2nd Corinthians – Godly Social Order

The Grace of Charity

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Godly Social Order

Lesson: 16-25

Genre: Talk

Track: 16

Dictation Name: RR4169A

Location/Venue:

Year: 1998-2000

[R. J. Rushdoony] Let us worship God. I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy, and in Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple. For the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, may they be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Let us pray. Our Lord and our God, we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word. We thank Thee that we are welcome in Thy house, that Thou hast prepared a place for us. That Thy holy temple is by Thy grace made our habitation. We pray this morning for those of our number who are absent, we pray for Thy blessing upon them, that Thou wouldst guide them day by day in the way that they should go. We pray our Father for our staff members and missionaries the world over, Thou art able Lord to accomplish great things for Thy kingdom in Thy mercy and grace. Bless us now as we worship Thee, and grant us Thy peace. In Christ’s name, amen.

Our scripture this morning is from 2 Corinthians 8:1-9.

“8 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;

2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

6 Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.

7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.

8 I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love.

9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”

In chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians, Paul deals entirely with an issue that we don’t pay too much attention to today. It is the question of charity. Charity to the churches in Palestine. There had been a famine apparently, a failure of crops and what-not, and the condition was very severe. So, Paul and others did not hesitate to ask the gentile believers abroad, as well as the Jewish believers, to help their fellow believers.

Now, today, unfortunately the issue of charity on the part of Christians does not gain the same emphasis it does in the Bible. In the Bible we read that it is required of us to remember the needs of widows and orphans, always to be constant in our charity. Is it neglected now because we don’t need it as much?

On the contrary. The century that had the greatest number of people killed through war, famine, revolution, mass murders, slave labor camps, and the like, is the century that is just finishing this year. Moreover, famine, hunger, has set a record in this century. Millions have died in famines. I can remember as a boy reading about the great famine in Europe after WW2, in the Middle East, and in Russia, and then a little later in China. And that was only the beginning. There is famine today in many parts of the world such as Africa, and we hear next to nothing about it.

Why famine in our century, in a time of plenty? It is one of the great mistakes of modern man to assume that modernity wipes out famine. Nothing could be more wrong. Some of the worst famines have accompanied the greatest modernization. The Chinese famines over and over again since the beginning of the century, the Russian famines, one in the early 20’s, incredible in its character; only to be surpassed by the Russian Ukrainian famine of the 30’s. And so on and on.

Right now there are areas of Africa in serious trouble. What causes famines? Well, at this point, we are subjected to a great deal of nonsense, that supposedly it is bad weather, failure of crops, that sort of thing. That is not true.

What causes famine is interference with farming, with cattle work and so on. And that interference normally is a product of statism, of government efforts to make the economy better. Normally you can have droughts that wipe out crops in one part of the world. For example, the wheat crops, corn crops let us say, in the United States can be virtually wiped out, and have been. But you suffer no lack, because there was Canada to ship them in, Australia, and other countries.

The weather is never the same all over the world, and if there is a free market, the lack of food in one area is very quickly remedied by another area. This is why famines have been getting worse instead of better, simply because there are more controls on production and sales of foods.

Well, in Paul’s day there was a serious shortage in Palestine, very serious. But that did not mean that it could not be purchased from elsewhere and sent in, without starvation on the part of the people of Palestine.

In other words, famines are a product of statist controls. Their relief, wherever most successful, is due to maximum freedom. Right now the hunger in South Sudan has been great this part year. Money is poured in, and food is poured in, but it goes to the Muslim troops, not to the Christian soldiers or the Christian peoples, who are dropping dead all the time of hunger.

So we have to see that when Paul writes about relief, what he is saying is urgently important for us. Because as the world seeks to govern more and more socialistically it only increases the amount of hunger and trouble. Well, there was hunger in Palestine. And the Christian churches, Jewish and Gentile, were meeting that need. And as Paul says, it is remarkable, the abundance of their joy in helping, and how deep poverty abounded, their poverty.

In other words, Paul was saying that the churches which have sent money have been remarkable in their joy in doing so, while at the same time being poor. They didn’t have the money. He says this to the Corinthians to remind them that they too should feel the same joy, the same willingness to help.

And he goes on to say that when Titus was there as their pastor, they were ready to help, and did generously. And so he expects them to manifest the same kind of grace also. And he says: ‘I am not commanding you, I could command you, I could tell you that you have a duty as Christians to give and to give generously. But, I am relying on the sincerity of your Christian faith and love.

Then he says in the 9th verse:

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”

‘Consider how much Christ gave up, who was more than material substance, to come here and to be our savior, to the extent of giving His life on the cross. So how much more readily should you be ready to give of your money, so that food can be brought and shipped to Palestine?’

Well, Paul in these two chapters, touches as I said on a very pertinent point today. Because we are seeing far greater famines, with millions dying; no one knows how many millions in this century thus far. And yet, while there has been relief by the United Nations and the United States, various countries, it is political relief. So that what is sent to a particular place as the Sudan is sent not to the needy people, those whose crops have been destroyed by the enemy, but to the guilty people. Because today charity has become political, it is less and less religious.

Consider for example, welfare in this country. This is not to say that our welfare does not often reach, quite commonly reach needy people, but there is no question also that it is also politically inspired, politically given. So that what the U.N. and the U.S. do in Sudan today, give to the people who caused the famine, is happening in varying degrees all over the world. It is necessary for Christians therefore to remember that if true charity is going to exist, it has to come from us. And it is likely to be even more necessary in the years just ahead, where the weather is not only to continue we are told, the kind of severe upheavals we have had since 1975, but to increase.

So, Paul’s council, which the Corinthians heeded, we need to heed also. I am glad to report that through Chalcedon we have been helpful in places of great need, most notably in Africa. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, we give thanks unto Thee for Thy word, and for the standard which Thou hast set before, of meeting the needs of people the world over as a part of our ministry of faith. Teach us to give heed to what Paul has to say, in Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson?

Well, next week and a couple weeks thereafter we will continue with what Paul has to say about Christian charity, and to remember that for God it means His people, not the state giving. Let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we thank Thee for this day of rest, for Thy peace, for Thy saving power, and for the joy which is ours in Thy service. Be mindful of us and our loved ones, be with those of our number who are absent; and guide them in safety in their return.

And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.