active
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  doing of good. Edwards makes this point, and
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  it's a sharp one, that you can't just be harmless.
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  A rock is harmless, a corpse is harmless.
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  That's not the goal. A Christian has to be actively
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  good. So that phrase is kind.
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  It implies a kind of kinetic energy, a movement, a movement
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  toward your neighbor, a positive action.
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  And that's really our mission for this discussion.
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  We're going to analyze Edwards's argument that a true Christian
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  spirit requires, well, it requires active, free, and very
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  tangible beneficence. And I want to warn you, our
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  listener, right up front. Edwards is going to push into
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  areas of your life you might feel are private.
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  He's coming for your wallet. He's coming for your business
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  dealing. Oh, he certainly is.
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  He's very practical and he structures the whole argument by
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  looking at first, the nature of doing good than the objects of
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  that good, so who we do it to, and finally the manner in which
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  it must be done. And I think it's necessary we
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  set the theological tone right from the start for Edwards and
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  really for the Reformed tradition as a whole.
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  Yeah. This isn't just about being, you
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  know, nice. Nicest.
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  Well, it's far too weak a word. It's an empty calorie word it
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  is. This is about reflecting the
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  very character of God. God is the the fountain of all
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  good. So if we claim to have His
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  Spirit living in us, we must by necessity become fountains of
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  good. Well.
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  And if the flow stops? If the flow stops or if it never
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  starts, Edwards would say that raises some very serious
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  questions about the source. OK, so let's unpack this
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  segment. One in his sermon covers what he
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  calls the nature of the duty. He defines it very simply, at
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  first just doing good to others, but then he immediately creates
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  this this hierarchy that I found really fascinating.
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  He does. He splits it into two main
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  categories. There's doing good to the soul
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  and there's doing good to the body.
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  And he's very clear on which one takes precedence.
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  Oh, absolutely. He calls doing good to the soul
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  the most excellent way. There's no ambiguity there.
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  And that makes perfect sense logically.
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  I mean, if you believe in an eternal soul, then helping
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  someone for eternity is infinitely more valuable than
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  helping them for what, 80 years? Infinitely, Edwards argues.
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  You could give a man all the kingdoms of the world, all the
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  riches of the universe, but if you haven't done anything to aid
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  his soul, you've actually given him a pretty pitiable gift in
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  the grand scheme of things. It's a short term gain for an
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  eternal loss. Right.
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  But what I really appreciate about Edwards here is how
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  practical he gets about what this spiritual good looks like.
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  He doesn't just say, you know, preach at them.
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  No, he breaks it down into very specific actions.
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  He lists things like instruction, counsel, and
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  warning. He talks about taking pains to
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  teach the ignorant. And that phrase taking pains,
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  that stood out to me too it. Did for me as well.
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  It implies that teaching some of the truth isn't just about
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  having the right answer in your head.
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  It's about the the effort, the labor of transferring that
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  knowledge patiently. It means it's probably going to
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  be inconvenient. It's going to cost you time it.
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  Requires patience. It requires sometimes lowering
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  yourself to the level of the learner, finding a way to
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  communicate that connects with them, and then he moves on to
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  reproof. Yes, the lost art of reproof.
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  It really is a lost art in our modern culture, isn't it?
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  We're so hesitant to tell anyone that they are, to use Edwards
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  phrase out of the way of duty. We see it as judgmental.
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  We think it's none of my business or who am I to say
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  anything. But Edwards lifts correcting
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  those who are out of the way as a primary act of kindness, a
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  spiritual kindness. The analogy that comes to mind
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  is if you see someone, a child, walking toward a busy St. the
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  kindest thing you can do is shout.
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  It's to grab their arm. The cruelest thing you can do is
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  to say, well it's their choice and just watch.
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  Absolutely. The silence in that moment isn't
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  kindness, it's negligence. It's a failure of love.
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  But, and this is a huge but for Edwards, he says.
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  For any of this, the instruction, the counsel, the
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  reproof, for any of it to work, it has to be backed up by
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  something else, by example, by example.
