Latest / Reformed Thinking / Open Your Hand to the Poor: Christian Charity (Deuteronomy 15:7–11) | Jonathan Edwards

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Open Your Hand to the Poor: Christian Charity (Deuteronomy 15:7–11) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed Thinking. This is the deep dive where we
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  work through important texts and ideas to give you a clear,
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  structured look at the principles that have shaped
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  Christian thought. Today we're spending our time
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  with, well, a giant of the first Great Awakening, Jonathan
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  Edwards. We're going to be dissecting his
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  1732 sermon, Christian Charity or the Duty of Charity to the
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  Poor explained and Enforced. And our mission for this is very
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  specific. A listener shared this text
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  because they really wanted to understand Edwards view on
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  charity not, as you know, some optional good deed, but as an
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  indispensable binding duty. We're not just going to
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  summarize what he said. We want to trace his logic step
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  by step to find the theological steel behind his arguments.
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  Right. And setting the stage here is
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  critical. This is Edwards the pastor, not
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  primarily Edwards the philosopher.
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  This is practical theology, and it's anchored firmly in his
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  Westminster tradition. For him, the moral law is
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  binding on all people at all times.
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  So the command to love your neighbor as yourself isn't a
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  suggestion. Charity is just the practical
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  application of that moral law, and he's going to argue it's
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  enforced with even greater weight out of the gospel.
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  And he starts this whole sermon by taking his congregation right
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  to the source text. He does.
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  He opens with Deuteronomy 15, verses 7 through 11, and it's a
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  striking passage. You can hear the urgency and the
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  repetition. It really reveals the heart
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  condition God demands. Let's listen to just how intense
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  this instruction from God is as He urges Israel to fight against
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  their own natural desire to hoard.
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  If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within
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  any of thy gates in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth
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  thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand
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  from thy poor brother, but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto
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  him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that
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  which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a
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  thought in thy wicked heart saying, The 7th year, the year
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  of release is at hand, and thine eye be evil against thy poor
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  brother. And thou givest to naughty, and
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  he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee,
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  thou shalt surely give him. And thine heart shall not be
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  grieved when thou givest unto him, because that for this thing
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  the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in
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  all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
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  For the poor shall never cease out of the land.
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  Therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine
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  hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy in
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  thy land. Wow, And the moment Edwards
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  finishes reading that, he just drops the hammer.
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  He didn't start with a gentle suggestion.
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  No, he begins with a doctrine. He states it plainly.
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  It is an absolute and indispensable duty of God's
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  people to give bountifully and willingly for the supply of the
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  wants of the needy. That word indispensable.
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  That's the key, isn't it? It means it's non negotiable.
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  Exactly. He's pushing back against any
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  idea that giving is just for the rich, or that it's just, you
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  know, a nice thing to do. So he structures this first
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  section by clarifying 3 things. OK.
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  What are they? Who you give to, how much you
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  give, and what the condition of your heart has to be when you
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  give. All right, let's start with the
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  scope. Who is this poor brother from
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  Deuteronomy? You can easily argue that just
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  means a. And that's the first fence he
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  tears down. He argues that thy poor brother
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  is essentially synonymous with the New Testament idea of
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  neighbor. He says yes, the immediate
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  context is Israel, but the moral logic demands we apply it more
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  broadly, and he uses the Old Testament itself to prove it.
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  He points to Leviticus 25.35, which commands relief for the
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  stranger and the sojourner. So God's people were always
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  obligated to help those outside their immediate tribe or nation.
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  So even within the Old Covenant, the obligation crossed
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  boundaries. And of course, Edwards is
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  writing in the 1700s, so he brings Christ's teaching into
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  it. He has to.
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  He takes a direct shot at that narrow, restricted view that the
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  Pharisees had, where neighbor only meant one of their own
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  people. And he says Christ himself
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  condemned that view. Explicitly, he points his
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  listeners right to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
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  The Samaritan, who was an enemy of the Jews, proved he was the
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  true neighbor because he was the one who actually showed mercy to
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  the man in need. That would have been a radical
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  point for his congregation in New England, just like it was
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  for the Jews in the 1st century. Absolutely, Edwards is saying.
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  It doesn't matter if it's a traveler, someone from a
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  different colony, even someone from a denomination you have a
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  feud with. If they are in want, they're
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  your neighbor. Your hand must be open.
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  So the scope is universal. OK, moving from who to how much?
