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Charity
February 29, 2020

In January and February we have been examining a passage from second Peter looking at 2 Peter 1:5-8 , “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Last week we looked at Kindess and today, we will look at charity.

Today when we think of the word charity, we think of donating money or goods to a non-profit organization or directly to a person in need. There’s nothing wrong with that particular use of the word charity, but that was not the original use of the word as it was translated in the New Testament. The Greek word for charity is the word agape. It’s Strong’s Greek word 26, and it means affection or benevolence, a feast of love, charity, and love. It has a lot to do with a very higher order of love that might exist between God and Jesus Christ. That’s the kind of love we are striving to develop in our own life. Agape is most often translated as love in the New Testament. Charity, godly love, agape is the pinnacle of spiritual fruit. We all strive to have this godly love in our life.

Charity, or love, this agape, is such an important concept that there is this entire chapter of the New Testament that’s devoted to it. Beautifully written by the apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 13 is known as the love chapter. Paul paints a picture that without love, without this agape, as our underlying motivation, anything that we do spiritually is a waste of our time. Everything we do spiritually must be based on this love, on this agape. We can take every last cent that we have to our name, and give it away. We can deplete our bank accounts, we can sell everything that is in our homes, and we can give it to people in need. And we can do all of that without having a sense of this love, this charity, this agape. And, if we do all of that, as good as it is, without a basis of agape, it does absolutely nothing for us, because there is no basis for anything that we do spiritually, unless it is based on this agape. If we have this godly kind of love, we will have a lot of patience, we will be very kind, we will not be jealous of other people whose circumstances in life are different than ours. We will not think highly of ourselves as individuals. We will not be arrogant in self-conceit, because everything that we do will be based on this agape, this godly love. Nothing trumps charity, nothing trumps love, this godly love, this agape.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
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. 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. 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. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 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. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 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. 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. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Jesus spoke of agape, godly love, and told his disciples that having this godly love would help people to know we are his disciples. Jesus did not say that people would know we are his disciples if we kept the Sabbath, if we kept the Holy Days, if we kept the ten commandments, if we followed the laws of clean and unclean foods as given in the Bible. Jesus didn’t say any of that. What did he say? We will be known by all men that we are the disciples of Jesus Christ if we have love one to another. That’s the new commandment that Jesus Christ gave to us, and if that is a commandment that our Lord and Savior gave to us, that’s a commandment we have to get right in our life. We have to have this godly love, this godly charity, this agape for other people, because if we do not, we are not fulfilling this commandment and we are jeopardizing our own salvation.

John 15:9-17 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.

We live in a time where it is very possible for our love to be challenged. We live in a time where everyday we look, and we see evil things happening. People, sometimes little children, are randomly attacked or killed. We live in a time where we are afraid of almost everyone and everything. Part of that is because we know we live in an evil world. It’s a time that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 giving us many signs to look for. With all of the prophetic twists and turns it is easy to overlook a passage in verse twelve of the love of many turning cold. The love that is mentioned is the same agape, this godly love, we have been studying today. We must remain vigilant to endure to the end and make sure our godly love, the agape in our life, also endures.

Matthew 24:1-14
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Jesus Christ is our spiritual brother. Jesus Christ is our high priest, and it is through the love of God in Jesus Christ, this agape, that we are a friend of God, and can call upon God in the name of Jesus Christ. Agape is the highest of the different kinds of fruit of the spirit that we see. Faith is the foundation of our spiritual development and it takes diligence to grow our faith. And, to our faith we have added virtue and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness. Today we’ve looked at the value of agape, this charity, this godly love. Godly love, agape, is the fulfilment of the law.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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