Biblical Charity - I Corinthians 13
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
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We all know this chapter. Many have memorized it. But the question rolling around in my head is: Does this chapter know us? Does it know me? Does it know you?
We have the Love chapter firmly ensconced in heads but do we have it in our hearts, in our words, in our actions? And not just toward the unsaved lost, but perhaps most importantly … toward our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Experience has taught us all that sometimes the most vicious of relationships involve brothers and sisters in Christ. Knowing that, we owe it to ourselves and the lost world around us to fight against the flesh and the Devil so as to never allow that to transpire under ANY circumstance.
Why?
For, it’s what’s in us and coming out of us toward one another in Christ that the world first takes notice of. The world’s not as much impressed with our working knowledge of the Bible as it is with our out-walking of the Bible — amongst ourselves.
As I’ve related, when I got saved in 1973 I walked into the midst of a church that was embroiled in choosing sides between the Assistant Pastor and the Senior Pastor. It was ugly. I wanted to go back to the friends of my past, the “love, dope, hippie” gang. But thankfully the Word of God, the Lord Jesus, and my new-birth experience helped me to continue on in my new walk of faith.
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I thinks it’s so interesting that the KJV translators chose to use the word Charity in this chapter rather than Love. Only the 1382 Wycliffe (of all the older translations) has “Charite.”
So I ask myself: Why is that so? Why did Wycliffe and the KJV translators choose to use Charity? I don’t know except that …
Charity carries with it a different emphasis, a slightly different nuance than Love does.
What is Charity? How does one define it? Where does one start when considering the meaning and impact of this word? Well … I don’t know if I have the answers but I have come up with what I think is my own action definition of the word Charity —
As simply as I could in my own mind, I came up with this: Charity is ——
The GIVING OF ONE’S SELF in thought, word, deed or action on the behalf of another.
So then I ask myself: How do I fair in consideration of this definition? I’m not going to endeavor to tell you that, though. Admittedly, at times I’m not too proud of my own self-assessment — but perhaps, I’m being too hard on myself. Or, perhaps not …
But …
It’s something we all, at times, need to ask ourselves. I had to ask that of myself many times during my years in the pastorate. It’s one thing to serve God and others when getting paid to do so. It’s another to serve God and others when nobody takes notice … when our left hand doesn’t know what our right hand is doing. (Matthew 6:3)
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Now, before I weigh us all down with a guilt trip from under which we won’t emerge, I do believe we might be doing better than perhaps we might ordinarily think. Only you, and I, know that for sure. But for sake of argument, let’s try to assess ourselves on the plus side rather than the negative side of the issue.
I got save during the height of the Bus Ministry movement. Everybody was supposed to jump on board the Sunday School Bus Ministry Outreach. And I did. I got my license and drove the church’s school bus. We gave up our Saturday mornings to go out and invite children to church. In truth it was pretty exciting to see the inroads the church made into the local communities.
But …
If you weren’t an active foot soldier or wallet giver in the bus ministry, well then … Why the heck not!? Why weren’t you out knocking on doors every Saturday? Why weren’t you a worker on the Sunday morning bus routes? Why not at least every once-in-a-while get involved. Eventually we leased around 6 additional buses and … the pressure was on.
And then I began to learn something through all that experience …
The giving of self can only be sustained by the impartation of a burden by the Holy Ghost of God to do any kind of service to and for God.
And hence the Apostle Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, brings into focus the Body of Christ and the individual gifts of the Spirit. In essence, he says that —
The motivating factor of our service to God and others is the foundational manifestation of God’s charity toward mankind through the selfless death of His Son and its impact upon us.
Through the act of Christ’s Charity on the Cross for us, and our personal appropriation and acceptance of it, we learn the model and expression of what true Biblical Charity is:
The giving of ourselves for others with no thought of consequence to ourselves.
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So where should we endeavor to exercise no thought of consequence to ourselves? Let me give some suggestions.
*At home — perhaps the hardest place of all.
*With our friends and loved ones
*Toward our neighbors
*At work with our co-workers
*In our interactions with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ
All of this is stated succinctly in in 1 John 4:7-12 —
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Or as it says in the 1382 Wycliffe Bible in 1 John 4:7-12 —
7 Moost dere britheren, loue we togidere, for charite is of God; and ech that loueth his brother, is borun of God, and knowith God.
8 He that loueth not, knowith not God; for God is charite.
9 In this thing the charite of God apperide in vs, for God sente hise oon bigetun sone in to the world, that we lyue bi hym.
10 In this thing is charite, not as we hadden loued God, but for he firste louede vs, and sente hise sone foryyuenesse for oure synnes.
11 Ye moost dere britheren, if God louede vs, we owen to loue ech other.
12 No man say euer God; if we louen togidre, God dwellith in vs, and the charite of hym is perfit in vs.
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The next time you read 1 Corinthians 13, try to read it like it’s the first time you ever came across it. And then, through the lens of a new perspective, ask yourselves the hard questions you don’t usually ask of yourself in the realm of your world of Biblical Charity.
Some of it you may like, and some of it you may not like. But that’s OK. We’ll never be all we should or can be. But, it’s always safe to readdress familiar territory with fresh eyes. You might be surprised at what you’ve missed that’s been staring you right in the face for many years.
As is what happened to me this week.