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  Edwards is just as demanding here.
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  It's not enough to give something.
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  No, the text says. Thou shalt open thine hand wide.
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  And for Edwards, this means the gift must be sufficient for his
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  need. He expands on that phrase,
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  doesn't he? He sets a really high social
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  standard. He does.
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  He says there ought to be none suffered to live in pinching
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  want among the visible people of God.
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  Pinching want. That's a powerful phrase.
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  It suggests something more than just being hungry for a day.
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  It does. I mean, think about 1732 New
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  England pinching want is the lack of firewood in a brutal
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  winter. It's not being able to afford
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  medicine for a sick child. It's not having proper clothes
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  to go to work or to worship. So Christian charity isn't just
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  about preventing starvation. No, it's about providing enough
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  stability to prevent that kind of recurring destitution and
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  suffering in the community. Now, of course, he's quick to
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  add the biblical exceptions for idleness or prodigality.
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  Right, for those who won't work or just waste what they're
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  given. But the general rule stands, if
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  someone is genuinely in need, they must be relieved and
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  relieved adequately. I want to pause on something in
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  the source text because it's a bit confusing.
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  It says you shall surely lure him sufficient for his need.
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  Lending implies getting paid back.
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  That's a really important clarification he makes.
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  Edwards acknowledges the Old Testament had laws for both
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  loans and for outright gifts. But he explains that in
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  Scripture, especially when talking about charity to the
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  poor who can't possibly repay, the word lend is often used to
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  mean giving with no expectation of getting it back.
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  Does he give a clear biblical example for that reading?
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  He points right to Jesus's teaching in Luke 6.35.
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  Do good and lend hoping for nothing again.
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  So under the Gospel, the transaction is functionally a
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  gift. Exactly.
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  It's an act of release, a complete, ungrudged provision
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  for a brother's basic needs. OK, so the hand must be open
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  wide, giving sufficiently. Now for the Third Point, which
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  is the heart we have to give willingly.
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  And for Edwards, the disposition of the heart is everything if
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  you give the gift, but you do it reluctantly, with a sense of
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  resentment. Then the ACT is basically
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  worthless to God. It's rejected by God.
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  Even if the person gets the material relief, it has to be
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  done freely and without grudging.
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  He quotes 2 Corinthians here, right?
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  God loves a cheerful giver. If your heart is grieve when
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  your hand opens, the action has no real spiritual merit.
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  It's not a tax. It has to be a joyful expression
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  of love. And this is where he gets into
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  the wicked heart. Objections.
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  The Deuteronomy passage warns against even the thought of
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  reluctance. It does, and the specific
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  historical objection it mentions gives us a really fascinating
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  look into their economy. The law warned people not to
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  hold back because the 7th year, the year of release, was coming
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  up. Right.
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  Can you unpack that? Why was that 7th year such a
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  powerful incentive to be stingy? Well, imagine you're an
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  Israelite farmer. It's year six of the seven-year
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  cycle. Your neighbor is in dire straits
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  and needs a big loan of grain to survive until the next harvest.
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  The law says that at the start of year 7, all debts between
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  Israelites are canceled, forgiven, wiped clean.
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  So if you give that loan now just a few months before the
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  year of release. You're going to lose it all.
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  It's a guaranteed financial loss.
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  So the temptation that internal covetous calculation is to shut
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  your hand, to let your eye be evil against thy poor brother.
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  And God is warning them that even thinking that way is a sin.
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  It's a sin that cries out to heaven because allowing the fear
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  of loss to overcome the duty to relieve need shows a complete
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  lack of trust in God's provision that.
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  Reframes the whole thing. The sin isn't just in the
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  action, it's in the thought process that puts personal
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  wealth above a neighbor's survival.
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  And with that duty defined, Edwards then moves into his
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  second section and just ratchets up the gravity of it all.
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  He says charity isn't just a commendable thing.
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  No, it's a bounden duty. He puts it on the same level as
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  the most critical religious acts, like prayer or public
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  worship. To neglect it brings great
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  guilt. He seems to be pushing back
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  against the tendency to prioritize, you know, the big
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  visible acts of worship over the quiet, unseen acts of mercy.
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  He is, He calls it one of the weightier matters of the law,
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  and he's citing Jesus in Matthew 23.
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  Here Christ condemns the Pharisees for tithing their
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  garden herbs while neglecting judgement, mercy, and faith.