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  This is without a good example. Your words are, and I quote,
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  likely in vain. Think about the psychology of
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  that. It's so true if I'm giving you
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  financial advice, but my own finances are a total wreck.
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  You're not going to listen. I have 0 credibility if I'm
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  telling you to be patient with your kids and I'm constantly
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  yelling at mine. Your words just bounce off their
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  holla, Edward said. The example gives force to the
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  instruction. It validates the message.
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  It shows that you actually believe what you're saying
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  enough to live it. So if we want to do spiritual
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  good to others, the first place we have to look is our own life.
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  It has to be, otherwise we're just hypocrites.
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  We're just making noise. And he gets even more specific
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  about the targets of the spiritual good.
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  He's not just talking in generalities.
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  He lists, for example, reclaiming vicious persons.
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  That's a strong term, Vicious. We'd probably see something
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  softer today. We would we'd say people making
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  poor choices or something, but he's direct.
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  He also talks about persuading neglectors of the sanctuary.
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  People who don't go to church. Right, persuading them to
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  attend, to come under the means of grace.
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  And then he talks about awakening secure and careless
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  sinners. Oof, that category.
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  That category is frightening to me.
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  The secure Sinner. Why so?
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  Because it's the person who isn't in open, scandalous sin.
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  They're just comfortable. They think they're fine.
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  They're completely numb to their own spiritual danger.
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  And Edwards is saying that real kindness sometimes involves
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  disturbing that false security. It's like being the Doctor Who
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  has to give the bad news. You have to tell them about the
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  cancer so that they'll accept the treatment.
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  That's a perfect analogy. Kindness is waking them up to
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  their misery so they can find the remedy, which is Christ.
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  But it's not all negative. It's not all warning.
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  He balances this. He also talks about comforting
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  the Saints. Yes, this is the one another
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  aspect of the Christian life within the church.
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  He mentions helping one another out of dull frames.
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  I just love that old Puritan language.
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  A dull frame. We all know what that feels
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  like. You know those days you just
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  feel spiritually flat. The fog rolls in.
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  Your prayers feel like they're hitting the ceiling.
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  That's a dull frame. And Edward says it is our duty
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  and act of kindness to help pull each other out of that, to come
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  alongside a brother or sister and help them in their
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  temptations. Help them in their spiritual
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  darkness. You highlighted a phrase in your
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  notes that I think is just beautiful.
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  Fellow helpers on their way to glory.
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  That's the image, isn't it? We're a company of pilgrims on a
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  journey, and some are limping, some have gotten lost in the
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  fog, some have fallen asleep by the side of the road.
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  Kindness is the collective effort to get everyone up the
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  mountain together. That's a powerful picture.
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  But Edwards, being the wise and grounded pastor he was, knows
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  we're not just disembodied souls floating around.
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  No, we are embodied souls. We have stomachs that get hungry
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  and backs that get cold and bank accounts that get empty.
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  So he moves from the spiritual to the physical in the next part
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  of the sermon. This is where, as they say, the
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  rubber meets the road, or maybe where the wallet meets the need.
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  He starts talking about the duty regarding outward goods.
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  Temporal assistance, helping with external calamities, he
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  calls them things like hunger, thirst, sickness, being
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  imprisoned, the basic human needs.
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  He frames this really broadly, though.
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  It's not just, you know, disaster relief after a
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  hurricane. He says we should look to
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  further a neighbor's estate substance or good name.
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  That last one good name is interesting, isn't it?
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  It is so defending someone's reputation is an act of charity
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  on par with giving them food. In Edwards, you Yes, a good
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  reputation is a valuable temporal asset.
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  It affects your ability to work, to have relationships.
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  So if you hear slander or gossip and you refuse to pass it on, or
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  better yet, you actively shut it down.
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  Or you speak well of someone who's being misunderstood.
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  You are doing them a tangible, outward good, just as if you'd
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  handed them a $20 bill. And Edwards, he draws this
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  really tight connection between the physical and the spiritual
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  here. He doesn't see them as two
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  separate, disconnected silos. No, he's much too holistic for
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  that. He argues that the outward
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  kindness, the physical help, actually opens the way for the
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  spiritual counsel to be heard. That's such a practical, almost
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  psychological observation. It's just common sense, really.
