Be humble

~ adapted from Lecture VII of Charity and Its Fruits
“The spirit of charity is an humble spirit”
by Jonathan Edwards

…Love is not arrogant or rude…
1 Corinthians 13:4b-5a

True love to God is not love to him as an equal; for every one that truly loves God, honors him as God, that is, as a being infinitely superior to all others in greatness and excellence.

Can God be humble?

Jonathan Edwards says no.

Humility cannot be an attribute of the divine nature because humility is a comparative trait. And no one is greater, wiser, lovelier, or more worthy than God. (When Jesus was man, he excelled in exemplifying humility, Philippians 2:6-8.)

So to develop more humility, compare yourself to God more often.

Who is more trustworthy: you or God? God.
Depend on him.
Who sets up the best and right commands: you or God? God.
Obey him.
Who is more deserving of honor: you or God? God.
Glorify him.

Allow humility to prevent self-justification. To discourage arrogance. To examine yourself. To seek grace for more humility toward God and men. To know God.

Humility is the source of some of the sweetest exercises of Christian experience; the most acceptable sacrifice we can offer to God; the subject of the richest of his promises; the spirit with which he will dwell on earth, and which he will crown with glory in heaven hearafter.

Earnestly seek, then, and diligently and prayerfully cherish, an humble spirit, and God shall walk with you here below; and when a few more days shall have passed, he will receive you to the honors bestowed on his people at Christ’s right hand.

* * *
COMING NEXT:
Lecture VIII: Love is not selfish

Previous chapters
Laurie’s notes, Lecture VII, Part 1
 Part 2

Don’t be so jealous

~ adapted from Lecture VI of Charity and Its Fruits
“Charity inconsistent with an envious spirit”
by Jonathan Edwards

…Love does not want what it doesn’t have…
1 Corinthians 13:4b (The Message)

Based on 1 Corinthians 13:4, Jonathan Edwards has discussed how love handles evil (it is patient), and how love does good (it is kind).

Now he shows how love handles things, your own and others.

“As an envious disposition is most hateful in itself,
so it is most uncomfortable and uneasy to its possessor.” 

When your friend gets the guy, are you happy for her? When your co-worker gets the raise you wanted, how do you respond? Do you secretly long for the rich to be brought down? Do you carry a grudge against the woman who is prettier, skinnier, happier, healthier?

If so, what is it?
It is envy.
Envy hurts. It hurts the person you envy. It hurts you. It hurts God.

1. Do you compare?
Envy is being unhappy with what you have, compared to what someone else has. Man’s base tendency is, “I want more.” 

How do you know if you’re envying?

• When others prosper, you become uneasy.
  Instead of being happy, you’re troubled. You may talk badly about them, or even actively try to bring them down. (Remember Haman in Esther 5:13?)
• And when others hit trouble, you’re not sad. 
• You dislike the successful.
  Just because. Maybe for no other reason than that they are thriving. (Remember how Joseph’s brothers disliked him because their father honored him? Genesis 37:4-5)

2. Opposite of envy = Love
Love won’t allow expressions of envy.
When you feel that yucky feeling of envy arising in your heart, do you hate it because it goes against God’s nature? Do you fight against it? Don’t allow yourself to indulge it, even for a moment.

Love not only passively opposes envy, it actively destroys it.
How? By actively cultivating contentment with where God has you right now.

Love lets you be happy (really!) when others prosper.
A spirit of love allows you to rejoice with the rejoicing and weep with the weeping (Romans 12:15).

3. God’s proof
The Bible preaches against envy and for love.
Christ’s message is full of good-will to others—of meekness, humility, goodness (opposites of envy). And warnings against envy itself (Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 12:20; Galatians 5:19-21; Titus 3:3; James 3:16; 1 Peter 2:1). 

God demonstrates it.
God has withheld nothing good from you, not even his only-begotten and well-beloved Son. He has begrudged you nothing. He gave you Christ to deliver you from Satan’s power of envy toward your and your happiness.

Christ’s example proves it.
Christ’s attitude was the opposite of envy. He refused high honors that were due him (John 6:15). He was baptized by a sinner (Matthew 3:13-15). And he promised that his followers would do even greater works than his own (John 14:12).

4. So get rid of envy
Directly.
Stop holding grudges. Be happy with others instead, because you love them and you love God, and you want to obey his command forbidding envy.

Indirectly.
What is the source of envy? Pride. So seek humility instead. Increase in humility, and you’ll decrease in envy.