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  So for Edwards, charity is fundamentally A moral duty, not
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  a ceremonial one. Let's unpack that distinction.
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  What does it mean for it to be part of the moral law in his
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  Reformed tradition? OK so in the Westminster
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  framework you have the law of God divided into 3 parts, moral,
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  ceremonial and judicial. Ceremonial law like temple
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  sacrifices that all pointed to Christ and it's ceased with his
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  coming. The judicial law governed the
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  nation of Israel, but the moral law, which is summarized in the
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  10 commandments in the command to love God and neighbor, that's
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  perpetually binding on everyone always.
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  So by putting charity under the moral law, he's making it
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  inescapable. Exactly.
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  It's the act of expression, of loving your neighbor as
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  yourself. If you neglect it, you're not
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  just failing a church program, you are transgressing God's
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  eternal rule of righteousness. And he even says it's superior
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  to outward ordinances, using that quote from Hosea.
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  A desired mercy and not sacrifice.
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  Right. If you have a choice between an
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  act of worship and an act of mercy, mercy takes precedence.
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  Flawless church attendance means nothing to God if your heart is
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  closed to your suffering neighbor.
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  He also brings in James 1.27, defining pure religion as
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  visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction.
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  Which basically makes charity a litmus test for genuine faith.
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  If you claim to be religious, but your life shows no act of
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  compassion for the helpless, your claim is hollow.
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  So after establishing this incredible moral weight, Edwards
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  then asks why? Why does God insist on this so
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  heavily? And his first answer is about
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  the reasonableness of it, just based on how we're made.
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  He gives two really powerful arguments here.
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  The first is the image of God. We're all made in God's image.
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  We're all of one blood. We share the same needs, the
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  same aversion to misery. Right.
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  We're allied by nature, so because we're united in this
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  common humanity, it's just fundamentally reasonable that we
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  should love our neighbor and seek their relief.
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  We aren't meant to be isolated individuals.
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  No, and that's his second reason, societal necessity.
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  Mankind was made to subsist by society, to function like the
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  members of a body. So if one part of the body is in
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  pain, the whole body suffers. It does, and he uses some really
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  strong language here. He says a selfish, niggerly
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  spirit is more suitable for wolves and other beasts of prey
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  than for human beings. To refuse to help is to betray
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  the very purpose of human community.
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  So the obligation is baked into creation itself.
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  But then he takes it a step further.
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  He argues this obligation is magnified, I mean exponentially,
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  under the Gospel. This is the Christological
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  foundation and it's the most powerful part of the sermon.
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  I think He forces us to look at Christ's example from 2nd
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  Corinthians 8.9. For ye know the grace of our
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  Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
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  he became poor. That ye through his poverty
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  might be rich. The comparison is just
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  devastating. Christ, who is rich with all the
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  glory of heaven, became poor even to the point of death.
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  And he did it for us, who Edwards calls vile wretches to
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  make us spiritually rich. And Edwards just pressed at that
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  point, he asks how unsuitable is it for people who live only by
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  kindness, whose entire hope depends on unmerited mercy, to
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  then be unkind and tight fisted themselves?
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  He says if Christ had made objections to dying for us, the
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  way we make objections to giving away $5.
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  We would all be eternally lost. Christ's extravagant, self
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  denying generosity becomes the new standard for His people.
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  So our charity isn't based on whether the recipient deserves
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  it, it's a reflection of the giver who gave to us when we
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  were totally undeserving. And this redemption creates an
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  even closer bond than just our shared humanity.
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  Now we're children of God, brethren.
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  One body in Christ, He. Brings in First Corinthians 12
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  here, right? We're all members of one body.
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  Yes, if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.
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  To let a member of Christ body live and want is like a form of
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  self mutilation. It's refusing to help yourself.
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  So after laying all that out, he turns it directly directly on
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  the listener. He demands self examination.
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  He asked them straight up. Have you neglected this duty?
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  Have you given, but grudgingly? Have you looked at the gift as a
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  loss, a matter of covetousness? And he connects this individual
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  failure to the sin of Sodom. He does.
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  He reminds them of Ezekiel 16.49, that Sodom's sin wasn't
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  just its infamous immorality, it was pride, fullness of bread,
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  and abundance of idleness. Neither did she strengthen the
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  hand of the poor and needy. Wow.
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  So for Edwards, failing to help the poor wasn't just a side
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  issue for Sodom, it was a defining characteristic of their
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  wickedness. And he applies that right to his
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  own congregation, saying he's concerned that much guilt for
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  this neglect lies upon their land.