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  If you're starting, you can't concentrate on a sermon.
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  If my roof is leaking and my kids are cold and you come to my
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  door to talk about my soul, but you ignore my leaking roof.
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  I'm not going to be very receptive.
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  I'm going to think you don't actually care about me, you just
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  care about your project of converting me.
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  Exactly, Edward says. The outward kindness gives our
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  spiritual words full force. It proves our sincerity.
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  It earns us the right to be heard.
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  It shows we see them as a whole person, not just a soul to be
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  saved. So how do we do this?
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  How do we contribute these outward goods?
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  He breaks it down into three specific modes.
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  Yes, giving, doing and suffering.
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  OK, let's take those one by one. Giving seems pretty obvious.
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  It is, he quotes Luke. Give and it shall be given unto
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  you. This is sharing your
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  possessions, your money, your resources.
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  It's writing the check, putting cash in the place.
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  Straightforward enough. The next one is doing.
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  He calls it laboring. Right.
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  And he points to Paul in First Thessalonians talking about his
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  labor in Travail. This is where you don't just
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  send a check from a distance, you roll up your own sleeves.
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  You use your body. You use your energy for their
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  benefit. You have to move house.
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  You fix their broken fence. You give them a ride to the
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  doctor. You expend your personal
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  physical effort. And then there's the third one,
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  1 And I think for most of us this is the hardest one by far.
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  Suffering. This is Galatians 6.2 Bear ye
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  one another's burdens, and Edwards takes it all the way to
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  1st John 3.1 scene that we had to lay down our lives for the
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  brethren. So this is the truly sacrificial
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  element. This is where real charity
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  starts to hurt the giver. It's not just inconvenient, it's
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  costly. If your kindness never cost you
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  anything, never cost you comfort or sleep or emotional energy or
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  social standing, it might not be the biblical charity Edwards is
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  describing here. It's about taking a weight off
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  someone else's shoulders and deliberately placing it onto
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  your own. That's the essence of it.
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  It's a willing participation in their burden.
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  That is a that's a heavy thought.
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  It's one thing to give from your surplus, from what's leftover.
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  It's another thing entirely to give from your sustenance, or to
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  give of your very self, of your time, your energy, your life.
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  It is, but that's the model of Christ, isn't it?
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  Yeah. He didn't just send resources
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  from heaven. He came.
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  He took on the suffering. He bore our burden.
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  Which leads us perfectly into the next big question he tackles
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  Who Who are the recipients of all this giving, doing and
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  suffering? Who gets this help?
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  Segment 3. The objects of kindness.
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  Or, to put it in the classic way, who is my neighbor?
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  And of course, he goes straight to the parable of the Good
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  Samaritan. The answer is essentially anyone
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  in your path who has a need. He categorizes the objects of
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  our charity in a way that just systematically removes all of
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  our loopholes, all our excuses for inaction.
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  He's. Very good at that.
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  First, he says, we must do good to both the good and the.
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  Bad. And here's the theological
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  anchor for that. He says we must imitate our
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  heavenly Father, who sendeth rain on the just and on the
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  unjust. That's a stark way to put it.
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  It is. Think about it, If God only
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  provided sunlight and food and oxygen to the people who loved
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  him and obeyed him, most of the world would be dead by
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  lunchtime. A sobering.
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  Thought But it's true, God is wildly, indiscriminately
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  generous with his common grace. And Edward's point is simple.
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  We who are called to be like Him must imitate that indiscriminate
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  generosity. And this is where the big
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  objection always comes in. We look at someone and we say,
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  but he's a bad person or she's a moral.
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  He's proud, he's profane. She'll just waste the money on
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  drugs. He doesn't deserve my help.
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  We've all had those thoughts. Edwards anticipates every one of
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  them. He acknowledges.
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  Yes, there are people with what he calls very evil properties.