Let, then, the consideration of the foolishness, the baseness, the infamy of so wicked a spirit, cause us to abhor it, and to shun its excuses, and earnestly to seek the spirit of Christian love, that excellent spirit of divine charity which will lead us always to rejoice in the welfare of others, and which will fill our own hearts with happiness.

* * *
COMING NEXT:
Lecture VII: Love is humble

Previous chapters
Laurie’s notes, Lecture VI, Part 1

Why should you care?

~ adapted from Lecture V of Charity and Its Fruits
“Charity disposes us to do good,” Part 2
by Jonathan Edwards

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self…
1 Corinthians 13:4a (The Message)

The most essential thing in Christian love is the desire for, or delight in, doing good to others. This is how you most closely imitate “the eternal love and grace of God, and the dying love of Christ.”

In part 1 of Lecture V, Jonathan Edwards talked about the what, who and how of “love is kind.”

Here in part 2, he talks about the why.

Why should you care about others?

1. Because it is a great honor
To be used an instrument of good in the world is very honorable. Abraham was blessed to become a blessing (Genesis 12:2). When you minister to others for their good, you are a light shining in their world.

2. Because it’s how you want to be treated
Do to others as you would have them do to you. “Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them” (Matthew 7:12, The Message).

“What we thus approve we should exemplify in our own conduct.”

3. Because God has been most kind to you
He gives you new mercies every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). He gives you both temporal gifts and eternal gifts, which are of more value than all the kingdoms of the earth, even the gift of his very Son.

4. Because you will be rewarded for it
God promises to show you mercy if you are merciful (Psalm 18:25). And He works it so that you receive far more joy in giving than in getting (Acts 20:35).

“He that gives bountifully, is more blessed in the bountiful gifts that he parts with, than he that receives the bounty.”

As you care for others, your actions will show it.
Are they?

“In every case nothing can be plainer, than that the proper and conclusive evidence of the will, is the act; and the act always follows the will, where there is power to act.”

Today, make it your will to act.

* * *
COMING NEXT:
Lecture VI: Love does not envy

Previous chapters
Laurie’s notes, Lecture V, Part 2

Love is…being kind

~ adapted from Lecture V of Charity and Its Fruits
“Charity disposes us to do good,” Part 1
by Jonathan Edwards

Love is patient and kind…
1 Corinthians 13:4

1. First, there’s the act.

How do you do show kindness to others?
By caring for them inside and outside.

Souls
Do good to their souls—it’s the most excellent good you can do.

• Teach the ignorant about the great things of God
• Counsel the troubled through doubtful times
• Warn the lazy to care for the welfare of their soul
• Awaken the wrong-doers to their danger and misery
• Encourage the faithful in their spiritual joy and strength

In all these, set a good example. It is the most effective way to promote good of the soul.

Bodies
Do good in ways they can see and feel.

• Give…what they need and what you posses
• Do. Take action to help them and promote their welfare
• Suffer. Come alongside beside to help carry their burden

Feed the hungry. Quench the thirsty. Bathe the dirty. Aid the hurting. Clothe the needy. Empty the trash.

By doing good externally, you do great good internally.

2. Second, there’s the object.

To whom should you be kind?  Who is your neighbor?

• Do good to both the good and to the bad, like God does
• Do good to both friends and enemies
• Do good to both the thankful and the unthankful

3. Third, there’s the attitude.

With what spirit do you show kindness?
Freely!
It is no kindness unless it is done freely.

• Do good with no reward in mind
• Do good with genuine goodwill for the person, not grudgingly
• Do good generously, not stingily

* * *

How can you be kind today?

COMING NEXT:
Lecture V, Part 2: Motivated to be kind

Previous chapters
Laurie’s notes, Lecture V, Part 1

How to be patient

~ adapted from Lecture IV of Charity and Its Fruits
by Jonathan Edwards

Love is patient…
1 Corinthians 13:4

You’ve been hurt.
She was unbelievably rude to you, or he betrayed your trust and lied about you, or they so misjudged your motives that you’re in shock. Or maybe you’re just tired of that 67th question your child has asked today. 

How do you respond?
If you’re a Christian (maybe even if you’re not), you know what the Bible says: “Love is patient and kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4) and “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7).

But how do you practice patience?

Here’s how Jonathan Edwards explains being patient in Charity and Its Fruits.