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  Despite all their outward piety, charity is the barometer of
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  their spiritual. Health.
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  OK, so as we move into Section 3, Edwards shifts his argument
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  from duty and relationship to ownership and accountability.
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  This is a core reformed principle.
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  It is, and it's a direct challenge to the kind of rising
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  individualism of his time. He makes it crystal clear your
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  possessions are not your own. You only have a subordinate,
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  right? That's the phrase he uses.
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  Our money, our land, our goods, it's all been lent to us by God,
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  who is the ultimate owner of everything.
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  So even if you worked hard for it, even if your name is on the
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  deed, you're not the true proprietor, no.
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  Because where did you get the health to work, the
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  intelligence, the opportunity, the stable society to do
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  business in? It all comes from God's hand.
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  He is the owner. We are merely the managers.
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  This is the stewardship analogy. Exactly from First Peter.
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  We are stewards, not proprietors, and a steward's job
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  is to use the master's goods to care for the master's family,
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  not to enrich himself. And he paints this really vivid
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  picture of the unfaithful steward who hoards the goods for
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  himself while the rest of the master's household is suffering.
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  He. Says that Stewart is guilty of
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  robbing his master and embezzling his substance.
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  That reframes everything. If I think I'm the owner, living
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  his generosity, if I know I'm a steward, withholding is theft.
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  Theft from the Master. And that means we will all have
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  to give an account of our stewardship.
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  What will we say to the Master when he returns, if we hoarded
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  his goods for ourselves while his children went without?
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  This leads right into his next major point, which is just as
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  staggering. That giving to the poor is
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  giving to Christ himself. God has made the needy his
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  designated receivers. Edwards quotes Proverbs 19.17.
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  He that hath pity on the poor, lend us to the Lord.
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  You're not just giving to a person, you're entering into a
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  transaction with God Almighty. And he backs this up with the
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  ultimate proof text, the judgement scene in Matthew 25.
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  Yes. The connection Christ makes is
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  direct and inescapable, and as much as you have done it unto
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  one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto
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  me. It's not just that Christ
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  approves of the ACT. No, he receives the ACT.
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  So withholding help is denying Christ himself.
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  If Christ stood before you hungry, you'd feed him.
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  Edward's point is that Christ is standing before you in the
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  person of your needy brother. He even reminds them that Christ
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  himself needed charity when he was on earth.
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  He does, pointing to Luke 8 where women ministered to Jesus
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  of their substance. The God man himself was
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  sustained by the gifts of others.
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  And his argument is that Christ still needs charity today.
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  In many of his members, when a Christian is in want, Christ,
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  who is united to them, suffers want with them.
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  When they are relieved, he is relieved in them.
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  It's a powerful argument, and this leads Edwards to
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  acknowledge that this duty is, well, it's hard.
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  It's incredibly difficult. It runs against our corrupt
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  nature, our selfishness, our covetousness.
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  It requires real self denial. In a world that prizes
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  accumulation, being asked to actively give away your
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  resources is. It's radical.
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  It is, but Edwards uses that very difficulty as a test.
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  To be a real disciple requires difficult duties.
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  Deny yourself. Take up your cross.
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  If you think you're going to get to heaven without any sacrifice.
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  You have, as he says, a wrong notion of things.
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  The difficulty is part of the point.
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  So having laid out the duty, the ownership and the cost, he then
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  pivots to the consequences. This is what you call the divine
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  standard of reciprocity. Yes, God will deal with us
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  exactly as we deal with others. The standard is consistent.
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  Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
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  That's the promise, but the warning is just as absolute.
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  He shall have judgement without mercy that hath showed no mercy.
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  The standard you apply to your neighbor is the standard God
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  will apply to you. This just blows up the idea that
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  you can have a strong faith in a closed fist.
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  It does. He goes back to James again that
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  faith without works of mercy is dead.
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  It's hypocrisy to say to someone be warmed and filled and then
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  not give them the coat or the food they need.
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  So for Edwards, charitable action isn't what earns your
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  salvation. Not at all.
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  But it is the necessary, inevitable fruit of genuine
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  saving faith. It's the proof.
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  He says it's an essential characteristic of a godly
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  person. Psalm 37 says of the righteous
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  man he is ever merciful and lendeth.
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  It's part of his defining character, which means your
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  charity is a trial of your sincerity.