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  He lists them proud, immoral, covetous, despisers of God.
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  So he's not naive, he sees their sin.
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  What's his conclusion? He flips the script on us
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  completely. He says these bad qualities are
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  not reasons to withhold good from them.
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  In fact, he says, they are reasons to be more diligent, to
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  do them good. OK, you have to break that down.
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  How does someone's vadnais make them a higher priority for
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  kindness? That seems counterintuitive.
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  Because the ultimate goal isn't just to fix their temporary
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  problem. The goal for Edwards is always
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  to win them to Christ. If they are mired in sin, they
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  are far from God. They are in grave, eternal
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  danger. Your kindness might be the only
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  bridge they have back to considering righteousness.
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  So the kindness is a tool of evangelism.
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  It's a gospel witness. If you cut them off because of
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  their sin, you just confirm them in their worldview that
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  Christians are judgmental and hypocritical.
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  But if you show them a grace that they know deep down they do
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  not deserve, you disrupt their whole world.
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  You force them to ask why. That's powerful.
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  It stops being about whether they merit the help, and it
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  starts being about what their soul needs.
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  And grace is never, ever about merit.
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  If it were, none of us would qualify.
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  Then he moves to another pairing friends and enemies.
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  Friends, he says, Well, we have a natural obligation to them.
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  That's easy enough. But enemies?
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  Enemies is the distinctively Christian command as Matthew
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  5.44. Love your enemies, bless them
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  that curse you, do good to them that hate you.
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  Edwards is so firm on this he says the only retaliation
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  permitted to a Christian is, and I love this phrase, overcoming
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  evil with good. That's such a countercultural,
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  almost militant strategy. The world strategy is if someone
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  hits you, you hit them back harder.
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  You establish dominance. Right, an eye for an eye.
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  And Edward says no. The Christian strategy is if
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  someone curses you, you bless them.
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  If they take your coat, you give them your cloak.
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  Also, it's an aggressive, weaponized form of kindness.
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  You totally disarm your enemy because you refuse to play by
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  the normal rules of animosity. You short circuit the whole
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  system of retribution. You do, and then he tackles the
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  third category, which might be the most relatable for many of
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  us. The thankful and the unthankful.
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  This is a big one for anyone who has ever tried to help another
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  human being. Anyone in ministry, anyone who
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  has ever volunteered, anyone who's ever given to someone on
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  the street, the. Objection is so common.
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  I helped them last time and they didn't even say thank you.
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  Or even worse, I helped them and they turned around and slandered
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  me. We have all felt that stink.
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  You go out of your way, you sacrifice for someone and they
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  respond with entitlement or resentment or just nothing and
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  your first instinct is to say that's it, I'm done.
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  Never again. You wash your hands of them.
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  So what does Edward say to that very real, very human feeling?
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  He is brutally blunt. He says that objection shows a
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  want of acquaintance with Christianity.
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  In other words, if you think in gratitude is a valid reason to
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  stop showing kindness, you fundamentally do not understand
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  the gospel. That hurts because it's true.
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  It's a direct hit to our pride. He points to Luke 6.35 where
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  Jesus himself says that God is kind to the unthankful and to
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  the evil. If God stopped being kind to us
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  the moment we were unthankful, where would any of us be?
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  In big trouble. We'd all be in very big trouble.
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  So our standard for giving is not the recipients reaction.
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  Our standard is God's action toward us.
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  We're not playing to the audience of the person we're
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  helping, we're playing to an audience of 1.
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  Precisely, which moves us neatly into his next section segment
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  for the manner of doing good. Because it's not just what you
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  do or who you do it to, it's how you do it that matters.
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  And the keyword he focuses on here is freely.
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  Charity disposes us freely to do good.
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  If it's forced, it's a tax, not charity.
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  If it's done reluctantly, it produces bitterness, not love.
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  It has to be free. And he gives 3 specific
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  requirements for what this free action looks like.
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  The first is that it must not be mercenary.