1. Let go of revenge
   Allow yourself no vengeful behaviors. Don’t even talk bad behind their back.
2. Remember to love
   Keep your heart open to loving the offender. When you have negative thoughts, kick them out as soon as possible.
3. Keep a calm mind
   Don’t let what happened rob you of your own peace, or turn you into a bitter person.
4. Be a peacemaker
   Do your part to make peace, not dig a deeper problem.

Hard?
Yes.

It isn’t called “long-suffering” for nothing. It can be both “long”—in time and in intensity, and involve “suffering”—you may endure much pain before the wrong is righted.

But love helps you bear it, both love for God and love for your neighbor.

Loving God
Loving God helps you, as you…

1. Imitate God’s patience
   One of God’s great attributes is his patience. He puts up with a lot from men. Be like him.
2. Express your gratitude
   Be grateful for God’s patience with you. After all, you’ve injured him far more than you’ve been injured by others.
3. Humble yourself
   Compare yourself to God. Where do you fall on the holy spectrum? Humility is rooted in a patient spirit.
4. Trust his control
   Remember that God is sovereign, and his hand is in everything. Even when your injury is immediately from man’s hand, know that God cares. He’s working.
5. Love God even more
   The more you love God, the more you place your happiness in him, and the less your enemies will be able to reach your heart.

Loving others
Patience also will come more freely when you love your neighbor. Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Aren’t you more patient with those you love than with the faults of a stranger?

1. Love people like Jesus did 
   Christ meekly endured the worst from evil men, yet he did not turn bitter or retaliate. Rather he prayed for his murderers. He loved people.
2. Expect injuries
   Know that you will be hurt; you live in a fallen and corrupt world. So don’t be caught off guard when it happens and unexpectedly lose your peace.
3. Rise above
   Fortify your soul with a spirit of Christian love so you can laugh at enemies that would hurt you.
4. Follow good examples
   Aside from Christ’s perfect example, remember other followers who also endured patiently: David with Saul; Stephens with his murders; the apostle Paul with his persecutors.
5. Treat others like you want to be treated
   You want God to treat you with patience, so treat others likewise (Matthew 7:2).

BUT…

“But I’ve been hurt too deeply!
There’s no way I can be patient!”

Have they sinned against you more than you’ve sinned against God?
Don’t you hope God will be patient with you, even though you’ve built up many offenses against him?
Don’t you think God’s patience is a great trait?
Wouldn’t it also be a great trait in you? 
Would you be want God to never be patient with you again?
Did Christ turn against those who hurt him, yet he was hurt more unjustly than anyone has been?

“But they’re not even sorry
and still haven’t stopped.”

Remember again why it’s called long-suffering. Have you stopped hurting God yet? Doesn’t he continue to be long-suffering with you?

“But if I’m patient with them,
they’ll never change!”

Are you sure about that? And won’t God take care of serving justice to them? Would he want you to disobey him by rising up against others? Isn’t your patience more likely to end an injury whereas a vengeful spirit provokes it further?

* * *

DISCLOSURE:
    I haven’t done Jonathan Edwards’ lecture justice with my summary. You must read the chapter yourself.
     And I’m provoked to even more questions after reading it. Like, when does patience include tough love? How about patience and justice? How can I explain the difference between being patient versus turning a blind eye? Doesn’t patience sometimes include taking action? Etc.

So I look forward to more reading.

“Cherish, then, the spirit of longsuffering, meekness, and forbearance, and you shall possess your soul in patience and happiness, and none shall be permitted to harm you more than God in wisdom and kindness may permit.”
~ Jonathan Edwards

* * *

COMING NEXT:
Lecture V: Love is kind

Previous chapters
Laurie’s notes, Lecture IV, Part 1
Lecture IV, Part 2

Oh yeah? That’s nothing! (Lecture III “Charity and Its Fruits”)

If I give away all I have,
and if I deliver up my body to be burned,
but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:3

(Forgive me, Jonathan Edwards, as I’m about to adapt your 1738 words into my 2010 ones)

* * *

So how much have you donated to Haiti so far?
$15? $200? $1,000?
Even thinking about going there yourself? 

Why?

Because you want to help, right? Good.

But why do you want to help?
Because you get a good feeling when you help?
Because you feel guilty otherwise? 
Because they need your help?
Because you have the capability to?

All sweet answers.

But is the ultimate right answer:
Because you’re so in love with God that you want to love others, too?