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  First, John three, if you see your brother in need and shut up
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  your compassion, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
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  It's a stark equation. An uncharitable person, no
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  matter how pious they look on Sunday, demonstrates they have
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  no real love for God because they don't reflect God's
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  character towards his children. OK, so that's the peril.
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  But then Edwards moves to the promise, the encouragement.
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  He says you are no loser by giving.
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  This is his big argument for trusting Providence over your
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  savings account. He quotes Acts 20.35.
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  It is more blessed to give than to receive.
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  He reframes the entire transaction.
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  What you give isn't lost. It's lent to the Lord, who
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  promises to repay you not just what you gave, but with a great
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  increase. He quotes Luke 6.38.
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  Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running
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  over. God's repayment isn't just one
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  to one, it's abundant. It transforms charity from an
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  expense into a heavenly investment.
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  You're laying up treasure in heaven in bags that wax, not
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  old. And that's a much safer
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  investment. Infinitely safer in heaven.
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  No thief approacheth nor moth corrupts.
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  You're not throwing it away, you're putting it in God's
• 18:55
  hands, and he guarantees both its safety and its increase.
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  This leads to that great analogy of sowing seed.
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  Yes, from Ecclesiastes and 2nd Corinthians.
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  A farmer doesn't think his seed is lost when he throws it in the
• 19:06
  ground. He expects a harvest.
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  And Edwards says giving to the poor is just as likely to bring
• 19:11
  an increase as sowing seed in a field.
• 19:13
  He says it demonstrates faith, and that faith is what gains the
• 19:17
  blessings of God's covenant, but it requires you to ignore the
• 19:21
  risks. Right, a farmer has to ignore
• 19:23
  the possibility of a drought or pests.
• 19:25
  And Edward says we have to ignore the winds and the clouds,
• 19:29
  all the reasons to be fearful and wait for a safer time.
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  If you wait for the perfect conditions, you'll never sow and
• 19:35
  you'll never reap. So a lack of charity is really a
• 19:39
  lack of faith in God's governance of the world.
• 19:41
  That's it exactly. And he addresses that financial
• 19:44
  fear head on. He says God's ability to repay
• 19:47
  us is immediate and often invisible.
• 19:49
  Our success or failure depends entirely on Providence.
• 19:52
  Right. God can take away your wealth
• 19:54
  through a sudden illness, a fire, a business deal that goes
• 19:57
  sour, or He can increase it through good health, favorable
• 20:01
  weather, and unexpected opportunity.
• 20:03
  He asks, doesn't one single act of Providence in a year often
• 20:06
  change your financial situation more than everything you gave to
• 20:09
  the poor combined? So if you really believe God's
• 20:12
  promise to bless you, holding back out of fear is just
• 20:15
  illogical. It's doubting that God is in
• 20:18
  control. And if we refuse to trust and we
• 20:20
  do hold back, there's a consequence.
• 20:23
  There's the curse for uncharitableness.
• 20:25
  Proverbs 28.27 says He that hideth his eyes shall have many
• 20:30
  a curse. And he has a very specific
• 20:32
  definition for hiding the eyes. The uncharitable person is
• 20:36
  always at a loss for objects. They're willfully blind.
• 20:39
  They don't want to know about the need, because if they knew,
• 20:41
  they'd feel obligated. So they find reasons to doubt
• 20:45
  every story, to question every need.
• 20:47
  But the Liberal person is quick sighted.
• 20:49
  They see needs everywhere because their heart is already
• 20:52
  open to helping. The curse is that this hoarding,
• 20:55
  which is meant to make them rich, actually tends toward
• 20:57
  poverty because it puts them at odds with God's providential
• 21:00
  government. And before he gets to the final
• 21:02
  objections, he offers one last argument based on future
• 21:05
  security. The uncertainty of life, right?
• 21:09
  You don't know what evil shall be upon Earth we focus on today,
• 21:13
  but he forces us to think about old age or calamity or the
• 21:16
  future of our children. He says your kindness now is
• 21:19
  laying up against such a time. The charity you give is the
• 21:23
  bread God keeps for you against the day you need it most.
• 21:26
  It's the best inheritance you can leave your children.
• 21:29
  He quotes Psalm 37. I have not seen the righteous
• 21:32
  forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
• 21:34
  He's ever merciful and lendeth, and his seed is blast.
• 21:38
  Up for the uncharitable. The threat is that when they are
• 21:41
  in distress, they'll be left helpless.