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  A mercenary. A soldier of fortune, someone
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  who works for pay, a mercenary fights for whoever offers the
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  highest bid, Edwards is saying. Our kindness cannot be a
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  transaction like that. We can't do good as a kind of
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  spiritual return on investment scheme.
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  Right. We can't do good expecting a
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  direct payback from the person we help.
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  He references that passage in Luke 14 where Jesus talks about
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  throwing a feast. Don't invite your friends who
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  can pay you back. Right, he says, Call the poor,
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  the maimed, the lame, the blind. Why?
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  Because they cannot recompense thee.
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  That's the test. So if you only invite people to
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  dinner who you know can invite you back to an even nicer dinner
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  later. That's not charity, that's
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  social networking. That's just business.
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  Charity is giving to the person who can offer you absolutely
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  nothing in return. No money, no improved social
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  status, no favors they could do for you down the line.
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  Your action must be motivated by love for them and love for God,
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  not by temporal interest or honor or your own profit.
• 18:31
  The recompense, Jesus says, is at the resurrection of the just.
• 18:35
  The payback is in a different currency on a different
• 18:38
  timeline. OK, so not mercenary.
• 18:41
  The second requirement for doing good freely is that it must be
• 18:44
  done cheerfully or heartily. God loveth A cheerful giver.
• 18:49
  That's Second Corinthians 9.7. Edwards makes a huge distinction
• 18:52
  here between the outward act of giving and the inward
• 18:54
  disposition of the heart while giving.
• 18:56
  He contrasts it with doing things grudgingly.
• 19:00
  You know that feeling when you give, but you let out a big
• 19:03
  theatrical sigh while you're doing it?
• 19:05
  Or you hand over the help, but you make sure the person knows
• 19:08
  what a massive inconvenience it is for you.
• 19:11
  Well, I guess I can help, but it means I'll have to cancel my
• 19:13
  plans. I hope you appreciate this, yes.
• 19:16
  That's the opposite of cheerful giving.
• 19:18
  Edwards points to Deuteronomy 15.10 where God commands them.
• 19:23
  Thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him.
• 19:26
  The internal emotional state of the giver actually matters to
• 19:29
  God. It matters immensely.
• 19:31
  Edwards would argue that if you give $1,000,000 to the poor, but
• 19:34
  you hate every second of it and you resent the people you're
• 19:37
  helping, well, the poor get the money, which is good for them,
• 19:41
  but you get no spiritual benefit from the act.
• 19:44
  The ACT is hollow because the heart isn't in it.
• 19:46
  That's a very high bar. It requires us to actually want
• 19:49
  the good of the other persons, not just to want the alleviation
• 19:52
  of our own guilt for not helping.
• 19:53
  It requires a heart that has been changed, one that delights
• 19:56
  in showing mercy because it has received so much mercy.
• 20:00
  So not mercenary and done cheerfully.
• 20:03
  The third requirement is that we must do it liberally or
• 20:07
  bountifully the opposite. Of what he calls scant and
• 20:10
  sparing. That verse in Deuteronomy again,
• 20:13
  Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, not just.
• 20:18
  Exactly. This challenges our natural
• 20:21
  tendency to do the bare minimum. You know we calculate.
• 20:24
  What is the absolute least I can give in this situation to not
• 20:27
  look bad. To satisfy the obligation.
• 20:29
  Right and Edward says the Christian spirit doesn't ask
• 20:32
  that question. The Christian spirit asks how
• 20:34
  much can I pour out for the good of my neighbor?
• 20:36
  It's the principle of sowing and reaping he brings in.
• 20:39
  If you sow sparingly, you'll reap sparingly.
• 20:42
  If you want a bountiful harvest of God's grace and blessing in
• 20:45
  your life, you sow bountifully into the lives of.
• 20:48
  OK, so we have the ACT, the object, and the manner.
• 20:51
  Now in segment 5, Edwards makes the critical theological link.
• 20:54
  He asks the why question. Why is this act of doing of good
• 20:57
  the necessary evidence of a true Christian spirit?