Face it—without a love for God, your help is for naught, along with any suffering that you experience for the cause. That’s what Paul was inspired to say in 1 Corinthians 13:3. Believe it?

You can do all you want and suffer all you want, but it will never make up for a lack of Christian love in your heart.

However, you still can give some amazing performances and even endure some great sufferings without Christian love.

Saul (pre-Paul) did. The Pharisees did. Ananias and Saphira did. People do it every day. Even in the name of religion. Think penances and voluntary inflictions. Wearisome pilgrimages. Um, even perfect church attendance?

But without love, it’s all still worth nothing.

Because…

1. God doesn’t need your works or your sufferings.
   He’s all-sufficient. What he wants from you is your attitude. Don’t think you’re pleasing him with your super-sized gifts if they’re from wrong motives, without good purposes.
   
   
2. You’ve got nothing to give God except your heart anyway.
   What is the great end in your giving? “It is the aim of the heart that makes the reality of the gift.” And if that aim isn’t God, then regardless of the gift, he receives nothing.
   
   
3. There is no substitute gift for your heart.
   
   
4. Showing love only in outward actions is like lying to the Holy One. 
   And if you think God is buying it, you’re deceiving yourself, not him.
   
   
5. If it isn’t from a heart of love for God, you’re offering to an idol.
   Can a wife give love to just any man, and have it count as loving her husband? No, that’s adultery. The same is true for your gifts given in the name of God, but not out of a heart of love for God.

[At this point, I’m pretty overwhelmed by my own pathetic heart. How about you? I wonder how I can ever have a pure heart of love for God!…)

So what do you do about it?

A. Remember that a little is better than none.

Take solace that God accepts “even a little sincere love. Though there be a great deal of imperfection, yet, if there be any true sincerity in our love, that little shall not be rejected because there is some hypocrisy with it.”  [Whew!]

Instead of condemning yourself, search yourself to root out any insincerities. Ask yourself:
1. Truth. How much does your heart match your outward appearances of giving?
2. Freedom. Are you giving freely and with delight, or rather like a forced slave?
3. Integrity. Are you giving with your whole heart and whole soul? Or do you hold back a piece of your heart?
4. Purity. How mixed are your motives?

B. Encourage others [and yourself!] to seek God’s grace to change their hearts.

Character isn’t changed by what you do or how much you suffer. Good deeds won’t atone for your sins or give you God’s favor. “Rest, then, on nothing that you have done or suffered, or that you can do or suffer; but rest on Christ. Let your heart be filled with sincere love to him.”

It is beyond your own doings; throw yourself on God’s mercy.

C. Above all else, seek to develop a sincere Christian heart of love.

If this is so important, and it is, let it be the one great thing that you seek. “Seek it with diligence and prayer; and seek it of God, and not of yourself. He only can bestow it.”

* * *

COMING NEXT:
Lecture IV: Love is patient

Previous chapters
Laurie’s notes, Part 1
Laurie’s notes, Part 2

What’s the greater gift? (Lecture II “Charity and Its Fruits”)

Which would you rather receive?

(A) extraordinarily huge acts of love, but only one per year, or
(B) much smaller acts of kindness, but given to you every day

I’d choose (B).

The analogy isn’t perfect, but it’s a question that entered my mind from reading Jonathan Edward’s Lecture II, “Charity is more excellent than the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit.”

He was echoing Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 13.

If you put, side by side, the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit and the ordinary gift of Christian love by the same Spirit, which is the better gift? Christian love.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but have not love,
I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:1-2

It’s no knock to the miraculous gifts. They were from God and were for definite purposes and extraordinary situations. 

But even speaking in tongues and gifts of prophecy and faith were not to be preferred to the more excellent gift: love.

If God would give me the gift of healing for one week only, it would be an incredible honor. But don’t I understand that having his garden-variety gift of loving for the rest of my life is an even greater honor?

The healing gift would be outside of me, whereas having God work his “grace of charity” in my heart is an inside job.

It changes who I am, not just what I’m able to do.

It transforms me into the image of Christ. And it lasts forever (1 Cor 13:8)

It reminds me of another thought I sometimes have:
Wouldn’t it have been better to have lived during earlier days (Moses’ time, for instance) and seen first-hand the miracles in Egypt and seen the Red Sea split open, and seen manna coming from the sky?

But I ultimately decide, “No.”

When the unnamed woman in the crowd (Luke 11:27-28) yelled to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore you!” Jesus replied that those who hear the word of God and keep it are even more blessed.