• 21:44
  Proverbs 21.13. Whoso stoppeth his ears at the
• 21:48
  cry of the poor, he shall cry himself and not be heard.
• 21:51
  OK, now we get to the part the listener really wanted to
• 21:53
  understand, the steal of his theology where he just
• 21:56
  dismantles all the common excuses.
• 21:58
  This is where he gets incredibly practical.
• 22:00
  The first objection is a theological one, from someone
• 22:03
  worried about their own spiritual state, the
• 22:05
  unregenerate state. I'm in a natural condition.
• 22:07
  If I get, I'd just be trying to earn my way to heaven.
• 22:10
  That's a real concern in Reformed circles, right?
• 22:12
  The danger of making a righteousness out of your good
• 22:15
  works. It is, but Edwards dismisses it
• 22:18
  completely. He says you can make that
• 22:20
  objection against any religious duty, prayer, worship, being
• 22:24
  honest. It's basically telling God that
• 22:27
  his command to obey isn't the right path for you.
• 22:30
  He says if you wait until your motives are perfectly pure,
• 22:32
  you'll never do anything. Exactly.
• 22:34
  He reminds them that Daniel told the Pagan king Nebuchadnezzar to
• 22:38
  seek mercy by showing mercy to the poor.
• 22:40
  The command to obey a moral duty stands regardless of your
• 22:44
  spiritual state. In fact, obedience is often the
• 22:47
  path God uses to bring you to saving faith.
• 22:50
  All right, the next one is the big one, The most common
• 22:52
  financial excuse. Objection to not sufficient for
• 22:55
  myself. I have nothing to spare.
• 22:57
  Yes, the I can't afford it argument.
• 23:00
  Edwards is well, he's pretty ruthless with that one.
• 23:02
  He challenges the very definition of spare, doesn't he?
• 23:05
  He says almost no one will ever feel like they have more than
• 23:08
  they desire. If we wait until giving costs us
• 23:11
  nothing, we'll never give. He says.
• 23:13
  We must be willing to suffer a little bit ourselves if a
• 23:15
  neighbor's need is much greater than our own.
• 23:18
  That's what bearing one another's burdens actually
• 23:20
  means. If it's not a burden to you,
• 23:22
  you're not bearing 1. He brings up the two coats rule
• 23:25
  from Luke. You give even when you don't
• 23:28
  have a massive surplus. And he uses the example of the
• 23:30
  Macedonians. From Second Corinthians, they
• 23:33
  gave liberally, even out of their deep poverty.
• 23:36
  So even the poor might be obliged to give.
• 23:40
  And then he circles back to the Providence argument.
• 23:42
  This objection just reveals a lack of faith.
• 23:45
  Giving is sowing seed. It's the path to increase, not
• 23:49
  to poverty. OK, objection 3 shifts the goal
• 23:52
  posts on what counts as need, not in extremity.
• 23:55
  They can live, they're suffering, but they're not
• 23:57
  starving to death. And he just rejects that as an
• 24:00
  unbrotherly standard. Do you only help your own
• 24:02
  brother when he has a compound fracture?
• 24:04
  No, You sympathize with any difficulty he's having.
• 24:07
  We're supposed to be afflicted in our neighbors affliction.
• 24:10
  And since we all seek relief for our own minor hardships, not
• 24:13
  just for life threatening emergencies, loving our
• 24:15
  neighbors ourselves means we have to seek relief for theirs
• 24:18
  too. Hardship is a sufficient reason.
• 24:21
  We don't have to wait for a catastrophe.
• 24:22
  Objection 4 is a huge one for our human nature, the ill sort
• 24:26
  of person. He's ungrateful, he has a bad
• 24:29
  attitude. He treated me badly last year.
• 24:31
  This is where Edwards forces total submission to the Gospel
• 24:35
  and his answer is an absolute yes.
• 24:37
  You were still obligated. Why?
• 24:39
  Because of two higher laws. First, love your neighbor, which
• 24:42
  Christ proved applies even to your enemy.
• 24:45
  And 2nd, the new commandment love one another as Christ loved
• 24:49
  us. And how did Christ love us?
• 24:51
  He loved us when we were hateful, undeserving enemies who
• 24:55
  had treated him. I'll we were the ill sort of
• 24:58
  person, so we have to show that same kind of love even to those
• 25:01
  who are ungrateful or have a bad temper.