• 21:01
  And this is so crucial, especially for listeners in the
• 21:03
  Reformed tradition. We believe we are saved by faith
• 21:06
  alone, through grace alone. So why this intense, unrelenting
• 21:12
  focus on works? Is he teaching salvation by
• 21:15
  works? Not at all.
• 21:16
  He's teaching that works are the verification of faith.
• 21:20
  He argues that the very essence of Christian love is
• 21:23
  benevolence. That's just a fancy word for
• 21:25
  goodwill, a desire for the good of the person you love.
• 21:28
  OK, a desire. But desires can just stay in our
• 21:31
  heads. And that's his point.
• 21:32
  He says the only conclusive evidence of the will is the act.
• 21:36
  You can say I will to go to the grocery store all afternoon, but
• 21:39
  if you're still sitting on the couch 4 hours later, you didn't
• 21:42
  actually will it. You just had a fleeting thought
• 21:44
  about it. And he goes right to the book of
• 21:46
  James for this. James 2.1516 If you say to a
• 21:49
  cold and hungry brother be warmed and filled, but you don't
• 21:53
  give him any clothes or any food, what good is that?
• 21:56
  It's profitless. It's just empty air.
• 21:59
  Edwards is saying that sincerity is proven by deeds, not by words
• 22:03
  or feelings alone. This connects directly to the
• 22:06
  Reformed understanding of the fruit of the Spirit.
• 22:08
  Works don't save us, but they are the necessary, unavoidable
• 22:12
  evidence of a faith that has saved us.
• 22:15
  So it's a diagnostic test. It's not a checklist to earn
• 22:17
  your way into heaven. It's a mirror you hold up to
• 22:20
  your life to see if heaven has begun to take root in you all.
• 22:22
  Right now we get to the part of the sermon that I suspect might
• 22:25
  make some listeners, well, squirm a little.
• 22:29
  Segment 6 reproof and warning. This is where he identifies the
• 22:33
  spirits that stand in opposition to the spirit of charity.
• 22:36
  He names two of them. First, the militia spirit which
• 22:39
  actively wants to do evil to others, and 2nd, and I think
• 22:43
  this is where he spends most of his time, the selfish spirit,
• 22:46
  the spirit that is wholly bent on its own interest.
• 22:49
  And under that banner of the selfish spirit, he gets laser
• 22:52
  focused on something very specific.
• 22:55
  Our economic lives. Our business ethics.
• 22:58
  He calls out the grasping and avaricious spirit.
• 23:01
  And this is where Edwards steps right out of the 18th century
• 23:04
  pulpit and stands in the middle of the 21st century marketplace.
• 23:08
  His insights here are almost frighteningly relevant to modern
• 23:11
  capitalism. They really are.
• 23:13
  He lists very specific sins of business.
• 23:15
  The first one is taking every opportunity to get the maximum
• 23:20
  from a neighbor. Just think about that for a
• 23:22
  second. In many business schools,
• 23:24
  maximizing profit is taught as the primary, if not sole duty of
• 23:28
  a business. Edwards comes along and says
• 23:31
  that if it comes at the expense of your neighbor's well-being,
• 23:34
  it's a sin. He talks about asking more for
• 23:36
  something than it's actually worth, just because you know the
• 23:38
  buyer is in a bind and you can get it.
• 23:41
  That's the definition of price gouging, taking advantage of
• 23:43
  someone's necessity or their ignorance.
• 23:46
  If there's a disaster and I'm the only one selling bottled
• 23:48
  water and I decide to charge $100 a bottle, the market might
• 23:53
  call that supply and demand. Edwards calls it a grasping,
• 23:56
  unchristian spirit. Right.
• 23:58
  And then he flips it over the buyer side too.
• 24:00
  He talks about the sin of grinding and pinching sellers
• 24:03
  down to the absolute lowest price possible.
• 24:05
  This one hits home. We all love a bargain.
• 24:08
  We brag about how much we were able to talk someone down on a
• 24:10
  price. We do, but Edwards forces us to
• 24:13
  ask a different question. Are you negotiating so hard that
• 24:17
  you are forcing the price below its true value?