And when Thomas believed Jesus was Lord because he saw and touched Jesus’ pierced side, Jesus answered, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:27-29).

Jesus was talking about me. You. Now. Blessed.

The agape love in 1 Corinthians 13 may not sound as flashy as prophesying or seem as productive as understanding all mysteries, but it is God-glorifying for his people to love others day in and day out with a kind of spirit that those in the world are missing.

I don’t need to take this gift for granted or underrate it.

When we read in the Scriptures of the great privileges conferred on the virgin Mary, and on the apostle Paul, when he was caught up into the third heaven, we are ready to admire such privileges as very great.

But after all, they are as nothing compared with the privilege of being like Christ, and having his love in the heart.
~ Jonathan Edwards

His love—in my heart—it’s the more excellent blessing, the greater gift.

* * *

COMING NEXT:
Lecture III: The greatest performances or sufferings in vain without charity

Notes from previous chapters
Notes from Laurie on this chapter

3 Uses of 1 Corinthians 13 (Ch 1b of Charity)

Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7

Jonathan Edwards concludes Chapter 1, “Love the Sum of All Virtue,” by listing three applications of the doctrine of love. 

1. To examine yourself
Use 1 Corinthians 13 to examine yourself. As you read, ask:

• Who am I loving? Many people? Only a few? Is my love for God leading me to also love people?
• Do I delight in God? Am I rejoicing in him as the one I love?
• Do I want to help others? Do I turn that desire into deeds?

2. To learn from
Use 1 Corinthians 13 to learn from. Let it teach you what the true Christian spirit is, the true nature of Christ’s kingdom – love and peace. Christ taught much on love, and his apostles continued those teachings.

Love is the principal thing that the gospel dwells on when speaking of God, and of Christ.

Learn about the love of the Father for the Son, and the love from the Son to the Father. Learn how Christ’s love bore fruit in great deeds and obedience to his Father’s will. If you are one with them, you’ll not only profess love, but your life experiences will demonstrate love.

If persons have the true light of heaven let into their souls, it is not a light without heat. Divine knowledge and divine love go together.

Learn that a life of love produces a pleasant life. Religion alone doesn’t, but true Christianity flourishes through its spirit of love and peace. Kindness to neighbors; an amiable spirit; loving even to enemies.

An envious Christian, a malicious Christian, a cold and hard-hearted Christian, is the greatest absurdity and contradiction. It is as if one should speak of dark brightness, or a false truth!

3. To exhort you to action
Use 1 Corinthians 13 to inspire you to grow in this spirit of love.

If love is so great a thing in Christianity, so essential and distinguishing, yea, the very sum of all Christian virtue, then surely those that profess themselves Christians should live in love, and abound in the works of love, for no words are so becoming as those of love.

How do you show love to others? How are you advancing the kingdom for God’s glory? Are you open to opportunities without excuse?

If your heart is full of love, it will find vent; you will find or make ways enough to express your love in deeds. When a fountain abounds in water, it will send forth streams.

…The labor of love is the main business of the Christian life.

Little children, let us not love in word or talk 
but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:18

* * *

Visit with Laurie
for much more on Ch 1

The Greatest of These (Ch 1 of “Charity…”)

Do you love enough? I don’t. And I know it.

But I want to love more. Love God more. Love you more. Deeper. Truer. Visibly.

So I’m joining with Laurie and friends to dig deeper with Jonathan Edwards into 1 Corinthians 13, to learn how to love better. This week we read the first part of chapter 1, “Love, the Sum of All Virtue” in Charity and Its Fruits.

* * *

Which virtue is the most insisted upon in the New Testament? Love. But not just any love. Agape love. Christian love.

Christian love takes many forms and extends to many objects. But its source is singular—the Spirit of God. Love for God and love for men both originate from God’s Spirit.

Love for God leads to honoring him, worshiping him, obeying him, trusting him.
Love for God also leads to love for others—giving to the poor, bearing others’ burdens, crying with the grieved, rejoicing with the glad.

Without this special love, the works are empty, regardless of how many. Without this special love, it doesn’t matter how good a person you are.

. . . because it brings no honor to God. Duty without love is forced. It is mere outward conduct. It is not enough.

True love is the most essential ingredient of faith. Faith then works its way out in obedience. Live by faith, but be grounded by love.

       1  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 
       2  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 
       3  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 
                                  1 Corinthians 13

Next week: Application of Chapter 1