• 25:03
  Their lack of merit doesn't cancel our obligation.
• 25:05
  Wow, OK, Objection 5 is about who has to initiate.
• 25:08
  Must they ask? I'm not obliged until they come
• 25:10
  and beg. Edwards calls that a passive,
• 25:12
  uncharitable excuse. He says it's far more kind to
• 25:15
  inquire into someones circumstances and help them
• 25:18
  before you force them to go through the humiliation of
• 25:20
  begging. The liberal person is proactive.
• 25:22
  Yes, from Isaiah. He devises liberal things.
• 25:26
  He's looking for ways to help. You wouldn't make your own
• 25:28
  brother beg. You'd see his need and step in.
• 25:32
  Objection 6 is the moral blame argument fault of the poor?
• 25:36
  He brought this on himself through laziness or wasting his
• 25:40
  money. Edwards gives a four part answer
• 25:42
  to this one. First, if their poverty is due
• 25:45
  to a lash of ability or just poor judgement, that's a
• 25:47
  misfortune, not a crime. We should be thankful for our
• 25:50
  own abilities and help them. What if it was just imprudence,
• 25:53
  not malice? Then refusing to help is
• 25:56
  treating their mistake like an unpardonable crime, which is
• 25:59
  totally contrary to the Gospels call for forgiveness.
• 26:02
  And what if it really was a vicious habit, but they've
• 26:04
  stopped? If they show repentance, the
• 26:06
  gospel requires forgiveness. Their past fault is not a
• 26:09
  permanent bar to receiving help. But the final point is the most
• 26:12
  critical What if the person continues in their vice, but
• 26:15
  they have a family? Then we are still obliged to
• 26:17
  show charity to their innocent families, the wife and children.
• 26:22
  Edward says the command to help is positive and it's better to
• 26:25
  risk wasting some money on the guilty person than to let
• 26:28
  innocent people suffer. The final objection feels very
• 26:32
  modern government provision. The law takes care of the poor
• 26:36
  through taxes. Private charity isn't necessary.
• 26:40
  He says that rests on two false assumptions.
• 26:43
  First, that the law actually relieves everyone who is a true
• 26:46
  object of charity. He says the law usually only
• 26:49
  provides for bare subsistence for those in extremity.
• 26:52
  It's not designed to meet the higher Christian standard of
• 26:56
  sufficient relief. No.
• 26:58
  And the second false assumption is that the government is
• 27:00
  actually doing its job perfectly, that no one is
• 27:02
  falling through the cracks. Which is never true.
• 27:05
  Right. And Edward says even if the town
• 27:06
  has a duty, if the town fails in its duty, the obligation falls
• 27:10
  right back on us, the individual neighbor.
• 27:12
  He uses the Samaritan analogy one last time.
• 27:14
  The Samaritan was obliged to help even though the robbers
• 27:17
  were to blame and the Jewish authority should have been
• 27:19
  there. If your neighbor is suffering
• 27:21
  because of someone else's neglect, that doesn't excuse
• 27:24
  you. The duty is always personal and
• 27:26
  active. That's an incredible breakdown
• 27:28
  of the logic. So to put it all together, for
• 27:30
  Edwards, charity isn't about feeling generous, it's a binding
• 27:34
  absolute duty and it's rooted in two non negotiable truths.
• 27:39
  The first being God's absolute ownership of everything.
• 27:41
  Which makes us stewards who are accountable for how we use his
• 27:44
  resources. And second, the immeasurable
• 27:47
  grace Christ showed us, which obligates us to mirror that same
• 27:51
  costly love to everyone, even our enemies.
• 27:54
  What's so powerful about Edwards is how he recontextualizes all
• 27:58
  our economic fears into a spiritual problem.
• 28:01
  A closed hand isn't a sign of prudence, it's a sign of doubt.
• 28:04
  Right. It's a failure of faith.
• 28:06
  He compares that uncharitable heart to the man from
• 28:09
  Ecclesiastes. He that observeth the winds
• 28:12
  shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not
• 28:15
  reap. What Edwards teaches is that a
• 28:17
  lack of charity is less a financial decision and more a
• 28:20
  lack of faith in God's promises and his control over the world.
• 28:24
  So a final thought for you to consider.
• 28:25
  Is this. What wind or cloud are you
• 28:28
  observing today? What fear or excuse are you
• 28:31
  raising from your own heart that keeps your hand closed from your
• 28:33
  needy brother? Something to think about.