• 24:20
  Are you depriving the maker, the seller, of a just reward for
• 24:24
  their labor just so you can save a few dollars?
• 24:27
  He's channeling the Old Testament profits, grinding the
• 24:30
  face of the poor. It's a refusal to pay what
• 24:33
  something is truly worth. The underlying attitude is that
• 24:36
  my money is more valuable than your livelihood.
• 24:40
  Edward suggests that a Christian, when buying
• 24:42
  something, should be happy to pay a fair price, a just price,
• 24:45
  even if they know they could have maybe bullied their way to
• 24:48
  a slightly lower one. That is a radical financial
• 24:50
  theology. It reframes every single
• 24:52
  transaction we make. The goal isn't just did I get
• 24:55
  the best possible deal? For me it's was this transaction
• 24:58
  just and kind to the person on the other side of the counter.
• 25:01
  It reminds us that the economy isn't an abstract machine.
• 25:04
  It's made of people. It's made of neighbors whom we
• 25:07
  are commanded by God to love. And you cannot truly love your
• 25:10
  neighbor and exploit him at the same time.
• 25:12
  The 2 are mutually exclusive. After laying down that heavy
• 25:17
  conviction, Edwards moves into his final section, Segment 7.
• 25:21
  Exhortation and motivation. Basically.
• 25:25
  Why on earth should we do all this?
• 25:27
  It sounds exhausting. It sounds incredibly costly.
• 25:29
  Why should we live this way? And he offers several powerful,
• 25:33
  compelling motivations. The first one he talks about is
• 25:35
  the sheer honor of it. He says doing good makes a
• 25:38
  person a blessing in the world, just like God promised to
• 25:41
  Abraham. He uses these grand comparisons.
• 25:43
  He says benefactors are like the great kings of the East, or even
• 25:47
  like the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, the stars.
• 25:50
  I appreciate that imagery so much.
• 25:52
  The sun doesn't check if you deserve its light before it
• 25:54
  shines on you. It doesn't send you a bill.
• 25:56
  It just pours out light and warmth freely, Edward says.
• 26:00
  When we do good freely, we become like the stars, we become
• 26:03
  like the angels, and highest of all, we become like God Himself,
• 26:06
  who is the inexhaustible fountain of all good.
• 26:09
  So it's the highest dignity a human can aspire to, to be a
• 26:12
  source of blessing. It is then he brings in the
• 26:15
  Golden Rule, a much simpler motivation.
• 26:18
  Due to others what you would have them do to you.
• 26:20
  It's a simple mirror test. We all approve of it.
• 26:23
  When others are kind and liberal and generous to us, we celebrate
• 26:27
  that. So be that person for others
• 26:31
  when you're in trouble. Do you want people to be stingy
• 26:33
  and critical and hesitant? No.
• 26:36
  You want them to be generous and quick to help.
• 26:38
  So do that. And then, of course, what is
• 26:40
  maybe the central motivation for a Christian gratitude for divine
• 26:44
  kindness? This is the engine.
• 26:46
  This is the evangelical heartbeat of the whole thing.
• 26:49
  We are moved to kindness because of the kindness shown to us.
• 26:51
  We look at what God has done, His daily mercies new every
• 26:54
  morning. But specifically we look to the
• 26:56
  gospel. We look to Christ, who gave the
• 26:58
  greatest possible gift himself, and who, though he was rich,
• 27:02
  became poor, to make a spiritually rich.
• 27:04
  And he did all of this while we were his enemies, while we were
• 27:08
  evil and unthankful. If we truly, deeply grasp the
• 27:12
  gospel, if we understand what it costs the Son of God to save us,
• 27:16
  our natural tight fisted selfishness should just, it
• 27:20
  should just melt away. How can we possibly hoard our
• 27:23
  little temporal goods when we've been given such an infinite
• 27:26
  spiritual treasure? And finally, he's not afraid to
• 27:28
  talk about the promise of rewards.
• 27:30
  And this is where, you know, we have to be careful not to sound
• 27:32
  like prosperity preachers. Right, it's not a transactional
• 27:35
  formula. But the Bible is full of
• 27:37
  promises of reward for the righteous.
• 27:39
  It is, and Edwards doesn't shy away from those texts.
• 27:42
  He quotes Jesus. It is more blessed to give than
• 27:45
  to receive. There is a real temporal
• 27:48
  happiness and blessing that comes from a life of generosity.
• 27:51
  He uses that beautiful metaphor from Ecclesiastes about casting
• 27:54
  your bread upon the waters. And at first it seems lost.
• 27:57
  It sinks, it disappears from view, but the text says you will
• 28:01
  find it. After many days, it takes root
• 28:03
  and it returns a harvest. Edwards says giving is like
• 28:06
  lending to the Lord. That's a concept from Proverbs.
• 28:09
  When you give to the poor, you're making a loan directly to
• 28:12
  God. And, Edwards notes, God is a
• 28:16
  very reliable debtor. He always pays back and usually
• 28:19
  with interest. He says Providence often
• 28:22
  prospers the charitable even in this life.
• 28:24
  And again, this isn't a mechanical prosperity gospel
• 28:27
  formula. Bad things still happen to good
• 28:29
  people, but it is a general principle of the way God has
• 28:32
  ordered his world. The liberal soul shall be made
• 28:35
  fat. But even if we don't see the
• 28:38
  full return in this life, Edward's ultimate focus is the
• 28:42
  eternal reward. Laying up for yourselves
• 28:44
  treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy.
• 28:48
  The recompense at the resurrection of the jest.
• 28:50
  That's the long game. The Christian is investing in
• 28:52
  the economy that will outlast Wall Street and every earthly
• 28:55
  currency. We're transferring our assets
• 28:57
  bit by bit into a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
• 28:59
  So as we start to wrap up this deep dive into Edward's sermon,
• 29:03
  let's just try to summarize the main thrust.
• 29:05
  The mission here was to see that a true Christian spirit cannot
• 29:08
  be passive. It must be active.
• 29:10
  It can't be dormant. No, it has to flow out.
• 29:13
  It hasn't manifest in both spiritual care, teaching,
• 29:15
  counseling, reproving, and intangible physical aid.
• 29:20
  Through giving and laboring and even suffering for others.
• 29:23
  And it has to be aimed at everyone, the good, the bad,
• 29:26
  your friends, your enemies, the people who thank you and the
• 29:29
  people who spit on you. And the manner of it must be
• 29:32
  free, not as a transaction, not grudgingly, but cheerfully and
• 29:36
  bountifully. As a joyful reflection of the
• 29:39
  God who has been so bountiful toward us.
• 29:41
  And if we look at our lives and we find this is lacking.
• 29:45
  Then Edwards would say, we have cause to examine ourselves to
• 29:49
  see if we are truly in the faith.
• 29:51
  We may lack the primary evidence of the spirits work in our
• 29:54
  hearts, but if we do see the spirit in US, even imperfectly.
• 29:58
  Then we see the evidence that we are beginning to be conformed to
• 30:01
  the image of Christ who is the perfect embodiment of this
• 30:04
  active, self giving kindness. We reflect the very nature of
• 30:07
  God. I want to leave you, our
• 30:09
  listener, with a final provocative thought to Mull
• 30:11
  over. This week we spent some time on
• 30:13
  those challenging points about business ethics.
• 30:16
  Edwards suggests that our financial life, how we buy and
• 30:20
  sell, how we negotiate, how we handle our money, isn't a
• 30:24
  separate category from our spiritual life.
• 30:26
  Now for him, it's a direct theological test.
• 30:28
  So the question to leave you with is this does your financial
• 30:31
  theology match your Sunday theology?
• 30:33
  When you leave the church building, does the sermon on
• 30:36
  loving your neighbor actually follow you into the marketplace
• 30:39
  on Monday morning? That is the question to end on a
• 30:42
  tough one. Thank you for joining us on
• 30:44
  Reformed Thinking. We hope to see you next time.
• 30:46
  Goodbye for now.